"The Persuaders!" The Gold Napoleon (TV Episode 1971) Poster

(TV Series)

(1971)

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6/10
The Gold Napoleon
Prismark1023 February 2023
This is regarded as the favourite episode of both Moore and Curtis.

Maybe because it guest starred Susan George and she does look gorgeous. Shock horror, she looks like she might not even make it to the opening credits. She is shot.

George plays Michelle Devigne who seems to be the target of an assassination attempt. The alternative being Danny Wilde was the intended person to be killed.

Judge Fulton reckons Michelle is involved in a gold coin scam via her uncle. She is doing the designs for the coins. Her uncle is involved with some shady gangster called Pullicino in the south of France.

Brett Sinclair pretends to be a German gold dealer who can get his hands on some Nazi loot. Unfortunately his actions get the uncle killed by Pullicino.

Meanwhile Danny breaks into Pullicino's warehouse but gets caught.

There are a few nice car chases, some comedy from both Danny and Brett. It is not a great story in my opinion, a bit too cheesy. Not the gold standard.
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8/10
G-E-O-R-G-E-O-U-S Susan George!
RavenGlamDVDCollector2 March 2015
(Title with apology to the sole other reviewer)

(rating is for the casting of Susan George)

If any of you out there is consulting this to decide whether to watch this on telly tonight, or download from YouTube, or whatever, be advised, YOU ARE JUST PLAIN LUCKY! I wish I could!

As a die-hard fan of Susan DIRTY MARY CRAZY LARRY George, and as a collector of the movies in which she shone, I would really love to have this episode on DVD. Only way is to buy the entire series as I cannot get access to YouTube to download, or even just watch, it there. My problem? 1245 bucks. Money is just money, but in this case amounts to about 10 regular normal- priced movies on DVD, and I really only want this Susan George guest-star episode. I vaguely remember having seen it, she got wounded, and Tony had a line like "I can't put a wounded bird in my fast Ferrari" or something like that. The actual story I completely forgot, saw here it's about stolen gold coins. My heart swelled with pride though that I do remember correctly that she is worth all my intended bother to obtain this exorbitantly overpriced set. The other reviewer confirmed what I was wondering about - the test of time. But then, Susan was ahead of her time. An elegant foxy-faced angel sort of diluted by a girl-next-door freckle-faced look.

People, don't bloody bother to vote this entry as not being of any help. I don't have the set yet, and I've got oodles of other DVDs on my list, and this one is a problem (understatement!) to afford, but perhaps later this year, six months on? OK, I O U one decent review then, deal? I'm looking forward to it.

Addendum, 3 March 2015. The saga continues. Once again, a despondent review placed on IMDb brought me luck. I contacted 'my agent' at a local supplier, Takealot, despite the title not showing on their site, and he found it for me at less than half the price, full set too. So, now it is on order. Doesn't mean it might not get canceled within the next 46 hours or so... But what seemed far-off might be a possibility for some time soon, and it will be quite an experience to view something I just saw once many, many years ago. My thanks once again to the other reviewer: You have no idea how much you inspired me to actually do go after this.

Addendum, 28 April 2015. Susan was just absolutely darling in this episode. I'm watching them as they appear on the disc, and this one is sixth. The preceding ones all have the girls in second-class roles, and the result is that they appear drab. But Michelle Devigne (lovely screen goddess Susan George) managed to steal the entire show even with her limited on-screen time. Another fortunate is that the getting wounded bit didn't interfere negatively with the glam, no, this was a very fortunate shooting incident as it led to the lovely lady in flimsy short bedwear in the hospital, including a leggy escape scene.

I owe the other reviewer even more thanks than I've already given.

Trivia Corner! This episode also features little Chloe Franks (uncredited) as quite possibly the most darling little creature ever filmed in the history of the known universe. She is Pullicino's daughter, the little equestrienne, you know, the little girl on horseback? Not that such an ugly bloke could father a pretty kid like that, huh? But she puts a Barbie doll to shame, the little kid does! Baby is the little starlet of WHOEVER SLEW AUNTIE ROO? which is something with which you could scare little kiddies in the days of yore. I know, I was one of them.

And now for the long-awaited decent review: Michelle Devigne is the target of an assassin at an airport. He hits her, she is wounded, he had narrowly missed Danny Wilde (Tony C------- Ah, what the heck. Actually, the plot fails to be intriguing. There's two very classy sports cars, one an Aston Nartin, the other a Ferrari, some glorious scenes of racing around highly-picturesque Nice, and Roger Moore was destined to be James Bond, and Tony Curtis once acted opposite Marilyn, but I've yet to see that... Ooh boy. People, I was here to see my heroine, Susan George. And who wants to talk about gold coins when you can see a lovely dolly bird like Susan? Loved it when she tried to bash that big bloke. That was a Susan George classic. But OK, I promised. Where was I? ...narrowly missed Danny Wilde (Tony Curtis) and Brett (Roger Moore) reckons the bullet was intended for him. But the judge suspects a link between Michelle and the smuggling of gold coins. The part of Michelle is wonderfully portrayed by late Sixties glamor actress Susan George who was on her way to become notorious for (a) a fiasco of a floundering movie called DIE SCREAMING MARIANNE and (b) the highly controversial STRAW DOGS that featured a questionable sex scene resulting in it being banned from mainstream video shelves well into the next century. Years later, she would appear in the ultimately drive-in movie classic DIRTY MARY CRAZY--- Oops, I realize now I'm digressing.

People, if you want to know if watching these two playboys act like real-life cartoon characters is worth it, I'm not the one to ask. This is not my department. This particular episode is clearly miles better because of the romantic interest. Susan George brightens up the screen. I wholeheartedly advise it.

As for my promise, my cellphone is unfortunately now running out of ink.
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5/10
Second episode, below the first
gridoon202420 October 2013
Warning: Spoilers
Danny is about to board a plane leaving France when he literally bumps into a young female sketch artist; while he's trying to help her pick up her stuff from the ground, a sniper fires a bullet at them, wounding the woman in the shoulder. But which of the two was the real target? "The Gold Napoleon" has some funny lines ("Your wife called from the maternity hospital. Congratulations!"), and Tony Curtis does some acrobatic stunts undoubled, and guest star Susan George (despite being shot at, she has a much happier time here than in the same year's "Straw Dogs") is G-E-O-R-G-E-O-U-S (misspelling intended), but the plot, which centers around gold smuggling, is dull. Also, Moore and Curtis are separated for much of this episode's length. ** out of 4.
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