Episode 36: "The Arabian Affair"

- January 10, 2021

Episode 36
"The Arabian Affair"
Writer: Peter Allan Fields
Director: E Darrell Hallenbeck
Guests: Phyllis Newman (Sophie), Michael Ansara (Sulador), Robert Ellenstein (David Lewin), Jerome Thor (Mister Norman)
Filmed: 14-21 September 1965
Premiere: 29 October 1965
Places:
Aqaba Gulf (Egypt), New York NY (USA)

The affair:
High on a dune in the Red Sea (Egypt), Illya Kuryakin observes a secret base of THRUSH. Inside the base, a Bedouin takes a bubble bath and is dissolved. While watching the base, Kuryakin is attacked by Sophie, the bedouin and her father Sulador. Sophie consider Illya her property. She wants to sell it in the market in Aqaba to buy a new camel. In UNCLE's HQ, Napoleon Solo investigates the disappearance of THRUSH employees after they retire at age 65 (...)

FYI - One of the most striking screenplays by Peter Allan Fields. The concept that evil THRUSH agents retire with a cocktail in the "firm" is very creative and ironic. The episode is inspired by the movie phenomenon Lawrence of Arabia (direct by David Lean, with Peter O'Toole), launched two years before, winner of seven Oscar awards. Field's script maintains a parallel structure to great effect. (...)