alt.fan.james-bond FAQ - Version 6.04
Michael Reed
Posting-Frequency: 15 Days
Last-modified: 2002/11/26
Version: 6.04
URL: http://www.ianfleming.org/afjbfaq.htm
Copyright: (c) 2002 P. Michael Reed
Maintainer: Michael Reed <ree...@core.com>
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ALT.FAN.JAMES-BOND FAQ
Version 6.04
Last Updated November 26, 2002 / Created September 18, 1996
Maintained by Michael Reed
Based on the work by the original creators
Panos Sambrakos, Bryan Krofchok, David C. Morefield,
Deane Barker & James Rumley
Submissions by others credited where noted
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NOTE – You should use a MONOSPACED typeface setting to read this FAQ,
so the lists contained in it will line up properly.
UPDATE(S) – The obvious, Brief #2 Section 1
Brief #1 – THE NEWSGROUP AND ITS FOCUS
1 – This Newsgroup
2 – Other Bond Newsgroups
3 – The FAQ
4 – The Character of James Bond
Brief #2 – THE FILMS
1 – The latest James Bond film
2 – EON & its trademarks
3 – List of EON’s James Bond films
4 – List of other James Bond films
5 – The actors who have played James Bond
6 – The actors who could have played James Bond
7 – The actors who have played Felix Leiter
8 – Repeat offenders
9 – Over dubbing
10 – Specific films FAQ
A – Casino Royale – the television episode
B – Casino Royale – the movie
C – Dr. No / Live And Let Die
D – From Russia With Love
E - Goldfinger
F – Thunderball / Never Say Never Again
G – On Her Majesty’s Secret Service
H – Diamonds Are Forever
I – For Your Eyes Only
J - Octopussy
K – Licence To Kill
L – Tomorrow Never Dies
11 – List of theme songs & artists
12 – Soundtracks & scores
13 – Bond meets an Oscar
14 – What’s in a name?
Brief #3 – THE BOOKS
1 – The latest James Bond novel
2 – Ian Fleming
A – List of Ian Fleming novels
B – Stories to read in order
C – Who wrote The Spy Who Loved Me?
D – The Kennedy myth
E – SMERSH
F – SPECTRE
3 – Post-Fleming periods
A – Kingsley Amis’ novel
B – List of the John Gardner novels
1 – Stories to read in order
C – List of the Raymond Benson novels
1 – Stories to read in order
D – Other Glidrose novels featuring Bond
E – Reference books
4 – Fan fiction
Brief #4 – WHEN BOOK AND FILM INTERSECT
1 – Films and books – links or broken links?
2 – Explain the names “M” & “Q”
3 – What other “00” agents are mentioned?
4 – The Walther and other machinations
5 – Bright Leiter
Brief #5 – MORE SOURCES ON JAMES BOND
1 – The websites
2 – The fan clubs
Your mission is to send in any corrections, questions or comments
directly to the FAQ maintainer at ree...@core.com .
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BRIEF #1 – THE NEWSGROUP AND ITS FOCUS
If you are checking out the newsgroup, welcome. This is the official
FAQ for alt.fan.james-bond.
1 – This Newsgroup
Anything regarding James Bond is a valid topic here, including films
and books, spoofs, actors, filmmakers and authors, collectibles, music,
and on and on. The newsgroup has been the place for finding Bond
information since 1992. As a result, you will find many of the denizens
here have been acquainted for a while and have knowledge from the
effortless to the arcane. Do not be put off by this.
Being a non-moderated newsgroup, the only way to fail to ingratiate
yourself is to troll or further trolling behavior, ask for
everyone’s “favorite” this or that or to fail to check out this FAQ for
the simple questions contained herein. The FAQ does not aim to answer
anything except FREQUENTLY asked questions. So if it is in here it has
been asked before, repeatedly.
2- Other Bond Newsgroups
alt.fan.james-bond is NOT a binaries newsgroup and you should not post
large binary files. If you want multimedia files look for
alt.binaries.james-bond, which is the place to find them. If your news
server does not carry it you might suggest to them to start doing so.
3 – The FAQ
David Marsh wrote version 1.0 of the FAQ in November 1994. From there,
it became the purview of Panos Sambrakos and the others listed at the
top of the document starting December 18, 1996. They maintained it
until version 5.0 was released October 13, 2000. Starting with version
2.2, the FAQ has carried the status of an “official” Internet FAQ. You
are reading an original work based upon the previous incarnations.
It is crossposted to the news.answers and alt.answers newsgroups and it
is being archived at many places around the net. Look for it at:
<ftp://rtfm.mit.edu/pub/usenet/news.answers/james-bond/FAQ>
<ftp://rtfm.mit.edu/pub/usenet/alt.fan.james-bond/alt.fan.james-
bond_FAQ>
You can also get it by email by sending a message to:
<mailto:mail-...@rtfm.mit.edu> and writing in the body:
”send usenet/news.answers/james-bond/FAQ”
The FAQ also has it's own place on the Web, as part of “MR. KISS KISS
BANG BANG!” Visit <http://www.ianfleming.org> and you will also find a
web-only supplement full of even more 007 information than is presented
here. It can be found at
<http://www.ianfleming.org/mkkbb/afjbfaq/what.shtml>
4 – The character of James Bond
James Bond is a fictional British secret agent. He holds the “double-o”
prefix, which gives him a licence to kill in the course of his duties
for MI6. He first appeared in novel form in 1953, created by author Ian
Fleming. More information regarding Fleming and the books can be found
in Brief #3, Sections #2 and #2A.
Fleming based James Bond on an amalgamation of people he knew while in
the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve, along with some of the exploits
Fleming wanted to participate in himself. Fleming never got to spend
much time in the field and unlike his creation’s affinity for high
stakes gambling, Fleming typically played for small change.
The name of his handiwork came to pass by simple observation. His wife
enjoyed a coffee table book entitled “Field Guide To Birds Of The West
Indies”. Fleming wanted a simple, straightforward name for his
workmanlike agent. He saw the author of that book was an ornithologist
named James Bond and borrowed it. His character has no middle name. He
later told the real James Bond that should a particularly foul species
of bird be discovered, he would graciously lend his name to it.
He chose the “00” designation after a real life occurrence. During his
Whitehall tenure he pursued secret documents prefixed with “00”.
(Submitted by Rhino <mailto:rh...@blueyonder.co.uk>)
BRIEF #2 – THE FILMS
While Ian Fleming’s creation began as a pulp fiction hero, there can be
no denying that it has been the big screen that has made James Bond
among the most recognizable characters in history. The films rank among
the most profitable and longest running for any series, and have made
far more adventures for fans than any other in the last half-century.
1 – The latest James Bond film
“Die Another Day” was released November 22, 2002, the twentieth EON.
Playing, as I’ve always wanted to say, in theaters everywhere. For the
moment anyway.
It bears repeating, you should NEVER expect to see Sean Connery, Roger
Moore, or any previous leading man make a return appearance as a
villain, family member or assistant to 007. Check 007News
<www.ianfleming.org/007news/> for further updates.
At this time it appears Pierce Brosnan should return for a fifth (and
likely final) turn as Bond. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves.
2 – EON and its trademarks
EON Productions, Ltd., is the maker of James Bond films, dating back to
the first silver screen effort in 1962. EON is supposedly an acronym
of “everything or nothing”. Producers Albert R. “Cubby” Broccoli and
Harry Saltzman formed the company in 1961. Saltzman sold out his shares
in 1975, and passed on in 1994. Broccoli died in 1996 and Barbara
Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson, daughter and stepson to Cubby, now run
EON. While Broccoli was American and Saltzman Canadian EON is
considered a European company since it is a subsidiary of Danjaq, S.A.,
and EON is a British-based outfit. Danjaq is a contraction of DANa
Broccoli and JAcQueline Saltzman, wives of the founding producers.
As you will read in a bit, EON has not made every Bond film. But they
have created the trademarks closely associated with Bond and have
complete control over future Bond films.
Among the trademarks are the distinctive James Bond theme song, to be
documented in Brief #2, Section #11 A “The James Bond Theme Debate”,
and the gun-barrel image opening every film. Please note it is not a
camera shutter or gun-sight, but a gun-barrel. Maurice Binder, who
designed the majority of the title sequences in the movies, also
created the opening sequence, initially using a real gun-barrel opened
to allow a camera to peer through, with a gun from a Piccadilly shop.
The sequence has been filmed a few times. The first one was in the
first film, “Dr. No”. However, it is not Sean Connery who turns and
fires. Working in a hurry, Binder used Connery’s stunt double Bob
Simmons. After that, the actor portraying Bond did his own firing. Here
is the list of gun barrel sequences.
“Dr. No” – the original, with stuntman Bob Simmons doubling for Connery
“Thunderball” – featuring Connery, shot in scope format like the film
“On Her Majesty’s Secret Service” – George Lazenby, dropping to one knee
“Live And Let Die” – Roger Moore, for the first time
“The Spy Who Loved Me” – Moore again, and again re-shot in scope
“The Living Daylights” – Timothy Dalton’s turn
“GoldenEye” – Pierce Brosnan’s debut, using a computer generated image
by Daniel Kleinman, who took over following Binder’s death
For final proof to naysayers, watch the “GoldenEye” credits as the
theme song begins. The bullet is shown exiting to gun barrel.
3 – List of EON’s James Bond films
Here is the chronological list of EON’s James Bond films. Note that the
release year of “Dr. No” shown below is for England; the film debuted
in the U.S.A. in 1963.
TITLE YEAR STAR TIME ACRONYM
----- ---- ---- ---- -------
Dr. No 1962 Sean Connery 111 DN
>From Russia With Love 1963 Sean Connery 118 FRWL
Goldfinger 1964 Sean Connery 111 GF
Thunderball 1965 Sean Connery 129 TB
You Only Live Twice 1967 Sean Connery 116 YOLT
On Her Majesty's Secret Service 1969 George Lazenby 140 OHMSS
Diamonds Are Forever 1971 Sean Connery 119 DAF
Live And Let Die 1973 Roger Moore 121 LALD
The Man with the Golden Gun 1974 Roger Moore 125 TMWTGG
The Spy Who Loved Me 1977 Roger Moore 125 TSWLM
Moonraker 1979 Roger Moore 126 MR
For Your Eyes Only 1981 Roger Moore 127 FYEO
Octopussy 1983 Roger Moore 130 OP
A View to a Kill 1985 Roger Moore 131 AVTAK
The Living Daylights 1987 Timothy Dalton 130 TLD
Licence to Kill 1989 Timothy Dalton 135 LTK
GoldenEye 1995 Pierce Brosnan 130 GE
Tomorrow Never Dies 1997 Pierce Brosnan 119 TND
The World Is Not Enough 1999 Pierce Brosnan 128 TWINE
As mentioned earlier, the twentieth EON Bond release is due in late
2002 and will star Pierce Brosnan. Posters in the newsgroup use the
acronyms in the above list VERY FREQUENTLY. You should become familiar
with them quickly.
4 – List of other James Bond films
Some of the films featuring James Bond were made apart from EON. For an
answer why, go to Brief #1, Section #10 and select the appropriate
film. Here are the films in order of release date.
TITLE YEAR STAR TIME ACRONYM
----- ---- ---- ---- -------
Casino Royale 1954 Barry Nelson 60 CRTV
Casino Royale 1967 David Niven 130 CR
Never Say Never Again 1983 Sean Connery 137 NSNA
5 – The actors who have played James Bond
A few talented men have gotten to portray James Bond. We start with the
EON five, and then the others as well. Note that Roger Moore is older
than Sean Connery.
A – Sean Connery, born August 25, 1930. Played Bond from 1962-1967,
1971, 1983.
A Scot with minimal credits to his name in 1962, he was handpicked by
Broccoli and Saltzman to star in the first Bond motion picture. There
is less dialogue for Connery than in future turns, and his name was not
marketed particularly heavily in the release of either of the first two
films. But Connery proved to be the perfect person to assimilate
Fleming’s cold warrior on screen. He was tough yet suave, strong yet
smooth, and able to appeal to both ticket buying genders.
By the time of his fifth outing, “You Only Live Twice”, the marketing
machine said he “IS James Bond”. While true in the public’s mind,
Connery tired of the constant pressure of the role and the potential to
suffocate any other projects he wanted to be involved in. He left after
1967 and declined to appear in the sixth release. After a lackluster
box office performance, EON prodded and finally got their star back for
the seventh outing, “Diamonds Are Forever”. Then Connery left once
more, stating he would “never again” portray the superspy that he had
made a phenomenon. But he did come back for a reprise, in 1983’s “Never
Say Never Again”. For the story on that film, see Brief #1, Section
#10, E “Thunderball / Never Say Never Again”.
Regarding Bond films, Connery has said in interviews that he is
proudest of “From Russia With Love”. However, he made a severe and
nasty break from the Broccoli clan and any thought of him returning to
the EON series in any capacity is a pipe dream. Connery won an Academy
Award for his supporting role in 1987’s “The Untouchables”. He is still
an A-list box office draw to date and is also staunch in his support of
his native Scotland. While he did not look like Ian Fleming’s written
character on the surface, he was impressive enough to earn the ultimate
praise. Fleming himself had his character assume some of Connery’s
roots in “You Only Live Twice”. He told IMBD.com in 2002 that there is
no chance of him returning to EON’s series, particularly not as a
villain. "Absolutely no way - I could never be an enemy of James Bond."
B – George Lazenby, born September 5, 1939. Played Bond in 1969.
The only Bond star to make a solitary film appearance, George Lazenby
won the role after a worldwide search. He was actually an Australian
wrestler, car salesman and model who excelled in physical presence and
impressed the producers. But he was not prepared for the glimmer of
fame and fortune that came with the part.
He was cast in “On Her Majesty’s Secret Service”, one of Fleming’s most
detailed and harrowing novels. It required more characterization than
the typical Bond fare and Lazenby faced an uphill battle to achieve it.
Director Peter Hunt ignored him at one point, though it was an
unwitting mistake. During filming of some emotional scenes, Hunt wanted
his star to relate to the isolation Bond would be feeling so he left
him alone. Lazenby did not take this as direction or method of acting,
but rather a lack of respect by the director. He complained publicly
and friction grew between the men, which was duly noted by the press.
He also had trouble with female lead Diana Rigg. The most famous
example of tension between them, however, is actually a myth. Before a
kissing scene, Rigg was heard telling Lazenby at lunch that she was
having “garlic with [her] pate.” She meant it to be humorous but it was
easily taken out-of-context given Lazenby’s tenuous relationship with
Hunt and EON. While in later years he did complain about Rigg’s ego,
the Bond actor never validated this story.
What did him in, in the end, was as much box-office failure as his own
immaturity. The fans were being exposed to a new leading actor who had
burned bridges with Broccoli and Saltzman before the film was in
release. It would have been a hard sell following Connery in the best
of circumstances. With EON trying its best to hide his face in the
nominal promotion they did for the film, not to mention the script’s
deviation from the usual Bond formula, Lazenby was ill fated. Critics
and fans at the time were quick to place the blame squarely on the
actor and EON was quick to publicly agree with that assessment. They
seemed to disregard the film for years afterward.
His own career was spotty at best after his big break. Lazenby appeared
in “The Kentucky Fried Movie” and spoofed the Bond image in, among
other things, the TV movie “Return of the Man from U.N.C.L.E.” and the
recent CD-ROM game, “Spy Hunt”. In time, many Bond fans would come to
regard “On Her Majesty's Secret Service” as a high point in the series.
C – Roger Moore, born October 14, 1927. Played Bond from 1973-1985.
Already an established personality via television’s “The Saint”
and “The Persuaders”, Roger Moore stepped into the role at a time when
the series was facing a crisis. Connery had left for a second time,
after a successful commercial entry. EON knew that they had to avoid
the difficult sequence of events when Lazenby was hired. So for the
first time they did not look at unknown actors and hired Moore, who had
been approached for the role earlier in his career. Evidence suggests
that he was an initial consideration for the first Bond film. It is
endlessly speculative to suggest what would have happened had he landed
the role.
Be that as it may, he instead saw Sean Connery become a household
figure and wanted no part of replacing him in 1969. But after 1971 he
was willing to give it a go.
It is odd that so many things in his debut, 1973’s “Live And Let Die,”
stood in stark contrast to the previous entries in the series. It
featured a new composer for the first time in ten years and the first
rock ‘n’ roll theme song. Combined with focusing on Moore as an
attractive leading man, EON seemed to market Bond as a youthful icon.
While kids from ten years before had loved Connery, it cannot be said
that the films were aimed at that teenaged audience. Yet it was clear
that demographic was of utmost importance by the 1970’s.
Moore came into his own with his third entry, “The Spy Who Loved Me”.
He would start squawking about retirement as early as 1979. He meant it
firmly in 1983 but still cam back for a final swan song in 1985. By
then no one could hide from three obvious conclusions. One, that Moore
had aged so much as to be unbelievable in the role. Two, that his
lighthearted approach had made Bond accessible to a large audience but
had made him closer to a comic book hero than a serious role. And
three, that despite both of the previous points, Moore cast a large
shadow that EON would have a tough time trying to fill.
D – Timothy Dalton, born March 21, 1946. Played Bond on screen in
1987-1989, and stayed with the role publicly until 1994.
Timothy Dalton earned the role of Bond only after Pierce Brosnan was
prevented from taking the reins from Moore due to a contract conflict
with the NBC television show “Remington Steele”. It was Dalton’s second
time approaching the role. He wanted no part of it in 1971, saying in a
1987 interview on “Good Morning America” (and elsewhere) that he turned
it down
because he was “too young” for it and because of the imposing legacy of
Connery.
His first outing was “The Living Daylights”. The script, originally
written with Moore’s character in mind and tweaked slightly for what
would have been Brosnan’s approach, was adjusted noticeably for Dalton.
The film was a bit more serious in tone and viewers could not help but
compare Dalton’s physicality and attempt to restructure the character
in comparison to Moore, 19 years his senior. The next film, “Licence To
Kill,” was written for Dalton’s strengths as an actor.
He had indeed read the Fleming novels, and wanted to use them as a
backdrop for his interpretation of Bond. The film enjoyed huge
popularity across the world - except in the USA. The MGM/UA advertising
campaign, easily the weakest for a Bond film, was a result of the
studio wrestling with huge legal and financial troubles and helped doom
the film in the midst of a very competitive box office season.
Nonetheless, plans proceeded for Bond 17 with Timothy Dalton still
signed on for that film and at least one more. But a series of events
cropped up that estranged EON from its studio, the most notable being
the selling of television rights of the EON series.
When at last these issues were resolved and work resumed on Bond 17
(eventually known as “GoldenEye”), Dalton surprised many by announcing
he would NOT return as Bond. The public, he said, had associated him
with the role for eight years, and that was long enough for him. He was
eager to move on to new challenges. He left the 007 family in the
spring of 1994.
Cubby Broccoli and his daughter Barbara stated many times that they
were disappointed to lose Dalton. The official account endorsed by
Dalton, EON, and MGM/UA, is that Dalton left the series of his own
accord. Dalton remains a friend of the Broccoli family and spoke kindly
of Cubby when he died. There is credible evidence to suggest that by
1994 the powers that be inside MGM/UA made it clear that they would not
support a new Bond film starring Dalton but as of yet the smoking gun
has yet to uncovered for ballistic testing.
E – Pierce Brosnan, born May 16, 1953. Began in 1995, and is the
current star of the franchise.
In the end, it was a great thing that Pierce Brosnan had to wait to
secure the role of the world’s most famous secret agent. By the time he
was introduced, Brosnan looked the part and was truly hungry to
succeed. By replacing Dalton instead of Moore, he was able to avoid
either following Moore’s lighthearted lead or be compared in reaction
to it.
Dalton pleased hardcore Fleming fans with his darker, more realistic
portrayal of Bond. But the fans of Moore’s approach were never as
smitten with him. Brosnan has proven to surprise both camps. He has
played Bond straight but with verve. And Brosnan has that X factor. He
has embodied the same charisma that Connery had once brought into the
role. He has made Bond “cool” to the masses once again. He has been
able to handle the publicity and the expectations with panache. Best of
all, he has won over the majority of critics and fans alike.
Brosnan will play Bond a fourth time in 2002. The future beyond that is
still yet to be decided. Brosnan has indicated he is interested in
doing a fifth, and final, turn as James Bond. As of now, EON is NOT
SEEKING A NEW BOND. Any speculation at that time is not only premature,
but also wholly false.
F – Barry Nelson, born April 16, 1920. Played Bond in 1954.
American born Nelson was the first actor to portray James Bond. In was
not, however, a theatrical release. Instead in was on episodic
television. See Brief #2, Section #10, A “Casino Royale – the
television episode”
G – David Niven, born March 1, 1910. Played Bond in 1967.
A film star from features like “The Guns Of Navarone”, “Bonjour
Tristesse” and “The Pink Panther”, David Niven was cast in the Bond
spoof “Casino Royale”. For details about it, go to Brief #2, Section
#10, B “Casino Royale – the movie”. The Scot actor, who usually
answered to English when abroad, died in 1983 of ALS (Lou Gherig’s
Disease).
6 – The actors who could have played James Bond
Besides the men listed above many others have tried out for the role of
007. Here are some of the notable ones.
A – John Gavin – The American Gavin actually signed a contract with
EON to be the new James Bond in 1970, after the George Lazenby
implosion. However it was no secret that EON coveted Sean Connery. When
they lured him back with a promise to produce and star in two films and
a hefty one million-plus salary that was mostly used to co-find the
Scottish Education Trust, Gavin politely stepped aside. The actor, who
can be seen in “Psycho” and “Spartacus”, went on to be a U.S.
Ambassador to Mexico during the Reagan administration.
B – James Brolin – It is well documented that Brolin, best known now
as Barbra Streisand’s other half, screen tested opposite Maud Adams
before Moore agreed to return to “Octopussy”.
What is lesser know is Brolin’s claim that he was actually, like Gavin,
signed to a contract. He told Bond enthusiast Richard Ashton in 1998
that he was hired by Cubby Broccoli and had searched from a home in
London at the time. He also commented about his American accent by
suggesting that Broccoli did not intend to hide it and hoped audiences
would see Brolin’s physical presence and ignore the issue. Eventually
Moore returned and Brolin was left aside. (Submitted by Richard Ashton
<mailto:ash...@home.com>)
C – Julian Glover – Glover auditioned for the role after the
franchise needed a replacement for Connery, according to a Starlog
Magazine interview in 1981. But he was not surprised when Roger Moore
snagged the lead in “Live And Let Die” because “we all knew Roger would
get it.” Glover did make a mark with the series, playing villain Ari
Kristatos in “For Your Eyes Only”.
D – Sam Neill – Screen tested in 1986 after negotiations collapsed
with Pierce Brosnan, Neill was a strong contender, even getting a
public mention of contention by “The Living Daylights” casting
director. The role would end up going to Timothy Dalton. Neill is now
best identified for his star turn in “Jurassic Park”.
E – Lewis Collins – Having screen tested in the early eighties,
Collins was a favorite of the British press. He starred in the
television series, “The Professionals”. (Submitted by Mac
<ma...@virgin.net>)
F – David Warbeck - According to interviews the late actor gave
for “David Warbeck: The Man and His Movies”, he was under contract to
EON throughout the late seventies and early eighties, prepared to
assume the role of 007 should Roger Moore have packed his bags.
(Submitted by Mac <ma...@virgin.net>)
G – Michael Billington – Billington screen tested for the starring
role in “Live And Let Die”. While he was passed over then he did
portray Sergei Barsov, the Russian agent and lover of “Triple X”, Major
Anya Amasova, who was killed by Bond’s ski pole before 007 made his
parachute leap in the teaser of “The Spy Who Loved Me”. He is best
known for his role on the cult favorite TV show "UFO".
H – Patrick McGoohan – McGoohan’s credits include two television
spies – “The Prisoner” and “Danger Man” (a.k.a. “Secret Agent Man”). He
could have made a mark in the genre earlier but he did not want the
lead role in “Dr. No” due to “moral reasons.” Whether or not he would
have actually been given the role if desired is in question.
He was actually offered the role at least twice, according to some
sources, including interviews with the actor himself. One reason given
was his choice of not appearing in a work he would not let his
daughters watch. (Submitted by Malus
<mailto:fr...@fshailes.fsnet.co.uk>)
I – Stewart Granger – Never a real shot with EON, it is noted here
because Granger was one of a few preferences by Ian Fleming himself.
Granger’s real name was James Stewart, not to be confused with the
American actor famous for “It’s A Wonderful Life” and “The Philadelphia
Story”. When Fleming listed “James Stewart” on his list, he meant
Granger, who starred in “King Solomon’s Mines” and director Terence
Young’s “Woman Hater”.
7 – The actors who have played Felix Leiter
Many of the films have featured CIA Agent Felix Leiter, Bond’s American
counterpart. While the character remained the same the role was always
being recast. It was not supposed to be that way.
A – Jack Lord in “Dr. No” – The handsome actor, later to star
in “Hawaii Five-O”, created the role of Leiter in the first Bond movie.
He was supposed to return in “Goldfinger”. But Lord did not want a
similar deal. He asked for a huge salary in line with Connery’s and a
percentage of the profits. EON turned down his counteroffer.
B – Cec Linder in “Goldfinger” – The aged actor was supposed to play
Mr. Simmons, the bamboozled car player. But EON asked actor Austin
Willis and Linder to switch roles. Linder got more screen time but was
as far from both Lord’s portrayal and Fleming’s vision as possible.
This ensured that whoever played Leiter would never again try to make
demands for salary and rights.
C – Rik Van Nutter in “Thunderball” – By now, EON played “spot-the-
Felix” with fans. Van Nutter looked liked Fleming’s description even if
the screenplay did not do his character justice.
D – Norman Burton in “Diamonds Are Forever” - Burton played Leiter as
a curmudgeon, making the agent seem less than excited to work with his
old friend once more.
E – David Hedison in “Live And Let Die” and “Licence To Kill” – The
only actor to play Felix twice, though not consecutively, Hedison went
sixteen years between his appearances. While his Leiter and Bond are
contemporaries in his first shot, Hedison is given much more screen
time in “Licence To Kill” as the main crux of the plot, and an older
man than Bond, given Hedison’s age difference with Dalton.
F – John Terry in “The Living Daylights” – After Hedison’s role in
1973, Leiter went dormant in EON films until 1986, when Terry showed
up. He did not have a large role, but longtime fans felt comfort in
once again hearing from Bond’s opposite number.
G – Bernie Casey in “Never Say Never Again” – At least this time it
was truly hard for viewers to “spot-the-Felix” with Casey cast as
Leiter. The black actor and former pro football player portrayed the
CIA man as a friend of Bond’s and Casey and Connery expressed it well.
8 – Repeat offenders
Too extensive to list every example here, is it easy to spot actors
playing different roles in different films. Maud Adams is the most
notable (“Octopussy” and “The Man With The Golden Gun”), alongside
Charles Gray (“You Only Live Twice” and “Diamonds Are Forever”) and Joe
Don Baker (“The Living Daylights,” “GoldenEye” and “Tomorrow Never
Dies”). Take a look at Matthew Newton's James Bond Actors page from the
Bond Film Informant at
<http://www.mjnewton.demon.co.uk/bond/jbactors.htm > for a complete
rundown.
9 – Over dubbing
Also prevalent in Bond films if you watch carefully is the number of
actors whose voices were dubbed by someone else, particularly in the
early ones. This is not a complete list below, just a note about some
notables. It is singularly odd that one of the most famous Bond movie
lines of them all, Goldfinger’s retort to wanting Bond to talk by
muttering, “No, Mr. Bond, I expect you to die!” was not the actor’s own
voice.
Actor Role Film Looped by
----- ---- ---- ---------
Ursula Andress Honey Rider Dr. No Monica vander
Syl
Daniela Bianchi Tatiana Romanova From Russia With Love Barbara Jeffoed
Gert Frobe Goldfinger Goldfinger Michael Collins
Claudine Auger Domino Derval Thunderball Monica vander
Syl
Adolpho Celi Emilio Largo Thunderball Robert Rietti
Tetsuro Tamba Tiger Tanaka You Only Live Twice Robert Rietti
Gabriele Ferzetti Marc-Ange Draco OHMSS David deKeyser
John Hollis Blofeld For Your Eyes Only Robert Rietti
(The Auger and Ferzetti looped listings submitted by John Doherty
<john.e....@btinternet.com> and the Hollis listing by Mac
<ma...@virgin.net>)
Eric Pohlman looped Ernst Stavro Blofeld's voice in “From Russia With
Love” though the cat petting hands belonged to Anthony Dawson. While
one source claims that Pohlman’s widow confirmed he was also Blofeld’s
voice in “Thunderball”, no less than the film’s director, Terence
Young, (from “The Bond Files”) said it was Joseph Wiseman providing the
voice. (Submitted by David A. McIntee
<mailto:david....@btopenworld.com>) Wiseman played “Dr. No” and
that version of Blofeld sounds precisely like him. John Hollis was the
wheelchair bound Blofeld in “For Your Eyes Only”. Hollis played Lobot,
aide to Lando Calrissian, in “The Empire Strikes Back”.
And lastly, George Baker, the actor playing the real Sir Hilary Bray
in “On Her Majesty’s Secret Service”, is dubbed whenever Bond imitates
him. This example is quite disconcerting and unnecessary and detracts
from the viewing experience.
10 – Specific films FAQ
Certain questions seem to crop up often regarding things in specific
films. This section is a “FAQ in the FAQ” for these oft-repeated
queries. PLEASE read them carefully – you will see them appear in the
newsgroup and will be able to direct the poster to the FAQ or provide
the answer.
A – Casino Royale – the television episode
This was the first time Bond appeared in the visual media. Not a
feature film, this adaptation was a television production, an hour-long
episode of the CBS “Climax! Mystery Theatre” anthology series. It aired
live on October 21, 1954, the television rights selling for $1,000.
Barry Nelson played Bond as an American agent, nicknamed “Card Sense
Jimmy Bond”. Peter Lorre plays the villain Le Chiffre and was
inadvertently seen walking across the stage after his character is
killed. The joys of live TV.
B – Casino Royale – the movie
Fleming’s first novel, “Casino Royale” was offered for film rights for
$6000 and sold in 1956 to Gregory Ratoff. Later the rights were sold to
producer Charles K. Feldman for $75,000. In 1964, seeing the amazing
success of EON, Feldman approached Cubby Broccoli and Sean Connery
about making “Casino Royale” jointly. However, Connery asked for a cool
million-dollar salary and there was a dispute over production credits.
No agreement came to pass.
So Feldman, armed with the legal right to the actual James Bond
character and situations of “Casino Royale”, made a spoof of the Bond
genre. The 1967 film is a disaster, despite the combined talents of
David Niven, Peter Sellers, Woody Allen, Ursula Andress, Orson Welles,
Deborah Kerr, William Holden and John Huston.
MGM obtained the rights to “Casino Royale” at the turn of the century.
C – Dr. No / Live And Let Die
Both of these films get fans asking, “Where’s Q?” Q is in “Dr. No”.
Desmond Llewelyn just does not play him. Actor Peter Burton played
Major Boothroyd, head of Q Branch. Llewelyn took over the role in
1963’s “From Russia With Love”, his character’s actual name mentioned
in “The Spy Who Loved Me”. He would act in every Bond film through
1999’s “The World Is Not Enough” except for “Live And Let Die”. No one
from Q Branch appears in that film. For more on Q go to Brief #4,
Section #2.
D – From Russia With Love
There are two questions regarding this film. The first is about the
introduction of Blofeld’s cat. Never used in the books, the cat took
attention as a focal point to the unseen Blofeld. But the CAT’S NAME IS
NEVER MENTIONED AT ANY POINT. Not even a hint of it. Which is good, as
any name would be a distraction. Mike Meyers’ spoof character Austin
Powers proved this point by having the villain, Dr. Evil, name his
cat “Mr. Bigglesworth”.
The other question is if Ian Fleming actually has a cameo appearance in
the movie. Bryan Krofchok submitted the following for issue #3c of the
Ian Fleming Foundation's "Shaken, Not Stirred" newsletter in March 1995
(reprinted by permission of the author):
“The curious notion of Fleming's cameo is mentioned in Roger Ryan and
Martin Sterling's book of Bond trivia, ‘Keeping The British End Up’,
under the heading ‘Brief Encounter’. The scene in question pops up when
the Orient Express must stop for a truck that has stalled across the
tracks (originally, part of Grant's escape route). Watch for an oddly
placed gentleman wearing a white top and dark pants, who seems to be
holding some sort of walking stick.”
“His mode of dress is suspiciously identical to that of Ian Fleming's
in the well known photos of his visit to the set of the film during
shooting of the Orient Express. I say that the man is oddly placed,
because he seems to have no part in the plot, and cannot simply be
brushed off as someone merely out for a casual stroll due to the
apparent desolation of the surrounding area. I also find it quite odd
that although the train is passing fairly close to him, the man has his
back to it and is looking the other way.”
E – Goldfinger
When the bomb is ticking away and Bond is feverously trying to disarm
it we are privy to the seconds left. When the bomb is finally defused
we see “007” seconds left on it. However, Bond says that “Three more
ticks and Mr. Goldfinger would’ve hit the jackpot.” The reason for this
inconsistency is that the clock is supposed to end on “003” but in
editing some unknown person thought showing “007” would be a neat idea.
Connery was unavailable to loop his line and it stayed that way.
F – Thunderball / Never Say Never Again
This is the most rancorous debate of anything regarding James Bond. The
questions are aplenty here. Why is “Never Say Never Again” a retelling
of “Thunderball”, and why did a different production team make it? Why
do fans often snub it as an “unofficial” film? Who is Kevin McClory and
what role did he play in shaping James Bond? And why are there so many
continuity errors in “Thunderball”? Let’s begin with Kevin McClory.
Kevin McClory is a film producer who first made plans with Ian Fleming
to produce the first ever Bond feature film back in 1958. He wrote a
script with Fleming and screenwriter Jack Whittingham originally
called “Longitude 78 West” in 1959. When the project fell through
Fleming used the story as the basis for his 1961 Bond
novel “Thunderball”, without crediting either McClory or Whittingham.
McClory unsuccessfully attempted then to block Jonathan Cape's
publication of “Thunderball”. He brought suit against Fleming in 1963
and the outcome was that all future publications of the novel would
state that “it is based on a screen treatment by Kevin McClory, Jack
Whittingham, and Ian Fleming.” Furthermore McClory acquired all movie
rights to the story and its various treatments, referred to as “the
film scripts”.
His 1965 collaboration with EON, co-producing “Thunderball”, was an
appeasement of sorts to prevent a competitor of EON facing off against
them during the apex of Bondmania worldwide. In exchange McClory
abandoned all claims for another 10 years after the initial release of
the film. When in January 1976 the rights reverted back to him he wrote
an original script along with Len Deighton and Sean Connery himself,
called “Warhead 8”. When legal battle was started again by EON he was
finally forced to produce only a direct remake of “Thunderball”. The
result was 1983's “Never Say Never Again”. The film was not EON’s, and
could not use the trademark gun-barrel opening or theme music, not even
the name “Q” who was never in the novel or the original film scripts,
making many fans consider it “unofficial”.
McClory seemed to be the owner of SPECTRE and Blofeld, introduced
in “Thunderball”, and EON has never used them by name since
1971's “Diamonds Are Forever”. The villain in “The Spy Who Loved Me”
was originally SPECTRE, changed when it appeared legal trouble might
have ensued. The character in the opening credits of “For Your Eyes
Only” is Blofeld unnamed. Stay in this Section and go to I “For Your
Eyes Only”.
McClory attempted to make his own Bond output for years after that. In
late 1997 he aligned with Sony to attempt to produce an original film
series featuring James Bond. MGM responded with legal action to prevent
this. In March 1999, the Sony/McClory camp was soundly thumped in court
and Sony gave up any claim to owning James Bond. McClory, publicly
claiming “abandonment,” began peddling the rights he had, real or
imagined, to any interested party.
In the end MGM proved to hold a surprising edge, namely due to an
oversight on McClory's behalf. The copyright to “Thunderball” was
claimed by MGM when McClory had not renewed it properly and in effect
they retain at least the legal position to withstand any charge he may
bring.
“Thunderball” features more visible continuity errors than usual. From
the ever-changing color scuba masks in the end battle to Leiter
changing from shorts to pants during a helicopter ride, the film seems
sloppy. The problems stemmed from a meltdown in postproduction. Terence
Young had directed the first two films, and then sat out the third
before returning to direct “Thunderball”. The rigorous schedule took
its toll, as well as artistic differences with EON. Young walked out
during editing leaving editor Peter Hunt having to make the most of
what was already shot without the possibility of reshooting.
G – On Her Majesty’s Secret Service
Two prevalent questions arise often. The first is explaining why
Blofeld does not recognize Bond when they meet at Piz Gloria. The
previous film, “You Only Live Twice”, had the two antagonists come face-
to-face for the first time. This flew in the face of the Fleming novels
where the Piz Gloria meeting was the first meeting. EON both scrapped
the entire novel and storyline of “You Only Live Twice” and filmed it
out of sequence.
Director Peter Hunt and writer Richard Maibaum had to deal with this
issue. They decided to stay true to Fleming and film the Piz Gloria
scene as it had been, simply ignoring the gaffe. In truth they need not
have done so, since Bond did not glean anything with Blofeld/de
Bleuchamp at that time and could have merely held off their face-to-
face meeting until later with a bit of tweaking. But they did not go
this route.
The other question regards Bond’s marriage. He marries Tracy di Vicenzo
in the movie. It is the only time he ever married on screen. There is a
wedding scene in “You Only Live Twice”, but it is explained in the film
that the ceremony was a hoax.
H – Diamonds Are Forever
Two of the three common questions regarding this film arise from
editing, one from questionable writing.
First, when Blofeld calls for Burt Saxby we see Bond mimicking his
voice to fool Blofeld. However, after Bond shows up, so does Saxby. How
did the real Saxby know where and when to show up? Perhaps someone can
find out that answer, as the FAQ has not located a credible one.
Another frequent inquiry is how Plenty O’toole ended up at Tiffany
Case’s California home. After being thrown in the Tropicana hotel pool
in Las Vegas, Plenty sneaks back into the room and goes through
Tiffany’s purse, finding her address, as Bond and she keep occupied.
This scene was edited out of the movie before it was released making it
confusing. This does not explain WHY Plenty would want to get that far
involved.
Lastly, when Bond's car goes in the alley on the right set of wheels it
comes out on the left set. This is a flat out mistake. The filmmakers
attempted to correct this error by interspersing a close-up of Bond and
Tiffany as the car tilts from one side to the other. However, this
should still be impossible considering the width of the alley.
I – For Your Eyes Only
More frequent questions arise from this film than any other. Here are
the facts.
First, fans clamor to know if that was actually Blofeld in the opening
sequence of “For Your Eyes Only”. Yes it is. The character is never
mentioned by name since in 1981 EON was legally barred from using
Blofeld. See this Section’s E “Thunderball”/”Never Say Never Again” for
details. But on the Special Edition DVD of the film, both producer
Michael G. Wilson and director John Glen mention that it is Blofeld in
a direct reference to “On Her Majesty’s Secret Service”.
Another question involves the Blofeld plea promising Bond
a “delicatessen in stainless steel” in exchange for his life. It seems
Cubby Broccoli is responsible for the line being used in the film. Both
Michael G. Wilson and John Glen confirm this. It seems completely out
of character and not terribly clever.
Also recurrent is asking if the “Bond girl” was once a man. The answer
is NO! One of the bikini-clad women hanging out at Gonzales' pool is a
British actress named Tula, a.k.a. Caroline Cossey, who later grabbed
headlines by revealing she had started life as a man. Although the
world press played up the Bond angle (“Even 007 can't tell the
difference!”),
Tula's role in the film was nearly non-existent. But the actual “Bond
girl” of the film is Carole Bouquet.
J – Octopussy
An interesting question concerns Robert Brown appearing as “M” in the
film. The original “M” was Bernard Lee, who died after appearing in
1979’s “Moonraker”. EON did not use “M” in “For Your Eyes Only” out of
respect for Lee. But then they knew they needed the character to return.
What sets fans’ minds off is that Brown had already made an appearance
in “The Spy Who Loved Me” as Admiral Hargreaves. It is never stated
whether Brown is playing Lee’s character, Sir Miles Messervy, or is
playing Hargreaves as a new “M”. But the inference is that he played
Messervy. EON had recast actors in different roles very early on and
when Dame Judi Dench took over the role, Bond mentions
her “predecessor” in a singular fashion. In “The World Is Not Enough”
there is a picture of her predecessor, which is a portrait of Lee. It
is visible for a split moment after the holographic image of Renard is
turned off.
The other common question pertains to the Faberge eggs. Namely which
one was destroyed on camera? It was the real one. 009 is found with the
fake. Bond then switches it at the auction and keeps the real one.
Later he shows off the real one during the backgammon game. We also see
Q put the transmitter in the real egg. The real egg is then stolen by
Magda and given back to Kamal Khan. When Orlov arrives he claims that
the “fake” has caused enough trouble and smashes the egg. But it is the
real one that is smashed, as the Q Branch transmitter is in it.
K – Licence To Kill
This is not easy for everyone to discover but it is true that bullets
are used as music in the movie. During the tanker chase in the film’s
climax, listen closely for a machine gun fired at Bond. The ricocheting
bullets do indeed play out the introductory notes of the “James Bond
Theme” before the soundtrack kicks in.
L – Tomorrow Never Dies
There is a large misconception regarding Bond’s failure to read the
Chinese keyboard when intending to send a message. The movie “You Only
Live Twice” had claimed (departing entirely from Fleming’s character)
that Bond had taken a first in Oriental languages at Cambridge.
However, that does not mean he is fluent in written Chinese. It is
never specified whether it was Chinese in the first place, and whether
it was merely the spoken dialect he had mastered as opposed to the
written language.
11 – List of theme songs & artists
Here is a list of the films’ theme songs, as well as vocal recordings
used within the film or end credits or appearing on the soundtrack
albums.
TITLE PERFORMER FILM(if different)
----- --------- ------------------
James Bond Theme Monty Norman Dr. No
Underneath The Mango Tree Diana Coupland Dr. No
Jump Up Byron Lee/Dragonaires Dr. No
>From Russia With Love (instru) John Barry
>From Russia With Love (vocal) Matt Munro
Goldfinger Shirley Bassey
Thunderball Tom Jones
You Only Live Twice Nancy Sinatra
On Her Majesty’s Secret Service John Barry
All The Time In The World Louis Armstrong OHMSS
Do You Know How Christmas Trees Nina OHMSS
Are Grown?
Diamonds Are Forever Shirley Bassey
Live And Let Die Paul McCartney/Wings
Fillet Of Soul/Live And Let Die BJ Arnau Live And Let Die
The Man With The Golden Gun Lulu
Nobody Does It Better Carly Simon The Spy Who Loved
Me
Moonraker Shirley Bassey
For Your Eyes Only Sheena Easton
Make It Last All Night Rage For Your Eyes Only
All Time High Rita Coolidge Octopussy
A View To A Kill Duran Duran
The Living Daylights a-ha
Where Has Everybody Gone? Pretenders The Living
Daylights
If There Was A Man Pretenders The Living
Daylights
Licence To Kill Gladys Knight
If You Asked Me To Patti Labelle Licence To Kill
Dirty Love Tim Feehan Licence To Kill
Wedding Party Ivory Licence To Kill
GoldenEye Tina Turner
The Experience Of Love Eric Serra GoldenEye
Tomorrow Never Dies Sheryl Crow
Surrender k.d. lang Tomorrow Never
Dies
The World Is Not Enough Garbage
Only Myself To Blame Scott Walker The World Is Not
Enough
Casino Royale Herb Alpert
The Look Of Love Dusty Springfield Casino Royale
Never Say Never Again Lani Hall
Chanson D'Amour Sophie Della Never Say Never
Again
(“Jump Up” and “Fillet Of Soul” performers submitted by Mac
<ma...@virgin.net>)
Also of note is the song “Mr. Kiss Kiss Bang Bang”, which was recorded
by both Dionne Warwick and Shirley Bassey. It was to be the title song
of EON’s fourth release until the title was changed back
to “Thunderball”.
Only once has a Bond theme hit #1 on the American Billboard Music Hot
100 chart. It was Duran Duran’s “A View To A Kill”.
A - The James Bond Theme debate
Every Bond film credits Monty Norman as the composer for the “James
Bond Theme”. But most people feel John Barry actually wrote it. What
is the truth? This one was still raging some thirty-nine years after
the questions began.
Monty Norman originally wrote a theme. However the producers were
dissatisfied with the piece and John Barry was hired to “arrange” it.
The resulting work bore little resemblance to the Norman’s. This
reworked theme was featured in “Dr. No” and has appeared in every
official Bond film since. Due to contractual obligations, Monty Norman
always receives credit whenever the song is used in a Bond film.
Norman's original theme can be heard on the “Dr. No” soundtrack, but it
is not track number 17, titled “The James Bond Theme” on the label.
Norman himself said that the actual recording intended as the theme
is “Dr. No's Fantasy”, Track 11. John Barry based some inspiration for
what became known as the Bond theme off the plucked guitar sound from
one of his own compositions, “Bea's Knees”. (Submitted by Geoff Leonard)
In March 2001, Norman won a libel suit against London's Sunday Times.
They claimed Barry had penned the theme alone and also made comments
about Norman's talent. Due in part to Barry stating he based the guitar
riff partly on a Norman composition called “Bad Sign, Good Sign,” they
sided with Norman. Note that the court did not state that Norman wrote
the theme solely, as he maintains, just that he contributed to it.
12 – Soundtracks & scores
Only ten men have scored a James Bond film. Here are the credits for
each. Note the only composers with multiple credits are John Barry and
David Arnold.
COMPOSER FILM
--------------- ----
Monty Norman Dr. No
John Barry From Russia With Love
John Barry Goldfinger
John Barry Thunderball
John Barry You Only Live Twice
John Barry On Her Majesty’s Secret Service
John Barry Diamonds Are Forever
John Barry The Man With The Golden Gun
John Barry Moonraker
John Barry Octopussy
John Barry A View To A Kill
John Barry The Living Daylights
George Martin Live And Let Die
Marvin Hamlisch The Spy Who Loved Me
Bill Conti For Your Eyes Only
Michael Kamen Licence To Kill
Eric Serra GoldenEye
David Arnold Tomorrow Never Dies
David Arnold The World Is Not Enough
Burt Bacharach Casino Royale
Michael Legrand Never Say Never Again
13 – Bond meets an Oscar
While the films have been wildly successful with audiences the world
over, critics have always been hesitant to warm up to them.
Consequently, the Bond films tend to get passed over in favor of
more “critically acceptable” selections. All told, Bond films have been
nominated ten times in the American Academy Awards, five times in
technical categories and five times in musical categories. Only two
nominations came up winners:
Film Year Category
---- ---- --------
Goldfinger 1964 Best Sound Effects – Norman Wanstall
Thunderball 1965 Best Visual Effects – John Stears
However, both wins were somewhat tainted by the fact that there was
only one other nominee. The other eight nominations were:
Film Year Category Lost to
----- ---- -------- -------
Casino Royale 1967 Best Original Song “Talk To The Animals”
Diamonds Are Forever 1971 Best Sound “Fiddler on the Roof”
Live and Let Die 1973 Best Original Song “The Way We Were”
The Spy Who Loved Me 1977 Best Art Direction “Star Wars”
The Spy Who Loved Me 1977 Best Original Score “Star Wars”
The Spy Who Loved Me 1977 Best Original Song “You Light Up My Life”
Moonraker 1979 Best Visual Effects “Alien”
For Your Eyes Only 1981 Best Original Song “Arthur's Theme (The Best
That You Can Do)”
In an ironic twist, the “Casino Royale” song nominated, “The Look Of
Love”, lost to “Talk To The Animals” from “Doctor Dolittle”, a Leslie
Bricusse composition. Bricusse co-wrote another movie theme that
year, “You Only Live Twice” with John Barry.
However, leave it to the Brits to come through. The British Academy
gave
The award for Best Color Cinematography to “From Russia With Love.”
They also nominated Ken Adam four times for Art Direction for his work
in “Goldfinger”, “Thunderball”, “You Only Live Twice” and “The Spy Who
Loved Me.”
In 1982, Cubby Broccoli was awarded the coveted Irving G. Thalberg
Memorial Award for his filmmaking career. Homage was paid to both the
Bond films and to the many successful films that Broccoli made prior to
Dr. No. The reigning Bond at the time, Roger Moore, presented the
award. Likewise, in 1989 Timothy Dalton presented Broccoli with a
lifetime achievement award from the British Academy of Film and Theatre
Arts.
Alien & British corrections submitted by Allen Dace
<mailto:a.w....@ntlworld.com>
14 – What’s in a name?
The Bond films almost always work the film’s title into the script
somehow.
“Dr. No” is the villain’s name.
Bond writes “From Russia With Love” on Tatiana’s picture.
“Goldfinger” is the villain’s name.
M calls the mission “Operation ‘Thunderball’”
Bond mentions he’s on his second life. Blofeld says, “You Only Live
Twice.”
The “On” in OHMSS is never used though the rest appears a few times.
“Diamonds Are Forever” is surprisingly absent in the script.
The singer in the Fillet of Soul sings the words “Live And Let Die” in
front of Bond.
“The Man With The Golden Gun” is used by and about Scaramanga.
While Stromberg mentions the word love, “The Spy Who Loved Me” is
unused.
“Moonraker” is the name of the Space Shuttles built by Drax.
Melina purrs, “’For Your Eyes Only’, darling” to Bond.
“Octopussy” is the name of the female smuggler.
Zorin and May Day combine to say, “What ‘A View To A Kill.’”
Bond remarks “whoever she was it must have scared ‘The Living
Daylights’ out of her.”
M says, “Effective immediately, your ‘Licence To Kill’ is revoked.”
“GoldenEye” is the name of the space-based weapons system.
“Tomorrow Never Dies” is not spoken in the film.
When told he could have had the world Bond replies, “The World Is Not
Enough.”
“Casino Royale” is the casino.
Though Bond says, “Never again,” and Domino replies, “Never?” the
title “Never Say Never Again” is not specifically used.
Brief #3 – THE BOOKS
1 – The latest James Bond novel
Author Raymond Benson’s next Bond novel is to be titled “The Man With
The Red Tattoo,” due out Summer 2002.
2 – Ian Fleming
Ian Lancaster Fleming created James Bond. He was born May 28, 1908, (a
date he gave to Ernst Stavro Blofeld as well) in London. Quitting his
schooling at the prestigious Eaton, he held a job as a reporter with
Reuters. Fleming eventually joined the R.N.V.R. and later worked in
Naval Intelligence field, earning the rank of Commander.
On his two month sabbatical from a newspaper job in January 1952
Fleming was feeling pressure due to his impending marriage. To relieve
some stress he began writing a short novel. Fleming held a meticulous
schedule and spent two periods a day writing. Before leaving in March
he had completed what would be the first Bond book, “Casino Royale”. It
opened Fleming’s eyes to a muse inside him.
While not the rogue secret agent, Fleming did have a hand in helping
the Ultra Network score a coup over Germany in World War II by decoding
the Enigma, a machine similar to the fictitious Spektor decoder Fleming
used as a plot piece in “From Russia With Love”. Fleming often dropped
names of his friends and acquaintances into characters in his book.
(There was a Jamaican boater named Red Grant, a friend named John Fox-
Strangways, etc.)
It should be noted that as a reporter Fleming wrote on a multitude of
subjects. He is also the author of the children’s work “Chitty Chitty
Bang Bang”.
Ian Fleming wrote fourteen complete books about Bond, and only stopped
when he died on August 12, 1964. He left behind wife, Anne, and son
Caspar, who tragically committed suicide in 1975. Anne died in 1981.
A – List of Ian Fleming novels
This is a complete list of Ian Fleming’s Bond novels.
Title fn. Year
----- --- ----
Casino Royale 1953
Live And Let Die 1954
Moonraker 1955
Diamonds Are Forever 1956
>From Russia, With Love 1957
Doctor No 1958
Goldfinger 1959
For Your Eyes Only 1960
Thunderball (A) 1961
The Spy Who Loved Me 1962
On Her Majesty's Secret Service 1963
You Only Live Twice 1964
007 In New York (short story) (B) 1964
The Man With The Golden Gun 1965
Octopussy 1966
(A) Based on a treatment by Kevin McClory, Jack Whittingham & Ian
Fleming
(See Brief #2, Section #10, F “Thunderball”/”Never Say Never Again”)
(B) This story appears in American Editions of Fleming's book “Thrilling
Cities”
B – Stories to read in order
The books follow a chronological sequence, and later books occasionally
refer to other earlier books, but you can read most of them in any
order you like. However, it is highly recommended that you at least
read “From Russia, With Love” before “Doctor No” and please be aware
that “Thunderball”, “On Her Majesty's Secret Service”, “You Only Live
Twice”, and “The Man with The Golden Gun” form a ‘quadrilogy’ that
should be read in order.
It is worth mentioning that Fleming last worked on “The Man With The
Golden Gun”. “Octopussy” was released posthumously as well, but “Gun”,
which picks up directly from “You Only Live Twice”, is the true swan
song of Fleming's character.
C – Who wrote The Spy Who Loved Me?
Ian Fleming did. The story is the most left-field Bond adventure, with
the first two-thirds about the tough life of Vivienne Michel and Bond
not appearing until the final chapters. Fleming wrote in the forward
that he had “found the manuscript” sitting on his desk at the Goldeneye
retreat he owned in Jamaica. It was only a joke. The novel was the
worst received of Fleming’s canon and he was so disenchanted with it
that he only allowed the title rights sold, specifically preventing the
storyline to be used.
D – The Kennedy myth
One of the things that helped Fleming's books get noticed in the United
States was a plug by President John F. Kennedy. But the episode may not
be
factual. Leading longtime Bond memorabilia collector and fan Alan
Stephenson (<mailto:klau...@aol.com>) disputes this claim with the
following revelation:
”This is one of those bits of urban legend. While Kennedy is known to
have
read Fleming, this whole business of him admiring Bond and
relishing ‘From
Russia With Love’ may owe more to his image-makers than JFK himself.”
“Kennedy's press secretary, Pierre Sallinger, was asked for a list of
the
President's preferred reading. That list was essentially a work of
fiction
itself: The secretary invented the whole thing, selecting titles that
would make Kennedy appear well rounded yet in-touch with the popular
culture. If JFK had generated the list himself, it's unknown if ‘From
Russia With Love’ would have ultimately appeared.”
E – SMERSH
SMERSH is a conjunction of two Russian words: “Smiert Spionam” (“Death
to
Spies”). They were the Soviet Secret Service's murder organization that
Bond faces in most of the early novels. SMERSH was a real organization
for a time but they had been swept into the KGB by the time Fleming
featured them in “From Russia, With Love”. While no Bond film featured
them as a main villain (the “Russia” movie used SPECTRE instead) “The
Living Daylights” used the idea of a reformed SMERSH as a red herring
proliferated by Georgi Koskov.
F – SPECTRE
Fleming had a real affection for this word. He created a “Spectreville”
in “Diamonds Are Forever”, made the decoding machine in “From Russia,
With Love” a Spektor, and finally, beginning with “Thunderball”,
created the SPecial Executive for Counterintelligence, Terrorism,
Revenge, and Extortion, SPECTRE. The leader of SPECTRE was Ernst Stavro
Blofeld, Fleming’s most famous villainous creation.
SPECTRE is normally spelled as one word. The original British Cape
edition of Fleming's “Thunderball” made it S.P.E.C.T.R.E. (though the
dots were dropped in Fleming's later books), and that spelling
continues to crop up in various books about the Bond series. The
spelling S.P.E.C.T.R.E. also appeared in the trailer for the film “From
Russia With Love”. It seems odd since the “P” does not stand for a word.
3 – Post-Fleming periods
A – Kingsley Amis’ novel
Well-known British author Kingsley Amis, was offered a chance to
continue the series after Fleming’s death. He was originally credited
under the pseudonym Robert Markham, as part of a plan to have multiple
authors use that alias over time, but the immediate response was
lackluster and he produced only one book.
It has been opined that he ‘completed’ “The Man With The Golden Gun”
following Fleming’s death by some sources. Others claim Glidrose had it
finished and merely had him critique it. Hopefully the truth can be
verified.
Title fn. Year
----- --- ----
Colonel Sun (A) 1968
(A) Original printings listed the pseudonym Robert Markham
B – List of the John Gardner novels
It was not until 1981 that the Bond series was revived once again. Anne
Fleming, following Amis’ novel, had wanted the books to cease. Upon her
death the publishing company, Glidrose, hired British author John
Gardner who published a new novel almost every year until the spring of
1996. He retired after equaling Fleming’s total of fourteen original
novels, Gardner feeling the novelizations of the movies did not count.
Gardner was already an established writer, best known for the series
of “Boysie Oakes” novels, such as “The Liquidator”.
When assuming the mantle, Gardner’s only direction was that he was not
to make any mention of the offspring of Bond alluded to in “You Only
Live Twice” and that Bond would be set in present time.
Title fn. Year
----- --- ----
Licence Renewed 1981
For Special Services 1982
Icebreaker 1983
Role Of Honour 1984
Nobody Lives Forever 1986
No Deals, Mr. Bond 1987
Scorpius 1988
Win, Lose Or Die 1989
Brokenclaw 1990
Licence To Kill (A) 1990
The Man From Barbarossa 1991
Death Is Forever 1992
Never Send Flowers 1993
SeaFire 1994
GoldenEye (A) 1995
Cold (B) 1996
(A) A novelization of the film
(B) U.S.A. copies titled “Cold Fall”
1 – Stories to read in order
To fully appreciate Gardner's works, read his last three original books
in order, “Never Send Flowers”, “Seafire” and “Cold”, as a story arc
links them. He also had his own SPECTRE trilogy with “For Special
Services”, “Role Of Honour” and “Nobody Lives Forever”.
Gardner had to write the “GoldenEye” novelization prior to writing Sir
Miles out of the M position, shown in “Cold”, so reading them in
reverse order of release is actually preferable.
C – List of the Raymond Benson novels
American Raymond Benson assumed the mantle of Ian Fleming with his
first James Bond book in 1997 and has released a new novel annually, as
well as short stories and novelizations of the Bond films released
during his run. He has borrowed Fleming’s tradition of using names of
friends and acquaintances into his novels. Some of those names are
frequent posters to the newsgroup. Benson authored the fantastic “James
Bond Bedside Companion” reference book before being given the helm of
Bond author. He is a Texan who currently resides near Chicago.
Glidrose told Benson that he could pick and choose what came before him
in Gardner’s works in forming continuity. He also agreed upon taking
the job to keep Bond in the present day and use the new M, Barbara
Mawdsley, as the films were using at the time.
Title fn. Year
----- --- ----
Blast From The Past (short story) (A) 1997
Zero Minus Ten 1997
Tomorrow Never Dies (B) 1997
The Facts Of Death 1998
Midsummer Night's Doom (short story) (C) 1999
High Time To Kill 1999
The World Is Not Enough (B) 1999
Live At Five (short story) (D) 1999
Doubleshot 2000
Never Dream Of Dying 2001
The Man With The Red Tattoo 2002
(A) Published in the January 1997 issue of “Playboy” magazine
(B) A novelization of the film
(C) Published in the January 1999 issue of “Playboy” magazine
(D) Published in a November 1999 issue of “TV Guide” magazine
1 – Stories to read in order
Benson used a criminal organization called the Union that spread
through three of his novels. You should read “High Time To
Kill”, “Doubleshot” and “Never Dream Of Dying” in order.
D – Other Glidrose novels featuring Bond
Glidrose, the publishing company with rights to James Bond material,
have allowed a few books that were not strictly a part of the “James
Bond novels” canon proper to be issued.
Title Author fn. Year
----- ------ --- ----
The Adventures of James Bond Junior-003 1/2 R.D. Mascott (A) 1967
James Bond-The Authorized Biography of 007 John Pearson 1973
James Bond, The Spy Who Loved Me Christopher Wood (B) 1977
James Bond And Moonraker Christopher Wood (B) 1979
(A) Released under the pseudonym R.D. Mascott
(B) A novelization of the film
“The Adventures of James Bond Junior-003 ½” is a children’s book
featuring a title character who is the son of Bond’s brother David,
(not a creation of Fleming) who intercedes against a heist of gold
bullion. It was licensed by Glidrose. The author’s true identity was
kept secret for 34 years, but was confirmed by his executors to be
British literary author Arthur Calder-Marshall (1908-1992).
Pearson's book is a work of fiction portraying the life of a “real”
James Bond in correlation to Fleming's adventures.
Wood co-wrote the screenplay for “The Spy Who Loved Me” with Richard
Maibaum and got full credit for “Moonraker”, and then novelized those
scripts.
E – Reference books
There are also many reference books about James Bond on screen and in
print. While many are good, I recommend two in particular. Steven Jay
Rubin's “The Complete James Bond Movie Encyclopedia”, updated in 1995,
provides a wealth of information of the celluloid Bond up
to “GoldenEye”. The current Bond novel author, Raymond Benson, wrote
the splendid “The James Bond Bedside Companion” in 1983 (revised in
1987) that gives a wonderful overview of Fleming's canon, as well as
everything else Bond to date. It has just been returned to print. Go to
PublishingOnline.com for details.
4 – Fan fiction
Bond is a copyrighted product and Glidrose, the company who owns Bond's
literary rights, does look out to protect their product. Using Bond in
a published story (and using the internet as a forum IS publishing it)
breaks the copyright law unless Glidrose grants the right to do so.
Perhaps no action would be taken, but it could be. And Glidrose is
rightly concerned that if a fan would use their property with the
capability to produce a professional looking presentation, the line
would blur. Others may see the fan fiction, and because of it be less
inclined to view their legitimate property.
There is merit to the idea that fans do the series no harm in showing
their enjoyment of the character and that it should not be misconstrued
for the real product. But the fact is it can be. If you feel creative
create your own original character.
BRIEF #4 – WHEN BOOK AND FILM INTERSECT
1 – Films and books – links or broken links?
The newsgroup often notes that Sean Connery’s films did not, for the
most part, stray far from Fleming’s novels in term of storyline. While
continuity was altered and some stories forgone the general consensus
is that until Moore took over the film series was a successful
adaptation of Ian Fleming’s character.
His titles lasted a bit longer. Every film from “Dr. No” through “The
Living Daylights” was a Fleming title. (EON shortened “’From’ A View To
A Kill”.) By then they had run out of usable ones. But some of the
screenplays, notably “You Only Live Twice”, “Moonraker” and “A View To
A Kill”, bore little resemblance to the original Fleming story.
EON has never used a Bond novel written by anyone other that Fleming,
either by title or plot. There is no reason in their viewpoint to do
so. They would have to pay for use of the material and title, and
choose instead to hire script makers to create original stories. This
is why no Gardner or Benson novel has been made into film, and why they
doubtfully ever will be.
2 – Explain the names “M” & “Q”
When Mansfield Cumming was head of the real SIS he would sign documents
he finished reading with a single letter “C”. His replacement continued
using “C” as a *title* though it had no bearing on his name. Fleming
could have, one easily surmises, borrowed this fact for his creation.
Fleming did name the character Admiral Sir Miles Messervy (though the
name did not appear until “Golden Gun”) but in keeping with the real C,
it holds that any replacement would continue using M. It cannot be
conclusively stated that Fleming didn't just borrow the title from the
way he actually addressed his mother or that it is a coincidence that
the female M is named Barbara Mawdsley.
Q Branch is the Quartermaster Branch, the supplier of weapons and
protective devices for the Double-O section. The head of the Branch,
from the novel “Doctor No”, is Major Boothroyd, dubbed the “Armourer.”
(A real man, Geoffrey Boothroyd, was a weapons expert who convinced
Fleming that Bond should use a Walther instead of a Beretta, but the
fictional character is never called “Geoffrey”.) The first EON Bond
film of the same name also uses the Major's real surname. Peter Burton
played him, succeeded afterward by Desmond Llewelyn, who was also
called Boothroyd in “The Spy Who Loved Me”. Nicknamed the “Armourer” at
first, the James Bond of the movies began using the Branch's first
letter as a shorter moniker for Boothroyd. That is Q. Llewelyn died
tragically in December 1999.
3 – What other “00” agents are mentioned?
In the James Bond films, a number of 00 agents have been depicted over
the years:
002 - Bill Fairbanks, assassinated in Beirut by Francisco Scaramanga in
1969 (“The Man With The Golden Gun”); replaced by another agent who is
quickly captured during a training mission at Gibraltar (“The Living
Daylights”)
003 - Found dead in the Siberian ice (“A View To A Kill”)
004 - Assassinated during a training mission at Gibraltar (“The Living
Daylights”)
006 - Alec Trevelyan, listed dead by MI6 at the hands of Soviet Colonel
Ourumov during a mission with 007 to blow-up a Soviet nerve gas
factory...at least for a while (“GoldenEye”)
008 - Bond's replacement, should he be unable to complete his mission
(“Goldfinger” and “The Living Daylights”)
009 - Assassinated in West Berlin by a circus knife-thrower after
stealing a Faberge egg (“Octopussy”); a new 009 was named as the man
who put the bullet in Renard's head (“The World Is Not Enough”)
0012 - Technically unnamed in the film, the novelization of “The World
Is Not Enough” has Bond avenging his death in the opening scene. On
screen he is simply referred to as an MI6 agent
In addition, the movie “Thunderball” has Moneypenny state the “every
Double-O man in Europe” is in the conference room, and Bond arrives as
the ninth agent to be briefed. Whether this means that the agents are
001 through 009 or not is never stated, as it COULD be 002 through
0010, for instance. And perhaps we should consider that some Double-0's
were not in Europe and missed the meeting. Sharp eyes also could not
miss the moment in “The World Is Not Enough” when Moneypenny
distributes assignment folders to other agents, one of which is a woman.
For the novels according to Ian Fleming, James Bond was originally the
senior member of only three agents in the Section. At the time of
the “Moonraker” mission, 008 (known only as ‘Bill’) had just escaped
from East Berlin, while 0011 had vanished in Singapore just two months
before. Although 008 surfaced again in “Goldfinger” (listed as Bond's
replacement, should he have failed), 0011 was never heard from again.
009 was briefly mentioned in “Thunderball”. In “On Her Majesty's Secret
Service,” Bond was even odds to “get” Mary Goodnight first with an ex-
Royal Marine Commando who was 006, making Fleming's total of 00 agents -
- including 007 -- five.
Kingsley Amis' “Colonel Sun” noted that the head of station G in Athens
had served as “005” before “an eye defect had begun to impair his
ability with firearms.” (Submitted by Donal Rogers
<mailto:rog...@clubi.ie>)
In “Zero Minus Ten” Raymond Benson includes a scene with the “Single-
O’s” who are working toward a “00” classification.
4 – The Walther and other machinations
In the Fleming novels, Bond started out with a .25 Beretta. In “Doctor
No”
he was ordered to begin carrying a Walther PPK 7.65mm as his standard
issue firearm, though he used other guns here and there during the
series. Gardner introduced Bond to a variety of weapons, including a
Browning 9mm, the Ruger Super Blackhawk .44 Magnum (which Bond carried
in violation of regulations), and the ASP 9mm. Raymond Benson’s tenure
saw Bond reclaim the PPK, and also begin using the Walther P99,
concurrent with the films Benson novelized.
As the first Bond film was “Dr. No”, we see Bond ordered to give up the
Beretta for the PPK without ever seeing the former in action. Bond did
handle other equipment from time to time but the PPK has been the film's
mainstay, though “Tomorrow Never Dies” and “The World Is Not Enough”
featured the P99 in their ad campaigns and in the films as well.
Bond has gone through a few cars as well. The novels initially had him
using his personal Bentley and in “Goldfinger” Q Branch issued him a
souped-up work vehicle, the Aston Martin DB5. The films recreated this
scene. Since then Bond has used other Aston Martin’s, Lotus’ and BMW’s.
5 – Bright Leiter
The novels and the films never had the chance to follow a continuous
pattern. Bond meets Leiter for the first time in the initial showing of
each, but in different stories. In the novels, Leiter’s second
appearance, in “Live And Let Die”, has him brutally maimed by a shark.
He returns on occasion after that. The films used him often, but did
not feature the shark attack until “Licence To Kill”, some sixteen
films into the series. When the movie came out, Bond author John
Gardner decided to try to fit the scene into Fleming’s continuity when
writing the novelization, and explained that Felix was fed to a shark
again. Perhaps the two mediums should remain split.
BRIEF #5 – MORE SOURCES ON JAMES BOND
1 – The websites
There are many interesting, exciting and grand websites dedicated to
James Bond. Here are some of them that the FAQ feels merit special
attention.
http://www.ianfleming.org - Mr. Kiss Kiss Bang Bang! The Web Magazine
of
The Ian Fleming Foundation
Since 1996 “Mr. Kiss Kiss Bang Bang!” has been the premiere on-line
resource for James Bond information. With its combination of timely
news reports, in-depth articles and cutting-edge design, MKKBB has
earned a daily readership in the thousands, a host of awards and
positive press coverage in media outlets across the world. It is the
website that keeps this FAQ online.
http://www.Raymondbenson.com - Raymond Benson . com
The official website of Bond author Raymond Benson.
http://www.jamesbond.com - The Official James Bond Website
Look here for some on-the-scene reporting of the new film as it is in
production.
http://www.hmss.com - Her Majesty's Secret Servant
A webzine run by alt-fan-james-bond’s most illustrious contributors.
The FAQ maintainer writes for HMSS.
http://www.bondian.com/ - Bondian . Com
The definitive work on the printed Bond.
http://www.klast.net/bond/index.html - James Bond Agent 007, OHMSS
Kim Last’s acclaimed site that serves as the largest search engine of
James Bond material.
http://www.mjnewton.demon.co.uk/bond/index.htm - The Bond Film Informant
Matt Newton’s site includes the “James Bond Secret Service FAQ” at
http://www.mjnewton.demon.co.uk/bond/jbssfaq.htm and is a fine effort.
http://www.artofjamesbond.com - Art of James Bond
Red Grant’s beautiful tribute to the classic look of Bond.
http://www.commanders.com/ - Commanders Club
A unique site dedicated to the Bond lifestyle.
http://www.007.com - 007.com
The official website by EON Productions. Nice but very demanding on
plug-ins and Internet connection speed.
http://go.to/raymondbenson – The Raymond Benson Parlour
A great source on Benson with a humorous bent.
http://www.007archive.com - The 007 Archive
Jason M. Allentoff’s large site with links to Spyguise on top of his
own material.
http://bondsounds.members.easyspace.com – The Definitive James Bond
Sounds
Page
Excellent clips from all the Bond movies.
http://www.nuvs.com/jbond/ - Nuv's OO7 Shrine
Download megabytes of trailers, rare videos and sound clips.
Professionally designed.
http://publishingOnline.com – Featuring Raymond Benson’s “The James
Bond Bedside Companion” as a “print-on-demand” book and his non-Bond
serial novel, “Evil Hours”.
2 – The fan clubs
There are several fan clubs devoted to Bond. Before joining any of
them, however, you might want to ask around the newsgroup for opinions,
since some clubs have better reputations than others. Below are some of
biggest fan clubs and organizations.
The Ian Fleming Foundation (<www.ianfleming.org>)
PO Box 6897
Santa Barbara, CA 93160
Club James Bond 007 (<www.jamesbond007.net>)
42 rue Rouelle
75015 Paris
FRANCE
ICQ : 25374205
PHONE (GMT+1H) : 00 33 6 12 60 51 88
FAX (GMT+1H) : 00 33 1 45 75 64 75
E-mail - clubja...@online.fr
The James Bond 007 Fan Club (<www.thejamesbondfanclub.com>)
PO Box 007
Addlestone Weybridge Surrey
KT15 1DY ENGLAND
E-mail - jb...@globalnet.co.uk
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
*
Hopefully this FAQ has answered your general questions about James
Bond. If not please send an E-mail to Michael Reed at ree...@core.com .
Any errors or corrections should be sent there as well, and please
include the specific Brief and Section. Please remember, a FAQ covers
FREQUENTLY asked questions and is not meant to show off arcane or
trivial knowledge, however original it may be. Keep this is mind if you
have a submission request.
Remember, alt.fan.james-bond welcomes you to join in the thrill of
James Bond. This is your FAQ and you are entitled to voice your opinion
about it. Thank you.
- Michael Reed
_________________________________________________
M R . K I S S K I S S B A N G B A N G !
The premier James Bond website
_________________________________________________
http://www.ianfleming.org
Geoff Leonard
<ree...@core.com> writes
>
>11 – List of theme songs & artists
>Here is a list of the films’ theme songs, as well as vocal recordings
>used within the film or end credits or appearing on the soundtrack
>albums.
Just a few minor musical points:
>
>TITLE PERFORMER FILM(if different)
>----- --------- ------------------
>James Bond Theme Monty Norman Dr. No
The performer of the above was The John Barry Orchestra, not Monty
Norman!
>>From Russia With Love (vocal) Matt Munro
It's Matt Monro, not Munro.
> A - The James Bond Theme debate
>Norman's original theme can be heard on the “Dr. No” soundtrack, but it
>is not track number 17, titled “The James Bond Theme” on the label.
>Norman himself said that the actual recording intended as the theme
>is “Dr. No's Fantasy”, Track 11. John Barry based some inspiration for
>what became known as the Bond theme off the plucked guitar sound from
>one of his own compositions, “Bea's Knees”. (Submitted by Geoff Leonard)
It's Bees Knees not Bea's Knees.
Excellent FAQ!!
Geoff
Phil G - London UK
> It's Bees Knees not Bea's Knees.
Yeah, but I can't be alone in thinking it *should've* been the latter :-)
Till Neumann
NSNA is named Michel Legrand, not Michael.
Till
--
"Aristotle was not Belgian, the principle of Buddhism is not 'every man
for himself', and the London Underground is not a political movement!
Those are all mistakes, Otto. I looked them up." - Wanda
Vince
phil.g...@ntlworld.com (Phil G - London UK) writes:
>
>Yeah, but I can't be alone in thinking it *should've* been the latter :-)
>
I agree but why would "you say that" do you know someone named BEA?
In my case my wife's name IS BEA and my late mother's nick name was "B" or BEA
her real name was Bridget however.
--------------------------------------------------------
Vince
Check it out
www.holvbphoto.com
Michael Reed
"Till Neumann" <spam...@neubrich.de> wrote in message
news:wu96pr45twsg.z6hzy7bgorg0$.dlg@40tude.net...
> I don't think that too many persons will care, but the composer for
> NSNA is named Michel Legrand, not Michael.
Actually, I do and I will correct it. Thanks.
--
Michael Reed
Maintainer of the alt.fan.james-bond FAQ
ree...@core.com
re...@hmss.com
Her Majesty's Secret Servant - www.hmss.com
alt.fan.james-bond FAQ - www.ianfleming.org/mkkbb/afjbfaq/
ftp://rtfm.mit.edu/pub/usenet/news.answers/james-bond/FAQ
Michael Reed
news:Jma66YAn...@imdb.com...> >11 - List of theme songs & artists
> >Here is a list of the films' theme songs, as well as vocal recordings
> >used within the film or end credits or appearing on the soundtrack
> >albums.
>
> Just a few minor musical points:
>
> >
> >TITLE PERFORMER FILM(if different)
> >----- --------- ------------------
> >James Bond Theme Monty Norman Dr. No
>
> The performer of the above was The John Barry Orchestra, not Monty
> Norman!
True, but on this one I am not changing it, instead maybe *ing it, as
Norman's name will always come up.
> >>From Russia With Love (vocal) Matt Munro
>
> It's Matt Monro, not Munro.
Thanks. Note that if you look on the back of the FRWL CD (at least my copy)
it says Monroe - guess Dan Quayle was the proofreader.
> > A - The James Bond Theme debate
>
> >Norman's original theme can be heard on the "Dr. No" soundtrack, but it
> >is not track number 17, titled "The James Bond Theme" on the label.
> >Norman himself said that the actual recording intended as the theme
> >is "Dr. No's Fantasy", Track 11. John Barry based some inspiration for
> >what became known as the Bond theme off the plucked guitar sound from
> >one of his own compositions, "Bea's Knees". (Submitted by Geoff Leonard)
>
> It's Bees Knees not Bea's Knees.
I will change that, although truth is, I recall you spelling it Bea's in one
E-mail to me! But I know you're the expert here so I will correct any info
with your name ASAP.
Barry King
>
> "Geoff Leonard" <ge...@imdb.com> wrote in message
> news:Jma66YAn...@imdb.com...
> > >TITLE PERFORMER FILM(if different)
> > >----- --------- ------------------
> > >James Bond Theme Monty Norman Dr. No
> >
> > The performer of the above was The John Barry Orchestra, not Monty
> > Norman!
>
> True, but on this one I am not changing it, instead maybe *ing it, as
> Norman's name will always come up.
That seems kinda inconsistent to me. IIRC the Dr. No credits state the
James Bond Theme was performed by the John Barry Orchestra. You address
the controversy over the origins of the theme in the next section, but
the *performer* of that theme is surely not in question.
--
Barry King
--
"The man who does not read good books has no advantage over the man
who cannot read them."
-Mark Twain
Geoff Leonard
<ree...@core.com> writes
>"Geoff Leonard" <ge...@imdb.com> wrote in message
>> >TITLE PERFORMER FILM(if different)
>> >----- --------- ------------------
>> >James Bond Theme Monty Norman Dr. No
>>
>> The performer of the above was The John Barry Orchestra, not Monty
>> Norman!
>
>True, but on this one I am not changing it, instead maybe *ing it, as
>Norman's name will always come up.
Well it's your FAQ, but Norman was never credited with performing it in
the film, only (erroneously) on the album and subsequent re-issues - now
corrected on the latest.
>
>> >>From Russia With Love (vocal) Matt Munro
>>
>> It's Matt Monro, not Munro.
>
>Thanks. Note that if you look on the back of the FRWL CD (at least my copy)
>it says Monroe - guess Dan Quayle was the proofreader.
Yes, Matt's name is often confused - especially in the racks of record
stores! Also, didn't one of the Bond films have Monty Norman's name as
Monte?
>> It's Bees Knees not Bea's Knees.
>
>I will change that, although truth is, I recall you spelling it Bea's in one
>E-mail to me! But I know you're the expert here so I will correct any info
>with your name ASAP.
Tee hee! I did spell it 'Bea's Knees' to you in a previous email years
ago - but only to point out it was wrong on the FAQ! Alas, my point was
ignored - I am a much-ignored man!!
Cheers,
--
Geoff
Michael Reed
> In article <asc5gn$61k$1...@slb2.atl.mindspring.net>, Michael Reed
> <ree...@core.com> writes
> >"Geoff Leonard" <ge...@imdb.com> wrote in message
>
> >> >TITLE PERFORMER FILM(if
different)
> >>
> >> >James Bond Theme Monty Norman Dr. No
> >>
> >> The performer of the above was The John Barry Orchestra, not Monty
> >> Norman!
> >
> >True, but on this one I am not changing it, instead maybe *ing it, as
> >Norman's name will always come up.
>
> Well it's your FAQ, but Norman was never credited with performing it in
> the film, only (erroneously) on the album and subsequent re-issues - now
> corrected on the latest.
If that's true - hmmm, okay then. A change is certainly in order.
> Yes, Matt's name is often confused - especially in the racks of record
> stores! Also, didn't one of the Bond films have Monty Norman's name as
> Monte?
I admit I don't know much about him. Is there any specific work of his
worth recommending?
> >> It's Bees Knees not Bea's Knees.
> Tee hee! I did spell it 'Bea's Knees' to you in a previous email years
> ago - but only to point out it was wrong on the FAQ! Alas, my point was
> ignored - I am a much-ignored man!!
Actually, that's not what I remember seeing from the old E-mails I had, but
alas, I have already requested a correction for it. I remember seeing it
both ways in the press releases for the Norman trial from various sources.
Michael Reed
> In article <asc5gn$61k$1...@slb2.atl.mindspring.net>, Michael Reed
> <ree...@core.com> writes
> >"Geoff Leonard" <ge...@imdb.com> wrote in message
>
> >> >TITLE PERFORMER FILM(if
different)
> >>
> >> >James Bond Theme Monty Norman Dr. No
> >>
> >> The performer of the above was The John Barry Orchestra, not Monty
> >> Norman!
Just noticed that Norman was credited on the 30th Anniversary CD, with the
familiar theme, and Barry credited on the alternate Disc 2 version - which
is probably where I got confused. Sorry.