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It's gratifying to see so many senior Bond fans here.
My first Bond was TB, seen as a double with GF -- what a combo! It certainly blew me away, anyway. At the time Bond-mania was rife, with all kinds of merchandise everywhere -- from the much-loved Goldfinger Corgi Aston Martin, complete with machine guns, bullet proof shield and ejector seat, to toy guns, 007 spy dossiers, Fleming novels, and much more. Bond was being discussed on TV, actors were quizzed in the press and TV dramas were showing such Bond emulation shows as The Man From UNCLE, Mission Impossible, Danger Man, Department S, and many more.
Many would say that this mania stemmed from Cold War paranoia, and in many ways it did, although the true source of Bond-mania was the fact that Bond was the ideal antidote to that paranoia. You went to see Bond to forget your fears, because Bond was the man who could make it all right, whilst at the same time sipping exotic cocktails and visiting even more exotic locales.
Reading through many of the posts here, it's easy to see that Bond had a profound influence on many young minds, including my own. Looking back, I'd like to think that Bond-mania as I remember it was a force for good in that it engendered a "go-get", "stand up and be counted" and above all "who dares wins" type of mentality.
I did such a search, yes. Was surprised to find it.
Now it s taken down already.
Welcome aboard, @Darius! It's great to have you here, on the Originals thread. You are an Original. You definitely saw Bond in the theater before some of us and it's great to read your recollections of that time. This thread is the permanent home of older Bond fans - I like to say more "seasoned" agents - and I hope you continue to join us here. :-bd
Bond mania in the U.S. exploded in the sixties, rather at the same time as the British Invasion of music. So it was quite an overarching, in depth saturation of all things British for me growing up in the U.S. during that time. Your comment, Darius, that James Bond was the ideal antidote to the sixties' Cold War paranoia is spot on, I think. Do you live in the U.K .or U.S.? Bond was a real influence on culture in the U.S. as well as the U.K.
About reading this thread ~
I'd like to say to everyone who stops in here - if you have a few minutes of extra leisure time, do take a look at the earlier posts in this thread. I do suggest starting on page 1, when SirHenry got this rolling. The first several pages have great input from Originals and then we started doing a review for each Bond film and ranking them, which also makes interesting reading.
There is a lot of gold in this thread, and I don't think it is pointed out often enough that reading these posts will truly be rewarding for many of you. After our main review and ranking, we again revisited all the films and SirHenry posted highly detailed, wonderful info, facts, trivia ... and we had some great discussions! We had just finished talking about Skyfall and discussing what we thought the next film (now SPECTRE) should include or not include, when an unexpected sadness fell on us; SirHenry passed away that month. Up and including part of page 66 we have his wonderful input and leadership.
My main point is simply that all those previous pages, those discussions, are worth reading again - and if you are new here, by all means dip in! Read at leisure, skip around pages, get a taste for the camaraderie we have had for so long; just enjoy the older pages. >:D< Then please join us here in our current discussions - and also feel free to bring to our current page anything you'd like to talk about that may have been sparked by something you have read on an earlier page.
Trying to avoid spoilers now for SPECTRE? Only a couple of threads you feel safe entering? Now may be a great time to revisit this thread, back during its golden inception and stellar first couple of years. I hope some of you do; I believe it will be well worth your time.
Cheers!
I'm a UK citizen, @4EverBonded. However, I will say in mitigation that my wife is a US citizen and we have spent a lot of time living in the US. I saw my first Bond movie in the UK and I suppose I was about eight at the time. My father was (and still is) a huge fan of Bond and he took me to see my first double bill. My first ever Bond premiere (so to speak) was OHMSS and that movie remains at or near the top of my list right up until now.
Ever since those days, it's been a family ritual for my father and I to go to see the new Bond when it comes out. The last one was, of course, SF and although my dad's nearly ninety now, he had a whale of a time, as did I. The one part of the movie that moved us both most profoundly was when M quoted Tennyson's Ulysses while Bond was seen running through the streets of London -- a highly symbolic observation of the thematic core of the movie:
We are not now that strength which in old days
Moved earth and heaven, that which we are, we are;
One equal temper of heroic hearts,
Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will
To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.
I like going with my dad to see the new Bond when it comes out because ever since DN, Bond has stayed in the present day and, in a way, it helps both of us stay in touch with the present day, which is radically different to that which prevailed back in the sixties when an early thirty-something man first walked into a cinema auditorium holding the hand of a young boy.
But that's my favourite part! :((
Boys with toys! I'm of the joypad generation :))
The novels and the movies exist in different universes for me really. I truly enjoy Fleming and have gotten to know his novels in a different way in recent years by listening to the audio books which are read by fine British actors like Bill Nighy, Rosamund Pike and others.
Yes, SPECTRE's soundtrack, by Thomas Newman, is available for pre-order now (thru Amazon) and will be released in the U.K. on October 23rd; in the U.S. November 3rd. The news is on our home page here - this brief news item also adds:
The 'SPECTRE' soundtrack will be released by Decca Records (owned by Universal Music Group) and it is confirmed that Sam Smith's title track 'Writing's On The Wall' will be included. The soundtrack will have the added bonus of an instrumental version of the song.
*******
How nice we get an instrumental version of it! I wonder why ... ;) ... but am glad it is there. B-)
Die Another Day 8-|
Enjoy - and feel free to discuss your very top Bond moments, as well as the news about the soundtrack to SPECTRE being released. Cheers ;;)
Well, it’s been several weeks since I promised to finish reviewing Fleming’s 007 short stories…and I really want to get those out of the way before Spectre is released! So there’s no time like the present, I guess:
“The Living Daylights”
Those who long to see Bond in a Cold War setting -- arguably, his most natural habitat -- ought to read Fleming’s original short story, which forms the core of the opening section of TLD the movie. An MI6 agent who has been stationed behind the Iron Curtain since then end of WWII is trying to return to the West loaded with information…but the KGB knows of his intention, and they’ve got a sniper stationed near his escape route, poised to stop him. Bond’s mission is to protect Agent 272 by killing the sniper…only the sniper turns out to be a beautiful woman that Bond has been admiring from afar, posing as a cellist at the nearby Ministry of Culture. As much as I enjoyed TLD the movie, I find this story even more enthralling. Bond’s split-second decision to spare the sniper, shooting to wound rather than to kill her, is substantially more plausible in this short story, as he has been watching her approach and leave the Ministry over the course of three days, unaware of her true identity of “Trigger,” the sniper he’s been set to kill. In this scenario, Bond has had a chance to actually form an attachment to her…as opposed to the situation in the movie, where his choice to spare Kara is presented as largely an impulse move, later proven to be an incisive choice on Bond’s part. Some of the most interesting parts of this story to my mind are the bits with Bond filling in the days in West Berlin, waiting for the unspecified night when Agent 272 will decide to make his break through the No Man’s Land dividing East and West. Bond’s choice of reading material over the three days, and his third day, “crammed” as it is “with an almost lunatic programme of museums, art galleries, the zoo, and a film” give the sort of insight into his character that the movies generally seem to lack…or perhaps it is more an insight into Fleming’s own habits when visiting one of the Thrilling Cities he was to cover in a series of articles for the Sunday Times.
“The Property of a Lady”
This is one of the more low-key Bond short stories. No one is shot or killed, no punches are thrown, and the titular “lady” isn’t even very attractive. What she is, is a known Russian agent who has been ostensibly working for MI6 for several years, feeding the Reds misinformation that she (and they) believe to be genuine. Now it’s time for her to get paid off by the Russians, who have arranged for her to take possession of a Faberge egg, allegedly commissioned by her Grandfather in pre-revolutionary days. It is to be auctioned off at Sotheby’s, netting her a large sum of money in a manner that is expected to pass the scrutiny of her employers in the British Secret Service. Bond senses a way to use her, and the auction, to cripple the workings of the KGB in England…so he attends the auction in the company of a legitimate bidder for the Property in question. His keen eyes identify a man who is likely to be the chief Russian agent in England. Bond follows him back to the Russian embassy…and his suspicions regarding the man’s identity are confirmed. Case closed. Comrade Piotr Malinowski will be expelled from the country. “In the grim chess game that is secret service work, the Russians…have lost a queen.” Primarily interesting for its glimpses behind the scenes at Sotheby’s and MI6, I’m not sure if this story would have made a satisfactory television episode for the proposed James Bond television series… but it’s significantly more substantial than our next short story:
“007 in New York”
Plainly put, this is nothing more than a shaggy dog story, and the dog in question is a reptile. I’ll give away nothing more than that, for those of you who abhor spoilers. Many copies of the short story collection, OCTOPUSSY AND THE LIVING DAYLIGHTS, don’t bother to include this little mini-tale. Mine does. It was essentially an addendum to the collection of Fleming’s travel essays, THRILLING CITIES, written to assuage American readers who might feel Fleming’s take on New York City insufficiently thrilling. It probably sold a few extra copies of that book, so it did its job, I suppose. For Fleming devotees, the most meaningful part of this story is probably the recipe included for Scrambled Eggs a la James Bond. For the casual Fleming reader, it's a story that isn't exactly an essential part of the canon.
BeatlesSansEarmuffs will return soon to review “Octopussy” the short story. Following that, further Fleming mini-reviews will probably be delayed (but not abandoned) until after we’ve all had a chance to discuss SPECTRE.
One of Binder's best title sequences, love it. The song? it's okay.
@Beatles, thansk for those reviews! I'd totally forgotten about the 'crammed' programme in TLD. Indeed, it must've been Fleming himself. How else would Bond stay awake all night if he'd been out all day?
PLEASE NOTE: \:D/
As some of you are aware, I live in Japan. We do not get SPECTRE until the first weekend in December. It is totally, grossly unfair but all my telegrams to EON have been roundly ignored. ;) Therefore - just like with Skyfall - I will be taking a break from this forum entirely fairly soon.
I'll hang in here (mostly only on here ...) until the day before SPECTRE premieres in the U.K. During my absence, that stalwart Original, BeatlesSansEarmuffs, has agreed to chair this thread. He will be fully in charge during that period. Then I will return - with a vengeance and bubbling over with enthusiasm and opinions, no doubt, the evening of Dec. 4th (morning of Dec. 3rd for most of you).
For these last few remaining days that I am in the forefront here, let's continue discussing anything you'd like regarding SPECTRE (minus spoilers!), as well as : Bond opening titles through the years ...your favorite Pre-itles Sequences (PTS) ...your personal memories of seeing Bond in the theater,... also the Fleming bond stories... and more!
Cheers! :>
I feel I should begin this review by explaining my reasoning for (temporarily) abandoning the pattern that has (until now) established the structure for these reviews. Up until now I have been reviewing the novels in the order they were published, which also is the order in which they were written. With the short story collections, this structure had to be abandoned to some extent; not so abruptly with the compilation FOR YOUR EYES ONLY, as these stories bear a copyright date of 1960 (fitting nicely between GOLDFINGER, copyright 1959 and THUNDERBALL, copyright 1961)…but the stories in OP & TLD are copyright 1962, 1963 and 1965/66. In the end, I opted to go thematically, with reviews of the Spectre trilogy of TB, OHMSS and YOLT coming along sometime down the pike, and that series being only slightly interrupted by the true “odd novel out” of TSWLM. Thematically, grouping all the short stories together makes a sort of sense to me…all except for this one. Although it was the last Bond story written by Fleming to see print, I really didn’t want to have “Octopussy” be the last Bond story I reviewed. The result would be just too depressing. Best to end with the “Back to Square One” mood found at the close of TMWTGG. “James Bond Will Return” is very nearly the subtext of the closing pages of GOLDEN GUN. OP (the short story) is a cephalopod of a very different color.
“Octopussy” the short story was written by a man who knew he was dying, about a man who knows he is dying. Ian Fleming wrote what he knew, and at this point in his life, unwilling to make the changes in his lifestyle that his doctors urged on him, Fleming knew that he wasn’t much longer for this world. With this inescapable eventuality in his mind, the tale of Major Dexter Smythe, OBE, Royal Marines (Retired) emerged from Fleming’s typewriter. A resident of Jamaica after serving Britain ably during WWII, a man proud of his many easy sexual conquests, Smythe has already had two coronary thromboses. Not to put too fine a point on it, Smythe is a fairly obvious stand-in for Ian Fleming himself. He is also the villain of this story, having killed an innocent man after the close of the war in order to seize a cache of Nazi gold for his own enrichment.
Most of the James Bond novels and stories are told by an omniscient narrator who chooses to focus on the character of Agent 007. Most of what happens in the Bond novels and short stories are seen from Bond’s point of view, and if Bond couldn’t see something happening, then the reader generally doesn’t see it either. There are a few exceptions to this authorial style -- FRWL, for example, details the history of Red Grant, introduces us to Rosa Klebb and Kronsteen, and describes the Konspiratsia that embroils Bond in one of his greatest adventures, in the first third of the book before Bond even comes on stage as anything other than a potential target. But once he is indeed on stage, Bond becomes once again the focus of our omniscient narrator’s viewpoint. TSWLM is told entirely in the voice of that novel’s heroine. But only in this particular short story is our villain the focus of the entire tale, and I think this exceptional development is well worth noting.
This story contains Ian Fleming’s sole mention of Hannes Oberhauser, who evidently figures somewhere in the plot of the upcoming movie, SPECTRE, as well as in the life of the young, recently orphaned James Bond (according to the canon as developed by his creator.) Bond fans may find it worthwhile to search out this story for that reason alone. But to me, the point that Fleming chooses to make a simulacrum of himself into the villain of his final James Bond story is what truly makes this story worth searching out. One might wish to belabor the point that the sexually-suggestive octopus(sy) of the title is the method by which Smythe chooses to end his own life, once Bond confronts him with proof of his guilt and gives him a week to settle his affairs…but I’d prefer to urge interested parties to pick up the story and determine these sorts of matters for themselves. In many ways, the Bond short stories give careful readers far more food for thought than can be found in the full novels!
I am still on Moonraker and will make some headway while on sabbatical. I'll email @BeatlesSansEarmuffs in regular email so he can post my mini reviews on the stories as I finish them. I will be gone just a tad over one month here. I'm confident this thread is in good hands, but I cannot risk coming back at all from October 27th (I'll recheck it; but I think that is the day before the premiere in London) until Dec. 6th (Sunday), which is when I will see SPECTRE. I think it's will be glorious, actually. B-)
A very good review there @BeatlesSansEarmuffs.
Your last sentence struck a chord with me, because of all the Fleming short stories and novellas, the one that lives with me the most is "Quantum of Solace". This story is clearly a homage to W. Somerset Maugham, and it does the master justice by being both thought-provoking and deeply moving at the same time.
The payload of the story is
As a 13 year old being introduced to the Bond mix of sex, cars, action, gadgets, cool design and music, politics never entered into my take on the spy craze of the 60's. It was just plain mesmerizing and intoxicating. A whole new world of film adventure had opened up after the release of "Goldfinger" and being a real dyed in the wool fan of something became a reality for many of us during that time period. Before that there were a handful of fades in the late 50's, early 60's but nothing that directly affected adult and youth culture in the same way. Our view of sex, action, cars and music changed almost overnight. It really was a time when men wanted to be Bond and women wanted Bond. Bond truly was aspirational during that time, even to teens like myself that were just grasping the idea of driving cool cars and having even cooler girlfriends. It was a unique time that has never been repeated and with the onslaught of Eurospy films and TV shows like "The Man from U.N.C.L.E." to carry us all through until the next Bond film it felt like it was spies 24/7 for anyone who found themselves being a Bond fan. For a teen at that time I didn't have time to worry about politics, I was too busy saving the world.