The Man from U.N.C.L.E. (TV Series) The Vulcan Affair (1964) User Reviews

Great first episode!

[gordonl56 · 8/10 · 10 November 2014]

THE MAN FROM U.N.C.L.E. – The Vulcan Affair – 1964

This is the first episode of 1964 to 1968 spy series, THE MAN FROM U.N.C.L.E. The series ran for a total of 105 episodes. The first season was filmed in B/W with the remainder shot in colour. Robert Vaughn plays agent Napoleon Solo while David McCallum plays Illya Kuryakin. Leo G Carroll plays Mister Waverly, the boss of the secret agency known as U.N.C.L.E. (United Network Command for Law & Enforcement) Their main enemy is THRUSH, an organization out to take over the planet.

The episode opens with an attack on U.N.C.L.E. headquarters. The failed attack was an attempt to kill the boss, Carroll. U.N.C.L.E. has received word that THRUSH intends to kill the visiting leader of a new African country, William Marshall. Then they can put in their own people.

U.N.C.L.E. sends agent Vaughn in to put a stop to the evil plan. He recruits civilian Pat Crowley to help in the case. Crowley it seems was the college sweetheart of the main THRUSH baddie, Fritz Weaver. Crowley is to help gain entrance to the site where the assassination is to take place. Needless to say the good guys prevail in defeating the evil THRUSH and its minions.

Look close and you will see future "Bond" villain, Richard Kiel in a very small part. It was also interesting to see Ivan Dixon of "Hogan's Heroes" fame in an early role. Another bit part was played by Roy Jenson who helped slice up Jack Nicholson in 1974's CHINATOWN.

The look of the episode is quite good with big screen veteran, Joseph Biroc handling the cinematography. His big screen work include, IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE, AIRPLANE, THE CHOIRBOYS, CRY DANGER, THE KILLER THAT STALKED NEW YORK and THE LONGEST YARD (1973)

This is a fun episode with plenty of action and tongue in cheek humour. It was one of the first television series to cash in on the "James Bond" craze.

***

[edwagreen · 8/10 · 14 March 2016]

In the season premiere, Ilya had such a tiny role and Napoleon seemed less sarcastic and at some point, he was actually giving psychological advice to the woman.

Though 10 years had passed, and the THRUSH culprit had long since stopped seeing this woman, UNCLE recruited her to gain information regarding a plant and to thwart an assassination attempt on the leader of a newly emerging African country. I love the way the housewife is adamant about not participating in this and by the next scene she is in full throttle.

That steam room segment was energetic and that new leader really had surprises up his sleeves.

Not bad for first episode

[philipwright · 6/10 · 4 July 2020]

I notice that someone here mentioned a longer 'movie' edit of this episode. Perhaps that's why the 50:55 min broadcast has parts that don't make sense. 1. What happened to the woman on the plane? (The one who dropped her lipstick, was watching Pat Crawley in her mirror and had a gun). Perhaps she was helping Solo? We just don't know. She never appeared again. 2. Solo does nothing to cause the reactor to explode. The bad guys were all in the same control room as the targets. They would have burned themselves up anyway, even if Solo had done nothing. Didn't make any sense. Nonetheless, pretty good performances by all. Well filmed and produced. Pretty exciting first episode, all round.

Meet Mr.Solo

[ShadeGrenade · 10/10 · 24 June 2009]

It is difficult to imagine the impact 'The Man From U.N.C.L.E.' must have had on American viewers in 1964. The airwaves were saturated with Westerns, war dramas, detective and police shows, when along came this - up-to-date, imaginative, and bold. A spy series with a sci-fi flavour. Nothing like it had been seen before.

Though slow to catch on initially, when it did it edged out 'Bonanza', 'Bewitched', and 'The Dick Van Dyke Show' to become America's favourite series.

It should come as no surprise to learn that the source was Ian Fleming, creator of 'James Bond 007'. Producer Norman Felton approached the novelist for ideas for a new adventure show, and he coined the name 'Napoleon Solo'. But a threatened lawsuit from Eon Productions resulted in Fleming's withdrawal from the project, hence Sam Rolfe was brought in. The award-winning co-writer of the film 'The Naked Spur' created a whole universe for Solo to inhabit, establishing the U.N.C.L.E. ( United Network Command for Law & Enforcement ) organisation and its evil counterpart THRUSH.

The pilot - 'The Vulcan Affair' - was originally made with Will Kuluva as U.N.C.L.E. chief 'Mr.Allison', the enemy organisation known as W.A.S.P., and the show itself called 'Solo'. But when it finally reached the small screen, Leo G.Carroll was 'Mr.Waverly', W.A.S.P. became THRUSH, and the show retitled 'The Man From U.N.C.L.E.'.

It opens with an assault force from THRUSH breaking into U.N.C.L.E. H.Q. They do not get far before alarms sound, doors slide into place, and security men dash to apprehend the intruders. One blows open a door. Behind it is the silhouette of a man. The intruder shoots three times, but the bullets splinter a sheet of protective glass ( this scene became the symbol of the show in its first year ). The lights come up, and Napoleon Solo ( Robert Vaughn ) stands revealed. Emerging from behind the glass, he kills the intruder.

THRUSH had wanted to silence Mr.Waverly before he could uncover their latest plan - industrialist Andrew Vulcan ( Fritz Weaver ) intends assassinating the premier ( William Marshall ) of a newly independent African state so that THRUSH can take over his country. Solo enlists the help of housewife Elaine May Donaldson ( Patricia Crowley ) who had dated Vulcan ten years earlier when they were at college.

The 'Donaldson' character would be the first of many 'innocents' - ordinary people enlisted by U.N.C.L.E. in their fight against THRUSH. Crowley is not only beautiful but funny too. As 'Vulcan', Weaver is good, as is Marshall as 'Ashumen'. I would like to have seen a bit more of Eric Berry's 'Alfred Ghist' though. His old-school English chumminess makes him a more menacing character than 'Vulcan'.

As an introductory episode, this is both well written and performed, though for excitement nothing tops the break-in at the start. Solo's evading security guards at Vulcan's plant is also memorable ( see if you can spot Richard Kiel, who played 'Jaws' in two Bond movies ) 'Illya Kuryakin' ( David McCallum ) does not get a lot to do, but that would change over the course of the series.

When it was released as the feature film 'To Trap A Spy', the Kuluva footage was reinstated, and W.A.S.P. mentioned as the villains. I for one am glad they did not stick with Kuluva as he lacked the warmth Carroll brought to the role of 'Waverly'.

In common with 'The Double Affair' from the same season, 'Vulcan' was omitted from the original run on B.B.C.-1. When the now-defunct satellite station 'Granada Plus' screened 'M.F.U.' a decade ago, the 'Solo' version of the pilot ( running ten minutes longer ) was screened for the first ( and only ) time.

'U.N.C.L.E.' was up and running, and American television would never be the same again.

An exciting confrontation.

[oscar-35 · 10 October 2014]

*Spoiler/plot- "The Vulcan Affair", Man from U.N.C.L.E. Thrush sets its sights on taking over an African emerging country with the power and money of an international industrialist. UNCLE gets enlists the industrialist's old college sweetheart to stop the take over.

*Special Stars- Regulars: Leo G. Carroll, Robert Vaughn, David McCallum. Pat Crowley, Fritz Weaver, Ivan Dixon, Richard Kiel.

*Theme- MOney and power can be a force for good.

*Trivia/location/goofs- B & W. Shot at MGM studio lot and back-lot, now gone. Look for Ivan Dixon from 'Hogan's Heroes' as one of the African countries statesmen. Pat Crowley did another TV show for MGMTV called 'Please, don't eat the Daisies' where she played a suburban mom and that show did a crossover funny show of the family children, UNCLE TV fans suspecting their father of being a UNCLE agent. You Tube Fun.

*Emotion- An exciting confrontation of two fictional international spy rings with many spy gadgets, cars, guns, and beautiful women to keep the viewer interested in the plot. Almost an 'exploitation' genre of the spy plot from a major weekly TV show of the early 60's times.

*Based On- The TV show spy craze of the early 60's.

The Emerging African Nation Affair

[profh-1 · 6/10 · 23 November 2023]

4 Thrush assassins manage to break into UNCLE HQ in NYC, attempting to kill the #1 man, Alexander Waverly. Top agent Napoleon Solo shoots him 3 times-- very dead. It seems they've intercepted a transmission indicating that when the Premier of a newly-formed African nation is visiting an industrial plant owned by a known Thrush agent, someone is to be assassinated. The only way to get close to the man in charge, insanely enough, is to recruit an innocent married woman with 2 kids... who used to be the guy's girlfriend in college. As is to be expected in situations like this, things don't quite go as planned!

Producer Norman Felton had an idea to do a show that for legal reasons, they couldn't refer to as "James Bond On Television"-- especially after consulting with Ian Fleming, who contributed 2 character names: "Napoleon Solo" and "April Dancer". Fleming withdrew when EON Productions threatened a lawsuit, so writer Sam Rolfe "developed" the show, initially named SOLO but then (also for legal reasons) renamed the much-cooler THE MAN FROM UNCLE.

Robert Vaughn (THE MAGNIFICENT 7, THE LIEUTENANT) was cast as "Solo" because they wanted someone who looked "normal" who also could look really good in a tuxedo. When it comes to 60s spies, I find him infinitely more-likable than James Bond ever was! (Come to think of it, he's a lot closer to Fleming's version of Bond from the novels to that sexual predator Sean Connery helped co-create for the Bond movies.)

Leo G. Carroll (Alfred Hitchcock's favorite actor-- see REBECCA, SPELLBOUND, and most notably, NORTH BY NORTHWEST) is "Alexander Waverly", a guy so cool, so laid-back, at times he can seem cold-blooded when he sends his men out on dangerous missions. ("I sometimes wonder which side Mr. Waverly is really working for.", one of the heroes said in a later story.) He was apparently cast at a very late stage of the game, because Will Kuluva's "Mr. Allison", who was in the unaired pilot (and, crazy enough, the expanded theatrical movie version) was replaced due to a happy mix-up. (Kuluva would eventually play baddies in 2 much-later episodes.) Oddly enough, these days I find Waverly reminds me an awful lot of one of John Steed's bosses on THE AVENGERS, "One-Ten" (Douglas Muir), a cultured older gent who still has a thing for much-younger ladies. He was on that show 2 YEARS before UNCLE debuted!

In fact, similar to NORTH BY NORTHWEST (1959), Steed also had recruited a total innocent to help him, lounge singer "Venus Smith" (Julie Stevens), but unlike Solo, Steed didn't bother to tell Venus what was going on. THE CAD! (Again, 2 years before UNCLE debuted.)

David McCallum (THE OUTER LIMITS: "The Forms Of Things Unknown") has a tiny part as Russian UNCLE agent Ilya Kuryakin. Some network exec wanted him gone (even as some other network exec initially wanted "Mr. Spock" gone from STAR TREK!) but he survived and soon had such a building fan base that he became HALF of the show (even as Spock did on ST).

Guest-stars this ep include Patricia Crowley (THE LIEUTENANT, PLEASE DON'T EAT THE DAISIES), Fritz Weaver (CREEPSHOW: "The Crate"), William Marshall (TARZAN, STAR TREK, BLACULA, ROSETTI & RYAN), Ivan Dixon (HOGAN'S HEROES), Rupert Crosse (THE MONKEES, THE PARTNERS), with Roy Jenson (STAR TREK) and Richard Kiel (THE WILD WILD WEST, THE MONKEES, THE SPY WHO LOVED ME) as an assassin and a security guard.

There are actually 3 distinct edits of this one story! Just last week, for the first time, I saw the original UNAIRED pilot, "SOLO", which was filmed IN COLOR. What struck me as bizarre is that it clocks in at 1:09:58. That's 19 MINUTES longer than when it was broadcast as the official 1st episode, "The Vulcan Affair". I know that the STAR TREK pilot ("The Cage") was also much longer than the then-common 51-minute slot. What was going on there? Did someone already have it in mind to expand it to feature length, just in case it wasn't sold as a series? Eventually, it was expanded to 1 hour 32 minutes and run in theatres as TO TRAP A SPY, with the additional 22 minutes of that coming from "The Four-Steps Affair", at least part of which must have been filmed in COLOR to facilitate this.

Re-watching "The Vulcan Affair" today, I noted multiple scenes being cut all over the place to get it down to 50:52. Among them, the bit where Elaine asks Solo if he wouldn't mind getting out of her bedroom. This stood out, as in THE NEW AVENGERS episode "House Of Cards", Purdey (Joanna Lumley) says to Mike Gambit (Gareth Hunt), "Would you mind getting out of my bedroom?" (Of course, on that show, Gambit WAS always hoping to get closer to Purdey. Here, Napoleon is being much more of a gentleman.)

Other cut scenes include revealing that all 4 Thrush assassins had taken poison before the break-in, and all DIED before they could be interrogated; "Margaret Oberon" (the girl with the gun on the airplane who later turns up at Vulcan's party) is really working for UNCLE; Vulcan taking Elaine for a protracted tour of his plant (and Solo hid in the trunk of his car); the explanation that the plant manufactures PLASTICS; the scene where Vulcan angrily tries to SLAP Elaine in the face, only to be knocked down by Napoleon (in the broadcast version, you can see Solo rubbing his hand after just punching the guy in the face); the bit where Solo & Elaine are hanging from that pipe, where she says, "Will you please STOP doing that?" and he replies, "I'm trying to break this pipe loose."; and finally, the bit on the plane where Solo offers Elaine tickets to a fancy reception at the UN Building, so her family can see her in that gorgeous dress, but she turns him down. (I've probably missed some.)

Oddly enough, after Solo's car crashes, there's a clip of him walking into Elaine's hotel room BEFORE she sees him, that wasn't in the longer version. In that one, she's walking around her room, thinking, when she suddenly looks over and there he is standing in the doorway.

I've seen the theatrical version TO TRAP A SPY more times than the other two, but frankly, the story makes more sense without the footage from the other episode (no matter how hot Luciana Paluzzi looks in there). Having now seen SOLO, I'd say the unaired COLOR pilot is the best version of the 3. I'm sure glad when I decided to go after UNCLE, I sprung for the "Complete Series" box. It's got 5 boxes in it, one for each season, and a fifth consisting entirely of "extras"!

Until recently, I'd never actually seen the bulk of this series. Now that I have seen it from beginning to end, I really wish they'd stuck with the format they had in Season 1. On multiple occasions, I kept comparing it to THE TWILIGHT ZONE, in that nearly every actor who appeared on it that year got one of the BEST scripts of their entire career. I can't say that for Seasons 2 & 3. (Although Season 4 blew my mind. I've never seen a show recover and improve THAT drastically.)

Pilot

[gdhughes2002 · 15 March 2006]

I just saw this episode on cable, it was the pilot for the show. Interestingly the show was called "Solo" at the beginning of this episode. They must have subsequently renamed it "The Man from U.N.C.L.E." Leo G. Carroll did not appear in this episode. The head of U.N.C.L.E. was called Mr. Allison in this episode and was played by Will Kuluva. I notice that it notes "scenes deleted" next to his name on the "Vulcan Affair" page, but the version I saw did have Mr. Kuluva's scenes in it. David McCallum's Ilya character had a very small role in this episode. I also noticed that this episode included the scene with Solo getting shot at while behind a piece of bulletproof glass. They used this in the intro to the show in later episodes.