This is "Wild, Wild West" working at nearly every level.
The plot: West Gordon and Gordon must accompany a scientist to Grevely manor for a meeting of a tontine (a group investing in a common fortune with the last surviving member being the only one who collects). However, it seems one member is attempting to improve their odds of collecting by killing off the other investors. Drawing on Agatha Christie's "And Then There Were None" for inspiration, this episode quickly develops into an action-packed whodunit.
For gadgetry, the famous derringer slides out of Jim's sleeve for a welcome appearance. The heel of his boot also comes off revealing another handy item hidden inside. Some unique methods of assassination come in the form of an electrified book as well as an armchair-- no, make that an "armed chair", a neat metaphor for all the backstabbing going on in the story.
Actionwise, instead of taking on an entire roomful of bad guys as is his custom, West engages hooded henchmen one-at-a-time in the spooky passageways of Grevely manor and also gets himself trapped in a room with a wall of spikes slowly closing in on him. Plus, in one of the series' more elaborately-designed jeopardies, West finds himself hog-tied to an explosives-laden rail cart. Beneath the cart, rockets are attached to propel him down a railroad track leading to an exit out the side of a cliff where a sheer drop to the ocean awaits.
As West tells the hooded villain in charge, "you shouldn't have gone to all this trouble for such a short trip."
"Tontine" gives Ross Martin a chance to add Scottish to his catalogue of accents, and though plot wise his need to be disguised in this one seems a bit unclear, you gotta admit the blonde hair he sports really does something for him.
Among the guest cast there's recognizable character actor Robert Emhardt as Mr. Grevely, the sardonic host of the investor's party. Henry Darrow is amusing and suave as a deposed member of European royalty and, coolest of all, Mike Road, best known as the voice of Race Bannon in the "Johnny Quest" series, plays the mastermind behind all the untimely deaths.
With it's high-action content amidst the murder mystery plot, colourful cast, terrific scoring by Richard Markowitz, and even a nifty setting in Grevely Manor (an obvious but still quite artistically designed miniature), "Night Of The Tottering Tontine" is easily one of the best episodes of "WWW's" sophomore season.
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