The Man from U.N.C.L.E. (TV Series) The King of Diamonds Affair (1966) User Reviews

Diamonds are an Uncle's best Friend

[gordonl56 · 7/10 · 11 January 2015]

THE MAN FROM U.N.C.L.E. – The King of Diamonds Affair - 1966

This is the 54th episode of 1964 to 1968 spy series, THE MAN FROM U.N.C.L.E. The series ran for a total of 105 episodes. The first season was filmed in black and with the remainder shot in colour. Robert Vaughn plays agent Napoleon Solo while David McCallum, plays Illya Kuryakin, Leo G Carroll plays Mister Waverly, the boss of the secret agency known as U.N.C.L.E. (United Network Command for Law & Enforcement) Their main enemy is THRUSH, an organization out to take over the planet.

UNCLE agents Robert Vaughn and David McCallum get mixed up with a bunch of diamond thieves. The gang, led by Ricardo Montalban, have hit a major storeroom for over a billion in stones. So many if fact, that they could cause a worldwide panic if they flooded the market. Montalban though seems to have a perfect alibi. He was in jail in London.

UNCLE soon clues in on the caper when Montalban is sprung from jail by his henchmen. In a story that could have been lifted from the BATMAN series of the same era, the gang all wear bowler hats and have umbrella's that are really guns. UNCLE traces the gang to Brazil to a hideout on the Amazon River.

This episode is really not one of the better efforts. It creaks and groans with a high silliness factor. Still, it is always neat to see all the guest stars that pop up on the series.

The Guest Stars Make This Epusode

[aramis-112-804880 · 7/10 · 13 November 2022]

This rather sloppy episode has two things going for it: gorgeous American actress Nancy Kovack doing a superb British accent; and Mr. Roark himself, Ricardo Mantalban playing a jewel thief (beginning the episode under lock and key).

Solo and Kuryakin are trying to plug a leak of diamonds from Brazil, and they keep running afoul of English mobsters.

It's too bad that for such swell guest stars (Montalban was a bona fide MGM movie star under the studio system) they didn't have a better plot and execution. The whole episode looks rushed. And since it was clearly shot on the back lot in Hollywood the English accents vary. But Kovack could have given lessons to Dick van Dyke on "Mary Poppins." The guest stars liven what might have been a run-of-the-mill episode.

**1/2

[edwagreen · 6/10 · 14 February 2016]

Again, we see a cane filled with bullets, which is always what the sinister characters use in their various episodes.

Nancy Kovack, as the prim and proper Miss Progue, is literally have diamonds smuggled out of her store and doesn't know what is going on.

Ricardo Montalban portrays his usual debonair South American Romeo, as the leader of the smuggling ring who is smuggled out of prison by his partner, and Montalban prepares to double cross the latter.

There are the usual chase scenes and when Solo and the Kovack character are trapped, they are flown to Brazil in a crate and the lines that Solo says to Waverly while in the crate with Kovack are timely to say the least.