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Easy mistake to make! Anne Francis interestingly makes two appearances as the same character in season 1, in The Quadripartite Affair and The Giuoco Piano Affair (as does Jill Ireland, David McCallum's wife at the time). Francis' character, Gervaise Ravel, is definitely one of the standout characters of the first season!
Yes, I've seen that first episode she was in. I knew she was in a later one too as that episode wasn't fully resolved by the end. It's also interesting to see her in a villainous role as her characters in Columbo were much more wholesome in nature, especially Nurse Sharon Martin in the episode A Stitch in Crime.
The Strigas Affair does feature Nimoy and Shatner in shared scenes, which is very amusing. Also it's very apparent that this episode is the blueprint for the entire Mission Impossible format. The Never Never Affair is considered to be one of the best episodes of the entire series.
Thanks @delfloria. Watching Season 1 of The Man From UNCLE I'm reminded of where your username comes from. :)
Yep.
Iowa Scuba is top notch. Solo's use of the military jet to whisk back and forth is something the rest of the series could have used more. There is a lot to like here. "In Iowa?"
Indeed. I've only seen Anne Francis in Columbo, so seeing her in a villainous role was really fun.
Having picked up the DVD a couple of years ago, I'm a huge fan of Anne in Honey West, in which she plays a PI with a male sidekick and a pet ocelot.
She makes for a great UNCLE villain in her two episodes in 1st season.
Watching the opening of The Man From UNCLE it occurred to me that the faux dry cleaners may have went on to inspire the false fronts in the later Roger Moore Bond films in particular. Of course that was partly already there in Fleming with the British Secret Service working under the cover of Universal Exports in that building in Regents Park. Then there was the fake building sounds on a tape generated by Dikko Henderson in the YOLT novel.
In the 60's Del Floria's tailor shop set the standard for fake spy fronts. Recently Kingsman gave it a nod by giving it's secret organization a tailor shop to enter through.
Yes, that's what I thought. I think that must've been where the idea started in spy TV and films.
I've never seen that show! A few episodes popped up Youtube some years ago, but the quality was terrible. Maybe i twill turn up on a streaming service at some point.
Very much so. One of the most memorable characters from the episodes I've seen so far.
You mean Ian Fleming - The Complete Man? I'm reading that book right now, but I'm only halfway through.
Yep, They short shift Ian's involvement with UNCLE, a really glaring omission for people in the know. He even had a chance to view the finished pilot.
Happy 60th Anniversary to the show! I believe they had to retitle it The Man From UNCLE because Eon threatened to sue over the name Solo also being a character name in Goldfinger, hence the name change?
That reminds me that I really must get back to watching the rest of Season 1! :)
In the novel there is no Mr Solo. Eon changed the name in film at the last moment to Mr. Solo so they could make a case against UNCLE. Instead of fighting to keep the title "Solo" the UNCLE producers simply made the name change to TMFU. It was a tangled web between UNCLE and EON, one which Ian found himself caught up in.
Watching the show on DVD recently I kind of wondered why the title wasn't The Men From UNCLE. I agree the chosen title sounds better. I guess Napoleon Solo was seen as the main character, hence the singular title? Of course David McCallum's fanmail told a different story...
MFU was initially created with Solo as the singular central character. In first season many of the stories feature only Solo with Illya completely absent or making very short cameo appearances. As with many shows, the audience lets you know what is resonating with them. In this case Illya became a teen heart throb and the producers corrected their course to give McCallum much more screen time. Regardless, the title stayed the same.
That's a shame, as it would have been fun to read more about his involvement with the series.
Either way, the German title also only refers to a single man, and in fact uses his name, Solo, right in the name of the series.
I don't know about D.R.R.O.S.S.E.L but Thrush was never an acronym in the series and got it's name from the mobile capital city of the organization. Thrush was considered an actual supra-nation as opposed to a criminal group like Spectre.