The Man from U.N.C.L.E. (TV Series) The Summit-Five Affair (1967) User Reviews

The first of season four and a big improvement on what came before.

[jamesraeburn2003 · 8/10 · 8 September 2021]

Napoleon Solo and Illya Kuriyakin are sent to UNCLE's Berlin HQ to uncover a double agent whom has been betraying secrets to THRUSH. When UNCLE agent Heinz Newman is murdered while trying to contact Mr Waverley having discovered the traitor's identity, Solo becomes the prime suspect and is interrogated by top UNCLE agent Gerald Strothers. He confesses under intense pressure, which leaves he and Kuriyakin to find the real traitor before the entire UNCLE organisation is destroyed.

The first episode of the fourth and final season of the cult 1960's spy series, which was a big improvement on season three. The previous season had its highlights, but there were also several low points in which the stories became too silly for words and our heroes, Solo and Kuriyakin, portrayed as bumbling buffoons. Here attempts were made to make the show a little more serious while retaining the all important chemistry between Robert Vaughn and David McCallam that made it so popular. The action was made a little tougher and hard hitting, which was welcome making some of season four's output the best the show ever produced.

The Summit Five Affair is a straight espionage adventure, which benefits from the taut and sophisticated direction of Sutton Roley. He was one of the better latecomers to the show and it is a great pity that his only other contribution to it was the feature length spin off movie How To Steal The World, which was actually the final two episodes of the series spliced together for overseas theatrical release. Roley did with it what he could, but it was a disappointing finale to a cult classic. Here, however, he stages some tense action such as Solo's brutal interrogation and his dice with death in a chauffer driven limo while the climatic shoot out involving a firing squad is thrilling thanks to Roley's well paced and tense build ups.

The New Producer Affair

[profh-1 · 8/10 · 13 July 2023]

A once-yearly meeting of 5 UNCLE heads is endangered by a double-agent somewhere in their Berlin office... and because he was there when a murder occurred, Napoleon is one of the suspects. He eagerly agrees to submit to intense interrogation, certain he'll be cleared, and the only remaining suspect will then be the target of suspicion. But all through this, I kept wondering, how do we know this OTHER guy, who was portrayed as "everything a subtle agent shouldn't be" wasn't the real culprit? Boy, was I right...

After an absolutely-incredible 1st season, UNCLE fell victim to the mood of the times, and the result was no less than 3 entire seasons' worth of inconsistent, increasingly-silly plots (that's seasons 2 & 3, PLUS the entire season of THE GIRL FROM UNCLE!). Ratings were apparently endangered, but somehow the show made it to a 4th season, and this episode shows what can really be accomplished when a show that's gone off-track has a new producer take over. I knew I recognized the name Anthony Spinner! Apart from THE INVADERS, THE F. B. I., and CANNON, the show he was associated with that I most remember was RETURN OF THE SAINT with Ian Ogilvy, who eventually became my favorite actor! (He's better than Roger Moore-- what can I say?)

The mood was toned down, the lights in Waverly's office were toned down (heh), Waverly got a regular secretary for the first time in the series (whatever took them so long?), the THEME song got a more intense arrangement, and the story at times made me think someone had decided to follow the model of "Harry Palmer" rather than "Derek Flint". I haven't seen a show turn around this much between episodes since the 3rd season opener of LOST IN SPACE, "Condemned Of Space" (which, funny enough, aired only 5 DAYS before this one!).

I've been re-watching the early seasons of THE AVENGERS lately, and it's occurred to me that a number of things established in that show later turned up almost verbatim on UNCLE. One was Steed's boss "One-Ten", an older man who still had an eye for the ladies, who reminds me an awful lot of "Alexander Waverly", 2 years before-the-fact. Another was in the episode "The Outside-In Man", where another boss of Steed's has his office hidden behind a butcher shop (2 years before UNCLE's tailor shop). Having the main character put through a really-intense interrogation, trying to break his will and make him confess to crimes the audience cannot believe he's possibly guilty of, seems to have been borrowed straight out of "The Nutshell", an episode aired in England more than 3-1/2 YEARS before this one. The big difference being, in that, the interrogator turned out to be the main villain. Here... NOT quite! (heh) It's cool when somebody borrows a plot idea and then puts their own unexpected twist on it.

Albert Dekker is "Harry Beldon", a most-unseemly spy who's oddly successful despite his extrovert eccentricities. I've never cared for him as an actor, and I suppose I was inclined to be suspicious of his character from the start.

Lloyd Bochner is "Gerald Strother", who was also present when the murder Solo is suspected of took place. IS he the killer, or just ridiculously-overzealous at his job? I've seen Bochner in so many things, often playing baddies or simply sleavebags, but he always has an aura about him that makes him very entertaining to watch, no matter his role. I mainly remember him for THE NIGHT WALKER (1964), a McCLOUD ("Night of the Shark") and of course, 2 episodes of BATTLESTAR GALACTICA ("Greetings From Earth" and "Baltar's Escape", where he was virtually playing a space NAZI).

James Millhollin is "Wraithlike", a Thrush agent with no pretenses whatsoever. As soon as I saw him onscreen, my eyes lit up, I've seen in so many things, including a "criminal lawyer" on BATMAN ("The Dead Ringers") and a very gentle soul on LOST IN SPACE ("The Great Vegetable Rebellion"-- hey, it's NOWHERE near as bad as so many insist that it is-- heh).

I got a kick out of seeing that row of NASA-surplus computers, no doubt re-purposed when Irwin Allen's THE TIME TUNNEL was abruptly cancelled. But the one genuinely funny bit in the story is when the heroes are in a glass elevator, going down, which is filling with poison gas. "How far does this go?" "I don't know, this is one of the newer models." (I LOVE humor in my adventure shows-- as long as it doesn't get out of hand.) It was also nice to see Solo & Kuryakin actually GETTING ALONG, as for far too many of the stories, it seemed they were barely concealing contempt for one another.

I can't be sure if the previous year permanently killed any chances for UNCLE's ratings' recovery, or of the anti-violence crusade of 1968 really did it in. Jon Heitland's 1987 book on the series mentioned that early-on, pressures to reduce violence resulted in them coming up with tranquilizer guns... but watching the entire series on DVD, I have only seen their use in-- at most-- 2 episodes! The rest of the time, they're SHOOTING real bullets and KILLING an awful lot of people-- and these are the good guys I'm talking about. When the climax of this episode arrived, I'd have almost thought I was watching THE UNTOUCHABLES, when both Solo & Kuryakin were machine-gunning a whole squad of Thrush killers to death. Several "action" shows were actually yanked off the air due to pressure from anti-violence groups in 1968. This included THE WILD WILD WEST, cancelled while it was still in the top ten! I can't help but wonder if this didn't also affect UNCLE. After a massive turn-around like the one seen here, this show deserved to go on a lot longer than it did.

"Confess!"

[ShadeGrenade · 10/10 · 11 June 2009]

The first episode of the fourth and final run of 'M.F.U' must have come as a shock to audiences, following a mostly dismal third season in which plots were constructed around such inane ideas as bombs full of essence of skunk and hiccup gas ( not to mention Sonny & Cher ). This Robert E.Thompson-scripted episode is John Le Carre by comparison.

Solo is being shown around U.N.C.L.E.'s Berlin headquarters when a frightened technician sends a message to Mr.Waverly, warning of the presence of a double agent in the organisation, only to be killed by a 'xeron actuator' ( oh, one of those! ). Suspicion falls on the following agents - flamboyant 'Harry Beldon' ( Albert Dekker ), suave 'Gerald Strothers' ( the excellent Lloyd Bochner ), beautiful 'Helga Denikin' ( Susanne Cramer ), and Solo himself. In an attempt to smoke out the culprit, Solo allows the finger of blame to be pointed at him, leading a harrowing interrogation scene straight out of 'The Prisoner', conducted by Strothers in 'No.2' mode. At one point, Solo even grabs his interrogator's leg and cries for Illya! Shocking stuff.

This was the first of three 'M.F.U.' assignments for director Sutton Roley ( the other two were the final two-parter 'The Seven Wonders Of The World Affair' ). He brought to his shows a highly distinctive visual style. One wishes he had been hired earlier, when Dean Hargrove and Peter Allan Fields were penning scripts. THRUSH is out to assassinate the top five heads of U.N.C.L.E. ( who meet once a year to exchange vital communications codes ). Albert Dekker, was 'Dr.Thorkel' in one of my favourite sci-fi pictures - 1940's 'Dr.Cyclops'.

Anthony Spinner came as a breath of fresh air after Boris Ingster. Even the spoof dedication in the closing credits was dropped! Barbara Moore makes her debut as 'Lisa Rogers', Mr.Waverly's new secretary, and though she does not get to do much throughout the season a regular female character was long overdue. U.N.C.L.E. H.Q. has been spruced up too, with more computers ( left over from N.A.S.A. ) on view. Jerry Goldsmith's theme is given a strident new arrangement and, while not quite up to the first season version, is markedly better than the second and third's. These changes gave 'U.N.C.L.E.' a fresh, up-to-date look, and got Season 4 off to a marvellous start.

Definitely better, but...

[Wirefan122 · 5/10 · 12 August 2015]

This episode starts Season 4 on a much better note than the previous one! Season 3 was for the most part just awful.

Summit-five is the annual meeting of the worldwide UNCLE heads and has been put in jeopardy due to a double-agent in their midst (not one of the heads) who may expose it's whereabouts and time to THRUSH who would of course kill them all and rule the world!

I won't go into the plot in too much detail but is pretty standard stuff. Illya and Solo get taken captive and a la James Bond get sent down an elevator into poisonous gas to kill them...which does not work, amazingly enough.

The (spoiler ahead!!!!!!) four heads of UNCLE who are to be killed are marched out onto a wooden bridge so three guys with submachine guns can kill them from 150 feet or so away! Surprisingly enough they are saved at the last second.

I may sound cynical and probably watch too much of these programs but it never fails to amaze me that they don't simply shoot (or attempt to) Solo/Illya/Four heads immediately (they could have killed one or two of the other Heads as no one would probably ever notice). I DO enjoy the show so I will keep watching!