Tagged: Costume design by Elizabeth Waller
Sidney Reilly’s Blue Argyle Sweater
Sam Neill as Sidney Reilly in Reilly: Ace of Spies (Episode 11: “The Last Journey”)
Vitals
Sam Neill as Sidney Reilly, shrewd anti-Bolshevik and former British agent
London, Fall 1925
Series: Reilly: Ace of Spies
Episode: “The Last Journey” (Episode 11)
Air Date: November 9, 1983
Director: Jim Goddard
Costume Designer: Elizabeth Waller
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
Sidney Reilly is just settling into life with his latest – and final – wife, the glamorous actress Nelly “Pepita” Bobadilla (Laura Davenport), when he is visited by Georgi and Maria Schulz, the Soviet double agents who have come to ensure him of his safe passage through Russia to meet with The Trust. Continue reading
Sidney Reilly’s 1920s Black Lounge
Sam Neill as Sidney Reilly in Reilly: Ace of Spies (Episode 10: “The Trust”)
Vitals
Sam Neill as Sidney Reilly, shrewd anti-Bolshevik and former British agent
New York City and London, Fall 1924
Series: Reilly: Ace of Spies
Episode: “The Trust” (Episode 10)
Air Date: November 2, 1983
Director: Martin Campbell
Costume Designer: Elizabeth Waller
Background
Throwback Thursday is always a great opportunity for BAMF Style to revisit Reilly: Ace of Spies, the fictionalized miniseries that depicts the life of Sidney Reilly, an early 20th century master of deception. This post will examine Reilly’s frequent wearing of black lounge, a semi-formal day dress known in the U.S. as a “stroller”. Black lounge makes quite a few appearances in the latter episodes, first seen for Reilly’s day in London court in “After Moscow” (Episode 9) and, finally, during his third and final wedding in “The Last Journey” (Episode 11).
The tenth episode, “The Trust”, finds erstwhile government agent Reilly in New York City, desperately trying to finance his friend Boris Savinkov’s anti-Boleshevik movement. Part of Reilly’s fundraising includes selling off his vast collection of antiques, art, and priceless Napoleona… all while being courted by a secretive Russian organization known as The Trust. Continue reading
Sidney Reilly’s Corduroy Suit in Manchuria
Sam Neill as Sidney Reilly in Reilly: Ace of Spies (Episode 2: “Prelude to War”)
Vitals
Sam Neill as Sidney Reilly, shrewd Russian-born British government triple agent
Port Arthur, China (then Manchuria), February 1904
Series: Reilly: Ace of Spies
Episode: “Prelude to War” (Episode 2)
Air Date: September 7, 1983
Director: Martin Campbell
Costume Designer: Elizabeth Waller
Background
Today’s Throwback Tuesday installment throws us all the way back to February 1904 on the eve of the Russo-Japanese War. According to Reilly: Ace of Spies, the newly minted Sidney Reilly is stationed in Port Arthur, Manchuria, ostensibly under the cover of a shipping agent but secretly working with the Japanese military developing their plans for a sneak attack to take the port away from the Russians. Reilly is shown to be a cold pragmatist, working with Japan against his better judgement and dispassionate regarding his poor wife, Margaret (Jeananne Crowley), whom he had married three years earlier after the mysterious* death of her clergic husband.
* Reverend Hugh Thomas’s death was even more mysterious in real life, with many suspecting that Reilly posed as a doctor in order to poison the clergyman.
Sidney Reilly’s Hunting Jacket
Sam Neill as Sidney Reilly in “Dreadnaughts and Crosses”, Episode 5 of Reilly: Ace of Spies (1983).
Vitals
Sam Neill as Sidney Reilly, Russian-born adventurer and British secret agent
Russia, Spring 1910
Series: Reilly: Ace of Spies
Episode: “Dreadnoughts and Crosses” (Episode 5)
Air Date: September 28, 1983
Director: Jim Goddard
Costume Designer: Elizabeth Waller
Background
St. Petersburg is a hotbed of intrigue in the years leading up to World War I and the Russian Revolution. The English and the Germans are among those vying for inevitably valuable warship contracts from the Russian Ministry of Marine.
Ever the shrewd opportunist, Sidney Reilly finds himself in the right place at the right time and decides to forego the usual channels of submitting battleship plans. Instead, he slyly gambles against a brutish shipping executive who finds himself indebted to Reilly, thus handing a controlling stake in his firm to our hero. At the same time, Reilly has busied himself in a romance with the Minister of Marine’s lovely wife Nadia (Celia Gregory).
The events of the spring culminate in a pig hunting trip where Reilly joins the Minister, Nadia, and his cheeky pal Sasha Gramaticoff for an afternoon of angry swine and loaded revolvers. Continue reading
Sidney Reilly’s Glen Plaid Double-Breasted Suit
Sam Neill as Sidney Reilly on Reilly: Ace of Spies, Episode 10: “The Trust”.
Vitals
Sam Neill as Sidney Reilly, Russian-born British Secret Service agent and anti-Bolshevik
New York City to Berlin, Fall 1924
Series: Reilly: Ace of Spies
Episode: “The Trust” (Episode 10)
Air Date: November 2, 1983
Director: Martin Campbell
Costume Designer: Elizabeth Waller
Background
Ninety years ago today, Sidney Reilly was executed in a forest outside Moscow by a Soviet firing squad overseen by OGPU officer Grigory Feduleev. Reilly had been earlier tried to death in absentia after a failed coup of the Bolshevik government in 1918. Seven years later, he was lured back into the Soviet Union by undercover OGPU agents who had formed The Trust, ostensibly a secret organization raising funds to remove the Bolsheviks from power. Reilly was arrested as soon as he had crossed the Finnish border in late September 1925. Although he would be questioned for more than a month before his execution on November 5, the Soviets almost immediately issued a statement that he had been killed during a border skirmish. Continue reading
Meeting Sidney Reilly – A Cream Suit in Baku
Sam Neill as Sidney Reilly in “An Affair with a Married Woman”, the first episode of Reilly: Ace of Spies.
Vitals
Sam Neill as Sigmund Rosenblum, later known as Sidney Reilly, Russian-born British Secret Service agent
Baku, Russian Empire (now Azerbaijan), Spring 1901
Series: Reilly: Ace of Spies
Episode: “An Affair with a Married Woman” (Episode 1)
Air Date: September 5, 1983
Director: Jim Goddard
Costume Designer: Elizabeth Waller
Background
Super Bowl XLIX viewers last Sunday surely didn’t miss the new trailer for Jurassic World, the newest entry in the franchise that began more than 20 years ago with Jurassic Park. Unfortunately, Sam Neill will not be reprising his role as Dr. Alan Grant in the newest film, so Neill fans itching to fill the void can revisit the brilliant 1983 mini-series Reilly: Ace of Spies. Continue reading
Bond’s Gray Office Suit in For Your Eyes Only
Roger Moore as James Bond in For Your Eyes Only (1981).
Vitals
Roger Moore as James Bond, British government agent
London, Spring 1981
Film: For Your Eyes Only
Release Date: June 24, 1981
Director: John Glen
Costume Designer: Elizabeth Waller
Tailor: Douglas Hayward
Background
I often cite For Your Eyes Only as the best 007 film of Moore’s era despite many fans’ contention that The Spy Who Loved Me was his apex. After a sketchy start with two OK outings, Moore finally found his footing with a good script and co-star in The Spy Who Loved Me, but it still rings of a disco-enthused rehash of You Only Live Twice dunked underwater. I still like the film, but For Your Eyes Only appeals more to the From Russia With Love fan that I am.
The minds behind the Bond franchise realized (a bit too late) that Moonraker was excessive, even by 1979 standards. Sure, it remained the highest-grossing Bond film until GoldenEye sixteen years later, but are massive profit margins any excuse for a loss of artistic integrity?
Thankfully, the franchise scrapped any ideas of continuing Bond’s space adventures against unkillable giants with the help of just the right gadget. In 1981, For Your Eyes Only marked a new direction for Moore’s Bond: a grounded and (relatively) realistic spy thriller. Continue reading
Sidney Reilly’s Fair Isle Sweater Vest in 1918 London
Vitals
Sam Neill as Sidney Reilly in “After Moscow”, episode 9 of Reilly: Ace of Spies (1983).
Sam Neill as Captain Sidney Reilly, MC, jaded British Secret Service agent
London, November 1918
Series: Reilly: Ace of Spies
Episode: “After Moscow” (Episode 9)
Air Date: October 26, 1983
Director: Martin Campbell
Costume Designer: Elizabeth Waller
Background
You’re probably still reading the title. “Sweater vest?” you ask yourself. “Has he gone barmy?”
First off, you’re probably British if you’re using the word “barmy”; secondly, it’s true – there are few men who can both pull off a sweater vest and look badass in it. One of these men is obviously Clint Eastwood as Harry Callahan, who even sported two during the first Dirty Harry film. To be fair, Eastwood probably could’ve played Dirty Harry wearing a pink tutu and a purple silk shoulder holster and he still would’ve looked badass. Probably.
The other man is Sam Neill as satanically suave British agent Sidney Reilly in the 1983 mini-series Reilly: Ace of Spies. Continue reading
Sidney Reilly’s Edwardian Charcoal Striped Suit
Sam Neill as Sidney Reilly in the first episode of Reilly: Ace of Spies.
Vitals
Sam Neill as Sigmund Rosenblum, later renamed “Sidney Reilly” upon his entry into the British Secret Service
London, Spring 1901
Series: Reilly: Ace of Spies
Episode: “An Affair with a Married Woman” (Episode 1)
Air Date: September 5, 1983
Director: Jim Goddard
Costume Designer: Elizabeth Waller
Background
The first episode of Reilly: Ace of Spies, “An Affair With A Married Woman”, is a crash course on the early life and origins of the legend of Sidney Reilly. I say “legend” because he was a notorious embellisher (liar) and the details of his life are murky at best. We slowly learn more throughout the episodes, but this extra-length opening episode establishes the series’ world where Reilly – née Rosenblum – was a trusted agent of the British Secret Service in 1901, eight years before it was actually founded! While on a mission in Baku, he met the young wife of an elderly and uptight minister and seduced her to escape captivity. Thus, “An Affair With A Married Woman”. Continue reading
Sidney Reilly Goes Undercover in Russia
Sam Neill as Sidney Reilly in the seventh episode of Reilly: Ace of Spies (1983).
Vitals
Sam Neill as Capt. Sidney Reilly, British secret service agent and Canadian Royal Flying Corps airman
Russia, Spring 1918
Series: Reilly: Ace of Spies
Episode: “Gambit” (Episode 7)
Air Date: October 12, 1983
Director: Jim Goddard
Costume Designer: Elizabeth Waller
Background
The mini-series Reilly: Ace of Spies, being based on Sidney Reilly’s own exaggerated account of his life, certainly stretches the truth – if not downright fictionalizes – many parts of Reilly’s story. However, the show does a fine job of serializing Reilly’s most important and life-altering adventure: the attempted overthrow of the Bolshevik government. Continue reading