Posted by Dan Lind on December 11, 2004 at 03:42:49 from 70.69.171.153 user captain.
Its been rainy here on the west coast so I've passed time on board the MARGOLETTA rewatching my collection of some 15 video episodes of REILLY ACE OF SPIES.
I think they are extremely well done, brutal, at times comical, and evocative of the era from about 1900 to the end of the Russian revolution. The videos are based on the book of the same name by Robin Bruce Lockhart, the son of R.H.Bruce Lockhart, a British agent who knew Ransome well in Russia.
In his autobiobraphy Ransome mentions meeting Reilly who tried to trick Ransome into admitting he was a socialist. Hugh Brogan, in his book, The Life of Arthur Ransome, calls Reilly, "...clownishly incompetent...who was to bring about Lockhart's own downfall."
In Memoirs of a British Agent, Lockhart refers to Reilly and his activities many times, but seldom in a flattering way: Little doubt Lockhart shared Brogan's "clownishly incompetent" opinion.
Reilly is said to have spoken many languages, worked for the highest bidder, and had "eleven passports and a wife to go with each of them."
There is a Sidney Reilly Society which meets each Wednesday at noon at the International Press Club of Chicago. The focus of the lunch meetings is a weekly toast, which may be scholarly or casual, to a noteable personnage from the life and times of Sidney Reilly. Visitors are welcome.
There is much on the web about Sidney Reilly, and I believe many TARBOARDers will be interested. I recommend the videos: they are best watched with a fellow Ransome aficionado, and some vodka. There historical accuracy probably leaves something to be desired, but the music in haunting.