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Ian Fleming likely would not image social media, much less how people send out social media posts and videos *while they are committing crimes.* So what would happen if Bond villains used their social media accounts while executing their plots?
@EmiloLargoSPECTRE: Somebody tried to demand more than double what we agreed to pay! I showed him.
@EmiloLargoSPECTRE: This is the high point of my day. What could possibly go wrong? (NOTE: Last entry in account)
@ErnstStavroBlofeldSPECTRE: Feeding my pet fish at the end of a hard day helps relax me.
As it turns out, James Bond was a bit of a Doctor Who fan.
The Writing Bond feed on Twitter (@BondWriting) posted a Sept. 19 tweet with an image from the script of Thunderball dated Jan. 19, 1965.
The image is from the scene where Bond (Sean Connery) returns to MI6 and goes to M’s office. Moneypenny tells Bond that M isn’t in the office and that every 00-agent in Europe has been rushed in and are in the conference room.
In this version of the script, Bond replies: “The Daleks have taken over!”
The Daleks (per Wikipedia) are ” a fictional extraterrestrial race of mutants principally portrayed in the British science fiction television programme Doctor Who. The Daleks were conceived by science-fiction writer Terry Nation and first appeared in the 1963 Doctor Who serial The Daleks, in the shells designed by Raymond Cusick.”
Admittedly, this slipped by me at the time I first read the script years ago. So I consulted my copy of the 1965 Thunderball script.
On that copy, the Bond-Moneypenny exchange is dated March 3, 1965. But the Daleks line from Bond is still there.
In the final film, Connery’s line appears to be dubbed and becomes, “Somebody’s probably lost a dog!” Look around the 0:14 mark of the clip below.
The Thunderball script is credited to American writer Richard Maibaum and English writer John Hopkins. My guess (and it’s only that) is that Hopkins supplied the Dalek reference.
Sorry, U.S. Bond fans. You are at the back of the No Time to Die line. Deja vu all over again.
The Deadline entertainment-news website said it was told by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Bond’s home studio, that international markets, indeed, will get the 25th 007 film starting Sept. 30. But the U.S. will have to wait to the previously announced Oct. 8 date. (Universal is handling distribution outside the U.S.)
Truth be told, the U.S. has long had to wait to see 007 films. In the early years of the franchise, American Bond enthusiasts had to wait months. American Bond fans with pull — like U.S. President John F. Kennedy — could see the films well ahead of their fellow countrymen.
In Kennedy’s case, watching From Russia With Love in November 1963 was one of the last things he did before he was assassinated. But others, such as film director Howard Hawks and cartoon producer Joseph Barbera got early looks at Dr. No. For Barbera, that’s where got the idea of what would become Jonny Quest.
In the past decade or so, there have been announcements of supposed “global” Bond film releases. Yet, that never actually materializes. And the U.S., as usual, goes to the back of the line.
In the 1966 Batman feature film, there was a British inventor known as Commidore Schmidlapp. He’s bringing a “fantastic” invention to the U.S. in the hopes it will yield “pip, pip Yankee dollars.” Naturally, the inventor doesn’t realize he’s been kidnapped and his invention turned into a weapon.
Still, the commodore’s attitude — “pip, pip Yankee dollars” — summarizes the attitude of the Bond franchise and its studios. Yankee dollars? Great. Yankee fans? Meh.
Mission: Impossible 7 will go to the revamped Paramount Plus service after just 45 days of theatrical release, Variety reported. The traditional theatrical window has been 90 days.
The move covers other Paramount movies, according to Variety.
The development is yet another example of the crumbling of the traditional 90-day theatrical window between a movie’s debut and it becoming available in some form of home video.
AT&T’s Warner Bros. for its theatrical releases this year is making new movies available simultaneously in theaters and AT&T’s HBO Max. Other studios are trying to figure out how to deal with the tsunami of streaming that’s engulfing the movie business.
Here’s an excerpt from Variety’s story about Paramount:
Those films will debut exclusively in theaters as planned. However, the studio has newly shorten the amount of time they will play exclusively on the big screen. After 45 days, new Paramount theatrical films will debut on the streaming service Paramount Plus. As part of the arrangement, Paramount has adjusted its pay TV output deal with Epix in order to bolster movie offerings on the nascent streaming service. Along with new releases, Paramount Plus will offer a deep library of more than 2,500 films.
Epix is a premium channel owned by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Bond’s home studio.
You shouldn’t read too much into this. MGM is in hock to the tune of almost $290 million for No Time to Die. MGM has its own hard decisions in the new era — all while the studio is up for sale.
Rather, you should view this news as yet another indicator of how the movie business is in turmoil generally.
Part of the Live And Let Die soundtrack packaging (Spy Command photo)
In the 21st century, vinyl music (you know, records) has been revived. Truth be told, it was the best format for movie soundtracks. There was more room for poster images and other art related to the movie.
One of the best examples of this occurred in 1973 with the release of Live And Let Die, the eighth James Bond film.
Most soundtracks of the era were single discs that fit into a sleeve. Live And Let Die’s soundtrack, likewise, was just one disc. But when you looked at the cover, you could open it and see two sets of images (see above).
The biggest image, naturally, was Roger Moore as the new James Bond. Still, all told, there were 11 either film stills or publicity images from the movie. It’s not the kind of presentation you get on a CD or a music download.
The cover was an image of the movie’s main poster art. The back cover was a listing of the tracks on the record.
The list included “Just a Closer Walk With Thee,” (from the fake funeral scene) arranged by Milton Batiste. Batiste also composed “New Second Lind,” performed by Harold A. “Duke” Dejan and The Olympia Brass Band.
The other tracks were composed by George Martin except for the final track on side two, the film’s version of The James Bond Theme.
A final note: On this U.S. version of the album, Albert R. Broccoli gets top billing over fellow producer Harry Saltzman. Saltzman was actually the primary producer of the film. A lot of home video versions work from a version where Saltzman got top billing.
UPDATE: A former Bond collector (he sold his collection off some time back) advises me the 1969 U.K. vinyl release of the On Her Majesty’s Secret Service soundtrack also had a gate-fold cover as described above for the Live And Let Die soundtrack. I have a copy of the U.S. OHMSS vinyl soundtrack, but it only has a standard cover.
Also, a reader complained that I didn’t mention Paul McCartney and Wings. They performed the title song. It was written by Paul and Linda McCartney. Most fans know that but I decided to make up for that here.
UPDATE II: Another reader advises the U.K. version of the vinyl release of The Spy Who Loved Me also had a gate-fold cover. I have the U.S. vinyl release and no gate-fold cover.
To quote Commodore Schmidlapp from the 1966 Batman feature film: “Pip, pip, Yankee dollars.” Except, when it comes to Yankee Bond fans: “Go stuff it, you uncouth barbarians.”
UPDATE III: David Reinhardt of the Ian Fleming Foundation, up seeing this post provided gate-fold images from the On Her Majesty’s Secret Service and The Spy Who Loved Me soundtracks that appeared outside the U.S.
OHMSS soundtrack gate-fold imagesThe Spy Who Loved Me gate-fold images
I’ve been re-reading Ian Fleming’s first novel, Casino Royale, for research. Something leapt out at me. James Bond is not the best strategic thinker.
Bond, thanks to Felix Leither providing much-needed funds from the U.S., bests a Communist operative, LeChiffe at the gaming tables. After winning, Bond drinks a lot of champagne while LeChiffre prepares a counter-attack. Bond eventually is captured.
Too late, it occurs to Bond he should have been more prepared.
He squirmed at the thought of himself washing down champagne at the Roi Gallant while the enemy was busy preparing the counterstroke. He cursed himself and cursed the hubris which had made him so sure that the battle was won and the enemy was in flight.
Chapter 16, The Crawling of the Skin
The thing is, Bond never really learns that lesson. In the novel From Russia With Love, Bond knows the situation is a trap but decides to ride the train to the end. In Dr. No (both novel and film), Bond travels to Crab Key with basically no plan, just bringing a gun with him.
Both the literary and cinema Bond doesn’t do much in the way of planning. In Quantum of Solace, Bond bounces from one situation to another. In the film Skyfall, Bond sort of, kind of, has a plan but M still gets killed.
Bond, of course, is a blunt instrument. On some occasions, he’s the dull instrument who nevertheless comes out on top. In Casino Royale (both novel and 2006 film), he’s been taken in by Vesper. In the film, he even loses all the money.
Cover to a 2017 CD soundtrack of The Wild Wild West
Ron Moore, a successful TV writer-producer, gave an interview to The Hollywood Reporter mostly covering recent and upcoming projects. But he also touched briefly on one that got away — a proposed new version of The Wild Wild West.
Moore didn’t say a lot. But here’s an excerpt from the interview, presented in Q&A format.
What’s the project that got away?
The Wild Wild West. Naren Shankar and I wrote a version of the rebooted Wild Wild West for CBS about 10 or 15 years ago. I loved that original show as a kid and thought it was an interesting mix of James Bond and the west with occult overtones that would deal with werewolves periodically. It was a really out-there genre piece and very unique. I was excited at the thought of getting my hands on it and disappointed when it didn’t go forward. I’d still love to find a way to get my hands on it again. It’s owned by CBS so unfortunately not something I have access to.
The project surfaced in 2010. CBS has begun a new version of Hawaii Five-0 (it would eventually run 10 seasons). So the network looked at The Wild Wild West, another property it owned and which ran from 1965 to 1969. As noted above, a new version didn’t come together.
Despite being set in the 1870s, The Wild Wild West may have have been the most fantastical show of the 1960s spy craze. Plots included alternate dimensions inside paintings and the captured brains of major scientists.
The show followed the exploits of U.S. Secret Service agents James West (Robert Conrad) and Artemus Gordon (Ross Martin). The agents traveled in style in a private train on their way to missions. Guest stars playing villains included Michael Dunn (as arch-enemy Dr. Loveless), Victor Buono, Ted Knight and Robert Duvall.
UPDATE (1 p.m., New York time): I have been advised that a European Union trademark exists for the name Goldfinger (among other Bond trademarks).
ORIGINAL POST: James Bond fans took note of a story in Variety about a new Goldfinger project that has nothing to do with 007 or Auric Goldfinger.
This new Goldfinger film, according to the entertainment-news outlet is set in the 1980s and “depicts cut-throat machinations between Hong Kong’s jostling business elites amidst the backdrop of the tail end of British colonial rule.”
The James Bond Goldfinger, released in 1964 and based on a 1959 Ian Fleming novel, turned Bond into a phenomenon and was the first mega-hit for the film 007.
Some fans might be wondering how it’s even possible a new movie could be titled Goldfinger.
The Weintraub Tobin law firm in California has intellectual and entertainment practices. The firm’s IP Law Blog had a February 2020 entry about how copyright and trade applies to titles.
“Generally, the title to a single motion picture is not entitled to trademark protection,” wrote attorney Scott Hervey. “This is the same for the title to single books, songs and other singular creative works.”
However, things can be more complicated.
For one thing, with a serialized work such as a television series, “trademark protection would be warranged.”
Also, according to Hervey, courts may grant protection if it can be demonstrated a title has acquired secondary, or distinctive, meaning. “Establishing acquired distinctiveness is not an easy task,” he wrote.
Strictly a guess, but I could see how an attorney might argue that Goldfinger has a unique meaning, i.e. a specific rich, megalomaniac villain.
If you want to take a deeper dive into the subject, you can read the attorney’s blog post by CLICKING HERE. We’ll also see if this Goldfinger project generates fees for lawyers.
ADDENDUM: I should have pointed this out. No Time to Die, the 25th James Bond film, is at least the third use of that title. In the 1950s, there was a war movie produced by Irving Allen and Albert R. Broccoli with that name (it was called Tank Force in the U.S.) That movie was released by Columbia. No Time to Die was also the title of a 1992 episode of Columbo.
To be sure, No Time to Die is a pretty generic title and not in the class of distinctiveness as Goldfinger. Besides the examples above, there have been very similar-sounding titles such as And a Time to Die…, a 1970 episode of Hawaii Five-O.
David Leigh of The James Bond Dossier and I chatted on a livestream on Feb. 19. We reviewed how No Time to Die arrived at its current point, a movie costing almost $290 million in a holding pattern.
This is mostly a summary of what we discussed. This also is my own phrasing and analysis. If you have objections, send them my way.
—2016’s black hole: In 2016, there was a three-cornered game that would ensure a new James Bond movie wouldn’t happen quickly.
MGM, Bond’s home studio, was busy trying to sell itself to a Chinese buyer. That didn’t work out.
Barbara Broccoli, the leading force at Eon Productions, had other irons in the fire. Eon wanted to make movies such as Film Stars Don’t Die in Liverpool, Nancy and The Rhythm Section. None of the three would be popular successes.
Daniel Craig, the Bond star of record, wanted to do other projects. One of them was titled Kings (Halle Berry was the co-star) and set in 1992 Los Angeles. It wasn’t a hit. Craig also did a new play based on Shakespeare’s Othello.
–Le affaire de Danny Boyle: After the principals got all that out of their system, MGM, Eon and (apparently Craig) were wowed by a pitch by director Danny Boyle and one of his writers, John Hodge.
By early 2017, Eon Productions had hired Neal Purvis and Robert Wade. But the Boyle-Hodge team pitched a new idea. Supposedly this idea was so FANTASTIC, the Purvis-Wade effort was tossed aside in 2018.
In May 2018, the Boyle-Hodge effort was now the way to go. Until, a few months later, it wasn’t any more. “Creative differences” (as noted in a press release).
So long, Danny. Hello search for a new director. That would end up being Cary Fukunaga. Hello, more writers, including Fukunaga (who’d get a credit), Phoebe Waller-Bridge (ditto) and Scott Z. Burns (sorry, Scott).
Coronavirus: Some delays for No Time to Die have been due to COVID-19. But the bulk of delays stem from other reasons.
So it goes.
UPDATE (Feb. 20): Here’s a replay of most the livestream, at least after we got some technical issues out of the way.
Back in 2009, the blog wrote about writer Harold Jack Bloom, the first screenwriter hired for You Only Live Twice.
After all these years, Bloom remains a mysterious figure in the Bond film series. He was an Oscar-nominated screenwriter for The Naked Spur, a 1953 Western film starring James Stewart. But books about the James Bond films gloss that over.
For example, the book Some Kind of Hero mentions Bloom wrote an episode of a television series produced by Harry Saltzman. That book says Bloom “took over writing chores” while retaining elements of a treatment written by Sydney Boehm, himself an Oscar-nominated screenwriter.
How did Bloom get involved with Bond? He had a successful career. The Naked Spur put him on the map but he ended up mostly writing for television. He wrote scripts for westerns, crime dramas and medical dramas. However, he didn’t write a lot of spy stories.
The main exception to that was the second episode of The Man From U.N.C.L.E., The Iowa-Scuba Affair. The show’s day-to-day producer was Sam Rolfe, who all but created U.N.C.L.E. and had been Bloom’s collaborator on The Naked Spur.
The written history of You Only Live Twice is pretty sketchy. Bloom accompanied key production members to Japan. Then, for whatever reason, he was gone. In came Roald Dahl, an accomplished writer but who had little experience writing TV and film scripts.
Dahl was a pretty colorful character. In the 1960s, a BBC special about the making of You Only Live Twice featured Dahl prominently. Harold Jack Bloom? He was yesterday’s news.
Strictly a guess, but it seems likely Bloom got the job on the basis of his U.N.C.L.E. script. In the 21st century, it’s unlikely that Eon Productions would admit that. Albert R. Broccoli took shots at U.N.C.L.E. in his autobiography.
When legend becomes fact, print the legend.
Now and forever, Harold Jack Bloom will be a forgotten figure in the Bond film world.
The Spy Command 