THE FIENDISH PLOT OF FU MANCHU

Peter Sellers and Helen Mirren

THE FIENDISH PLOT OF DR. FU MANCHU (1980). Director: Piers Haggard.

On Dr. Fu Manchu's (Peter Sellers) 168th birthday, his life-sustaining elixir vitae is spilled, and he orders his loyal men to run about stealing the necessary ingredients. Naturally this alerts his longtime adversary, Nayland Smith (also played by Peter Sellers), who has become a little strange after being tortured by the Si-Fan, the group of which Fu is leader. Suspecting that the queen may be a target, Smith has her impersonated by policewoman Alice Rage (Helen Mirren), who is kidnapped by Fu -- and falls in love with him! If you're looking for an inventive laugh riot, look elsewhere, for Fiendish Plot is a mediocre film despite the genius of Peter Sellers, the film's chief saving grace. Helen Mirren [Phil Spector] shows why she became so famous with her excellent portrayal of the kind of schizoid Alice, and David Tomlinson scores as Sir Roger Avery with Scotland Yard. Sid Ceasar does what he can as an FBI agent who, unfortunately, keeps referring to Chinese people as "chinks" throughout the movie, another black mark against the production. Clement Harari as dietitian Dr. Wretch and John Le Mesurier as Smith's valet Perkins are more suitably cast. Fiendish Plot does have a small share of chuckles, and one laugh-out-loud moment involving a mechanical spider. but it lacks pacing and suspense, which is required even for a parody. Fu also employs a big plant that emits a sleeping gas, while Smith's country cottage contains a balloon through which he and his associates fly off in the cottage to the Himalayas to confront Fu, who becomes a rock star with a "Rock a Fu" production number. This was executive produced by Hugh Hefner when Playboy wanted to get into the movie game, which everyone probably regretted. (Hefner was also exec. producer for Kim Novak's TV vehicle The Third Girl from the Left.)  Piers Haggard also directed one of my favorite movies, A Summer Story, which is about a zillion times better than this; genre movies were not his forte. Sadly, this was Peter Sellers' last movie.

Verdict: Not Fu's -- or Sellers'-- finest hour. **

CRY U.N.C.L.E.

Robert Vaughn and David McCallum

CRY U.N.C.L.E.

As of this writing, tomorrow unveils the new big-screen adaptation of the sixties spy show, The Man from U.N.C.L.E. Frankly, the previews I've seen of the new movie don't seem that promising, but I'll reserve judgment until I see it. In the meantime, this week we've got a round-up of UNCLE-related posts, including a look at seasons three and four (the final season) of Man from UNCLE (click for reviews of seasons one and two, already posted); a round-up of UNCLE paperback novels; a look at the reunion movie made in the early eighties; and two or three more "eurospy" flicks. (No spy movies next week, I promise. Well, maybe just one.)

The Man from UNCLE started out as an exciting spy series that was essentially told straight even if it had its humorous aspects and was never quite totally "serious." The second season the show began turning into a bit of a spoof, with more and more camp, but was still quite entertaining. The third season had some memorably zany episodes, but by this time it had become a full-on spoof as in Get Smart, and the ratings plummeted -- why watch UNCLE when Get Smart was better and funnier? [The less said about the abysmal The Girl from UNCLE, the better.] The fourth excellent season returned to the kind of episodes they had in the first season, but it was too late, and UNCLE was canceled after only about half the episodes were completed.

I freely confess that I loved The Man from UNCLE with its gadgets and colorful villains, and eagerly devoured each new paperback as it came out. I won't go so far as to say that I wanted to sign up with THRUSH, although I sort of found that organization more fascinating than UNCLE. But UNCLE was always one of my all-time favorite programs. [Needless to say, I loved James Bond novels and movies as well.]

It was hoped that the reunion movie The Return of the Man from UNCLE would lead into a new series, but despite high ratings, it was not picked up. We'll soon learn if the big-screen adaptation is a success or not.

GET SMART SEASON 3

GET SMART Season 3. 1967.

Don Adams and the gang are back as Maxwell Smart and associates in the third season of this popular spy comedy. Bob Kareveles as the dopey Larrabee is given a little more to do, but there seem to be too many episodes when Barbara Feldon as agent 99 shouts to Max "Do Something! Do Something!" and seems completely helpless. Taking a cue from Batman, the show started featuring celebrities in cameos [Joey Bishop, Milton Berle, Robert Kulp, Bill Dana, Danny Thomas, Buddy Hackett etc.]. Ellen Westin appeared irregularly as CONTROL chemist Dr. Steele, whose cover is as a stripper! A little old lady who appears in bit parts or as an extra in many episodes turns out to be Rose Michtom, the aunt of producer Leonard Stern [she's weird but adorable]! Ed Platt is back for another wonderful turn as the Chief.


Memorable episodes of this season include "The Spirit is Willing" with Ina Balin as the "ghost" of a woman killed by KAOS; "That Old Gang of Mine" with Max in London posing as "the Scar" to join a group of robbers and featuring the umbrella of silence [instead of the cone]; "The King Lives" with Max posing as lookalike royalty and with Michael Forest [Adonis on Star Trek] quite effective and striking in a supporting role; and "99 Loses Control," with 99 quitting the spy group to get married to KAOS agent Jacques Bergerac [The Hypnotic Eye]. The best episodes of the season were, arguably: "Classification: Dead" in which a poisoned Max has one day to live [shades of D.O.A.]; "Don't Look Back" with Max framed for murder and on the run from the police; and "The Reluctant Redhead" in which Max trains a non-agent (the excellent Julie Sommars) to impersonate the wife of KAOS man Cesar Romero.

The third season may have had fewer "A" episodes than seasons one and two, but the series was still entertaining and amusing and the writers did their best to come up with some intriguing plot lines, although there was a little too much repeating of certain jokes and gags that weren't that funny the first time around. [With all the "story editors" and "associate producers" on TV shows you would think this could be avoided!]

Verdict: Hardly for every taste but there's still some life in the misadventures of Maxwell Smart. **1/2.