The James Bond Bedside Companion

by Benson, Raymond

  George Lazenby, who replaced Connery in On Her Majesty's Secret Service, was an unknown Australian model. He had worked in TV commercials, but had no previous film acting experience. Lazenby had been a car salesman before switching to modeling. He was certainly handsome and dapper, but these modeling qualities did not create a plausible James Bond; audiences and critics alike gave him the unanimous thumbs down. In retrospect, Lazenby's performance is quite sincere, and he probably could have grown into the role with subsequent films. Lazenby has gone on to make other movies, such as Peter Bogdanovich's Saint Jack.

  Connery was enticed to play Bond again in Diamonds Are Forever, having been lured back by the very lucrative deal with United Artists recounted earlier. After Diamonds Are Forever, Connery insisted that he would never play Bond again, so the producers had to search for a new leading man once more. (Fortunately for Connery's fans, the actor played Bond once again in the non-Eon Productions film, Never Say Never Again, released in 1983.) Broccoli and Saltzman settled on their original second choice, Roger Moore.

  Sean Connery, the actor who became famous playing James Bond. (Photo by Arthur Evans, Wide World Photo.)

  George Lazenby portrayed James Bond one time in the 1969-released On Her Majesty's Secret Service. (Photo by Terry O'Neil, Globe Photos.)

  The new 007. Roger Moore takes over the role in the 1973-released Live and Let Die. (Wide World Photo.)

  The late Bernard Lee appeared as a character actor in more than 100 films. He was best known for portraying Bond's Chief, M. (UPI Photo.)

  Moore was born in 1927 and had his first break as an extra in Caesar and Cleopatra (1945). He understudied David Tomlinson in the London stage production of The Little Hut, which brought him a certain amount of recognition. This brought interest from Hollywood, where he made films such as The Last Time I Saw Paris (1954), Interrupted Melody and The King's Thief (both 1955), and starred opposite Lana Turner in Diane (also 1955). Moore became very successful in the British TV series Ivanhoe, and went on to international fame as TV's Simon Templar in The Saint and in a recurring role in Maverick.

  Since Live and Let Die was released in 1973, Moore has been accepted as and has remained James Bond in the Eon Productions series.

  The most puzzling feature common to all three actors cast as 007 over the years is their uniform lack of suitability for the role. None of them really resembles Bond as Fleming intended him. When the author first saw Sean Connery, he was reportedly aghast and claimed that the actor was "totally wrong." But after seeing Connery in character, Fleming changed his mind, and even gave the literary James Bond a Scottish heritage in subsequent novels. But the cinematic James Bond remains quite different from the man in the books. Connery could have played Bond as Fleming had written him had the screenplays allowed. But the film scripts put the accent on humor; and Bond in the movies was dapper, witty, and extremely nonchalant Connery did play a tougher Bond than Moore, and his dry delivery of gag lines somehow fit the sardonic detachment with which the literary Bond regarded life. Moore, on the other hand, is quite bland in the role. The directors and scenarists of the later pictures require the actor to embody a James Bond who stands idly by with a twinkle in his eye while frantic action explodes harmlessly around him. Moore's Bond is simply too nice and well mannered to be a James Bond of any real substance.

  Three other British actors have been important to the series: the late Bernard Lee, who portrayed M in eleven of the films; Lois Maxwell, who still plays Miss Moneypenny; and Desmond Llewelyn, who has brought to life the role of Q, the Armourer.

  Lee was born in 1908 and played character roles in many films, including The Fallen Idol (1948), The Third Man (1949), Father Brown (1954), and Whistle Down the Wind (1961); but he was best known to audiences around the world as Bond's crusty boss. Lee passed away after Moonraker was released, and his role was replaced by the characters of the Minister of Defense and Chief of Staff Bill Tanner in For Your Eyes Only. Veteran actor Robert Brown took over the role in Octopussy. Lee perfectly embodied the M of the novels in his aloofness toward Bond, although he tended to become comically perturbed at Bond's addiction to a wild life (women, fast cars, etc.). But Lee exhibited M's paternalism and wisdom quite well. He will be missed.

  Lois Maxwell was born Lois Hooker in Canada in 1927. After a brief Hollywood career, she settled in England, where she made several films, including Corridor of Mirrors (1948, directed by Terence Young), The Woman's Angle (1952), Kill Me Tomorrow (1957), and Stanley Kubrick's Lolita (1962). She is probably best known as Miss Moneypenny, M's faithful secretary with a lifelong crush on James Bond. The short flirtatious scenes between Moneypenny and Bond in the films range from pleasant and refreshing to trite and maudlin. But Maxwell exhibits the requisite charm for Moneypenny, and does quite well in the role. (It's interesting to note that the character was given quite a bit more to do in the films than in the novels.) Maxwell, incidentally, is the only other person besides producer Broccoli to have been associated with each Bond film.

  Lois Maxwell, as the ever-faithful Miss Moneypenny. (Wide World Photo.)

  Q (in the novels and first couple of films he is called Major Boothroyd) is the head of the weapons branch and is always turning up in the films with some new gimmick for Bond to use. In the first film, Dr. No (in which Boothroyd was portrayed by Peter Burton), all he presents to Bond is a new pistol. Desmond Llewelyn took the role in From Russia With Love and issues Bond an attaché case with all kinds of clever devices. In Goldfinger, Bond acquires the famous Aston Martin equipped with a veritable arsenal. From then on, each successive film features a more impressive type of weapon than the last Llewelyn's Q shares the cinematic M's disgust at the way Bond treats his equipment, women, etc. As the films progress, Q becomes more and more sarcastic, and the Q/Bond scenes function as comic relief. Llewelyn, having made a career as a character actor in a number of British films, is fine in the role.

  Other actors will be discussed in relation to the particular films in which they appear.

  OTHER ASPECTS

  All the Bond films, particularly those with larger budgets, are impressive visually. They all feature lavish photography, beautiful sets, and believable special effects. Sound is an important part of all the films—usually recorded at an exaggerated volume. Fight scenes are accompanied by a resounding "CRRRRAAASSHHH" when a fist meets a jaw, and gunshots and explosions are deafening. Cinematography is usually very beautiful—Thunderball features some impressive underwater photography never before attempted, and You Only Live Twice provides panoramic views of Japan. But the artistic ingredients that figure most prominently in the Broccoli/Saltzman formula are the production designs and musical scores.

  The man responsible for the unmistakable look of a Bond film is Ken Adam, a German-born designer who has worked on a number of distinguished films, including Queen of Spades (1948), Around the World in Eighty Days (1956), Dr. Strangelove (1964), Sleuth (1972), and many others. He won an Academy Award for art direction for Stanley Kubrick's Barry Lyndon (1975). Inspired by classic German cinema design, Adam brought an expressionistic look to his settings—surreal angles, sloping ceilings, and sharp changes of line direction. He designed all but five of the pictures, and must be considered a major contributor to the Bond film formula.

  Designer Ken Adam in front of his fabulous Fort Knox set for Goldfinger. (Photo by Loomis Dean, Life Magazine. © Copyright 1964 by Time, Inc.)

  Syd Cain, the art director who took over for Ken Adam on From Russia With Love, On Her Majesty's Secret Service, and Live and Let Die, took a more realistic approach to his designs. From Russia With Love featured no fantastic designs except for SPECTRE's training camp. Live and Let Die, however, did tend to copy Adam's expressionistic designs a little, especially in Dr. Kananga's laboratory at the film's end.

  Peter Mutton designed The Man With the Golden Gun, which recalls Ken Adam's work; but this film was enhanced by the special effects and model work of Derek Meddings, who has been special effects
supervisor for each Bond film since 1974. Meddings' work is good, and he is well known in the field, along with Douglas Trumbull, John Stears, and John Dykstra. Meddings was nominated for an Academy Award for his work on Moonraker. (He won the Oscar in 1978 for Superman.) Another man in the special effects field who has been with the Bond films since the beginning is John Stears, who won an Academy Award for visual effects for Thunderball. His work is outstanding in each film. Peter Lamont, an art director from previous Bond films, made an impressive debut as production de signer on For Your Eyes Only, and his work will be discussed in that section.

  The other artistic element of the formula that always helps make or break a 007 film is the musical score. Usually, one man's name is synonymous with James Bond music: John Barry.

  Barry was born in 1933, and is one of the most respected names in film scoring today. He has won two Academy Awards (Born Free, 1966, and The Lion in Winter, 1968), and has composed music for many films, including The L-Shaped Room (1962), The Ipcress File (1965), Midnight Cowboy (1969), The Day of the Locust (1975), and The Black Hole (1979). He scored all but four of the Bond pictures.

  Barry's music for the Bond films is stirring and dynamic. Most of it consists of a big-band jazz sound with electrical instruments (especially guitars), a bit of brass, and, often, exotic instruments such as gongs and harps. Each Bond film features a title tune, all but two of them with lyrics. The title songs for Goldfinger and You Only Live Twice were both hits, as were three non-Barry efforts: Live and Let Die (by Paul and Linda McCartney), "Nobody Does It Better" from The Spy Who Loved Me (by Marvin Hamlisch and Carole Bayer Sager), and For Your Eyes Only (by Bill Conti and Michael Leeson). The songs accompany the main title designs, usually the work of Maurice Binder, and the union is beautiful to the eyes and ears. Usually featured with the main titles are silhouetted nudes, as well as gun and spy motifs.

  Soundtrack albums of the Bond films have sold well too, which is further proof that the music is an important ingredient in their success. John Barry became famous as a result of the Bond music (though, surprisingly, he has never been nominated for an Oscar for a Bond score). Each soundtrack will be discussed in the appropriate film's section.

  DR. NO (1962)

  PRODUCTION

  The first James Bond film was produced for only a million dollars, and is one of the best of the series. It is simple, compared to the rest of the films, and this is the main reason for its success. There is no gadgetry in the film—007 relies on his wits and strength to accomplish his mission. Characters are well drawn and the plot is tight and moves quickly. The film is rough, tough, and exciting, with what is probably Sean Connery's most accomplished and sincere performance as James Bond.

  Interiors were shot at Pinewood Studios in England, while location shooting took place in Jamaica. Broccoli's idea of the set-piece format is immediately apparent in the first few scenes. First, we see the sequence in Kingston in which Strangways and his secretary are murdered by the three-blind-mice henchmen. Then there is a cut to London, where we see the communications network of the Secret Service. The scene moves from there to a casino where we first meet James Bond. The "bumps" in Dr. No follow a logical cause-and-effect sequence (not always true in later films), and the editing prowess of Peter Hunt keeps the film moving with suspense.

  Sean Connery takes a breather and grins for the cameras on location in Jamaica for the filming of Dr. No. He's wearing James Bond's "Sea Island" cotton shirt. (UPI Photo.)

  Dr. No is the most violent, and one of the most realistic of the films. Save for the science fiction elements of Dr. No's laboratory and his plan to topple U.S. missiles, the bulk of the film is based in reality. The fight scenes, coordinated by Bob Simmons, are tough and believable. There is one scene which captures the essence of Bond's profession as a killer, something that has been largely ignored in subsequent films. Bond is waiting at Miss Taro's house for the arrival of would-be assassin Professor Dent. (Dent and Taro are a pair of Dr. No's underlings—characters created for the film.) Bond is sitting behind the bedroom door after having stuffed the bed full of pillows to resemble a body. Dent opens the door quietly and empties his gun into the shape in the bed. Bond then makes his presence known and orders Dent to drop the gun. After asking Dent a few questions, 007 calmly shoots the man in cold blood. He even fires a superfluous bullet into the fallen man's back! Bond then removes the silencer from his gun and nonchalantly blows the smoke away. The scene fades out quietly.

  The above sequence is one of the most effective moments in the entire James Bond film series, yet it caused considerable controversy at the time of release. Director Terence Young fought hard for the scene to remain intact, insisting that Bond "is an executioner—we must not forget that." It is a scene that captures Fleming's Bond perfectly, and Connery plays it with ruthlessness. Unfortunately, this was to be the only sequence of its kind in the series. In each of the following films, the violence is toned down considerably, and Bond would never kill anyone with such methodical coldness again.

  Humor in Dr. No takes the form of tongue-in-cheek innuendos and one-liner asides. The humor is subtle and avoids the juvenile, an achievement which eludes the later Bond films.

  Ursula Andress, playing the first screen Bond-girl, Honeychile Rider, adjusts her costume before shooting a scene in Dr. No. (UPI Photo.)

  SCREENPLAY

  As would be the case with all the James Bond films, the screenplay departed in several instances from the Ian Fleming novel (although compared to some of the later films, Dr. No seems extremely faithful). The novel's premise seems fairly improbable. The decision was made to discard some of Fleming's more fantastic elements and attempt to create a more believable chain of events. But in doing so, a great deal was lost as well. The alterations in Dr. No are not as extreme as in some of the later films, in which Fleming's plot is sometimes completely jettisoned.

  Screenwriter Richard Maibaum (with the aid of Johanna Harwood and Berkley Mather) added a lengthy midsection to the story involving Professor Dent and Miss Taro. These sequences add weight to the middle of the film and are actually improvements over Fleming's original story. Other changes include the introduction of SPECTRE, mainly because the producers knew this criminal organization would figure prominently in later films. (Maibaum had worked on a screenplay for Thunderball before the decision was made to start the series with Dr. No. SPECTRE was originally created for Thunderball. Maibaum was perhaps influenced by this story as well.) SPECTRE is only mentioned briefly by Dr. No in the film, as a hint of things to come. Another addition is the inclusion of the Felix Leiter character. Bond's CIA friend appears in several of the novels, but not DOCTOR NO; apparently Maibaum felt that the Bond ally in this story, Quarrel, was not a strong enough character. But frankly, the addition of Leiter is extraneous to the dramatic action; the character doesn't serve any major function.

  A disappointing change from the novel is the substitution of a tarantula for the centipede which crawls on Bond's body while he's in bed. The producers probably felt that audiences wouldn't realize that a centipede is lethal. Tarantulas are creatures everyone can recognize. Unfortunately, the filming of this scene isn't as successful as it probably looked on paper. Due to clumsy camera work and special effects, it is embarrassingly apparent that there is a sheet of glass between Connery's arm and the spider.

  The most important change is in the last reel, beginning with the obstacle course sequence. In the novel, the ventilation shaft through which Bond makes his escape is a planned-out gauntlet containing all sorts of horrors, ending with a drop into a lagoon containing a man-eating giant squid. In the film, the shaft is not an obstacle course, but merely a harrowing means of escape from the cell. Bond is shot by some unidentified gun which only causes him some pain and doesn't seriously harm him. Next he encounters hot metal around the chute, as in the novel, but gone are the cage of spiders and the giant squid. The film's climax takes place in Dr. No's laboratory, where Bond foils the madman's plans to to
pple a U.S. missile. Dr. No's death in the nuclear reactor pool is more believable cinematically than his death beneath a pile of bird guano might have been. This is an improvement over the novel's ending. The final shots of Dr. No feature what would become standard operating procedure for the series: the villain's establishment is spectacularly blown up, as Bond and his girl (in this case, Honey) barely escape by boat.

  DIRECTION

  It is difficult, in a Bond film, to determine if a particular sequence's success is the work of the director, the actor, the scriptwriter, or the editor. Broccoli insists that the films are collaborative efforts, and that no one person should receive credit for a film's success. But it would be unfair to underestimate the contribution Terence Young made to the James Bond films. In an interview for Bondage magazine, Young claims that he originated the style of the series: