After reading IMDb reviews and finally getting to see this entertaining (theatrical version) pilot for the Man from UNCLE series for myself, I have to concur that this was worth the ride. Grittier and less peppered with humor than TV episodes, this story enlisting a civilian to bring down a villain was an interesting plot element that Hitchcock often employed. Robert Vaughn as Napoleon Solo is pretty much on his own, with David McCallum's Kuryakin part barely more than a cameo. Pat Crowley is the attractive US widow working with Solo. Seductive Luciana Paluzzi is the bad girl Angela, who baits Solo. A scene that would never be approved back then for TV has stunning Angela wearing a form-fitting sleeveless dress standing in front of Solo who frisks her with his automatic with a silencer, passing it slowly from her armpit down to her ankles and up the inner thigh, after which the camera changes position as he continues the frisk. Angela never bats an eye. A spy for all sides.

Solo the spy goes on a dangerous mission.I am okay with the spy genre but I don't actually call myself a fan spy movies/TV shows. I am indeed a fan of 1960s adventure shows (Batman, Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, QM's The Invaders, etc) and this is why I am drawn to the UNCLE movies. I also like Robert Vaughn.To Trap A Spy is taken from the very early days of the UNCLE series and it has that nice TV pilot-feel.Don't be turned off by this being just a TV episode re-edited into a movie...the dialogue, direction and sets are of motion picture standard! In fact, I like this more than many of the 007 feature films.

I came to this movified "The Man from U.N.C.L.E." feature after faithfully watching four other much later similar concoctions, so that I was feeling a bit "uncled-out" by the time I decided to watch "To Trap A Spy". I'm pleased to say that I was pleasantly surprised to learn that this was the expanded pilot episode (before the "Man" became effectively the "Men" as David McCallum quickly gained co-star status and better balanced out the entertainment).There are a few curios on-view here for the discerning fan - no Mr Waverley, for one, the word "T.H.R.U.S.H" replaced by "W.A.S.P." with fairly ugly overdubbing, for some legal reason or other and as stated , Illya in only a very minor bit-part at the beginning of this episode. More pertinently are the stylistic differences; the fare here is certainly grittier and less comic-book than the more sanitised mid-late 60's seasons, exemplified for one thing by actual blood-stains on bodies when shot and mildly shockingly when Robert Vaughn gets dressed on camera after obviously bedding the treacherously beautiful Angela played by Luciana Paluzzi.Now I've seen the difference, I think I prefer this less gimmicky approach but encouraged by James Bond's gadgetry, obviously the producers of "U.N.C.L.E." felt they had to follow suit as the swinging 60's progressed. There's a reasonably suspenseful death-trap which Solo resourcefully escapes and I liked the idea of the Cinderella housewife whom Solo coerces into U.N.C.L.E.'s employ due to a past relationship with "T.H.R.U.S.H. / W.A.S.P."'s Mr Big. Some of the settings and plottings reminded me, probably deliberately of "Dr No" and I was also amused by the coy finishing scene with Solo down-playing his Lothario urges on a mildly suspecting air-stewardess.Okay, so you'd still take "Goldfinger" or "Thunderball" any day of the week, but it was good to see Robert Vaughn at the birth of his own cool and "U.N.C.L.E." before it started aiming too much at teenagers also getting their kicks from "Batman", "Get Smart" and "The Green Hornet".

At the height of "spy mania" in the mid- 1960's, MGM sought to exploit their phenomenally successful "Man From UNCLE" TV series with low-budget, big screen adaptations of episodes that had been edited together. The admittedly cheap tactic was nevertheless effective. "To Trap A Spy" was released in the US in early 1966 as part of a double feature with "The Spy With My Face". Unlike the other adapted films that followed, this one wasn't based on a two-part TV epidode. It was derived from the pilot episode "The Vulcan Affair", that was broadcast in b&w, though shot in color for possible theatrical release. As with several of the UNCLE films that followed, certain sequences were shot especially for the theatrical version, most relating to sexual references that were deemed to hot for TV. The film is more effective than one would think, and illustrates the origins of what was to be the weekly basis for UNCLE episodes: an innocent citizen (a la Hitchcock) is drawn into a caper of international intrigue involving UNCLE. In this case, Patricia Crowley is an everyday housewife who is recruited to thwart her old high school flame (Fritz Weaver), of late a millionaire megalomaniac. This formula of utilizing everday citizens was quickly abandoned. Purists will note the limited presence of David McCallum's Illya Kuryakin. As this was the pilot show, no one had forseen his eventual popularity with audiences, thus the lion's share of footage goes to Robert Vaughn's dapper and suave Napoleon Solo. Wil Kuluva appears as the UNCLE boss Mr. Allison, but in the actual series the character was replaced by Leo G. Carroll as the wonderfully eccentric Alexander Waverly. James Bond's "Thunderball" femme fatale, Luciana Paluzzi has some extended screen time as another bad girl, and keep an eye out for a blink-or-you'll-miss-him appearance by future Bond villain Richard ("Jaws") Kiel in the climax. All in all, a very enjoyable and nostalgic experience. Available only in the UK on Region 2 DVD.