I'll start by saying that I really REALLY wish they would have cast anyone else except the funny guy from some obscure 60's sitcom which I never watched, because he really ruined things for me here. Even worse was the hideous woman who used the very French stage name of Martine, yet couldn't pass as French to save her life, since she spent the entire hour sounding like a German spy, which made this bit very confusing.
However, this entire story was saved by the acting of someone named Ely (I already forgot and if I do backbrowser, I'll lose this here), a blond actor whom I'd never heard of before, and who played the German Red Baron to perfection, complete with flawless German accent. (Maybe he was originally from there?) I'll have to check out his other episodes, it appears he was in five, and I look forward to those, unlike the many annoying repeat actors here (Carol Lynley? I'm looking at you, here!)
2nd masquerade ball for Dana Canova: the previous one was with John Saxon, as she is another repeat guest star, but thankfully not annoying in the least. It's funny to see how decrepit they portrayed fifty year olds in 1979, LOL! Close to 70 looking and acting.
We have Tattoo dressed as Frankenstein (NO need to say "monster": once again, the film isn't called "The Bride of the Frankenstein's Monster" now, is it?!) and Dracula. Their masquerade ball was just as pathetic as the intro dancer (only a handful of low energy guests, just like only on oh hum dancer in the show's intro). I guess Spelling Goldberg were tightwads here and saved all their disposable cash for their later Dynasty.
Hightlights of the show: those biplanes and the Red Baron's triplane. I have zero interest in sports and all Fantasy Island stories to do with ball games, boxing and gaming addicts bore me to no end. But this was beautiful to watch. Again, just wish they would have hired an actor to play it straight and not a comedy. Maybe they could have traded casting here? Imagining Canova's love interest as the lockpicking pilot and the goofy Adams actor as her goofy love interest would have made for a much better show. (And get rid of that hideous Martine actress, would have been a 1000 times better.)
All in all, a decent show, ruined by a few actors, and what was that with the poor old man who wanted to marry Canova's character? UGH! They just sent him packing with no fun resolution for him. What a pity! This story is probably a six out of ten due to those bad actors and casting but I'm giving it an 8 for the Red Baron actor and those terrific biplane sequences. Pity there is always one story that has to be a dud in each episode. This one had dud actors in the good story, and a good actor in the ho hum story. Oh well!
However, this entire story was saved by the acting of someone named Ely (I already forgot and if I do backbrowser, I'll lose this here), a blond actor whom I'd never heard of before, and who played the German Red Baron to perfection, complete with flawless German accent. (Maybe he was originally from there?) I'll have to check out his other episodes, it appears he was in five, and I look forward to those, unlike the many annoying repeat actors here (Carol Lynley? I'm looking at you, here!)
2nd masquerade ball for Dana Canova: the previous one was with John Saxon, as she is another repeat guest star, but thankfully not annoying in the least. It's funny to see how decrepit they portrayed fifty year olds in 1979, LOL! Close to 70 looking and acting.
We have Tattoo dressed as Frankenstein (NO need to say "monster": once again, the film isn't called "The Bride of the Frankenstein's Monster" now, is it?!) and Dracula. Their masquerade ball was just as pathetic as the intro dancer (only a handful of low energy guests, just like only on oh hum dancer in the show's intro). I guess Spelling Goldberg were tightwads here and saved all their disposable cash for their later Dynasty.
Hightlights of the show: those biplanes and the Red Baron's triplane. I have zero interest in sports and all Fantasy Island stories to do with ball games, boxing and gaming addicts bore me to no end. But this was beautiful to watch. Again, just wish they would have hired an actor to play it straight and not a comedy. Maybe they could have traded casting here? Imagining Canova's love interest as the lockpicking pilot and the goofy Adams actor as her goofy love interest would have made for a much better show. (And get rid of that hideous Martine actress, would have been a 1000 times better.)
All in all, a decent show, ruined by a few actors, and what was that with the poor old man who wanted to marry Canova's character? UGH! They just sent him packing with no fun resolution for him. What a pity! This story is probably a six out of ten due to those bad actors and casting but I'm giving it an 8 for the Red Baron actor and those terrific biplane sequences. Pity there is always one story that has to be a dud in each episode. This one had dud actors in the good story, and a good actor in the ho hum story. Oh well!