At dusk in the cobbled courtyard of a former palace, Warner Bros.’ “The Man From U.N.C.L.E.” took his bow to the world at London’s Thames-side Somerset House. Noted Ron Simon, curator of television and radio at the Paley Center for Media in New York, “The same excitement seeing the Beatles live on television which happened a few months before, I think the same thing happened when ‘Man from U.N.C.L.E.’ debuted in fall 1964”.
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Bond writer Ian Fleming was truly concerned within the earliest days of the collection.
Friday’s was not the first bow, however, with helmer Guy Ritchie having held a private premiere at his nuptials a week before.
The series that Felton eventually made with screenwriter Sam Rolfe became very popular, partly because it was as close as the small screen came to Bond. U.N.C.L.E. joins Marvel stand-by S.H.I.E.L.D. Seen today, the old shows seem very kitsch indeed.
“U.N.C.L.E.” upped the ante from Bond’s laser beams and spring-loaded boot knives to such delightfully outlandish threats as natural disaster inducers and hiccup gas. The “United Network Command for Law and Enforcement” seems a bit of a joke organisation anyway, a spoof equivalent to James Bond’s MI5 reimagined for a mainstream TV audience. The fight sequences were cartoonish and camp.
It’s all enough to make you cry “U.N.C.L.E.”, and let slip the dogs of Cold War.
Ritchie also revealed that Tom Cruise was originally lined up to play spy Napoleon Solo in his recent The Man From U.N.C.L.E. remake, but after the deal fell through, the part was offered to Superman star Henry Cavill. Our September cover guy Henry Cavill plays hero Napoleon Solo from the original 1960s TV show.
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Going toe-to-toe with Hammer is Cavill in his tailored suit.
