The Adventures of Young Indiana Jones: Espionage Escapades (Video 2007)

May 1917. Sixteen year old Indiana Jones joins an international trio of spies plotting against their German counterparts in the neutral city of Barcelona. After his old acquaintance Pablo ... See full summary »

Directors:

Terry Jones, Robert Young

Writer:

Gavin Scott

Stars:

Sean Patrick Flanery, Tim McInnerny, Amanda Ooms

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Sean Patrick Flanery	...	Indiana Jones
Tim McInnerny	...	Franz Kafka (archive footage)
Amanda Ooms	...	Nadia (archive footage)
Timothy Spall	...	Cunningham (archive footage)
Kenneth Cranham	...	Colonel Schmidt (archive footage)
Harry Enfield	...	Julio the Chauffeur (archive footage)
Terry Jones	...	Marcello
William Hootkins	...	Sergei Diaghilev (archive footage)
Liz Smith	...	Delfina (archive footage)
David Leland	...	Costume Designer (archive footage)
Charles McKeown	...	Charles (archive footage)
David Hatton	...	Count of Toledo (archive footage)
Sussanah Morley	...	Countess of Toledo (as Susannah Morley)
Wolf Kahler	...	German 2nd (archive footage)
Carl Chase	...	German 2nd (archive footage)

Storyline

May 1917. Sixteen year old Indiana Jones joins an international trio of spies plotting against their German counterparts in the neutral city of Barcelona. After his old acquaintance Pablo Picasso helps him get a job at Sergei Diaghilev's Ballets Russes, Indy devices a plan to forge a love letter written by the German cultural attaché to make it seem he is having an affair with the Countess of Toledo. In August of the same year, Indiana is reassigned to Prague where he is to receive an important phone call. Unfortunately his hotel room proves to be unequipped with a phone. Indy heads for the Ministery of Telephones, where he learns that having to confront Czech bureaucracy can be quite a trial.

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Genres:

Comedy

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Details

Official Sites:

Lucasarts

Country:

USA

Language:

English German

Release Date:

18 December 2007 (USA)

Filming Locations:

Shepperton Studios, Shepperton, Surrey, England, UK

Company Credits

Production Co:

Amblin Entertainment, Lucasfilm

Technical Specs

Runtime:

92 min

Color:

Color

Did You Know?

Trivia

While the poster of the Diaghilev ballet in Barcelona advertises Stravinsky's music, and the spy ring characters mention the "Rite of Spring", the music actually used for the soundtrack as well as the ballet rehearsals is from "Scheherazade" by Rimsky-Korsakov (probably because it's a bit lighter on the ears to the uninitiated.)

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Goofs

During the flamenco local scene, Cunningham claims that one of the reasons why Spain is neutral in the war is that the king's father is German (the other being that his wife is British). The king of the time (Alfonso XIII) was, indeed, married to a British princess but his father (Alfonso XII) wasn't German nor alive at the time. It was Alfonso XIII's mother who belonged to the royal family of one of the Central Powers, but she was Austrian, not German.

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Quotes

Marcello: [posing as a shop keeper] May I help you?
Indiana Jones: Ehm. I hope so. I'm looking for a one eyed elephant... named Bruno...

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Connections

Edited from The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles: Barcelona, May 1917 (1992)

User Reviews

Dip into comedy

A potentially exciting series of adventures in the life of young Indiana Jones (Sean Patrick Flanery) is ruined by a dip into unfunny slapstick comedy. Indy is posted to Barcelona on another intelligence mission to monitor Colonel Schmitd (Kenneth Cranham), a German military man based in Spain. Later on, he ends up in Prague, where a simple mission to install a telephone becomes a bureaucratic nightmare...

The production values and the acting are all still good quality, but the performers are severely hampered by a script which plays all their scenes for out-and-out comedy. Comedy, as demonstrated by the "Star Wars" prequels, is not Lucasfilm's strongest suit. The nonsense that ensues includes a scene where Indy, masquerading as a dancer, communicates with his colleagues using his diamond codpiece (don't ask) and a slapstick scene where Indy chases a vital document through the city streets, upsetting many people along the way. Some of the actors in these sequences are lumbered with French accents right out of "'Allo Allo".

There are still a few gems here. Flanery is still highly watchable as Indy and it's nice to see Danny Webb make a return as Picasso. It's a relief when Tim McInnery turns up as Kafka and he plays his part straight, balancing out the absurdity of the episode.

Not as good as the others but still watchable entertainment.