Tales of the Unexpected (TV Series) Mr. Know-All (1988) User Reviews

A different angle from Tales of the Unexpected

[antony-1 · 7/10 · 27 January 2008]

I found this quite a refreshing change of pace for Tales of the Unexpected. Let's face it a lot of the twists can be seen coming a mile off. This episode aimed for a more low-key twist, and actually helps you change your opinion from where it was at the beginning of the episode.

The episode portrays the professor as vile, and the hotel manager hates how vile he is. And at first it's hard to not agree. But as the episode goes on it starts to put that on his head. As the manager gets more shrill, we learn that the professor may be a seducer but ultimately women are strong and not just victims of him. When the maid sleeps with him, she's defiant in her actions and shrugs off being sacked because she's a grown up woman and can do what she wants.

I then loved the ending... the manager is so scared of losing his wife because he's insecure, but the professor has already been there and done that. She's not a victim either, and is just grateful at his discretion, and both women prove that they are adults that will do what they please if it doesn't hurt anyone.

Normally every episode has the bad guy, but this episode's twist was that the bad guy wasn't so bad after all, unless you're a "puritan".

The end of an era, not a bad way to end, but not a great one either.

[Sleepin_Dragon · 6/10 · 22 February 2016]

Set on the Virgin Islands, a group of archaeologists are set to converge for an important meeting. First to arrive is Professor Max Kelada, a chauvinist and womaniser, a man who does the job simply to make money. Kelada calls for a bottle of Single malt whisky, which is delivered by beautiful, young English maid Elly Somerton. He tries it on, but Elly is up to him, initially, on a second attempt he flirts, and gifts her a unique artifact, he asks one thing only, that she never sells it. Assistant Hotel Manager Cranley takes a dislike to Kelada and beds Elly, getting her fired.

The series ends where it began, in the Caribbean, the only difference being that in Man from the South we were actually there, no it's all studio based, savaged budgets and cheap skate production values. The stock footage of the Caribbean looks horribly at odds with the sets.

It's a little bit of a limp note to sign such a good series off with, it would have worked better had they signed off with something like A Time to die, a more typically classic story, and superior to Mr Know all. It's still enjoyable enough though.

6/10

The plot Spoilers

[zzapper-2 · 6/10 · 25 January 2021]

If you came to find out what it was all about and to know why the bad guy didn't get punished (the usual ending of a TotU). My understanding is: Although he was a rather loathsome seducer he didn't want to hurt the Manager of the Hotel as he had ALREADY seduced his wife 5 years ago. The maid & Manager's wife colluded on this.

Terribly dated.

[mokumhammer · 7/10 · 27 June 2020]

Terribly dated but if you can put up with that - a good story

Poor tale of the unexpected.

[poolandrews · 3/10 · 12 May 2007]

Tales of the Uexpected: Mr. Know-All is set in the Virgin Islands where Professor Max Kelada (Topol) is staying in the 'Green Leaf' hotel run by the prudish Jasper Cranley (Edward Wiley) who doesn't like Kelada's womanising ways. Kelada makes money from accurately dating archaeological relics by simply looking at them, incensed by his adulterous ways Cranley decides to use his knowledge against him...

This Tales of the Unexpected story was episode 10 from season 9, it originally aired here in the UK during May 1988 & was both the 112th & last ever Tales of the Unexpected episode. Directed by Gareth Davies this is a poor episode which I freely admit I didn't get at all. The screenplay by Paul Ableman was based on a story by W. Somerset Maugham & I have no idea who it's meant to appeal to, there's no horror, there's no complex crime, there's no action or anything even remotely interesting going on. I don't get the end either, is there meant to be some sort of twist here? As far as I could see it just ended abruptly, I'm really trying to work out what happened but I just can't see anything in it other than the dull revelation Kelada had an affair with Cranley's wife. Is that meant to be the big twist? Is that what's supposed to make this episode memorable? It felt more like the cliffhanger ending to a soap opera than a Tales of the Unexpected. This ones a bit of a waste of time, maybe one to avoid.

This was obviously shot on very cheap sets that never convince that your in the Virgin Islands, this episode has no scares, tension, suspense or atmosphere & is an utterly forgettable & bland 25 minutes. Even the acting isn't great in this one.

Mr. Know-All is a very disappointing way to end 9 seasons of Tales of the Unexpected, personally I think most of the stories from this show are at least watchable if nothing else but there are a few stinkers among the 112 episodes & this is definitely one of them.

Come-uppance

[michael-1151 · 8/10 · 18 March 2022]

When Chaim Topol's archeology professor first arrives at the hotel on the Virgin Islands, he comes across as a complete misogynist with patter that makes the assistant manager of his posh hotel almost burst with righteous indignation. When he chats up his wife, it's more a matter of rightful indignation.

This isn't a morality tale, rather, it's a jaunty pastiche, without giving away the unexpected aspect of the tale, after he's bedded the maid and broadly hinted at digging for more than archeology with the assistant manager's wife, a 21st century interpretation may well be of assertive women able to make their own decisions - as these women clearly did.

A light, witty end to a great series.

Thank goodness that's the last one!

[bmesser · 5/10 · 27 January 2022]

Not a bad story. The main thing is that it was the last one in the box set! Started off thinking thinking these stories will be great, but soon found most of them weren't. I now realise 25 minutes can be an excruciatingly long time.

Not as bad as the nay-sayers pretend but not all that good, either

[aramis-112-804880 · 26 February 2023]

In this finale to "Tales of the Unexpected" Topol plays an archaeologist for money. Well, archaeologists might not all be treasure hunters as in a previous episode, "Can You Believe It?" but show me a person in any discipline (esp. A professor) who doesn't do what they do for money. Why are tuitions so high? Paying off top professors for college prestige. They're money-grubbers as much as the rest of us, if ivory tower ones. They may embrace the murderous disciple of Socialism but they'd be baffled in real Socialism.

Topol's professor is not only a TV star-type professor, earning lots of envy, like so many TV people he's a horndog. It goes with the territory. TV star females are probably the same and lie about it as much but men in that position are more stereotypical and stereotypes are easier to portray for lazy writers like this. He's always on the prowl and when it's questionable whether he can seduce a woman he looks for "call girls."

The villain of the piece isn't only Topol.

It's a dual villanny shared with a stiff hotel manager who despises "dalliance." Remember, this was during the so-called "sexual revolution" when folks of both sexes felt empowered after the discovery of sex some time in the 1960s (it's odd, I've studied history and there always seem to be lots of people around, but they only invented sex after the Beatles sang the grammatically and culturally dubious "Can't Buy Me Love").

Both Topol and the manager have a comeuppance, since both were wrong in their own way, but it's refreshing there was no violence or overwrought acting in this precious episode where Topol loses money and is brought down by humility and has to show some decency for a woman's honor. The only people confused by this episode weren't paying attention. A hint: keep your eye on the movement little, green figurines and all will be made clear.

BTW, Kim Thompson's character eas wrong by the rules she worked under an should have been fired.

Nevertheless, "Mr. Know-all" shows the come-down of the series (as if the repulsively cliched "Facts of Life" or the sex farce ,"Wink Three Times" or the one with David Suchet where the ending was fairly obvious didn't mark its decline). As an avid, life-long reader I could point out good, tricky stories they didn't dramatize. But every TV show does its time and then leaves the scene and becomes nostalgia as we remember it as better than it was.

Had "Mr. Know-All" been shuffled into the pack years earlier it would have a higher reputation. It was an odd episode to end a season on, much less a series. If they knew it was the swan song coming up I suppose they figured they had nothing to lose by airing this sweet and quiet tale that ends in an air of kindness rather than a horrifying yarn like "The Flypaper." What's wrong with that? Don't we appreciate kindness? Nah.