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(More customer reviews)At a time when the James Bond films were still novel and going strong, as were their imitators, British television viewers were watching a 10.5 hour, 12-part miniseries called "Reilly, Ace of Spies." Based on the biography by Robin Bruce Lockhart, this intriguing series is now available in a boxed set of 4 A&E DVDs (AAE-71748) and makes for some really gripping viewing.With Sam Neill in the title role, we follow the career of the man who taught British intelligence that if ruthlessness gets the job done, then ruthless spies are what they need. Sidney Reilly, an assumed name as is learned later, remains loyal to friends but not altogether to his employers and casual acquaintances. And if he treats his wives questionably when his job gets in the way, he makes up for it by treating all the other women with great feeling and tenderness.Having little patience with incompetence on any level, he gets a huge contract for battleships for Russia away from a British firm and to a German firm for which he works, he gets oil concessions, he steals plans by posing as a fire expert in Germany, and he finally tries to make himself head of a provisional government that will overthrow the Bolshevik regime. And so on.Along the way he runs into two great villains: Basil Zaharov (Leo McKern, who can say more with a look than most actors can with a page of text), and the icy head of Soviet Intelligence Felix Dzerzhinsky (Tom Bell), who has set up a phony organization that pretends to be against Stalin and rakes in millions from rich anti-Bolsheviks all over the world. A frightening moment comes when Stalin (David Burke) orders all in the group to be shot, because even following orders to appear disloyal "is no excuse"! Which is what happens when personal power is far more important than human beings.Other major characters are Reilly's boss Cummings (Norman Rodway), his fellow agent Hill (Hugh Fraser), and an astute oriental police officer (David Suchet). Like another two series about spies, "Tinker Tailor" and "Smiley's People," the story is complex, you never quite know at first who is who and who is lying more than the others. Except for some possibly supernatural business towards the end, you watch with both fascination and a vague disgust that this is what many people are really like-and that, from what we see, it is not the meek who are doing any inheriting.Fascinating and provocative viewing on a definitely "adult" level (i.e., lots of violence and a lot of naked flesh, the latter of which is pretty gratuitous). Neill does a marvelous job of portraying the complex and highly ambiguous main character.
There is an interesting documentary of the real Reilly as a bonus feature, which should be seen after the series, not before.
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At the turn of the 20th century, one remarkable man single-handedly tried to alter the course of history. Cold, ruthless, enigmatic, this Russian-born British agent radically transformed modern espionage techniques and set the mold for a new kind of secret agent-the super spy. REILLY: ACE OF SPIES is the thrilling, suspenseful dramatization of the real-life adventures of Agent ST-1, aka Sidney Reilly, the inspiration behind Ian Fleming's James Bond. Shot in glorious period detail, one heart-pulsing mission after another captures the arc of Reilly's brilliant career. From stealing top-secret Russian oil information to a near overthrow of the Bolshevik Revolution to his final capture by Stalin's forces in 1918, Reilly's exploits are at times so daring and reckless it's hard to believe it's history and not fiction. Starring Sam Neill (Jurassic Park, The Hunt for Red October), REILLY: ACE OF SPIES includes all 12 original episodes on DVD for the first time, and features a bonus documentary examining the final, mysterious days of this legendary figure. DVD Features: "Life of Reilly: Superspy" episode from A&E's acclaimed Vanishings series; Interactive Menus; Scene Selection
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