tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6907494576054475084.post1723712473892606762..comments2023-11-01T00:04:43.244-04:00Comments on Secret Sanctum of Captain Video: The Man from U.N.C.L.E.'s Return to Movies (Part 1)Britt Reidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07245579677452948620noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6907494576054475084.post-63249681385802942952015-09-08T19:51:25.788-04:002015-09-08T19:51:25.788-04:00The camp fad also influenced other spy-fi and sci-...The camp fad also influenced other spy-fi and sci-fi series: Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, Lost in Space, Wild Wild West, and The (Steed & Mrs. Peel) Avengers. Those shows started as straight action-adventure, then got sillier and more juvenile in 1966-67. Then they tried to tone it down in '67-68, when the camp fad passed.<br /><br />To Trap a Spy aired on TCM a few weeks ago, and the host mentioned that David McCallum had only a small part, because Illya was originally just a secondary character. Before long, of course, McCallum became very popular with teenage girls (and probably with their mothers, too) and he was promoted to co-star.<br /><br />I didn't know Luciana Paluzzi's scenes were filmed specifically for the movie; I thought it might have been compiled from "The Vulcan Affair" and another TV episode. (IIRC, she was in "The Four Steps Affair.") But her scenes in To Trap a Spy did have more graphic violence and sexual suggestiveness than was usually allowed on American TV in the 1960's. <br /><br />The new movie is a disappointment if you want one more episode of the TV series. It is a reboot, and it makes a lot of changes. I particularly disliked how Illya was portrayed. But, judged on its own merits, it is a not-bad spy thriller.<br /><br />There is a lot of tongue-in-cheek comedy relief, but I wouldn't call it camp. In its style and tone, I would compare it to the 1960's James Bond movies and the first two seasons of TMFU, rather than to the Batman TV show or the Matt Helm movies.TChttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13686814973788356726noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6907494576054475084.post-56954492932099036782015-08-15T06:21:44.949-04:002015-08-15T06:21:44.949-04:00I'm not too impressed by the trailers for the ...I'm not too impressed by the trailers for the new movie - the film doesn't look like a serious spy thriller, which is a mistake in my view. The first season of TMFU was played straight, and the more camp that later seasons became, the worse they got. Kidhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07224781868125924337noreply@blogger.com