Napoleon Solo and Illya Kuryakin have to investigate: Their colleague Robert Kingsley and Dr. Kurt Erikson have vanished. The chemist has discovered a gas making people will-less...




viewer's comments:



- "The final spin-off"
How To Steal The World was the eighth and final spin-off from "The Man From UNCLE" spy series. It was compiled from the final episodes of the series, "The Seven Wonders Of The World Affair" (part one: 8/01/1968) and (part two: 15/01/1968). The story began life as a single episode but was stretched to feature length so that producer Norman Felton could release another theatrical movie overseas. As with the others, the TV version was not aired in the countries where the movie was released such as Britain.

Napoleon Solo and Illya Kuriyakin link the abduction of various VIP's with a plot to dominate the world. The mastermind behind it is Robert Kingsley (Barry Sullivan) an ex-UNCLE agent who plans to end all evil by launching a docility gas that Dr Kurt Erikson (Albert Paulsen),a top bio-chemist has developed with the help of the abducted VIP's.

As this film has been a part of my life since I became a Man From UNCLE fan in the mid-1990's I can enjoy it. But some feel it was padded which isn't surprising since its a single episode stretched to feature length. For me it lacks a lot of the chemistry between Vaughn and McCallam which made the series so popular, but it looks good under MGM's polish and its not at all tedious to sit through. A young Leslie Nielsen (later of Naked Gun fame) plays a major role as General Harmon who will do anything to ensure that Kingsley's misguided plan is successful.



Credited cast:
Annella Bassett .... Dr. Naomi Fisher
Tony Bill .... Steven Garrow
Richard Bull .... Hauptmann Gelser
Leo G. Carroll .... Alexander Waverly
Arthur Hanson .... Paul Mackie
David Hurst .... Jan Vanovech
Hugh Marlowe .... Grant
David McCallum .... Illya Kuryakin
Barbara Moore .... Lisa Rogers
Leslie Nielsen .... General Maximilian Harmon
Dan O'Herlihy .... Professor David Garrow
Eleanor Parker .... Margitta
Albert Paulsen .... Dr. Kurt Erikson
Peter Mark Richman .... Webb
Edgar Stehli .... Veeth
Inger Stratton .... Anna Erikson
Barry Sullivan .... Robert Kingsley
Amy Thomson .... Carla
Robert Vaughn .... Napoleon Solo
Ruth Warrick .... Mrs. Garrow



Runtime: Germany:86 min
Country: USA
Language: English
Color: Color (Metrocolor)