How to Steal the World

"How to Steal the World" was the last of eight (!) movies MGM culled from "The Man From U.N.C.L.E." and released to cinemas outside North America, and in fact it was put together from the final story of the series (the two-part episode "The Seven Wonders Of The World Affair"). Alas, even if you didn't know it was from the last episodes you could tell the end was near - neither Vaughn nor McCallum has his heart in this latest U.N.C.L.E. vs T.H.R.U.S.H. escapade, and indeed no one else (except for Leslie Nielsen) can be bothered to act with conviction. Limply written and directed, and with Jerry Goldsmith conspicuously absent from the credits for his theme, this is a depressing experience all round. (Mind you, so was the fourth season of the show.) Stick with the other seven ersatz movies.

Every long-running television series has an episode (sometimes several) that got red-lighted after the first rough edit and never broadcast. "The Seven Wonders of the World Affair" a/k/a "How to Steal the World" (1968) started out as "The Man from U.N.C.L.E." episode with this dubious honor. Unfortunately the footage was placed in storage rather than destroyed; then once the series had been notified of its cancellation (in the middle of its fourth season) and could not be hurt by such a bad episode; the original footage was resurrected, reassembled, expanded, and broadcast.

And since the ill-conceived episode was not needed as a tax write-off, the producers decided to expand it into feature length and give it a theatrical release overseas. They had already enjoyed success with the technique, releasing all the two-part episodes in a similar manner (although unlike this one these others had been originally intended to be double the one-hour running time). In any case the dusted off version ran for two weeks in late 1967 on US television; as the last two episodes of the series. This allowed the series to go out with a whimper; few cared at the time because the counterculture revolution ("Bonnie and Clyde" – "The Graduate" – etc.) had made the spy premise pretty much irrelevant.

"The Seven Wonders of the World Affair" feels more like a "Star Trek" episode or even "Logan's Run" than anything to do with U.N.C.L.E. They were building the new terminal at LAX at the time and were able to shoot most of the original footage at the building site. It probably looked futuristic in 1966-67, but looks extremely lame today (and probably looked moronic by 1968 when people would have recognized it as the new airport). The el-cheapo production design is not helped by the use of really ill-matched stock footage; some so scratched that it is quite laughable.

The episode inexplicably lacks what had been the two main strengths of the series; the banter between Robert Vaughn and David McCallum, and the casting of many of Hollywood's hottest young starlets in substantial supporting roles.

The premise is the standard idealistic scientist (Barry Sullivan) whose discovery (a gas that makes people peaceful and less aggressive) is about to be misused by evil people. In this case T.H.R.U.S.H. The only thing to watch for is late 1940's-early 50's film star Eleanor Parker, who plays Sullivan's wife, who just happens to be in league with T.H.R.U.S.H. Parker is extremely talented and somehow manages to breathe a bit of life into the lame script. And she has one cool scene where her head is pressed against the top of a glass table; the camera shoots her face from below-distorted by the glass.

Then again, what do I know? I'm only a child.

I have mixed feelings about this movie/episode. I like certain parts because of camera angles or music or dialogue. But at times Solo and Illya seem like background characters, even at their own intended execution. They are passive, and have no dialogue then. I get the impression that the movie is more about the guest stars than the series stars.

The handheld camera work can be annoying at times. It makes scenes look rushed, as if they didn't have time to do it properly.

The music is memorable but some scenes repeat it to the point of distraction.

Leslie Nielsen is quite good as the general. You'd never know he would later make his mark as a comedy actor.

How To Steal The World was the eighth and final spin-off from "The Man From UNCLE" spy series. It was compiled from the final episodes of the series, "The Seven Wonders Of The World Affair" (part one: 8/01/1968) and (part two: 15/01/1968). The story began life as a single episode but was stretched to feature length so that producer Norman Felton could release another theatrical movie overseas. As with the others, the TV version was not aired in the countries where the movie was released such as Britain.

Napoleon Solo and Illya Kuriyakin link the abduction of various VIP's with a plot to dominate the world. The mastermind behind it is Robert Kingsley (Barry Sullivan) an ex-UNCLE agent who plans to end all evil by launching a docility gas that Dr Kurt Erikson (Albert Paulsen),a top bio-chemist has developed with the help of the abducted VIP's.

All in all, How To Steal The World is a disappointment and clearly shows that it was padded out from a one-hour episode to make a feature film. The plot is lacklustre and its absurdities do not carry the same weight here as they did in its predecessors mainly because the tongue-in-cheek chemistry between Vaughn and McCallam, which made the series so popular has faded. Even Barry Sullivan's villain, Robert Kingsley, is a poorly conceived part as he seems like a big softy compared to his predecessors such as Luther Sebastian (Bradford Dillman) in "The Helicopter Spies" (1967). The supporting cast includes a young Leslie Nielsen who offers the best acting as an ex-army general who will go to any lengths to protect Kingsley's scheme even if it means killing people and both he and Kingsley are always colliding over each other's different ways of dealing with saboteurs.

As a kid I absolutely loved The Man From UNCLE. That being said this "movie" is horrible. It was cobbled together from the last two episodes of the series that were not shown on TV. It's apparent that everyone involved were aware that the series had been cancelled because no one was really trying. Not the writers, director or actors. Stuff just didn't make sense. Napoleon and Ilya walk into an obvious trap and are surprised when they are captured. For no apparent reason the members of the evil cabal are wearing monks robes. The traitorous general carries a riding crop. Really, a riding crop? What an ignominious end to a once entertaining series.