To Trap a Spy (1964)

Excellent, Without a doubt!!

Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.

There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes

An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

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.

Solo the spy goes on a dangerous mission.I am okay with the spy genre but I don't actually call myself a fan spy movies/TV shows. I am indeed a fan of 1960s adventure shows (Batman, Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, QM's The Invaders, etc) and this is why I am drawn to the UNCLE movies. I also like Robert Vaughn.To Trap A Spy is taken from the very early days of the UNCLE series and it has that nice TV pilot-feel.Don't be turned off by this being just a TV episode re-edited into a movie...the dialogue, direction and sets are of motion picture standard! In fact, I like this more than many of the 007 feature films.

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".

Top UNCLE agent Napoleon Solo (Robert Vaughn) is assigned to prevent THRUSH hit-man Andrew Vulcan (Fritz Weaver) from assassinating Premier Ashumen (William Marshall), the leader of a primitive African nation who is visiting the States on a tour of Vulcan's factory. Solo enlists the help of Vulcan's former girlfriend Elaine May Donaldson (Patricia Crowley) and plants her as a rich widow in order to get close to Vulcan and prove to her that he is the evil doer that Solo says he is.The Man From UNCLE was such a cult success in the UK that eight feature length films (made up of previously unaired episodes) were released in cinemas with virtually the British box office in mind. TO TRAP A SPY was the first film in the series and it is actually an extended version of the pilot episode, THE VULCAN AFFAIR (First aired: 22/09/1964), with extra footage that was considered too "adult" for television. Other changes were made such as in the TV version, THRUSH were the enemy organisation, but in the film they were renamed WASP. Also in the film, actor Will Kuluva plays UNCLE chief Mr Allison, whereas in the TV episode, Leo G Carroll played Mr Waverley and would do so for the remainder of the series.To Trap A Spy stands as one of the best feature length outings from the TV series even though David McCallam fans will be disappointed as Illya Kuriyakin only appears in two scenes early on. Robert Vaughn is outstanding as Napoleon Solo portraying him as a super suave playboy and interestingly Luciana Paluzzi turns up as a beautiful THRUSH villain who attempts to seduce Solo to his death would later play much the same role in the Bond spectacular Thunderball. The plot may be thin but it is the nostalgia value that holds this film up after nearly forty years since it was first released.Followed by: The Spy With My Face*, One Spy Too Many*, One Of Our Spies Is Missing, The Spy In The Green Hat (all 1966), The Karate Killers*, The Helicopter Spies* (both 1967) and How To Steal The World* (1968). The titles marked with an asterisk have now been released on DVD in the UK as a box set.