DVD Trash Roundtable

Nick at DVD Trash kindly invited me to participate in his first roundtable along with a lot of other bloggers I greatly admire. He picked an interesting question, and everyone has cool things to say, so be sure to check it out. It's a great concept and I look forward to further roundtables.

Upcoming Spy DVDs: Man Hunt (1941)

Fox Home Video has announced Fritz Lang's WWII spy movie Man Hunt, starring Walter Pidgeon and George Sanders, for release on DVD May 19. This release has been rumored for over a year, but now it's actually happening! Man Hunt, based on the novel Rogue Male by Geoffrey Household, follows a British big game hunter (Pidgeon) who decides to put his talents to use by taking a shot at the biggest prize of all: Adolf Hitler. Upon returning to England, unsuccessful, he finds himself in a deadly cat-and-mouse game with Gestapo agents (including Sanders and John Carradine) who want him to sign a confession saying he was acting on behalf of the British government in his assassination attempt. Special features include the featurette "Rogue Male: The Making of Man Hunt," a trailer, a stills gallery and an audio commentary by film historian and author Patrick McGilligan. Retail is just $14.98.

Upcoming Spy DVDs: '90s Harry Palmer Collection In UK

Kees from the web's definitive Harry Palmer Movie Site has alerted me to a new release in England of the two 90s, Harry Alan Towers-produced Harry Palmer sequels. On April 20, Starz Home Entertainment will release The Harry Palmer Double Bill including Midnight in St. Petersburg and Bullet to Beijing, both starring Michael Caine and Jason Connery. While it was definitely cool to see Caine return to this wonderful character three decades later, the movies are pale imitations of the originals. It's the difference between, well, a Harry Saltzman production and a Harry Alan towers one. But they've got good casts (including Michael Gambon and Sue Lloyd) and completists will definitely want to pick them up. Furthermore, this looks like the highest quality release in an English-speaking country of these titles. (In America, all we've gotten are inferior bargain basement releases.) The artwork reflects the Swedish art.

Be sure to swing by Kees' site, as he's given it an attractive overhaul recently. On top of that, it's a great resource for any and all things Harry Palmer.

DVD Review: Return Of The Man From U.N.C.L.E.: The Fifteen Years Later Affair (1983)

DVD Review: Return Of The Man From U.N.C.L.E.: The Fifteen Years Later Affair (1983)

Return of the Man From U.N.C.L.E.: The Fifteen Years Later Affair isn’t a particularly good reunion movie. It’s full of very standard-issue 80s made-for-TV sub-James Bond spy antics. The show and the characters certainly deserved better. I recognize all of that. So why, then, did I enjoy it? That’s easy to answer. 1) It is a reunion movie, and reunion movies by their very nature are fun, even though they’re rarely good. I’m automatically attracted to them, and generally go into them with a lot of good will thanks to my love of the original show. Just watching Robert Vaughn and David McCallum together again on screen brought a smile to my face–even if an aggressively generic 80s synth score (by veteran series composer Gerald Fried, no less!) sometimes threatened to take it away. 2) Um, I happen to like standard-issue 80s made-for-TV sub-James Bond spy antics! (Despite their generally aggressively generic 80s synth scores.)

None of the major writers, directors or producers the original Man From U.N.C.L.E. series worked on this CBS TV movie (although Avengers vet Ray Austin directed), and it certainly shows. Instead of some of the more original plotlines the series delivered, we’re treated to a recycled Thunderball nuclear blackmail plot–which must have seemed particularly tired in 1983, the year that Thunderball itself was remade as Never Say Never Again! THRUSH, after apparently being dormant for a decade and a half, has emerged anew to steal an A-Bomb. (They do it over desert instead of water.) Now they want to hold U.N.C.L.E. and the United States at ransom. Actually, the Bond plot (hackneyed though it may be by this point) seems kind of appropriate, as the show’s producers treat this reunion movie as more of a general celebration of Sixties secret agents than U.N.C.L.E. in particular. And, as an avowed admirer of many Sixties secret agents, that’s fine by me.

Patrick Macnee shows up not as John Steed, but as new U.N.C.L.E. boss Sir John Raleigh, just taking the reins from the recently deceased Mr. Waverly. And the producers make the most of what was probably just a single day’s shooting with George Lazenby as James Bond. Oh, I’m sorry! I suppose I should say "JB." That’s how he’s credited (prominently)–and that’s what his license plate says. (Smooth, 007!) But from the moment his character shows up to aid Napoleon Solo in his familiar Silverbirch Aston Martin DB5, the movie forgets about Solo altogether and becomes a low-budget James Bond movie for a few minutes. Lazenby gets all the iconic Bond moments he was denied in his single official outing. He gets to drive a fully equipped DB5, participate in a gadget-laden chase (front-mounted rockets; rear-mounted water sprayers) and wear a white dinner jacket. He even gets to awkwardly cram in the line, "Shaken, not stirred" without ever leaving his car. And just in case we don’t get the reference, Gayle Hunnicutt (riding shotgun in Solo’s car) utters the words "On Her Majesty’s Secret Service." So there’s more to celebrate here than just The Man From U.N.C.L.E. (One suspects that writer Michael Sloan may have been more familiar with Bond than U.N.C.L.E. anyway, and just assumed they were exactly the same.) In what I like to think is another clever reference–but might in fact be just a happy accident–Lazenby drives past an orange Mach 1 Mustang fastback on the Vegas strip–the same car that Connery drove in that location in Diamonds Are Forever.



Anyway, getting back to the story, the first U.N.C.L.E. man on hand when the bomb goes missing is young 1980s hotshot Benjamin Kowalski. (See what happens when you don’t have Ian Fleming on hand to name your main characters, as he was for U.N.C.L.E. producers back in the 1960s?) Kowalski is rather transparent as a potential lead in a new U.N.C.L.E. series–and it’s just as well that didn’t happen because he lacks all the charm and charisma of the original series’ leads–as the villain of the piece is quick to point out! Kowalski shows initiative by interrogating former THRUSH agent Anthony Zerbe in a prison, and Zerbe takes him to task for his lack of style. He doesn’t like the new breed of U.N.C.L.E. agent, and tells him that Napoleon Solo would have asked the same questions, but with more panache–and Illya Kuryakin would have chilled his blood without saying a word. One can’t help but agree–and hunger for the movie to move on to their promised return!

Zerbe, of course, is perfect, as he always is in these roles. The only problem is that he’s playing someone with a history with Solo and Kuryakin (and a serious ax to grind with Solo)... so why cast one of the few ubiquitous Sixties guest stars who wasn't on the original series? It would have definitely been cooler if they’d gone with one of the actual masterminds Solo tackled with on the show. (What about Anne Francis? That would have been something!) No sooner is Kowalski done questioning him than Zerbe is busted out in a classic 80s TV prison break: a Hughes 500 helicopter buzzes into the rec yard and he clings to the runner.

Back at U.N.C.L.E., Sir John is having a bad first day. A ransom demand has turned up, and part of the demand is that it must be delivered by ex-U.N.C.L.E. agent Napoleon Solo. "Who is this guy?" asks Kowalski, incredulous, which naturally cues a reintroduction to the noticeably older but still undeniably suave Robert Vaughn. Once again exposing the writer’s preferences, Vaughn’s first shot is an homage to 007's introduction in Dr. No rather than a nod to any classic U.N.C.L.E. moment: he’s wearing a tux (even though he’s in gaudy Las Vegas, not an upscale London club) and playing poker.

"Care to raise your bet, Mr....?" inquires his opponent. Of course, we know who it is: Solo. Napoleon Solo. In a frilly tux. I know it’s supposed to be cool, but I kind of hate the notion that a retired Napoleon Solo would hang out in Vegas like every other retiree! It would have been classier to put him in Monte Carlo. Oh well. The movie makes up for that with a great nod to the original series, the sort that I imagine brought tears to the eyes of men who’d grown up on U.N.C.L.E. when it originally aired. When all attempts to reach Solo have failed, Macnee gets a thoughtful look and says, "I wonder... try Channel D" as he handles some familiar old technology. The message goes through, and Napoleon (who’s apparently hung onto his pen radio for sentimental reasons) gets it in the back room at Caesar’s Palace where he excuses the alarm as being a new battery in his pacemaker. (Come on; he’s not that old!) It’s great to see Napoleon Solo talking on the old communicator again–and just as awesome to see John Steed using U.N.C.L.E. technology!

Return of the Man From U.N.C.L.E. works best when alluding directly to the classic series, and there’s a humorous (if overlong) scene where Solo tries to enter U.N.C.L.E. Headquarters through the old entrance from Del Floria’s Tailor Shop. Needless to say, the new owner thinks he’s crazy.

But where’s Illya Kuryakin? For some reason, Napoleon and Ilya haven’t kept in touch since leaving U.N.C.L.E. as soon as the show ended, fifteen years prior. This seems odd to me. Raleigh informs Napoleon that Illya left under a cloud: he was betrayed, and a woman died. None of that seems very U.N.C.L.E., but it doesn’t matter too much because Napoleon tracks him down soon enough anyway. Illya’s become a fashion designer. Napoleon catches up with him in a restaurant, but the KGB catch up with Napoleon at the same time, mad about a ballerina he helped defect (Hunnicutt, familiar from multiple incarnations of The Saint, among other things). Ilya helps out his old partner in a predictable fight punctuated by some lame comedy. It then takes Napoleon a surprising amount of coaxing to lure Illya back into the fray, but he succeeds eventually. "For the sake of the world."

"Don’t throw the world at me," counters Illya, incredulous. "How many times did we save it?"

"Constantly, as I recall," says Napoleon. And it needs saving again, so the pair reunite long enough for a quick tour of headquarters ("What happened to all the beautiful women who used to work at U.N.C.L.E.?" wonders Illya) and a trip to Q Branch. (I did mention that Return owes more to Bond than U.N.C.L.E., didn’t I?) A bespectacled female Q named Z runs this low-rent lab, and she owes a lot to John Gardner’s slightly embarrassing "Q’ute" character from his Bond continuation novels of the time. She gives them grenade bullets and new guns (the old ones are in the Smithsonian now, much to Napoleon’s regret) and sends them on their way. Halfway through the running time of their reunion movie, Napoleon Solo and Illya Kuryakan are finally reunited on a mission... only to split up for the remainder of the movie. In the script’s biggest mistake, each of them is paired with a potential new lead (for the new series that never materialized out of this backdoor pilot) instead of with each other.

It seems strange that the original men from U.N.C.L.E. have been retired all this time, when they’re still perfectly capable agents. It’s also strange, and not very much in keeping with the original show, that Illya left the service in utter disillusionment. But those conceits allow for the expected reunion, however brief it turns out to be. David McCallum still looks great, but the years have been less kind to Robert Vaughn. Somehow, he manages to have aged more than all the other Sixties spies surrounding him, including Lazenby and Macnee–and also including Sean Connery and Roger Moore, both of whom were still capering around on the big screen as 007 at roughly the same age as him! Luckily, age suits Vaughn (he looks his career best in the current UK series Hustle), who remains as dignified as ever. Whatever age they are, and whatever contrivances it took to get them reunited, it’s definitely a treat to see Vaughn and McCallum back together. But The Fifteen Years Later Affair still amounts to a sub-par U.N.C.L.E. outing. It works much better as a tribute to all the spies of the Sixties, complete with a shoestring Bondian finale with U.N.C.L.E. commandos versus THRUSH henchmen, each in their own color-coordinated jumpsuits. As such, it's undeniably enjoyable. While it’s a must for U.N.C.L.E. fans, Return of the Man From U.N.C.L.E. also belongs on the shelves of James Bond fans, Avengers fans and spy fans in general. It’s a fascinating curiosity, and a portrait of a unique time in spy media history–the first pangs of nostalgia for the heyday of the 1960s.

New James Bond Book Out Today In America: Hurricane Gold

While the five-novel series has wrapped up now (for the time being, anyway) in Britain, Charlie Higson's fourth "Young Bond" James Bond novel, Hurricane Gold, is just hitting shelves today in the United States. Under an exciting painted dust jacket by artist Kev Walker, the Hyperion hardcover is a bargain at just $16.99. (Or, of course, much cheaper at various online outlets.) It should be easily findable at chains like Borders and Barnes & Noble, or at your local bookshop. Higson's take on the character may be aimed at young adult readers, but grown Bond fans will find them very rewarding reads. I was certainly dubious of this series at first, but Higson is a terrific writer and has created some wonderful James Bond novels–much better, in fact, than Sebastian Faulks' ill-advised but well-publicized stab at the franchise last year.

Read my full review of Hurricane Gold here.

Tradecraft: Spies On Horses

Some people think the Palmyra scenes in Never Say Never Again with Sean Connery jumping the horse off the castle are silly. Not Disney. They've just acquired the screen rights to a whole book about spies on horses. And it's based on a true story! And it's serious. The book is Horse Soldiers, by Doug Stanton, due out in May from Scribner. Variety summarizes it thusly: "Story revolves around a band of elite special forces and CIA operatives who secretly invaded Afghanistan post-9/11 on horseback and helped Afghan fighters capture the city of Mazar-i-Sharif and topple the Taliban.... The operatives helped orchestrate the invasion by bribing local warlords and using high-tech communications to coordinate the assault and equip the Afghan soldiers. They also held off an ambush during the surrender of hundreds of Taliban troops." Sounds exciting! I'm in.

Costumed Adventurer Week Wraps Up At Mister 8

The "Costumed Adventurer Week" concept that I started a month ago spiralled into much more than a week as it was picked up first by Spy Vibe, then Permission To Kill and finally by Armstrong Sabian at Mister 8. It was Armstrong's idea to perpetuate it beyond Double O Section to the rest of the COBRAS to begin with, and he's knocked the concept out of the park. While I looked at Eurospy/superhero hybrid movies, Armstrong focuses on spies in comic books. He covers some of my favorites, like Steranko's pre-Nick Fury Spyman, as well as educating us on comic book agents I'd long wanted to know more about (like T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents) or never even heard of (Werewolf)! Armstrong does it all with his usual panache, but then goes above and beyond by creating some cool graphics and even includes scans of entire issues for us to sample these fantastic spy comics of yesterday. Definitely check it out.

Catch up on all my original Costumed Adventurer Week coverage here, including reviews of Danger: Diabolik and Fantastic Argoman!

Albert R. Broccoli Centenary

Albert R. "Cubby" Broccoli would have been 100 today, and Chris Wright over at FelixLeiter.com has put together a really fantastic centenary tribute to the legendary James Bond producer. Even the design of his site has changed for the celebration! A number of illustrious members of the James Bond community (including Richard Kiel and David Hedison, among many others) have contributed essays and remembrances–and I'm honored to be among them. (I relied heavily on the autobiographies of Roger Moore and Broccoli himself, both essential reading for Bond fans.) Head on over there to read my piece and many others. I'm looking forward to reading them all!

Upcoming Spy DVDs: The 10th Victim

DVD Drive-In reports that Blue Underground will re-release the long-out-of-print, super-stylish Sixties classic The 10th Victim on July 28. The only special features will be the same ones available on the old Anchor Bay release (which currently commands high prices on Ebay), a trailer and talent bios. But Blue Underground's version clearly boasts a cooler cover! Elio Petri's slick satire stars Marcello Mastroianni and unbearably gorgeous Bond Girl Ursula Andress (in a wide variety of barely-there garbs) as rival assassins out to kill each other in an international competition, but–like Modesty Blaise and Casino Royale–it's better remembered for its sets and its fashions than its story. And for Ursula's gun barrel breasts, later aped in Austin Powers. Jason at Spy Vibe examined those fantastic costumes a few weeks ago as part of his costume series. Read his article here and watch the trailer at Blue Underground's site. Retail for the new disc is a bargain at $14.95.

New Poster For AMC's Prisoner Remake

Dark Horizons points the way to a cool new Number 2-centric poster for AMC's upcoming Prisoner TV remake at io9. The poster comes from the MiPTV conference in Cannes.

New DVDs Out Today: Sean Connery's Stab At Shakespeare

I had no idea that this was coming out! I had no idea that it had even survived the BBC's notorious policy of "wiping" tapes of old programs in the Sixties. It's not a spy movie, but it is one of the rarest, most sought-after (well, by me, at any rate... surely there are others?) early performances by the King of the Spies himself, Sir Sean Connery... as Hotspur! And, as reported by the LA Times (via CommanderBond.net), it's out on DVD in the United States today! (Courtesy of BBC/Warner.) Off the top of my head, I think this is Connery's only filmed take on the Bard. The Times offers up a brief description of Shakespeare's An Age of Kings, which was a fifteen-part BBC series compiling "eight of Shakespeare's historical plays -- all of "Richard II," both parts of "Henry IV" and "Henry V," all three parts of "Henry VI" and "Richard III" -- and spans the history of the British monarchy between 1377 to 1485." It aired in 1960 in England and 1961 in America, on public television. Like most British TV programming of its time, it was shot live on video in black and white, so don't expect Kenneth Branagh production values. Besides Connery, the series also features Bond vets Julian Glover and Judi Dench. Robert Hardy plays Prince Hal. The DVD retails for $49.98, though Amazon has it for $34.99.

DVD Review: Kiss Me Deadly: A Jacob Keane Assignment (2008)

I reported on Kiss Me Deadly: A Jacob Keane Assignment when it was first announced in the trades: a spy movie (co-starring the great John Rhys-Davies!) featuring a gay hero, made for the gay-oriented Here! Network–and potentially the beginning of a new franchise. I never got to see it on TV, though, and completely missed its DVD release late last year. I just discovered that it was on DVD when I came across its Amazon listing recently while searching for its classic (and fantastic) Mickey Spillane namesake–and I’m glad that I did. Kiss Me Deadly scratched an itch I’ve had for a while for more Robert Ludlum-type made-for-TV spy movies. I know, that’s a very specific itch, but it’s a corner of the genre in which I very much like to wallow! And, unfortunately, nobody makes miniseries anymore the way they did it in the 1980s. So TV movies and cable movies are the closest it’s possible to come. And gay hero or not, Kiss Me Deadly fits the bill for solid, low-budget spy entertainment.

Rather than cramming the conceit down audience's throats, the producers set out to make a spy movie first and foremost, in which it was almost beside the point that the hero was gay. They succeeded. For the most part, it plays just like a regular spy movie, but with a few more scenes than normal of the hero showering! In the making-of featurette, star Robert Gant (Queer As Folk) says, "I just love that it’s taking such a traditionally masculine icon and making him gay. A lot of people when they first hear about it think it’s going to be a comedy. And one of the things that I love is that we play it for real." Director Ron Oliver adds, "The trick to this film was to make sure it wasn’t campy. So we sort of veered away from any ‘hardy-har’ stuff, and we went dead serious." The technique paid off. Another telling fact revealed in Oliver's audio commentary is that the script, co-written by the writer of the second-ever episode of The Wild Wild West, among many other things, did not begin life with a gay protagonist. But just as using Honor Blackman in the early Avengers scripts that had been written for a man resulted in a truly liberated female character back in the Sixties, I think plugging a gay character into a role originally conceived as straight goes a long way to break new ground for gay characters today in traditionally hetero roles–and helps avoid any temptation to go for camp. The result is a compelling, believable and likable character (thanks to an engaging performance by Gant), and not a stereotype.

The action begins in East Berlin, 1989, just prior to the fall of the Berlin Wall with a pretty typical–and typically cool–spy setup: agent Jacob Keane (Gant) and his partner Marta (Shannon Doherty, in a truly horrible Sidney Bristow wig for some reason) sit in a battered old car on a cobbled, dimly lit street waiting for a defector to appear. Their third teammate, Jared (Fraser Brown) is perched high above, covering the transaction with a sniper rifle just in case anything goes wrong. Something does indeed go wrong–but its beyond salvage by a mere sniper. The mission is compromised, and the defector is killed.

Later, back in West Berlin, the trio (who work for an organization identified as NIA–Nato Intelligence) rendezvous with their boss, Yale (the always excellent John Rhys-Davies, whose many spy credits include The Living Daylights), as jubilant Berliners celebrate the destruction of the Wall. "I do believe we have just won the Cold War," declares Yale. Cynical, Keane wonders if that means they’ll no longer be needed. "There will always be an enemy," Yale reminds him somberly. "The NIA thinks maybe the Middle East. Oil."

Keane’s not happy with that. "When you recruited me, you promised Paris!" (I imagine many a real-life CIA agent has expressed similar sentiments.)

The credits roll (in the requisite Beepy TextTM) over an effective montage of (presumably cheap) news footage chronicling the next two decades. There are lots of Presidential soundbites, and shots of the destruction in New York and at the Pentagon on 9/11. The world has changed. So has Jacob Keane. When we meet him in the present day, he’s living the good life–the soft life, as a photographer–in Milan, with a committed boyfriend and a young daughter. That life is suddenly shattered when, out of the past, Marta leaves an urgent message for him on his answering machine. She’s coming to Milan, she’s in danger, and she needs him to meet him at the train station.

After dropping off his daughter with her lesbian mother, Keane races for the train station where he sees Marta looking out of it and being followed by a sinister looking fellow wearing a spy’s trench coat but sporting very unspylike bleach blond hair. Keane quickly incapacitates her pursuer, then whisks a baffled Marta off in his car. But she doesn’t know who he is, or who’s after her, or why. She’s got amnesia. As soon as he gets back to his luxurious apartment, Keane dials up his old bosses, cuing a prototypical blue-lit spy HQ environment. "I haven’t heard that line before," comments a newer techie.

"It’s an old analogue line!" explains a more experienced one. Keane has enough time to identify himself as "Nighthawk," but just then the bad guys show up at his front door and the chase is on!

So begins the setup for a classic Ludlumesque hunt across Europe with stops in Italy and Switzerland at the usual sorts of places: the country house of an old friend, a monastery, another train station and a cathedral. The movie was shot entirely in New Zealand, but I’ve got to admit: Aukland does an excellent job of filling in for Europe. (But not quite as good a job playing the Carribean later on.) The locations deliver everything that I expect of them in this type of international chase movie. The vehicles are there, too. Keane and Marta start out on his motorcycle, before changing to a classic red Mustang for the duration of the movie, including a chase scene with a Mercedes.

In trying to solve the mysteries of the present, Keane and Marta end up reconnecting with a lot of old faces from their past, including Yale (who now resides in the aforementioned monastery, attempting to atone for his former life). He delivers some crucial exposition (as such characters are wont to do) and they realize that the money that was paid to the defector back in 1989, ($10,000, plus interest), was never claimed and is presumably still sitting in the Swiss account into which it was initially deposited. (Yes, this is a rather unbelievable conceit, but this is the kind of movie where you just have to go with it.) Marta, Keane and Jared, each had a third of the pin number to access the account. That must be what the bad guys are after! Furthermore, Yale reveals that Marta appears to have been injected with a next-generation truth serum developed by the CIA which has the nasty side effect of erasing all memory from the subject after forcing them to spill the beans.

For now, though, the effect isn’t total... yet. Marta is still having some flashbacks: her and Keane making out. She asks him if they used to be lovers. "It’s complicated," he tries to explain.

"No, it’s not," she asserts. "Did we have sex?" Yes, he admits. It turns out that she was recruited for a very specific purpose, and that he was the honey trap who lured her in. He’s responsible for the direction her life took–and the dire situation in which she finds herself now. It weighs heavily on him. Then again, she may not be as innocent as he thinks. Certain clues lead Keane to question her loyalty as they press on. The villain (and the director admits on his commentary track that if you haven’t figured out who the villain is by the second reel, then you’ve probably never seen a spy movie before) makes things even more personal by killing Keane’s beloved boyfriend and kidnapping his young daughter (of course), setting up a high-stakes finale during which Keane will take another page out of Jason Bourne’s book for the old cell phone trick where the other guy says, "Where are you?" and the hero replies, "Turn around," revealing himself to be right behind him, pointing a gun.

Kiss Me Deadly is not the kind of movie you enjoy for its originality; it’s the kind of movie you enjoy for its familiarity. And in this genre, I do enjoy the familiar. The gay twist, however, does add the right ring of originality to the rigid Ludlum formula–just enough of it. It’s cool to see a slightly different spin on the spy hero. If you’re looking for a low budget, made-for-TV Robert Ludlum-type thriller, you could do a lot worse than Kiss Me Deadly. I hope Jacob Keane returns for other assignments.

Liberation Entertainment’s DVD actually presents a surprising amount of quality bonus material for a TV movie. For starters, there’s a pretty good trailer (viewable here) which gives you a decent taste of the movie and its Ludlumesque tone. There’s also the aforementioned making-of featurette, "Backlot," which is fairly extensive. Sure, it’s an EPK package with lots of the usual ego-stroking, but it also offers some really interesting insights on making a gay spy movie. "It’s been a dream of mine since I was a kid to play a spy," shares Gant. "I remember when I was coming out, thinking, ‘oh, this probably isn’t gonna be something that I get to do.' All the superheroes that I was going to play, I was thinking those were now beyond my reach. And all of a sudden, this project comes along.... that dream was fulfilled." He even teases a sequel, which I’d very much like to see happen.

Finally, director Ron Oliver contributes a highly entertaining commentary track. I was only planning to sample it, but got sucked into listening to the rather flamboyant raconteur. It’s one of the most gossipy commentaries I’ve ever heard–and also one of the most frank. Oliver knows what worked and what didn’t work in his film, and he’s good-natured about the failures. In fact, everything bad that I made a note of while watching, he calls out–starting with Shannon Doherty’s appalling wig in the opening ("Truly one of the most unfortunate wigs in cinema history," he says)! He even acknowledges that "the time thing" in the film doesn’t really work, given the actors’ ages and the supposed passage of two decades, but says they concluded "let’s just make it a good spy thriller and hope the time thing doesn’t bug anybody." The strategy paid off. He admits that one early scene is nothing but gratuitous tits and ass (as it obviously is), and does his best to disown it. He also disowns the shocking bleach job on that main henchman, acknowledging that it isn’t very spy-like and claiming the actor made that choice on his own and it was too late to do anything about it. He really sticks it to the poor art director (a first timer), and indeed points out some of his more laughable work. But overall, he sells the film short in that department, since the New Zealand locations really work well as Europe. Clearly, someone in the art department was on top of things!

Oliver is able to laugh off his film’s shortcomings, but his audio track is by no means negative. He ably conveys the fun that they had on set, calling the experience "a hoot," and he goes out of his way to credit the crew members who contributed to its success. (One particular driver seems to have been responsible to the point of saving the movie!) And, as is evident from his film itself, he knows his spy movies–including 007–not just his gay movies. He admits that "the notion here, of course, is to make Robert Gant into the next James Bond, a gay James Bond, if you will." There were some Bondian conceits, however, that he acknowledges don’t translate very well from straight to gay. In one scene, Keane seduces a young man in a club in order to set him up as a decoy. Oliver says it was their attempt at the casual seductions of minor Bond Girls, but admits that there’s simply no way not to come off as a bit sleazy whenever you have two men kissing in a public bathroom. (Maybe they could have put a bit more thought into their location!) Another Bondian scene fares better. Keane attempts to wash away his sorrows in the shower, and Oliver reveals that there was some talk about it being too similar to the scene in Casino Royale with Daniel Craig ("oh my God, he’s so hot!") in the shower. But he re-watched the scene and concluded that Bond was in a tux, so it was totally different.

I already liked Kiss Me Deadly: A Jacob Keane Assignment (within its budgetary limitations), but Oliver’s commentary bought it even more good will from me. It’s impossible not to share his enthusiasm for this enjoyable, Ludlumesque spy yarn.

Kaleidoscope Also Coming To Region 2 DVD In April

Earlier this week, it was announced that the 1966 mod spy classic Kaleidoscope would be made available on DVD in the United States on a made-to-order basis as part of Warner Brothers' new Warner Archive Collection. Now DVD Sleuth reports that it will also see release in Great Britain–as a "real" DVD. The Region 2 release comes courtesy of Digital Classics DVD. In addition to being real, the British DVD also has a way snazzier cover. It's unclear so far whether or not it's widescreen, though. The US release is, as you can see in the clip (featuring a lovely red Aston Martin) provided by Warner Bros. The Region 2 Kaleidoscope comes out on April 20, and is available to pre-order from Amazon.co.uk for the discounted price of £8.98.

Costumed Adventurer Week Lives On!

It began here a few weeks ago as one themed week that ended up running a bit longer than a week... but one week wasn't enough to contain the awesome might of Sixties spies who wear tights! The C.O.B.R.A.S. continue to perpetuate Costumed Adventurer Week. (Er, month?) After Jason's in-depth examination of the costume side of the equation at Spy Vibe last week, David Foster over at Permission To Kill is looking at some of the Sixties movies I didn't cover originally--and, true to the international mandate of his site, he's casting his net further afield than just Europe! Today he's got an intriguing look at the wild world of Batwoman, a Mexican mini-masterpiece of copyright infringement and costumed wrestlers. Okay, judging from David's review maybe "masterpiece" isn't the right word, but in keeping with the theme I wanted some good Stan Lee alliteration. I've always been curious about Batwoman, and I'm thankful to David for educating me further on it. Go on over and take a look. Earlier in the week, David did a round up of some of his older posts about masked supercriminals, as well as looking at the classic "Japoteurs" Superman cartoon from Max Fleischer and another member of the Diabolik/Kriminal school of Eurospy, Avenger X (aka Mister X).

Upcoming Spy DVDs: Burn Notice Season Two

TV Shows On DVD reports that Burn Notice: Season Two will hit DVD courtesy of Fox Home Entertainment on June 16, as previously rumored. The four-disc set will retail for $59.99 (although of course it can be found much cheaper), while a Blu-Ray version will be released the same day for ten dollars more. (Season One is not yet available on Blu-Ray.) Extras still aren't confirmed, but are expected to be in keeping with the fairly impressive features on the first season DVDs. The retailer write-up describes the show as "Miami Vice meets McGuyver," which I guess is kind of accurate, but other than the Miami setting and consequent color palette, there's not really too much Vice in Burn Notice. I think The Equalizer or Magnum, PI would be closer 80s matches. But perhaps the Sixties are a better decade to turn to to describe this show that way. I think the perfect logline can be made up from two ITC classics: it's The Saint meets The Prisoner in Miami. Like Simon Templar, Michael Westen uses his unique skill set to help those in need. He and his immediate family also have an uncanny ability to walk into trouble. But while he's doing all that helping, the former spy is also trying to figure out who "burned" him ("Who is Number One?") and escape from the idyllic location in which he finds himself prisoner. Perhaps Burn Notice doesn't quite achieve the esteemed summits of its illustrious forbears, but it's still a damn good show in its own right. I selected the first season of Burn Notice on DVD as my favorite spy TV DVD of last year.

The Prize Is Still In The Pipeline...

Representatives from Warner Home Video Theatrical conducted their annual online chat yesterday at the Home Theater Forum. Well, I say annual, but there actually wasn't one last year. In the previous year's chat, however (which I reported on at the time here), they had promised the 1963 Paul Newman/Elke Sommer spy movie The Prize in 2008. Well, that didn't happen. But they gave an update on it yesterday, assuring readers that, "The Prize is undergoing remastering at the moment. No date set yet." So... not much information, but at least we know it's still in production. The Prize may be a blatant Hitchcock wannabe (written by North By Northwest screenwriter Ernest Lehman, ripping himself off), but it's got Elke and it's a hell of a lot of fun... all of which makes it a classic in my book. So I'm excited to know that the studio is still working on it.

The other thing they had promised for 2008 that never came to be was a set of the black and white Saint movies, but there was sadly no update on those last night. (I wish I'd logged on in time to ask!) They did, however, promise that we'd see "all" the Tarzan movies in the near future, so hopefully this means an official release for the Sean Connery classic Tarzan's Greatest Adventure...

The Digital Bits has a full transcript of the chat.

New Spy DVDs Out This Week: Bond Bonanza!

I assume that a lot of readers of this site are probably like me. The months following the theatrical release of a new James Bond movie are always trying, because it eats at me that during those months my James Bond DVD collection is not complete. I no longer own all the movies. Quantum of Solace will never rank among my favorite Bonds (far from it, in fact), but that does nothing to quell my anxiety over not owning it. I'm a completist; I have a need to possess all of the James Bond movies for home viewing. So today, I can breathe a big sigh of relief along with legions of other Bond fans, because today is the day that Quantum of Solace becomes available for us to own, and once again our collections are complete. (Of course, now I can't wait until it's not complete again, because that will mean there's another new Bond movie out!)

Anyway, Quantum of Solace is available in several configurations. There's a single-disc bare-bones release, a two-disc version that includes a selection of making-of documentaries previously seen on TV in the UK, and a Blu-Ray that contains the same features. It should be noted that even the two-disc affair is not a "Special Edition"; it's just providing a few extra features to tide fans over. I don't see the point in complaining about the features, as MGM has been pretty up front with the fact that there will indeed be a more lavish Special Edition down the road (but can it possibly equal Son's fantastic Casino Royale one?). Mark Forster has even discussed recording the commentary track. So you know it's coming; no one's playing any tricks. But if you're like me, you can't possibly wait, and will need to own some version of Quantum of Solace as a stopgap until then! Target has an exclusive version that comes packaged with a miniature edition of the impressive DK photography book Bond On Set: Filming Quantum of Solace.

For those who were less than thrilled with Quantum of Solace, there are still plenty of other James Bond releases to thrill you today. Next up is the first ever Special Edition of Never Say Never Again, the 1983 renegade production that marked Sean Connery's return to the role. This Kevin McClory-produced remake of Thunderball certainly divides Bond fans, but personally I love it. And love it or hate it, anyone who likes Bond should be pleased to have a Special Edition. It's got one of the most interesting behind-the-scenes story of any Bond production, and hopefully Steven Jay Rubin's documentary on that will be as engrossing as Robert Sellers' fascinating book on the subject, The Battle For Bond. There's also a commentary from Rubin and director Irvin Kershner (The Empire Strikes Back) which I'm very much looking forward to hearing! This release is a joyous occasion, because just a few years ago an MGM Home Video rep said that we'd never see a Special Edition of this title, and that we were lucky to have any version on DVD! I'm glad that times have changed. For videophiles, this release is also available on Blu-Ray! (Can you believe we're getting Never Say Never Again on Blu-Ray before You Only Live Twice and Diamonds Are Forever???)

Speaking of Blu-Ray, today also sees the next wave of classic Bond catalog titles on the format. Moonraker, The World Is Not Enough and Goldfinger are available individually or together as James Bond Blu-Ray: Volume 3. Additionally, Best Buy has an exclusive fourth volume (in different packaging from the other three volumes, sure to irk obsessive-compulsives) containing Quantum of Solace, Licence To Kill and The Man With the Golden Gun. Not only is this a great deal at $59.99, but it's also the only way to get those last two titles for the time being. They don’t get released on their own until May 12.

And speaking of deals, Amazon has an unbeatable offer for today only: get the James Bond Ultimate Collector's Set of all the legitimate films from Dr. No through Casino Royale on DVD for just $89.95 (that's a whopping $200 off the list price for twenty-one double-disc DVDs) or the two previous volumes of Blu-Ray Bonds for just $64.95 (six movies in total, down from $180, if you can believe it). These offers end tonight.

Warner Bros. Makes Kaleidoscope Available NOW On DVD!

The Hollywood Reporter reports that Warner Bros.' home entertainment division "has come up with an innovative plan to allow custom ordering of 150 films never before released on DVD." They've created The Warner Archive Collection, which burns custom-made DVDs from the studio's library on demand. According to the trade, "upon the selection and purchase of a title -- at $19.95 per disc -- Warners will burn, package and ship the DVD to customers for receipt within an estimated five days." The plan is to release 20-30 new titles a month on the site, with more than 300 titles available by the end of the year. It's a great way to get studio-quality prints of hard-to-find titles legally, similar to Columbia's official "Bootleg Series" of rare Bob Dylan recordings, designed to combat the proliferation of bootlegs of the artist's music with better quality versions. I love this idea!

The only spy title I've discovered so far is the 1966 Warren Beatty film Kaleidoscope... but that's a pretty great one! The film takes the central device of Ian Fleming's novel Casino Royale: British Intelligence sends a man in to bankrupt an enemy by beating him at cards... and Kaleidoscope plays it straighter than the 1967 film of Casino Royale. Kaleidoscope is quite a fun little Swinging Sixties spy movie, co-starring Susannah York and the great spy character actor Clive Revill (Fathom, Modesty Blaise). Memorable Prisoner Number 2 Eric Porter plays the Le Chiffre role. It's certainly essential viewing for Ian Fleming fans for its unauthorized use of his famous plot, which was close enough to warrant coverage in the first published study of the Bond films, John Brosnan's James Bond in the Cinema.

With new titles being added monthly, hopefully some more spy titles will show up. (Other titles of interest to cult movie aficionados include the Anne Francis vehicle Brainstorm, the much sought-after Hammer thriller Crescendo and the 1975 Ron Ely movie of Doc Savage.) "With a cinematic legacy as rich and varied as that found within our library, the challenge has been to meet the voracious demand of consumers who are seeking their favorite films on DVD," Warner Home Video marketing maven George Feltenstein told the Hollywood Reporter. "But the advent of burn-to-order technology has solved the dilemma." I really hope that the model succeeds for Warner Brothers, and that other studios (and even private copyright holders) follow suit and open up their vaults. If that happens, there's a much greater likelihood of niche genre obscurities like Eurospy titles coming onto the market than through standard commercial DVD release.

What's still unclear, however, is what this means for the traditional market. Does the fact that Kaleidoscope is now available on demand mean that there will never be a full-fledged special edition DVD on the market? Probably. But if it sells really well, what then? I would imagine that WB would use online sales as an indicator of interest in titles, and that some might yet emerge in stores. For now, though, all that remains to be seen.

Paul Rudd: License To Sell

It turns out Duplicity (good as it is) isn’t the only movie of interest to spy fans opening this weekend. The Paul Rudd/Jason Segel comedy I Love You, Man contains a lengthy James Bond reference that pays off later in the film. While it’s just one joke in a very funny movie, it will be a big laugh-getter for Bond fans, so if you plan to see I Love You, Man, you may not want to read any further. For those who weren’t planning on seeing it or don’t mind spoiling the joke, read on for a summary. Rudd’s character, Peter Klaven (who has only had female friends all his life), is searching for a male best friend to be the best man at his impending wedding. Segel’s Sydney Fife seems like just the guy. Sydney accompanies him to shop for tuxes, and when Peter emerges from the dressing room wearing one, he pulls out his camera phone and tells him to strike an "action pose." Peter takes a vague running stance, which Sidney makes fun of. How is that a tuxedo action pose? The only time he’s ever seen someone in a tuxedo in that pose was on the posters for Runaway Bride. Peter still doesn’t know what he means, so Sydney exclaims, "You’re in a tux? What kind of action do you think I mean? Think James Bond." Peter attempts some awkward Bond poses, including a full pantomime of his version of the gun barrel twist. Sydney doesn’t like what he’s seeing, so he directs him to "think Timothy Dalton." That does the trick. "Ah, T-Dalt," says Peter, gripping his imaginary gun with two hands and assuming an approximation of Dalton’s Living Daylights/Licence To Kill teaser poster stance. A lot of attempts at Bondian lines delivered in a bad Sean Connery accent (that Sydney says sounds more like a leprechaun) ensue. The picture posing comes back to haunt (or reward) Peter later in the film when he finds that image of him used without his knowledge on a billboard with the slogan "License to sell."

Tradecraft: Zigzag And Smart

Agent Zigzag Gets Writer

Variety reports that Race To Witch Mountain co-writer Mark Bomback will pen the previously announced adaptation of Ben Macintyre's Agent Zigzag for Tom Hanks's company, Playtone. The book was acquired by New Line for Hanks to produce during a bidding war in 2007. Macintyre also wrote last year's Ian Fleming Centenary book For Your Eyes Only: Ian Fleming + James Bond. Agent Zigzag is the true story of a charming criminal who was trained by the Germans to spy on the British during WWII, but instead offered his services as a double agent to the British.

Smart Sequel Delayed

In an article about Get Smart director Pete Segal helming the Ben Stiller threequel Little Fockers, Variety mentions that the Smart sequel has been delayed: "Segal was expecting to return as the director of Get Smart 2 this year but became available when Steve Carell instead made a deal to team with Tina Fey in the Shawn Levy-directed comedy Date Night for Fox." The trade does make it clear, though, that Smart is still a priority for the director. "If the stars align, Segal will direct Little Fockers and have plenty of time to complete his work and be ready to helm Get Smart 2 for Warner Bros. and Village Roadshow Pictures."

More OSS 117 Sequel Details Emerge!

As we near the April 15 French release date, the website for OSS 117: Rio Doesn't Answer (sequel to the amazing period spy spoof OSS 117: Cairo Nest of Spies) has been heavily updated… with bikini girls and Mexican wrestlers, among other things! For starters, there's an awesome new poster that makes me want to see this movie right now!!! There are also new story details (OSS 117 teams up with a Mossad agent and tangles with another former Nazi on the trail of some microfilm, of course) plenty of exciting new pictures and, most informative, a quite lengthy interview (in French) with director Michel Hazanavicius. He discusses his reasons for changing the decade (the world has changed a lot in the twelves years between the two movies, but OSS 117 has not) and cites some of the mid- and late-Sixties films that particularly inspired him this time out. Those include On Her Majesty's Secret Service, The Thomas Crown Affair, Harper (with Paul Newman), That Man From Rio (with Belmondo), Tokyo Drifter and the Matt Helm series. He also speaks hopefully about a third film in the series, acknowledging at least that "for the moment, nobody's tired of the character."

More Hi-Res James Bond Blu-Ray Artwork

Fox have finally made available high-res artwork for the upcoming Blu-Ray release of Licence To Kill, due out on May 12 along with The Man With the Golden Gun. These two stragglers come hot on the heels of the three previously reported Blu-Ray Bond catalog titles released next week along with Quantum of Solace and Never Say Never Again.

Random Intelligence Dispatches For March 18, 2009

M:I:IV Still in the Cards?

Ain't It Cool has a story that doesn't really contain any specific news, but does confirm that Tom Cruise is still interested in perpetuating his Mission: Impossible franchise. The gist is that Cruise says he's working on a story for the fourth installment. (Surely what he means is that he's working with a writer on the story?)

Clemens Remade

Avengers mastermind Brian Clemens will see one of his early Seventies theatrical thrillers remade. The Hollywood Reporter reports that Karl Urban has joined the cast of a remake of Clemens' creepy classic And Soon the Darkness (co-written with frequent ITC contributor Terry Nation and directed by Avengers director Robert Fuest). Amber Heard and Odette Yustman star, and the action has been moved from France to Argentina but the plot (involving a girl who disappears while on a bike trip abroad) remains the same. The trade doesn't mention Clemens or Nation or Fuest in their story.

New Young Bond Paperback Out in America

The Young Bond Dossier reports that Charlie Higson's third James Bond novel, Double Or Die(full review here), has been released in paperback in the United States. This comes hot on the heels of re-covered reissues of the first two books a week ago. You should be able to find them all at your local bookstore! The hardcover edition of the fourth volume, Hurricane Gold, is set to hit American stores in a few weeks.

In another article of interest at YBD, Zencat mentions that the success of the Young Bond novels for Puffin in England has prompted rival publisher Macmillan to emulate the formula with a series of officially-sanctioned Young Sherlock Holmes novels. This has no relation to the Steven Spielberg-produced movie of that name; it's an original series of books by Andrew Lane. Three have been commissioned. I hope Lane's good, because the reason for the success of Young Bond isn't the concept (which could have easily turned out as terrible as it sounds on paper), but Charlie Higson, who pulled it off brilliantly!

Costumed Adventurer Week Wrap-Up

So I finally finished my first themed week. From the very earliest beginnings of this blog back in 2006, it's been my plan to do themed weeks. And, two and a half years later, I finally got around to doing one! And it only took about a week and a half to do. Ah, so I didn't quite cram it all into a real week. Oh well. At least I finished. (I have so many scraps of unfinished theme weeks littering my computer!) In the future, I'll be sure to have everything written in advance of starting such an event. In this case, trying to tie it in with the opening of Watchmen precluded that... but then again, it did force me to actually do it! And I'm pretty happy with the way things turned out. For those who came in late (and for the sake of posterity, and easy linking in the future), I'll briefly recap.

In my introduction to Costumed Adventurer Week, I attempted to situate the Sixties European superhero subgenre within the broader Eurospy framework with the help of a pair of posters for Fantastic Argoman, one marketing the picture as a superhero movie and the other as a spy flick. The posters are worth checking out.

Fantastic Argoman was the first movie I watched for Costumed Adventurer Week, and it turned out to be a great beginning! It's still my favorite of the cape-and-tights set.

Of course, there's a whole other kind of costumed adventurer prevalent in this era, one who prefers masks and all-black bodysuits. For my second entry, I examined the granddaddy of this breed, and could hardly stop writing about Danger: Diabolik, one of my all-time favorites.

On the other hand, I could barely write anything about Fenomenal And The Treasure Of Tutankaman, it was so convoluted.

I thoroughly enjoyed Flashman, though, in a beautiful new transfer courtesy of Fin de Siecle Media...

Then I suffered through Satanik, which didn't even really qualify for the Costumed Adventurer label...

...before ending things on a higher note with a double review of Kriminal and Mark of Kriminal, whose awesome conclusion made the ideal finale to the week.

If you watch only one of these movies, make it Danger: Diabolik. If you've already seen that (which hopefully you have!), then try Fantastic Argoman. Avoid Satanik and Fenomenal unless you're a hopeless completist or an unrepentant masochist. In any event, thanks for bearing with me on my little exploration! I hope you've enjoyed it.

If you did enjoy the premise, there's good news: Costumed Adventurer Week lives on! Jason Whiton over at Spy Vibe is going to focus on the Costume part all this week (fashion fans, do not miss this!), and in two weeks Armstrong Sabian will wrap things up with an examination of the Adventurer part at Mister 8. (No, don't worry; I don't mean Gene Barry; I mean comic book heroes!) In the middle, David Foster at Permission To Kill will offer his own highly entertaining and informative opinions of some of the same films I covered, and probably some different ones as well. Then sometime in the distant future, I hope to revisit the concept myself, seeing as there are so many intriguing entries I didn't get to this time, from Mister X and Superargo to 3 Fantastic Superman and the Fantomas saga... It will be fun. In the meantime, shoot on over to Spy Vibe!