Mashing together the episodes Barcelona, May 1917 and Prague, August 1917, what we have here in Espionage Escapades is another great example of how these movie-length features largely don’t work as movies as the episodes have very little connective tissue between them. There have been exceptions during this re-watch: Oganga, The Giver and Taker of Life comes to mind as two episodes that still felt quite organic as a movie when combined. And, of course, those which originally aired as movie-length features like Young Indiana Jones and the Attack of the Hawkmen naturally work better as movies.
The connective tissue to hand in these episodes is that Indy remains working for Belgian intelligence and in one episode has an adventure in Spain and, in the other, an adventure (of sorts), in the Austro-Hungarian Empire. But no characters carry over between them and the adventures aren’t related.
Barcelona, May 1917 is not only directed by Monty Python’s Terry Jones, but also has Jones as part of a trio of spies – Marcello the Italian, Charles the Frenchman, and Cunningham the Englishman – that Indy has to work with in the city. Jones plays Marcello. And while you might think, “Good grief, a Python playing an Italian – accent and all – and directing the thing… this has got to be crazy?!?” the piece is actually reasonably restrained from what it could have been. Indeed, why Jones wasn’t given the Kafka homage in Prague, August 1917 to work with instead, I have no idea. But I’m getting ahead of myself.
This is not to say the episode isn’t in the more comedic line of Indy episodes, aka the episodes I don’t rate as highly. The international group of spies are presented as near-caricatures of their respective nationalities; they drink in the same bar as the German spies; their ‘base’ is below a barber shop and accessed by a barber’s chair that sinks through the floor, and so on. At one point in the story, Indy (taking part in a ballet performance), has to wildly thrust his jewel-encased crotch, repeatedly, to try and draw the attention of his fellow spies in the audience for… reasons. Trenches of Hell this is not.
Plot-wise, we’re not in very deep territory. Indy’s new spy pals want to make it appear as if the Countess of Toledo is carrying on an affair with a German colonel in order to upset diplomacy in the city and make things hard for the Germans. What they don’t realise is that a dancer in Sergei Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes – Nadia Kamenevsky – is a US spy and already has the cover of an affair with him, as the colonel is a double agent for the Americans. By creating a situation where the Count of Toldeo (portrayed as a maniac crack-shot), will shoot the colonel at dawn in a duel, Indy and his pals have to quickly unravel the mess they’ve made. This is acted out as a caper, first and foremost, so you can understand Jones being tapped on the shoulder for it… but I still think he would have done better with what comes next.
Prague, August 1917 is a homage to Franz Kafka – complete with Tim McInnerny playing it straight as Kafka – and I would comfortably say, if the audience didn’t really ‘get’ Kafka, would probably switch the episode off, or be bored out of their minds. Anyone who does know Kafka, however, will be charmed.
The premise is that Indy needs to receive a phone call at a certain time, on a certain day. The only problem is, the telephone has been removed from his apartment. He then spends the entire episode going from government office to office, filling in forms; re-filling them in different languages; being given the runaround by everyone he meets; ends up on-trial and in jail when he doesn’t even know the crime (as there is no crime); and the whole thing ends with a Buster Keaton-esque segment of him trying to hook up his new telephone to the pole outside… because after getting help from Kafka, and some gentlemen finally install the phone, they declare that they don’t actually attach it to the phone lines.
Indy’s spy name in this adventure is Amadeus Schubelgruber, which might just be the cherry on top when it comes to how this episode comes across. And again, for the life of me, when you have an episode on the books where, “Young Indy does Kafka… featuring Kafka” and you have a Monty Python alum interested in doing your series, why you don’t marry the two, I have no idea. Which isn’t to say this episode isn’t well done – it is. Again, if you understand Kafka, you’ll sit there with a wry smile on your face – although the scene where Kafka has a line about what a trial it’s all been (The Trial being a novel he’d already written in real life some years earlier), it might be a little too knowing and on the nose.
Rating this movie is super-hard for me. As I’ve already said here, and in plenty of my other reviews, I do like the more serious episodes of the show. That doesn’t mean I don’t like comedic elements – the Indiana Jones movies starring Harrison Ford are full of comedic elements, for example, and obviously I’m a big fan. What I like, however, is the feeling that our hero is in actual danger. If some laughs happen along the way – great. But when it’s played entirely for laughs with no peril, it’s just not as exciting.
For this reason, the first part of this movie doesn’t grab me as much as it should. But on the other hand, it’s still a caper, with a Monty Python alum and a wild guest cast, set in a beautiful city. Not the worst way to spend your time. But then comes the Kafka episode and it’s unlike anything the series has ever done. It’s funny, it’s knowing, it’s clever, it’s well-shot… and like I said, could see a certain kind of person just switch off in confusion or, at the very least, asking, “What has Young Indiana Jones turned into?” How on earth do you rate that? Let alone, when it’s glued to the Spanish episode? I have no idea. I’m going to throw an 8/10 at this, which feels slightly generous as Indiana Jones as comedy isn’t my thing, but I need to show that these are well written, acted, and shot and do exactly what they set out to do.