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Hardly. Anyone who's read the synopses of the screenplays and Fleming's original treatment knows that Fleming departed greatly from both and fashioned his own work. Thunderball was never "screenplay-square, first--it was a collection of drafts, none near finality, that differed wildly from the novel. Fleming cherrypicked what would work and what personally appealed to him--as a result, the novel in fact has more "flow" than its antecedents. Furthermore, building from those drafts ensured a more solid plot for his novel, freed from the inconsistencies and lapses of logic that usually marred his plotting.
Fleming was also not interested in femme fatales or their opposites. His Domino mixes both "good" and "bad" girl elements, and is thus a more interesting character than the film's Domino and Fiona.
I chalked it up to the fact that this was the closest Fleming came to a collaboration and that the seed of the concept was born for film first. I wasn’t saying that the original drafts were identical at all, but you nailed it for me when you said he cherry picked the ideas he thought would work.
I was underwhelmed by the novel. However, I’m engaged in my own read-a-thon (inspired by our dear members), and I will be facing off with TB in the very near future. I look forward to see if my feelings are still negative...!
That's two. (Sorry had to say something silly!)
Apart from TMWTGG which he wrote when he was clearly very ill and therefore shouldn’t be judged by, his weakest suit was probably DAF in which he tried to write an American gangster story and didn’t entirely pull it off.
But hey, all Fleming is good Fleming we were so lucky to have him.
Raymond Chandler if I'm not mistaken had only praises for DAF. I always thought the novel was slightly out of touch with the others. James Bond doing a Philip Marlowe of himself. Not bad at all and it has great moments, but not his best.
Love the scenes at the race track and mud baths. And of course the scenes in 'Spectreville'
Another book I would love to see adapted faithfully.
+1.
Chandler was a bit more critical:
Chandler afterward wrote to Fleming "I thought my review was no more than you deserved considering your position on the Sunday Times and I tried to write it in such a way that the good part could be quoted and the bad parts left out. After all, old boy, there had to be some bad parts. I think you will have to make up your mind what kind of a writer you are going to be. You could be almost anything except that I think you are a bit of a sadist!" In a later letter he added "anyone who writes as dashingly as you do, ought, I think, to try for a little higher grade" and "Of course I liked Diamonds are Forever and I enjoyed reading it, but I simply don’t think it is worthy of your talents."
Anyone interested in Chandler's review of Dr. No can read it here.
I think so, especially since From Russia With Love was a clear advance from DAF.
Over the years, PussyNoMore has read all this stuff but hasn't retained it in the same way. Revelator is a real source.
Back to DAF, Chandler was right, it wasn't worthy of Fleming's talents.
The Fleming paradox was, when he was good, he was truly great. A writer with enormous talent and a descriptive prowess that left you breathless. The 'sweep' was all encompassing.
When he was average, he was truly average. Maybe it was down to his health or his mental state, who knows?
Chandler was, himself, a lot more consistent albeit, his plots were always either indecipherable or non-existent but atmosphere. Boy could that guy write!
Fleming would agree entirely with you. As he wrote in his London Magazine article on Chandler:
Interestingly, Fleming's own dialogue was adequate and not nearly as memorable as Chandler's, which might explain his admiration. When Fleming tried writing throwaway lines and wisecracks he often came across as stagey. That said, when it comes to aphorisms the Bond books are very rich--Goldfinger in particular is full of them, perhaps because it dates from around the time Fleming and Chandler were most busily corresponding.
Partially because he was far more in his element. I think Fleming was trying to please the American market with DAF. Come to think of it, there are a lot of parallels between the novel DAF and LTK.
His position regarding the weakest also used to involve three: DAF, TSWLM & TMWTGG.
A recent re-reading of TSWLM has seen this reduced to just two as PussyNoMore has taken it permanently off his ‘weak’ list. The work is in fact a very successful attempt to do something different that resulted in a great noir / gangster novel.
The moral of the story is that you can always teach an old PussyNoMore new tricks!
It's a great underrated novel, just an atypical Bond novel.
PussyNoMore says hear hear !
True. But as a Bond novel I'm always underwhelmed.
I used to have it in audio as well,read by Ian Ogilvy no doubt !
TSWLM & GF don't do much for me.
If I had to choose the worst book then I would say TSWLM.
Couldnt agree more. The last third is passable but if I want to read about female melodrama I'll get hold of some Mills & Boon.
There are people out there who genuinely think this should be adapted into a film! Christ knows my hopes arent high for B25 but theres simply nothing here that could be filmable. A 5 minute gunfight round the back of a grotty motel? My cup runneth over.
TB is top three for me as well. I just love the setting as well as how epic and cinematic it feels and how the stakes gradually escalate as the book goes on (from Bond on a health kick to the west being held to ransom). I'm actually not a huge fan of the film though. It's good but not great imo, think it just works better as a novel, Fleming's detail keeps it engaging.
I think TSWLM is definitely the weakest. It was an interesting experiment and I actually quite like the idea of a book from the perspective of an outsider drawn into Bond's world. The problem is she isn't drawn into Bond's world really is she. She's drawn into an insurance scam with two low rent thugs then Bond turns up at the end and sorts it. Since Bond was investigating SPECTRE anyway, I think it would have been much more interesting to have her stumble onto one of their schemes before meeting Bond.
Just as well for you then that Fleming forbade it ever being filmed bar the use of the title.
Nevertheless, we got bits and pieces in TSWLM film and QoS.
Me either, to be honest. Unless there's a link with the fire trauma of Vivienne Michel and Camille?
"Goldfinger" I never found to be as fantastic as everybody claims it is - neither the book nor the film.
To my eternal shame I have never read 007INY. It wasn't part of my old copy of OP.
What do they use from that book in QOS?