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Still four stars considering it was a 1977 production. In my view the BBC are hard to beat when it comes to Dickens. A number of the actors didnt sell it for me and there were times when it seemed they were waiting for prompts for their lines. All three are pelted with Pisces the Fish to allow the devilish clown to steal the only two specimens in the world of a particular tropical fish, before ending up captured by The Joker, who wants to show he's not all bad, just mostly, intending to serve up a three course meal for his hungry giant clam. A decent job by Granada and a great performance by Timothy West as Bounderby. With Venus (Terry Moore) turning over a new leaf, Batman is able to recover the kidnapped opera star Leo Crustash (Charles Fredericks), but only after The Joker has already cashed Leo's ransom check of $100,000. Meanwhile, The Joker returns to police headquarters to snatch Libra the Scales, actually the statue of Justice, worth half a million dollars in Carrara marble, then Scorpio the Duran Golden Scorpion, then finally a visit to Sagittarius the Archer, represented by millionaire Basil Bowman (Howard Wendell).
HARD WEST HARD TIMES FREE
"The Joker's Hard Times" continues for the second of its three chapters, Batman using his Batarang to knock the lit fuse into position to burn his bonds and free himself and Robin just before the 8 ton meteorite falls upon the altar.