Wednesday 13 August 2014

The Spectator on Fleming

If you haven't seen this article on The Spectator website, worth checking out (no subscription required). Interesting perspectives on the author of the Bond novels from the magazine, in which he and his books featured regularly and many of the staff of which he also new well. There's so much been written about Fleming it's always interesting to read slightly different perspectives.

Readers may then want to check out Len Deighton's recent e-book on Fleming and his (albeit minor) role in the character's on-screen development.

1 comment:

  1. “The writer of the Spectator’s Notebook in 1962 went along eagerly to see Bond’s first screen appearance”

    Nothing big deal about this, as I too went along to see the Bond in the large screen having read Dr No in 1958. Indeed , in those days , we the university gang-a gang of five pooled our pennies together to buy the hardbacks of Fleming novels published then. I had hence better reason to see Bond first time on the large screen.

    “It hasn’t seemed to matter but it seemed odd that the director hadn’t explained some key parts of the plot”

    No need at all, as film play is often different fromm the novel. Richard Maibaum and the talented Johanna Harwood wrote the script. Not bad at all. Bourne’s film plays too were vastly different from what Ludlum wrote. Angered by the Film makers spoiling his novels through film plays, Frederic Forsyth was involved closely in writing the film script of his novel : the Fourth Protocol. The result was the film was the least successful of the films that came out of his novels previously.

    Not surprised at all that Ian Fleming’s association with the Spectator, as this paper has been known shall we say for its right-of-centre slant.

    See the interview that CBC did with Ian Fleming in his home Goldeneye in Jamaica- the Spanish You Tube notwithstanding, Fleming speaks in English:
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fKtO34YNcFw

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