by Greg McCambley | Mar 13, 2016 | #Bond_age_TV, The Avengers
“What could have done that?” “Well, if we cast our minds back…” “…to a 9-letter word beginning with C…” “Cybernaut.”
Hello, fellow livetweeters! This month #Bond_age_TV is doing something different. Hawaii Five-0 had, in its 12 years on the air, a number of two-parters which I don’t plan to break up when they come up in the schedule. This presents a bit of a problem, as the Avengers never had any two-part episodes (except in the New Avengers era, which is sadly beyond my perview). But I wanted to give the Avengers their own time as well, so I shall be presenting, from time to time, back-to-back Avengers episodes that have a common thread. This week I’m starting this tradition with the most obviously episode link in Avengers history: The Cybernauts. These robotic assassins appeared three times throughout the Avengers run, and this week I’ll be featuring their first two appearances. First up this Wednesday at 9pm EST will be their debut episode, titled The Cybernauts. Steed and Emma investigate a series of murders that appear to be the work of a martial arts expert. This episode features such familiar faces as Michael Gough (Batman) and Bernard Horsfall (OHMSS). The second part of the double feature will be Return of the Cybernauts . The Cybernauts are back, thanks to a millionaire bent on revenge ( guest star Peter Cushing.) Steed and Peel find themselves targets for destruction. This episode ranks as one of my all-time favourites, and I think I’m not the only one. I hope you’ll join me for this week’s #Bond_age_TV event, with the fun starting at 9pm EST!
by Greg McCambley | Feb 14, 2016 | #Bond_age_TV, Hawaii 5-O, The Avengers
Hello again, everyone!
It’s cold outside, but inside #Bond_age_TV HQ, everything is warming up with our new season of programming. We’re continuing our look at those two venerable TV institutions, The Avengers and Hawaii Five-0. This week’s double feature kicks off with The Avengers episode The Gravediggers. Steed and Mrs. Peel undertake an investigation into strange failures of the British Distant Early Warning system. The deeper they dig, the situation goes from bad to worse (or is that hearse?).
The second half of this week’s #Bond_age_TV feature is The Hawaii Five-0 episode Samurai. McGarrett and Five-0 find themselves investigating the death of a witness in a court case against a Hawaiian crime boss (played by Ricardo Montalban). At the same time, they have to prevent his death at the hands of Japanese assassins. I’m not going to lie, Montalban playing Asian is not exactly politically correct, but still, he’s Ricardo Montalban.
The fun starts this Wednesday at 9 pm EST. Just follow the #Bond_age_TV hashtag. Be here! Aloha!
by Greg McCambley | Jan 31, 2016 | Misc.
I’ve been a lifelong fan of the spy genre. While family and friends were reading books like the Lord of the Rings, I was reading books like The Bourne Identity (which is *nothing* like the movie). I also have a love of my hometown, Ottawa. Though Ottawa has a reputation today of being a quiet and sedate town for the most part, it was a different story 50 years ago. During World War II, Ottawa shared in the Allied war effort, and established itself as a staunch friend to both the British and the US. Ottawa was represented in the Hollywood war effort as well, featured prominently in the 1942 James Cagney film Captains of the Clouds. The year after Captains was released, a cipher clerk arrived in Ottawa to begin a career at the Russian Embassy. His name was Igor Gouzenko, and his story would fundamentally change the world.
For those not familiar with his story, Igor Gouzenko was a clerk in the Soviet Embassy in Ottawa from 1943-1945. During the final years of the war, he had access to all the top secret information coming out of the Embassy. This included information that the Soviets had no reason to know, which was evidence of a massive Soviet spy ring operating in Canada. By 1945, the Soviets were ready to call Gouzenko and his family back to Moscow, but Igor wasn’t willing to go. Instead, he walked out of the Embassy one evening with documentation of the spy ring, and went off to find someone to tell his story to. Unbelievably, he couldn’t find anyone initially interested in his story, and he spent most of his time playing cat and mouse with Soviet security agents, who had by now become aware of the missing documents and were actively searching for him. This would eventually result in a confrontation between Soviet agents and the Ottawa police, when the Soviets were found looking through Gouzenko’s home. By the next day, Gouzenko was telling his story to the RCMP, and later MI5 and the FBI. As a result, the potential for Soviet spies working in the West became a major source of concern, and the rooting out of such spies a tip priority in all areas of Western society. Gouzenko and his family were given asylum by the Canadian government, and spent the rest of their lives in witness protection.
I’ve known about Gouzenko’s story since I was a teenager, but I had no idea that his story had ever been told on film. Then, back in 2012, I discovered that there was going to be a showing of a film called The Iron Curtain, filmed in 1948, which told Gouzenko’s story. The film was directed by William A. Wellman, known for films such as The Public Enemy (1931), A Star is Born (1937), and The Ox-Bow Incident (1943). The film stars Dana Andrews and Gene Tierney in their third of five movies together, and their first movie together since the classic noir Laura (1944). Andrews played Igor Gouzenko, and Gene Tierney his wife. The film, to my delight, was actually shot in Ottawa, and not on Hollywood soundstages (or at least, had extensive Ottawa filming).
As Igor Gouzenko, Dana Andrews plays it very quiet and straightforward; he starts the film as a man who has come to Ottawa to do his job, and obeys the rules set down by Soviet security. It’s only after his wife joins him in Ottawa that he starts to question life under Soviet rule. Andrews and Tierney work very well together, and there are some very tense moments after the defection that comes across very well. They successfully establish the panic that must have been going through their minds when they realize that protection and help from the Canadians aren’t coming immediately. I also loved seeing the glimpse of Ottawa as it was back then, recognizing various snow-covered landmarks. It is a very straightforward retelling of one of the key moments in Canadian history.
A quick little postscript for this blogpost: it turns out that, while this is the first movie to focus on Igor Gouzenko’s defection (that I know of), it is not, in fact, the only movie made about Igor Gouzenko. In 1954, United Artists released Operation Manhunt, which also told the Gouzenko story. By all accounts, its focus was more on the Soviet response to Gouzenko’s defection, with assassins sent to Canada to murder him. It is, unfortunately, a film I’ve never seen, so I can’t give any great details about it. But if I ever get the chance to see the entire film, I certainly will. The Gouzenko Affair was such a crucial moment for Canada in world history, and deserves to be told again and again.
by Greg McCambley | Jan 17, 2016 | #Bond_age_TV, Hawaii 5-O, The Avengers
Hello, ladies and gentlemen!
This Wednesday marks the beginning of a new season of #Bond_age_TV goodness! We’re kicking off the new season with two iconic series: The Avengers and Hawaii Five-0! At 9 pm EST, we feature the first pairing of John Steed and Emma Peel in the first episode of The Avengers’s fourth season, The Town of No Return! Agents keep disappearing from a small seaside town in Norfolk, and it’s up to Steed and Mrs. Peel to get to the bottom of it. Then, at 10 pm EST, Hawaii Five-0 takes over the spotlight as we livetweet the pilot episode, Full Fathom Five! McGarrett and the cops of Five-0 find themselves dealing with conman and murderer who preys on older widows, played by Kevin McCarthy (Invasion of the Body Snatchers). It’s gonna be a great time, so I hope you can join us this Wednesday for all-new #Bond_age_TV fun!
by Greg McCambley | Nov 15, 2015 | #Bond_age_TV, Hawaii 5-O
Hello again, everyone! I’m happy and excited to begin #Bond_age_TV’s latest look back into the heady world of 60s spy shows. The ending of Man From UNCLE made the future of the genre uncertain. American society was changing, and disenchantment with spies and foreign intrigue was translating into series getting cancelled. TV producers had to adapt or die. To that end, the spy shows were being blended with another TV mainstay: the cop show. Shows like Mission:Impossible started focusing instead on Organized Crime within the USA, as opposed to foreign governments. But the idea of battling foreign agents didn’t go away completely. In September of 1968, a show appeared which would find a perfect mixture of the spy show/cop show dynamic: Hawaii Five-0.
As a series, Hawaii Five-0 had the best of both worlds. It was primarily a cop show, featuring a crew of cops who worked in the exotic backdrop of Hawaii’s big island, fighting crooks and Organized Crime. At the same time, it could expand itself out into the world of the spy show by bringing international intrigue to the islands. This is laid out from the very beginning of the series, starting with the pilot TV movie, ‘Cocoon.’ The film features Steve McGarrett (as played by Jack Lord), investigating the supposed accidental death of an old friend from the Navy. Along the way he comes across the man who would become his archnemesis, Chinese agent Wo Fat (played by Khigh Dheigh). They would face one another numerous times over the run of the show, which turned out to be one of the longest running cop shows on TV. ‘Cocoon’ first aired on September 20th, 1968, and it was the start of what would turn out to be a 12-year run on TV, which would only be surpassed by Law & Order over 20 years later. This coming Wednesday, #Bond_age_TV is proud to invite one and all to livetweet the movie that started it all, starting at 9pm EST. Use the #Bond_age_TV hashtag. Be here. Aloha!
