The James Bond Questions Thread

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  • Posts: 2,917
    Largo isn't introduced into the movie until the song is finished, so first-time audiences (i.e. the target audiences) would have never have assumed the song was about anyone else than Bond.
  • DarthDimiDarthDimi Behind you!Moderator
    Posts: 24,179
    Revelator wrote: »
    Largo isn't introduced into the movie until the song is finished, so first-time audiences (i.e. the target audiences) would have never have assumed the song was about anyone else than Bond.

    Ow good point, @Revelator!
  • ThunderpussyThunderpussy My Secret Lair
    Posts: 13,384
    I'm making this point in Jest gentlemen so please let me have my little joke .....
    In Goldfinger we also don't see the Villain until after the song, so is that about Bond ? :P
  • edited June 2021 Posts: 2,917
    Now I'm hearing Tom Jones belt "LARGOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!"
  • ThunderpussyThunderpussy My Secret Lair
    Posts: 13,384
    Both Shirley and Tom, they certainly produce Big voices in Wales. ;)
  • DragonpolDragonpol https://thebondologistblog.blogspot.com
    Posts: 18,271
    I'm making this point in Jest gentlemen so please let me have my little joke .....
    In Goldfinger we also don't see the Villain until after the song, so is that about Bond ? :P

    Exactly my first thoughts and then I remembered the clue was in the film title and that was the difference. Clearly I need to sit down in a darkened room.
  • Posts: 1,970
    Glad my question has sparked a nice conversation.
  • w2bondw2bond is indeed a very rare breed
    Posts: 2,252
    Thrasos wrote: »
    Q Vasilios Sotiropoulos: In the lyrics to Thunderball, who do you talk about as being ‘He’? Is it Bond, No. 1, or Largo?

    A Don Black: I was thinking about Bond, thinking ‘He always runs while others walk’. In my mind it was James Bond, but I guess it could work for Largo too.

    https://www.007.com/david-arnold-and-don-black-interviews/

    I'm pretty sure "The Many Lives of James Bond" by Mark Editz addresses this question. Perhaps it's the same interview featured in the book
  • goldenswissroyalegoldenswissroyale Switzerland
    Posts: 4,483
    Thanks for all your answers to my TND question. Great thread!
  • Posts: 2,917
    On a similar note regarding Bond title sequences having to conform to what the audience has already seen, Maurice Binder had planned to use Egyptian imagery for The Spy Who Loved Me's titles and even went on a scouting trip to Egypt:

    “I went through the Cairo Museum and I saw some of the jewels, that gold filigree, the long, golden fingernails…and those costumes with the headpieces. It was magnificent. And I said, ‘God! If I could only get a beautiful girl with these long gold fingernails and that headpiece, with the smoke and flame of Egypt behind her!’

    “But! What follows the titles? A submarine base in North Hampton, with Bond watching submarines going by, going Whoop! Whoop! Whoop! So, I said to myself, ‘I’ll have this exotic, beautiful Egyptian title, but Egypt doesn’t come in until about two reels later. I would mitigate and take away from the later excitement you see, because with a title you can do all sorts of exotic things. So, I decided against it. And Cubby said to me, ‘You went to Egypt and everything, and I didn’t see one Egyptian title?’ Producers notice those things—especially when they pick up the tab.”

    (Source)
  • DragonpolDragonpol https://thebondologistblog.blogspot.com
    Posts: 18,271
    Thrasos wrote: »
    Q Vasilios Sotiropoulos: In the lyrics to Thunderball, who do you talk about as being ‘He’? Is it Bond, No. 1, or Largo?

    A Don Black: I was thinking about Bond, thinking ‘He always runs while others walk’. In my mind it was James Bond, but I guess it could work for Largo too.

    https://www.007.com/david-arnold-and-don-black-interviews/

    That's a pretty diplomatic answer there from Don Black. I like it, not least because it tallies with what I said in my posts above. Namely, that the song lyrics could be construed to be about either Bond or Largo.
  • ThunderpussyThunderpussy My Secret Lair
    Posts: 13,384
    In modern parlance, the song could identify as Bond or Largo ;)
  • DragonpolDragonpol https://thebondologistblog.blogspot.com
    Posts: 18,271
    In modern parlance, the song could identify as Bond or Largo ;)

    You always keep us PC, @Thunderpussy. ;)
  • ThunderpussyThunderpussy My Secret Lair
    Posts: 13,384
    :))
  • w2bondw2bond is indeed a very rare breed
    edited June 2021 Posts: 2,252
    Excerpts from "The Many Lives of James Bond" by Mark Editz

    "Then I looked up "Thunderball", and it wasn't in the dictionary. It doesn't mean anything. I just thought, what kind of man is Bond and how do you get that title so that it falls effortlessly? Then I thought of the lyrics, "He always runs while others walk." I thought, hey, that's good. That's Bond. Then you go from there..."

    Q: There has been a playful debate...about who the subject of [Thunderball] is. It could be about either Bond or the bad guy. You're saying it was about Bond?
    "Yes, it was."

    Bond songs seem to be sung by and about different characters...."Thunderball" was about Bond
    .
    "Yeah, it doesn't matter who the character in the song is as long as it sounds attractive. "He always runs while others walk. He acts while others just talk." You want to meet this guy. You know that he's a special guy."
  • Posts: 1,970
    In TMWTGG, Was the Solex ever really needed in Scaramangas solar plant? When Bond pulled it out of its slot it seemed like it wasn't needed to collected the solar energy.
  • Posts: 5,993
    It was needed. Think of it as a super-charged photo-electric cell. Without it, the whole shebang doesn't work.
  • Posts: 1,469
    In the FYEO PTS, in Roger's scenes in the helicopter, have you noticed that he seems to squint? Do you think that was just because it was really bright when they shot those scenes, and he's naturally squinting? I half wondered if they shot that after he'd just woken up or something. I don't think he'd undergone any plastic surgery.
  • QBranchQBranch Always have an escape plan. Mine is watching James Bond films.
    Posts: 14,571
    His eyes are sore from the force of the air being pushed by the rotors, when he was hanging on outside.
  • edited July 2021 Posts: 15,117
    w2bond wrote: »
    Excerpts from "The Many Lives of James Bond" by Mark Editz

    "Then I looked up "Thunderball", and it wasn't in the dictionary. It doesn't mean anything. I just thought, what kind of man is Bond and how do you get that title so that it falls effortlessly? Then I thought of the lyrics, "He always runs while others walk." I thought, hey, that's good. That's Bond. Then you go from there..."

    Q: There has been a playful debate...about who the subject of [Thunderball] is. It could be about either Bond or the bad guy. You're saying it was about Bond?
    "Yes, it was."

    Bond songs seem to be sung by and about different characters...."Thunderball" was about Bond
    .
    "Yeah, it doesn't matter who the character in the song is as long as it sounds attractive. "He always runs while others walk. He acts while others just talk." You want to meet this guy. You know that he's a special guy."

    I never had any doubt that it was about Bond.

    My questions: who were the actors considered to replace Roger Moore for FYEO? And Simon Russell Beale was considered to play a role in SF, being an old friend of Sam Mendes and having been directed by him on stage. What character was it?
  • BennyBenny Shaken not stirredAdministrator, Moderator
    Posts: 15,135
    Ludovico wrote: »

    My questions: who were the actors considered to replace Roger Moore for FYEO? And Simon Russell Beale was considered to play a role in SF, being an old friend of Sam Mendes and having been directed by him on stage. What character was it?

    I've got no actual evidence, but I would think Simon Russell Beale was being considered for the role of Kincaid. Looking at his appearance and age.
    As for actors considered to replace Moore in FYEO, according to IMDB, the following were on the short list : Lewis Collins, David Warbeck, Michael Billington, David Robb, Michael Jayston, Nicholas Clay and Ian Ogilvy.


    My question, in CR we see LeChiffre looking at a news report, British Government Agent Kills Unarmed Prisoner. And later M throws down a newspaper with the headline.
    MI6 KILLS UNARMED PRISONER.
    How does anyone know that it's MI6 that did this?
    It's not like Bond introduced himself, or left any identifying evidence behind.
  • edited July 2021 Posts: 1,469
    That's a good question. Perhaps it could be assumed that, since Bond made such a mess of the embassy, they might've dusted for prints, got some, and tracked him to MI6? Or could the embassy use security video of his face to get a facial recognition match in some system? Or perhaps the British government, out of embarrassment, might have admitted it was Bond.
  • mtmmtm United Kingdom
    Posts: 16,383
    Yes, really there's no way to tell he's even British, is there?
  • DragonpolDragonpol https://thebondologistblog.blogspot.com
    edited July 2021 Posts: 18,271
    You know what MI6 are going to do? They're going to deny the whole thing ever even happened. They definitely wouldn't implicate themselves or whether or not any of their agents were involved in it. They would just issue a complete blanket denial of involvement if they said anything at all about it.

    Bear in mind that not so very many years ago MI6 even refused to confirm or deny where their headquarters building was located! Secrecy and confidentiality are their watchwords, as of course they should be. They're the British Secret Service after all. If the Press did find out it was an MI6 agent who was involved it must either have been informed guesswork or them finding out via other means than MI6 itself.
  • BennyBenny Shaken not stirredAdministrator, Moderator
    Posts: 15,135
    Another question. In TB just before Bond is about to check out the Disco Volante underwater,he Pinder and Felix arrive in a dinghy. To which Bond says,”Good luck.”
    Good luck to what?
  • QBranchQBranch Always have an escape plan. Mine is watching James Bond films.
    Posts: 14,571
    Benny wrote: »
    Another question. In TB just before Bond is about to check out the Disco Volante underwater,he Pinder and Felix arrive in a dinghy. To which Bond says,”Good luck.”
    Good luck to what?
    It doesn't sound like Connery's voice though. He speaks quieter than that seconds before hand. It appears Pinder says "Good luck", but the line is added in later because his lips hardly move. Bond already has his mouthpiece in when it is said, too.
  • BennyBenny Shaken not stirredAdministrator, Moderator
    Posts: 15,135
    Either way. Why is it added?
    Is Pinder saying good luck? It doesn’t appear so.
  • QBranchQBranch Always have an escape plan. Mine is watching James Bond films.
    Posts: 14,571
    I suppose it's something you'd say when you want someone to come back alive, and not with a spear in their back.
  • DragonpolDragonpol https://thebondologistblog.blogspot.com
    Posts: 18,271
    I'd need to watch Thunderball again as I haven't seen it in full for a good while but with the history of its editing that involved scenes and dialogue chopped around it could well be a mistake or just a result of the rather sloppy editing in the film. Not that it was all Peter Hunt's fault of course as Terence Young rather dropped him in it when he left Thunderball early to direct another film. Hunt was left to basically piece the film all together himself.
  • QBranchQBranch Always have an escape plan. Mine is watching James Bond films.
    Posts: 14,571
    Yes, the editing is notoriously sloppy. You can see it too when Felix talks - his words don't match his mouth movements. I watched that scene on loop for five minutes. Bond speaks quietly (as they all should in that situation); then Felix talks; and then we hear a different voice again say "good luck", which should be Pinder. It makes sense from a script viewpoint that they would all have some dialogue in this shot. It seems natural that one of them would wish Bond success on his mission.
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