Michael Westen at Sea: A Review of Burn Notice: The End Game
By Wesley Britton
Burn Notice: The End Game
by Tod Goldberg
Paperback: 288 pages
Publisher: Signet (May 5, 2009)
ISBN-10: 0451226763
$5.99
You spend the majority of your life in the company of spies and you begin to realize certain truths, chief among them that in order to be a good spy, you have to love your job. Statistically speaking, this is unusual. Most people hate their jobs. Most people wish they were doing something more interesting with their lives. So they go home and they watch television shows about people they can never be, or they read books about fantasy worlds they'll never inhabit, or they get on to the Internet and take on a persona, either on a message board or in a role-playing game, and they while away their free time pretending and then wake up the next day and head back to the cubicle maze. But when you're a spy, every day has the potential to be completely unlike the previous day. That kind of adrenaline is difficult to replace. I wanted to solve my burn notice and get my job back not merely because I wasn't overly fond of being manipulated by forces that wanted to use me for their own devices, nor because I found their belief that I'd capitulate to their will—as however many other burned agents had over the years—specifically rude and disrespectful, never mind that it's never fun being shot at on a regular basis. No, I wanted to solve my burn notice because I wanted my life back—the life I'd chosen. Dealing with the mundane was not a job I was uniquely qualified for. (Tod Goldberg, Burn Notice: The End Game)
One of my favorite reading pleasures during the 1960s was stopping by the book section of our local department store and finding new titles based on my favorite TV shows. There were so many choices and they seemed to come out like magazines, new books every month—The Avengers, The Man From U.N.C.L.E., The Invaders, GetSmart. Many were published in long-lasting series like U.N.C.L.E. with its 23 titles coming out like clockwork.
Back in those days, the adventures were short, usually around 160 pages. The books sold for about 45 cents. (I just noticed there’s no cent mark on my keyboard, a sign of the times for sure). You came to know certain authors would be interesting, like David McDaniel or Keith Laumer. Others would be odd, as in John Garforth’s unusual Avengers stories. The best you could hope for would be tales where the characters were true to their TV personas and the plots would keep you turning the page. I turned many a page.
Back then, of course, we didn’t have DVDs or on demand channels or YouTube so our only connections to our heroes in between the weekly broadcasts were the floods of merchandising items aimed for my generation, the lunchboxes, guns, magazines, books. For me, the tie-in novels were special. They were like extra episodes, extra stories about my heroes that Hollywood didn’t have time to film. When the spring repeats began and the summer replacement series kicked in, we had books to read. The actors might be on break, but the characters they played were still in danger, still jet-setting around the world, still taking on clandestine assignments with no commercial breaks.
I felt some of that old excitement when I read Tod Goldberg’s first Burn Notice novel, The Fix, when it came out last year. Once again, I had a book to read about some interesting characters when the show itself was on hiatus. That’s true again of his second contribution, End Game, again published when there aren’t any new episodes airing on USA. What are Mike, Sam, Fi and the rest doing while the next season is in preparation? Well, Tod Goldberg has one story to tell.
While reading End Game, and its predecessor The Fix, I admit thinking back to adventures of old and how times have changed. For one matter, the Burn Notice novels have a much heftier page count. That cent mark has no place on the cover. More importantly, Goldberg has opportunities and challenges few novelist of the ‘60s had. Take the character of John Drake in the Danger Man books. What did the writers, or TV viewers for that matter, know about Drake’s background? Where did he come from? What did he do when not on the business of NATO or Her Majesty’s Secret Service? With no back-story to work with, novelists were limited to sticking to fast-moving plots, and in many of those books, any agent’s name would have worked as well as any other. Sometimes, as in the Mission: Impossible or I Spy novels by John Tiger, the writer created a virtual alternate reality—using the character names but creating personal descriptions and circumstances never seen on television.
Luckily for Tod Goldberg, Michael Westen is a completely different story. Not only is Westen operating in his home town, Westen can’t distance himself from his past. Not with Mom and little brother Nate around. Mom, in particular, is always seeking—dare we use the term?—quality time with her son. So starting off End Game with Michael enlisting Fi to help him with the simple task of seeking out a Mother’s Day present and card give End Game character aspects we’d not seen back when the families of spies were neither seen nor heard.
Another challenge—and opportunity-- for Goldberg are Westen’s trademark “When you’re a spy” monologues. Westen’s first-person observations on spycraft give us alleged insights into what secret agents are doing out in the wilds, while at the same time giving Goldberg a chance to expand into areas scriptwriters can’t. (Does anyone really think any spy ever knew or used all the things Westen describes?) Meaning, the spy tidbits have to come quickly and not take up too much screen time on TV, but Goldberg’s monologues allow us to hear Michael’s thoughts and reactions to what is happening around him. I thought this was a bit more memorable in The Fix where Westen admitted feelings about Fi we can only infer from their on-screen chemistry. But there are choice scenes in End Game, notably the epilogue where Michael has to endure bonding time with Mom and a New Age therapist. A moment when Michael begins musing about his circumstances saying “When you’re no longer a spy . . .”
Speaking of Fi, I think she’s the least tapped resource on Burn Notice, whether in the scripts or novels. True, her particular skill set, and her lust to employ it, don’t require a lot of exposition. She is in the bind of many a TV heroine, trapped in a “will they, won’t they” realm that keeps her on the romantic hook—spiced with a major dose of attitude. Still, in End Game, she’s a conscience for Michael, a mix of a woman who’s most comfortable when she gets a chance to shoot someone while chiding Michael about his inability to be responsive to simple human courtesy. It’s Sam Axe that really thrives as a supporting character in the Goldberg books. He’s a sly con, a deft handler of all the gadgets, a quick analyzer of situations, almost a one-man IMF team. In the novels, we can see what he’s doing to investigate things we rarely see onscreen where, normally, we only hear his telling Michael what he’s found out, not how he found out. This is due, in large part, to Goldberg’s admitted love for the character and the actor who plays him, Bruce Campbell. (For more on this point, see my interview, “Having A Burn Notice Jones This Week? Tod Goldberg Has the Fix for You” posted at WWW.Spywise.net.)
I admit, I think Goldberg was more successful bringing the Burn Notice formula to life in his first book. It seemed richer, full of more surprises. The second-time around, I was more aware this was essentially another episode in the life of Westen and Co. that, because of the limitations of tie-in projects, couldn’t move the overall story arc of the series forward. In tie-in novels, by definition, we can’t see any character development or relationship changes. So, like many of the episodes from the last season, the “Burn Notice” storyline is only in the background. What we get is the Westen team taking on a gang war in Florida after the family of Paolo Fornelli, Helmsman for a yacht in the Hurricane Cup, are kidnapped. Would the super-rich stoop so low as to rig a winner-takes-all race? Of course they would. But there’s more to the plot than boat racing. But this is no place for spoilers. I suppose one disappointment is the final scene when Michael and Fi are out at sea, going to the very boundaries of Michael’s official confinement. While zigzagging around on the water, they’re more observers of the action than full-fledged participants, mainly checking out the fruits of their elaborate sting operation. Or maybe I’m just too used to agents sparring with the villain up to the very last minute, then heroically leaping into the icy waters below.
In spite of these quibbles, there’s no denying that it’s all here, the banter, the wry humor, Fi’s beloved explosions. Of course, explosions--the book begins with Michael driving past an exploding yacht, and he keeps moving so no one will think he had something to do with it. He will, of course. And so will you—if you’re a Burn Notice fan, this is one you won’t want to miss. If you’re not already a fan of the show, well, shame on you, and check this book out after spending a few happy hours with the DVDs of Seasons 1 and 2. Then The End Game will be waiting for you.
---
For other articles, interviews, and reviews from the author of The Encyclopedia of TV Spies, check out all the features at—
WWW.Spywise.net
Ordering information for Burn Notice: The End Game can be found at:
www.amazon.com/Burn-Notice-Game-Tod-Goldberg/dp/0451226763
Thursday, April 23, 2009
Wednesday, March 19, 2008
"Blood Under the Bridge": A Review of The Company
“Blood Under the Bridge”: A Review of The Company
(Sony Home Video, 2007)
by Wesley Britton
Time Capsules
While his 1962 play Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf had nothing to do with the Cold War, one phrase from Edward Albee’s award-winning script--“blood under the bridge”--can easily be used to describe the residue left behind from what the intelligence agencies of both East and West had inflicted on each other for over 40 years. In retrospect, there was considerable real and metaphorical “blood under the bridge” in the proxy wars, inter-agency turf wars, moles, traitors, defectors, and para-military operations from 1947 until the 1989 tearing down of the Berlin Wall. Bloodied remains include the reputations of the CIA and British Intelligence. There was the “blow back” and public failures of misbegotten adventures. Before the collapse of the U.S.S.R., there had been the Hollywood blacklists, civil rights violations during the 1960s, Congressional hearings into secret hanky-panky, and deaths of Western agents resulting from the betrayals of moles like Aldrich Ames and Robert Hanssen. Could all this blood be summarized in one book, one film, or—as in the case of TNT’s The Company, one miniseries?
Judging from Norman Mailer’s sprawling 1991 Harlot’s Ghost, Mailer didn’t think one 1,000 page opus would do it. The first part of his saga—from the creation of the CIA to 1963—was as far as Mailer went in Part One of his uncompleted exploration. However, in 2002 Robert Littell's best-selling The Company: A Novel of the CIA dramatized events from the formation of the agency after World War II to the foiled 1991 coup to oust Soviet leader Mikail Gorbochov by tracing the professional and private lives of three generations of agents on both sides of the Iron Curtain. Choosing watershed moments from each decade, Litell brought the careers of actual operatives and directors from Allen Dulles, James Jesus Angleton, Richard Helms, and William Casey into his dramatization of the covert world. Litell's own fictional characters were given creditability by the author's use of historic details from vacuum tube radios to watches that needed winding before the advent of new technologies. Readers saw the history of defectors and moles in Berlin, failed covert activities in Hungary in 1956 and Cuba in 1961, and the political jousting between elected policy makers and the intelligence community in the 1970s and 1980s. Graphic scenes of torture and assassinations, office debates over ends and means, and battlefield love affairs exhibited past behaviors while pointing to the future in scenes in Afghanistan and dead-drop exchanges between Robert Hanssen and his Russian handlers. In each section, the torch was passed from generation to generation, and with each change of characters a sense of purpose, history, and destiny made it clear the novelist saw the CIA as a force to be proud of and necessary in the ongoing battles between the good guys and those with less honorable intent. (note 1)
The year before, director Tony Scott had offered a much tighter retelling of the agency’s history in his Spy Game, a feature film starring Robert Redford as Nathan D. Muir and Brad Pitt as Muir’s younger protégée, Tom Bishop. Centering on their father-son relationship, Scott showed how two generations of spies engaged in the “Great Game” in flashbacks filmed to look like the movie styles of the period in which they were set. Spy Game dramatized espionage in Vietnam, Afghanistan, and ironically concluded with the climactic moment of a suicide bomber bringing down a building in Beirut. (note 2) That incident signaled the coming shift in geopolitical conflicts, leaving behind the East vs. West duels to look ahead to the new War on Terror. “The Great Game” had had its beginning, middle, and end, so it would be new blood to take on a very different enemy. Still, in Spy Game, Harlot’s Ghost, and The Company, questions remained about the past. What had been the meaning of it all? Had the good guys won or left standing mainly by default?
As it happened, Tony Scott returned to these questions four years later through his brother, fellow filmmaker Ridley Scott. With screen writer Ken Nolan, Ridley had worked on Black Hawk Down (2001) and the two were reunited when producer John Calley began exploring the idea of making Littell’s The Company into a feature film. The Scott brothers and their collaborators determined a two-hour project wouldn’t be sufficient. They began expanding the project into a three-part, six-hour mini-series with director Mikael Salomon who’d helmed the 2004 TNT mini-series, The Grid. As he’d grown up in Berlin in the 1960s, he could bring a dimension of realism to the first segment when the producers considered using several directors for each part. Then, it was decided to use Salomon for all three parts for continuity even though each film would have very different elements. (note 3)
Synopsis
Broadcast on TNT from Aug. 5—Aug. 19, 2007, Nolan’s considerably streamlined script focused on three idealistic Yale graduates (class of 1950) and their evolution. Jack McAuliffe (Chris O'Donnell) and Leo Kritzky (Alessandro Nivola) were recruited into the newly created CIA. Russian-born Yevgeny Tsipin (Rory Cochrane), who likes Americans but hates what the country stands for, is recruited into the KGB by Starik (Ulrich Thomsen), a spymaster planning to destroy America’s economy. (As they younger characters would have to age over forty years in the series, the actors were asked to shave their heads so different wigs could be used.)
Setting up a relationship akin to that of Redford and Pitt in Spy Game, the first episode had McAuliffe and his mentor, Harvey Torriti, known as “The Sorcerer" (Alfred Molina) distressed to have their missions blown in Berlin in 1954. Torriti became certain there was a mole inside British intelligence leaking information and began setting traps to uncover him. At the same time, McAuliffe meets Lili, his principal informant and love interest (Alexandra Maria Lara) who’s feeding the CIA dis-information. Despite the disbelief of actual CIA counter-intelligence director James Jesus Angleton (Michael Keaton), Torriti’s scheme revealed MI-5 veteran Adrian “Kim” Philby (Tom Hollander) had been a KGB spy since the 1930s. Because Angleton had not seen through Philby’s “elegant artifice,” however, Philby was able to escape along with other members of his “Cambridge Spy Ring.” McAuliffe then tried to help Lili defect to the west before the KGB can take revenge for her mission being blown. Too late to save her, McAuliffe suspected her dis-information operation was one of the traps Torriti arranged to uncover Philby. He is correct, but Torriti denied the charge as the two toasted their mixed victory.
In the more action-oriented second episode, McAuliffe was involved in both the 1956 Hungarian revolution (filmed in Budapest) and the 1961 Bay of Pigs fiasco (shot in Puerto Rico). In Hungary (a setting that hadn’t been included in the first feature film script), the secret police captured McAuliffe when he tried to encourage local resistance to the Communist government. To get him out, Torriti let the Russians know if anything happened to the CIA agent, dead KGB operatives would be the result. After he is freed, McAuliffe learns he’d been captured due to a leak in the agency by a Soviet mole code-named “Sasha.” But he becomes resentful when the Hungarian revolution, spurred on by his labors and Western radio broadcasts, was crushed by Russian tanks as the American government refused to support their own propaganda with military power.
This circumstance repeats when McAuliffe is sent to work with Cuban rebels being trained to invade their home country while Toritti sets up failed plots to kill Castro. McAuliffe is in Cuba during the disastrous Bay of Pigs invasion and is angered when his government, again, failed to back up its own rhetoric with military support. We see the consequences in two very different conversations. On the Cuban beach, Roberto Escalona (Raoul Bova), a Cuban-born resistance fighter, tells McAuliffe he must leave despite his team being massacred as no American body should be found to discredit the invasion as being anything but true patriots seeking to take back their country. Back in Washington, Senator J. William Fulbright (Richard Blackburn) argues with CIA director Allen Dulles (Cedric Smith), saying the U.S. can’t complain about Russian involvement in other nations when the CIA was doing the same.
The first hour of the much praised third part focused on Michael Keaton’s portrayal as chain-smoking James Jesus Angleton and his obsession to uncover “Sasha.” The second half dealt with the revelations that brought the careers of Jack McAuliffe, Leo Kritzky, and Yevgeny Tsipin to their various climaxes. In a long, tense interrogation, Angleton grills Leo Kritzky as all the signs point to his guilt, but he is seemingly vindicated and freed. Then, mirroring the friendship of Angleton and Philby, McAuliffe learns his old friend Kritsky was indeed the traitor responsible for all his failed missions. By the series end, McAuliffe has become a lonely, childless veteran uncertain what he has accomplished. Yevgeny Tsipin learns his mission had been so ill-considered—that of bankrupting the U.S. economy—that his life’s work had only resulted in only one bad day for Wall Street. In the final moments, as the Cold War winds down, McAuliffe and Toritti discuss the meaning of their careers—despite the failures, the good guys won in the end. Or did they?
Evaluating the Series
The distinguished international cast featured actors able to mimic the mannerisms of historical personages, notably Tom Hollander who recreated Kim Philby’s famous stutter. (In 2003, Hollander had played another member of Philby’s ring, Guy Burgess, in the mini-series, The Cambridge Spies.) As with the 2006 film The Good Shepherd, which dealt with some of the same time period and themes, most critics recognized the series was more drama than history. In The Company, for example, Kim Philby’s cover was blown in 1954—in fact, he wasn’t discovered until 1963. While the producers said the film didn’t affirm the CIA but rather conveyed their respect for the lives of its agents, some reviewers noted the look back at the Cold War revealed that the duels between the CIA and KGB did not end with any clear-cut victors.
In Oct. 2007, the well-regarded miniseries was released by Sony Home Pictures on DVD and became available for download. Are the six-hours worthy of three evenings of your life?
Absolutely. As many have noted, the tone and pace of each episode is quite different, and each part can be viewed as stand-alone episodes or, better, in sequence. Some have complained the second film, with half set in Hungary, the second in Cuba, doesn’t have much character development. (note 4) Perhaps not, but each half of this film mirrors and reinforces the themes of the other—that while successive administrations were willing to give the CIA various marching orders to stir the Cold War pot, U.S. presidents weren’t willing to go to the brink of nuclear war. But Presidents Eisenhower and Kennedy had few qualms about inciting revolutions that left behind “blood under the bridge” in European streets and on tropical beaches. This, after all, is what kept the Cold War from becoming hot—contained battles that never led to a full scale holocaust.
True enough, the miniseries can’t match the complexity of the novel and the book remains one of the classics of all spy literature. But whether or not the events retold here are remembered history for older viewers or a Cliff’s Notes overview for younger watchers, the mini-series is heads above most other made-for-TV espionage productions. I’d deem it far superior to The Good Shepherd in terms of both character development and complexity. Highly recommended.
Notes
1. See Britton, Wesley. Beyond Bond: Spies in Film and Fiction (Praeger Pub., 2005). P. 209.
2. A review of Spy Game is included in my “THE INDISPENSIBLES: THE BEST 30 SPY FILMS OF ALL TIME” posted at this website.
3. Many details used here came from the interviews included on the 2007 DVD extras.
4. Useful, and informative reviews of the series include:
Eliason, Marcus. “TNT's `The Company' an ambitious effort.” Aug. 2, 2007. Accessed: Feb. 12, 2008.
http://www.tnt.tv/series/thecompany/
Elber, Lynn. “Alfred Molina turns spy in `The Company.'” AP News. July 25, 2007. Accessed. Feb. 12, 2008.
http://www.tnt.tv
For more reviews, interviews, essays, and explorations into literary, film, and TV spies, check out the other files posted at
WWW.Spywise.net
(Sony Home Video, 2007)
by Wesley Britton
Time Capsules
While his 1962 play Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf had nothing to do with the Cold War, one phrase from Edward Albee’s award-winning script--“blood under the bridge”--can easily be used to describe the residue left behind from what the intelligence agencies of both East and West had inflicted on each other for over 40 years. In retrospect, there was considerable real and metaphorical “blood under the bridge” in the proxy wars, inter-agency turf wars, moles, traitors, defectors, and para-military operations from 1947 until the 1989 tearing down of the Berlin Wall. Bloodied remains include the reputations of the CIA and British Intelligence. There was the “blow back” and public failures of misbegotten adventures. Before the collapse of the U.S.S.R., there had been the Hollywood blacklists, civil rights violations during the 1960s, Congressional hearings into secret hanky-panky, and deaths of Western agents resulting from the betrayals of moles like Aldrich Ames and Robert Hanssen. Could all this blood be summarized in one book, one film, or—as in the case of TNT’s The Company, one miniseries?
Judging from Norman Mailer’s sprawling 1991 Harlot’s Ghost, Mailer didn’t think one 1,000 page opus would do it. The first part of his saga—from the creation of the CIA to 1963—was as far as Mailer went in Part One of his uncompleted exploration. However, in 2002 Robert Littell's best-selling The Company: A Novel of the CIA dramatized events from the formation of the agency after World War II to the foiled 1991 coup to oust Soviet leader Mikail Gorbochov by tracing the professional and private lives of three generations of agents on both sides of the Iron Curtain. Choosing watershed moments from each decade, Litell brought the careers of actual operatives and directors from Allen Dulles, James Jesus Angleton, Richard Helms, and William Casey into his dramatization of the covert world. Litell's own fictional characters were given creditability by the author's use of historic details from vacuum tube radios to watches that needed winding before the advent of new technologies. Readers saw the history of defectors and moles in Berlin, failed covert activities in Hungary in 1956 and Cuba in 1961, and the political jousting between elected policy makers and the intelligence community in the 1970s and 1980s. Graphic scenes of torture and assassinations, office debates over ends and means, and battlefield love affairs exhibited past behaviors while pointing to the future in scenes in Afghanistan and dead-drop exchanges between Robert Hanssen and his Russian handlers. In each section, the torch was passed from generation to generation, and with each change of characters a sense of purpose, history, and destiny made it clear the novelist saw the CIA as a force to be proud of and necessary in the ongoing battles between the good guys and those with less honorable intent. (note 1)
The year before, director Tony Scott had offered a much tighter retelling of the agency’s history in his Spy Game, a feature film starring Robert Redford as Nathan D. Muir and Brad Pitt as Muir’s younger protégée, Tom Bishop. Centering on their father-son relationship, Scott showed how two generations of spies engaged in the “Great Game” in flashbacks filmed to look like the movie styles of the period in which they were set. Spy Game dramatized espionage in Vietnam, Afghanistan, and ironically concluded with the climactic moment of a suicide bomber bringing down a building in Beirut. (note 2) That incident signaled the coming shift in geopolitical conflicts, leaving behind the East vs. West duels to look ahead to the new War on Terror. “The Great Game” had had its beginning, middle, and end, so it would be new blood to take on a very different enemy. Still, in Spy Game, Harlot’s Ghost, and The Company, questions remained about the past. What had been the meaning of it all? Had the good guys won or left standing mainly by default?
As it happened, Tony Scott returned to these questions four years later through his brother, fellow filmmaker Ridley Scott. With screen writer Ken Nolan, Ridley had worked on Black Hawk Down (2001) and the two were reunited when producer John Calley began exploring the idea of making Littell’s The Company into a feature film. The Scott brothers and their collaborators determined a two-hour project wouldn’t be sufficient. They began expanding the project into a three-part, six-hour mini-series with director Mikael Salomon who’d helmed the 2004 TNT mini-series, The Grid. As he’d grown up in Berlin in the 1960s, he could bring a dimension of realism to the first segment when the producers considered using several directors for each part. Then, it was decided to use Salomon for all three parts for continuity even though each film would have very different elements. (note 3)
Synopsis
Broadcast on TNT from Aug. 5—Aug. 19, 2007, Nolan’s considerably streamlined script focused on three idealistic Yale graduates (class of 1950) and their evolution. Jack McAuliffe (Chris O'Donnell) and Leo Kritzky (Alessandro Nivola) were recruited into the newly created CIA. Russian-born Yevgeny Tsipin (Rory Cochrane), who likes Americans but hates what the country stands for, is recruited into the KGB by Starik (Ulrich Thomsen), a spymaster planning to destroy America’s economy. (As they younger characters would have to age over forty years in the series, the actors were asked to shave their heads so different wigs could be used.)
Setting up a relationship akin to that of Redford and Pitt in Spy Game, the first episode had McAuliffe and his mentor, Harvey Torriti, known as “The Sorcerer" (Alfred Molina) distressed to have their missions blown in Berlin in 1954. Torriti became certain there was a mole inside British intelligence leaking information and began setting traps to uncover him. At the same time, McAuliffe meets Lili, his principal informant and love interest (Alexandra Maria Lara) who’s feeding the CIA dis-information. Despite the disbelief of actual CIA counter-intelligence director James Jesus Angleton (Michael Keaton), Torriti’s scheme revealed MI-5 veteran Adrian “Kim” Philby (Tom Hollander) had been a KGB spy since the 1930s. Because Angleton had not seen through Philby’s “elegant artifice,” however, Philby was able to escape along with other members of his “Cambridge Spy Ring.” McAuliffe then tried to help Lili defect to the west before the KGB can take revenge for her mission being blown. Too late to save her, McAuliffe suspected her dis-information operation was one of the traps Torriti arranged to uncover Philby. He is correct, but Torriti denied the charge as the two toasted their mixed victory.
In the more action-oriented second episode, McAuliffe was involved in both the 1956 Hungarian revolution (filmed in Budapest) and the 1961 Bay of Pigs fiasco (shot in Puerto Rico). In Hungary (a setting that hadn’t been included in the first feature film script), the secret police captured McAuliffe when he tried to encourage local resistance to the Communist government. To get him out, Torriti let the Russians know if anything happened to the CIA agent, dead KGB operatives would be the result. After he is freed, McAuliffe learns he’d been captured due to a leak in the agency by a Soviet mole code-named “Sasha.” But he becomes resentful when the Hungarian revolution, spurred on by his labors and Western radio broadcasts, was crushed by Russian tanks as the American government refused to support their own propaganda with military power.
This circumstance repeats when McAuliffe is sent to work with Cuban rebels being trained to invade their home country while Toritti sets up failed plots to kill Castro. McAuliffe is in Cuba during the disastrous Bay of Pigs invasion and is angered when his government, again, failed to back up its own rhetoric with military support. We see the consequences in two very different conversations. On the Cuban beach, Roberto Escalona (Raoul Bova), a Cuban-born resistance fighter, tells McAuliffe he must leave despite his team being massacred as no American body should be found to discredit the invasion as being anything but true patriots seeking to take back their country. Back in Washington, Senator J. William Fulbright (Richard Blackburn) argues with CIA director Allen Dulles (Cedric Smith), saying the U.S. can’t complain about Russian involvement in other nations when the CIA was doing the same.
The first hour of the much praised third part focused on Michael Keaton’s portrayal as chain-smoking James Jesus Angleton and his obsession to uncover “Sasha.” The second half dealt with the revelations that brought the careers of Jack McAuliffe, Leo Kritzky, and Yevgeny Tsipin to their various climaxes. In a long, tense interrogation, Angleton grills Leo Kritzky as all the signs point to his guilt, but he is seemingly vindicated and freed. Then, mirroring the friendship of Angleton and Philby, McAuliffe learns his old friend Kritsky was indeed the traitor responsible for all his failed missions. By the series end, McAuliffe has become a lonely, childless veteran uncertain what he has accomplished. Yevgeny Tsipin learns his mission had been so ill-considered—that of bankrupting the U.S. economy—that his life’s work had only resulted in only one bad day for Wall Street. In the final moments, as the Cold War winds down, McAuliffe and Toritti discuss the meaning of their careers—despite the failures, the good guys won in the end. Or did they?
Evaluating the Series
The distinguished international cast featured actors able to mimic the mannerisms of historical personages, notably Tom Hollander who recreated Kim Philby’s famous stutter. (In 2003, Hollander had played another member of Philby’s ring, Guy Burgess, in the mini-series, The Cambridge Spies.) As with the 2006 film The Good Shepherd, which dealt with some of the same time period and themes, most critics recognized the series was more drama than history. In The Company, for example, Kim Philby’s cover was blown in 1954—in fact, he wasn’t discovered until 1963. While the producers said the film didn’t affirm the CIA but rather conveyed their respect for the lives of its agents, some reviewers noted the look back at the Cold War revealed that the duels between the CIA and KGB did not end with any clear-cut victors.
In Oct. 2007, the well-regarded miniseries was released by Sony Home Pictures on DVD and became available for download. Are the six-hours worthy of three evenings of your life?
Absolutely. As many have noted, the tone and pace of each episode is quite different, and each part can be viewed as stand-alone episodes or, better, in sequence. Some have complained the second film, with half set in Hungary, the second in Cuba, doesn’t have much character development. (note 4) Perhaps not, but each half of this film mirrors and reinforces the themes of the other—that while successive administrations were willing to give the CIA various marching orders to stir the Cold War pot, U.S. presidents weren’t willing to go to the brink of nuclear war. But Presidents Eisenhower and Kennedy had few qualms about inciting revolutions that left behind “blood under the bridge” in European streets and on tropical beaches. This, after all, is what kept the Cold War from becoming hot—contained battles that never led to a full scale holocaust.
True enough, the miniseries can’t match the complexity of the novel and the book remains one of the classics of all spy literature. But whether or not the events retold here are remembered history for older viewers or a Cliff’s Notes overview for younger watchers, the mini-series is heads above most other made-for-TV espionage productions. I’d deem it far superior to The Good Shepherd in terms of both character development and complexity. Highly recommended.
Notes
1. See Britton, Wesley. Beyond Bond: Spies in Film and Fiction (Praeger Pub., 2005). P. 209.
2. A review of Spy Game is included in my “THE INDISPENSIBLES: THE BEST 30 SPY FILMS OF ALL TIME” posted at this website.
3. Many details used here came from the interviews included on the 2007 DVD extras.
4. Useful, and informative reviews of the series include:
Eliason, Marcus. “TNT's `The Company' an ambitious effort.” Aug. 2, 2007. Accessed: Feb. 12, 2008.
http://www.tnt.tv/series/thecompany/
Elber, Lynn. “Alfred Molina turns spy in `The Company.'” AP News. July 25, 2007. Accessed. Feb. 12, 2008.
http://www.tnt.tv
For more reviews, interviews, essays, and explorations into literary, film, and TV spies, check out the other files posted at
WWW.Spywise.net
Saturday, March 1, 2008
Geoffrey Jenkins, His Lost 007 Thriller, and the Hunt for a Continuation Novelist
Geoffrey Jenkins, His Lost 007 Thriller, and the Hunt for a Continuation Novelist
By Ronald Payne
Editor’s Note: The item below is very unique. First, it is an appreciation of neglected thriller writer Geoffrey Jenkins and his connections with Ian Fleming. Then, Ron Payne sheds some light into the history of the never published James Bond continuation novel, Per Fine Ounce. Finally, Ron makes an interesting appeal to thriller writers, biographers, and film makers—there’s a hot franchise waiting for some creative minds.
---
Of course, everyone knows about the fantastic world of agent 007 and his creator, Ian Lancaster Fleming. It is still hard for me to believe that the man who gave me such joyful and exciting reading as a teenager will soon be honored in centenary celebrations for his extraordinarily influential career.
However, Fleming did more than simply write “some of the livingest” thrillers ever created, in the words of British author O.F. Snelling who wrote about James Bond in his Double O Seven—James Bond Under the Microscope. Fleming also opened the door for his protégée at The Sunday Times, Geoffrey Jenkins, who created one of the most popular thrillers of his era, 1959's A Twist of Sand. What Fleming and Jenkins shared in common was the ability to project a reader forward into the most breathtaking adventure with what seems effortless aplomb. Jenkins's hero,
Commander Geoffrey Peace, is every bit as charismatic as agent “double-0-seven.” If one does not believe this, keep in mind, Peace was first portrayed in the 1966 film of A Twist of Sand by the British actor, Richard Johnson, who was producer Cubby Broccoli’s
second choice for Bond, after Cary Grant had graciously turned down the role, stating: "I can only play James Bond in one film and not a series." (Grant was best man at Broccoli's wedding to wife Dana in Beverly Hills in 1959, the same year A Twist of Sand was published to widespread critical accolades, both here and in the UK. In England,
the novel was an instant bestseller and Ian Fleming threw his name into the hat when pushing Jenkins's future as a “master of suspense.”)
Geoffrey Jenkins, like Fleming, had read the thrillers of John Buchan (The 39 Steps and Green Mantle), H.C. McNeil's "Bulldog Drummond" series, written under the pen name “Sapper,” and the works of Dornford Yates, featuring that dare devil adventurer, Jonah Mansel. What set A Twist of Sand apart from other books of the 1950s and early 1960s is that Jenkins intentionally updated the formula of his predecessors, just as Fleming had done only a few years earlier in such books as Casino Royale and From Russia, With Love.
As Fleming predicted, Geoffrey Jenkins was a master from the start. A Twist of Sand is, perhaps, his best written novel and would have been an ideal vehicle for a Hitchcock film. Jenkins, though a native of South Africa, lived in London and shared many of Hitchcock's views on how thrillers should be presented. As both a book and film, A Twist of Sand had all the ingredients. Greed. Gold. Bad guys who really are sinister and frightening. Yes, girls. On screen, we saw a beautiful and passionate blonde portrayed by Honor Blackman (“Pussy Galore" of Goldfinger and Cathy Gale of the pre-Diana Rigg Avengers.) And, of course, the darkly rugged Richard Johnson as Commander Geoffrey Peace, an actor who went on to play Bulldog Drummond in the technicolor films, Deadlier Than The Male and Some Girls Do. It’s high time, I should think, that Commander Peace gets a new lease on life.
I have been granted the great privilege of becoming the Literary Agent for the Estate of Geoffrey Jenkins. Indeed, it is a true honour for me. David Jenkins, the son of the novelist, is a wonderful gentleman and his wisdom regarding everything pertaining to his father's legacy has been most inspiring. He and I are in agreement about one thing that remains steadfast between us: "The novels of Geoffrey Jenkins, most of which are now out of print, need to be reissued by the best publishers in America and the U.K.. In addition, to me, it is extraordinary that Geoffrey Jenkins's original publishers,
HarperCollins, have not searched for a continuation novelist to keep the Geoffrey Peace character alive and robust--not to say, kicking. So, the Geoffrey Jenkins Estate and I are looking for the best thriller writer in the world to write the next Commander Geoffrey Peace novel. No easy task.
Per Fine Ounce
Which brings us to Per Fine Ounce, the lost Geoffrey Jenkins James Bond novel. In 1966, Geoffrey Jenkins was contracted by Glidrose Productions, Ltd. to write the first James Bond Continuation Novel under the pen name “Robert Markham,” later used by Kingsley Amis when he published 1968's Colonel Sun. Anne Fleming, Ian's widow, had some reservations about copyright problems if a continuation novelist were brought in. Peter Fleming, Ian's brother, was the top man on the board of directors at Glidrose (now Ian Fleming Publications) when the Jenkins contract was finally drawn-up and signed. The novel, which would have taken 007 to South Africa, would have dealt with gold smugglers in much the same way Diamonds Are Forever dealt with the diamond pipeline. Peter Janson-Smith, who was Ian Fleming's British agent and one of Glidrose’s editorial directors remembered that the Per Fine Ounce manuscript was rejected, though he was never clear on exactly who did the rejecting or why. There had been some concerns as to who would publish the book, whether it would be Fleming's original publisher--Jonathan Cape, Ltd.--or Jenkins's publisher, William Collins and Sons or some combination of the two joining forces for maximum exposure and leverage in the literary market place of 1967 England.
The rejection created hard feelings between James Bond film producers Harry Saltzman and Albert R. Broccoli toward the board of directors at Glidrose. In 1979, I asked Reginald Barkshire why Cubby Broccoli had not filmed the continuation novel, Colonel Sun by Kingsley Amis. Mr. Barkshire--a delightful man and generous with his time with me, said simply: "Mr. Broccoli will never film a continuation novel." Before that statement, Saltzman and Broccoli had every intention of filming the Jenkins novel. In the meantime, Geoffrey Jenkins's second Commander Geoffrey Peace thriller, Hunter Killer, was published in America and England. In the opening pages, Commander Peace is believed dead. His body is on board a British nuclear sub. It has not been confirmed, but has been widely speculated that Harry Saltzman bought this scene from Hunter Killer for the 1967 James Bond film, You Only Live Twice, as some small recompense to Geoffrey Jenkins after the rejection of Per Fine Ounce.
As the agent for the estate of Geoffrey Jenkins, I am now on a mystery hunt. The original manuscript of Per Fine Ounce has simply disappeared. David Jenkins and I now possess 18 pages of the original story and it is quite good. However, we are missing some 300 odd pages of what might have been the best James Bond thriller after Fleming. We are searching the archives of many universities and there is still the possibility that the Harry Saltzman Estate might have a copy of the unpublished manuscript. After all, it was Harry Saltzman who personally championed Jenkins's story to Glidrose. It was Saltzman, who more than anyone else, wanted to film Per Fine Ounce.
A New Franchise?
Well, where does all this lead? I have had several New York publishers contact me about publishing Per Fine Ounce. It cannot be published as a James Bond novel, of course, because of copyrights and trademarks belonging to Ian Fleming Publications. However, "Commander Geoffrey Peace" can be easily substituted for "Commander James Bond" and what an exciting story we would have, if the pages David Jenkins and I possess are any indication of the skill and high level of literary craftsmanship. Jenkins was
in top form in 1966. Some of his best thrillers were still ahead of him.
So the extant pages of Per Fine Ounce offer us all an intriguing possibility. If a continuation novelist were to pick up the gauntlet, a thrilling new story with a heavy dose of Jenkins with a dash of Fleming could excite readers once again. At the same time, there should definitely be a biography of Geoffrey Jenkins, not only one of the world's greatest thriller writers, but one of South Africa's greatest novelists. After all, Jenkins's books sold 50,000,000 copies during his life time and there is still life in his creation, Commander Geoffrey Peace, not only in literature, but also potential films.
So, as literary agent for the Jenkins estate, I would like to hear from all serious writers and their agents. Once contacted, we will do our best to read your proposal in a timely manner. We are looking for three things at the moment:
(1.) a good continuation novel, based upon the Commander Geoffrey Peace character, which means the writer must read A Twist of Sand and Hunter Killer and be previously published by a commercial house.
(2.) we are interested in a professional biographer for an in depth biography of Geoffrey Jenkins.
(3.) we are interested in working with a studio/film director with a track record in Hollywood or London for a proposed film series based on the Peace character, ala James Bond. Producer/director/writer
credentials are essential. We will be blunt about this: a producer, director, screen writer with attached 'financing' will be given carte blanche treatment.
David Jenkins and I are big fans of
www.spywise.net
and will keep all Geoffrey Jenkins fans posted.
Ronald Payne for The Geoffrey Jenkins Estate
wr.payne@hotmail.com
To learn more about Ronald Payne, check out his “Untold Tales of 007” articles as well as his archives of O. F. Snelling material in the “James Bond Files” at
WWW.Spywise.net
By Ronald Payne
Editor’s Note: The item below is very unique. First, it is an appreciation of neglected thriller writer Geoffrey Jenkins and his connections with Ian Fleming. Then, Ron Payne sheds some light into the history of the never published James Bond continuation novel, Per Fine Ounce. Finally, Ron makes an interesting appeal to thriller writers, biographers, and film makers—there’s a hot franchise waiting for some creative minds.
---
Of course, everyone knows about the fantastic world of agent 007 and his creator, Ian Lancaster Fleming. It is still hard for me to believe that the man who gave me such joyful and exciting reading as a teenager will soon be honored in centenary celebrations for his extraordinarily influential career.
However, Fleming did more than simply write “some of the livingest” thrillers ever created, in the words of British author O.F. Snelling who wrote about James Bond in his Double O Seven—James Bond Under the Microscope. Fleming also opened the door for his protégée at The Sunday Times, Geoffrey Jenkins, who created one of the most popular thrillers of his era, 1959's A Twist of Sand. What Fleming and Jenkins shared in common was the ability to project a reader forward into the most breathtaking adventure with what seems effortless aplomb. Jenkins's hero,
Commander Geoffrey Peace, is every bit as charismatic as agent “double-0-seven.” If one does not believe this, keep in mind, Peace was first portrayed in the 1966 film of A Twist of Sand by the British actor, Richard Johnson, who was producer Cubby Broccoli’s
second choice for Bond, after Cary Grant had graciously turned down the role, stating: "I can only play James Bond in one film and not a series." (Grant was best man at Broccoli's wedding to wife Dana in Beverly Hills in 1959, the same year A Twist of Sand was published to widespread critical accolades, both here and in the UK. In England,
the novel was an instant bestseller and Ian Fleming threw his name into the hat when pushing Jenkins's future as a “master of suspense.”)
Geoffrey Jenkins, like Fleming, had read the thrillers of John Buchan (The 39 Steps and Green Mantle), H.C. McNeil's "Bulldog Drummond" series, written under the pen name “Sapper,” and the works of Dornford Yates, featuring that dare devil adventurer, Jonah Mansel. What set A Twist of Sand apart from other books of the 1950s and early 1960s is that Jenkins intentionally updated the formula of his predecessors, just as Fleming had done only a few years earlier in such books as Casino Royale and From Russia, With Love.
As Fleming predicted, Geoffrey Jenkins was a master from the start. A Twist of Sand is, perhaps, his best written novel and would have been an ideal vehicle for a Hitchcock film. Jenkins, though a native of South Africa, lived in London and shared many of Hitchcock's views on how thrillers should be presented. As both a book and film, A Twist of Sand had all the ingredients. Greed. Gold. Bad guys who really are sinister and frightening. Yes, girls. On screen, we saw a beautiful and passionate blonde portrayed by Honor Blackman (“Pussy Galore" of Goldfinger and Cathy Gale of the pre-Diana Rigg Avengers.) And, of course, the darkly rugged Richard Johnson as Commander Geoffrey Peace, an actor who went on to play Bulldog Drummond in the technicolor films, Deadlier Than The Male and Some Girls Do. It’s high time, I should think, that Commander Peace gets a new lease on life.
I have been granted the great privilege of becoming the Literary Agent for the Estate of Geoffrey Jenkins. Indeed, it is a true honour for me. David Jenkins, the son of the novelist, is a wonderful gentleman and his wisdom regarding everything pertaining to his father's legacy has been most inspiring. He and I are in agreement about one thing that remains steadfast between us: "The novels of Geoffrey Jenkins, most of which are now out of print, need to be reissued by the best publishers in America and the U.K.. In addition, to me, it is extraordinary that Geoffrey Jenkins's original publishers,
HarperCollins, have not searched for a continuation novelist to keep the Geoffrey Peace character alive and robust--not to say, kicking. So, the Geoffrey Jenkins Estate and I are looking for the best thriller writer in the world to write the next Commander Geoffrey Peace novel. No easy task.
Per Fine Ounce
Which brings us to Per Fine Ounce, the lost Geoffrey Jenkins James Bond novel. In 1966, Geoffrey Jenkins was contracted by Glidrose Productions, Ltd. to write the first James Bond Continuation Novel under the pen name “Robert Markham,” later used by Kingsley Amis when he published 1968's Colonel Sun. Anne Fleming, Ian's widow, had some reservations about copyright problems if a continuation novelist were brought in. Peter Fleming, Ian's brother, was the top man on the board of directors at Glidrose (now Ian Fleming Publications) when the Jenkins contract was finally drawn-up and signed. The novel, which would have taken 007 to South Africa, would have dealt with gold smugglers in much the same way Diamonds Are Forever dealt with the diamond pipeline. Peter Janson-Smith, who was Ian Fleming's British agent and one of Glidrose’s editorial directors remembered that the Per Fine Ounce manuscript was rejected, though he was never clear on exactly who did the rejecting or why. There had been some concerns as to who would publish the book, whether it would be Fleming's original publisher--Jonathan Cape, Ltd.--or Jenkins's publisher, William Collins and Sons or some combination of the two joining forces for maximum exposure and leverage in the literary market place of 1967 England.
The rejection created hard feelings between James Bond film producers Harry Saltzman and Albert R. Broccoli toward the board of directors at Glidrose. In 1979, I asked Reginald Barkshire why Cubby Broccoli had not filmed the continuation novel, Colonel Sun by Kingsley Amis. Mr. Barkshire--a delightful man and generous with his time with me, said simply: "Mr. Broccoli will never film a continuation novel." Before that statement, Saltzman and Broccoli had every intention of filming the Jenkins novel. In the meantime, Geoffrey Jenkins's second Commander Geoffrey Peace thriller, Hunter Killer, was published in America and England. In the opening pages, Commander Peace is believed dead. His body is on board a British nuclear sub. It has not been confirmed, but has been widely speculated that Harry Saltzman bought this scene from Hunter Killer for the 1967 James Bond film, You Only Live Twice, as some small recompense to Geoffrey Jenkins after the rejection of Per Fine Ounce.
As the agent for the estate of Geoffrey Jenkins, I am now on a mystery hunt. The original manuscript of Per Fine Ounce has simply disappeared. David Jenkins and I now possess 18 pages of the original story and it is quite good. However, we are missing some 300 odd pages of what might have been the best James Bond thriller after Fleming. We are searching the archives of many universities and there is still the possibility that the Harry Saltzman Estate might have a copy of the unpublished manuscript. After all, it was Harry Saltzman who personally championed Jenkins's story to Glidrose. It was Saltzman, who more than anyone else, wanted to film Per Fine Ounce.
A New Franchise?
Well, where does all this lead? I have had several New York publishers contact me about publishing Per Fine Ounce. It cannot be published as a James Bond novel, of course, because of copyrights and trademarks belonging to Ian Fleming Publications. However, "Commander Geoffrey Peace" can be easily substituted for "Commander James Bond" and what an exciting story we would have, if the pages David Jenkins and I possess are any indication of the skill and high level of literary craftsmanship. Jenkins was
in top form in 1966. Some of his best thrillers were still ahead of him.
So the extant pages of Per Fine Ounce offer us all an intriguing possibility. If a continuation novelist were to pick up the gauntlet, a thrilling new story with a heavy dose of Jenkins with a dash of Fleming could excite readers once again. At the same time, there should definitely be a biography of Geoffrey Jenkins, not only one of the world's greatest thriller writers, but one of South Africa's greatest novelists. After all, Jenkins's books sold 50,000,000 copies during his life time and there is still life in his creation, Commander Geoffrey Peace, not only in literature, but also potential films.
So, as literary agent for the Jenkins estate, I would like to hear from all serious writers and their agents. Once contacted, we will do our best to read your proposal in a timely manner. We are looking for three things at the moment:
(1.) a good continuation novel, based upon the Commander Geoffrey Peace character, which means the writer must read A Twist of Sand and Hunter Killer and be previously published by a commercial house.
(2.) we are interested in a professional biographer for an in depth biography of Geoffrey Jenkins.
(3.) we are interested in working with a studio/film director with a track record in Hollywood or London for a proposed film series based on the Peace character, ala James Bond. Producer/director/writer
credentials are essential. We will be blunt about this: a producer, director, screen writer with attached 'financing' will be given carte blanche treatment.
David Jenkins and I are big fans of
www.spywise.net
and will keep all Geoffrey Jenkins fans posted.
Ronald Payne for The Geoffrey Jenkins Estate
wr.payne@hotmail.com
To learn more about Ronald Payne, check out his “Untold Tales of 007” articles as well as his archives of O. F. Snelling material in the “James Bond Files” at
WWW.Spywise.net
Saturday, February 9, 2008
Sleepers, Moles, and The Piglet Files: British Spy Comedies on U.S. DVD
In America, TV spy comedies have not always been a rich barrel of laughs. Of course, the bar was set very high in 1965 with Get Smart!, the standard by which everything since has been measured. We got the forgotten Double Life of Henry Phyfe and occasionally short-lived offerings like the Canadian produced Adderly. Mostly, we got a plethora of children’s shows from Lancelot Link, Secret Chimp to The Adventures of Dynamo Duck. Not until Seth MacFarlane’s 2005 animated American Dad! did U.S. viewers get another long-running half-hour satire of the espionage genre. In the main, TV spy humor has been an ingredient in cliché ridden hour-long “dram-odies” of varying quality as in NBC’s 2007 recycling of old premises—Chuck-- and USA’s clever summer series, Burn Notice.
Not so in England. Of course, they’ve created the lion’s share of the best spy dramas ever aired from Danger Man to The Sandbaggers to Reilly, Ace of Spies. They’ve given us the templates for the best in escapist fare from The Avengers to Department S to The Saint. Along the way, U.K. studios have produced nuggets few Yanks have seen or even heard of beyond the devoted followers of cult TV. How about Jason King or The Top Secret Life of Edgar Briggs? In Britain, they’ve enjoyed DVD releases of many of their homegrown favorites like Man in a Suitcase and The Ghost Squad. They even beat Hollywood to the punch, issuing The Man From U.N.C.L.E. movies still not available on this side of the pond.
But, of late, some notable comic DVD nuggets have come out suitable for region 1 players, available for purchase or rental via Netflix. Here are two offerings worthy of any lover of witty yarns and satirical digs into the ribs of British—and American—intelligence.
---
The Piglet Files
For decades, PBS stations have thrived on Saturday and Sunday evenings re-broadcasting classic British sit-coms. Monty Python, Good Neighbors, To the Manor Born, and Keeping up Appearances have all enjoyed long shelf-lives and been the focus of many an annoying pledge drive. But public broadcasting missed a good bet by not offering The Piglet Files.
Originally broadcast from Sept. 7, 1990 to May 10, 1992, 21 half-hour episodes were produced by London Weekend Television. For three years, ITV aired 7 of these satires each season centered on gawky gadget expert Peter "Piglet" Chapman (Nicholas Lyndhurst). Chapman was drawn into the world of espionage at a time when the Cold War was winding down and Britain’s professional spies were falling behind in technical competence.
Billed as “A spy in search of a clue,” Chapman was not the only secret agent worthy of this description. In the pilot, “A Question of Intelligence,” aristocratic MI5 chief Major Maurice Drummond (Clive Francis) became exasperated with his agents’ ineptitude in surveillance missions. When asked to monitor one suspected home of a Russian spy, for example, they discover they are not only watching the wrong house, they are watching it from inside the very house supposed to be under surveillance. When asked to place a bug inside the wall of another home, his agents mortar in the receiver instead of the microphone.
In scripts by Brian Leveson and Paul Minett, Drummond decided to solve these problems by having local university professor Chapman fired from his job so he has no choice but to agree to become a technological trainer for the agency. Delighted to become a spy of sorts, Chapman insists on a code-name, even though no one else is using one. MI5 finds the last available designation—the embarrassing “Piglet.” Chapman would quickly rue the day he accepted that moniker.
Modest and average in intelligence, Chapman was smarter than most of his co-workers, but only by degrees. They included Major Andrew Maxwell (John Ringham) and the buffoonish Dexter (Michael Percival). Piglet’s wife, Sarah (Serena Evans), was convinced her husband was having affairs as he tried to keep his secret life hidden from her. Throughout the series, she found herself screaming in frustration when she can’t get simple answers to simple questions, even when she is kidnapped and no one will tell her why.
Outside of Get Smart!, not many spy shows have a laugh track—or deserve one. But with a mix of witty dialogue, Unusual scenarios, and characters that turn the realm of John Le Carre on its head, it’s hard not to join in with the taped audience response. Perhaps the post-Cold War scripts are a bit dated, but only by a degree or two.
The major quibble I had with the May 2003 DVD release of the first season from Bfs Entertainment is that, for some reason, each disc only has three or four episodes. Why not all 21 episodes in a full box set? Despite this strange packaging, The Piglet Files is well worth exploring and adding to your espionage collection.
Trivia notes: The original Music for the series was provided by Rod Argent, a former hitmaker with the groups The Zombies and Argent. An accomplished caricaturist, Clive Francis’s humorous drawings of himself and Lyndhurst can be seen in the show's credits.
---
Sleepers
In the case of Sleepers, PBS didn’t miss the boat. From Oct. 27 to Nov. 17, 1991, this high-quality miniseries was aired on Masterpiece Theatre after it was broadcast on the BBC in the spring of that year. In a far different vein from Piglet, the satirical plot of Sleepers is more like a well-done adaptation of a well-written novel. Still, like Piglet, it satirizes the post-Cold War intelligence realm in which international spy agencies don’t
seem to know exactly what the adversary is doing—or why.
In the first episode, “”The Awakening,” an opening montage use stock footage from the 1960s (showing then Prime Minister Harold Wilson, Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev among others) to evoke the year 1966. Then, 25 years later, a hidden room is discovered beneath the Kremlin, revealing a complete recreation of a 1960s British town.
In the script by writers John Flanagan and Andrew McCulloch, the puzzled Reds investigate the room and uncovered a long-forgotten plot by Andrei Zorin (Michael Gough) to place two sleeper agents in Britain, one in the industrial north, the other in the commercial South. From the point of this discovery, a chain of events spins out in many comic directions involving the Russian secret services, the American CIA, and the British MI-5. All of them are uncertain of what is happening with many misinterpretations of what they’re finding.
At the center of the storm are the two agents who, after 25 years, have become British in every way and have no desire to be KGB agents. Vladimir Zelenski is now Albert Robinson (Warren Clarke), a Union official at a factory in Eccles, happily married with three children. Sergei Rublev has become Jeremy Coward (Nigel Havers), a great capitalist success in London. Meanwhile, Zoran has been living in an insane asylum and still carries his secrets.
Then, one of Robinson’s children accidentally activated his antique radio in his attic, and the sleeper was surprised to hear a Russian voice commanding him to reactivate his life as a spy. He ran to meet with his old contact, and the pair learn Major Nina Grishina (Joanna Kanska) is flying to London to bring them home. Her arrival prompted both the CIA and MI5 to investigate what the KGB is after. Things just don’t add up. Why would two ordinary Brits do a Cossack dance on a dam after throwing an old radio into the water? Why is Robinson determined that he keep track of his daughter’s toy monkey, “Morris,” which was left on his car seat when he left home? Why is a top security KGB agent poking around sleepy English hamlets and why does the CIA care? This is no place for spoilers—suffice it to say Acorn Media released the mini-series on DVD and it’s a genuine nugget.
For trivia buffs: Warren Clarke’s other espionage roles included work for The Avengers, Callan, and Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy.
Notes
The Piglet Files
According to
www.amazon.com/Piglet-Files/dp/B00007BI1W
The Piglet Files is currently out of stock. However, I can attest that
www.netflix.com/Movie/The_Piglet_Files/60030901
has the series for rent. Another favorable review is posted at:
www.dvdverdict.com/reviews/pigletfiles.php -
Sleepers
Amazon has both used and new copies for sale:
www.amazon.com/Sleepers-Nigel-Havers/dp/B000L2127W
And Netflix has the two discs for rent.
---
For other reviews of TV, literary, film, and even radio spies—check out—
WWW.Spywise.net
Not so in England. Of course, they’ve created the lion’s share of the best spy dramas ever aired from Danger Man to The Sandbaggers to Reilly, Ace of Spies. They’ve given us the templates for the best in escapist fare from The Avengers to Department S to The Saint. Along the way, U.K. studios have produced nuggets few Yanks have seen or even heard of beyond the devoted followers of cult TV. How about Jason King or The Top Secret Life of Edgar Briggs? In Britain, they’ve enjoyed DVD releases of many of their homegrown favorites like Man in a Suitcase and The Ghost Squad. They even beat Hollywood to the punch, issuing The Man From U.N.C.L.E. movies still not available on this side of the pond.
But, of late, some notable comic DVD nuggets have come out suitable for region 1 players, available for purchase or rental via Netflix. Here are two offerings worthy of any lover of witty yarns and satirical digs into the ribs of British—and American—intelligence.
---
The Piglet Files
For decades, PBS stations have thrived on Saturday and Sunday evenings re-broadcasting classic British sit-coms. Monty Python, Good Neighbors, To the Manor Born, and Keeping up Appearances have all enjoyed long shelf-lives and been the focus of many an annoying pledge drive. But public broadcasting missed a good bet by not offering The Piglet Files.
Originally broadcast from Sept. 7, 1990 to May 10, 1992, 21 half-hour episodes were produced by London Weekend Television. For three years, ITV aired 7 of these satires each season centered on gawky gadget expert Peter "Piglet" Chapman (Nicholas Lyndhurst). Chapman was drawn into the world of espionage at a time when the Cold War was winding down and Britain’s professional spies were falling behind in technical competence.
Billed as “A spy in search of a clue,” Chapman was not the only secret agent worthy of this description. In the pilot, “A Question of Intelligence,” aristocratic MI5 chief Major Maurice Drummond (Clive Francis) became exasperated with his agents’ ineptitude in surveillance missions. When asked to monitor one suspected home of a Russian spy, for example, they discover they are not only watching the wrong house, they are watching it from inside the very house supposed to be under surveillance. When asked to place a bug inside the wall of another home, his agents mortar in the receiver instead of the microphone.
In scripts by Brian Leveson and Paul Minett, Drummond decided to solve these problems by having local university professor Chapman fired from his job so he has no choice but to agree to become a technological trainer for the agency. Delighted to become a spy of sorts, Chapman insists on a code-name, even though no one else is using one. MI5 finds the last available designation—the embarrassing “Piglet.” Chapman would quickly rue the day he accepted that moniker.
Modest and average in intelligence, Chapman was smarter than most of his co-workers, but only by degrees. They included Major Andrew Maxwell (John Ringham) and the buffoonish Dexter (Michael Percival). Piglet’s wife, Sarah (Serena Evans), was convinced her husband was having affairs as he tried to keep his secret life hidden from her. Throughout the series, she found herself screaming in frustration when she can’t get simple answers to simple questions, even when she is kidnapped and no one will tell her why.
Outside of Get Smart!, not many spy shows have a laugh track—or deserve one. But with a mix of witty dialogue, Unusual scenarios, and characters that turn the realm of John Le Carre on its head, it’s hard not to join in with the taped audience response. Perhaps the post-Cold War scripts are a bit dated, but only by a degree or two.
The major quibble I had with the May 2003 DVD release of the first season from Bfs Entertainment is that, for some reason, each disc only has three or four episodes. Why not all 21 episodes in a full box set? Despite this strange packaging, The Piglet Files is well worth exploring and adding to your espionage collection.
Trivia notes: The original Music for the series was provided by Rod Argent, a former hitmaker with the groups The Zombies and Argent. An accomplished caricaturist, Clive Francis’s humorous drawings of himself and Lyndhurst can be seen in the show's credits.
---
Sleepers
In the case of Sleepers, PBS didn’t miss the boat. From Oct. 27 to Nov. 17, 1991, this high-quality miniseries was aired on Masterpiece Theatre after it was broadcast on the BBC in the spring of that year. In a far different vein from Piglet, the satirical plot of Sleepers is more like a well-done adaptation of a well-written novel. Still, like Piglet, it satirizes the post-Cold War intelligence realm in which international spy agencies don’t
seem to know exactly what the adversary is doing—or why.
In the first episode, “”The Awakening,” an opening montage use stock footage from the 1960s (showing then Prime Minister Harold Wilson, Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev among others) to evoke the year 1966. Then, 25 years later, a hidden room is discovered beneath the Kremlin, revealing a complete recreation of a 1960s British town.
In the script by writers John Flanagan and Andrew McCulloch, the puzzled Reds investigate the room and uncovered a long-forgotten plot by Andrei Zorin (Michael Gough) to place two sleeper agents in Britain, one in the industrial north, the other in the commercial South. From the point of this discovery, a chain of events spins out in many comic directions involving the Russian secret services, the American CIA, and the British MI-5. All of them are uncertain of what is happening with many misinterpretations of what they’re finding.
At the center of the storm are the two agents who, after 25 years, have become British in every way and have no desire to be KGB agents. Vladimir Zelenski is now Albert Robinson (Warren Clarke), a Union official at a factory in Eccles, happily married with three children. Sergei Rublev has become Jeremy Coward (Nigel Havers), a great capitalist success in London. Meanwhile, Zoran has been living in an insane asylum and still carries his secrets.
Then, one of Robinson’s children accidentally activated his antique radio in his attic, and the sleeper was surprised to hear a Russian voice commanding him to reactivate his life as a spy. He ran to meet with his old contact, and the pair learn Major Nina Grishina (Joanna Kanska) is flying to London to bring them home. Her arrival prompted both the CIA and MI5 to investigate what the KGB is after. Things just don’t add up. Why would two ordinary Brits do a Cossack dance on a dam after throwing an old radio into the water? Why is Robinson determined that he keep track of his daughter’s toy monkey, “Morris,” which was left on his car seat when he left home? Why is a top security KGB agent poking around sleepy English hamlets and why does the CIA care? This is no place for spoilers—suffice it to say Acorn Media released the mini-series on DVD and it’s a genuine nugget.
For trivia buffs: Warren Clarke’s other espionage roles included work for The Avengers, Callan, and Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy.
Notes
The Piglet Files
According to
www.amazon.com/Piglet-Files/dp/B00007BI1W
The Piglet Files is currently out of stock. However, I can attest that
www.netflix.com/Movie/The_Piglet_Files/60030901
has the series for rent. Another favorable review is posted at:
www.dvdverdict.com/reviews/pigletfiles.php -
Sleepers
Amazon has both used and new copies for sale:
www.amazon.com/Sleepers-Nigel-Havers/dp/B000L2127W
And Netflix has the two discs for rent.
---
For other reviews of TV, literary, film, and even radio spies—check out—
WWW.Spywise.net
Friday, October 19, 2007
All About Super Spy Cars: And a New CHITTY, CHITTY, BANG-BANG Coming in 2008
By Wesley Britton
May 2008 is going to be a feast for all fans of Ian Fleming. As part of the James Bond author’s centenary celebrations, we’ll be seeing Sebastian Faulks’ Devil May Care, the first 007 continuation novel since the Raymond Benson series; Samantha Weinberg’s The Moneypenny Diaries: Final Fling; Kev Walker’s graphic novelisation of Charlie Higson’s SilverFin; not to mention an exhibition dedicated to the 007 author.
On top of all this, Fleming’s 1964 classic for children, Chitty, Chitty, Bang-Bang, will be reprinted in a new hard-cover collector’s edition complete with original illustrations by John Burningham. Now, while visions of Dick Van Dyke and the strains of the Disneyesque soundtrack fill your head, it’s worth noting that this tale of a flying car does indeed have connections to the James Bond universe. Before dismissing this new release as but a literary footnote to the legacy of Ian Lancaster Fleming, it’s important to remember the significance of super-cars in the super-spy realm of the 1960s and the contribution Chitty, Chitty, Bang-Bang made to children’s literature.
Signature Cars
Four-wheel transport has been part of the spy milieu from the beginning. Back in the 1930s, "Clubland" writer Dornford Yates, pen name for Major William Mercer, established many staples of future spy adventures. For example, his main characters included Jonah Manscell and William Chandos who set out on European adventures in a Rolls-Royce equipped with staff and customized caches and secret compartments hiding rifles, revolvers, maps, water-proof clothes, medicine chests, grave digging tools, handcuffs, and passports. In his Rolls, Jonah carried torches for flashing messages, ropes for hanging crooks, rubber tubes for gassing criminals, and spare clothes to lend girls whose own attire had been drenched. (note 1)
Later, in 1961, four years before Goldfinger made the Aston-Martin DB5 the most famous car in the world, the producers of The Saint, wanting to give Their new TV series a modern touch, contacted several European sports car manufacturers seeking a Saint trademark. As reported in Spy Television (Praeger, 2004), Volvo was so interested in having its P-1800 line on British television, the company flew in a white model from Sweden for the show as no other white Volvos were yet available in England. The Volvo with its license plate reading “ST1,” alongside Leslie Charteris’ haloed stick figure, became a signature icon for The Saint. The Volvo turned out to be a precursor to the similar uses of signature cars in The Avengers with Major John Steed driving classic Bentleys and Rolls--representing England's past--and Emma Peel's powder-blue Lotus Elan--representing the pop culture of the then flashy present.
In fact, cars had important roles in nearly every television show featuring secret agents. In the opening sequence of The Prisoner, Patrick Mcgoohan's unnamed agent was seen driving a Lotus Super Seven series III with the license plate, "KAR120C." This Lotus had special significance in one episode, "Many Happy Returns," in which viewers learned Number Six had built the car himself. (note 2)
When Gene Barry's Amos Burke moved from being a police detective in Burke's Law into Amos Burke, Secret Agent in 1965, viewers saw the millionaire's Rolls in each episode and as the backdrop for the closing titles. In the '60s, fans of old-time radio finally got to see "The Black Beauty," the armored conveyer of The Green Hornet, a TV spin-off of Batman, another series featuring its own special "Batmobile" designed by Chuck Barris. Some series, like The Man From U.N.C.L.E., had special cars created for the show, but ended up using them more for publicity than in the actual aired episodes. (note 3)
Even series set long before the advent of modern transportation--notably The Wild Wild West and the later Secret Adventures of Jules Verne--used fantastic machines to spice up the settings. James West and Artemus Gordon rode in their special train, "The Wanderer," equipped with trick pool tables, hidden telegraph machines, and guns in every nook and cranny. When Jules Verne took off for his 19th century travels in the astonishingly underappreciated 1999-2001 Sci-Fi Channel series, he flew in the dirigible, "The Aurora," a special airship equipped with a lavish laboratory and cozy living quarters.
Classic Motors
But back to Ian Fleming. To begin, like his twelve James Bond novels and short story collections, Chitty, Chitty, Bang-Bang: The Magic Car (1964) reflected Fleming's well-known interest in mechanical gadgets. In his introduction to his only children's book, Fleming said his story was based on the original Chitty, Chitty, Bang-Bang, a car built by Count Zborowski in 1920 on his estate near Canterbury, England. Fleming said the unusual car had a pre-1914 chain drive, 75 horsepower, and a Mercedes chassis installed with a six-cylinder military engine used in German zeppelins. It had a grey steel body with a large eight-foot hood and weighed four tons. According to Fleming, in1921 and 1922, this car won several racing awards until it was wrecked in an accident. Now that's the sort of information any Bond fan should recognize as trademark Ian Fleming. (note 4)
While I don't want to overstate the case, CCBB does indeed offer insights into Fleming's creative process. For example, with the exception of The Spy Who Loved Me (1962), a unique first-person narrative from a female point of view, all the James Bond stories were told from the third person. While CCBB is framed in the voice of a narrator retelling a story he has overheard, Chitty is also primarily a third-person narrative. To give his story a lighter tone than the Bond books, Fleming used onomatopoeia with a chatty, rambling, informal style. As many have said, Fleming's rich descriptions and use of meticulous details in his imaginative Bond books lent an air of credibility to his adventures despite the obviously fantastical elements. In Chitty, he merged this trademark eye for detail with lighthearted humor far different from his other, darker works.
But there is a slice of this in CCBB--the magic car and its owners didn't fly around and stop at enchanted places. Instead, the Pott family finds a cave full of explosives, are chased by "Joe the Monster" and his criminal gang, and are forced to help in a robbery. Beneath the innocence, the underworld finds its way into Fleming's entertainment for the young. Still, Fleming found an appropriate balance between danger and warm family themes. In this book, the descriptive language is toned down to avoid any details of scientific solemnity adding weight to a fantasy. Instead, John Burmingham's drawings and paintings, both small and full-page, enliven the reading experience.
From the beginning, Chitty, Chitty, Bang-Bang found favor with critics, parents, and children. Of course, the initial popularity of CCBB was supported by the then intense interest in the "Bond Bonanza" and the author who started it all. Still, the book earned praise on its own merits. In 1964, mystery writer Rex Stout claimed four out of five children would love the story, most preferring to trade in their parents for Commander Pott. Library journals universally praised the book along with John Birmingham's illustrations as a story for all ages. Some reviewers felt the story was more appropriate for boys.
Flying On Screen
But this critical interest in Fleming's book didn't carry over to the movie. In 1968, United Artists and Albert Broccoli, one of the producers of the James Bond films, decided to create a movie-musical version of Chitty, Chitty, Bang-Bang using the formula that had earlier made Disney's Mary Poppins a financial windfall and a critical success. Drawing from the Poppins cast, versatile entertainer Dick Van Dyke starred in CCBB along with singer Sally Ann Howes as Commander Pott and a non-Fleming character, Truly Scrumptious.
Merchandising included a popular theme song and soundtrack record album. Random House issued a print movie tie-in version of the story, The Adventures of Chitty, Chitty, Bang-Bang, illustrated with photographs from the film. Writer Albert G. Miller's book version of the screenplay kept the Fleming tone and flavor but added new characters and adventures, including Grandpa Pott and Truly Scrumptious, a romantic interest for the widower, Commander Pott. Also in 1968, Random House issued Meet Chitty, Chitty, Bang-Bang: The Wonderful Magic Car by Al Perkins targeted for readers under the age of ten.
But virtually every critic of the decade panned the film, saying the project didn't deliver much of the magic and humanity of the original book. Ironically, decades later, the film helped renew interest in Fleming's effort in 1993 with the video issue of the musical. In 1996, it was reported that one scene in the movie, in which Jemima Pott refuses candy from a dangerous criminal, helped teach children the dangers of accepting gifts from strangers.
But the saga wasn’t over. On April 16, 2002, Chitty, Chitty, Bang-Bang debuted as a stage musical at the London Palladium theatre with six new songs by the
Sherman Brothers who’d written the original academy award
nominated title and score for the film. The London run ended on September 2005 after a
Broadway production opened on April 28 of that year at the
Hilton Theatre in New York City. Nominated for six Tony Awards, winning none, this production closed on December 31, 2005. Touring companies continued to do shows throughout the UK.
By this time, it seemed clear super-cars belonged to children’s entertainment and no longer spy adventures for adults. In 1977, we saw Roger Moore’s Lotus Esprit S1 turn into a submarine, and in 2001 Bond had a BMW Z8 he could control with his cell phone. But when Pierce Brosnan’s 007 raced around in the Aston Martin V12 Vanquish equipped with a cloaking device that made it invisible in Die Another Day (2002), reviewers and fans agreed—it was time for James Bond to find a new direction. It had become time to get back to the basics, the fundamentals created by Ian Fleming.
The Book
For those who haven't read Chitty, Chitty, Bang-Bang, here's a synopsis:
In the first pages of Chitty, Chitty, Bang-Bang, we meet the eccentric Pott family. Jeremy and Jemima are eight-year-old twins living with their mother, Mimsie, and their father, Commander Pott. He's a dreamy and unsuccessful explorer and inventor known in the neighborhood as "Crackpot Pott." We learn they have a lineage going back to the Romans and that they live beside a lake near a turnpike near Canterbury, England. They are poor and can't afford a car.
Then, the remarkable Commander invents "Crackpot's Whistling Sweets," a toy/candy he sells to a candy maker, Lord Scrumptious, who buys the invention for one thousand pounds. With the funds to buy a car, the Potts discover an old wreck on its way to the junkyard, a car that was clearly once so special the entire family falls in love with it on sight. Magical properties can't be missed when the car's license plate says "GENI." Commander Pott repairs the car, and hears the characteristic start-up noises of "chitty chitty bang bang" which becomes the car's name. The special car can go up to one hundred miles an hour, but the Commander worries when he finds the car can make improvements on its own at night. Chitty has sprouted rows of knobs Pott cannot explain.
On their way to a picnic, Chitty and the Potts get bogged down in slow traffic. The personified car gets irritated and gives the Commander instructions on the mysterious knobs. Commander Pott does as the car asks, and "Chitty-Chitty-Bang-Bang" suddenly grows wings and flies over the other cars.
In part two, the delighted Potts land on a sandbar in the English Channel. After picnicking, all five family members, now including Chitty, doze off and nearly drown until Chitty warns everyone. The Potts flee as the car becomes a hover-craft, skimming over the water to France where they find shelter in a handy cave.
The Potts explore the long cave, full of traps designed to scare visitors away, which leads to a secret underground warehouse full of boxes containing guns, bombs, and weapons. They find a paper saying the vault belongs to a famous criminal named Joe the Monster. Frightened but determined, the Potts light a fuse, drive out of the cave, and leave the explosives to blow up. Outside, Joe the Monster and three gangsters wait for them, but the car sprouts its wings and flies away to a hotel in Calais, France.
Part 3 begins in France where the gangsters find the Potts and kidnap the twins. The children are forced to participate in a robbery of a candy store. The full family shows resolve and cooperation, and the twins are alert and trick the gang while their parents and "Chitty-Chitty-Bang-Bang" capture Joe's gang. The family earns rewards and flies off for new adventures.
Notes
1. See Richard Osbourne's Clubland Heroes (London: Constable and Co., 1953) pages 68 and 80.
Peter Wolfe briefly looks at cars in Eric Amblers fiction on pages 21-22 in Alarms and Epitaphs: The Art of Eric Ambler (Bowling Green: Bowling Green UP, 1993). In Wolfe's opinion, Ambler uses cars and car crashes as a symbol of worrisome science and technology in the modern world.
2. According to Prisoner fan "Wolfe, "KAR120C" was originally registered to the Lotus Dealer and "rented" for the opening credits of the show filmed for "Arrival". The super seven seen in "Many Happy Returns" was actually another Super Seven that used the same plate number, as the plate was property of the dealership - not the car. Wolf" says that the car used in "Arrival" ended up somewhere in South Africa but its actual whereabouts are unknown. Lotus no longer makes the Seven as it sold the rights to an American company in Georgia and its now called the Caterham Seven with the same basic design with a few modern changes (engine and suspension).
For information about a new Canadian version of the car, see:
http://www.super7cars.com/
There are several models available - a build it yourself kit and a good sized 1:18 scale die-case Super seven from a company by Kyosho. More info is at:
http://www.caterham.co.uk/
and
http://www.autoweek.com/search/search_display.mv
port_code=autoweek&cat_code=rev
iews&content_code=07083334&Search_Type=STD&Search_ID=1915086&record=1
"KAR120C" was also important in the Prisoner novel, Number Two by David McDaniel. See discussion in "Novelizing TV Spies" file at this website.
3. An article with great photographs about the little-used Man From U.N.C.L.E. car can be found at:
http://chadwick-whitlowenterprises.com/piranha/index.htm
It discusses how AMT designer Gene Winfield was asked to come up with a futuristic car with gull-wing doors and special accessories intended for the series. Like the "Saint" Volvo, manufactures hoped exposure on television would promote their "Piranha" line of specialty models and kits. (Thanks to Bob Short for this info.)
4. Much of this information came from my article on Chitty, Chitty, Bang-Bang for Masterplots II: Juvenile and Young Adult Literature (Pasadena, CA: Salem Press, 1996). For those interested, that article stresses the educational value of the book.
For related articles, see
WWW.Spywise.net
By Wesley Britton
May 2008 is going to be a feast for all fans of Ian Fleming. As part of the James Bond author’s centenary celebrations, we’ll be seeing Sebastian Faulks’ Devil May Care, the first 007 continuation novel since the Raymond Benson series; Samantha Weinberg’s The Moneypenny Diaries: Final Fling; Kev Walker’s graphic novelisation of Charlie Higson’s SilverFin; not to mention an exhibition dedicated to the 007 author.
On top of all this, Fleming’s 1964 classic for children, Chitty, Chitty, Bang-Bang, will be reprinted in a new hard-cover collector’s edition complete with original illustrations by John Burningham. Now, while visions of Dick Van Dyke and the strains of the Disneyesque soundtrack fill your head, it’s worth noting that this tale of a flying car does indeed have connections to the James Bond universe. Before dismissing this new release as but a literary footnote to the legacy of Ian Lancaster Fleming, it’s important to remember the significance of super-cars in the super-spy realm of the 1960s and the contribution Chitty, Chitty, Bang-Bang made to children’s literature.
Signature Cars
Four-wheel transport has been part of the spy milieu from the beginning. Back in the 1930s, "Clubland" writer Dornford Yates, pen name for Major William Mercer, established many staples of future spy adventures. For example, his main characters included Jonah Manscell and William Chandos who set out on European adventures in a Rolls-Royce equipped with staff and customized caches and secret compartments hiding rifles, revolvers, maps, water-proof clothes, medicine chests, grave digging tools, handcuffs, and passports. In his Rolls, Jonah carried torches for flashing messages, ropes for hanging crooks, rubber tubes for gassing criminals, and spare clothes to lend girls whose own attire had been drenched. (note 1)
Later, in 1961, four years before Goldfinger made the Aston-Martin DB5 the most famous car in the world, the producers of The Saint, wanting to give Their new TV series a modern touch, contacted several European sports car manufacturers seeking a Saint trademark. As reported in Spy Television (Praeger, 2004), Volvo was so interested in having its P-1800 line on British television, the company flew in a white model from Sweden for the show as no other white Volvos were yet available in England. The Volvo with its license plate reading “ST1,” alongside Leslie Charteris’ haloed stick figure, became a signature icon for The Saint. The Volvo turned out to be a precursor to the similar uses of signature cars in The Avengers with Major John Steed driving classic Bentleys and Rolls--representing England's past--and Emma Peel's powder-blue Lotus Elan--representing the pop culture of the then flashy present.
In fact, cars had important roles in nearly every television show featuring secret agents. In the opening sequence of The Prisoner, Patrick Mcgoohan's unnamed agent was seen driving a Lotus Super Seven series III with the license plate, "KAR120C." This Lotus had special significance in one episode, "Many Happy Returns," in which viewers learned Number Six had built the car himself. (note 2)
When Gene Barry's Amos Burke moved from being a police detective in Burke's Law into Amos Burke, Secret Agent in 1965, viewers saw the millionaire's Rolls in each episode and as the backdrop for the closing titles. In the '60s, fans of old-time radio finally got to see "The Black Beauty," the armored conveyer of The Green Hornet, a TV spin-off of Batman, another series featuring its own special "Batmobile" designed by Chuck Barris. Some series, like The Man From U.N.C.L.E., had special cars created for the show, but ended up using them more for publicity than in the actual aired episodes. (note 3)
Even series set long before the advent of modern transportation--notably The Wild Wild West and the later Secret Adventures of Jules Verne--used fantastic machines to spice up the settings. James West and Artemus Gordon rode in their special train, "The Wanderer," equipped with trick pool tables, hidden telegraph machines, and guns in every nook and cranny. When Jules Verne took off for his 19th century travels in the astonishingly underappreciated 1999-2001 Sci-Fi Channel series, he flew in the dirigible, "The Aurora," a special airship equipped with a lavish laboratory and cozy living quarters.
Classic Motors
But back to Ian Fleming. To begin, like his twelve James Bond novels and short story collections, Chitty, Chitty, Bang-Bang: The Magic Car (1964) reflected Fleming's well-known interest in mechanical gadgets. In his introduction to his only children's book, Fleming said his story was based on the original Chitty, Chitty, Bang-Bang, a car built by Count Zborowski in 1920 on his estate near Canterbury, England. Fleming said the unusual car had a pre-1914 chain drive, 75 horsepower, and a Mercedes chassis installed with a six-cylinder military engine used in German zeppelins. It had a grey steel body with a large eight-foot hood and weighed four tons. According to Fleming, in1921 and 1922, this car won several racing awards until it was wrecked in an accident. Now that's the sort of information any Bond fan should recognize as trademark Ian Fleming. (note 4)
While I don't want to overstate the case, CCBB does indeed offer insights into Fleming's creative process. For example, with the exception of The Spy Who Loved Me (1962), a unique first-person narrative from a female point of view, all the James Bond stories were told from the third person. While CCBB is framed in the voice of a narrator retelling a story he has overheard, Chitty is also primarily a third-person narrative. To give his story a lighter tone than the Bond books, Fleming used onomatopoeia with a chatty, rambling, informal style. As many have said, Fleming's rich descriptions and use of meticulous details in his imaginative Bond books lent an air of credibility to his adventures despite the obviously fantastical elements. In Chitty, he merged this trademark eye for detail with lighthearted humor far different from his other, darker works.
But there is a slice of this in CCBB--the magic car and its owners didn't fly around and stop at enchanted places. Instead, the Pott family finds a cave full of explosives, are chased by "Joe the Monster" and his criminal gang, and are forced to help in a robbery. Beneath the innocence, the underworld finds its way into Fleming's entertainment for the young. Still, Fleming found an appropriate balance between danger and warm family themes. In this book, the descriptive language is toned down to avoid any details of scientific solemnity adding weight to a fantasy. Instead, John Burmingham's drawings and paintings, both small and full-page, enliven the reading experience.
From the beginning, Chitty, Chitty, Bang-Bang found favor with critics, parents, and children. Of course, the initial popularity of CCBB was supported by the then intense interest in the "Bond Bonanza" and the author who started it all. Still, the book earned praise on its own merits. In 1964, mystery writer Rex Stout claimed four out of five children would love the story, most preferring to trade in their parents for Commander Pott. Library journals universally praised the book along with John Birmingham's illustrations as a story for all ages. Some reviewers felt the story was more appropriate for boys.
Flying On Screen
But this critical interest in Fleming's book didn't carry over to the movie. In 1968, United Artists and Albert Broccoli, one of the producers of the James Bond films, decided to create a movie-musical version of Chitty, Chitty, Bang-Bang using the formula that had earlier made Disney's Mary Poppins a financial windfall and a critical success. Drawing from the Poppins cast, versatile entertainer Dick Van Dyke starred in CCBB along with singer Sally Ann Howes as Commander Pott and a non-Fleming character, Truly Scrumptious.
Merchandising included a popular theme song and soundtrack record album. Random House issued a print movie tie-in version of the story, The Adventures of Chitty, Chitty, Bang-Bang, illustrated with photographs from the film. Writer Albert G. Miller's book version of the screenplay kept the Fleming tone and flavor but added new characters and adventures, including Grandpa Pott and Truly Scrumptious, a romantic interest for the widower, Commander Pott. Also in 1968, Random House issued Meet Chitty, Chitty, Bang-Bang: The Wonderful Magic Car by Al Perkins targeted for readers under the age of ten.
But virtually every critic of the decade panned the film, saying the project didn't deliver much of the magic and humanity of the original book. Ironically, decades later, the film helped renew interest in Fleming's effort in 1993 with the video issue of the musical. In 1996, it was reported that one scene in the movie, in which Jemima Pott refuses candy from a dangerous criminal, helped teach children the dangers of accepting gifts from strangers.
But the saga wasn’t over. On April 16, 2002, Chitty, Chitty, Bang-Bang debuted as a stage musical at the London Palladium theatre with six new songs by the
Sherman Brothers who’d written the original academy award
nominated title and score for the film. The London run ended on September 2005 after a
Broadway production opened on April 28 of that year at the
Hilton Theatre in New York City. Nominated for six Tony Awards, winning none, this production closed on December 31, 2005. Touring companies continued to do shows throughout the UK.
By this time, it seemed clear super-cars belonged to children’s entertainment and no longer spy adventures for adults. In 1977, we saw Roger Moore’s Lotus Esprit S1 turn into a submarine, and in 2001 Bond had a BMW Z8 he could control with his cell phone. But when Pierce Brosnan’s 007 raced around in the Aston Martin V12 Vanquish equipped with a cloaking device that made it invisible in Die Another Day (2002), reviewers and fans agreed—it was time for James Bond to find a new direction. It had become time to get back to the basics, the fundamentals created by Ian Fleming.
The Book
For those who haven't read Chitty, Chitty, Bang-Bang, here's a synopsis:
In the first pages of Chitty, Chitty, Bang-Bang, we meet the eccentric Pott family. Jeremy and Jemima are eight-year-old twins living with their mother, Mimsie, and their father, Commander Pott. He's a dreamy and unsuccessful explorer and inventor known in the neighborhood as "Crackpot Pott." We learn they have a lineage going back to the Romans and that they live beside a lake near a turnpike near Canterbury, England. They are poor and can't afford a car.
Then, the remarkable Commander invents "Crackpot's Whistling Sweets," a toy/candy he sells to a candy maker, Lord Scrumptious, who buys the invention for one thousand pounds. With the funds to buy a car, the Potts discover an old wreck on its way to the junkyard, a car that was clearly once so special the entire family falls in love with it on sight. Magical properties can't be missed when the car's license plate says "GENI." Commander Pott repairs the car, and hears the characteristic start-up noises of "chitty chitty bang bang" which becomes the car's name. The special car can go up to one hundred miles an hour, but the Commander worries when he finds the car can make improvements on its own at night. Chitty has sprouted rows of knobs Pott cannot explain.
On their way to a picnic, Chitty and the Potts get bogged down in slow traffic. The personified car gets irritated and gives the Commander instructions on the mysterious knobs. Commander Pott does as the car asks, and "Chitty-Chitty-Bang-Bang" suddenly grows wings and flies over the other cars.
In part two, the delighted Potts land on a sandbar in the English Channel. After picnicking, all five family members, now including Chitty, doze off and nearly drown until Chitty warns everyone. The Potts flee as the car becomes a hover-craft, skimming over the water to France where they find shelter in a handy cave.
The Potts explore the long cave, full of traps designed to scare visitors away, which leads to a secret underground warehouse full of boxes containing guns, bombs, and weapons. They find a paper saying the vault belongs to a famous criminal named Joe the Monster. Frightened but determined, the Potts light a fuse, drive out of the cave, and leave the explosives to blow up. Outside, Joe the Monster and three gangsters wait for them, but the car sprouts its wings and flies away to a hotel in Calais, France.
Part 3 begins in France where the gangsters find the Potts and kidnap the twins. The children are forced to participate in a robbery of a candy store. The full family shows resolve and cooperation, and the twins are alert and trick the gang while their parents and "Chitty-Chitty-Bang-Bang" capture Joe's gang. The family earns rewards and flies off for new adventures.
Notes
1. See Richard Osbourne's Clubland Heroes (London: Constable and Co., 1953) pages 68 and 80.
Peter Wolfe briefly looks at cars in Eric Amblers fiction on pages 21-22 in Alarms and Epitaphs: The Art of Eric Ambler (Bowling Green: Bowling Green UP, 1993). In Wolfe's opinion, Ambler uses cars and car crashes as a symbol of worrisome science and technology in the modern world.
2. According to Prisoner fan "Wolfe, "KAR120C" was originally registered to the Lotus Dealer and "rented" for the opening credits of the show filmed for "Arrival". The super seven seen in "Many Happy Returns" was actually another Super Seven that used the same plate number, as the plate was property of the dealership - not the car. Wolf" says that the car used in "Arrival" ended up somewhere in South Africa but its actual whereabouts are unknown. Lotus no longer makes the Seven as it sold the rights to an American company in Georgia and its now called the Caterham Seven with the same basic design with a few modern changes (engine and suspension).
For information about a new Canadian version of the car, see:
http://www.super7cars.com/
There are several models available - a build it yourself kit and a good sized 1:18 scale die-case Super seven from a company by Kyosho. More info is at:
http://www.caterham.co.uk/
and
http://www.autoweek.com/search/search_display.mv
port_code=autoweek&cat_code=rev
iews&content_code=07083334&Search_Type=STD&Search_ID=1915086&record=1
"KAR120C" was also important in the Prisoner novel, Number Two by David McDaniel. See discussion in "Novelizing TV Spies" file at this website.
3. An article with great photographs about the little-used Man From U.N.C.L.E. car can be found at:
http://chadwick-whitlowenterprises.com/piranha/index.htm
It discusses how AMT designer Gene Winfield was asked to come up with a futuristic car with gull-wing doors and special accessories intended for the series. Like the "Saint" Volvo, manufactures hoped exposure on television would promote their "Piranha" line of specialty models and kits. (Thanks to Bob Short for this info.)
4. Much of this information came from my article on Chitty, Chitty, Bang-Bang for Masterplots II: Juvenile and Young Adult Literature (Pasadena, CA: Salem Press, 1996). For those interested, that article stresses the educational value of the book.
For related articles, see
WWW.Spywise.net
Sunday, October 14, 2007
Free Spybooks online: An Annotated Bibliography of Ebook Espionage
By Wesley Britton
In August 2007, Spywise.net joined the list of websites offering a free spy book for download. In our case, we have available James Bond under the Microscope, the never-before-published revision of O. F. Snelling’s 1964 best-seller then known as James Bond: A Report. It’s in PDF format under the “James Bond Files” at:
http://spywise.net/wbf/microscope.pdf
While James Bond Under the Microscope is one of the few non-fiction espionage titles any reader can legitimately download for free, a number of websites offer a variety of classic novels now in the public domain. There are important yarns by the likes of John Buchan, James Fenimore Cooper, Joseph Conrad, and Eric Ambler. There’s also escapism in SF flavored adventures by E. Philipps Oppenheim and William Le Queux, as well as juvenile entertainment from both the 19th and 20th centuries. More recent titles include modern Spy-Fi as in a 2005 short story by Elizabeth Bear. And for those seeking historical facts, there’s everything from analysis of spycraft in World War I to a 2003 exploration of what the CIA did or didn’t do in Chile in 1970.
Below are lists of sources for these books and what they offer. We also include annotations for specific authors and titles when information may help guide new readers to what might be of most interest to them. In addition, we’ve added some details about any film versions adapted from the text. Much of this material is drawn from Wes Britton’s Beyond Bond: Spies in Film and Fiction (Praeger Pub., 2005) and Onscreen and Undercover: The Ultimate Book of Movie Espionage (Praeger Pub., 2006) where more in-depth discussions can be found.
Note: We’ve taken care to only include books either in the public domain or are new publications posted by authors and sites giving all readers access to their offerings. Please alert us to any potential problems so we can delete any titles in violation of any copyright law. We also welcome any additional information, including short review material for future annotations.
E-Book Sources
Project Gutenberg
www.gutenberg.org
Project Gutenberg is an extremely valuable source of thousands of public domain titles, many long out-of-print, many hard to find elsewhere. A number of other online sources are essentially catalogues that link to Project Gutenberg’s holdings.
ManyBooks.net
ManyBooks has “Free eBooks for your PDA, iPod, or eBook Reader . . . Thousands of free e-books available in multiple formats for PDAs.”
In particular, they had 39 titles under the subject category of “Espionage.” One, at least, The Pathfinder by James Fenimore Cooper, is questionable. Many are duplicates of what Project Gutenberg offers, but some are only available at ManyBooks. For example, they offer non-fiction publications from the CIA.
Diesel eBooks
Diesel has a number of free titles, but they also offer many “espionage and intrigue” ebooks at very reasonable prices. Spy oriented selections can be seen at:
www.diesel-ebooks.com/cgi-bin/category/FIC006000/Espionage-Intrigue.html
FullBooks.com
While holding many titles, this source is difficult to search by topic. Readers must look by title or author—all can be found doing the same with a Google search.
5. Free Books
2020ok.com
A directory of free book sources—can search by topic including “Spy Stories and Intrigue.”
6. Fictionwise.com
www.fictionwise.com
While this site claims to offer free e-books, I was able to only find listings of titles for minimal costs, so perhaps worth your time to check out. Note: most seem to come from the Romance genre.
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Annotated Bibliography
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Ambler, Eric
Epitath for a Spy
2020ok.com link to the Internet Archive
www.archive.org
From Beyond Bond:
Eric Ambler's early bestsellers included Epitaph for a Spy (1938) and Journey into Fear (1940). Both transformed the genre from heroic stories into more complex and ironic tales of corruption, betrayal, and conspiracy . . . Epitaph for a Spy, in particular, was a major turning point in spy fiction as the theme of the innocent being blackmailed into government service was introduced. In this case, a photographer was threatened with deportation back to the Communist bloc if he didn't perform what turned out to be bungling duties.
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Angellotti, Marion Polk, 1894-1979
The Firefly of France
www.gutenberg.org/etext/3676
www.fullbooks.com/The-Firefly-Of-France4.html
manybooks.net/titles/angellotetext03fiofr10.html
This 1918 book was made into a silent film the same year. In it, an American joined the French Aviation Corps and falls for a girl whose brother is the mysterious “Firefly.” False papers are given to the Germans to save the damsel in distress.
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Baden-Powell of Gilwell, Robert Stephenson Smyth Baden-Powell, Baron, 1857-1941.
My Adventures as a Spy
www.gutenberg.org/etext/15715
pinetreeweb.com/bp-adventure01
Written by the founder of the Boy Scouts, this short memoir is useful for anyone interested in espionage of the First World War. Baden-Powll discusses types of agents and operations along with lively descriptions of spy adventures.
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Bear, Elizabeth.
“Botticelli”
http://trashotron.com/agony/fiction/bear-botticelli.htm
An 11 page 2005 short story by the noted SF author.
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Benson, E. F. (Edward Frederic), 1867-1940
Crescent and Iron Cross
www.gutenberg.org/etext/10881
manybooks.net/titles/bensonef1088110881-8.html
Published in 1918, historian Benson recounts events in Turkey and Armenia during the First World War.
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Blasco Ibáñez, Vicente, 1867-1928
Mare Nostrum, Our Sea Novel
www.gutenberg.org/etext/11697
www.fullbooks.com/Mare-Nostrum-Our-Sea-.html
Spanish novel translated by Charlotte Brewster Jordan.
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Brandt, Johanna, 1877-1964
The Petticoat Commando Boer Women in Secret Service
www.gutenberg.org/etext/20194
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Buchan, John, 1875-1940
Green Mantle
Mr. Standfast
The 39 Steps
(All titles listed available both at Project Gutenberg and ManyBooks.net)
One of the important “Clubland Writers,” no novelist ever had as wide an influence as John Buchan. Alfred Hitchcock drew from him, and not only from The 39 Steps, the first of the four Richard Hannay novels. Buchan was certainly childhood reading for Ian Fleming and his generation. While the stories may now seem quaint and outdated, they remain enjoyable diversions for any spy buff, and contain many of the templates used in spy films and books to the present day.
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The Central Intelligence Agency Homepage
http://www.cia.gov
The CIA offers numerous studies of varying lengths including full books which include:
Cia And The Vietnam Policymakers: Three Episodes, 1962-1968
by Harold P. Ford
Cia Assessments Of The Soviet Union: The Record Versus The Charges
by Douglas J. Maceachin
Getting To Know The President: Cia Briefings Of Presidential Candidates, 1952-1992
by John L. Helgerson
Interrorgation: The Cia's Secret Manual On Coercive Questioning
by John Elliston
Report To The President By The Commission On Cia Activities Within The United States
by United States Commission On Cia Activities Within The United States
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Chesterton, G. k. (Gilbert Keith)
The Man Who Was Thursday
www.cse.dmu.ac.uk/~mward/gkc/index.html
Published in 1908, from Beyond Bond:
While not the first spy novel some have claimed it to be, the fanciful story had more
undercover agents than most books of the era. In this case, one agent thinks he's
investigating a group of anarchists disguising themselves as anarchists because their
leader says that if anyone trumpets their beliefs out loud, no one will take them seriously.
Chesterton's spy joined the inner circle of seven scheming bombers, six of whom all turn
out to be police informants spying on each other. The evil leader was the mysterious
Scotland Yard official who'd hired them in the first place.
A surreal classic.
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Childers, Erskine, 1870-1922
Riddle of the Sands
www.gutenberg.org/etext/2360
www.eBooks-Online.com
According to Michael JR Jose:
"The shock of this book on its release a century ago, set in the years of European tension leading up to the First World War, caused a sensation in Britain
by successfully analysing what in military terms can only be called Germany's increasingly 'aggressive posture'. Childers did this in a story which broke
new ground, as it is generally agreed to be the first straight modern spy thriller, even more remarkable for it being a first novel.
With exciting bluff and counterbluff, chases, and manoeuvres, always using credible military and navy knowledge and terms, his popularity endures to this
day. His two heroes are duck hunting and holiday sailing off the German/Dutch coast in the North Sea when they stumble on a plot to trial-run a massive
sea-borne infantry attack from Germany's Frisian coast (north of Holland and due east of north England). Being full of treacherous sand bars and storms,
and suspicious yachting characters and dubious wreck salvagers, this is dangerous work. With plenty of variation in pace and scenery, this storyteller
really knew his facts and captured the attitudes and conversation of his era with some style. Childers' descendents are Ian Fleming's Bond novels, and
the vast array of war novels published since."
Source:
www.allreaders.com/Topics/info_20635.asp
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Collins, J. E. (Joseph Edmund), 1855-1892
Annette, The Metis Spy. A Heroine of the N.W. Rebellion
onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu/webbin/gutbook/lookup?num=6668
Published in 1886, also available at ManyBooks.net.
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Conrad, Joseph, 1857-1924
The Secret Agent
www.gutenberg.org/etext/974
An important writer beyond any genre, Conrad’s character study of a terrorist contains themes relevant today. Twice made into a film, the most famous was Alfred Hitchcock’s updated Sabotage. Analysis of the book is at
www.ductape.net/~steveh/secretagent/
Full text and analysis also posted at
www.bibliomania.com/0/0/15/27/
www.online-literature.com/conrad/secret_agent/
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Cooper, James Fenimore, 1789-1851
The Spy, A Tale of the Neutral Ground
www.gutenberg.org/etext/9845
The first American spy novel, Cooper’s look into the costs of undercover patriotic service is a significant contribution to espionage literature. Also available at ManyBooks.net. Criticism is posted at
www.ipl.org/div/litcrit/bin/litcrit.out.pl?ti=spy-835
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Copplestone, Bennet, 1867-1932
The Lost Naval Papers
www.gutenberg.org/etext/10474
manybooks.net/categories/SPY
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Crane, Laura Dent
The Automobile Girls at Washington Checkmating the Plots of Foreign Spies
www.gutenberg.org/etext/12559 -
www.fullbooks.com/The-Automobile-Girls-At-Washington.html
Published in 1913, apparently one of a series including The Automobile Girls in Newport, The Automobile Girls in the Berkshires, The Automobile Girls Along the Hudson, The Automobile Girls at Chicago, the Automobile Girls in Palm Beach and more.
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Cruikshank, Robert, 1789-1856 [Illustrator]
The English Spy. An Original Work Characteristic, Satirical, and Humorous. Comprising Scenes and Sketches in Every Rank of Society, Being Portraits Drawn from the Life
www.gutenberg.org/browse/authors/c
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Davis, Richard Harding, 1864-1916
The Spy
www.gutenberg.org/etext/1818
www.online-literature.com/richard-davis/1609/
ebooks.ebookmall.com/ebook/64308-ebook.htm
Davis was a best-selling American novelist, playwrite, and journalist who lived an interesting life, and was accused of being a spy himself during World War I. As a war correspondent, he befriended Theodore Roosevelt, helping publicize the “Rough Riders” in Cuba. The Spy is also posted at ManyBooks.net.
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Dell, Ethel M. (Ethel May), 1881-1939
Rosa Mundi and Other Stories. (includes “The Secret Service Man.”)
www.gutenberg.org/etext/13774
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Durham, Victor G.
The Submarine Boys and the Spies Dodging the Sharks of the Deep
www.gutenberg.org/etext/17057
www.diesel-ebooks.com/cgi-bin/item/1421832089/The-Submarine-Boys-and-the-Spies-
Part of a series including The Submarine Boys Lightening Cruise, The Submarine Boys and the Middies, The Submarine Boys For the Flag, among others.
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Futrelle, Jacques, 1875-1912
Elusive Isabel.
www.gutenberg.org/etext/10943
www.fullbooks.com/Elusive-Isabel.html
A summary of this 1909 novel is posted at:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elusive_Isabel
Made into a 1916 silent movie. From Wes Britton’s Onscreen and Undercover: The Ultimate Book of Movie Espionage:
In Elusive Isabel (1916), Secret Service agent Hamilton Grimm went after a conspiracy planning to take over the world. He fell for one of the gang, Isabel (Florence Lawrence) who was deported after the gang was captured. Grimm followed her hoping to turn the bad girl good, but, well, she’s elusive.
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Garrett, Gordon Randall.
Brain Twister.
www.gutenberg.org/etext/22332
Listed in the “Espionage” category at
manybooks.net/authors/garrettgr.html
Written by Garrett in conjunction with author Laurence Janifer (using the joint
Pseudonym Mark Phillips), this SF book was nominated for the
Hugo Award for Best Novel in 1960. More details are at:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Randall_Garrett
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Green, Anna Katharine. 1846-1935
The Mayor’s Wife
www.online-literature.com/anna-green/mayors-wife/
Listed by ManyBooks.net in their “espionage” category—questionable listing.
This 1907 novel was by one of the most prolific women writers of the 19th and early 20th centuries, a predecessor to future forensic detective writers. Her biography is at:
tarlton.law.utexas.edu/lpop/green.html
www.online-literature.com/anna-green/
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anna_Katharine_Green
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Gustafson, Kristian C
CIA Machinations in Chile in 1970:Reexamining the Record
manybooks.net/titles/gustafsonkother06cia_machinations.html
This 2003 history is by a frequent contributor to the CIA’s official periodical, Studies in Intelligence. This indicates this book has both the support of the agency and that the content is likely quite credible.
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Haliburton, Thomas Chandler, 1796-1865
The Attache or, Sam Slick in England
www.gutenberg.org/etext/7823
manybooks.net/titles/haliburtetext05ttch110.html -
www.diesel-ebooks.com/cgi-bin/item/1419253158/The-Attache-Or-Sam-Slick-In-England-eBook.html
Best known for his comic 19th century “Sam Slick” novels, a biography of this Nova Scotia born satirist is at:
www.blupete.com/Hist/BiosNS/1800-67/Haliburton.htm -
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Haggard, H. Rider (Henry Rider), 1856-1925
Lysbeth, A Tale of the Dutch
www.gutenberg.org/etext/5754
www.online-literature.com/h-rider-haggard/lysbeth-tale-of-dutch/ - 20k -
Biographies of the author best known for King Solomon’s Mines are at:
www.kirjasto.sci.fi/haggard.htm
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H._Rider_Haggard -
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Kipling, Rudyard, 1865-1936
Kim.
www.gutenberg.org/etext/2226
For a detailed analysis of this classic, see “Rudyard Kipling's `Great Game’: Kim, Spy Stories, and `The Spies March’" posted at this website. This article also contains analysis of Kipling’s spy short stories and links to online texts of them.
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Lang, Andrew, 1844-1912
Pickle the Spy; or the Incognito of Prince Charles
www.gutenberg.org/etext/6807
The Prince Charles in question seems to be Charles Edward, Prince, grandson of James II, King of England, during the Jacobite Rebellion of 1745-1746. More about the story is posted at
query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F20E15FE3F5811738DDDAE0A94DA405B8785F0D3
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Le Queux, William, 1864-1927
The Czar’s Spy: The Mystery of a Silent Love
www.gutenberg.org/etext/10102 -
The Four Faces, A Mystery
infomotions.com/etexts/gutenberg/dirs/etext06/7four10.htm
www.web-books.com/Classics/AuthorsOS/Queux/Four/Contents.htm
From Beyond Bond:
. . . Le Queux wrote fiction impressing the then Prime Minister, Arthur Balfour, although later critics believed Le Queux wasn't especially literary and questionable in his factual information. But, according to Kingsley Amis, realism wasn't yet the point. In his view, espionage based on imagination rather than actual life began at the beginning of the century "with the almost completely free-lance status of a Bulldog Drummond" and William Le Queux's Duckworth Drew. Drew's early adventures were precursors to later adventures focused on new technology as when he encountered an "electronic eye," an Italian device that detonated mines. In addition, Le Queux's novel, The Great War in England in 1897 (1894 was an early example of literary speculations about an invasion of England. The Secret Service (1896) dealt with Jews in Russia, and England's Pearl (1899) was an early novel shifting British fears from the French to Germany. This fear continued in The Invasion of 1910 (1905) in which Germans wormed secrets out of shipyards, arsenals, factories, and individuals. Le Queux's later books, No. 70, Berlin (1915) and The Mystery of the Green Ray (1915) had increasingly preposterous plots.
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Lincoln, Natalie Sumner, 1885-1935
I Spy
www.gutenberg.org/etext/9812
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The Lock and Key Library. The Most Interesting Stories of All Nations: Real Life.
(Various authors, short stories)
www.gutenberg.org/etext/2031
www.fullbooks.com/The-Lock-and-Key-Library.html
Julian Hawthorne edited a series of Lock and Key anthologies, most stories being detective or mystery. A table of contents for these collections is at
www.worldwideschool.org/library/books/lit/detective/LockandKeyLibrary/toc.html
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Munro, Neil
Doom Castle
manybooks.net/titles/munron2133321333-8.html
A 1900 novel.
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Mundy, Talbot, 1879-1940
King of the Khyber Rifles, A Romance of Adventure
infomotions.com/etexts/gutenberg/dirs/etext04/kkhyb10.htm
manybooks.net/titles/mundytaletext04kkhyb10.html
Published in 1916, the book was Number 3 in the JimGrim
Series. According to ManyBooks.net:
Athelstan King is a secret agent for the British Raj at the beginning of World War I. Heavily influenced both by Mundy's own unsuccessful career in India
and by his interest in theosophy, it describes King's adventures among the Muslim tribes of northern India accompanied by the mystical woman adventurer
Yasmini and the Turkish mullah Muhammed Anim.
A discussion of the 1953 film version is at:
www.loc.gov/film/taves2.html
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Oppenheim, E. Phillips (Edward Phillips), 1866-1946
Project Gutenberg has 38 titles, below is a representative list. More are available at ManyBooks.net.
The Black Box
The Double Life of Mr. Alfred Burton
The Double Traitor
The Great Secret
Kingdom of the Blind
Mr. Grex of Monte Carlo
From Beyond Bond:
Oppenheim produced 115 novels and 39 short story collections, many of which were Edwardian spy stories emphasizing gambling and secret diplomacy as in The Mysterious Mr. Sapine (1898). Praised by John Buchan as his "master in fiction," Oppenheim spiced up his tales with local color in major city settings as in Mr. Grex of Monte Carlo (1915). Oppenheim was also later lauded by Eric Ambler as one of the earliest outstanding writers of cloak and dagger stereotypes including "the black-velveted seductress, the British Secret Service numbskull hero, the omnipotent spymaster," and the appeal to the snobbery of readers of the era. Kingsley Amis saw Oppenheim as a logical forefather to Ian Fleming. Perhaps the best of Oppenheim's output was Kingdom of the Blind (1917) featuring raids by submarines and zeppelins.
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Orczy, Emmuska, Baroness, 1865-1947
(At Project Gutenberg)
El Dorado, An Adventure of The Scarlet Pimpernel
The League of The Scarlet Pimpernel
The Scarlet Pimpernel
I Will Repay
From Beyond Bond:
. . . Other fanciful adventures looked to the past, as in the "Scarlet Pimpernel" series penned by the Baroness Orczy (whose full name was Emma Magdalena Rosalina Marie Josepha Barbara Orzy). First appearing in a play in 1903 and then in The Scarlet Pimpernel (1905), Percy Blakeney was a brave and efficient English secret agent rescuing kindly, victimized French aristocrats from the guillotine under the noses of French revolutionaries. He was something of a Robin Hood figure in reverse, saving the lives of the rich unfairly tormented by a cold-blooded government ostensibly run on behalf of working peasants .
. . . Blakeney was a character masking his heroism behind seeming idleness and frivolity, a master of quick disguises in a series of books including I Will Repay (1906), El Dorado (1913), and Sir Percy Hits Back (1927).
The first film adaptation of the character was The Scarlet Pimpernel (1935) starring Leslie Howard. In 1982, The Scarlet Pimpernel was a British TV movie starring Anthony Andrews and Jane Seymour. In 1999, the story became a three-part miniseries (re-broadcast on American A&E) starring Richard E. Grant and Elizabeth McGovern.
(At ManyBooks.net)
Emperor’s Candlesticks
manybooks.net/titles/orczybarother07emperors_candlesticks.html
From Onscreen and Undercover:
Based on the Baroness Orczy novel, The Emperor's Candlesticks (1937) starred William Powell and Louise Rainier . . . In the story noted for unrealized potential, a Polish secret agent smuggled messages to St. Petersburg in candlesticks while Russian secret police investigate as a peace treaty is in the balance.
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Royden, Barry G, 1938-.
Tolkacheb, A Worthy Successor to Penkovsky. An Exceptional Espionage Operation
manybooks.net/titles/roydenbother05tolkachev.html
This non-fiction account first appeared in the official CIA periodical, Studies in Intelligence, Vol. 47, No. 3, 2003 - Unclassified Edition. Written by a former CIA operative.
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Snell, Roy J. (Roy Judson), 1878-
Triple Spies
www.archive.org/search.php?query=collection%3Agutenberg%20AND%20firstCreator
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Theiss, Lewis E.
The Secret Wireless or, the Spy Hunt of the Camp Brady Patrol
www.gutenberg.org/etext/21955
manybooks.net/titles/theissl2195521955-8.html
www.memoware.com/?screen=doc_detail&doc_id=19693&p=category%5E!Adventure~
Lewis E. Theiss wrote primarily illustrated aviation adventure stories for boys, many in the “Young Wireless Operator” series. Another title was The Hidden Aerial: The Spy Line on the Mountain (Boston: W.A. Wilde Co, 1919).
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Tomlinson, Paul Greene, 1888-
Bob Cook and the German Spy
www.gutenberg.org/etext/9899 -
www.fullbooks.com/Bob-Cook-and-the-German-Spy.html
manybooks.net/titles/tomlinsonpetext06bcgsp10.html
Published in 1888.
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Vance, Louis Joseph, 1879-1933
The False Faces: Further Adventures from the History of The Lone Wolf
www.gutenberg.org/etext/9908
www.fullbooks.com/The-False-Faces
www.online-literature.com/joseph-vance/false-faces/
Part of a very popular literary and film series. Discussed in detail in Wes Britton’s Onscreen and Undercover, a portion of that discussion includes:
While many film series began during the silent era, most were detective and not spy oriented. However, Joseph Vance's creation, the former jewel thief, `The Lone Wolf,’ got involved in at least four spy adventures throughout his on-again, off-again career. Films in this series were noted for the formula of the audience never being certain if the Wolf
would end up good or bad--but always saved by a beautiful woman.
. . . Henry B. Walthall was the Wolf in The False Faces (1919) who is given important papers to take to America. On a ship, he discovered an old foe (Lon Chaney) had become a German agent. Our Hero pretended to also be a German when a U-boat sinks the steamer. When he arrived in the states, the Wolf and his girlfriend (Mary Anderson)
defeated a spy ring.
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Williams, Valentine, 1883-1946
(At Project Gutenberg)
Okewood of the Secret Service
www.gutenberg.org/etext/2417
www.worldwideschool.org/library/books/lit/mystery/OkewoodoftheSecretService/Chap1.
(At ManyBooks.net)
The Man With the Club Foot
The Yellow Streak
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Zitt, Hersch L, 1925-2005
Troika
manybooks.net/titles/zitthother07troika.html
A summary of this 2006 title at ManyBooks.net reads: “A coalition of intelligence officers from the US, Russia, and Israel work to reveal and defeat a complex web of deception spun by a group of nuclear terrorists-- all while protecting Operation TROIKA from rival agencies.”
Related articles also posted at
WWW.Spywise.net
Rudyard Kipling's "Great Game": Kim, Spy Stories, and "The Spies March"
Don DeLillo's Libra: America's Best Spy Novel?
Sisters of Mata Hari: Reviews of Books on Lady Spies
Espionage Around the Galaxy: The Spi-Fi of Harry Harrison
By Wesley Britton
In August 2007, Spywise.net joined the list of websites offering a free spy book for download. In our case, we have available James Bond under the Microscope, the never-before-published revision of O. F. Snelling’s 1964 best-seller then known as James Bond: A Report. It’s in PDF format under the “James Bond Files” at:
http://spywise.net/wbf/microscope.pdf
While James Bond Under the Microscope is one of the few non-fiction espionage titles any reader can legitimately download for free, a number of websites offer a variety of classic novels now in the public domain. There are important yarns by the likes of John Buchan, James Fenimore Cooper, Joseph Conrad, and Eric Ambler. There’s also escapism in SF flavored adventures by E. Philipps Oppenheim and William Le Queux, as well as juvenile entertainment from both the 19th and 20th centuries. More recent titles include modern Spy-Fi as in a 2005 short story by Elizabeth Bear. And for those seeking historical facts, there’s everything from analysis of spycraft in World War I to a 2003 exploration of what the CIA did or didn’t do in Chile in 1970.
Below are lists of sources for these books and what they offer. We also include annotations for specific authors and titles when information may help guide new readers to what might be of most interest to them. In addition, we’ve added some details about any film versions adapted from the text. Much of this material is drawn from Wes Britton’s Beyond Bond: Spies in Film and Fiction (Praeger Pub., 2005) and Onscreen and Undercover: The Ultimate Book of Movie Espionage (Praeger Pub., 2006) where more in-depth discussions can be found.
Note: We’ve taken care to only include books either in the public domain or are new publications posted by authors and sites giving all readers access to their offerings. Please alert us to any potential problems so we can delete any titles in violation of any copyright law. We also welcome any additional information, including short review material for future annotations.
E-Book Sources
Project Gutenberg
www.gutenberg.org
Project Gutenberg is an extremely valuable source of thousands of public domain titles, many long out-of-print, many hard to find elsewhere. A number of other online sources are essentially catalogues that link to Project Gutenberg’s holdings.
ManyBooks.net
ManyBooks has “Free eBooks for your PDA, iPod, or eBook Reader . . . Thousands of free e-books available in multiple formats for PDAs.”
In particular, they had 39 titles under the subject category of “Espionage.” One, at least, The Pathfinder by James Fenimore Cooper, is questionable. Many are duplicates of what Project Gutenberg offers, but some are only available at ManyBooks. For example, they offer non-fiction publications from the CIA.
Diesel eBooks
Diesel has a number of free titles, but they also offer many “espionage and intrigue” ebooks at very reasonable prices. Spy oriented selections can be seen at:
www.diesel-ebooks.com/cgi-bin/category/FIC006000/Espionage-Intrigue.html
FullBooks.com
While holding many titles, this source is difficult to search by topic. Readers must look by title or author—all can be found doing the same with a Google search.
5. Free Books
2020ok.com
A directory of free book sources—can search by topic including “Spy Stories and Intrigue.”
6. Fictionwise.com
www.fictionwise.com
While this site claims to offer free e-books, I was able to only find listings of titles for minimal costs, so perhaps worth your time to check out. Note: most seem to come from the Romance genre.
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Annotated Bibliography
---
Ambler, Eric
Epitath for a Spy
2020ok.com link to the Internet Archive
www.archive.org
From Beyond Bond:
Eric Ambler's early bestsellers included Epitaph for a Spy (1938) and Journey into Fear (1940). Both transformed the genre from heroic stories into more complex and ironic tales of corruption, betrayal, and conspiracy . . . Epitaph for a Spy, in particular, was a major turning point in spy fiction as the theme of the innocent being blackmailed into government service was introduced. In this case, a photographer was threatened with deportation back to the Communist bloc if he didn't perform what turned out to be bungling duties.
---
Angellotti, Marion Polk, 1894-1979
The Firefly of France
www.gutenberg.org/etext/3676
www.fullbooks.com/The-Firefly-Of-France4.html
manybooks.net/titles/angellotetext03fiofr10.html
This 1918 book was made into a silent film the same year. In it, an American joined the French Aviation Corps and falls for a girl whose brother is the mysterious “Firefly.” False papers are given to the Germans to save the damsel in distress.
---
Baden-Powell of Gilwell, Robert Stephenson Smyth Baden-Powell, Baron, 1857-1941.
My Adventures as a Spy
www.gutenberg.org/etext/15715
pinetreeweb.com/bp-adventure01
Written by the founder of the Boy Scouts, this short memoir is useful for anyone interested in espionage of the First World War. Baden-Powll discusses types of agents and operations along with lively descriptions of spy adventures.
---
Bear, Elizabeth.
“Botticelli”
http://trashotron.com/agony/fiction/bear-botticelli.htm
An 11 page 2005 short story by the noted SF author.
---
Benson, E. F. (Edward Frederic), 1867-1940
Crescent and Iron Cross
www.gutenberg.org/etext/10881
manybooks.net/titles/bensonef1088110881-8.html
Published in 1918, historian Benson recounts events in Turkey and Armenia during the First World War.
---
Blasco Ibáñez, Vicente, 1867-1928
Mare Nostrum, Our Sea Novel
www.gutenberg.org/etext/11697
www.fullbooks.com/Mare-Nostrum-Our-Sea-.html
Spanish novel translated by Charlotte Brewster Jordan.
---
Brandt, Johanna, 1877-1964
The Petticoat Commando Boer Women in Secret Service
www.gutenberg.org/etext/20194
---
Buchan, John, 1875-1940
Green Mantle
Mr. Standfast
The 39 Steps
(All titles listed available both at Project Gutenberg and ManyBooks.net)
One of the important “Clubland Writers,” no novelist ever had as wide an influence as John Buchan. Alfred Hitchcock drew from him, and not only from The 39 Steps, the first of the four Richard Hannay novels. Buchan was certainly childhood reading for Ian Fleming and his generation. While the stories may now seem quaint and outdated, they remain enjoyable diversions for any spy buff, and contain many of the templates used in spy films and books to the present day.
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The Central Intelligence Agency Homepage
http://www.cia.gov
The CIA offers numerous studies of varying lengths including full books which include:
Cia And The Vietnam Policymakers: Three Episodes, 1962-1968
by Harold P. Ford
Cia Assessments Of The Soviet Union: The Record Versus The Charges
by Douglas J. Maceachin
Getting To Know The President: Cia Briefings Of Presidential Candidates, 1952-1992
by John L. Helgerson
Interrorgation: The Cia's Secret Manual On Coercive Questioning
by John Elliston
Report To The President By The Commission On Cia Activities Within The United States
by United States Commission On Cia Activities Within The United States
---
Chesterton, G. k. (Gilbert Keith)
The Man Who Was Thursday
www.cse.dmu.ac.uk/~mward/gkc/index.html
Published in 1908, from Beyond Bond:
While not the first spy novel some have claimed it to be, the fanciful story had more
undercover agents than most books of the era. In this case, one agent thinks he's
investigating a group of anarchists disguising themselves as anarchists because their
leader says that if anyone trumpets their beliefs out loud, no one will take them seriously.
Chesterton's spy joined the inner circle of seven scheming bombers, six of whom all turn
out to be police informants spying on each other. The evil leader was the mysterious
Scotland Yard official who'd hired them in the first place.
A surreal classic.
---
Childers, Erskine, 1870-1922
Riddle of the Sands
www.gutenberg.org/etext/2360
www.eBooks-Online.com
According to Michael JR Jose:
"The shock of this book on its release a century ago, set in the years of European tension leading up to the First World War, caused a sensation in Britain
by successfully analysing what in military terms can only be called Germany's increasingly 'aggressive posture'. Childers did this in a story which broke
new ground, as it is generally agreed to be the first straight modern spy thriller, even more remarkable for it being a first novel.
With exciting bluff and counterbluff, chases, and manoeuvres, always using credible military and navy knowledge and terms, his popularity endures to this
day. His two heroes are duck hunting and holiday sailing off the German/Dutch coast in the North Sea when they stumble on a plot to trial-run a massive
sea-borne infantry attack from Germany's Frisian coast (north of Holland and due east of north England). Being full of treacherous sand bars and storms,
and suspicious yachting characters and dubious wreck salvagers, this is dangerous work. With plenty of variation in pace and scenery, this storyteller
really knew his facts and captured the attitudes and conversation of his era with some style. Childers' descendents are Ian Fleming's Bond novels, and
the vast array of war novels published since."
Source:
www.allreaders.com/Topics/info_20635.asp
---
Collins, J. E. (Joseph Edmund), 1855-1892
Annette, The Metis Spy. A Heroine of the N.W. Rebellion
onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu/webbin/gutbook/lookup?num=6668
Published in 1886, also available at ManyBooks.net.
---
Conrad, Joseph, 1857-1924
The Secret Agent
www.gutenberg.org/etext/974
An important writer beyond any genre, Conrad’s character study of a terrorist contains themes relevant today. Twice made into a film, the most famous was Alfred Hitchcock’s updated Sabotage. Analysis of the book is at
www.ductape.net/~steveh/secretagent/
Full text and analysis also posted at
www.bibliomania.com/0/0/15/27/
www.online-literature.com/conrad/secret_agent/
---
Cooper, James Fenimore, 1789-1851
The Spy, A Tale of the Neutral Ground
www.gutenberg.org/etext/9845
The first American spy novel, Cooper’s look into the costs of undercover patriotic service is a significant contribution to espionage literature. Also available at ManyBooks.net. Criticism is posted at
www.ipl.org/div/litcrit/bin/litcrit.out.pl?ti=spy-835
---
Copplestone, Bennet, 1867-1932
The Lost Naval Papers
www.gutenberg.org/etext/10474
manybooks.net/categories/SPY
---
Crane, Laura Dent
The Automobile Girls at Washington Checkmating the Plots of Foreign Spies
www.gutenberg.org/etext/12559 -
www.fullbooks.com/The-Automobile-Girls-At-Washington.html
Published in 1913, apparently one of a series including The Automobile Girls in Newport, The Automobile Girls in the Berkshires, The Automobile Girls Along the Hudson, The Automobile Girls at Chicago, the Automobile Girls in Palm Beach and more.
---
Cruikshank, Robert, 1789-1856 [Illustrator]
The English Spy. An Original Work Characteristic, Satirical, and Humorous. Comprising Scenes and Sketches in Every Rank of Society, Being Portraits Drawn from the Life
www.gutenberg.org/browse/authors/c
---
Davis, Richard Harding, 1864-1916
The Spy
www.gutenberg.org/etext/1818
www.online-literature.com/richard-davis/1609/
ebooks.ebookmall.com/ebook/64308-ebook.htm
Davis was a best-selling American novelist, playwrite, and journalist who lived an interesting life, and was accused of being a spy himself during World War I. As a war correspondent, he befriended Theodore Roosevelt, helping publicize the “Rough Riders” in Cuba. The Spy is also posted at ManyBooks.net.
---
Dell, Ethel M. (Ethel May), 1881-1939
Rosa Mundi and Other Stories. (includes “The Secret Service Man.”)
www.gutenberg.org/etext/13774
---
Durham, Victor G.
The Submarine Boys and the Spies Dodging the Sharks of the Deep
www.gutenberg.org/etext/17057
www.diesel-ebooks.com/cgi-bin/item/1421832089/The-Submarine-Boys-and-the-Spies-
Part of a series including The Submarine Boys Lightening Cruise, The Submarine Boys and the Middies, The Submarine Boys For the Flag, among others.
---
Futrelle, Jacques, 1875-1912
Elusive Isabel.
www.gutenberg.org/etext/10943
www.fullbooks.com/Elusive-Isabel.html
A summary of this 1909 novel is posted at:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elusive_Isabel
Made into a 1916 silent movie. From Wes Britton’s Onscreen and Undercover: The Ultimate Book of Movie Espionage:
In Elusive Isabel (1916), Secret Service agent Hamilton Grimm went after a conspiracy planning to take over the world. He fell for one of the gang, Isabel (Florence Lawrence) who was deported after the gang was captured. Grimm followed her hoping to turn the bad girl good, but, well, she’s elusive.
---
Garrett, Gordon Randall.
Brain Twister.
www.gutenberg.org/etext/22332
Listed in the “Espionage” category at
manybooks.net/authors/garrettgr.html
Written by Garrett in conjunction with author Laurence Janifer (using the joint
Pseudonym Mark Phillips), this SF book was nominated for the
Hugo Award for Best Novel in 1960. More details are at:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Randall_Garrett
---
Green, Anna Katharine. 1846-1935
The Mayor’s Wife
www.online-literature.com/anna-green/mayors-wife/
Listed by ManyBooks.net in their “espionage” category—questionable listing.
This 1907 novel was by one of the most prolific women writers of the 19th and early 20th centuries, a predecessor to future forensic detective writers. Her biography is at:
tarlton.law.utexas.edu/lpop/green.html
www.online-literature.com/anna-green/
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anna_Katharine_Green
---
Gustafson, Kristian C
CIA Machinations in Chile in 1970:Reexamining the Record
manybooks.net/titles/gustafsonkother06cia_machinations.html
This 2003 history is by a frequent contributor to the CIA’s official periodical, Studies in Intelligence. This indicates this book has both the support of the agency and that the content is likely quite credible.
---
Haliburton, Thomas Chandler, 1796-1865
The Attache or, Sam Slick in England
www.gutenberg.org/etext/7823
manybooks.net/titles/haliburtetext05ttch110.html -
www.diesel-ebooks.com/cgi-bin/item/1419253158/The-Attache-Or-Sam-Slick-In-England-eBook.html
Best known for his comic 19th century “Sam Slick” novels, a biography of this Nova Scotia born satirist is at:
www.blupete.com/Hist/BiosNS/1800-67/Haliburton.htm -
---
Haggard, H. Rider (Henry Rider), 1856-1925
Lysbeth, A Tale of the Dutch
www.gutenberg.org/etext/5754
www.online-literature.com/h-rider-haggard/lysbeth-tale-of-dutch/ - 20k -
Biographies of the author best known for King Solomon’s Mines are at:
www.kirjasto.sci.fi/haggard.htm
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H._Rider_Haggard -
---
Kipling, Rudyard, 1865-1936
Kim.
www.gutenberg.org/etext/2226
For a detailed analysis of this classic, see “Rudyard Kipling's `Great Game’: Kim, Spy Stories, and `The Spies March’" posted at this website. This article also contains analysis of Kipling’s spy short stories and links to online texts of them.
---
Lang, Andrew, 1844-1912
Pickle the Spy; or the Incognito of Prince Charles
www.gutenberg.org/etext/6807
The Prince Charles in question seems to be Charles Edward, Prince, grandson of James II, King of England, during the Jacobite Rebellion of 1745-1746. More about the story is posted at
query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F20E15FE3F5811738DDDAE0A94DA405B8785F0D3
---
Le Queux, William, 1864-1927
The Czar’s Spy: The Mystery of a Silent Love
www.gutenberg.org/etext/10102 -
The Four Faces, A Mystery
infomotions.com/etexts/gutenberg/dirs/etext06/7four10.htm
www.web-books.com/Classics/AuthorsOS/Queux/Four/Contents.htm
From Beyond Bond:
. . . Le Queux wrote fiction impressing the then Prime Minister, Arthur Balfour, although later critics believed Le Queux wasn't especially literary and questionable in his factual information. But, according to Kingsley Amis, realism wasn't yet the point. In his view, espionage based on imagination rather than actual life began at the beginning of the century "with the almost completely free-lance status of a Bulldog Drummond" and William Le Queux's Duckworth Drew. Drew's early adventures were precursors to later adventures focused on new technology as when he encountered an "electronic eye," an Italian device that detonated mines. In addition, Le Queux's novel, The Great War in England in 1897 (1894 was an early example of literary speculations about an invasion of England. The Secret Service (1896) dealt with Jews in Russia, and England's Pearl (1899) was an early novel shifting British fears from the French to Germany. This fear continued in The Invasion of 1910 (1905) in which Germans wormed secrets out of shipyards, arsenals, factories, and individuals. Le Queux's later books, No. 70, Berlin (1915) and The Mystery of the Green Ray (1915) had increasingly preposterous plots.
---
Lincoln, Natalie Sumner, 1885-1935
I Spy
www.gutenberg.org/etext/9812
---
The Lock and Key Library. The Most Interesting Stories of All Nations: Real Life.
(Various authors, short stories)
www.gutenberg.org/etext/2031
www.fullbooks.com/The-Lock-and-Key-Library.html
Julian Hawthorne edited a series of Lock and Key anthologies, most stories being detective or mystery. A table of contents for these collections is at
www.worldwideschool.org/library/books/lit/detective/LockandKeyLibrary/toc.html
---
Munro, Neil
Doom Castle
manybooks.net/titles/munron2133321333-8.html
A 1900 novel.
---
Mundy, Talbot, 1879-1940
King of the Khyber Rifles, A Romance of Adventure
infomotions.com/etexts/gutenberg/dirs/etext04/kkhyb10.htm
manybooks.net/titles/mundytaletext04kkhyb10.html
Published in 1916, the book was Number 3 in the JimGrim
Series. According to ManyBooks.net:
Athelstan King is a secret agent for the British Raj at the beginning of World War I. Heavily influenced both by Mundy's own unsuccessful career in India
and by his interest in theosophy, it describes King's adventures among the Muslim tribes of northern India accompanied by the mystical woman adventurer
Yasmini and the Turkish mullah Muhammed Anim.
A discussion of the 1953 film version is at:
www.loc.gov/film/taves2.html
---
Oppenheim, E. Phillips (Edward Phillips), 1866-1946
Project Gutenberg has 38 titles, below is a representative list. More are available at ManyBooks.net.
The Black Box
The Double Life of Mr. Alfred Burton
The Double Traitor
The Great Secret
Kingdom of the Blind
Mr. Grex of Monte Carlo
From Beyond Bond:
Oppenheim produced 115 novels and 39 short story collections, many of which were Edwardian spy stories emphasizing gambling and secret diplomacy as in The Mysterious Mr. Sapine (1898). Praised by John Buchan as his "master in fiction," Oppenheim spiced up his tales with local color in major city settings as in Mr. Grex of Monte Carlo (1915). Oppenheim was also later lauded by Eric Ambler as one of the earliest outstanding writers of cloak and dagger stereotypes including "the black-velveted seductress, the British Secret Service numbskull hero, the omnipotent spymaster," and the appeal to the snobbery of readers of the era. Kingsley Amis saw Oppenheim as a logical forefather to Ian Fleming. Perhaps the best of Oppenheim's output was Kingdom of the Blind (1917) featuring raids by submarines and zeppelins.
---
Orczy, Emmuska, Baroness, 1865-1947
(At Project Gutenberg)
El Dorado, An Adventure of The Scarlet Pimpernel
The League of The Scarlet Pimpernel
The Scarlet Pimpernel
I Will Repay
From Beyond Bond:
. . . Other fanciful adventures looked to the past, as in the "Scarlet Pimpernel" series penned by the Baroness Orczy (whose full name was Emma Magdalena Rosalina Marie Josepha Barbara Orzy). First appearing in a play in 1903 and then in The Scarlet Pimpernel (1905), Percy Blakeney was a brave and efficient English secret agent rescuing kindly, victimized French aristocrats from the guillotine under the noses of French revolutionaries. He was something of a Robin Hood figure in reverse, saving the lives of the rich unfairly tormented by a cold-blooded government ostensibly run on behalf of working peasants .
. . . Blakeney was a character masking his heroism behind seeming idleness and frivolity, a master of quick disguises in a series of books including I Will Repay (1906), El Dorado (1913), and Sir Percy Hits Back (1927).
The first film adaptation of the character was The Scarlet Pimpernel (1935) starring Leslie Howard. In 1982, The Scarlet Pimpernel was a British TV movie starring Anthony Andrews and Jane Seymour. In 1999, the story became a three-part miniseries (re-broadcast on American A&E) starring Richard E. Grant and Elizabeth McGovern.
(At ManyBooks.net)
Emperor’s Candlesticks
manybooks.net/titles/orczybarother07emperors_candlesticks.html
From Onscreen and Undercover:
Based on the Baroness Orczy novel, The Emperor's Candlesticks (1937) starred William Powell and Louise Rainier . . . In the story noted for unrealized potential, a Polish secret agent smuggled messages to St. Petersburg in candlesticks while Russian secret police investigate as a peace treaty is in the balance.
---
Royden, Barry G, 1938-.
Tolkacheb, A Worthy Successor to Penkovsky. An Exceptional Espionage Operation
manybooks.net/titles/roydenbother05tolkachev.html
This non-fiction account first appeared in the official CIA periodical, Studies in Intelligence, Vol. 47, No. 3, 2003 - Unclassified Edition. Written by a former CIA operative.
---
Snell, Roy J. (Roy Judson), 1878-
Triple Spies
www.archive.org/search.php?query=collection%3Agutenberg%20AND%20firstCreator
---
Theiss, Lewis E.
The Secret Wireless or, the Spy Hunt of the Camp Brady Patrol
www.gutenberg.org/etext/21955
manybooks.net/titles/theissl2195521955-8.html
www.memoware.com/?screen=doc_detail&doc_id=19693&p=category%5E!Adventure~
Lewis E. Theiss wrote primarily illustrated aviation adventure stories for boys, many in the “Young Wireless Operator” series. Another title was The Hidden Aerial: The Spy Line on the Mountain (Boston: W.A. Wilde Co, 1919).
---
Tomlinson, Paul Greene, 1888-
Bob Cook and the German Spy
www.gutenberg.org/etext/9899 -
www.fullbooks.com/Bob-Cook-and-the-German-Spy.html
manybooks.net/titles/tomlinsonpetext06bcgsp10.html
Published in 1888.
---
Vance, Louis Joseph, 1879-1933
The False Faces: Further Adventures from the History of The Lone Wolf
www.gutenberg.org/etext/9908
www.fullbooks.com/The-False-Faces
www.online-literature.com/joseph-vance/false-faces/
Part of a very popular literary and film series. Discussed in detail in Wes Britton’s Onscreen and Undercover, a portion of that discussion includes:
While many film series began during the silent era, most were detective and not spy oriented. However, Joseph Vance's creation, the former jewel thief, `The Lone Wolf,’ got involved in at least four spy adventures throughout his on-again, off-again career. Films in this series were noted for the formula of the audience never being certain if the Wolf
would end up good or bad--but always saved by a beautiful woman.
. . . Henry B. Walthall was the Wolf in The False Faces (1919) who is given important papers to take to America. On a ship, he discovered an old foe (Lon Chaney) had become a German agent. Our Hero pretended to also be a German when a U-boat sinks the steamer. When he arrived in the states, the Wolf and his girlfriend (Mary Anderson)
defeated a spy ring.
---
Williams, Valentine, 1883-1946
(At Project Gutenberg)
Okewood of the Secret Service
www.gutenberg.org/etext/2417
www.worldwideschool.org/library/books/lit/mystery/OkewoodoftheSecretService/Chap1.
(At ManyBooks.net)
The Man With the Club Foot
The Yellow Streak
---
Zitt, Hersch L, 1925-2005
Troika
manybooks.net/titles/zitthother07troika.html
A summary of this 2006 title at ManyBooks.net reads: “A coalition of intelligence officers from the US, Russia, and Israel work to reveal and defeat a complex web of deception spun by a group of nuclear terrorists-- all while protecting Operation TROIKA from rival agencies.”
Related articles also posted at
WWW.Spywise.net
Rudyard Kipling's "Great Game": Kim, Spy Stories, and "The Spies March"
Don DeLillo's Libra: America's Best Spy Novel?
Sisters of Mata Hari: Reviews of Books on Lady Spies
Espionage Around the Galaxy: The Spi-Fi of Harry Harrison
Sunday, July 22, 2007
Review: Books on Civil War Spies
Reviews: Books on Civil War Spies
By Wesley Britton
Reviews in this file:
* Bakeless, John. Spies of the Confederacy. (Philadelphia: Lippincott, 1970)
* Varon, Elizabeth R. Southern Lady, Yankee Spy: The True Story of Elizabeth Van Lew, a Union Agent in the Heart of the Confederacy. (Oxford University Press, 2003)
---
Bakeless, John. Spies of the Confederacy. (Philadelphia: Lippincott, 1970)
Written by a former intelligence officer known for his books and research on both Revolutionary War and Civil War spies, this extensive overview has a mixed reputation.
Beginning with the origins of Confederate espionage, Bakeless traces the well-known ease the South had in the early years of the war. In his first pages, he demonstrates how rebel sympathizers were largely already in place before the outbreak of hostilities while the North was still waiting to learn who the enemy was. Bakeless recounts how the Union didn’t help itself due to ineptitude, carelessness, and almost comic efforts at counter-espionage. Because of excellent intelligence, the South scored two quick victories in 1861 at Harpers Ferry and the first battle at Bull Run. And the good intelligence kept coming, especially for Generals Stuart and Jackson.
After setting the stage, Bakeless mixes the documented record with colorful anecdotes about Confederate spies. For example, rebel generals faced one dilemma similar to the CIA’s worries about KGB defectors—were deserters crossing the lines plants or real? Surprisingly, Bakeless only provides quick sketches of the beautiful Washington hostesses able to use feminine charms to pry secrets from high-ups and low-level clerks alike while hiding secret correspondence in their hair and shoes. And hiding spies under their petticoats, as in the slightly built, 91 pound super-spy, Frank Stringfellow. He not only fit under hoop skirts, he was able to disguise himself as a woman as well.
Bakeless is far more detailed recounting the exploits of Stringfellow and Captain Thomas Conrad, drawing mainly from their own accounts of their adventures. He gives considerable space to the spunky Belle Boyd and Tennessee and Arkansas spies Sam Davis and David O. Dodd, although he spends more time exploring the circumstances of their hangings than their spy work. Along the way, he points out secret messages were hidden in coat linings—writing on silk doesn’t crinkle when clothing was being searched. Even in the early days of photography, photographs of secret documents were shrunk and hidden in coat buttons. Just as modern, wiretapping was common, as in the exploits of George Ellsworth, a Southern telegraph operator proficient at giving the Yankees false information. Bakeless also briefly describes the Confederate “Secret Service” which had nothing to do with protecting officials or gathering intelligence but rather in procuring and developing new weapons. One of these, designed by John Maxwell, was the “Horalogical Torpedo,” a time bomb.
Since its original publication, scholars have complained about some points in the book while others have used it as a frequently cited source. As Bakeless quotes passages from books written by ex-spies, it’s true he’s repeating claims clearly exaggerated. Others note his inclusion of certain operatives is suspect as combat intelligence personnel aren’t technically spies and he ignores Confederate agents abroad. According to the “SPIES, SCOUTS AND RAIDERS HOME PAGE, Bakeless was incorrect in one description. “James Harrison was not the spy who warned Longstreet and Lee of federal troop movements. It was actually Henry Thomas Harrison. He also was not an actor like James Harrison but a spy for the CSA Secretary of War.” (To be fair, the accompanying article had its own errors, such as repeating the claim that Union spy Elizabeth Van Lew was known as “Crazy Bet” during the war years. See Varon below.) (note 1)
While these criticisms have merit, Bakeless did point out there are distinctions between scouts and spies while discussing both. His wide canvas—already broad enough—would have been unwieldy including European agents where Bakeless had not done primary research. One puzzling definition of a spy is when Bakeless repeatedly claims they must be in disguise and not in uniform, but this doesn’t fit the numerous “Girl Spies” and rural citizens who provided information and acted as couriers but were not part of military units. In many discussions, Bakeless makes it clear he is making speculations and drawing from what resources he could find, piecing together events that were reported in contradictory accounts.
Like many non-fiction books before and since, Bakeless both corrects previously erroneous errors and creates new ones of his own. Certainly, much scholarship since 1970 must be taken into account by any devotee of the period. General readers, however, still have a very readable overview of the subject and need realize no single volume ever contains the full story. It’s a book that remains useful as a starting point.
Notes
See
scard.buffnet.net/pages/spy/spy.html - 30k –
---
Varon, Elizabeth R. Southern Lady, Yankee Spy: The True Story of Elizabeth Van Lew, a Union Agent in the Heart of the Confederacy. (Oxford University Press, 2003).
The title of this highly regarded, well researched “biography” of Elizabeth Van Lew, a “Unionist” sympathizer and spymaster in Richmond, is a bit misleading. While the exploits of Van Lew gives this very readable book its focal point, Varon offers much more than the life of one extraordinary woman.
Varon begins her narrative by painting a richly detailed portrait of Southern women before and during the war. The author explains why gender was both an aid and hindrance for those Virginian women seeing themselves as patriots in a culture expecting well-bred women to be naturally supportive of the rebel cause. Varon’s vista includes sketches of other agents, soldiers, and politicians for both sides with old family connections to establish how newspapers, the courts, and the government attempted to categorize women by their political correctness.
Thus, Southern belles like Van Lew, Abby Green, and Lucy A. Wright could, on one hand, demonstrate the Christian duty expected of 19th century women by visiting Union prisoners in hospitals while smuggling instructions to them to help in escapes. For example, while not involved with the 1864 Dalmon Raid, when a small Union band tried to invade Richmond, Varon uses Van Lew’s comments on the incident to illustrate how Van Lew’s sensibilities were shaped by her certainty that “slave power” was the reason for the war. These sensibilities led to her taking action beginning with her most famous escapade. Van Lew provided financial support to those who sheltered the escapees in the breakout at the Libby Prison, when 109 men tunneled their way to freedom. From that point on, she played a very dangerous game indeed.
While not really a spy per se in the early years of the war, Van Lew wore disguises as she assisted the new loyalist underground—the ironical situation of black slaves helping white soldiers go north to freedom. Then, in 1864, the emphasis of the underground, with Van Lew’s home its nerve center, shifted as Union troops came closer and closer to Richmond. Van Lew became spymaster for a wide network of Unionists, accepting orders from Generals Grant and Benjamin Butler and coordinated the activities of couriers and informants. This inter-racial network was able to provide Union forces an average of three useable intelligence reports a week, greatly aiding in the fall of Richmond. She was able to do all this, escaping arrest by the Confederates, by ironically creating the pose of a well-heeled woman who “talked too much,” and therefore an unlikely person to act on her beliefs. She avoided danger by over-estimating the skills of the watchers around her home while they under-estimated her.
Grant was grateful to Van Lew, the general eager for both reports of enemy defenses and the state of morale of Richmond citizens as the war entered its final phases. In 1869, President Grant rewarded her by appointing Van Lew postmaster of Richmond, an act that angered Southerners opposed to women’s suffrage, her hiring of black postal carriers, and her well-known reputation as a Federal spy. At the same time, much of her network found work as Federal detectives. Varon chronicles Van Lew’s legacy as a pioneer in the politics of the period, ended when Democrats reclaimed the White House. After that, Van Lew became a recluse, shunned by her neighbors as her once palatial home became a scene of squalor and disrepair. She was supported in her last years by donations from influential Bostonians, not by the much vaunted Southern Christian culture of which she had been one of its truest exponents.
With an even hand, Varon deals with the myths that have surrounded Van Lew’s legacy since her death in 1900. For example, Varon offers plausible explanations that a very special slave of Van Lew’s might have spied on Jefferson Davis in the Southern White House, but admits considerable doubt this occurred. She completely discredits the legend of "Crazy Bet," a spinster pictured as a mad old woman who wore odd clothes and had no friends. Quoting from Van Lew writings, she demonstrates the spymaster did not see herself as a spy at all—how could a patriot spy against their own government? In Van Lew’s view, she was a resister of “moral oppression,” racism pure and simple.
Varon clearly establishes the dual legacy of Van Lew—her own achievements as a spymaster and that she was not a lone activist but rather a member of a large number of Southerners who supported the Union. Then, Van Lew’s service in the male-dominated postal service shows how Van Lew opened doors for women in government service and the hiring of ex-slaves into respectable positions. She paid a heavy personal cost for all these accomplishments, both financially and suffering an unfair reputation that followed her until, well, the publication of this very important study.
Note: The Van Lew story was dramatized in a 1987 CBS TV movie, A Special Friendship, purporting to tell the story of Van Lew (Tracy Pollan) and Mary Bowser, (Akosua Busia), a former slave who was a principal member of the spy ring. Much of the script was obvious nonsense, including an interrogation by a Confederate officer said to have once been Van Lew’s fiancée. Another example of romance triumphing any attempt to be at least quasi-accurate in Hollywood.
WEBSITES OF NOTE
Civil War - Confederacy - Intelligence Specific
intellit.muskingum.edu/civwar_folder/civwarconfintel.html -
Female Spies of the Confederacy - Confederate Women Spies
Belle Boyd, Antonia Forc, Rose O'Neal Greenhow, Nancy Hart, Laura Ratcliffe, Loreta Janeta Velazquez and more.
womenshistory.about.com/od/civilwar/a/women_spies_con.htm - 24k - Jul 13, 2007 –
By Wesley Britton
Reviews in this file:
* Bakeless, John. Spies of the Confederacy. (Philadelphia: Lippincott, 1970)
* Varon, Elizabeth R. Southern Lady, Yankee Spy: The True Story of Elizabeth Van Lew, a Union Agent in the Heart of the Confederacy. (Oxford University Press, 2003)
---
Bakeless, John. Spies of the Confederacy. (Philadelphia: Lippincott, 1970)
Written by a former intelligence officer known for his books and research on both Revolutionary War and Civil War spies, this extensive overview has a mixed reputation.
Beginning with the origins of Confederate espionage, Bakeless traces the well-known ease the South had in the early years of the war. In his first pages, he demonstrates how rebel sympathizers were largely already in place before the outbreak of hostilities while the North was still waiting to learn who the enemy was. Bakeless recounts how the Union didn’t help itself due to ineptitude, carelessness, and almost comic efforts at counter-espionage. Because of excellent intelligence, the South scored two quick victories in 1861 at Harpers Ferry and the first battle at Bull Run. And the good intelligence kept coming, especially for Generals Stuart and Jackson.
After setting the stage, Bakeless mixes the documented record with colorful anecdotes about Confederate spies. For example, rebel generals faced one dilemma similar to the CIA’s worries about KGB defectors—were deserters crossing the lines plants or real? Surprisingly, Bakeless only provides quick sketches of the beautiful Washington hostesses able to use feminine charms to pry secrets from high-ups and low-level clerks alike while hiding secret correspondence in their hair and shoes. And hiding spies under their petticoats, as in the slightly built, 91 pound super-spy, Frank Stringfellow. He not only fit under hoop skirts, he was able to disguise himself as a woman as well.
Bakeless is far more detailed recounting the exploits of Stringfellow and Captain Thomas Conrad, drawing mainly from their own accounts of their adventures. He gives considerable space to the spunky Belle Boyd and Tennessee and Arkansas spies Sam Davis and David O. Dodd, although he spends more time exploring the circumstances of their hangings than their spy work. Along the way, he points out secret messages were hidden in coat linings—writing on silk doesn’t crinkle when clothing was being searched. Even in the early days of photography, photographs of secret documents were shrunk and hidden in coat buttons. Just as modern, wiretapping was common, as in the exploits of George Ellsworth, a Southern telegraph operator proficient at giving the Yankees false information. Bakeless also briefly describes the Confederate “Secret Service” which had nothing to do with protecting officials or gathering intelligence but rather in procuring and developing new weapons. One of these, designed by John Maxwell, was the “Horalogical Torpedo,” a time bomb.
Since its original publication, scholars have complained about some points in the book while others have used it as a frequently cited source. As Bakeless quotes passages from books written by ex-spies, it’s true he’s repeating claims clearly exaggerated. Others note his inclusion of certain operatives is suspect as combat intelligence personnel aren’t technically spies and he ignores Confederate agents abroad. According to the “SPIES, SCOUTS AND RAIDERS HOME PAGE, Bakeless was incorrect in one description. “James Harrison was not the spy who warned Longstreet and Lee of federal troop movements. It was actually Henry Thomas Harrison. He also was not an actor like James Harrison but a spy for the CSA Secretary of War.” (To be fair, the accompanying article had its own errors, such as repeating the claim that Union spy Elizabeth Van Lew was known as “Crazy Bet” during the war years. See Varon below.) (note 1)
While these criticisms have merit, Bakeless did point out there are distinctions between scouts and spies while discussing both. His wide canvas—already broad enough—would have been unwieldy including European agents where Bakeless had not done primary research. One puzzling definition of a spy is when Bakeless repeatedly claims they must be in disguise and not in uniform, but this doesn’t fit the numerous “Girl Spies” and rural citizens who provided information and acted as couriers but were not part of military units. In many discussions, Bakeless makes it clear he is making speculations and drawing from what resources he could find, piecing together events that were reported in contradictory accounts.
Like many non-fiction books before and since, Bakeless both corrects previously erroneous errors and creates new ones of his own. Certainly, much scholarship since 1970 must be taken into account by any devotee of the period. General readers, however, still have a very readable overview of the subject and need realize no single volume ever contains the full story. It’s a book that remains useful as a starting point.
Notes
See
scard.buffnet.net/pages/spy/spy.html - 30k –
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Varon, Elizabeth R. Southern Lady, Yankee Spy: The True Story of Elizabeth Van Lew, a Union Agent in the Heart of the Confederacy. (Oxford University Press, 2003).
The title of this highly regarded, well researched “biography” of Elizabeth Van Lew, a “Unionist” sympathizer and spymaster in Richmond, is a bit misleading. While the exploits of Van Lew gives this very readable book its focal point, Varon offers much more than the life of one extraordinary woman.
Varon begins her narrative by painting a richly detailed portrait of Southern women before and during the war. The author explains why gender was both an aid and hindrance for those Virginian women seeing themselves as patriots in a culture expecting well-bred women to be naturally supportive of the rebel cause. Varon’s vista includes sketches of other agents, soldiers, and politicians for both sides with old family connections to establish how newspapers, the courts, and the government attempted to categorize women by their political correctness.
Thus, Southern belles like Van Lew, Abby Green, and Lucy A. Wright could, on one hand, demonstrate the Christian duty expected of 19th century women by visiting Union prisoners in hospitals while smuggling instructions to them to help in escapes. For example, while not involved with the 1864 Dalmon Raid, when a small Union band tried to invade Richmond, Varon uses Van Lew’s comments on the incident to illustrate how Van Lew’s sensibilities were shaped by her certainty that “slave power” was the reason for the war. These sensibilities led to her taking action beginning with her most famous escapade. Van Lew provided financial support to those who sheltered the escapees in the breakout at the Libby Prison, when 109 men tunneled their way to freedom. From that point on, she played a very dangerous game indeed.
While not really a spy per se in the early years of the war, Van Lew wore disguises as she assisted the new loyalist underground—the ironical situation of black slaves helping white soldiers go north to freedom. Then, in 1864, the emphasis of the underground, with Van Lew’s home its nerve center, shifted as Union troops came closer and closer to Richmond. Van Lew became spymaster for a wide network of Unionists, accepting orders from Generals Grant and Benjamin Butler and coordinated the activities of couriers and informants. This inter-racial network was able to provide Union forces an average of three useable intelligence reports a week, greatly aiding in the fall of Richmond. She was able to do all this, escaping arrest by the Confederates, by ironically creating the pose of a well-heeled woman who “talked too much,” and therefore an unlikely person to act on her beliefs. She avoided danger by over-estimating the skills of the watchers around her home while they under-estimated her.
Grant was grateful to Van Lew, the general eager for both reports of enemy defenses and the state of morale of Richmond citizens as the war entered its final phases. In 1869, President Grant rewarded her by appointing Van Lew postmaster of Richmond, an act that angered Southerners opposed to women’s suffrage, her hiring of black postal carriers, and her well-known reputation as a Federal spy. At the same time, much of her network found work as Federal detectives. Varon chronicles Van Lew’s legacy as a pioneer in the politics of the period, ended when Democrats reclaimed the White House. After that, Van Lew became a recluse, shunned by her neighbors as her once palatial home became a scene of squalor and disrepair. She was supported in her last years by donations from influential Bostonians, not by the much vaunted Southern Christian culture of which she had been one of its truest exponents.
With an even hand, Varon deals with the myths that have surrounded Van Lew’s legacy since her death in 1900. For example, Varon offers plausible explanations that a very special slave of Van Lew’s might have spied on Jefferson Davis in the Southern White House, but admits considerable doubt this occurred. She completely discredits the legend of "Crazy Bet," a spinster pictured as a mad old woman who wore odd clothes and had no friends. Quoting from Van Lew writings, she demonstrates the spymaster did not see herself as a spy at all—how could a patriot spy against their own government? In Van Lew’s view, she was a resister of “moral oppression,” racism pure and simple.
Varon clearly establishes the dual legacy of Van Lew—her own achievements as a spymaster and that she was not a lone activist but rather a member of a large number of Southerners who supported the Union. Then, Van Lew’s service in the male-dominated postal service shows how Van Lew opened doors for women in government service and the hiring of ex-slaves into respectable positions. She paid a heavy personal cost for all these accomplishments, both financially and suffering an unfair reputation that followed her until, well, the publication of this very important study.
Note: The Van Lew story was dramatized in a 1987 CBS TV movie, A Special Friendship, purporting to tell the story of Van Lew (Tracy Pollan) and Mary Bowser, (Akosua Busia), a former slave who was a principal member of the spy ring. Much of the script was obvious nonsense, including an interrogation by a Confederate officer said to have once been Van Lew’s fiancée. Another example of romance triumphing any attempt to be at least quasi-accurate in Hollywood.
WEBSITES OF NOTE
Civil War - Confederacy - Intelligence Specific
intellit.muskingum.edu/civwar_folder/civwarconfintel.html -
Female Spies of the Confederacy - Confederate Women Spies
Belle Boyd, Antonia Forc, Rose O'Neal Greenhow, Nancy Hart, Laura Ratcliffe, Loreta Janeta Velazquez and more.
womenshistory.about.com/od/civilwar/a/women_spies_con.htm - 24k - Jul 13, 2007 –
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