Review of Danger Man: Volume 4

Introduction

John Drake returns, in another DVD edition, to the deadly world of international espionage and intrigue which according to the notes, he thrives on.

Episode 21: Vacation
Drake assumes the identity of an assassin in order to uncover the intended victim.

Episode 22: The Conspirators
Assigned as a bodyguard, Drake must protect the wife of a murdered diplomat.

Episode 23: The Honeymooners
When a groom is accused of murder on his honeymoon in the Far East, Drake is sent to investigate the all too convenient sentence.

Episode 24: The Gallows Tree
Drake is brought in to investigate the discovery of fingerprints of a terrorist spy that was long thought dead.

Episode 25: The Relaxed Informer
Drake must carry out a daring hold-up in order to unravel a security leak which unfortunately leads him into more trouble.

Episode 26: The Brothers
Drake must retrieve a satchel that contains important diplomatic documents after it is stolen from a crashed plane by bandits.

Episode 27: Th Journey Ends Halfway
Drake must investigate the disappearance of an eminent doctor who has been trying to escape the communist regime in China.

Episode28: Bury the Dead
Upon receiving an encoded ticket containing a message that a NATO agent has been killed, Drake must take over a dangerous mission that he may never return from.



Inspired by the paranoid cold war climate of the sixties, John Drake is a Special Agent who when called upon travels the world to act in his countries own best interest when things get a little out of hand. Avoiding international incidents, tracking down counter agents and solving mysterious crimes are just some of the things he has to tackle in his everyday work.

Patrick McGoohan is superb as Special Agent John Drake and plays the character with just the right level of intensity and sophistication. Up to some of the later series by ITC such as the Champions or the Persuaders, Danger Man takes itself quite serious especially when comparing the acting styles of Roger Moore and his famous quips, up to the deadpan style of McGoohan. Maybe McGoohan should have been considered for the Bond role?

Even though character development is limited due to the short 30min shows, the Drake character is immediately comfortable and recognisable, especially to today`s audiences. I have never seen this series before but was immediately at home with the characters, plots and what was to be expected. Maybe its because there have been so many shows like this that the whole concept is so recognisable and familiar to today, but it didn`t come across as repetitive or boring in the least. I cannot say on how it was first received but I have a feeling that the series remains just as watchable, and enjoyable as the day it was first aired.
There are lots of different locations you wouldn`t usually see in a series like this and a good bit of action, although it seems that violence is always avoided until absolutely necessary and there are no throw away jokes. This together with Drakes schemes of infiltration and impersonation give the series a solid foundation that rarely gets boring or predictable.
As you can probably guess I was quite impressed by the series and especially McGoohan. Maybe it`s time to check out the other McGoohan masterpiece, (or so I`ve been told) the Prisoner.

Video

Presented in 4:3 ratio in Black and white.
I really have to congratulate Carlton on a fine looking transfer. I don`t know where they found the tapes for the mastering of this series, or if there was a restoration project behind it, but all you need to know is that the picture quality in general is excellent. When you consider that this is an old, made for TV series with a limited budget it really is amazing that it can look this good.

Blacks on the most part are really deep and solid with very good contrast levels that render the grey levels without fault. The only grain evident throughout the different episodes was when a piece of stock footage was used and even this was pretty much minimal. Detail levels are very good with only the rare, slightly soft shot apparent and dust and dirt is rarely noticeable in this extremely clean print. Some episodes suffer more from dust than others but on the whole extremely clean and nothing distracting.
There were no compression problems and as I`ve said above it was only the rare location shot, or stock footage that let the side down. Excellent stuff.

Audio

Audio is presented in the original mono mix and does its just job just fine. Dialogue is always clear and free from distortion and the music is handled well with no pops or hiss detectable. A perfectly acceptable mix with no real problems.

Features

Features include a stills gallery with promotional and behind the scenes photos from the episodes and a trailer section where the rare trailers for the series are available to watch, all be it without sound. A memorabilia section featuring an article on Patrick McGoohan which is quite interesting although repeated in the notes and an insert which gives production information and scene selection details is also included.
There are 4 chapters per episode and the menus are appropriately themed with music and animated scene selection windows.

Conclusion

Overall a very good quality disk which won`t disappoint collectors. There`s plenty of interest here for fans of the spy genre on the whole and this DVD would make a good starting point for anyone new to the series. The only weak area is with the lack of any real substantial special features. It would have been nice if some sort of essay or article was produced about the series that spanned across the DVD`s available giving production details and anecdotes and the such. But that`s only a small complaint and with 8 episodes to choose from there`s little to whinge about.