A six-episode Mini Series that originally aired in 1977 by CBC. Episodes aired in both Canada and the United Kingdom, filmed mostly by Ontario Educational Communications Authority.
Six short fiction stories were adapted into unrelated episodes. The stories were chosen from Science Fiction, Mystery Fiction, and Horror, all written by master storytellers of their genre. Three episodes were recut to create a Film Anthology called Three Dangerous Ladies. Later on, Classics Dark and Dangerous was adapted into a print anthology by the same name.
Episodes
- "Silver Blaze", airdate 20 January 1977
- "The Rocking Horse Winner", airdate 27 January 1977
- "The Island", airdate 3 February 1977
- "Mrs Amworth", airdate 10 February 1977
- "The Ugly Little Boy", airdate 17 February 1977Written by: Dennis Hutcheon
Based on the Short Story by: Isaac Asimov
Directed by: Barry Morse, Don Thompson - "Mannikin", airdate 24 February 1977
- Three Dangerous Ladies, 1977
This Anthology Mini Series provides examples of:
- Anthology Film: Three episodes were combined into a single release, named Three Dangerous Ladies.
- Compilation Movie: Three Dangerous Ladies is an Anthology Film made from the episodes "Mrs Amworth", "The Mannikin", and "The Island".
- Dramatic Chase Opening: In "Silver Blaze", before the opening credits, it's established that a stranger is attempting to gain access to the titular racehorse. When the stableboy gives chase with the guard dogs, the credits roll. The stranger is chased off the property and into the darkness before they can take the horse, but when the scene changes to Sherlock Holmes, the newspaper is full of information about the racehorse's disappearance.
- Dutch Angle: In "The Rocking Horse Winner", the titular rocking horse is never shown with a direct camera perspective, always canted one way or another, and while Paul is riding it, the camera rolls left and right to imply the horse's rocking while showing establishing shots of the area.
- Establishing Character Moment: In "The Rocking Horse Winner", the father is first established as a penny-pincher when he complains about the lights in their house being on when they arrive home late at night. The mother demonstrates her lack of faith in him by first saying that she prefers the lights to be on when they come home and then by saying that he isn't any good at making money. Their son has been quietly eavesdropping from the stairway, and leaving shows that their frequent arguing is shown to be stressing him out because he continues to hear them arguing about money.
- Extreme Close-Up: In "Silver Blaze", when Sherlock Holmes is learning about the disappearance of the titular Silver Blaze, he's reading a newspaper. The camera then provides an extreme close-up of the various pages to the newspaper articles about the loss of the horse and the murder of their trainer.
- Handshake Refusal: In "Silver Blaze", after Sherlock Holmes has made a deal with a nearby stable master, they offer their hand to Holmes to seal the deal. Holmes, however, ignores the hand and turns to Dr Watson.
- Hearing Voices: In "The Rocking Horse Winner", just before the opening credits, Paul has stopped eavesdropping on his parents, but even out of earshot, he continues to hear them arguing over money. It establishes how stressed they're making him, and he screams to drown them out.
- Holy Burns Evil: In "Mrs Amsworth", the vampire can be frightened off merely by making the sign of the cross.
- Malaproper: In "The Rocking Horse Winner", Paul's father makes a deliberate mistake, replacing the word lucre ("money") for lucker ("more lucky"). Paul doesn't get it, even after the joke is explained to him.
- My Grandson, Myself: In "Mrs Amsworth", the titular woman has come back to a small English village because it's where her family has lived for centuries. Well, her ancestors, at least. She's actually a vampire.
- Narrator: There was no narration for the six episodes, however the Anthology Film, "Three Dangerous Ladies", made from three of the episodes, has a voice-only narration added to introduce the film and to transition between each episode.
- Novelization: This Mini Series is adapted into a print anthology by the same name, using a production photo from each of the stories on the cover.
- Public Domain Soundtrack: In "Mrs Amsworth", the titular woman is often heard humming the tune of "Greensleeves".
