Tales of the Unexpected: Parson's Pleasure is set in England where unscrupulous antiques dealer Cyril Boggis (the late Sir John Gielgud) drives around the countryside conning valuable antiques out of unsuspecting people under the false pretence of being a Reverend & the President of the Society for the Preservation of Rare Furniture in Association with the Victoria & Albert Museum. One lovely sunny day he wanders into a farm yard where he meets Mr Rummins (Bernard Miles) & asks whether he could look around on behalf of the society, once inside Boggis sees a rarer than rare one of a kind exquisite Thomas Chippendale komode sideboard worth a small fortune in the corner with a ferret cage sitting on top. Boggis senses the opportunity to make a bit of cash & surely the dim witted Rummins & family won't be any trouble...
This Tales of the Unexpected story was episode 6 from season 3 that originally aired here in the UK during November 1980, the first of two Tales of the Unexpected episodes to be directed by John Bruce I quite liked this story of a conman getting his comeuppance. The story by Roald Dahl was dramatised by Ronald Harwood & is the second time Parson's Pleasure was adapted for a TV anthology series after an episode of Thirty-Minute Theatre (1965) also used it. During his introduction Dahl stresses how rare & valuable a Thomas Chippendale komode actually is which is essential for the story, anyway this doesn't have any supernatural elements & is definitely grounded in reality & it is a neat little tale that spends most of it's time in it's build up before a satisfying & memorable twist ending. The character's are good, the dialogue is alright, it has that basic premise that maybe there's something in our homes which is actually worth a fortune & it's a very watchable piece of British TV drama.
This one looks pretty good, these Tales of the Unexpected episodes probably never had a particularly big budget. Again it's always nice to see who you can recognise in these things, here with have Sir John Gielgud which is impressive enough by itself & he puts in a fine performance.
Parson's Pleasure is a neat little Tales of the Unexpected episode that's well worth a watch.
This Tales of the Unexpected story was episode 6 from season 3 that originally aired here in the UK during November 1980, the first of two Tales of the Unexpected episodes to be directed by John Bruce I quite liked this story of a conman getting his comeuppance. The story by Roald Dahl was dramatised by Ronald Harwood & is the second time Parson's Pleasure was adapted for a TV anthology series after an episode of Thirty-Minute Theatre (1965) also used it. During his introduction Dahl stresses how rare & valuable a Thomas Chippendale komode actually is which is essential for the story, anyway this doesn't have any supernatural elements & is definitely grounded in reality & it is a neat little tale that spends most of it's time in it's build up before a satisfying & memorable twist ending. The character's are good, the dialogue is alright, it has that basic premise that maybe there's something in our homes which is actually worth a fortune & it's a very watchable piece of British TV drama.
This one looks pretty good, these Tales of the Unexpected episodes probably never had a particularly big budget. Again it's always nice to see who you can recognise in these things, here with have Sir John Gielgud which is impressive enough by itself & he puts in a fine performance.
Parson's Pleasure is a neat little Tales of the Unexpected episode that's well worth a watch.