"The Quadripartite Affair" (ep. 1/3)

A lively script that I don't think I saw in first run.   In about '83 or '84, someone brought a tape of this one to an SF convention, and jittery and poor quality though the tape was, I watched it avidly.   It was my first "new" "original" U.N.C.L.E. in 15 years.

Jill Ireland was the loveliest woman . . . and I've always loved Anne Francis.   Odd to see her play a baddie.  MfU fan Bill Koenig has pointed out that Caillou's vision of Ravel and Bufferton was as a modern Cleopatra and Antony; very apt.

I want to be Ivy League Solo, in his collegiate Harris tweed jacket and dark slacks, and the later Yacht Club Solo, in his double-breasted blazer with the crest on it.  If I ever get the chance to be reincarnated and can pick my body, I'll simply say, "As Robert Vaughn when he did 'The Quadripartite Affair.'   Oh, and can I have rich parents, too?"

This is Illya's first chance to shine.  He seems rather young and boyish, especially around Marion.  At least we get to see the fear gas at work; in the much later "Alexander the Greater," the will gas is nothing but a McGuffin.

That scene in Waverly's office in Act II is needs more visuals; it wouldn't fly today.  Otherwise, the script fairly hustles -- from Yugoslavia to HQ and then Marion's apartment in NY, Solo's daring daylight rescue of Marion from the yacht, then off to Yugoslavia again.

Richard Anderson's Col. Pattner seems awfully indecisive for a career military officer.   He spends a good deal of Act IV standing and staring around him.  Maybe the "Colonel" was a courtesy title, or maybe he didn't have much field experience.  Or maybe he's just not used to the kind of two-man assault force that is Solo and Illya.

I did wonder, however, how Illya and Marion escaped from the high-ceilinged room.  Illya could have boosted Marion up to Solo, but then how did Illya get up?  We saw no rope.  And then, we see Solo start to go back down into the room.  Why bring Illya and Marion up, if they were just going to go down to toss the fear gas among Pattner's men while making their escape?

Also, the Ravel/Bufferton/Pattner coalition has nothing to do with Thrush, but Pattner's men wear the jumpsuits and berets that are later associated with Thrush foot soldiers.

I understand the idea was floated of combining this one and "Giuoco Piano," both written by Alan Caillou, into a movie.  A tiny bit of bridging material, to show the passage of time while Solo and Illya search fruitlessly for Ravel and Bufferton, and we'd have been off to the races.

Verdict: When I want to show somebody what MfU was like at its best and most fully realized, I'll get him to watch this and "Giuoco Piano" back-to-back.  (Along with "Mad, Mad Tea Party," "Project Strigas," and "Fiddlesticks.")

Memorable Line:

Heather: "She [Gervaise Ravel] is classified as 'dangerous.'"
Solo: "A beautiful woman should always be so classified."