Alternative Bond Poster Art by Alain Bossuyt

MOONRAKER (1979) Poster Art

This mess of a Bond film has been on my mind recently. It seems that there is a Fan Edit of it currently out there on the inter-web that improves the film to a large degree. Color me curious. Hope I can find a copy someplace. 

 

Trailers From Hell - FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE (1962)

And here, once again, is Brian Trenchard-Smith walking us through the trailer for the second Bond screen adventure. Lots of information in this one, too! 

Trailers From Hell - DR. NO (1962)

Brain Trenchard-Smith introduces the American trailer for the first James Bond film and gives a short primer on the series' background and genesis. He knows his stuff! 

Poster Art for LIVE AND LET DIE (1973)

This James Bond classic is forty-five years old this year! How time flies. There's a fine round table discussion of the film over on The Digital Bits. 

Re-Viewing Bond - FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE (1963)

One year after the release of Dr. No and its worldwide success, EON productions returned to Ian Fleming's superspy series with From Russia with Love. Once again hewing very close to the source novel, they produced a compact, witty film that combines the finer qualities of Fleming's work with the sophisticated sense of style that director Terence Young brought to the Bond pictures.

Again the story focuses on the international terrorist organization SPECTRE and its ongoing criminal activities. Ernst Stavro Blofeld, the leader of the organization, is first introduced here (seen only from behind), devising a smart Cold War plot to pit Britain's MI-6 against the Soviet KGB for profit and to exact revenge for the death of their agent Doctor No. Ex-KGB official and new SPECTRE member Rosa Klebb (Lotte Lenya) is put in charge of a scheme to get James Bond to steal a Russian "Lektor" code machine, which she will then take from him. The plan is simple — get beautiful, low level Soviet embassy employee Tatiana Romanova (Daniela Bianchi) to feign love for Bond and promise the Lektor in exchange for British citizenship and James' company. Miss Romanova is based in Istanbul and has daily contact with the encryption device, so she will be able to be convincing as a mole. Since it isn't common knowledge that Klebb has left Soviet employment it's a simple matter for her to force Tatiana into the ruse without the girl realizing she's helping SPECTRE rather than Mother Russia. Knowing that something so obvious has to be a trap, secret service chief M (Bernard Lee) still sends Bond to Turkey on the off chance they might get the machine. In Istanbul Bond makes contact with Kerim Bey (Pedro Armendariz), the head of British operations for the country. Bey tells Bond that he should enjoy his stay in Turkey as a vacation because the chances of this defection being real are ridiculous. But almost immediately SPECTRE assassin Red Grant (Robert Shaw) launches attacks on both sides to manipulate the situation to the terrorists' advantage. When a bomb goes off in Bey's office, the escalation of violence convinces the agents that something must be done and makes them both realize this mission isn't going to be a milk run. Hastily Bond and Bey firebomb the Soviet Embassy and spirit the Lektor and Tatiana aboard the Orient Express, heading west. But Grant is following close behind, with orders to kill both of them and claim the Lektor.

From Russia with Love is one of my favorite films in the Bond series. It's serious, clever and never descends to the cartoonish levels of some the later movies. Viewed as part of the series it is a slight improvement over Dr. No with better pacing and a more interesting plot. Strangely, the idea of SPECTRE pitting rival nations against each other is not taken from the book. In the novel it's the Russian spy agency SMERSH that puts the plot in motion but I really prefer the movie's twist as it adds a level of nastiness that I like in espionage stories. Amidst Bond's interlude with a band of gypsies, his careful romance of Tatiana, and the sly machinations of Grant as he gooses Bond along, there's a smart undercurrent of exactly what I like to see in spy tales. Both Bond and Grant are very intelligent and know that at times they are being played, but also feel that they are good enough at their jobs to win through. Watching smart people battle each other in a logical way is the best part of a well-written spy thriller. One of the things this film does well — that other Bond films don't — is focus on the human element in the story.

As the series progressed there was a tendency to focus on the action and spectacle until at times the motivations and the plot became nothing more than a thin trail of crumbs linking giant stunt pieces. From Russia with Love is the antithesis of that approach and serves as a good template for what the current Bond producers should strive for. This film keeps the audience in their seats with suspense and character instead of chases and explosions. Of course, the film does have a few pyrotechnics but the most memorable action scene is the incredibly brutal fistfight between Bond and Grant in the small confines of a train compartment. (That's a far cry from a laser gun battle in low Earth orbit!)

This film also sports two firsts for the series: the first pre-credits sequence and the first appearance of Desmond Llewelyn as Q, here called by his actual name, Major Boothroyd. The importance of Q to the films is obvious to those of us who love the gadgets, but it was amazing to learn that the pre-credit bit was not originally planned. Editor Peter Hunt came up with the idea when piecing the film together. Never let it be said that film editing isn't a creative or crucial job!

Re-Viewing Bond - DR. NO (1962)

When MI6's operative in Jamaica, Commander John Strangways, is killed leaving a bridge game, M (Bernard Lee) sends England's "blunt instrument" — secret agent James Bond (Sean Connery) — to the island to investigate. M mentions that the Americans seem to think that the recent toppling of many of their rocket launches from Florida are connected to something in the Jamaica area. Convinced that there's something large behind Strangways' death, Bond thinks that the commander's recent look into the business of local Chinese national Doctor No is the cause of the agent's disappearance. Strangways had made secret trips to the doctor's island of Crab Key and returned with some radioactive rock samples. Finding that the local government files on Doctor No and his private island are mysteriously missing, 007 suspects the Colonial Secretary's beautiful Chinese assistant of being involved. When an attempt on his life is made as he drives to meet her, he's convinced.

Following her trail to a local geologist and bridge partner of Strangways', Bond realizes that all clues lead to Doctor No and his island. Enlisting Quarrel, a local sailor and CIA operative, Bond sails to Crab Key to scout for information. Once there, he finds beautiful Jamaican native Honey Ryder (Ursula Andress) poaching valuable seashells. 

He also learns that the good doctor plays very rough. Before any message can be relayed to the authorities, they're chased into the island's interior and Bond and the girl are captured. Completely at their host's mercy, Bond realizes he has very little time before yet another American rocket is toppled. And this time No intends to salvage the warhead for his own sinister purposes.

While rarely named a favorite of fans, Dr. No is also never singled out as one of the true duds of the 56-year-old series, either. Much like the next three sequels, this one follows the outline of the original source novel pretty closely. The plot, locations, characters and flavor of Fleming's book is kept almost intact with only a few additions and deletions made that push the story into more cinematic areas. The changes made to the book are mostly cosmetic — the mined resource of Crab Key was guano, not bauxite; a deadly caterpillar native to Jamaica was used in an attempt to kill Bond, not a tarantula; Quarrel was an old cohort of Bond's specifically requested for this mission; Doctor No was not a member of SPECTRE but a (self-professed) maniac out to dominate the world; there was no messing about with radioactive power. Of course, a few moments from the book were best lost in the translation, including 007's battle to the death with a giant squid (!) and No's ignominious end beneath a huge pile of bird crap. Some changes were done to curtail nudity (damn those censors!) and speed the story along, while keeping the budget manageable, but a few of them are a bit odd. I'm still not sure why there was a need to include CIA man Felix Leiter here, when he serves absolutely no purpose. But overall this is a very good adaptation of the book, one that keeps a good deal of the tone and intent in place while introducing us to a character for the ages.

Dr. No is a great spy thriller with strong direction and many great performances. This is the film that made Sean Connery both a star and a household name, of course, and it's easy to see why. His performance is so self-assured that it's hard to imagine a more perfect actor to tackle the role. The way he moves and carries himself exudes a sense of suave style and coiled energy that fairly crackles off the screen. Connery is always believable as Bond and for this type of film, that's half the battle. If we believe the character we are willing to follow him through almost any bizarre situation. And Dr. No certainly provides its share of those.

Foreign James Bond Poster Art