ANDREW GARVEY reviews Carpathian Eagle, the ninth episode in Hammer House of Horror TV Series
Title: Carpathian Eagle
First televised: 1 November 1980
Director: Francis Megahy
Screenplay: Bernie Cooper and Francis Megahy
Starring: Anthony Valentine, Suzanne Danielle, Sian Phillips, Barry Stanton and Pierce Brosnan.
Plot of Carpathian Eagle
A female author helps a male detective with a case where men are being found dead, their hearts cut, just as they are in her latest, still unpublished manuscript and the Eastern European legend she based it on.
Where Have I Seen Them Before?
Anthony Valentine is probably best known for his 2009-10 run as a recurring character on never-ending soap opera Coronation Street, his late-70s starring role as the gentleman jewel thief in TV series Raffles and his role in highly regarded late 60s/early 70s TV espionage drama Callan alongside Edward Woodward.
In Suzanne Danielle’s short career she starred in the title role of awful 1978 sex film spoof Carry on Emmannuelle and appeared in 1980’s garish sci-fi film Flash Gordon.
Respected stage, TV and film actress Sian Phillips grew up speaking only Welsh, was previously married to Peter O’ Toole and is still working on TV after a career that started in the 1950s.
She’s best known for aristocratic roles in 1981’s Clash of the Titans and 1984’s sci-fi epic/disaster Dune.
Barry Stanton had a long British TV career, appearing in programmes like Dixon of Dock Green, the Saint, Callan, the Sweeney and the Professionals.
Seen here in one of his earliest screen roles, Pierce Brosnan played the title role in all 94 episodes of mid-1980s detective drama Remington Steele before playing James Bond in four big screen outings and a troubled former Prime Minister in 2010 political thriller the Ghost.
Best Line
“It was not until her death that they discovered all the bodies, there were one hundred and seven of them. Would you like more tea?”
Review of Carpathian Eagle
A tale of sex, death, dodgy accents and East European legends come to life, Carpathian Eagle is an intriguing, if preposterous little film.
The most sexually charged of the series so far, it’s also full of twerps.
The victims – cartoonish, sexist pigs every last one of them, are too stupid to deserve sympathy but even that and the occasional plot inconsistency or bit of unfathomable behaviour aside, it’s a decent episode.
Not in the slightest bit frightening, this is more of a thriller that serves as fine, ever-so slightly pervy entertainment that places Natalie (Danielle) high on the list of Hammer’s hottest women.
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