Upcoming Spy DVDs: It Takes a Thief

Upcoming Spy DVDs: It Takes a Thief

Currently Half Price at Walmart!

We've known this one was in the works for a while now, and we've been very patiently awaiting the official announcement. And here it is! (Or... here it was months ago, anyway. This is a post that's sat half-finished since July. Sorry; that'll happen sometimes.) Just a little bit different from what we thought it would be. According to TV Shows On DVD (in a post dating back to Comic-Con weekend), eOne Entertainment will no longer be releasing The First Season, as we'd originally believed. They'll instead be releasing everything, in It Takes A Thief: The Complete Series! That will give you all three seasons (that's 66 episodes) of the 1968-70 ABC series starring Robert Wagner (The Pink Panther, Austin Powers) as master cat burglar Alexander Mundy, who's caught and pressed into service by SIA agent Noah Bain (Malachi Throne) to use his considerable skills for the U.S. Government as a thief-cum-spy. The great Fred Astaire played his dad (also a gentleman thief) on a handful of episodes during the third season, and Peter Sellers guest-starred on one in dual roles. Adolfo Celi turned up on another. We'd been expecting eOne to release Season One sometime this past summer, but obviously that didn't happen. Instead, they'll bring us It Takes A Thief: The Complete Series this fall! That includes all three seasons, totaling 66 episodes, in one convenient package. This release is major news for spy fans, especially coming hot on the heels of Warner Archives' recent The Girl From U.N.C.L.E. sets. Slowly but surely, all the classic American spy shows of the Sixties are finally materializing on DVD. Now all we need (unless I'm overlooking something big) are Amos Burke, Secret Agent and T.H.E. Cat...

eOne's 18-DVD set will be available in just over a month, on October 25. (Or maybe even sooner, on October 11, depending where you look. There are discrepancies.) And unlike April Dancer's sets, it won't be bare bones! Extras will include a retrospective featurette, new interviews with Robert Wagner and Glen A. Larson (who made his writing/producing debut on this series), English subtitles, a "collectible photo book" and, best of all, the feature film Magnificent Thief, an expanded version of the pilot episode released theatrically overseas and eventually on video here in America.

The downside to this feature-laden mega-set is the price tag. SRP will set you back a whopping $199.98. Luckily, Amazon's got it available for pre-order at $179.99, and, even better, Walmart's currently offering it for just $98.96, a whopping 51% off!