Reilly - Ace of Spies Movie Streaming
Dimanche, août 1st, 2010 |
Reilly - Ace of Spies Movie Streaming.
Movie Title: Reilly - Ace of Spies Reilly - Ace of Spies is available for streaming or downloading. |
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.
Buy,Download, Or Stream Reilly - Ace of Spies! Click Here
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.
Buy,Download, Or Stream Reilly - Ace of Spies! Click Here
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.
Reilly - Ace of Spies is the best extended series of spy films ever made, in my opinion, for many reasons.
First, the cast of this twelve episode story is uniformly excellent beginning with Sam Neil as Sidney Reilly, a Russian born jew named Sigismund Rosenblum, who goes to work for the British Secret Service and takes the name Reilly because he thinks the Irish are well accepted all over the world. And Reilly travels over much of the world doing the dirty work of the British government. Neil brings complexity to his role as an agent who believes the end justifies the means. Machiavelli would be pleased with Neil’s performance.
Leo McKern as Basil Zaharov, an arms dealer with morals similar to Reilly’s and ability almost the equal of Reilly, is the best of an outstanding supporting cast. McKern is superb throughout the series. Zaharov goes head to head with Reilly and their conflicts result in many dramatic and surprising encounters.
Next is Tom Bell as Felix Dzerzhinsky, head of the Russian secret police at the beginning of the Russian Revolution of 1917. Bell is totally convincing as he deals first with Lenin, in a fine performance by Kenneth Cranham, and then Stalin, played by David Burke. Dzerzhinsky loves Lenin, hates Stalin, and respects Reilly, his nemesis and more than his equal. Reilly wants to overthrow Lenin and put himself in Lenin’s place. He almost succeeds.
Norman Rodway and Peter Egan are both convincing as Reilly’s control officers in the British Secret Service. Spying is a nasty business and we are never sure who will betray whom.
Women, particulary Reilly’s wives, played by Jeananne Crowley, wife #1, Celia Gregory, #2, and Laura Davenport, #3, play a supporting role to the ace of spies, but each wife figures prominently in the ongoing story. All give effective performances.
2. A short biography of Sidney Reilly is presented as the final presentation on Disc #4. It is apparent that the producers have stayed fairly close to historical fact. Even without the history lesson the story stands on its own merits and is totally engrossing and genuinely entertaining. I planned to watch two episodes at a time, but often found myself playing a third episode to find out what would happen next, and then watching the scenes from the next installment to wet my appetite for the next show. The only films I have seen that compare favorably with The Ace of Spies are Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy and Smiley’s People. I must admit that Alec Guiness, as George Smiley, is a better actor than Sam Neil, but I think the Ace of Spies series is at least as good as the Smiley stories, with the added benefit of much more history delivered in the Ace series. Reilly - Ace of Spies is a great story from beginning to end.
3. The production values of this series are excellent. It feels like we have been transported in time to the first 25 years of the 20th Century. From the offices of the Secret Service in London, to Port Arthur on the Russian Pacific Coast, to St. Petersburg, Moscow, Paris, etc., attention has been paid to the smallest detail. These films look and feel like a big budget production.
4. The only negative reviews of Ace of Spies on Amazon relate to the DVD transfer, which was just good enough not to spoil the show for me. Unless the viewer is especially particular about the quality of DVD transfer, I recommend Reilly - Ace of Spies heartily. This is high quality entertainment from beginning to end.
mafia wars hack | mafia wars strategy guide | mafia wars cheats
mafia wars hack | mafia wars strategy guide | mafia wars cheats
convert dvd to avi
DVD to ipod converter | DVD to mpg | dvd to psp
Watch NBA Basketball Games Online | Watch NBA Playoffs Online Live