Spy film

The spy film genre deals with the subject of fictional espionage, either in a realistic way or as a basis for fantasy. Many novels in the spy fiction genre have been adapted as films, although in many cases (such as James Bond) the overall tone is changed.The spy film genre began in the silent era, with the paranoia of invasion literature and the start of the First World War. These produced the British 1914 'The German Spy Peril' (centred around a plot to blow up the Houses of Parliament) and 'O.H.M.S' [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0458876/] (standing for Our Helpless Millions Saved as well as On Her Majesty's Service, and introducing for the first time a strong female character who helps the hero).

Alfred Hitchcock did much to popularise the spy film in the 1930s with his influential thrillers "The Man Who Knew Too Much" (1934), "The 39 Steps" (1935), "Sabotage" (1937) and "The Lady Vanishes" (1938). These often involved innocent cattle being caught up in international conspiracies. Some, however, dealt with professional spies as in Hitchcock's "Secret Agent" (1936), based on W. Somerset Maugham's "Ashenden" stories.

In the 1940s and early 1950s there were several films made about the exploits of Allied agents in occupied Europe, which could probably be considered as a sub-genre. "13 Rue Madeleine" and "O.S.S." were fictional stories about American agents in German-occupied France, and there were a number of films based on the stories of real-life British S.O.E. agents, including "Odette" and "Carve Her Name With Pride". A more recent fictional example is "Charlotte Gray", based on the novel by Sebastian Faulks.

The peak of popularity of the spy film is often considered to be the 1960s when Cold War fears meshed with a desire by audiences to see exciting and suspenseful films. The espionage film developed in two directions at this time. On the one hand, the realistic spy novels of Len Deighton and John le Carré were adapted into relatively serious Cold War thrillers which dealt with some of the realities of the espionage world. Some of these films included "The Spy Who Came in from the Cold" (1965), "The Deadly Affair" (1966), and the Harry Palmer series, based on the novels of Len Deighton.

At the same time, the James Bond novels by Ian Fleming were adapted into an increasingly fantastical series of tongue-in-cheek adventure films by producers Harry Saltzman and Albert R. Broccoli, with Sean Connery as the star. The phenomenal success of the Bond series lead to a deluge of imitators, such as the Eurospy genre and several from America. Among the best known examples were the two 'Derek Flint' films starring James Coburn, and the Matt Helm series with Dean Martin. Television also got into the act with series like "The Man from U.N.C.L.E" and "I Spy" in the U.S., and "Danger Man" and "The Avengers" in Britain. Spies have remained popular on TV to the present day with series such as "Callan", "Alias" and "Spooks".

Spy films also enjoyed something of a revival in the late 1990s, although these were often action films with espionage elements, or comedies like Austin Powers.

Films

Some of the most popular films include:
* "The 39 Steps" (1935)
* "Secret Agent" (1936)
* "The Manchurian Candidate" (1962) and (2004)
* "Dr. No" (1962)
* "From Russia with Love" (1963)
* The Harry Palmer series - "The IPCRESS File", "Funeral in Berlin" and "Billion Dollar Brain" (1965-1967).
* "The Spy Who Came In from the Cold" (1965)
* "The Quiller Memorandum" (1966)
* "Army of Shadows" (1968)
* "Where Eagles Dare" (1968)
* "The Kremlin Letter" (1970)
* "Night Flight from Moscow" (1972)
* "The Black Windmill" (1974)
* "Three Days of the Condor" (1975)
* "The Falcon and the Snowman" (1985)
* "The Fourth Protocol" (1987)
* "The Assignment" (1997)
* "Ronin" (1998)
* "Enemy of the State" (1998)
* "Spy Game" (2001)
* The Jason Bourne series - "The Bourne Identity", "The Bourne Supremacy", and "The Bourne Ultimatum" (2002-2007)
* "The Recruit" (2003)
* "Munich" (2005)
* "Syriana" (2005)
* "The Good Shepherd" (2006)
* "Casino Royale" (2006)

Fantasy-oriented films

Some of the popular films with fantasy elements include:
* The James Bond film series (from 1962 onwards)
* The "The Man from U.N.C.L.E" spin-off films (1965 onwards)
* "Our Man Flint" and "In Like Flint" with James Coburn (1966-1967)
* The Matt Helm series starring Dean Martin (1966-1969)
* "Modesty Blaise" (1966)
* "Nikita" (1990)
* "If Looks Could Kill" (1991)
* "True Lies" (1994)
* "" film series (1996-2006)
* "Austin Powers" series (1997-2002)
* "The Man Who Knew Too Little" (1997)
* The "xXx" film series (2002-2005)
* "Confessions of a Dangerous Mind" (2002)
*"Cypher (film) (2002)
* The "Agent Cody Banks" film series (2003)
* "Johnny English" (2003)
* "Mr. and Mrs. Smith" (2005)
* "The Matador" (2006)
* The "Spy Kids" trilogy 2001-2003
* "Stormbreaker" (2006)
* "" (2006)

TV Shows

* "The Avengers" (1961-1969)
* "Danger Man" (1960-1962) and (1964-1966)
* "The Man from U.N.C.L.E" (1964-1968)
* "I Spy" (1965-1968)
* "Get Smart" (1965-1970)
* "" (1966-1973) and (1988-1990)
* "The Prisoner" (1967)
* "Stawka większa niż życie" (1967-1968)
* "Callan" (1967-1972)
* "Seventeen Moments of Spring" (1973)
* "The Sandbaggers" (1978-1980)
* "Reilly, Ace of Spies (1980)
* "Aeon Flux" (1995)
* "La Femme Nikita" (1997-2001) This show was based upon the original French film directed by Luc Besson (see above Nikita), co-produced by Jay Firestone (Firestone Entertainment) and Warner Bros., and created for television by Joel Surnow, who later co-created 24 with fellow La Femme Nikita executive consultant Robert Cochran.
* "Alias" (2001-2006)
* "24" (2001-present)
* "Spooks" (2002-present)
* "" (2003)
* "Burn Notice" (2007-present)Spy films or television series that include elements of science fiction are sometimes called Spy-fi.