The James Bond Bedside Companion
Page 20
Hugo Drax is one of Fleming's most successful villainous characters. German-born Drax was educated in England. How such an ugly, boisterous, and mysterious man could work his way up England's social and political ladders to become Sir Hugo Drax, knighted miner of columbite and defender of Britain, is highly questionable. Nevertheless, Drax is a fascinating character. He is larger than life—"physically big—about six foot tall" and he has a large square head with "tight reddish hair parted in the middle." His hair dips down in a curve toward his temples to cover as much as possible the scar tissue from plastic surgery that Drax had during the war. A bushy red mustache and long bushy whiskers growing at the level of his ear lobes completes the image. Bond reflects that Drax resembles a "ringmaster at a circus." The man is a loudmouthed vulgarian and his flamboyance brings a richness to the novel that the characters of Le Chiffre and Mr. Big lack. There is also a childishness to Drax that makes him even more interesting. He loses his temper at the end of the celebrated bridge game at Blades, causing quite a scene. The image of a knighted social figure such as Drax ranting and raving in an elegant public place only heightens his colorfulness.
While Drax is a superior villain, the heroine of the book is relatively weak. Gala Brand seems to be a throwback to the rather stiff characterization of Vesper Lynd. She has no real interest in Bond (she's engaged to be married, although we don't learn this until the end of the book), which automatically dampens the sexual interest of the story. (She is one of the few women in the series that Bond fails to bed.) She is a policewoman and keeps her attitude professional and businesslike. She does loosen up a bit when Bond accompanies her to the beach for a swim (before being almost buried alive by a landslide), and after the couple's escape from their captors toward the end of the novel. Shortly after Bond meets Gala, he attempts to engage her in conversation but fails miserably. She answers only with polite monosyllables and refuses to meet his eye. Bond feels that her "frigid indifference" is overacted. At one point, he would like to give her a "sharp kick on the ankle" in order to get a response. But, he admits, Gala has probably been well chosen by Scotland Yard. She's "another Loelia Ponsonby. Reserved, efficient, loyal, virginal—a professional."
M is more fully developed in MOONRAKER. For the first time, M appears outside of the office for a social gathering. Bond is only too happy to accept M's invitation to dine at Blades, and as a personal favor determine how Drax is cheating at bridge. M is very cordial and pleasant at the dinner table, and for once, he seems more like a warm human being than the cold, crusty old admiral behind the desk at Universal Export. But the morning after Bond humiliates Drax at Blades, M becomes his usual self. Bond enters the office with a hangover, and M says, curtly, "You look pretty dreadful, 007 . . . Sit down." But M reveals an appreciation for Bond at the end when the Prime Minister phones to congratulate the Service on a job well done. The Prime Minister wants to honor Bond with an award for saving England, but it is against the Service's regulations for an agent to accept medals and decorations. This pleases M anyway, and he tells Bond of the P.M.'s wishes.
M. gave one of the rare smiles that lit up his face with quick brightness and warmth. Bond smiled back. They understood the things that had been left unsaid.
(MOONRAKER, Chapter 25)
HIGHLIGHTS AND OTHER INGREDIENTS
The major feature of MOONRAKER is the bridge game at Blades. Though it's not essential to the plotline, it serves to reveal an excellent insight into Hugo Drax's character. It also showcases Fleming's talent for describing gaming contests. The few chapters concerning the bridge game are exciting, suspenseful, and fascinating, surpassing the baccarat game in CASINO ROYALE. Bond prepares for the card battle by first reading up on cheating tricks in Scarne on Cards. He stacks decks of two colors (since he's unsure which color deck Drax will be using) and uses one to deal a "Culbertson hand." This leads Drax to believe he has the winning hand, when in reality, Bond has the superior one. The bidding builds to a high pitch until Bond calmly reveals his hand to a much surprised Hugo Drax. The writing of the scene is nothing short of brilliant.
Another highlight is the car chase toward theend of Part Two. Krebs' newsprint roll ploy is ingenious, and it's one of the few action sequences in the story. The blowtorch incident and subsequent events leading to the blast-off of the Moonraker are also exciting and fast-paced. It is in Part Three that the novel begins to resemble the style of the previous books, as Bond and Gala frantically attempt to alter Drax's plans of destroying London. There is one tense moment when the couple hides in a ventilation shaft to avoid Drax's guards. The guards search for the couple by spraying steam hoses into each shaft. Bond and Gala bravely withstand the intense heat without giving themselves away. The guards eventually give up and evacuate the area for the liftoff.
The final unique element in MOONRAKER, which is exemplified especially at the end, is its undertone of melancholy. This moodiness is brought about by Bond's thoughts and reflections about his job, Gala Brand, and women in general. For once, we get a sense that James Bond may be a very lonely man; this melancholy is nowhere better exhibited than in the final paragraphs. Bond has just learned that Gala Brand is engaged and plans to marry the very next day:
And now what? wondered Bond. He shrugged his shoulders to shift the pain of failure—the pain of failure that is so much greater than the pleasure of success. An exit line. He must get out of these two young lives and take his cold heart elsewhere. There must be no regrets. No false sentiment. He must play the role which she expected of him. The tough man of the world. The Secret Agent. The man who was only a silhouette.
She was looking at him rather nervously, waiting to be relieved of the stranger who had tried to get his foot in the door of her heart.
Bond smiled warmly at her. "I'm jealous," he said. "I had other plans for you tomorrow night"
She smiled back at him, grateful that the silence had been broken. "What were they?" she asked.
"I was going to take you off to a farmhouse in France," he said. "And after a wonderful dinner I was going to see if it's true what they say about the scream of a rose."
She laughed. "I'm sorry I can't oblige. But there are plenty of others waiting to be picked."
"Yes, I suppose so," said Bond. "Well, goodbye, Gala." He held out his hand.
"Goodbye, James."
He touched her for the last time and then they turned away from each other and walked off into their different lives.
(MOONRAKER, Chapter 25)
Quite a downbeat ending for James Bond. But in a way, these final paragraphs present a summation of the solitary life a secret agent must lead. Fleming dubs his character "the man who is only a silhouette." It is here that the shadowy, cold world of James Bond becomes a lonely reality.
DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER (1956)
Fleming's fourth novel, DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER, zips from location to location at a breakneck pace. Like LIVE AND LET DIE, the new novel is another country-hopping story which is fueled by the Fleming Sweep. In the former novel, there are logical reasons for the action moving from one locale to another as the plot develops; but in DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER, this is not the case. Both plot advancement and change of locale seem contrived here, and as a result, DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER, although it has some tense moments and some interesting character developments, is probably the weakest of the early Bonds.
The story concerns a diamond smuggling operation running from a British-owned mine in French Guinea to America. The British Treasury suspects the House of Diamonds of controlling the pipeline. James Bond impersonates one of the pipeline's carriers and meets a contact in London, the scintillating American blonde named Tiffany Case, and together they smuggle the diamonds to New York. Meanwhile, the Service learns that the European vice president of the House of Diamonds, Rufus B. Saye, is none other than Jack Spang, who with his twin brother, Seraffimo Spang, runs a syndicate in America known as "The Spangled Mob." Bond's assignment, then, is to follow the pipeline to Las Vegas, where Seraffimo i
s located. Seraffimo Spang soon learns that Bond is an imposter and instructs his hoods to kidnap the agent and bring him to Spectreville, a ghost town near Las Vegas which Spang had purchased and decorated as a Wild West "resort." Bond is brutally beaten by Spang's henchmen, Wint and Kidd. But with the help of Tiffany, Bond escapes and manages to derail Spang's locomotive, with Spang inside, during a nocturnal chase out of Spectreville. Tiffany and Bond board the Queen Elizabeth for London, unaware that Wint and Kidd are also on board. Tiffany is captured by the hoodlums, but is eventually rescued by Bond in a furious battle with the killers.Finally, Bond traces the pipeline back to French Guinea, where he encounters Jack Spang attempting to close down his operation. With a Bofors artillery gun, Bond knocks Spang's helicopter out of the sky.
STYLE AND THEMES
The Fleming Sweep, after taking a bit of a rest in MOONRAKER, returns at full force in DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER. This novel moves just as quickly as LIVE AND LET DIE, managing to maintain a constant level of excitement. But unfortunately, the plot suffers from too many loose ends. For example, Bond's assignment is to impersonate a diamond smuggler carrying a load of gems from London to New York. He must then attempt to trace the diamond pipeline to its final destination. None of Bond's actions after arriving in New York lead him to Las Vegas on his own—he is more or less pushed there by happenstance. A few of the sequences are gratuitous, such as the Saratoga race track visit and the auction aboard the Queen Elizabeth. Some events are never explained. For instance, why does Bond wear a disguise to call upon Rufus B. Saye at the House of Diamonds in London? If it was merely to mask his appearance, it is unnecessary. (He never encounters Rufus Saye/Jack Spang face-to-face again.) And though Tiffany Case has Francs' name and description, Bond does not wear a disguise when they first meet in her hotel room. She doesn't notice any difference between Bond's and Francs' looks.
Fleming's plot device for the rapid changes of locale once Bond arrives in America is the Mob finding a way to pay off the agent (as Peter Francs) for delivering the diamonds. First he is instructed to bet on a fixed horse at Saratoga. Bond purposefully helps Felix Leiter disqualify the fixed horse so he will have an excuse to be sent elsewhere by the Mob. Bond is then sent to Las Vegas (in a very roundabout way) to play blackjack at a particular time of day. This seems like a rather expensive and ineffective means to pay off an employee—sending him all over the country and footing the bill. But otherwise, Bond would have no cause to visit Las Vegas, and would therefore never meet Seraffimo Spang.
Another flaw in the story is the lack of a central villain. The Spang brothers hardly qualify, since Jack Spang appears in only two chapters, and Seraffimo appears in only one. (They are mentioned throughout, however.) In the early stages of the story, Bond is constantly warned by M, the Chief of Staff, and Felix Leiter that he is up against very dangerous people—even a group like SMERSH supposedly comes nowhere near the power of the Spangled Mob. This menace is never really demonstrated. In fact, the Spangled Mob seems such a poorly organized outfit (they can't even pay off a diamond smuggler without first running him all over the country) that it is hardly worth James Bond's time. Therefore, despite the few instances of real danger (such as the Acme mud bath sequence, the car/cab chase in Las Vegas, and the "Brooklyn stomping" by Wint and Kidd), the novel is fairly tame.
Fleming's use of detail, however, is still rich and flamboyant. As in LIVE AND LET DIE, descriptions of America are interesting and amusing. This time, though, there is a hint of superiority mixed with a curious affection toward some aspects of American culture. For instance, Fleming is laughing under his breath when he describes a roadside diner in New York State:
At 12:30 they stopped for lunch at a "Chicken in the Basket," a log-built, "frontier-style" roadhouse with standard equipment—a tall counter covered with the best known name-brands of chocolates and candies, cigarettes and cigars, a juke box blazing with chromium and coloured lights that looked like something out of science-fiction, a dozen or more polished pine tables in the centre of the raftered room and as many low booths along the walls, a menu featuring fried chicken and "fresh mountain trout" which had spent months in some distant deep-freeze, a variety of short-order dishes, and a couple of waitresses who couldn't care less.
(DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER, Chapter 10)
Some things, however, are viewed with a touch of disgust. While Bond is in Las Vegas, he has these thoughts about what is basically an American institution in the middle of the midwestern desert:
The first thing he noticed was that Las Vegas seemed to have invented a new school of functional architecture which he dubbed the Gilded Mousetrap School, its main purpose being to channel the customer-mouse into the central gambling trap whether he wanted the cheese or not. . . It was, essentially, an inelegant trap, obvious and vulgar, and the noise of the machines had a horrible mechanical ugliness which beat at the brain...
With an occasional silvery waterfall the metal cup would overflow and the gambler would have to go down on his knees to scrabble for a rolling coin. Or, strictly speaking, her knees, for they were mostly women, as Leiter had said—elderly women of the prosperous housewife class. Droves of them stood at the banks of machines like hens in an egg battery, conditioned by the delicious coolness of the room and the hypnosis of the spinning wheels to go on laying it on the line until their roll was gone.
Then, as Bond watched, a change-girl's voice cried, "Jackpot!" and some of the women raised their heads and the picture changed. Now they reminded Bond of Dr. Pavlov's dogs, saliva drooling at the treacherous bell that brought no dinner, and he shuddered at the empty eyes and the flaccid skin and the half open mouths and the thoughtless minds.
(DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER, Chapter 16)
Raymond Chandler, in his review of the book, said that for the first time, the sleaziness of Las Vegas had been accurately portrayed. The picture painted here is certainly not a pretty one.
The major theme of the novel is explicitly expressed in the title, and Fleming underscores the point in Chapter 24 in relation to death. Bond has just killed Wint and Kidd, and is looking forward to the prospect of holding Tiffany in his arms "forever":
Forever?
As he walked slowly across the cabin to the bathroom, Bond met the blank eyes of the body on the floor.
And the eyes of the man. . . spoke to him and said: "Mister, nothing is forever. Only death is permanent. Nothing is forever except what you did to me."
(DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER, Chapter 24)
Then Fleming turns to this image at the end of Chapter 25, after Bond has shot down Spang's helicopter:
So this great red full stop marked the end of the Spangled Mob and the end of their fabulous traffic in diamonds. But not the end of the diamonds that were baking at the heart of the fire. They would survive and move off again across the world, indestructible, as permanent as death.
And Bond suddenly remembered the eyes of the corpse which had once had a Blood Group F. They had been wrong. Death is forever. But so are diamonds.
(DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER, Chapter 25)
Diamonds, then, serve as a metaphor for death—and Bond, who carries the diamonds from London to New York, is the messenger of death who brings about the destruction of the Spangled Mob.
Another theme, and a recurring one, is that of friendship. One of the highlights in DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER is Bond's reunion with Felix Leiter, whom he had last seen as a bundle of bloody bedsheets in a Florida motel. Their scenes together are again a breath of fresh air, mainly because Leiter is such a warm and friendly character. Bond seems to remove his cold, stone-faced exterior when he's around the Texan. The friendship is important to both men; this is apparent in their conversation and actions. Bond again allows some emotion to reveal itself when he says goodbye to Leiter toward the end of the novel:
Bond felt a lump in his throat as he watched the lanky figure limp off to his car after being warmly embraced by Tiffany Case. "You've got yourself a good friend there," said the girl.
(DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER, Chapter 21)
Surprisingly, the recurring theme of gambling is not as prominent here as one would expect, since the novel incorporates locations which would seem to play up this aspect: the Saratoga race track, Las Vegas, etc. No luck or gambling is involved here—the race at Saratoga is fixed, and the blackjack deal in Vegas is stacked.
CHARACTERS
While DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER lacks structural development, this flaw is almost salvaged by the character development. More of Bond's personal beliefs and ideals are explored by the author, such as his views on marriage. His conversations with Tiffany Case are revealing and are among the highlights of the book In Chapter 22, over dinner, he and Tiffany share their own views of the perfect mate. Bond jokingly tells her that he would want "somebody who can make Sauce Béarnaise as well as love." But he goes on to add that she must have the "usual things"—and then proceeds to describe Tiffany's features. But he admits that his job does not allow-him to consider marriage. It is here that he makes the comment that he is "married to a man named M."
One senses from these paragraphs that Bond seriously wants to settle down and marry. He does fall for Tiffany (as much as he falls for any woman), and it seems that not since Vesper Lynd has a woman had such an effect on him. In the next novel we learn that he and Tiffany continued their affair after the conclusion of DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER, and that she moved into his flat in London. So apparently, there may have been some sort of love between the couple.
Another insight into Bond's character is revealed as he is waiting at the Tiara Hotel in Las Vegas to win his payoff at the blackjack table. He is disgusted with his cover, allowing the Mob to push him around and order him here and there. He admits that he feels "homesick for his real identity." This is a throwback to the similar thoughts he felt at the end of MOONRAKER, when he likens his life as a secret agent to that of a "man who is only a silhouette." In essence, Bond is reflecting that perhaps he doesn't live his "real identity" often enough—that his life is taken up far too much by that of a cover. This is one of the first signs that Bond has doubts about his profession—doubts which continue to plague him throughout the series.