The Hong Kong Shilling Affair is the twenty-fourth episode of the First Season of 'The Man from U.N.C.L.E.' and stars Robert Vaughn as chief enforcement agent Napoleon Solo and David McCallum as his partner, agent Illya Kuryakin.
Synopsis[]
At a black market auction in Hong Kong, Solo and Illya attempt to recover a coin in which there is a microdot containing military secrets.[1]
Plot[]
Bernie Oren, a student vacationing in Hong Kong, stumbles across a dying sailor in a small port who has been stabbed. He was delivering a shipment to an underworld character called Apricot and was fatally injured by a large thug on entering the boathouse. Before he dies, he tells Oren that "at least I won't be delivering tall shillings and butterflies anymore." Ilia and Solo are in Hong Kong to stop Apricot's auctions of military secrets, and they especially want to recover a specially made fake 1796 shilling that contains a mocrofilm of very important secrets before Apricot can auction it off. Apricot's assistant, Mr. Cleveland, is warned by her that the shilling has gone missing en route to their auction house, where some disreputable clients are gathered to bid on his wares. Her people, as well as Solo and Ilia, must search for the missing shilling before someone else can sell it. Oren has to get close to Apricot's other assistant, Heavenly Cortello, and learn from her of Apricot's plans for the coin. It turns out a Mongolian warlord has bid for the coin in advance, and so Ilia subdues him and - wearing heavy makeup - takes his place at the auction, only to be discovered by Mr. Cleveland and forced to unmask. Solo and Oren, meanwhile, are captured and thrown in the river, but are rescued by Heavenly, who pulls them from the water and waits till both men come to. Solo goes to rescue Ilia and both are captured by Mr. Cleveland, who then is interrupted when Heavenly and Oren fall through the window into the auction house. Emerging from her seclusion inside the auction house, Apricot questions Ilia as to the location of the shilling itself. It turns out she has it - it was one of the coins she scooped up after the sailor was killed: she was the girl at the back of his boat. She and her aides are captured and Heavenly - who turns out to be an undercover officer - and Oren are united at last in a fire of passion, Heavenly handing solo the all-important shilling.
Trivia[]
- A previous title for this episode was 'The Dragon's Tooth Affair.'[2]
- Glen Corbett was unable to film the original closing scene because he was injured in the fall from the window seen in the episode itself.
- Because Corbett was in the hospital at that time, a new closing scene was written and shot, where Oren and Heavenly make love behind a counter. The arms seen therein are actually those of their stunt doubles.
- Heavenly herself is meant to be apparently of Asian descent, played by a brunette actress (Karen Sharp) and dressed in modern Asian garb, with eyes specially slanted.
Cast[]
- Robert Vaughn as Napoleon Solo
- David McCallum as Illya Kuryakin
- Leo G. Carroll as Alexander Waverly
- ↑ Wikipedia, 'List of The Man from U.N.C.L.E. episodes': https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_The_Man_from_U.N.C.L.E._episodes
- ↑ The Fans from U.N.C.L.E., 'Episode Guide: Season One': https://www.manfromuncle.org/episode1.htm