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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 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'[1] (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, especially 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.

Some of the most popular realistic spy 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)
• 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)
• 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)

Some of the most popular fantasy spy films 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)
• Tom Cruise's Mission: Impossible 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)
• 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)
• RSTC: Reserve Spy Training Corps (2006)

• 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)
• Mission: Impossible (1966-1973) and (1988-1990)
• The Prisoner (1967)
• Callan (1967-1972)
• The Sandbaggers (1978-1980)
• Reilly, Ace of Spies (1980)
• Aeon Flux (1995)
• Alias (2001-2006)
• Spooks (2002-present)

Spy films or television series that include elements of science fiction are sometimes called Spy-fi.