Tales of the Unexpected (TV Series) Parson's Pleasure (1980) User Reviews

a fun twist to a well-acted tale

[didi-5 · 7/10 · 12 May 2009]

Cyril Boggis, antiques dealer (John Gielgud), is more than a bit crooked and is always on the hunt for a bargain, under the guise of 'The Society for the Preservation of Rare Furniture' and a clergyman's collar.

With his plummy accent and bearing he's never going to cause suspicion, and we see him charm his way through country houses until one day he meets a farmer, Mr Rummins (Bernard Miles), who has something a bit unexpected hiding under his ferret cage.

This episode is great fun and beautifully acted by the two theatrical knights, and has a satisfying twist even if you can see it coming quite a few minutes before. One of the better Tales in the series and well worth a look.

John Gielgud shows exactly how it should be done.

[Sleepin_Dragon · 8/10 · 13 February 2016]

Cyril Boggis is a charismatic conman, his particular line is to gain confidence from his victims by dressing up as a Vicar, he is very convincing. His game, travelling across rural England offering to take away people's unwanted furniture, but naturally he has an eye for valuable items, all of which end up on sale in his prestige Antique Shop. His finds leave his fellow traders baffled, his main aim to find a Chippendale. One day he happens upon Rummins Farm, and spots something of enormous value, naturally his greed gets the better of him.

Roald Dahl penned a lot of stories featuring con men and dodgy Antique traders etc, he must have had lots of unfortunate experiences in his life.

I love the music, it's softer, more melodic and cheerful, it works well, it's less invasive then the last few episodes. I love that there's an announcement on the DVD itself about the use of the London Antique Dealers Association..

As a huge fan of Sir John Gielgud it will come as no surprise that I love this episode, he gives a true masterclass, the episode is made all the more enjoyable by him. It's great fun, and wonderfully different, 8/10

Decent Tales of the Unexpected episode.

[poolandrews · 6/10 · 21 April 2007]

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.

"My God.... Thomas Chippendale!"

[classicsoncall · 7/10 · 22 September 2021]

Be careful what you wish for ought to be the predominant factor in this little tale from Roald Dahl. Antique dealer and traveling con-man Cyril Winnington Boggis (John Gielgud) scours the English countryside on weekends, dressed as a vicar to further remove suspicion from his underhanded enterprise. When he sets eyes on a valuable Chippendale commode at a run down farm house, he engages the three old timers in a back and forth negotiation designed to earn him the highly desired item as cheaply as possible. Describing his interest in the piece as having the right type of legs he would need to finish a table he already owns secures him the deal at twenty pounds, but also sets in motion a catastrophe, if not of his own making, then pretty close to it. This is a story in which you can't really feel bad for the dishonest dealer, but for the tragedy that his methods caused. Still, if you carry the thought process a bit further, how WOULD Boggis have moved the commode with that small car?

Only a month earlier during this series' original run, a similar story was offered in which an elderly woman turned the tables on an enterprising collector by selling him what was presumed to be a painting by an old master. The woman painted the pictures herself, and simply affixed a certificate of authenticity to it, repeating the process each time she found a willing buyer. The title of that episode is "A Picture of a Place".

Standard **SPOILERS**

[naseby · 5/10 · 26 October 2009]

Pretty well acted, a con-man, Cyril-Winnington Boggis (Sir John Geilgud) of an invented heritage 'society' that's quite a mouthful, plies his 'trade' as it were, pouncing on the unsuspecting, much like one turning up at the old lady's house pretending to be the gas man and then rifling through her cash box hidden under the cat's arse. Well, sort of.

In this instance, he regularly poses as an eccentric type vicar where he turns up at the 'victims' doorsteps, pretending to search for oddities and conning people out of the true value of their rarities/potential antiques.

After turning up at one door of a clergyman, he pretends he's got the wrong door for obvious reasons and is also shown bringing his stuff to his antique dealer chum (The underrated Lee Montague) after conning an old lady out of her treasure.

He then turns up at the farm of three brothers, who look like bumpkins and are definitely short of a full load. As Ronald, sorry, Roald Dahl's intro states, there were, at the time, only three instances of a Chippendale Commode of a certain age found in England and our 'vicar' almost has a heart attack when clocking one at the brother's farmhouse.

The 'chest of drawers' as he informs them, painted white and used as a ferret hutch gives him impetus for his same rubbishy dialogue and roundabout ways of showing vague interest for the piece, as it were. After negotiating and doing the 'not-really-interested-walking away-bit', he comes back and asks them for it at an obvious knock-down price (More like demolition). He mentions though, for some reason to defer any suspicion from the brothers, that he's only after the legs for an existing 'chest' he has, inferring that some legs for that would be an afterthought etc. and the 'chest' they have is crap. (Offering just £20).

You know what's coming - he negotiates and gets his price, whilst arranging transportation, he comes back to see the brothers have sawn the legs off the piece, (Actually because they 'knew' that's what the 'vicar' wanted, but it wouldn't fit in any car, as they deduce) and have destroyed the rest of it. Another 'Tales of the Expected' for me. Saved mainly for a filling of a few minutes of your life by some good actors, Lee Montague, Bernard Miles and Godfrey James too.