ProfessorEcho

Early episode of Season 3 continues with changes introduced at the start of this season: No minstrel song prologue, a new actress playing Maid Marian and I think a different actor playing Prince John? Cliche story of young, innocent, naive princess fleeing responsibility in her native Byzantium to pursue Prince John for a husband. Not too interesting and a none too credible climax. Plus I missed Bernadette O'Farrell as Marian since I had a crush on her the previous two seasons. Some nice location work in the first half, but cheaper in the second half, including being stage bound and a cheesy disguise for Robin that even a blind man wouldn't be fooled by. Jokes about a new spice called pepper include Little John massively sneezing and having it twice used as a weapon. Not one of the better episodes.

Likely the only movie ever made about King Arthur and his knights where they are always shown sitting at a rectangular table. Hello, McFly, is anyone home? Either Moe or Shemp of The Three Stooges would have been less miscast as The Black Knight than Alan Ladd. Nevertheless, good fun late at night after hitting the pubs. As of this writing, available in a great print on the YouTube channel SONY PICTURES ENTERTAINMENT INDIA. Why? Why rectangular table? Go for PRINCE VALIANT, THE BLACK SHIELD OF FALWORTH, IVANHOE and KNIGHTS IF THE ROUND TABLE before watching this one. Better yet, read the unrelated Atlas/Marvel comic book with the same title from the 1950's instead. And don't skip that part I mentioned about hitting the pubs.

Not much to say or recommend regarding this unsold TV pilot. Buster Crabbe plays an ex-US Navy frogmen and underwater specialist now running his own post war salvage company and is conveniently named Davey Jones. A silly plot involving a plane crash in enemy waters, i.e. Too close to Asia for comfort, with important papers that cannot potentially fall into enemy hands. Crabbe, still looking as fit as when he played Flash Gordon, as Jones is hired to get the papers from the downed plane, but cold war espionage shenanigans threaten to sink (ha!) the whole operation. Pretty dull even at less than 30 minutes and though involving expert professional divers like Lamar Boren and Mel Fisher in the production, some very wonky underwater footage that makes much of the undersea scenes resemble a foggy day in London Town. Perhaps thrown together as some sort of challenger to the then great contemporary ZIV series SEA HUNT, this cheesy thing has little going for it. Crabbe is ok in the title role, but the rest of the cast was totally unknown to me and most appeared to be earnestly memorizing the cue cards between their line readings. Our hero has a reconditioned war submarine he uses in his salvage work, including "mechanisms" borrowed from former enemy subs, but has a dull, mostly non descript crew, except for good old Hal Smith as a seagoing cook beset with sea sickness (har har hardee har har!). In a few short years after this Smith would make his mark in television history playing Otis Campbell, "the town drunk" of Mayberry, North Carolina in THE ANDY GRIFFITH SHOW. Despite his gimmicky role in this pilot and the ho ho ho irony of a seasick sailor, his appearance here is actually a highlight of the show. Basically a dull, lethargic attempt at an adventure plot, this show hits bottom almost from the minute it starts. Very rare to see, I caught a beautiful print of it uploaded on YouTube, but even as a big fan of lost TV shows and underwater set stories, I don't recommend it. Stick with SEA HUNT or another great show from that era, ASSIGNMENT UNDERWATER.