- Prince Stephan's death has been faked by General Sabattini; leaving Stephan's childlike cousin Nicolai as sovereign. Sabattini is forcing Stefan's fiancée Francesca into marrying him, placing him in line to the throne. Phelps joins a group of Dutch tourists while the rest of the team infiltrate the royal palace as a magic act led by Paris. Before the show begins Barney loots the royal vault. It's the beginning of a complex scheme to rescue Stephan, Nicolai, Francesca and simultaneously eliminate Sabatini.—EEM
- The mission parameters are simple: Prince (actually, King) Stephan (Joseph Reale) was the rightful ruler of his country, until he was reported killed in an automobile accident. Or was he? Actually, his corrupt and ambitious chief-of-staff, General Ramon Sabattini (John Vernon), abducted Stephan and imprisoned him securely, to force his fiancée, Princess Francesca (Diane Baker), to marry him. That would place Sabattini in direct line to inherit the throne, should anything happen to its present occupant, King Nicolai (Noel Harrison), Stephan's cousin. The problem, as US intelligence sees it: Sabattini is likely to destroy the royal family, seize the throne, and forge an alliance with the enemies of the free world. So the government wants IMF commander Jim Phelps (Peter Graves) to somehow stop Sabattini and rescue Stephan, Francesca, and Nicolai. Presumably those three could sort out their respective roles and rule their unnamed country for the people's benefit.
In the dossier scene, Jim reviews the credentials of his team regulars, The Great Paris (Leonard Nimoy), electronic specialist Barney Collier (Greg Morris), and jack-of-all-trades Willy Armitage (Peter Lupus). To this task force he adds Tracey (Lee Meriwether), Sebastian (also played by Leonard Nimoy, as he is a stand-in for Paris), and a live falcon named Lucifer. That night, in Phelps' apartment, the team discusses their last-minute preparations. They need to run two very complex and hazardous operations:
1. To break Francesca out of the palace without anyone knowing that she is missing, and:
2. To break Stephan out of prison.
The next scenes, especially between Sabattini and Colonel Manuel Vargas (Logan Ramsey) and between Vargas and Captain Buccaro (Jack Donner), make clear several other dynamics that the IMF clearly knows about, for they use them in their plans:
1. The unnamed country is flat broke. Nicolai, in a complication that Sabattini never reckoned for, has wasted much of the public treasury and frittered away his time indulging his hobby of clockmaking. Nicolai means well, but when it comes either to politics or to managing a public purse, he is, quite simply, a child. Sabattini, as the only adult free agent in the palace, uses this to his advantage, by getting Nicolai to sign multiple documents that Nicolai doesn't even care to read. But Vargas warns Sabattini that even Sabattini's planned sell-off of the crown jewels will never raise enough cash to dig the country out of its fiscal hole.
2. Vargas wants to ally the country with the Chinese ("His Asian Friends.") Sabbatini presumably prefers the other Communist empire, the Warsaw Pact. The two men are constantly butting heads over this issue.
3. Vargas and Buccaro would like nothing better than to get Sabattini out of the way and make the deal with the Chinese. Whether Vargas could ever count on the Chinese allowing him to stay on as their puppet is never made clear.
In this stew of intrigue, the only two people with really clean hands are Stephan and Francesca--neither of whom are free agents, of course. Francesca initially refuses to marry Sabattini, but changes her tune when Sabattini arranges one last visit between Francesca and Stephan, in Angrim Prison, where Sabattini keeps prisoners of state--like Stephan. After Sabattini's guards lead Francesca away, Sabattini humiliates Stephan by speaking of his siring of heirs to the throne on Francesca. Of course, Sabattini gives orders to execute Stephan directly the marriage-of-state is consummated--but everyone knows that Sabattini plans to kill all three royals, though they won't say it out loud and definitely not to his face.
Into this fine stew drive the IMF. Willy and Barney arrive first: Willy drives the truck-and-trailer combination belonging to "Zastro the Great" (Paris' mocked-up identity), and sneaks Barney into the palace inside a crate. Once the crate is at rest, Barney opens the crate's bottom, takes a tile out of the floor, and descends to the crawlspace below. Jim arrives next, with a tour group who had permission to photograph the crown jewels. Jim uses the occasion to plant homing devices and solvents at strategic places--and then Barney arrives at the crown-jewel room and prepares to take another tile out of the floor to gain entry. To facilitate that, Paris arrives, with Lucifer in tow. He releases Lucifer, who goes on a wild flight into the crown-jewel room and sets off the floor-pressure alarm. (Anyone who has seen the movie Topkapi will recognize this quote at once.) The excitement covers the noise of Barney sawing away the floor tile--and after everyone leaves the room, Barney, without opposition, gets in and swaps out all the crown jewels for paste replicas. Barney takes one diamond from the king's crown and manages to slip it to Jim through an open ventilator grate. That will be important later on.
Paris and Tracey, posing as "Madame Vinsky," a soothsayer, are given quarters in the palace. Paris' stand-in, Sebastian, is also inside, where he will wait a few hours until the entertainments begin.
Paris climbs through his window, carrying a pillbox and a two-shot derringer. He makes his way to Francesca's room, gains her confidence, and gives her these items. He tells her that the first charge in the derringer is real, the second a blank. The pill will cause no pain but will take effect immediately when swallowed. Sabattini almost ruins everything by coming in at that time, but Paris creates enough of a diversion to allow Francesca to cover up for having received contraband items.
But as Paris makes his way back to his room, he places his weight on a trellis member--which breaks under his weight. Now he is hanging by his hands from a ledge, as a sentry comes out into the courtyard to investigate a strange noise. Will Paris fall? Get caught?
TO BE CONTINUED NEXT WEEK.
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