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- The Decapod Full Movie In Hindi Free Download
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- The president of a Balkan Republic is menaced by a masked assassin. Although Steed is sent to augment the visiting dignitary's security detail, his bodyguards are murdered one by one.
- *Some spoilers*<br/><br/>The only interesting point about this black-and-white episode of 'The Avengers' is that it offers one of the handful of appearances by singer-actress Julie Stevens as Venus Smith.<br/><br/>Nightclub performer Smith was one of a rotation of partners provided for debonair secret John Steed (Patrick Macnee) during the 1963 season. Given the role's limitations, 'partner' may be an overstatement.<br/><br/>First the good news: despite the primitive production values of these taped episodes, this one looks crisp and clear. Director Don Leaver does what he can to keep the action moving, and makes the necessary fakery seem palatable.<br/><br/>And although the audio quality on the A&E sets released in the US in often poor, coping with the originals' poor microphone placement and poor sound recording, it's generally adequate here. In particular, in the limited confines of a nightclub set, Stevens' vocal numbers come across quite well. She has a lovely voice. If the very mildly jazzy Brit pop is unmemorable, it's also inoffensive.<br/><br/>As always, Macnee does well by his partners. The Steed of this era is still a bit untrustworthy, a bad-boy secret agent despite his social polish. He manipulates Venus Smith into helping him penetrate the embassy of the 'Balkan Republic' after a young woman is found dead in an 'accident.' Of course, this is The Avengers, where people seldom die accidentally, or naturally. <br/><br/>The real villain is screenwriter Eric Paice, who makes Venus seem uncommonly dense. She goes to the embassy convinced that visiting leader Yakob Borb (Paul Stassino) is an impresario who will help her career. Instead, he eventually asks her to run off to Las Vegas with him.<br/><br/>Stevens is a glamorous blonde of the type preferred by Avengers producers. But while pretty, she's delicately built and her character is not sharp. Stevens has none of the physical skills possessed by Honor Blackman, the more formidable blonde playing alternative partner Cathy Gale. And Stevens is only a bit more curvaceous than boyish Diana Rigg, who eventually would become Steed's foil. In brawn or brains, Venus Smith doesn't seem like she'd ever be much help to Steedin a tight spot.<br/><br/>But there's not really much of a mystery to unravel here, and what plot there is remains primitive in style and substance. Hard-working Welsh actor Philip Madoc, for some reason frequently cast as an Eastern European, is the 'Balkan' ambassador. He does not trust Borb's Western playboy tendencies. One might think Borb would simply have the ambassador recalled, but not in the drought-stricken mind of Eric Paice.<br/><br/>Instead, there's a good deal of going-on about Borb, a not-at-all-disguised Tito, seeking 'bribes' from both East and West in order to maintain the Republic's neutrality, and devoting the money to his own use. The Brits were apparently still put out about their monarchist favorites losing out in Yugoslavia during World War II _ although there were fewer complaints when Tito's Partizans were providing them with midnight landing strips and covering fire.<br/><br/>Of course, Tito lived high on the hog compared to the average Yugoslav, with virtual palaces and fancy cars. But the handful of openly neutral countries in the Cold War _ aside from Switzerland _ had to be very careful indeed not to swallowed or turned into cannon fodder by the ravenous competing blocs.<br/><br/>Post 9/11, the mid-80s plot device of brave Afghan mujahedeen battling vicious Rooskies turns the otherwise entertaining James Bond movie 'The Living Daylights' into a cringe-fest. By so tying his underpopulated, underwritten script to similarly dated political claptrap, Paice makes this episode very thin gruel.<br/><br/>Wrestling provides Paice's other plot point here, but there are so few suspects that the identity of the murderous masked mauler is painfully obvious. Politics aside, wrestling looks insincere enough without subjecting it to the stylized fight scenes of mid-1960s television. The only amusing thing is how quickly Macnee gets out of the way during the ultimate sequence in the ring.<br/><br/>Series television is a difficult form, and even a show as generally inventive as 'The Avengers' stumbled occasionally. In 'The Decapod,' it stumbles badly.
- The eighth episode shot during the second season, "The Decapod" was the debut for Julie Stevens as nightclub singer Venus Smith, who was actually cast in her role before Honor Blackman earned the part of Cathy Gale, whose first four episodes followed Jon Rollason's brief three episode run as Dr. Martin King. Venus would alternate with Cathy for the remainder of the season, appearing in a total of six entries, of which this debut was easily the weakest. Paul Stassino ("Thunderball") headlines as Balkan president Yakob Borb, whose ambassador, Stepan (Philip Madoc), hires two bodyguards who wind up getting murdered by someone disguised as a masked wrestler known as The Decapod. We actually begin with Steed investigating the death of Yakob Borb's personal secretary, ambushed out of the shower by The Decapod, which provides the reason for bringing Venus Smith into the story, as Steed convinces her that by using her charms to get close to the Balkan president, currently negotiating a loan from Britain, he might be willing to finance a singing tour for her. We are treated to not one but two songs sung by Venus, as well as two wrestling matches, none of which are all that interesting. A welcome presence on the show, Philip Madoc later appeared in "Six Hands Across a Table," "Death of a Batman," "The Correct Way to Kill," and "My Wildest Dream." Wolfe Morris also appeared in "The Yellow Needle" and "Two's a Crowd," Raymond Adamson later did "The Grandeur That Was Rome" and "Take Me to Your Leader," Harvey Ashby did "Death at Bargain Prices" and "Requiem," Douglas Robinson did "Death on the Rocks," "Man with Two Shadows," and "Esprit De Corps," and Valentino Musetti did "Death A La Carte," "The Secrets Broker," "The Outside-In-Man," and "Lobster Quadrille." The Venus Smith episodes would improve from this lacklustre start, but would not be retained for the third season. Her second episode would be "The Removal Men."
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