Solemplex To me, this movie is perfection.

AniInterview Sorry, this movie sucks

Steineded How sad is this?

Donald Seymour This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

jimpayne1967 I like the old ITC action series of the 60s and very early 70s. I am old enough to remember the later shows such as the Persuaders and Jason King from when they were first broadcast and can remember when I was 6 or 7 being allowed to stay up to watch Danger Man, The Prisoner and The Champions. By the mid to late 70s when colour TV became commonplace these old shows were re-broadcast and I became familiar with all of them. They were quick moving, had great punch ups and were suffused with then contemporary anxieties about the Cold War, hard drugs and the length of women's skirts. Most of the shows re-ran again - I think on the BBC- in the mid 90s and then in the middle of the noughties some turned up on ITV 4. There was one which did not ever seem to turn up again and that show was the Baron. I only caught up with the show in recent times when I caught a few episodes on You Tube. Most of the episodes I saw were enjoyable enough - even the Rome set one with Peter Arne as a Mafia Capo which gets a low rating here was a perfectly decent way to spend 50 minutes.The problem with The Baron is though that it is just a bit, well, unremarkable. The stories are fine but are less crisp than Danger Man or Man in a Suitcase or even Department S. It is nowhere near as ludicrous as Randall & Hopkirk or the Champions or as downright awful as Jason King but the lack of gimmicks or bad moustaches works against it's reputation. The theme music written by Edwin Astley is clever but not as memorable as the same composer's themes for the Saint or Department S. The title character is played by Dana Andrews' brother Steve Forrest and he's fine but he lacks the panache of Roger Moore's Templar even if he is a better actor. The premise is not a bad one - a Texan exiled called John Mannering lives in London where he runs a high class antique business and his business takes him round the world (and even to Scotland!) and in the early episodes he does work for British Intelligence with whom he enjoys an ambivalent relationship. These early episodes are pretty good as they usually feature Colin Gordon as the Baron's Intelligence handler. But from episode 9 onward almost until the end the connection with espionage is ignored and many of the episodes are pretty much interchangeable with the then contemporaneous The Saint. The early episodes feature an actor called Paul Ferris who plays Mannering's PA David Marlowe. The shows backers in the States apparently did not like Ferris/Marlowe and he is pretty much dropped from episode 8 onward to be replaced by Sue Lloyd's character Cordelia who is transformed from being a cog in the British intelligence machine (as presented in a couple of early episodes) to being Mannering's female PA. Lloyd was fairly hot property at that time after her performance in the classic The Ipcress File and she was a decent actress. She also looks great but that is pretty much all she does as there is not one episode where she could not have been replaced by any one of the numerous other talented, beautiful English actresses of the era. There seems no great chemistry between Mannering and his female PA - certainly less than there is between the Baron and David Marlowe- nor does she seem to be a romantic interest as Mannering seems to be still playing the field. In short in most of her appearances Lloyd is wasted.Forrest is fine though. Although he is, unlike Templar, always on the side of the Angels the character is street smart and convincingly tough with an almost noirish edge to him - unlike all the ITC heroes except Drake and McGill I get the impression Mannering is a man who exists away from his adventures - it's a pity we do not see more of his hinterland. And he drives a great car- the glorious Jensen CV8 that was one of my own favourites as wee boy.6 out of 10 is maybe a wee bit low - 6 2/3s seems about right. Not a classic show but better than its obscurity suggests it is

Montydog I also remember this from the 70s - well at least I vaguely remembered his rather nice assistant, David Marlowe, being kidnapped and then stabbed by a particularly svelte and nasty villain: I even went to library to get out a few of the books because that episode made such an impression on me. On re-watching I have to say I felt much as a previous reviewer - shame the US forced out the David character and brought in Cordelia (Sue Lloyd may be eye candy for the boys, but Paul Ferris was definitely eye candy for the girls and his character could at least stand up for himself, while his relationship with the Baron is rather that of a father-son type, and could have been developed further) Am now giving the DVDs to my 13 year old as I have to say I prefer this type of show for someone of his age, than more modern, graphically violent ones. It's a bit of fun, the men look great (and they dressed squarely enough not to look outdated today); the car is wonderful and I can indulge for the 8 episodes Paul Ferris does appear in

ShadeGrenade I.T.C. made 'The Baron' as a follow-up to 'The Saint' series starring Roger Moore. Terry Nation, Dennis Spooner and Brian Clemens ignored John Creasey's books and invented wholly original plots. Some such as 'Storm Warning/The Island' had a strong 'U.N.C.L.E./Avengers' flavour. The casting of Steve Forrest as 'John Mannering' worked because there were no previous screen incarnations to judge him by. As per the books, Mannering owned an antiques shop in London, but was now a part-time agent for British Intelligence, headed by John Templeton-Greene ( Colin Gordon ), hence the scope of the plots ran from crime to espionage to mystery. The presence of luscious Sue Lloyd ( as 'Cordelia' ) further distanced the show from the Moore series. While 'The Baron' failed to replicate the success of 'The Saint' in the U.S.A., it remains an enormously entertaining show and the only screen incarnation of the character to date. It also has one of Edwin Astley's best theme tunes!

skoyles One of the better British formulaic series with the near mandatory American lead actor. Steve Forrest portrayed a charming very Texan antique dealer/undercover agent living in England. Forrest provided a solid presence that allowed the show to appeal to the US audience but somehow The Baron did not gather the anticipated audience. Somehow in SWAT Forrest never seemed as complete a character as he did playing Mannering. I recall envying Mannering his wealth, sophistication but most of all I envied him the real star of this show: the unique, incomparable lead *car*. Mannering drove a Jensen Interceptor. It was years later that I saw in real life this wonderful Chrysler V8 powered Aston-Martin competitor and saw that The Baron and his car were perfectly matched, much more so than The Saint (Roger Moore) and his Volvo or The Saint (Ian Ogilvey) and his Jaguar XJS. Besides, these were commonplace compared to a powerful and elegant Jensen Interceptor.