All posts tagged books

literarybond:

The cinematic Bond always seems to know the right thing to say or do, and he rarely makes mistakes (Moore mislays a couple of important items in Moonraker and A View to a Kill; can you think of others? I don’t count the error that gives Lazenby away in OHMSS because it was Sable Basilisk’s mistake, not Bond’s).

It may seem counterintuitive, but I actually like the literary Bond better because he isn’t as perfect as his cinematic counterpart. The literary Bond is more realistic, more flawed, and yes, he sometimes makes mistakes — never in a careless or bumbling sort of way, but in a very relatable, ‘to err is human’ sort of way. 

For example: who among us can’t relate to the sick feeling Bond gets when he realizes Count Lippe overheard him asking about Lippe’s tattoo? That horrible feeling when you know you’ve said something you shouldn’t have — Bond describes it as that “crawling sensation at the pit of his stomach he knew so well; the signal that he had probably made a dangerous and silly mistake” (Thunderball, 15).

Go back and watch the scene in Dr. No where Connery suavely blocks the camera girl’s shot with his hat at the airport. Now compare the same scene in the book, where Bond makes a complete balls of his arrival in Jamaica. Not only does the photographer get her shot, she notes his vehicle and sees him with Quarrel. This leads Bond to reflect morosely:

• It was the mistakes one made at the beginning of a case that were the worst. They were the irretrievable ones, the ones that got you off on the wrong foot, that gave the enemy the first game (27).

Admirably, Bond is always learning from his mistakes, and he always seems to catch himself before the mission goes off the rails entirely. When he starts making foolish mistakes, though, it tells us that something is seriously wrong.

In the aftermath of OHMSS, M claims that Bond bungles his next two assignments: “On one he nearly got himself killed, and on the other he made a mistake that was dangerous for others. That’s the thing that worries me” (You Only Live Twice, 12). Very sad, very realistic, and very human.

• In the novel, we’re given an extensive background on who Dr. No is, and the motivation behind his scheme. Dr. No is presented as not only insane, but also as determined, hard working, and able to overcome physical hardship, all qualities which have inspired his evil passions.
• Like with Dr. No, in the novel, we’re given more background on Honey. In the film, Honey is a naive girl whose father is a biologist, so she’s out collecting shells because she’s naive and being silly. In the novel, her character is more complex. She was orphaned, and collected the shells so that she could survive. Honey develops as a character in the novel, and we see little of this development in the films. As with most women in Bond novels, Honey is strong and independent. She doesn’t need Bond to rescue her.
• As with most of the novels, Bond’s character is much more complex than in the films. Bond struggles with his passion for Honey in the novel, while in the film, she is the first in a long line of conquests. Bond and Honey grow together in the novel and Bond waits to sleep with her until the end of the novel, after she’s lost some of her naivete and is in a safe situation. Bond truly cares for her, making sure that he’s set her up with a good job and loving support network (in the Pleydell-Smiths) before he leaves for England. He also discourages her from getting surgery on her broken nose because he wants her to see the beauty in people’s “flaws”. Bond isn’t the stereotype of masculine dominance in the novel that he is in Connery’s portrayal of him in the film.
• Professor Dent does not appear in the novel.
• Quarrel is much more of Bond’s peer in the novel than in the film. Quarrel was Bond’s trainer in Live and Let Die, and they share a much more equal relationship in the novel. Bond seldom orders Quarrel around in the novel and genuinely asks Quarrel for advice, which he tends to heed.
• One of the most powerful scenes in the novel is the “obstacle course” designed by Dr. No and Bond’s struggles in mastering it. This scene does not exist in the film. The electro-shock grate is all that’s left of Dr. No’s course in the film. This is one of Bond’s most physically challenging episodes in all of the novels, and serves to help define Bond as a fundamentally inwardly-focused individual, capable of drawing incredible strength from within. Again, we seldom see these kinds of struggles in the films.
• Dr. No’s death is much less climactic in the novel, as he’s buried alive in bird dung. In the film, Bond and Dr. No have an epic struggle to the death over a nuclear reactor cooling pool.
• In the novel, Dr. No is a medical doctor, while in the film, he’s a nuclear physicist. In the novel, there’s no mention of nuclear power on Crab Key or radiation, which is the reason why Strangways was investigating Dr. No. Likewise, Strangways’ house is destroyed in the novel, while in the film, Bond searches Strangways’ house for a lead that will take him to Dr. No. In the novel, Crab Key seems to be a mysterious place where people keep disappearing. That’s the only lead Bond gets. He initially sets out to investigate the island. In the film, Bond knows that he’ll find Strangways’ killer on Crab Key, so he enters the situation knowing that there is going to be trouble.
• Dr. No is working for the Russians in the novel, while he’s working for SPECTRE in the film.
• The poison fruit does not appear in the film, and the spider that Professor Dent places in Bond’s bed is changed from a centipede.
• There is no direct connection between the beginning of Dr. No and the end of From Russia with Love in the films.

from James Bond wiki

literarybond:

Bond himself is not exactly a bookworm, but Fleming often alludes to other books and writers. I am in the midst of cataloguing them here: 

Doctor No

According to Ian Fleming’s James Bond: Annotations and Chronologies by John Griswold, M makes reference to Live Longer and Enjoy It! by Dr. Peter Steincrohn when talking to Sir James Molony. M also alludes to The Anatomy of Courage by Lord Moran, wherein he claims “courage is a capital sum reduced by expenditure.”

In Jamaica, Bond is seen reading The Handbook of the West Indies while he eats dinner alone.