La spia che non fece ritorno

When a scientist who has Perfected a method of rejuvenation disappears, agents Solo and Kuryakin are assigned to trace him. But their adversaries from THRUSH are determined to gain the scientist's secret.... The action-packed espionage adventures of the U. N. C. L. E. Duo take them to Paris, London and a country estate in Surrey.

All of the Man from UNCLE feature films are cracking entertainment, and One of our spies are missing is no different, however it can be a bit confusing with too many villains, some things don't make sense, and it does drag a bit. Still it's good fun with that killer soundtrack- Robert Vaughn and David McCallum are their cool selves as the charismatic heroes - the cute little cats almost steal the scene though!! So does Vera Miles as the villainess.

It's interesting that so many of the reviews of the U.N.C.L.E. films are from Brits. The show was incredibly popular here in the 1960s and I can remember joining the U.N.C.L.E. organization set up by MGM (I still remember my number: 10472 Section 2 Operations And Enforcement and I am still at the ready in case I am ever called up for action) and you could also buy novels and annuals. There are a couple of good websites based on the show and there is an excellent book by Jon Heitland published in 1987. So there we were riding along on the crest of a spy wave and just having waved goodbye to "One Spy Too Many" which was released in February and then on 31 July 1966, "One Of Our Spies Is Missing" arrived in Glasgow and suddenly we went crashing to the ground. Here's what I thought...

'The Man From UNCLE' was still being made, but as there were so many imitators, the powers that be decided to change the format and make it more of a spoof (although there is no way they could outspoof TV's 'Get Smart') with the result that the new film at the Regal and Bedford, "One Of Our Spies Is Missing" was nowhere near as sharp and exciting as the previous efforts. It was a compilation of the two part episode 'The Bridge Of Lions Affair" which had been shown on American TV in February but was not going to be shown on British TV. David McCallum as Illya crawls around the streets of a very studio bound Soho looking for cats and Robert Vaughn is on the trail of Vera Miles who seems to know something about the formula that makes people much younger. It was a real disappointment for fans, and the title made no sense whatsoever in relation to the plot. To compound the poor quality, it played with "Hold On", which was a vehicle for Peter No one and Hermans Hermits to be chased by fans and be chosen as the first pop group to be launched into space, and they also launch into song including 'A Must To Avoid' which could describe this double bill. Poor, but their worst film was yet to come.

Adapted with permission from the author from 'What We Watched In The 1960s (In The Cinema)'.

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)'

Bearing a title which includes the in-word of the time "spy", but otherwise no other relation to the plot, to this fan of "The Man From U.N.C.L.E." this was rather thin fare and escaped my brain almost the minute it entered it.

Unlike others in these spliced-for-European-cinema features, this effort has very few redeeming features. There are few action set-pieces, no race-against-time death-trap from which to escape, no Mr Big" megalomaniac villain to tilt our heroes against and barely even a big-name celebrity cameo to divert the viewer's attention (unless you count Vera Miles, probably the biggest name in the cast here).

David McCallum in particular gets almost nothing to do, chasing cats around "London", Robert Vaughn as ever, gets amongst the ladies but hardly memorably as the chase is on for a youth-regeneration invention. Even Mr Waverley's stepping out to join Solo in escaping from the bottom of a wine vat (unoriginally used twice for the same purpose) barely registers its novelty value.

Somewhere in the cast you'll catch sight of Yvonne "Batgirl" Craig, James "Scottie" from "Star Trek" Doohan, but otherwise this adventure has potboiler written all over it and the awful soundtrack which plays variations from "Rule Britannia" throughout to attempt to fool us that we're all in Swinging England doesn't help either.

I vaguely remember The Man from Uncle TV series repeats as a kid but only got reacquainted with the show when the spliced together movies were regularly shown in the 1980s when its campy nature was more apparent.

In this film, no spy seems to be missing unless you count Kuryakin wandering around the Soho area of London looking for pussy. I mean the four legged kind even though the producers would had been well aware that Soho was a notorious red light district!

The plot involves reversing the ageing process and cats have been used for the experiments hence why Kuryakin is looking for missing cats in a studio bound London setting.

Napoleon Solo gets to chase ladies as well as making sure THRUSH does not get the youth rejuvenating formula with a plot of a senior diplomat being at risk of being kidnapped, de-aged and put under the control of THRUSH.

It is all very silly, all shot in California with the tunes of Rule Brittania every time the setting moves to England.

Bernard Fox is the standout as the THRUSH villain Jordin who brings the right balance of menace and humour.

More spliced-together-TV capers for Men from UNCLE Robert Vaughn and David McCallum, here chasing after rejuvenation formula in a phony MGM backlot 'England' (E. Darren Hallenback's direction could have done with a shot of it).

It's almost certainly the dreariest of the eight films made from double episodes of the small-screen series, and yet was a rather undeserved box-office hit in the wake of the programme's global popularity.

Vera Miles, Maurice Evans and James Doohan go through the motions alongside our heroes.