James Bond, the Doctor Who fan

Thunderball poster in 1965

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.

John le Carre, an appreciation

David Cornwell, aka John le Carre

The 1960s spy craze, started by James Bond films, unleashed many escapist spies. But one of the most enduring espionage universe not escapist. It was the one penned by David Cornwell, writing under the name John le Carre.

Le Carre novels involved flawed humans dealing with grays, rather than black and white.

Cornwell wrote his novels independently of James Bond. Cornwell, like Ian Fleming, had worked in intelligence. Cornwell/le Carre had something to say in a more grounded espionage setting.

Le Carre would have written novels regardless of the spy craze. But the escapist thrust of much of the 1960s spy craze helped create a market for something else. James Bond helped create a market for George Smiley, le Carre’s best remembered (but from his only) protagonist.

Many le Carre novels were set during the Cold War. In 1989, as the cold war was winding down, the author was undaunted that the world was changing.

“It gives me wonderful breaks, a wonderful new deck of cards,” le Carre said in an interview with PBS. “I mean, the spy story was not invented by the cold war, it’ll continue after the cold war.”

Indeed, in the following years, le Carre wrote novels including The Night Manager, The Tailor of Panama and A Most Wanted Man. Le Carre never lacked for anything to say.

“I think this is a time when we’re going to have to turn around our thinking to a great extent,” le Carre said in the 1989 interview.

“There does come a point here too, as Smiley, himself, is saying, the when is the question about when could it happen that institutional guidance, patriotism, if you will, in this case, institutional commitment, actually outlives its purpose and imposes on me and upon my conscience individual strains which I cannot support.”

Le Carre lives on through numerous adaptations of his work, both as feature films and as television miniseries.

Amusingly, two writers who adapted Fleming to the screen also worked on le Carre projects: Paul Dehn (The Spy Who Came in From the Cold) and John Hopkins (Smiley’s People). The latter also had le Carre working on the adaptation.

Today, le Carre fans are in mourning after the author’s death this past weekend. That’s understandable. Reading le Carre works usually leaves a lasting impression on the reader.

Robert Sellers coming out with a Broccoli-Saltzman book

Ian Fleming, Harry Saltzman and Albert R. Broccoli

Robert Sellers, the author of The Battle for Bond, a book about the behind-the-scenes conflict concerning Thunderball, is coming out with a new book about Albert R. Broccoli and Harry Saltzman, the co-founders of Eon Productions.

There is a listing on the U.K. site of Amazon for When Harry Met Cubby: The Story of the James Bond Producers.

According to the listing, the book will be out in September. Here’s part of the description:

Both men were of such contrasting personalities that relations between them often span out of control, to such an extent that they not only fell out with their star, Sean Connery, but ultimately with each other. Loved and hated in equal measure, respected and feared by their contemporaries, few movie people have loomed as large over the industry as Broccoli and Saltzman, yet tragically they would meet very different ends.

During the 1960s heydey of the Bond film series, Broccoli and Saltzman took the industry by storm as 007 became a phenomenon.

In the ensuing decades, a narrative took hold of Saltzman being the more volatile of the two. Some fans (via social media) claim that Saltzman wasn’t really a producer.

On the other hand, other accounts indicate that Saltzman had a major impact on Bond film stories. Richard Maibaum had been a Broccoli man (going back to the producer’s partnership with Irving Allen). Saltzman brought in others (such as Len Deighton, Paul Dehn and John Hopkins) to revise Maibaum’s work.

Regardless, the blog’s guess is the new Sellers book will bring new insights to an old partnership that finally ruptured in the mid-1970s.

The Chronicles of SPECTRE Part III: Thunderball

Thunderball poster in 1965

By Nicolas Suszczyk
In 1964’s Goldfinger, SPECTRE took a break while James Bond fought the title villain’s attempt to irradiate Fort Knox. But the organization made a spectacular comeback in 1965’s Thunderball.

At the very beginning of the fourth Bond adventure, we see the secret agent at the funeral of SPECTRE’s number Six, Colonel Jacques Boitier (as the name is spelled in the Richard Maibaum-John Hopkins script although it’s spelled Bouvar in other reference sources). But the criminal is actually alive and planning to escape from the eyes of a vengeful Bond, because Boitier “murdered two of my colleagues.”

Right there there is a fact that ties Thunderball with the upcoming 2015 film: 007 visiting the funeral of a SPECTRE agent, a man he has presumably killed. There’ll be, as the film follows, even more ties between the Sam Mendes film and the Bond adventure celebrating its 50th anniversary this year.

After the main titles, The organization conducts a meeting led by its shadowy Number One, whose name isn’t yet revealed but is also played by Anthony Dawson and voiced by Eric Pohlman, as in From Russia with Love. SPECTRE moved from a yacht to a modern office in Paris, hidden inside a non-profit organization assisting stateless persons.

The man who leads us inside this hideout is none other than SPECTRE’s Number Two, Emilio Largo (Adolfo Celi, dubbed by Robert Rietty). The organization is almost like a religion to him. He would later kiss the octopuss ring that identifies him as a member. Largo is very appreciated by his leader, charging him with “our NATO project,” aka the “most ambitious project SPECTRE has ever undertaken.”

The organization has made a lot of progress between From Russia with Love and Thunderball. It has conducted an incredible range of operations throughout the world, including the killing of an antimatter expert, a train robbery and a drug narcotic operation that grosses a lot less than expected because Number Nine has kept with some… extra money. Number One will decide on an “appropriate action” for the culprit: activating the electric chair where the double-crossing agent was sitting.

“SPECTRE is a dedicated fraternity whose strength lies in the absolute integrity of its members,” the leader points out.

Number Two then explains his NATO project: to hijack the Vulcan airplane and stealing its atomic bombs, threatening to detonate them over the U.S. and the U.K. if the organization demands (including a ransom of £100 million, or $280 million) are not met.

The project is indeed ambitious when compared to the toppling of rockets and stealing a decoding machine to pit Russia against Britain, as seen in the two previous films featuring SPECTRE (Dr. No and From Russia With Love).

The organization also expanded with schemes and operatives from around the world. Just remember how Number One briefed only three of his agents in From Russia with Love. In Thunderball, he goes on to conduct a meeting with more than 10 members.

Emilio Largo is, of course, the primary SPECTRE figure in the story. He’s not only giving orders, but he also joins the action on land and under water with his army of frogmen. He has a hand-to-hand combat with 007, unlike the leader, who supervises the operation from the shadows.

In From Russia with Love, there was no real villain since Red Grant was just a trained assassin under the organization’s payroll. On the other side, Largo is a true believer of the cause, playing it cool while going to the Nassau casinos or going out with his lover Domino, but being as ruthless as his employer when he has to order someone’s death. He has the “integrity” a member of the “fraternity” Number One was talking about.

Thunderball provides the audience with the first memorable femme-fatale of the Bond franchise: Fiona Volpe, played by Luciana Paluzzi.

Unlike Tatiana Romanova, the Russian clerk the organization tried to use as a bait to terminate agent 007, Fiona is a fearless woman that, much like Bond himself, can also use her body as a weapon. Just like Largo, she’s also a true believer who proudly wears the SPECTRE octopus ring.

Fiona is also the first woman who can sleep with 007 without being turned to the “side of right and virtue,” like Tatiana and Pussy Galore before. She brags about this at one point. “What a blow it must have been. You having a failure,” she says as her accomplices Vargas and Janni hold 007 at gunpoint.

As complicated as it seemed, James Bond was able to thwart SPECTRE’s most ambitious project and Number Two’s life was pierced by a harpoon bolt shot by Domino, avenging her brother’s death.

SPECTRE would resurface once again less than two years later in You Only Live Twice, where the mysterious Number One will introduce himself to a captive Bond.

Common thread in 007 scripts: Making Bond bigger

Sean Connery in a 007 publicity still

There’s something a number of James Bond scripts have in common: There are attempts to build up supporting characters. But in the end, there’s only one top dog. And his name is Bond, James Bond.

007 collector Gary J. Firuta has provided copies of a number of Bond scripts. In a June 1966 draft, screenwriter Roald Dahl had Japanese agent Suki more of an active participant in the Kobe docks action sequence. Both Bond and Suki are shooting it out with thugs at one point. In the final film, however, agent Aki doesn’t do a whole lot, except flee to report to Japanese spy chief Tiger Tanaka.

In both Jack Whittingham’s first draft for what would become Thunderball as well as a later Richard Maibaum-John Hopkins draft, Felix Leiter also is more of an active participant in events. In the final 1965 film, Felix (Rik Van Nutter) gets punched by 007 in the stomach (so Felix won’t say “007” before Bond does so) and watches Bond (Sean Connery) do his thing.

In Richard Maibaum’s rewrite for The Man With the Golden Gun, Lt. Hip *and his nieces* infiltrate the martial arts school where an abducted Bond has been taken. They end up saving him from being finished off by prized pupil Chula. Not so in the final movie, where Bond (at the last second) fights off Chula and escapes *and then* encounters Hip and the nieces.

Finally, here’s an example the blog CITED IN 2009 about the differences between the Goldfinger novel and film. In Ian Fleming’s novel, it was Bond’s caddie who figured out how Goldfinger was cheating. In the film, Bond does it by himself while the caddie nods his approval.

Our Thunderball script posts in one article

Thunderball poster in 1965

We’ve revised and slightly expanded three recent posts on Thunderball scripts into one feature article called THE EVOLUTION OF THUNDERBALL.

The article is taken from three posts, one in June, the other two from the past few days. They examine Jack Whittingham’s 1960 first draft for Kevin McClory; Richard Maibaum’s 1961 first draft when Eon Productions planned to begin its 007 series with Thunderball; and the 1965 Maibaum-John Hopkins script.

The longer feature story is housed at THE SPY COMMAND FEATURE STORY INDEX.

That sister site to this blog has longer feature stories, some of which are expanded from blog posts and others that were published at the former Her Majesty’s Secret Servant website.

Examples include a LOOK AT IAN FLEMING’S MANUSCRIPTS AND PERSONAL PAPERS AT INDIANA UNIVERSITY and a feature about how the papers of Maibaum and Norman Felton, the executive producer of The Man From U.N.C.L.E., are housed at THE UNIVERSITY OF IOWA.

To view the complete Evolution of Thunderball article, CLICK HERE.

1965: Thunderball’s script drips with swagger

Thunderball’s tri-panel poster in 1965

After a number of false starts, Thunderball finally was going to be a reality in 1965 at the peak of the spy craze.

As a result, the script for Thunderball — assured of being a big hit — drips with swagger starting with the very first page.

A copy we got from 007 collector Gary Firuta begins much the way the final film version did — at a funeral, where we see the initials JB on a casket. Quickly, we learn Bond has been present, observing it along with a woman.

This stage direction pretty much sets the tone.

Here stand two people looking down, apart from the crowd, yet interested. One of them is an elegant FRENCHWOMAN in her late twenties, and beside her, that idol of the intelligentsia, that opiate of the oppressed and working classes, JAMES BOND.

This page is dated Jan. 19, 1965, not long before filming was to start. But this copy of the Richard Maibaum-John Hopkins script indicates things still weren’t locked down.

For example, in the pre-credits scene where Bond punches out Colonel BoitIer (posing as his own widow), Boiter’s outfit gets ripped “leaving half the dress in BOND’s hand, exposing the falsies he is wearing.”

That’s not all. “BOND, still holding the falsies, whips them around BOITIER’s throat, like a garrotte…Then he slowly tightens the falsies around his neck and strangles him.”

Bond gets away with the jet pack, but instead of the Aston Martin DB5, to a Ford Thunderbird, where the woman agent is waiting.

“As he lands, she helps him step out of the harness, and watches him as skilfully he folds up the mechanical contraption,” according to the stage directions. “It takes him no longer to do this than a golfer with a collapsible trolley, or a secret agent in Istanbul would take with a folding sniper’s rifle.” (Emphasis added) Presumably, that’s a reference to From Russia With Love, which will come up again shortly.

Meanwhile, the Tbird doesn’t have gadgets and Bond simply drives away to lead into the end titles.

Afterward, Largo makes his appearance in Paris on his way to the SPECTRE board meeting. The stage directions say Largo’s car is “not a Ford, but something of the Ferrari-Maserat (sic) breed.” Evidently, in the final film, Ford Motor Co. had to make sue with a consolation prize and have the Tbird be driven by Largo.

At the SPECTRE meeting, we’re told Largo is No. 3 (rather than No. 2 as in the film). Ernst Stavro Blofeld (his face not seen), says, “I was saying how much we at Spectre regret the death in the Istanbul affair of Number Six…Rosa Klebb, who will be sadly missed.” Nice to know Blofeld has a sentimental side.

Also, amusingly, when the financial reports are given, we’re told about the kidnapping of the young woman referenced in Maibaum’s 1961 first draft of Thunderball. In this version, we’re told she’s the “daughter of the Argentine industrialist” and SPECTRE got 1 million pesos. No mention of a sexual assault, as in the ’61 script.

As in the final film, we see Blofeld kill one of the members about embezzling proceeds from distribution of Red Chinese narcotics in the U.S. We’re given the additional information the guilty party had gambled heavily.

What’s more, this draft clearly was written before all the casting was in place. The femme fatale is Fiona Kelly, who is “red-headed, Irish” and “the most beautiful accomplished young witch since Morgan Le Fey.” Of course, the character’s nationality and name would be changed when red-headed Italian Luciana Paluzzi was cast.

Also, there seemed to be a debate what to call the SPECTRE operative who’d be called Count Lippe in the movie. On the pages dated Jan. 19, he’s named Lipson, but in other pages he’s called Lippe. Maibaum had called him Count Lippi in his 1961 effort.

This script also reuses a bit from Maibaum’s 1961 screenplay where Bond pretends to be an attendant with a Cockney accent in trapping Lipson in the steam bath.

The scene where Bond has sex with Patricia Fearing in the sauna is a little different than how it plays in the movie.

Steam billows round the camera as it moves forward, and it is with difficulty that we can just make out a woman’s bare feet as she stands on her tiptoes stretching upwards. A few inches away are the man’s feet and legs.

(snip)
PATRICIA
No, you’re wrong…this is *not* what I meant by the *full treatment*.

The steam rises higher and higher making is even more difficult to see anything at all.

This is probably just as well.

After SPECTRE hijacks the jet with the two atomic bombs (and Fiona kills Lipson/Lippe), Bond is back for his briefing with the 00 agents. Another stage direction makes it appear the filmmakers were considering all-star cameos for the agents.

As those agents rise get up the stage directions state that they are “ALL big stars who have played intelligence agents. If not, faces should not be shown.”

The script also demonstrates that the story was being revised during filming. Some pages are dated March 3 and later. In any case, the female lead character is named Dominique, a change from Maibaum’s 1961 script.

Unlike the 1961 script, the character of Q had been established. The script, again, is similar to the movie with Q having to equip 007 in the field. However, here Bond does specify that Q is Major Boothroyd.

The script also has some bits between Largo and Fiona that didn’t make the final movie. When they’re talking at Palmyra about how Bond was almost killed while swimming underwater around the Disco Volante, this comes up.

LARGO cradles FIONA’s face in one of his hands. She does not move away from him. She does not react at all.

LARGO
I think you forget — I found you. I made you.

At that point, both watch Domino swimming “briskly across the pool.” Fiona says, “That woman should be here, Largo. It is dangerous.”

When Bond arrives at Largo’s invitation at Palmyra, the two shake hands. Largo says he likes “a man with a strong grip,” while Bond replies that Largo’s handshake “is undeniably — forceful.”

“Not like a spectre?” Largo asks.

There’s a lot more (including a scene cut from the movie where Bond gets to go aboard the Disco Volante) and the Fiona-Bond seduction scene, which is written differently that the final film. But let’s go to the climatic fight. Based on this script (pages are dated March 10), the sequence is still coming together.

After Felix Leiter rescues Bond from a nasty spot, he takes 007 to a “cushioncraft,” where Q and a maintenance crew are waiting with Bond’s gear. The cushioncraft skims “across terrain toward the water” Once in the water, it’s going faster than the Disco Volante.

Felix is ready to drop Bond off so he can participate in the big underwater fight. The CIA man asks 007 if he should come with him. “You mind the store,” Bond says.

The good guys are AQUAPARAS while the bad guys are SPECTRES. When the combatants begin to surface, Leiter gets in some action from aboard the cushioncraft, shooting two of the SPECTRES while others surrender to the Aquaparas.

As in the finished movie, Bond and Largo have at it on an out-of-control Disco Volante. Domino shoots Largo, and she, Bond and scientist Kutze jump off the ship before it crashes and explodes.

Felix shows up in the cushioncraft and rescues Bond and Domino, without any mention of Kutze (!).

But the script isn’t over. It has an odd epilogue (to take place during the end titles) where two surviving SPECTRES in a sub get blown up after trying to get a container that was dropped from an aircraft by parachute into the water. It was probably just as well this was dropped.

1961: Eon’s first try at a Thunderball script

Thunderball poster in 1965

Albert R. Broccoli and Harry Saltzman formed Eon Productions in 1961 and immediately got to work trying to bring James Bond to the screen.

Their first effort, soon aborted, was to bring Thunderball, the newest Ian Fleming novel, to the screen. On Aug. 18, Richard Maibaum delivered his first draft. We got a copy from 007 collector Gary Firuta.

Maibaum, a veteran of a number of Broccoli-produced movies, went for a straight adaptation of Fleming’s novel. In some places, it bears a close resemblance to the movie that would arrive in theaters four years later. In other ways, it’s quite different.

Maibaum’s draft actually has a pre-titles sequence. However, it’s nowhere near as elaborate as the 1965 movie, which featured Bond with a jetpack.

Instead, it begins simply in Paris. It’s more or less how the 1965 movie plays after the titles. But instead of seeing Emilo Largo going to SPECTRE headquarters, it’s Ernst Stavro Blofeld.

The stage directions state Blofeld is 53 (the age of the literary Blofeld in 1961, not to mention Ian Fleming, with whom the villain shared a birthday) and is “over six feet, weighing 280 pounds, once all muscle.”

The sequence plays out much the way audiences saw in 1965, with some different details. We eventually witness the start of the SPECTRE board meeting. The gathering is larger; there are 20 SPECTRE members gathering.

Blofeld does his fakeout bit (killing No. 12, after putting No. 7 on the spot). The reason: a young woman was kidnapped by SPECTRE, but a member of the organization “conducted himself in a thoroughly unacceptable manner.”

The girl, we’re told by Blofeld, “is presently under intensive medical and psychiatric treatment.” After No. 12 is electrocuted, the main titles begin.

Afterward, we’re still at the SPECTRE board meeting. Blofeld (who apparently loves to talk) tells us SPECTRE has told the treasurer to return $300,000 (half of the ransom) to the girl’s family. We then have the financial reports.

Some of this would be in the movie Thunderball, but with changes. One example: in this script SPECTRE blackmailed  a former S.S. officer living in Havana under an assumed name. The group only got 240,000 pesos, “all the man had.”

We also get an additional detail: Blofeld gets 10 percent of the total take, and the other members get 4 percent each. Now, we’re on to talking about Plan Omega and the hijacking of atomic bombs.

On page 10, we’re introduced to Shrublands and on page 12, James Bond finally puts in his first appearance. Patricia Fearing is almost hit by a Bentley driven by Count Lippi (instead of Lippe as in the 1965 film). Bond “gathers her up by the waist” to prevent her from being struck by the car.

“She gasps as the Bentley skids to a stop and looks up in flurried astonishment into the face of JAMES BOND, whose right hand is momentarily cupped over one beautiful breast.” In other words, 007 copped a feel as he saved her.

Maibaum’s description of Bond is more or less direct from Fleming: “He is in his middle thirties, with dark, rather cruel good looks except for very clear blue-grey eyes. A scar runs down his right cheek.”

Later, Bond gets a rubdown from a masseur, who comments about all the scars on Bond’s chest and back. Bond also spots Lippi’s tatoo and calls Moneypenny as in the 1965 movie. It’s similar but in this script the scene is longer. Instead of “on yogurt and lemon juice? I can hardly wait!” Moneypenny says, “On nuts and youghurt? I can hardly wait!”

Eventually Bond and Lippi get cross ways (including Lippi trying to kill Bond on the traction machine). Bond gets even with Lippi in a slightly different manner. He still turns up the heat while Lippi while he’s in a steam cabinet. But 007 pretends to be an attendant and fakes a Cockney accent.

SPECTRE, of course, does succeed in hijacking the atomic bombs (and killing the crew of a bomber plane), thanks to sellout Petacchi. But instead of Largo doing in sellout Derval (as in the final film), it’s Vargas who kills Petacchi, and with a stiletto while the plane hasn’t yet sunk. Meanwhile, Largo doesn’t make an appearance until page 40.

Bond has a briefing with M. The MI6 chief makes an interesting comment: “The Double O section’s discretion to liquidate has come under considerable criticism. Exercise it with extreme caution. The usual denials of responsibility from The Service will be more emphatic than in the past.”

That’s pretty interesting, but a notion that’s not really developed in this script and wouldn’t come up when Eon made other Bond films. It sounds similar to Mission: Impossible’s “the secretary will disavow any knowledge of your actions.”

Bond, after a false start or two, is assigned to Nassau. We finally meet Dominetta Vitali, Pettachi’s sister, on page 58 (this would be almost an hour into a movie filmed from this script). She and Bond meet and there’s a lot of chatting.

She drives him out to a restaurant, but after they’re done, she’s going the other way and he’ll have to catch a cab. After she departs, there’s this amusing bit of stage direction.

BOND
(if the censor will permit)
Bitch.

Bond gets back to his hotel room. The agent can tell somebody is in there.

VOICE FROM INSIDE ROOM
(very American)
Don’t shoot 007. This is 000.

Of course, it’s Felix Leiter. “He is an American version of Bond except that a steel hook replaces his right hand,” according to Maibaum’s stage directions.

Here, they’re depicted as being old friends. In a later scene, there’s even a reference to how they’ve both disobeyed orders when necessary.

The duo go out to Largo’s yacht, the Disco Volante, with Bond posing as someone interested in taking over the Palmyra — “the property I believe you rent from Mr. Bryce.” Presumably, that’s an in-joke reference to Fleming friend Ivar Bryce.

The rest of the script plays out, more or less as Fleming’s novel did with some flourishes that’d make it into the 1965 movie. Bond kills Vargas (shooting him with a regular gun, rather than a spear gun). There’s an underwater fight, but not as elaborate as the later movie.

Work on this, of course, ground to a halt because it soon became evident there was a dispute about the rights. Fleming had based the novel on scripts and story elements he developed with producer Kevin McClory and Jack Whittingham. You can CLICK HERE to see our June 6 post about Whittingham’s 1960 first draft script.

Eon would soon change direction and begin developing Dr. No for the screen instead. Nevertheless, reading this first effort, Maibaum had set a direction for “the Biggest Bond of All.” He, along with writer John Hopkins, would take it from there a few years later.

Repeat after me, ‘Writing a James Bond movie is hard’

Bond 24 writer, err co-writer, John Logan

John Logan is learning a lesson that the likes of Paul Haggis, Bruce Feistein, Jeffrey Caine and Michael France learned before him. Writing a James Bond movie is hard.

You can be a hero one day (Logan after Skyfall, Feirstein after GoldenEye, Haggis after Casino Royale) and out the door the next (Feirstein for a period during Tomorrow Never Dies until he got asked back, Haggis after Quantum of Solace).

Screenwriting in general is tough. If you’re in demand, you make a lot of money. If you’re not, it can be humbling. Studios make fewer, more expensive movies. With the stakes so high, there are all sorts of people — directors, stars, studio executives — looking over your shoulder. Bond movies take it a step further. You have the Broccoli-Wilson family, which has controlled the franchise for more than a half century. They have definite ideas of what they like and don’t like.

Screenwriters don’t tally up a lot of multiple 007 screen credits. An Oscar winner such as Paul Dehn had only one. Other one-time only scribes include John Hopkins. Roald Dahl and Michael France. Some writers toil without even getting a credit, such as Len Deighton and Donald E. Westlake, hardly slouches as authors.

All of which is a long way of saying it’s remarkable that Neal Purvis and Robert Wade have been summoned, according to Baz Bamigboye of the Daily Mail, for a sixth turn writing a James Bond movie, taking over for Logan, who, in turn, rewrote their script for Skyfall. The only writer who has more Bond screenwriting credits is Richard Maibaum (1909-1991) with 13. Maibaum had the advantage of a long-standing relationship with producer Albert R. Broccoli.

Maibuam and the Purvis-Wade team have one thing in common. They’ve taken their share of flak over the years. The British film historian Adrian Turner, in a 1998 book about Goldfinger, made it clear he didn’t think much of Maibaum, painting Dehn as the one who brought the Goldfinger script into shape. Purvis and Wade, meanwhile, get criticized on Internet message boards and social media by some fans as hacks. It helps to have a thick skin.

Feirstein, Haggis and Logan were the final writers on three significant 007 hits: GoldenEye (reviving the franchise after a six-year hiatus), Casino Royale (a reboot of the franchise) and Skyfall (the first billion-dollar Bond film). They got invited back but in the cases of Feirstein and Haggis it was hardly easy going. Something similar may be going on with Logan. He was hired to write a two-film story arc, but that plan got scrapped as part of the price to get Skyfall director Sam Mendes back for Bond 24.

The situation undoubtedly is even more complicated and can only really be appreciated by those who’ve gone through the same grind. But the basic lesson still stands. It’s hard to write a James Bond movie.

Len Deighton on From Russia With Love

Len Deighton and Michael Caine

The Deighton Dossier blog has a new interview with author Len Deighton. You can read the entire interview by CLICKING HERE One thing that caught our eye was Deighton’s description of his work on From Russia With Love, the second 007 film.

The Q and A featured questions from readers. One of those readers was Jeremy Duns, journalist (he dug out Ben Hecht’s screenplay drafts for producer Charles K. Feldman’s Casino Royale) and spy author.

Richard Maibaum got the screenplay credit for From Russia With Love, with Johanna Harwood receiving an “adapted by” credit. Maibaum had a long association with Eon Productions co-founder Albert R. Broccoli. On the early Bond films, Harry Saltzman, the other Eon co-founder, was involved heavily in developing the scripts and often sought English writers such as Paul Dehn and John Hopkins. Saltzman later produced the Harry Palmer series, starring Michael Caine, based on Deighton novels.

Here’s how Deighton in the Deighton Dossier interview, prompted by a question from Duns, described his time working on the film:

I’m very interested in your work on From Russia With Love – do you have any surviving drafts of your script and how do you regard it?

Len: I went to Istanbul with Harry Saltzman, plus the director and the art director. As with virtually all movies, the producer is the driving force who gets the idea, buys the rights, commissions the screenplay, chooses the actors and employs the director.

Harry demonstrated this creative power. We took breakfast together every day so that he could guide me and teach me how film stories worked. It was a wonderful course in movie making especially as the rest of each day was spent roaming around Istanbul with Harry plus the director and art director talking about locations and building the sets back in England.

I’ve always been rather careless about typescripts and notes etc. And having a restless disposition I have packed, unpacked and repacked countless times as my family and I lived in different countries, I don’t have much written stuff left.

Terence Young directed the movie and Syd Cain worked as art director, with Michael White as assistant art director.

The Deighton Dossier and this blog, are members of the Coalition Of Bloggers wRiting About Spies. We noticed the From Russia With Love mention from Tweets by Jeremy Duns.