Reilly - Ace of Spies
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Movie Reviews of Reilly - Ace of Spies
Movie Review: The first British superspy
Summary: 4 Stars
Ian Fleming readily admitted that he based the exploits of James Bond on the real-life Sidney Reilly, the Russian-born Cambridge-educated double agent who involved himself in many affairs of the crown during the reigns of Edward VII and George V. This beautifully produced miniseries details many of his exploits from roughly the beginning of Edward's reign through 1925, when Reilly was duped into traveling to Russia and captured by Stalin, who had him executed. The series is highly episodes, with minimal narration, and even if you've got a handle on the events of the Russo-Japanese War or the Great Game or the Red Terror, you might find yourself constantly checking historical sources to figure out what's what and who's who. Yet that still didn't seriously diminish from my enjoyment of this series. This miniseries was made during what might be called the Golden Age of British miniseries, in the early Eighties when television companies were awash with money and spent much more lavishly than they had even ten years prior: as a result, this series (like BRIDESHEAD REVISITED, THE JEWEL IN THE CROWN, and THE FLAME TREES OF THIKA) is incredibly handsomely mounted, with lavish costumes, hairstyling, props and locations. It seems like a documentary of another age (before there were color movie cameras), and captures the feel of the back alleys of Paris, the tea-rooms of St. Petersburg, the offices of Whitehall, and the shipyards of Germany at the turn of the century.
The darkly handsome and almost demonic looking Sam Neill was ideally cast as the manipulative womanizing Reilly; the series pulls no punches in showing how cold-hearted he could be, even to his own wives when they interfered with his work. There are many fine actors here who would become even more famous in the worlds of British theater, television, and stage present, including Bill Nighy as another and more vulnerable British agent, Lindsay Duncan in a fine turn as an amusing demimondaine called "The Plugger," and, in ridiculous makeup (perhaps the series's only production disappointment), David Suchet in a bizarre turn as a Chinese agent and Leo McKern as the munitions manufacturer and figure of intrigue Boris Zaharoff. (McKern seems to be wearing Orson Welles' awful putty nose from THE LONG HOT SUMMER--it keeps changing shape, and rarely matches his skin tones.) By far the best episodes of the series are numbers even and eight, when Reilly becomes involved in an elaborate plot in 1918 to depose the Bolsheviks and lead a new Russian government determined to re-involve the Russians in the World War; the conclusion of this two-parter, showing the final fate of several of the women who have worked with Reilly, is beautifully done and quite moving. The shows' creators mount a memorable credit sequence, involving a sad nostalgic kinestatis of images from the century's turn (a Romanov family portrait, the Manhattan skyline, Lenin speaking to the crowds) accompanied by Shostakovich's lush "Romance" movement of his violin suite for the film "The Gadfly" (based on a novel with a major character inspired by the actual Sidney Reilly).
Movie Review: He who spies and runs away . . .
Summary: 4 Stars
. . . may live to spy another day, but unlike James Bond, Sidney Reilly is (or was) a mortal spy, not a cardboard one. His enemies (and those of the West for most of the last century) actually got him in the end (1925). Knowledge of this fact, and that Reilly (aka Sigmund Rosenblum of Odessa) was actually employed by the British Secret Intelligence Service and played a significant, if covert, part in world events only enhances the suspense of this excellent British series, which one does not want to end the way it did in real life.
Part "007 for the Educated," and part "Upstairs-Downstairs" in spirit, this series follows the adventures of the "Ace of Spies," against the backdrop of history, from 1900 until 1925. The series, in fact, would make an excellent teaching tool for a high school or college World History class, when annotated by a history instructor. From the 1904 Japanese sinking of the Russian fleet at Port Arthur in Manchuria, through the Russian Revolution of 1917, until Stalin's paranoic ascendency in the 1920's, the viewer is treated to a "rippng yarn" in which the historic connivings of the Usual Suspects for oil, arms and power (What else?) is one of the most fascinating aspects. We even have a "good Bolshie" (sort of) in the persona of Felix Dzerzhinsky, founder of the Cheka (later the KGB), and "bad Bolshie" in that of Joseph Stalin (You were expecting, maybe, Kim Philby?). At any rate, the series is gripping from beginning to end.
Yes, the quality of the color is rather on the sepia side, but this defect (if it is a deliberate one) contributes to the "historical" ambience of "Reilly." I also began to wonder whether the Moscow of Lenin & Co. was really as spic and span as presented (but then, I may have been influenced by the propaganda of the last century that suggests otherwise). I was, however, less than impressed by the makeup: Leo McKern's nose, in particular, kept changing shape and color, until in his last scenes, it looked just like what it was: putty. Furthermore, the maquillage on Reilly's first wife, who was supposed to be fifty, with clown white under her eyes, and black shadow on her cheeks, was simply amateurish. These flaws, however (for which I have witheld a star), are but flyspecks on the panorama of an otherwise excellent series from the BBC.
Movie Review: captivating series with historical accuracy
Summary: 4 Stars
The story almost like a documentary in context, because it's fairly accurate. We really never know how Reilly actually fit in these stories.
The stories are great, wish they'd made more of them.
The sets are really cool and original. Must have been lots of location shooting for these series. I look for many details in sets and it's really there for this period piece.
Two cons;
- The damn music and sound recording is bad. Par for anything the Brits do in movies, they never seems to understand what role music has to do in movies. Keep your finger on the volume knob. Either you don't hear what they saying or your ears will be blasted by music and you really can't hear what they saying.
Then, those damn flutes!
I said it other Brits movies that the flutes and playing it ear-pearcing loud is a must for them. I wish they'd cut the flute music out. My ears can't take it anymore and you will suffer as well.
- The quality of the movie suck.
You'll see film grain and muddled images because of the film transfer is very bad. There is no reason for that, no excuse.
If you can overlook these two cons, as I did with reluctance, then buy the set. It's worth it.
Movie Review: Fantastic series, mediocre DVD
Summary: 4 Stars
I agree with eveyone about this series. It is simply one of the greatest ever put on television. When it originally broadcast 25 years ago it was met with immense critical acclaim. It made Sam Neill an overnight star. I remember watching Vincent Price do a wonderful job as narrator between episodes each week setting the stage for each successive program.
To watch Reilly start his career as a down and out novice living in a cheap flop house, to being on first name basis with the most powerful men in the world and engaged in projects that changed the course of history, is a terrific piece of film making. Everything is done with period accuracy, right down to side conversations about the merits of one kind of Austrian pistol vs another. All spot on correct. The supporting cast is super with Leo McKern doing the performance of his career as the international arms tycoon Basil Zaharoff. He even looks like Zaharoff. David Burke as the ultra sinister Stalin and a murderous Tom Bell as Cheka spy chief Felix Djerzinski are both outstanding. THIS is what you watch television for!!
But the DVD should have been digitally remastered and the sound cleaned up. For a series this outstanding it's the least that can be done.
Movie Review: Reilly Ace of Espionage Changes History
Summary: 4 Stars
Just watched the entire box set. Had seen bits and pieces 20+ years ago when it aired on PBS. Much better watching it on DVD, especially in series.
Other reviews will tell you Reilly was a more than interesting character and that Sam Neill played him well. Both are understatements. The series is as fascinating as it is well acted and produced. Tight early 1980's made for TV budgets do show through from time to time. This story is worth making again.
In his time, Reilly brought down a British Government, helped create a dangerous war machine in Germany as Hitler was coming to power, came close to brining down the bolsheviks, single-handedly destroyed one of history's most powerful political and espionage agencies and in so doing showed Stalin to be the mad man he was.
On the fourth disc is a brief history of Reilly. Its worth watching after seeing the first episode or two. Your eyes will be opened and intellect will be challenged. Reilly has some of Schindler's greatness and weaknesses albeit in a different setting.