R.I.P. Susannah York

The AP reports that Susannah York, the vivacious British actress who epitomized the Swinging Sixties, has passed away from cancer at 72.  Since spy movies were a fixture of that decade and its Swingingness, it's unsurprising that she starred in quite a few.  My favorite of York's forays into the genre was Kaleidoscope, which also starred Warren Beatty and Clive Revill.  While technically more of a caper movie (the jet-setting, European-set variety that's just one small degree removed from the spy genre anyway), Kaleidoscope actually borrows so much of its plot from Ian Fleming's novel Casino Royale that some Bond fans consider it an unofficial adaptation.  It certainly uses as many elements as any of the three legitimate versions, and adds as many of its own as either of the features as well.  But the best thing it has going for it is that awesome Sixties vibe, embodied as much by York's irrepressible, mini-skirted character as by the costume and set design. That same year, she made a similar (and equally entertaining) Euro-caper, Duffy, opposite James Coburn. York also lent her talents to Sebastian (1968), playing a sassy, sexy codebreaker who wins the heart of boss Dirk Bogarde, and co-starred twice opposite Roger Moore, in Peter Hunt's South African mining adventure Gold (1974) and the international-arms-dealing-romantic-comedy (an odd genre curiously neglected over the years) That Lucky Touch (1975).  I haven't seen the latter, though Moore himself deemed it awful enough to go out of his way making excuses for it in his autobiography. Still, with Moore and York it can't be that bad, can it?  Moore wasn't her only Bondian co-star, either; she acted with Sean Connery in a decidedly non-spy role, a BBC version of "The Crucible."

Despite all these spy roles, York will probably be better remembered for movies like Tom Jones, A Man For All Seasons, The Killing of Sister George, Superman and an Oscar-nominated turn in They Shoot Horses, Don't They? I'll always think of her, though, as the spirit of the Swinging Sixties–an era trapped in time but possibly better preserved on film than any other, thanks in part to York's performances.

Tradecraft: Gray on Gray

Deadline reports that James Gray (Little Odessa, Two Lovers) has been tapped to direct The Gray Man, an international spy thriller based on a novel by Mark Greaney (the first in a series) that we first heard about last May, when Adam Cozad (who also took a crack at the forthcoming Jack Ryan reboot) landed the writing gig. Today's Deadline story gives a fuller logline than we had before: "Targeted by a powerful multinational corporation, a former CIA operative-turned ultimate assassin must fight his way across Europe and past special forces teams from around the world in order to save the life of his handler and the handler's family."

Gray recognizes that he's in Bourne territory, but wants to take a different approach to this sort of material than Paul Greengrass did on The Bourne Supremacy and The Bourne Ultimatum (review here). Gray tells the trade blog, "What he did was a documentary-style objective approach, and he owns that style. I want to do the opposite." Rather than taking the man-in-the-street, cinema verite perspective that Greengrass famously uses, he plans to tell the story from the point of view of the assassin.  He goes on to describe a sequence in his film We Own the Night witnessed from Joaquin Phoenix's perspective in the backseat of a car. "Almost every shot was from Joaquin's point of view, inside that car, and I want to make a whole movie with that POV." He feels that approach is a good way to sympathize with a professional killer. "You humanize him by never distancing yourself from his experience. This story has emotional stakes that enable me to do that."

Hm. Like most people, I haven't seen We Own the Night, so I'm not quite sure what he's talking about here.  Does he intend to shoot the entire movie in a first-person style, like Robert Montgomery's Lady in the Lake (or Orson Welles' unrealized Heart of Darkness) so that we only ever see the lead actor in mirrors and whatnot?  Or does he just mean he'll keep the camera close to his protagonist?  I'm actually a fan of the subjective camera style in Lady in the Lake (and eager to watch Gaspar Noe's Enter the Void, which embraces it) and see a lot of potential for it in other genres, but I can't quite picture an entire action movie shot that way.  I also don't see it as being as opposite of Paul Greengrass's style as Gray does. There are occasions (especially in Green Zone) when Greengrass's camera appears to give viewers a nearly first-person glimpse of the action. Well, I'm certainly curious about this approach, and curious to see where Gray goes with it...

Another Twilight Star Turns to Spying

Ready for it? Deadline reports that ubiquitous werewolf teen heartthrob Taylor Lautner will receive eight figures to star in "an as-yet-unnamed international spy thriller set up at New Regency" described as “The Bourne Identity for the next generation.” (Of course it is! You can't pitch a spy movie in this day and age without putting the word "Bourne" in there somewhere.) Upon reading that much, I was hoping it would be a remake of If Looks Could Kill (that would be pretty cool, wouldn't it?), but according to the trade blog, "the story is loosely"–and I bet that "loosely" is the operative word!–"based on the exploits of Juval Aviv, a former Israeli Mossad agent who was the inspiration for Steven Spielberg’s Academy Award-nominated Munich." Presumably, this will be a Mossad agent with a penchant for cut-off jeans–or at least an aversion to shirts. Not only will he star; Lautner (who will be 19 next month) will also produce, along with New Regency's Alexandra Milchan.

Last year we learned that Lautner's Twilight co-star Jackson Rathbone was starring in a McG-produced web series about a spy school called Aim High. (I guess that seems kind of small potatoes compared to an eight-figure payday for a big international spy thriller. Oh well; I'm excited about Aim High.) Now Robert Pattinson (who starred opposite Pierce Brosnan in Remember Me) just needs to get himself a spy movie for a Spylight trifecta! I know that would actually get my sister into the theater for a spy movie on opening day. Maybe this Lautner vehicle will have the same effect, broadening the spy audience to giddy fangirls...

Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol Has a Carnival

Speaking of Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol (which we were earlier today), some more set photos have turned up! I don't know about you, but I love spy movies with carnivals in them. I think Thunderball started the trend with the Junkanoo, but the tradition lived on healthily not only in Eurospy imitators (any spy movie that takes place in Rio takes place during Carnival!), but also in the Bond series itself (On Her Majesty's Secret Service, Moonraker, even the New Orleans funeral in Live and Let Die).  And now the Tom Cruise Mission: Impossible film series gets its first street carnival, judging from these on-set pictures at Italian movie site Film.it (via Dark Horizons). Filming is taking place in Vancouver, but it's unclear at this time whether or not Vancouver is playing itself or not. I'm not sure what carnival this is, but a little Googling reveals that Vancouver has a Winter Solstice Festival celebrating the return of the light in December. That timing would seem to work out. Either way, looks like a cool scene.  I wonder if its an IMAX one?

Tradecraft: Mission: Impossible - IMAX Protocol

Who says Tom Cruise isn't big anymore?  He'll be bigger than ever this fall, thanks to a deal announced today between Paramount and IMAX, who will debut Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol on their enormous screens (and their annoying not-so-enormous-but-equally-expensive ones, presumably) day-and-date with its regular release on December 16, 2011.  But this isn't just a regular movie playing on a big screen, which is fairly common these days.  No, like Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight, Brad Bird's Mission: Impossible sequel will boast sequences specifically shot for the larger-than-life format. Here's the pertinant bit from a press release reprinted on Deadline: "Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol continues the legacy of The Dark Knight and its revolutionary integration of IMAX original footage as this fourth chapter in the Mission: Impossible franchise will feature scenes shot with IMAX cameras. These specific sequences, exclusively in IMAX, will expand on the screen and further immerse the audience in the explosive action and vast scope of the film."  Cool!  I don't generally like traveling the extra distance and paying the extra price just to see regular movies in IMAX (even 3D ones), but if it's got scenes specifically shot for it, that's a different story! I loved watching the picture open up for the big action sequences in The Dark Knight, and I'll definitely be lining up and shelling out to see Ethan Hunt and his cronies on the super-big screen. With filming nearly wrapped, I'm surprised this is the first we're hearing of the use of IMAX cameras.

For more on Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol, click here.

Eurospy-Inspired Jenny Lewis Video

I'm a huge fan of singer Jenny Lewis and her band, Rilo Kiley, but it was actually Armstrong Sabian of Mister 8 who first called my attention to this Eurospy-flavored music video for her solo song "See Fernando" (from the album Acid Tongue) well over a year ago.  I meant to post it back then, but... didn't.  That happens sometimes. A discussion on the Eurospy Forum yesterday prompted me to finally do so.  The DIY Eurospy style is somewhat reminiscent of the retro parody film Scream of the Bikini. It's a really cool video.

New Spy DVDs Media Out This Week

I don't think there are any new spy DVDs out this week, and there's only one new spy Blu-ray–one that's already been available on DVD for a while.  But whatever format you watch it on, it's an undeniable classic! The Criterion release of Jean-Pierre Melville's 1969 wartime spy classic Army of Shadows, drawn from the director's own real-life experiences in the French resistance, gets the Blu-ray treatment this week with all the same excellent special features as the DVD edition, including an engrossing commentary with film historian Ginette Vincendeau, new interviews withe the editor and cinematographer, and behind-the-scenes material culled from French TV at the time of the film's production. Retail is a steep $39.99, but of course you can find it for cheaper than that. The new Blu-ray is actually cheaper on Amazon right now than the DVD, at just $27.99.

Also out today from AudioGO Ltd., is a cool-looking box set collection of all of BBC Radio 4's Smiley radio dramas first broadcast in 2009, The Collected George Smiley Radio Dramas: Eight BBC Full-Cast Productions Starring Simon Russell Beale.  The well-received radioplays star Simon Russell Beale (who's supposedly up for a role in the next Bond movie) as John Le Carré's most famous literary creation, unassuming spymaster George Smiley.  The box set includes adaptations of every single novel the character appears in–even when he's not the lead: "Call For the Dead," "A Murder of Quality," "The Spy Who Came in From the Cold," "The Looking Glass War," the epic "Karla Trilogy" including "Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy" (possibly my favorite spy novel of all time, of which I'm always keen to see/hear a new adaptation), "The Honourable Schoolboy" and "Smiley's People," and the epilogue to Smiley's career, "The Secret Pilgrim."  All that adds up to 2.8 pounds and over 20 hours of grim and gritty espionage and intrigue!  Sounds worth the $139.95 list price, though Amazon currently has it at a substantial discount for just $88.17.

Tradecraft: MGM Plots Year-Long James Bond Anniversary Celebration For 2012

Variety offers a few additional intriguing details on today's earlier story about the long-delayed next James Bond movie (Number 23 in the official chronology) finally starting production.  Notably, the trade reports that "MGM, which received a cash infusion last month of $500 million, had been expected to move quickly to lock down Craig and Mendes for the project in order to take advantage of the 50th anniversary of the Bond franchise.  MGM has already been working up plans for a 2012 yearlong commemoration of the golden anniversary of the first Bond pic, 1962's Doctor No." I like the sound of that!  Presumably at the very least that "yearlong commemoration" will see the remaining titles finally released on Blu-ray, but what else does it hold? Theatrical re-releases?  New books?  (You can bet on that!)  More toys?  (Action figures, please!)  What else?  I can't wait to see! Hopefully they'll pull out all the stops. Variety also backs Sony as the most likely distributor for Bond 23: "Insiders believe MGM may turn to Sony for co-financing, as it did on Casino Royale and Quantum of Solace, or sell off some major foreign territories." 

For all the details on today's announcement, see "James Bond is Back in Action!"

James Bond is Back in Action!

I've deliberately refrained from reporting any of the myriad rumors that have swirled around the next James Bond movie since EON Productions officially put it on hold last year until we heard an official announcement from EON.  And today, we have it!  As promised at the end of Quantum of Solace (as always), James Bond will return!  And so will Daniel Craig, fortunately.  (Some had feared that the long delay imposed by MGM's financial woes might have relegated him to a two-time Bond status, as happened to poor Timothy Dalton in the Nineties.) According to Deadline, EON's Michael G. Wilson and Barbara Broccoli issued a joint statement today with Gary Barber and Roger Birnbaum, the new Co-Chairmen and CEOs of MGM revealing that Bond 23 will now proceed with Craig and director Sam Mendes (who was announced last spring but only officially attached as a "creative consultant" so as not to tie the franchise to the sinking MGM anymore than it already was) still attached.  The long production hiatus did unfortunately cost the film screenwriter Peter Morgan (whose involvement I was quite excited about), but instead the estimable John Logan will join Bond mainstays Neil Purvis and Robert Wade on scripting duties.  Northwestern alumnus Logan (I have to give a shout out to the alma mater!) has written plenty of high-profile movies, like Gladiator, Sweeny Todd, Star Trek: Nemesis, and the upcoming Martin Scorsese movie Hugo Cabret.

Filming will begin later this year for a release date of November 9, 2012.  The trade blog reports that casting may already be underway, which would gel with the persistent rumors of late that regular Mendes collaborator Simon Russell Beale (who portrayed George Smiley in a series of BBC radioplays based on all of John Le Carré's books about the character) will be a part of the film. 

Still unclear is who will distribute the next Bond film.  My understanding is that the restructured MGM will function only as a production entity, seeking distribution partners for each of its films.  (It was recently announced that Warner Bros. will take over international distribution on MGM's other high-profile project also long delayed by the bankruptcy proceedings, The Hobbit.)  Sony would seem like the obvious choice, having partnered with MGM on both previous Daniel Craig Bond films.  Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson are said to have enjoyed their working relationship with Sony's Amy Pascal.  However, Deadline speculates that it could be anyone.  Fox is also a logical prospect, as they distribute the Bond DVDs.  But even Warner Bros. or Paramount might make a play for the franchise.  Still, now that the ball is officially rolling, I expect further announcements about casting and distributors can't be too far off.  Stay tuned!

The Best Of 2010

Happy New Year!  So I'm a week late with this post, but it was worth it. I enjoyed my unintended blog vacation leading up to the real New Year, and now I'm back fully refreshed and ready for another great year of blogging, starting with a wrap-up of the past year and then continuing tomorrow with a look ahead at all the great spy stuff in store for 2011. 

The Best Spy Movies of 2010

2010 really spoiled spy fans; it was nothing if not a year full of movies in our genre!  And even ones that weren't quite spy movies themselves (like Inception, Iron Man 2, The A-Team and The Expendables (review here) to name just a few) tended to feature heavy spy aspects.  It was, however, a somewhat surprising year.  Going into 2010, Salt was probably the spy movie I was most eagerly anticipating, and it turned out to be a disappointment to me. (Read my full review here.) After covering its long and winding road to production, I also fully expected The Tourist to be a likely candidate for this year-end Best Of list, with its truly impressive pedigree including director Florian Henckel Von Donnersmarck (The Lives of Others, one of my favorite spy movies of the past decade), the incomparable Timothy Dalton and probably the two hottest stars in the world, Johnny Depp and Angelina Jolie.  I didn't hate The Tourist like a lot of people did.  Far from it, in fact; while I fully recognize and understand why so many people had bad reactions to it, I enjoyed it.  But not on the level that I expected to this time last year.  Not on a level that will earn it a place in this post. 

Conversely, some movies that I didn't have much hope for ended up entertaining me quite considerably. From Paris With Love was a real surprise.  The trailers had me really expecting the worst, as did John Travolta's mere presence.  I really saw it out of obligation (I can't pass up a spy movie... except Killers, I guess; I missed that one), but ended up having a great time and especially loving Travolta's performance.  (Read my full review here.) Likewise, Knight and Day's trailers never really gelled for me, but found the movie itself quite enjoyable in a light and fluffy way. (Review here.) I wasn't alone in that, either: Knight and Day didn't manage to crack my own Top 10 movies of the year (below), but it made Quentin Tarantino's Top 20!

So what were my favorite new spy movies last year? With one exception, I tended to gravitate toward grittier, more serious fare this year than the light-hearted stuff like Knight and Day and From Paris With Love and RED (review here), another one I definitely enjoyed.

1. Green Zone
It was an early favorite, and remained my favorite spy movie of the year at the year's end.  Bourne star and director Matt Damon and Paul Greengrass re-team for their best collaboration yet.  Despite the historical setting (well, 2004, which is actually the same year their first Bourne movie, The Bourne Supremacy, took place–and that wasn't a period piece...), Green Zone might as well be a fourth Bourne film.  It's got all the action and all the nail-biting suspense of that series, along with a plot that, like the Bourne films, tricks you into thinking its meatier than it really is, but turns out to be the perfect frame on which to hang spectacular setpieces.  I don't enjoy the shaky camera, put-you-in-the-middle-of-it style in anyone else's hands other than Greengrass's, but he has truly mastered that technique.  Each film he makes in the action/spy genre is an improvement on the one that came before it. I loved The Bourne Ultimatum (in fact, it's the only film in that series that I've truly loved), but Green Zone is even better.  If you haven't seen it yet, make sure you do.  Read my full review here.

2. OSS 117: Lost in Rio
This hilarious send-up of Sixties spy movies meticulously recreates the era not only in costume and set decoration, but also in filmmaking techniques. It's the rare sequel that's almost as good as its predecessor, and one of the funniest spy comedies ever.  Really, I've written so much about this movie in the last two years (it came out in France in 2009) that readers are probably sick of hearing about it, but if you haven't yet seen it, be sure to seek out the DVD.  Read my DVD review here and my full film review here. 

3. The Ghost Writer
It took a second viewing for me to recognize this as truly one of the best of the year, but Roman Polanski's moody thriller is as solid a suspense film as it is a character study. It also features Pierce Brosnan's best performance since The Matador, and I really hope he gets a Best Supporting Actor Oscar nomination for it (though it seems like a long shot). Read my review here.

Honorable Mention: Fair Game
Bourne Identity director Doug Liman hones in on what's always struck me as the real drama of the Valerie Plame affair: the spy story at the heart of the issue.  What makes this film remarkable, though, isn't its subject matter or even the riveting lead performance by Naomi Watts; it's the way that Liman manages to redefine the serious side of of the spy genre sometimes referred to as the "Desk Spy" story. Using the same sort of hand-held techniques that put us in the middle of a car chase in his Bourne film, Liman lends the same immediacy and urgency to scenes in cramped Langley conference rooms–and it's exciting. I'd love to see this guy take a crack at Le Carré.

So where do these three spy movies rank overall? Just for fun I'm going to also post my Top 10 movies of the year–spy or otherwise.  There are a few biggies I still haven't seen, but from what I have there were easily enough to fill out ten spots. A lot of people are complaining this year as they do every year that it's been a lousy year for movies.  I couldn't disagree more.  In the last few years I've tried to make a Top 10 list (not posted here), I haven't been able to come up with ten. This year I could easily go to fifteen. 2010 wasn't just a great year for spy movies; it was a great year for movies.

The Best Movies of 2010

1. Black Swan
2. Inception
3. The Social Network
4. Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World
5. Green Zone
6. The Ghost Writer
7. True Grit
8. OSS 117: Lost in Rio
9. The Kids Are All Right
10. Fair Game

Honorable Mention
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1

Toy Story 3

The Best Spy Television of 2010

1. Archer
I just love everything about this show. On one level, it's a very funny (and very offensive; as I've said before, it's definitely not for all tastes!) adult workplace comedy about a very dysfunctional family of spies. On another, it's a great spy send-up. And on a third (and my personal favorite), it's a beautifully designed, beautifully animated retro spy show. I just love the look of Archer! The FX animated sitcom takes place in a sort of Cold War Never-Never World, where modern computers co-exist with Cold War tensions (the ideal backdrop for a spy story, in my opinion) and the style of the day is anything that looks good, from Sixties suits of the sorts Connery wore to Eighties Aston Martins like Dalton drove. Archer is one stylish comedy!

2. Covert Affairs
It's funny, but both of my favorite spy shows in a year fairly rife with spy shows approach the genre from a workplace perspective. Archer is a workplace comedy, and USA's Covert Affairs is more of a workplace dramady, focusing as much on Annie Walker's (Piper Parabo) relationships with her co-workers and their sometimes skillful navigation of bitter office politics. And the best thing about Covert Affairs (and a rarity on American TV shows) is that when I say "relationships with her co-workers," I don't mean it in a sexual sense! On Alias, everyone in the CIA's Los Angeles bureau (another thing I like about Covert Affairs is that it's a rare show that actually situates the CIA in Langley and not the scenic and convenient West Coast!) was either family or sleeping together. And on 24, the soap opera drama between co-workers was absolutely ludicrous, and actually ruined many a season of the show for me.  Covert Affairs doesn't ring as true as UK shows like The Sandbaggers or Smiley's People, but it rings much truer than you would ever expect from USA, a network known primarily for its escapist fare. (And Covert Affairs does offer that side, as well.) I'm really looking forward to Season 2. Read my review of the pilot here.

3. Sherlock
This was probably my favorite TV of the year overall, but since the spy aspect is fairly minimal I couldn't rank it as the top spy show. With Steven Moffat and the great Mark Gatiss (author of the Lucifer Box spy novels I enjoyed so much) at the helm, I fully expected to love this show... and it delivered on my every expectation and then some! The notion of setting Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson in modern London is brilliant in its simplicity. It worked wonderfully for Basil Rathbone during WWII; why shouldn't it work now? In fact, it works even better now. While the Rathbone films (which are wonderful) basically ignore their contemporary times except for the Nazi bad guys they afford and keep the characters in adventures that might as well be Victorian, Sherlock embraces the modern age and all of the technology it brings with it–all while managing to remain as true to Conan Doyle as any adaptation to date. It's quite an amazing feat! Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman play Holmes and Watson–sorry, Sherlock and John–absolutely true to the text, and without the distraction of Victorian trappings, those timeless characterizations really shine. The spy aspect comes (as it does in the books) from Sherlock's brother, Mycroft, who occupies a mysterious government position. Sherlock is great television and great Holmes. My only gripe is the ridiculously short (even by British standards!) season length of a mere three episodes!

Most Improved: Rubicon and Nikita
Instead of "Honorable Mention," I've opted for "Most Improved," because neither of these very different spy series started out particularly promising. As with Undercovers, I went easy on Nikita's generally lacklustre pilot (review here) because I saw some potential. Unlike Undercovers, Nikita's producers eventually figured out how to mine that potential. Halfway through they year, I'm definitely glad that I decided to stick with Nikita. It's never going to be top-tier spy television, but it is quite entertaining and much more complex than I initially expected from The CW. Whereas Nikita is sexy, ephemeral spy TV, AMC's Rubicon was intelligent, slow-paced spy TV. Perhaps too slowly paced. The first half of the season moved like molasses, and it wouldn't be too much of an understatement to say that nothing happened. But the characters were great as were the actors, so I stuck with it, and again I was rewarded. There was a change of showrunner and the cliched, boring conspiracy storyline (which never really went anywhere) eventually took a back seat to the far more interesting day-to-day operations of a private New York-based intelligence think tank, which was interesting. The last three or four episodes were genuinely riveting... but that's just when AMC decided to cancel the series. Too bad. Thanks to the improvements along the way for Season 1, a second season promised to be great.

Least Improved: Undercovers
Sadly, J.J. Abrams' Undercovers, which I had been quite excited about, failed to significantly improve and has subsequently been cancelled.  The pilot (review here) was a definite letdown, but I didn't hate it.  I saw some potential, but the show's writers never really exploited that.  Some of the most recent episodes, like "Leo's Lost Night," did actually show some improvement, but not nearly enough. Undercovers was probably the big disappointment of 2010 in the spy genre. 

The Best Spy DVDs of 2010

Best Overall DVD: Callan: The Monochrome Years
Network's Region 2 PAL release of the earliest surviving episodes of the seminal Sixties UK spy series Callan, starring Edward Woodward, is–rather atypically for the company–bereft of any significant special features. Yet it still gets my pick for the best spy DVD release of the year, purely because its momentous historical significance in the genre. Network's set includes all surviving episodes from the first two seasons of the series, plus the original pilot which aired as part of Armchair Theatre.These early black and white episodes have never had a legitimate home video release before anywhere in the world–and they're some of the best spy television ever filmed. Or rather, videotaped. This release is a godsend for spy fans everywhere. With television this good, you don't even need special features. Read my full review here.

Best Region 1 DVD: Scarecrow and Mrs. King
And for best R1 release, I'm also going with something without special features, surprisingly. There just weren't any amazing, feature-laden spy DVDs along the lines of that Casino Royale Collector's Edition this year. Scarecrow and Mrs. King is not an essential series like Callan (and certainly not as good), but it is a fun, fluffy series that I was very happy to see for the first time on DVD. It's pretty much the only hit American spy series of the Eighties, so it does have historical value too.  It's a show I thoroughly enjoyed, and I never would have had the chance to do so were it not for this Warner release. I can't wait for Season 2 coming in 2011! Read my full, epic review of Season 1 here.

Best Special Features: The Avengers Special Editions Series 3-6
Now it may be somewhat controversial to list releases that have been so rife with technical flaws on a Best Of list, but when it comes to special features, I find no fault whatsoever with Optimum's amazing remastered Avengers seasons. Furthermore, getting my own copies a few months after the release dates in each case, I've managed to avoid the rather extreme audio and visual hiccups that have plagued set after set. (It's also my understanding that Optimum has been very helpful in issuing replacement discs to people who did purchase the afflicted copies.) Despite the problems, I fully believe that Optimum cares a lot about these titles, as they've unearthed or created many spectacular bonus features for their sets starting with 2009's The Avengers: Series 2 (which also included the few surviving episodes from Season 1). Fans have been treated to documentaries, commentaries, advertising material, scrapbooks, reconstructions of lost Season 1 episodes and my personal favorite: rare early TV appearances of the series' stars like Patrick Macnee in excerpts from "The Importance of Being Earnest" or the complete Diana Rigg TV play, "The Hothouse."  To be fair, I haven't actually gotten the final two sets yet, but I know what's on them feature-wise, and I also know how much I've enjoyed the bonus material on the first three sets. This is how you do special features for classic television! I hope some American company snaps up the rights to The Avengers and licenses Optimum's excellent extras for new Region 1 releases. For UK fans and others with multi-region players, you might be wise at this point to wait for The Complete Avengers 50th Anniversary Collection coming out in March, which is sure to include the corrected discs of all the sets.

Notable Trend of the Year: MOD
It's true that the Warner Archive has been churning out made-on-demand (MOD) DVDs for a few years now, but the success of that program has inspired a wave of imitators in 2010. (Columbia, Universal and MGM all now offer similar programs.) Like many fans, I have a love/hate relationship with MOD releases. I wish we could get full-blown DVD Special Editions of titles like Otley and The Executioner and Tarzan and the Valley of Gold, but the fact is we can't. Maybe in 2002 we could have, but not in this depleted consumer market. Therefore, I'm grateful for the studios' MOD programs, which have afforded us the chance to finally own these movies in nice widescreen versions. My MOD pick of the year has to be Otley. Not for any special features and certainly not for good packaging (Columbia is way behind Warner Bros. in that department; every Columbia Classics MOD title I've yet bought has not only ugly packaging but an off-center spine), but just for being Otley, one of my very favorite Sixties spy movies, and finally being readily available in some format! Every spy fan should own this title. Here's hoping we see more spy rarities pop up on this format in 2011.

Special Prize: 1980s British Miniseries: Codename: Kyril, Glory Boys, The Contract
This was an unlikely trend. By coincidence, 2010 ended up being the year of the Eighties British spy miniseries. There were a few months in the middle where I was watching one of these every week thanks to releases from Acorn here in the US (A Cold War Spy Collection) and Network in the UK (Codename: Kyril). And, let me tell you, those weren't a bad few weeks. Britain sure knew how to make a good spy miniseries in the 1980s. There's a format I'd love to see come back. Long-form television (as it used to be called) is really the perfect format, in fact, for complex spy stories, and it's great to have all of these obscure miniseries on DVD. Read my reviews of Codename: Kyril, Glory Boys and The Contract.

People We'll Miss

Finally, in wrapping up the year, it's time for some remembrances. 2010 was an especially hard year for spy fans, as we lost some true legends.  The death of Mission: Impossible star Peter Graves hit me the hardest, but I also mourn the losses of other true greats like I Spy's Robert Culp, The Persuaders!' Tony Curtis, Modesty Blaise creator Peter O'Donnell, the incomparable Leslie Neilson (whose spy career was actually much broader than just Spy Hard and Night Train to Paris if you delve into low-budget 70s fare), composer Johnny Dankworth, Ingrid Pitt (beloved for her horror movies, but also known to pop up in spy fare as diverse as Jason King, The Adventurer and Smiley's People), and directors Claude Chabrol (who made his mark with Eurospy movies like The Tiger Likes Fresh Meat and Marie-Chantal vs. Doctor Kha before going on to become synonymous with twisty thrillers), Irvin Kersner (Never Say Never Again, S*P*Y*S), Ronald Neame (A Man Could Get Killed, The Odessa File), Jean Rollin (better known for his better horror movies, but known to dabble in spydom with the likes of Sidewalks of Bangkok) and the brilliant Blake Edwards, creator of the sublime Pink Panther franchise and director of The Tamarind Seed.
Thanks to reader "luvnjustice" for the U.N.C.L.E. champagne image!

Spies Are Everywhere: Marvel's Venom Goes 007

In a sure sign that the spy genre has reached its greatest heights since the 1960s, spies are once again invading all corners of popular culture. In comics, obviously espionage is nothing new to the Marvel Universe. This is, after all, the publisher that turned its popular war hero Sgt. Fury into superspy Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. in the heyday of the Sixties spy boom. Nick Fury and S.H.I.E.L.D. have remained integral to the Marvel Universe ever since, and become more so than ever in the last decade. But now the most popular Spider-man villain is being reinvented as a secret agent. 

Personally, I've never seen the appeal of Venom. I prefer the classic Spidey antagonists created by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko back in the Sixties. (I've always been partial to The Vulture and The Lizard.) But I'm in the vast minority among my generation. Most comic readers who came of age in the Eighties and Nineties seem to love Todd McFarlane's big toothy monster design. However, I have to admit I am slightly intrigued by Marvel's latest direction for the character. According to Comic Shop News and Newsarama, the new take devised by writers Dan Slott and Rick Remender and Walking Dead artist Tony Moore envisions Venom as a Bond- or Bourne-like secret agent. Of course, this being a comic book (a medium that fetishizes paramilitary gear even more than movies, as evidenced by the famous jumpsuit Steranko gave Nick Fury), he's really more of a Black Ops soldier-boy than a spy-guy (in design, anyway), but Remender still promises lots of espionage and intrigue.

A person becomes the monstrous Venom when he dons a black alien symbiote suite that imbues him with strength and powers--but also tugs at his psyche, making him crazy after prolonged exposure. Rememder is mum on who exactly will be wearing the suit, but he's doing it now for the U.S. government. (Not S.H.I.E.L.D., Marvel's former go-to spy agency.) "In terms of a character who could 007 it up," he told Newsarama, "Venom could one day be infiltrating Utopia to steal some secrets from an evil mutant who lives there. And the next day, he could be gallivanting as a tuxedo-adorned rico suave, hitting up a Casino Royale-type situation in Latveria. He’s going to hop all over the place, and do 007 business wearing the Venom symbiote, and the whole time in a struggle with the symbiote to make sure it doesn’t take control of him, and turn him into the 'real' Venom." 

He elaborated further to CSN: "It's James Bond-style worldwide adventuring with the high stakes espionage, intrigue, fast action and an opening mission that holds the stability of the world in the balance." Okay, that all sounds good to me. But then he adds, "The tone merges the same brand of ferocious hardcore violence fans of Venom would expect with the international high-adventure of The Bourne Identity, globetrotting from bleak Eastern European war zones into exotic Marvel Universe locations like the Savage Land." Eh, maybe it's not for me. I've got nothing against "hardcover voilence" in plenty of situations, but it's never a selling point for me, either. And that phrasing kind of sums up why Venom has never appealed to me before.

Still, I do like that Black Ops Spidey suit Moore has designed, and this is an intriguing angle and part of an equally intriguing trend. Over the past decade and particularly in the last few years, Marvel has been retooling almost all of their characters to be a little more spy than classic superhero. Ed Brubaker started it with his brilliant techno-thriller take on Captain America, and lately we've seen Spider Woman and even The Avengers (as The Secret Avengers–no relation whatsoever to the real Avengers of classic spy TV) reimagined as secret agent comics. On top of all that, characters who have always been spies to begin with like Fury and Black Widow have gotten their own series again recently. Even in the Sixties, spy-mania was never this all-encompassing!

The new Venom debuts this March in Amazing Spider-Man #654.1 by Slott, then spins off into his own series by Remender and Moore.

Upcoming Spy DVDs: Callan: Wet Job

The 1981 Callan reunion telefilm "Wet Job" is finally headed to DVD! It didn't get included as a bonus feature in Network's Callan: The Colour Years, but this March the UK company will release it on its own. This marks the first ever legitimate home video release of "Wet Job."  Despite being scripted by series creator James Mitchell, "Wet Job" doesn't have a very good reputation.  (Even Edward Woodward disparaged it in his commentary on the Acorn release Callan: Set 2.) That said, fans of the series (and, really, any spy fan should be a fan of this amazing series) will still rejoice to be able at last to own this elusive postscript to one of the best serious spy shows of all time.  While the title hasn't yet been officially announced by Network, an Amazon UK listing shows the release date for the Region 2 PAL disc as March 28, 2011.  Retail is £14.99, but it can be pre-ordered from Amazon right now for just £8.99. Then (also according to Amazon), next Ocotober the company will issue Callan: The Definitive Collection, a 12-disc megaset collecting every surviving black and white episode from seasons 1 and 2, every color episode from seasons 3 and 4, the original Armchair Theatre pilot play, "A Magnum For Schneider," "Wet Job," a brand new Callan documentary and a definitive book on the series by Andrew Pixley. That will retail for £99.99 (though it's currently available to pre-order for £69.99). It's great that Callan will finally get Network's usual special feature treatment, but at the same time no doubt annoying to fans who have already purchased The Monochrome Years and The Colour Years on their own. Hopefully the company will make the documentary available individually as well, as they have done in the past with their Prisoner and Saint documentaries. Fingers crossed! In the meantime, I'm absolutely thrilled that I'll finally be able to see "Wet Job," even if I know it won't be up to the standards of the show itself. This is great news!

Read my review of Acorn's Callan: Set 1 (comprising the first color season) here.
Read my review of Acorn's Callan: Set 2 (comprising the second color season) here.
Read my review of Network's Callan: The Monochrome Years (comprising the two original black and white seasons) here.

New Play About Patrick McGoohan

UK theatrical outfit Tip Top Productions presents a new play about the life of Patrick McGoohan, Everyman.  Everyman plays one night only in Chester at the Forum Studio Theatre next Thursday, January 13 at 8PM. Tickets are just £6.00 and can be booked through the theater's website. Here's the official synopsis:

"EVERYMAN: The Story Of Patrick McGoohan - The Prisoner" is a new play detailing the life of the theatre, television, and film star (who sadly died last year). Writer Brian Gorman believes that a theatrical tribute to the star of such cult tv favourites as DANGER MAN and THE PRISONER is long overdue.

Thanks to sambullus on the Eurospy Forum for the tip on this.

New Spycom Hits Canadian TV

I'd missed this completely, but luckily Rob over at The Medium Is Not Enough is always on top of television from all over the English-speaking world, and he's got a review up of a new Canadian spy sitcom called InSecurity. He doesn't like it: "By about four minutes in, I was wondering if I could read some instruction manuals, count rice grains, or watch paint dry - all more fun activities than watching InSecurity." Ouch. But since it's a spy show, I'm still duty-bound to report on it... and would actually like to see for myself, even if that's a masochistic impulse. (In a possible sign of hope, he compares it to The Piglet Files, which I liked more than he seems to have.) Maybe it will turn up on DVD eventually. In the meantime, read Rob's review, visit the show's official site (which streams episodes, but only in Canada) and check out the rather unfunny YouTube teaser below. Or, if you happen to live in Canada, watch it at 8:30 Tuesday nights on CBC.

This, by the way, is totally unrelated to In Security (with a space), the hourlong dramady about two sisters in the private security business coming this year to TBS.

DVD Review: Scorpion Tales (1978)

The most memorable part of Scorpion Tales, a Seventies ATV anthology series, is its very cool (if disgusting) opening title sequence created by Alistair McMurdo and accompanied by loud, funky, very Seventies theme music by Cyril Ornadel. We’re treated to garish graphics as two scorpions fight in extreme close-ups in front of a flame. I’m not really sure what the fire and the scorpions have to do with each other, and even the reason for the scorpions seems tenuous. Supposedly each standalone hourlong episode ends with a twist like a scorpion’s sting, but if you ask me the title was probably just an excuse for this title sequence–which is undeniably cool.

The main problem, of course, inherent in a show whose sole purpose is to have a twist ending is that the audience will be looking for the twist, which necessitates a twist on the expected twist... but then we’re looking for and even expecting that, too, and if it doesn’t come, we’re disappointed. Some of these Scorpion Tales succeed in their twists and others don’t. The best ones hinge on a really meaty performance that lets an actor of some repute really chew the scenery, as Trevor Howard does with great aplomb in “Easterman” or Susan Engel (and to a lesser extent Anthony Bate) in the intense “Crimes of Persuasion.” Being a huge fan of his work in Raiders of the Lost Ark but knowing him from little else, I was hoping such an opportunity would be afforded to Paul Freeman (Belloq) in the creepy tale of a boy and his demonic book, “The Great Albert,” but sadly it’s not. “Killing” doesn’t really feature such a performance either, but it’s still entertaining as an early look at the Internet as a contemporary (and not futuristic) plot device, focusing on cyber-trading and cyber-crime and even hints of cyber-sex.

Of course espionage is to be expected in any series of this ilk and vintage, and sure enough, it’s here. “Truth or Consequence” is the only out-and-out spy tale, though, and it’s a story we’ve seen done much better many times. David Robb (The Sandbaggers) plays Lt. James White, a Royal Navy pilot who volunteers (or has he been put up to it?) for a special training course in resisting interrogation. On the morning he’s supposed to leave, his very attractive wife (the alluring Rosie Kerslake), waylays him a bit in a subtle yet surprisingly risque (for Seventies television, anyway) bedroom scene. He doesn’t take the bait, however, and soon he’s on the road... but his car breaks down. A mechanic informs him that someone put sugar in the gas tank, but it still doesn’t occur to him that anything’s amiss. Luckily, a stranger in a pub happens to be going the same direction and offers him a ride, which he accepts.

When James arrives at the training facility, he’s quite late and he’s bawled out for allowing a civilian to know its location by allowing the good Samaritan to drop him off at its door. Little things are amiss in his bedroom, and the training seems to start right away when various officers take on the roles of good cop and bad cop as they welcome him. The questions, however, are quite pointed. Who was the man who gave him a lift? Were the secret documents in James’s possession ever out of his sight? If they weren’t, how did his suitcase end up rearranged? He’s subjected to various methods of extreme interrogation that will be well familiar to viewers of Sixties ITC adventure shows, since every one of them (most successfully Man In A Suitcase) featured at least one episode in which the hero was captured and subjected to the same techniques–and one of the best (The Prisoner) made a whole show out of it.

The line of questioning becomes increasingly personal, and it finally dawns on James that this may not be a training course after all. The good Samaritan who drove him there is known to the Security Services. Was James in league with him all along? What about his wife? His superior officer? Soon even James himself isn’t sure of the truth anymore. There’s a lot of build-up to a twist and a lot of false ones along the way (that the audience is generally in on), but ultimately Brian Phelan’s script doesn’t deliver a satisfying ending, or have anything much fresh to say dramatically. This whole sort of story was done better on all those ITC shows the previous decade–and done definitively on The Prisoner.

Espionage and international terrorism lurk only in the background of “Crimes of Persuasion,” but it proves to be a much better hour of television. Whereas “Truth and Consequences” had exteriors and multiple locations, “Crimes of Persuasion” is much more stage-like, mostly taking place in one apartment. Anthony Bate (Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy, Game, Set and Match) plays an MP who favors restoring the death penalty for acts of terrorism. Susan Engel (Inspector Clouseau) plays his mistress, in whose arms (and whose flat, which he pays for) he takes solace every Friday night. The ensuing drama is primarily a two-hander between the two of them, affording each some juicy dramatic monologues. It starts as a domestic drama but goes in all sorts of directions you won’t expect and defies categorization in any specific genre... and unfortunately I dare not reveal too much more about it because it’s so successful at its (multiple) stings, which are sort of like those of a scorpion... I guess.

Spy fans with a penchant for Seventies British television drama will probably want to seek this series out for “Truth and Consequences,” but that episode isn’t really worth it. If you do manage to get your hands on Network’s new DVD, though, make sure you watch some of the other episodes like the police drama “Easterman” or the devious domestic drama gone amuck “Crimes of Persuasion.” They offer far less espionage but far more bite. Or sting. Or whatever.

Scorpion Tales: The Complete Series, a two-disc Region 2 PAL set, is available exclusively through Network’s website.

R.I.P. Anne Francis

Here's a sad way to start the new year.  Anne Francis, who helped usher in the era of the smart, sexy, highly capable female operative on television with her Emmy-nominated portrayal of private eye Honey West in the 1960s, has died at the age of 80 from pancreatic cancer, according to the BBC. 

Aaron Spelling created the television version of G.G. Fickling's sexy detective Honey West as an American answer to the Honor Blackman Avengers. Supposedly, he first offered the role to Blackman, who turned it down, but found a more than capable substitute in the very talented Francis. Francis imbued Honey with a razor-sharp wit, equally sharp wits, and toughness and fighting skills not regularly found in women on American television at the time. Honey West may have been a detective show, but in spirit (and often in content as well), it was kin to The Avengers and all the other spy shows popping up all over the airwaves in the mid-Sixties. It's essential viewing for Sixties spy fans largely thanks to Francis's awesome central performance. (For more info on the series and Francis, be sure to check out John C. Fredricksen's comprehensive guide to the subject, Honey West.)

Considering her Honey West image, it's surprising that Anne Francis didn't go on to more spy roles on the big screen, but excepting The Double O Kid, her feature spy career was limited to a disappointing and decidedly un-Honey-like damsel in distress role in The Satan Bug (1965).  However, she did contribute more to the genre on TV, appearing in spy roles on Assignment: Vienna (opposite Robert Conrad), The Man From U.N.C.L.E. (as the delectable, scene-stealing vilainess Gervaise Ravel) and Mission: Impossible.  The latter was a wonderful guest spot in Season 4's "The Double Circle," when the show's producers were cycling in different female guest stars each week in an attempt to replace Barbara Bain.  Francis was by far my favorite of these fill-ins, and I've always lamented that she wasn't hired on as a full-time cast member.

Anne Francis was an actress who lit up any role she played, even bland ones like that in The Satan Bug.  But she truly shone in the right part, and the right part was Honey West.  Francis's Honey will live on forever in the annals of television history, as a sex symbol, an icon, and a trailblazer who paved the way for smart, capable, sexy female action heroines like Sydney Bristow and Nikita. In every new spy series with such a lead, Anne Francis's legacy will live on forever.

New Spy DVDs Out Last Week: Archer and The American

I don't think there are any major new spy releases this week, but there were two last week that I didn't get a chance to post about.  And one of them is a must-have, in my book.  Last Tuesday was my birthday (thank you, thank you) and Fox Home Entertainment decided to honor that by releasing my favorite new spy series of last year on DVD: Archer: The Complete Season One. A workplace comedy about a Bond-like (or, more accurately, Eurospy-like) superspy who's also a huge jerk and his dysfunctional family (some of them literally, some only figuratively) who all work at the spy agency, Archer is a show that lends itself to rewatching.  It's not for all tastes, though.  While the amazing Bond-inspired retro look of the FX series will appeal to Sixties spy fans, the sense of humor is more appropriate for fans of South Park or people not easily offended by the ribald. Personally, I think it's hilarious. 

Fox's 2-disc set boasts plenty of extras. Among them: the original unaired Archer pilot (I'm really looking forward to seeing that!), an unaired network promo, deleted scenes, a six-part "The Making Of Archer" featurette ("3D", "Animation", "Art Direction", "Backgrounds", "Illustration" and "Storyboards"), and bonus episodes from unrelated FX sitcoms The League and Louie (the latter of which is quite funny, if not at all spy-related).

I'm particularly excited about all of that behind-the-scenes material.  Archer is a great looking show, and I'm eager to see more about what goes into it.  It's so good looking, in fact, that I'm sorry this release is DVD only, and not on Blu-ray as well. I rarely care about that, but this is one series that would look great in HD. Oh well. At this year's Comic-Con panel, the creators of Archer went into a bit of detail about creating the look of Archer's perpetual Cold War world, which incorporates Bondian elements of every era from the Sixties to the Eighties to now (including suits that could have come off of Sean Connery's shoulders, stylish Sixties office furnature and a Living Daylights Aston Martin Volante).  They said that the design team was constantly flipping through Sixties style and design and fashion magazines, picking what they liked.  I hope that's in the documentary.  It's a shame that the Comic-Con panel itself isn't included, but it's hard to complain when there's so much else.  Archer: The Complete Season 1 retails for $29.98, but naturally it's significantly less on Amazon.

Meanwhile, that same day Universal released director Anton Corbijn's George Clooney assassin thriller meditation The American on both DVD and Blu-ray.  I'm really glad the studio has the courage to stick with that awesome theatrical poster art and not just stick a bluish close-up of Clooney's face on the front instead! Extras on both versions include deleted scenes, an audio commentary with Corbijn, and a featurette called (rather uncreatively) "Journey to Redemption: The Making of The American."  Retail is $29.98 for the DVD and $39.98 for the Blu-ray, but of course both can be found much cheaper than that. They're currently $14.99 and $23.99, respecitvely, on Amazon. While I didn't find The American to be quite as profound as it seemed to think it was, I really liked it nonetheless.  (Read my review here.) It's not fast-paced, but it does offer lots of beautiful location photography, which is a crucial element for me in good spy and assassin movies. It's a great looking movie, and I'm looking forward to watching it again.