Wed 12 Jun 2013
Review: GIL BREWER – It Takes a Thief #3: Appointment in Cairo.
Posted by Steve under Reviews , TV mysteries[13] Comments
GIL BREWER – It Takes a Thief #3: Appointment in Cairo. Ace 37600, paperback original, 1970.
There are a couple of ways I could have begun this review. One, of course, is to start by talking about the TV series this novel is based on. The problem with that is that I’ve never seen an episode of the show, not when it was on (9 January 1968 – 24 March 1970) nor now, even though I bought the complete series when it came out on DVD a couple of years ago, nor even when it’s been shown on the Cozi channel, though if I ever flipped over there when it was on, I’m sure I would. Watch it, that is.
I’m not sure why that is, but the fault, if fault there is, is mine, I’m sure. I’ve always found the delivery of Robert Wagner, the star of the show, to be both overly glib and overly flat, both at the same time, if that were possible. I realize that I am in the minority on this, since Wagner has always been a very popular TV star, even to the present day, including occasional recurring appearances on NCIS as agent Tony DiNozzo’s father.
The premise of this older series is that Wagner, playing Alexander Mundy a suave cat burglar (in the obvious Cary Grant mode), is forced to work for the US government in places all over the world where his particular field of expertise would come in useful. What he gets in return is his release from prison, not a very original concept now, but maybe it was at the time. Supervising Mundy (and holding his past over his head) on most of these adventures is Noah Bain, played by Malachi Throne.
The other way I could have approached this review is by pointing out that this particular book was the last work of crime fiction to appear under famed Gold Medal paperback writer Gil Brewer’s own name. The sad decline of Brewer’s career over the years is chronicled here on the main Mystery*File website by Bill Pronzini, along with an exhaustive list of his (Brewer’s) entire written output.
But that this book came at the end of Brewer’s career rather than at the beginning does not mean that it is anything but a solid, professional effort. Inept it is most definitely not. Given the restrictions of working within the confines of the TV series, though, I found Appointment in Cairo to be, for the most part, as flat as Robert Wagner’s speech patterns, picking up in excitement a notch or two by story’s end, which includes the same little kind of twistette that tons of TV crime and mystery shows have ended with over the years.
The story itself, one which I do not believe was adapted from any one of the individual episodes of the series, has to do with “an ancient Egyptian formula for a deadly nerve gas†(quoting from the back cover), and if Mundy doesn’t do something about it, the whole world is in deadly peril.
As a postscript to myself, I had forgotten until now that Mundy’s father Alistair appeared several times in the third and final season of the series. He shows up in this novel as well, but in the book he is not nearly as interesting as he was on TV, given that there he was played by none other than Fred Astaire.
June 12th, 2013 at 1:53 pm
I have seen Al Mundy on TV, in the Seventies, and back then enjoyed it a lot. I was a kid then, and I don’t know how I would feel about the show today .
Most TV shows that you have fond memories of from childhood and adolescence are disappointing if reviewed as a grown up.
But still, you remember how much you liked them back then.
The Doc
June 12th, 2013 at 4:15 pm
Maybe it’s best to leave your memories alone in the “let sleeping dogs lie” category. I was never a big fan of the show, but for some reason I bought the books. Of course, I never read them. It was enough to have them on the shelf. It’s interesting to read such an honest opinion of Robert Wagner considering he is sometimes described as a legend and his infrequent appearances on NCIS today seem moderately enjoyable. However, I think the only reason I might want to watch this show today is for the chance to see Fred Astaire. Unfortunately, whenever I come across it on ThisTV they aren’t showing one of those episodes.
June 12th, 2013 at 4:53 pm
I didn’t like the show then so I have few reasons to watch it again. I don’t remember Wagner ever considered much of an actor, but instead a popular man with media, studios, and audience. His image has taken some hits with the reopening of the Natalie Wood death where the Hollywood Reporter has a hard time letting go.
Of all Wagner’s series, IT TAKES A THIEF was the best despite him, certainly better than SWITCH and HART TO HART.
June 12th, 2013 at 6:48 pm
Robert Wagner has been in pictures, television and theatre since 1950 — If there is anyone who thinks Wagner does not know what he is doing then that is a misunderstanding of the technical acting process and its most significant component, empathy. Personal preferences aside, and we all have them, anyone near the top of the tree for sixty years has to be given considerable respect.
June 12th, 2013 at 8:16 pm
All points well made, Barry!
June 13th, 2013 at 2:44 am
Well, Bob’s acting never threatened Olivier, but over the years he gained a kind of assurance that made his performances more relaxed. Early on, he was outstanding (in a limited-range part) in A KISS BEFORE DYING, and in the 1980s I saw him live on stage doing LOVE LETTERS with Stephanie Powers–both of them quite good.
June 13th, 2013 at 9:54 am
Dan —
I saw that production of Love Letters on tour in Toronto. Pretty good. As for Olivier — I thought he was a bore, at least late in his career. ah, always. I had friends who knew him early and he was described as a phoney — this was personal not professional but the two merge. The folk who knew late said he was just looking for a pay day. Would not have had to if he had embraced the film business rather then classical stage early on.
June 13th, 2013 at 10:32 am
Sorry about the typos — my corrrect function requires correction of its own. I will be better. Promise.
June 13th, 2013 at 10:45 am
Obviously, Laurence Olivier never considered RJ Wagner any kind of threat, or he wouldn’t have cast him as Brick to his Big Daddy in that TV production of Cat On A Hot Tin Roof (that was the one with Natalie Wood as Maggie the Cat).
As to Olivier’s being a phony:
Several years after he’d won that lifetime Oscar, Olivier admitted to “corpsing” (Brit-actor-speak for forgetting his lines) and just adlibbing two minutes of Shakespearian doubletalk – and to being amused by the raves he got afterwards from critics.
As long as we’re on comedy:
RJ Wagner did a sketch when he hosted Saturday Night Live, paired with Jan Hooks.
They were in a restaurant booth, waiting for dinner, and Wagner was being Mr. Charm, wowing Hooks with his elegant dress and manners.
Then the food came, and Wagner started to eat like an uncommonly messy two-year-old: slobbering, drooling, fingering, spilling.
Throughout, Hooks, reputedly the toughest breakup of that particular SNL cast, was valiantly holding a straight face (as the sketch required her character to do).
Wagner eventually reverted to Charm mode, even with his suit, shirt, and face (and to a lesser extent Hooks) covered with food, and said:
” I’ve just never been able to get hold of this whole eating thing …”
Jan Hooks didn’t break, but it was close …
… I guess you had to be there …
June 13th, 2013 at 3:07 pm
Barry,
Some time we shall have a discussion about Olivier….
June 13th, 2013 at 6:07 pm
Dan —
Ah…Look forward to it.
July 28th, 2021 at 11:10 pm
Each man according to his own taste.
I’m a big fan of Olivier, but even if he admits to coasting in a few roles in the twilight of his career…who am I to judge? Heck, it’s Olivier. What he calls ‘coasting’, many other actors might only dream of passing off so confidently.
I privately don’t feel Olivier ever indulged in lazy-man’s acting, to the detriment of any role he was paid for. He was always professional at a bare minimum.
Admittedly, the gent was quite aged and in poor health in many of his later pictures. But he can be excused for ‘taking it a little easy’, right? He was still …Olivier. It was a privelige to have him around and see him perform.
Robert Wagner: I’m not afraid to say that ‘It Takes a Thief’ was one of the most fun TV series ever. Cat-burglar Wagner, with con-man father played by Fred Astaire? Can you stand it? What could possibly be more fun? Especially since the show was shot on-location, out-of-doors, in authentic European locations.
Cowabunga. No one ever seems to recall this series as fondly as I do, but yep –to me, it stands up to Jack Lord and Peter Graves as best-of-its-era. I’d even rank it as good as ‘The Prisoner’ with Patrick McGowan.
July 28th, 2021 at 11:48 pm
Du’oh. McGoohan!