leeper@mtgzz.UUCP (m.r.leeper) (02/05/86)
Back when I was working for Burroughs in Detroit my supervisor once commented to me that he had seen part of a pretty good war film on Canadian TV the previous day (Sunday). It had been about prisoners of war trying to escape from Germany. He had only seen part and he wanted to know if I could tell him something about the film. The first thing I told him was that it was on every week. "The same film?" No, it isn't a theatrical film at all. It was a British TV series called COLDITZ. If it seemed good enough to be a theatrical film it was because British TV is often very good. Some series are good enough that most episodes measure well against films made in the same genre. I saw the first episode of British series called SANDBAGGERS, about British intelligence. A local PBS station (Channel 21, New York) picked it up and is showing it. I expected to watch one episode, but to decide it was not that good. The first hour has to rank as one of the best spy films I have seen. "First Principles" concerned a request from Norwegian intelligence to have British intelligence rescue a Norwegian spy plane that crashed just inside the Russian border. British intelligence refuses so the Norwegians do some economic arm-twisting. That is the first 10 minutes of the story, I won't tell more, but it gives you the feel that we are not talking about a James Bond sort of spy story. If anything it is closer to LeCarre or Deighton. In fact, I would say I like it moves a little better than LeCarre does, but without sacrificing the feel of authenticity. If you like spy films, watch to see if your local PBS station carries SANDBAGGERS. Mark Leeper ...ihnp4!mtgzz!leeper