To Trap a Spy (1964)

That was an excellent one.

Instead, you get a movie that's enjoyable enough, but leaves you feeling like it could have been much, much more.

It is not deep, but it is fun to watch. It does have a bit more of an edge to it than other similar films.

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

I first saw "To Trap A Spy" at the ABC in Dundee in June 1965 when I was 14. I shouldn't have seen it because it was the b movie to the X rated "The Americanization Of Emily", but my grandmother lied to the commissionaire about my age saying I was a youthful looking 17 (but still tried to negotiate half price for my admission). I was glad she took me because this colourful spy romp which introduced Napoleon Solo and U.N.C.L.E. to Britain was and is first class entertainment with good guys, bad guys, good spies and bad girls with a plot involving an innocent housewife (Pat Crowley) being used as a pawn in a dangerous game of espionage by Napoleon Solo. I was amazed when I settled down in front of the TV the following Thursday (24th June 1965) at 8 o'clock and saw one of the scenes from the movie being used as the opening to a (then) brand new to UK TV show called 'The Man From UNCLE' which was basically James Bond in your living room and this show soon became the talk of the playground every Friday morning.What I liked about "To Trap A Spy" and the early UNCLE stuff is that the Solo character is tougher and the stories grittier and people get slapped around and threatened. Hard to believe within a season or so they had David McCallum dressing up as the Abominable Snowman and having plots that were too stupid to be true. In this though, Fritz Weaver is a worthy and believable villain and William Marshall with that superb voice of his convinces as the leader of an African nation. Lots of good dialogue e.g. Lucianna Paluzzi starts to take her dress off and says 'What would you like me to change into?' Napoleon replies 'Anything..... but a boy'. Filmed in November 1963 including location filming at the Lever Brothers plant near Los Angeles, it only gives David McCallum a small part, and Will Kuluva plays what would become the Leo G Carroll role. When the TV episode shows up nowadays it is re-edited so that Mr Waverley appears. Filming was halted on 22nd November when news of the assassination of John F Kennedy was announced.Even in 2015 every time this film shows up on TV I still watch it and still enjoy it – and look out for Richard Kiel (later to be Jaws on "The Spy Who Loved Me" and "Moonraker") in a small non speaking part.Here's what I wrote about it in my book "What We Watched In The 1960s (In The Cinema)" when it arrived in Glasgow during week commencing 25 July 1965.What many may have come to the La Scala and Bedford for was the b movie, "To Trap A Spy", which was the pilot for the TV series 'The Man From UNCLE' which was now gaining a young and loyal following on BBC every Thursday night. Napoleon Solo (played by Robert Vaughn) has to stop an attempt on the life of an African premiere and find out why spy organization WASP wants to assassinate him. Based on 'The Vulcan Affair' and 'The Four Steps Affair', neither of which was shown on TV, and neatly edited together, and of course it was in colour at the time all British TV transmissions were in black and white. Soon after, "To Trap A Spy" started picking up bookings as the top feature supported by more family friendly films and on 16 October 1966 it was reissued as a double bill with "The Spy With My Face".Jim Doyle is the author of 'What We Watched In The 1960s (In The Cinema)', 'What We Watched In The 1970s (In The Cinema)" and 'What We Watched In The 1980s (In The Cinema And On Video)'

After reading IMDb reviews and finally getting to see this entertaining (theatrical version) pilot for the Man from UNCLE series for myself, I have to concur that this was worth the ride. Grittier and less peppered with humor than TV episodes, this story enlisting a civilian to bring down a villain was an interesting plot element that Hitchcock often employed. Robert Vaughn as Napoleon Solo is pretty much on his own, with David McCallum's Kuryakin part barely more than a cameo. Pat Crowley is the attractive US widow working with Solo. Seductive Luciana Paluzzi is the bad girl Angela, who baits Solo. A scene that would never be approved back then for TV has stunning Angela wearing a form-fitting sleeveless dress standing in front of Solo who frisks her with his automatic with a silencer, passing it slowly from her armpit down to her ankles and up the inner thigh, after which the camera changes position as he continues the frisk. Angela never bats an eye. A spy for all sides.

I came to this movified "The Man from U.N.C.L.E." feature after faithfully watching four other much later similar concoctions, so that I was feeling a bit "uncled-out" by the time I decided to watch "To Trap A Spy". I'm pleased to say that I was pleasantly surprised to learn that this was the expanded pilot episode (before the "Man" became effectively the "Men" as David McCallum quickly gained co-star status and better balanced out the entertainment).There are a few curios on-view here for the discerning fan - no Mr Waverley, for one, the word "T.H.R.U.S.H" replaced by "W.A.S.P." with fairly ugly overdubbing, for some legal reason or other and as stated , Illya in only a very minor bit-part at the beginning of this episode. More pertinently are the stylistic differences; the fare here is certainly grittier and less comic-book than the more sanitised mid-late 60's seasons, exemplified for one thing by actual blood-stains on bodies when shot and mildly shockingly when Robert Vaughn gets dressed on camera after obviously bedding the treacherously beautiful Angela played by Luciana Paluzzi.Now I've seen the difference, I think I prefer this less gimmicky approach but encouraged by James Bond's gadgetry, obviously the producers of "U.N.C.L.E." felt they had to follow suit as the swinging 60's progressed. There's a reasonably suspenseful death-trap which Solo resourcefully escapes and I liked the idea of the Cinderella housewife whom Solo coerces into U.N.C.L.E.'s employ due to a past relationship with "T.H.R.U.S.H. / W.A.S.P."'s Mr Big. Some of the settings and plottings reminded me, probably deliberately of "Dr No" and I was also amused by the coy finishing scene with Solo down-playing his Lothario urges on a mildly suspecting air-stewardess.Okay, so you'd still take "Goldfinger" or "Thunderball" any day of the week, but it was good to see Robert Vaughn at the birth of his own cool and "U.N.C.L.E." before it started aiming too much at teenagers also getting their kicks from "Batman", "Get Smart" and "The Green Hornet".

An UNCLE agent is killed relaying a message to UNCLE about an assassination which is due to be carried by WASP killer Andrew Vulcan (also a wealthy businessman). When a trio of WASP agents carry out a mission to infiltrate and destroy UNCLE HQ to try and kill whoever got the information, UNCLE know it is serious. They look to get someone close to Vulcan quickly and opt for a high school sweetheart, Elaine May Donaldson. They put Elaine in the guise of being rich but widowed and arrange a chance meeting at a party. Meanwhile her handler, UNCLE agent Napoleon Solo tries to infiltrate Vulcan heavily guarded chemical plant.Taken from the two earliest episodes of the UNCLE tv series, this film clearly shows itself to be the point from which an enjoyable series developed rather than a series that was in it's stride. First of all the film lacks that enjoyable tongue in cheek humour that the series had throughout. It is still amusing and playful but not quite to the same degree. The plot is as good as other UNCLE films though and it does move along quite well, only the ending seems a little unsatisfactory and didn't quite make sense to me.Although a version of the UNCLE theme is used it isn't in it's `purest' form and sounds a little too funky. The biggest clue that this is an early UNCLE is the fact that Illya Kuryakin has two scenes - both of which he is portrayed as a junior agent with little English, rather than Solo's partner. As someone used to the `Solo gets girls/Illya gets action' formula it was disappointing to see him play so minor a role. Likewise there was no Mr Waverly and the guy in the UNCLE head role couldn't touch him for the role.Apart from these two key roles, Vaughn looks very slick and young and is able to carry the film himself despite the hole left by McCallum's absence. He is funny and charming and good with the action stuff. Crowley is OK but a little too moaney for my tastes. A much better girl comes in the form of Luciana Paluzzi - the first of many beautiful Italian women who featured in UNLCE. Here she is drop dead gorgeous and quite playful with her dialogue - her and Vaughn have an easy rapport that works even better due to the relationship between their characters. Weaver is an OK villain but not that menacing.Overall this is a good film for UNCLE fans but to be honest there are much better ones out there. Like the series itself, the early films are solid and show the seeds being planted, the middle films are the strongest and the last ones are weak. This is worth a watch but not UNCLE at their best.