Tueurs au karaté

This is another in a series of two-part "The Man from U.N.C.L.E." TV episodes edited into theatrical movies. It originally aired, in the spring, as "The Five Daughters Affair" – two weekly episodes of NBC's popular TV series. The movie version was released for the summer (traditionally, a television re-run season). By now, the multi-part episodes and feature film versions were completed concurrently. This was the first "U.N.C.L.E." movie without some form of the word "Spy" in the title; the episodic word "Affair" was also absent, as usual. The movie version seems mildly sexier. The most obvious difference, however, is the moving up of the "Every Mothers' Son" top ten hit "Come on Down to My Boat" to also play during the title/credit sequence. "Every Mother's Son" (the soon-to-be psychedelic pop group) and "The Man from U.N.C.L.E." were both, not coincidently, produced by MGM...

In this story, secret agents Robert Vaughn (as Napoleon Solo) and David McCallum (as Illya Kuryakin) are off to find a secret formula which turns seawater into gold. When you consider the relative worth of seawater and gold, it's no surprise the dastardly organization "T.H.R.U.S.H" is also interested in obtaining the formula...

Our heroic pair travels around the world, seeking four sexy step-daughters. They end up karate-chopping in Japan. Vaughn and McCallum often appear to be sleepwalking – or running through their roles. Probably, they're just super-cool. The best sequence from director Barry Shear and the crew occurs near the end, when our heroes escape from a cell. The fifth daughter, cute Kim Darby (as Sandy True), is the main guest star and the main villain is steely-eyed Herbert Lom (as Randolph). The well-proportioned Jill Ireland makes her last "U.N.C.L.E." appearance on her TV star husband's show; not coincidently, she and Mr. McCallum were freshly divorced. Amid the crowd of guest stars is a cameo by Joan Crawford. The parade of stars and general pace resemble the "Batman" movie, based on the "Batman" TV series, which was now clearly influencing "The Man from U.N.C.L.E.".

**** The Karate Killers (8/3/67) Barry Shear ~ Robert Vaughn, David McCallum, Kim Darby, Herbert Lom

THE KARATE KILLERS was the sixth big-screen enlargement of the hugely popular Man From UNCLE series. It was compiled from a two-part episode called THE FIVE DAUGHTERS AFFAIR (part one: 31 March 1967) and (part two: 7 April 1967). However, in common with it's predecessors, the TV version wasn't aired in the countries where the theatrical version was released for example Great Britain where the films were steady earners at the box office.

Napoleon Solo and Illya Kuriyakin are assigned to prevent evil THRUSH agent Randolph (HERBERT LOM) and his seemingly unstoppable karate chopping henchmen from stealing a secret formula for extracting gold from seawater. The formula has been divided up into four parts and hidden amongst the possessions of four of the five murdered inventor's daughters. Solo and Kuriyakin find themselves traveling around various parts of the globe in a race to stop THRUSH from gaining control of the world.

THE KARATE KILLERS is probably one of the weakest of the Man From UNCLE pictures because despite the caliber of the guest stars such as Terry Thomas, Curt Jurgens and Telly Savalas (who would be far more effective as Blofeld in the Bond movie ON HER MAJESTY'S SECRET SERVICE two years later) are not given enough to do in order to make the film live up to their talents. Having said that, Herbert Lom is good as the villain and there is an amusing send up of the MGM melodramas of the forties between him and Joan Crawford (who plays the inventor's wife) early on where Crawford throws a tantrum in front of him because she has just discovered that he has murdered her husband for his formula and Lom replies "There's no need to be melodramatic is there my dear." Another disappointing aspect of the film is that our heroes Solo and Kuriyakin get knocked out by the enemy far to many times in this one. All this doesn't mean that the movie is unwatchable, far from it, because it moves at a fast pace and there are some amusing moments here and there and don't forget - this is the sixties man so it's all good clean fun!

Followed by THE HELICOPTER SPIES (also 1967).

The third "The Man From U.N.C.L.E." spliced for cinema double feature I've watched in a couple of weeks and perhaps fatigue is setting in. It's just not the same as when I was a boy of 7 or 8 in the 60's avidly gawping at our old black and white TV getting my weekly fix of spy-fun and action.

Notable for being one of the few from the as I call them composites not to include the word "spy", there was as much good as bad about this feature. Amazing to see Joan Crawford in a cameo role and her commendable acceptance of the in-joke when told by her soon to be murderous husband to "not be so melodramatic". The pretty thin narrative then as ever takes the U.N.C.l.E. agents world wide (that is, studio sets of world-wide locations, including London, The Swiss Alps, Tokyo and eventually the Arctic Circle) where we get about 20 minutes of action, confusion, romance and drollery but to be sure the law of diminishing returns applies with dividends until we get the usual against the clock climax not about the world coming to an end but about a water-into-gold process, not quite the same really.

There are other celeb turns in the cast behind The Grand Dame Joan, the best of them, a perky Terry Thomas, for once not playing the cad and ending up enviously with the curvaceous later to be Mrs Charles Bronson, Jill Ireland, a camp Telly Savalas as an Italian count and that's Kim Darby (once Anne Frank in George Steven's 1950's epic) as the fresh but hardly cute accoutrement to the boys in their travels.

The direction is very patchy. Herbert Lom's T.H.R.U.S.H. boss only lacks pantomime music with his every so unexpected they're expected entrance, there are some terrible process shots of Robert Vaughn on a motor bike and worse yet a motorbike versus car chase. The gormless band which you couldn't say "belts" out "Come On Down To My Boat" in the London sequence didn't float mine either.

And yet there was one snow-skiing confrontation which seemed to prefigure a superior revision in "On Her Majesty's Secret Service" (the pupil teaching the master?) and I kind of liked a fade up shot from David McCallum's "Rubber Soul"-type hair as he comes around from unconsciousness yet one more time.

But I'm reaching here. The 8 year old over 40 years ago would have lapped up this escapist fare without quibbles but a movie feature it isn't. I'll watch any other "U.N.C.L.E." films which come on, mainly for my nostalgia and the coolness of the two leads Vaughn and McCallum, but by this stage, the unwelcome influence of campness (derived no doubt from the contemporary success of the likes of the original "Batman" TV series) was making inroads and no amount of modernity or celebrity cameos could bring it back.

This rarely seen TV movie is only shown on Turner Classic Movies when Joan Crawford is the star of the month, but she has a brief, but excellent appearance early on and then is murdered by "The Karate Killers." The plot revolves around the Men from U.N.C.L.E. on a continental adventure tracking down five daughters of a deceased scientist, who had a secret formula that turns seawater into gold, but they have to fight off bad guy Randolph and his "Karate Killers" who are after it. I guess you have to be from the generation of TV viewers who are familiar with the show The Man from U.N.C.L.E. to really appreciate it, since it is action-packed, but at times corny and far-fetched.

When a leading scientist develops a formula for extracting gold from sea water he breaks his hides his formula and sends clues out to 4 of his 5 daughters. When he is killed by THRUSH, UNCLE agents Solo and Kuryakin join with the 5th daughter to retrieve the clues and find the formula before THRUSH can use the formula for their own evil ends.

This is another in the series of UNCLE TV movies used for the European market but it is one of the first to be a serious miss in terms of the UNCLE series. While others played themselves with their tongues in their cheek this takes itself a little too seriously. The first sign of this is that it drops the UNCLE opening theme in favour of a very 1960's "groovy" number by Every Mother's Son and then it starts to load itself up with star cameos. In fact the whole thing lacks the gently mocking humour of the other outings and puts itself forward as a "proper" spy movie.

This is a major failing as the action and story are not good enough to carry the film. The story is quite clever but the execution is poor. The story is basically in 5 bits - 4 sections dealing with each of the 4 daughters and the last being the final confrontation. The problem with this is that there is no real continuity and it feels piecemeal. Each chapter has a star - Terry Thomas, Telly Savalas, Joan Crawford, Herbert Lom - but this makes each section more about the cameos than about getting the formula. In fact in each section the formula usually easily falls into the hands of the 5th daughter by accident.

Both Vaughn and McCallum are OK in their roles but it is obvious that they aren't having as much fun as before. All the cameos are poor because they don't really have any time to do anything interesting and instead just play stereotypes (English copper, Italian count etc). Lom is a terrible villain - all he does in each section is turn up and spark off a fight. When he does get more of a chance to show his character he is exactly like Dr Evil - if fact I thought that Lom was a few steps from being a totally spoof villain despite trying to be menacing and sinister.

This lacks the sense of fun that other outings have had. It takes itself too seriously and immediately loses the one quality that made it good. Check out "the spy in the green hat" if you don't know what I mean - now that's an example of a tongue in cheek UNCLE movie with some stars as villains who give good performances.