[Andrew999]

Today marks the 62nd anniversary of the first strip in the UK of Bond, James Bond.

Mostly associated with the later team of Jim Lawrence and Yaroslav Horak, the earlier work of Henry Gammidge was more to my liking.

The strips ended in 1984 sadly - I don't know why, licensing issues I guess - but Dynamite continue to publish new work in the States and Titan have done a good job of producing compendiums in the UK.

As newspapers shift online to become 'trusted media sources' (yeah, right) maybe a comic strip page will be included and Bond will re-emerge?

[Andrew999]

So who is your favourite Bond? And three favourite movies?

I confess I haven't seen any of the recent movies so I would go for:

1) From Russia With Love (Daniela Bianchi, also in Special Mission Lady Chaplin)
2) You Only Live Twice (Akiko Wakabayashi - who also starred in Kokusai himitsu keisatsu: Kagi no kagi (Key of Keys), one of the Japanese Kokusai himitsu keisatsu James Bond-style movies that Woody Allen used for What's Up Tiger Lily?)
3) Live and Let Die (Madeline Smith - unforgettable as Erotica in Up Pompeii)

My favourite Bond?

1) Roger Moore - I liked his style
2) Bob Holness - "Can I have a P, please, Bob?"
3) Michael Jayston - I used to work with Michael's father-in-law. He was very proud of Michael having played Bond, if only on radio.

[Florian R. Guillon]

My first contact with Bond was the Nintendo 64 game Goldeneye back in 1999-2000. The movie? Only watched it on DVD five-ish years ago and... didn't like it. The first movie I've seen was Casino Royale in 2007, and I loved it. So I choose Daniel Craig over Pierce Brosnan.

[The Australian Panther]

Well, some of we 'ancients of days' go back further than that. I literally cannot remember the first Bond I saw. I have seen all of them on the big screen. Probably 'From Russia with Love' was the first one. As a green teenager, I gave my grandfather, [ at that time a 60s plus Luitheran pastor] a copy of the book as a birthday present. I have no idea if he ever read it. I reread it myself recently and felt a lot better about having done that. Fleming was actually quite a good writer. Even Raymond Chandler rated him.
My Bonds in order:-
> Connery Nuff Said.
> Daniel Craig
> Timothy Dalton [Dallton made only two films. the first 'living Daylights' is excellent, in mine one of the best Bond Films. But I think people had got used to Roger Moore's take on James Bond, and weren't ready for a more realistic Bond at the time. Dalton's story re Bond is worth reading about.]
> George Lazenby. I am one of those who agrees with the current reappraisal of him as Bond. The Film, 'On Her Majesty's Secret Service' is something else again. Very good indeed in some ways, and not in other ways. And definitely in need of cutting and editing. Some of the best stunts. According to Lazenby he was offered a mulit-film contract but turned it down because he didn't want the baggage that came with it. I'm inclined to believe him.
George Lazenby Talks 007 & On Her Majesty's Secret Service
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PSZ5o8Vfiy8
> Pierce Brosnan - liked his films but they are POP as opposed to Connery/Craig/Dalton who are Rock in comparison.
When all is said and done, Fleming wrote him as a professional assassin. 'License  to Kill' any body?
> So for me that puts Roger Moore last on the list. No personal dislike of Roger Moore by any means, just of his Bond portrayal. 
He did get some of the best one-liners tho.
Oh and in the independently produced 1967 Casino Royale, David Niven played 'Sir James Bond' and Woody Allen played 'Little Jimmy Bond' 
The comic book Bond is another story and there are a lot of good comics out there.     
           

[Andrew999]

So who should be the new Bond now that Craig is retiring?

My wife says Benedict Cumberbatch. I think Henry Cavill but my son says it's time for a BAME Bond - Shahid Kapoor perhaps or Fawad Khan?

[Andrew999]

Nice story from radio comedian Marc Haynes (yes, we still have those here), Eurovision and pro-wrestling fanatic:

https://metro.co.uk/2020/07/30/brilliant-sir-roger-moore-story-goes-viral-will-brighten-day-13058150/

[The Australian Panther]

Nice story. Scroll down on that, and you find this.
https://metro.co.uk/2020/07/06/outlander-sam-heughan-preferred-james-bond-12950826/

Well, he certainly looks the part. Also tells me that there are a lot of 'Outlander' fans out there. I would imagine, mostly female. [{Andrew, run him by your wife!?]
If I were the producers, I would take note.
Co-incidentally, I have just logged on here after a trip to one of my local libraries with two Bond-related finds.
Firstly:-
Titan Books 'Bond Omnibus Vol 1 which collects the comic strips by Peter O'Donnell and others and drawn by John McLusky. This contains adaptations of 7 Novels and 4 shorter pieces by Fleming.
Secondly:-  [And more interestingly]
Donald E Westlakes' Novel, 'Forever and a Death' Starring Spy 'Richard Curtis'.
Huh? I hear you say.
From the back cover, ' [23] or so years ago,the producers of the James Bond Franchise hired novelist 'Donald E Westlake to create a scenario for the next Bond film. .................... it had all th elements of a classic Bond adventure  ..... but political concerns prevented it from being made.Westlake wrote an original novel based on the premise instead. Never published while he was living. So Hard Case Crime dug it out and published it for the first time. Afterword by Jeff Kleeman, who was the producer who contracted the scenario 
As you might gather, I am something of a Bond Buff! 

[Andrew999]

I love Hard Case Crime so thanks for the heads-up. I'll hunt this one down - I've also just ordered a copy of Green Hornet, with murder hornets all the rage, it's an omen - I must see it.

Meanwhile, for the uninitiated:

http://www.hardcasecrime.com

[Andrew999]

New Bond trailer today:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UZCO5k1Nu70

[Andrew999]

RIP Sean Connery - for me always the true Bond, James Bond.

[paw broon]

What Andrew said.  Connery was/is my favourite Bond.  I remember way back, going to the pictures with my dad to see a double bill of Dr. No and From Russia With Love.  He thoroughly enjoyed the 2 films.  I was hooked.

[profh0011]

I've been obsessed with Bond so long, it's almost shocking that the last few years, I feel I may have finally gotten tired of it all.

I feel I came in late.  I grew up in the 60s watching a number of spy shows-- but somehow, my parents refused to take me to see a Bond film.  Apparently they felt they had "too much sex and violence".  I recall seeing the TV ad for "YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE" and really wanted to see it... but, to no avail.  I saw "OHMSS" listed on a theatre marquee when that came out.  Nope.  Someone in school brought in a poster for "DIAMONDS..."  Nope.  I recall practically begging my parents to take me to "LIVE AND LET DIE".  Still no. Geez.

But several years earlier, Charles K. Feldman's chaotic piece of CRAP, "CASINO ROYALE" was on the network, and I watched that.  W-- T-- F?  Even at about age 9 or 10, I knew it was S***.

Then in 1970, our local used book store went out of business, and everything was on sale for half price.  I got the ENTIRE run of Ian Fleming's Bond books for about 25 cents apiece in paperback, with very small print (which would give me more trouble these days).  Everything was listed alphabetically... but I used to Copyright dates to figure out what order they came out in, and began reading them ONE book at a time, starting with... "Casino Royale".

I loved the first half.  I hated the 2nd half.  I couldn't figure... WHAT THE HELL did he think he was doing???  Then it suddenly had a shocking bad ending.  I swear... it took decades before I really figured out what went on regarding that book.  It was in the mid-90s when my Dad and I went to see the restoration of Hitchcock's "VERTIGO".  The climax appears to take place... the hero mopes about what a tragedy has happened... and then it goes on... and on... and on... WTF?  Why didn't this movie end already?  And THEN-- big shocking revelation.  Everything you thought about the first half of the story WAS A LIE!  And right there in the theatre, it hit me... JUST like "Casino Royale".  I've been wondering ever since if one influenced the other... or, if there was an earlier story that influenced both.

I LOVED the 2nd book... "Live And Let Die".  Until THIS year, ONLY novel I ever read twice!  (Which may explain why I HATE the movie.  It's an INSULT to the book.)

I forget how many novels I read before ABC debuted "GOLDFINGER" on their Sunday Night Movie.  But that was the first real Bond film I ever saw.  My Dad must have watched with me.  Some months later, a new Bond film came out, and he FINALLY (!!!!!!!!!) took me to see one.  "THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN GUN".  Geez. What a piece of S***.

Anyway, I watched every Bond film on ABC, every time they ran them, in the 70s.  That includes when they totally butchered "OHMSS" by running it in 2 parts over 2 consecutive Monday nights.  They recut it so it started with the ski chase, and the entire first half became a series of flashbacks.  They also cut huge chuinks out, liek HALF of the fight on the beach.  It took a long time before I got to see it uncut... and even longer before it became MY FAVORITE Bond film.  I've still never seen it in widescreen.

Crazy thing.  I read that book during the week in between the 1st and 2nd halves of the film.  The toboggan run blew my mind. And then...I REALLY had my mind blown when I saw they'd filmed the toboggan run EXACTLY as Fleming had written it.  WOW!

In the 80s, thanks to my best friend, I found out John Gardner had been hired to write new Bond novels, and I began buying each one as they came out in hardbound. We used to fantasize about who we'd cast if they ever turned them into movies... but Eon had NO interest in ever doing so.  Weird.

In the early 80s, I once saw a double-feature of "FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE" and "GOLDFINGER" in a theatre that specialized in running old movies.  that was the night "FRWL" became my FAVORITE Connery Bond film... by a wide margin.

I saw "THE LIVING DAYLIGHTS" in theatres 4 TIMES.  I guess that says a lot.  Most since I've only seen once apiece on a big screen.

I've seen the films, and read so many books about them, and in the 2000s was getting Titan Books collections of the newspaper strips... some of the later adaptations genuinely improved on Fleming's later novels.  Ironically, the 70s strips had MORE violence & sex, while the 70s movies went the other way and became silly comedies.


I did watch some of my favorites recently... and promised myself, before I watch them again, I wanna upgrade to widescreen DVDs...

ON HER MAJESTY'S SECRET SERVICE
THE SPY WHO LOVED ME
FOR YOUR EYES ONLY
THE LIVING DAYLIGHTS
LICENSE TO KILL
GOLDENEYE

It was funny when after, I realized I hadn't played a single Connery film....   

[profh0011]

I forget exactly when I saw the 1954 TV "CLIMAX!" episode adaptation of "Casino Royale".  A LIVE show that has caught a lot of hell for decades... but I could never figure why.

They did a fairly-authentic adaptation of the first HALF of the novel.  The part I liked.  Many complain they swapped nationalities between James & Felix, but, no big effect on the story. The big change, apart from toning down the TORTURE scene, was that in the TV cersion, Bond ESCAPES and KILLS the villain himself, rather than being rescued by the Russians. And, he winds up going off happily with Vesper.  I mean, if I'd have written it, that's what I would have done.

I've only ever seen Barry Nelson in 2 other things.  He ran a casino in an episode of BATTLESTAR GALACTICA (that had to have been an in-joke).  He also hired Jack Nicholson to manage the Overlook Hotel in "THE SHINING".

But the guy who REALLY stole the TV episode... was PETER LORRE, as Le Chiffre.  I swear, I rank him among the VERY BEST Bond villains ever seen on the screen.  If "CR" had been done as a movie with him, he'd be remembered up there with Robert Shaw, Adolpho Celi, Telly Savalas, Julian Glover, and Robert Davi.

[The Australian Panther]

And Sean Connery passed on October 31st.
They don't make 'em like that any more!
Once seen, never forgotten. 

I forget exactly when I saw the 1954 TV "CLIMAX!" episode adaptation of "Casino Royale".  A LIVE show that has caught a lot of hell for decades... but I could never figure why.

Yes, its not too bad at all.
What sticks out in my mind is the Casting of Michael Pate as Felix Leiter. Spelled Letter in the credits. 
Pate was an Australian Actor who never made it as an A-grade actor before he returned to Australia to regular work in TV shows there. But never-the-less he did some memorable work in Hollywood.
Here is his IMDB page. As you'll see, not to be sneezed at.
https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0665327/?ref_=fn_al_nm_1
Did some of his best work playing Indians and Gunmen in 50's and 60's Westerns.

[ComicMike]

R.I.P. Sir Sean Connery.

The first Bond film I saw in the cinema, was "From Russia with Love", which is still the best Bond film for me to this day.

[profh0011]

What sticks out in my mind is the Casting of Michael Pate as Felix Leiter. Spelled Letter in the credits. 
Here is his IMDB page. As you'll see, not to be sneezed at.
https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0665327/?ref_=fn_al_nm_1

I knew I knew that name!  I saw him in GET SMART, THE WILD WILD WEST, THE TIME TUNNEL, RANGO, TARZAN, MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE, VOYAGE TO THE BOTTOM OF THE SEA... but, perhaps most notably, the "Clock King" 2-parter on BATMAN.

I had tons of fun for 4 years on the "1966 Batman TV Show" FB group... until the other month, when someone BOOTED me out with NO warning, NO explanation, NOTHING.  I suspect it's one of the moderators who was appointed a couple months ago who let their position go to their head. Amazing how ONE total idiot can ruin an otherwise perfectly-fine online group.

[Captain Audio]

What sticks out in my mind is the Casting of Michael Pate as Felix Leiter. Spelled Letter in the credits. 
Here is his IMDB page. As you'll see, not to be sneezed at.
https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0665327/?ref_=fn_al_nm_1

I knew I knew that name!  I saw him in GET SMART, THE WILD WILD WEST, THE TIME TUNNEL, RANGO, TARZAN, MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE, VOYAGE TO THE BOTTOM OF THE SEA... but, perhaps most notably, the "Clock King" 2-parter on BATMAN.

His most memorable role may have been as the undead gunfighter in "Curse of the Undead", a western themed horror movie starring Eric Fleming of Rawhide fame.

I had tons of fun for 4 years on the "1966 Batman TV Show" FB group... until the other month, when someone BOOTED me out with NO warning, NO explanation, NOTHING.  I suspect it's one of the moderators who was appointed a couple months ago who let their position go to their head. Amazing how ONE total idiot can ruin an otherwise perfectly-fine online group.

[profh0011]

His most memorable role may have been as the undead gunfighter in "Curse of the Undead", a western themed horror movie starring Eric Fleming of Rawhide fame.

That sounds cool.

I've joked over the years that somebody should do a remake of "THE DEVIL RIDES OUT"... as a western!

[ComicMike]

Sean Connery recites the text 'In My Life' from the Beatles' 1965 album 'Rubber Soul'.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eJ4LJE9PktY

[Andrew999]

Watch it here:

https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x188np6

[The Australian Panther]

Re Bond and Comics.

I am actually making a habit of collecting French comic work - can usually make out the story from my meagre amount of French Vocabulary. Learning languages by reading comics? I can think of worse ways.
There are quite a number of French Bond Adaptions.
From Prof

In the 80s, thanks to my best friend, I found out John Gardner had been hired to write new Bond novels

I have most of the Gardner Bonds. To my surprise I have found them disappointing. To my surprise, because I really like Gardner. I can recommend his 'Moriarty' novels. And his original 'boysie Oakes' books are excellent.
ttps://www.bookseries.org/series/boysie-oaks/

Boysie Oakes is the main character in a series of spy thriller novels written by British author John Gardner in the 1960

[Andrew999]

This looks like a fun Xmas read whilst we await the next Bond:

https://www.rogerebert.com/features/book-review-the-lost-adventures-of-james-bond

[Andrew999]

Some fan films are so sophisticated these days, it's hard to tell them apart from the real thing - the recent original Star Trek series of fan films has even been adopted by many as part of the canon.

This Bond film looks good - focussing on Oddjob, one of the all-time best characters:

https://geektyrant.com/news/rogue-origin-films-is-launching-new-youtube-channel-with-a-james-bond-martial-arts-film

[profh0011]

All out of print and hard to get. My observation. The better creative work is, the more obscure and hard to find it becomes. Like digging for diamonds.

I'm reminded, decades back, I bought & read 4 MR. MOTO novels by John P. Marquand. Many people mistakenly confuse Moto with Charlie Chan or Mr. Wong, but he's not a cop, or a private eye. In most of the Peter Lorre movies, he's said to be working for "Interpol". But at least one of the films seems to hint that THAT may be a cover.  In the novels, he's a Japanese Secret Service agent.  So, he wasn't a Japanese "Charlie Chan"-- he was a Japanese "JAMES BOND".

Although the actions of the Japanese government were questionable in the extreme in the 1930s & 40s, Moto makes for a fascinating character, as he usually finds himself crossing paths with "innocents" caught in the wrong place at the wrong time.  So he splits his time in the stories between trying to do his job, and helping people get to safety, and so on... as long as it doesn't interfere with his actual mission.

I think it would be fascinating to see someone adapt those novels, providing them were done authentically, as "period pieces", set in the late 1930s.

Although there were no Japanese spies in it that I recall, a film that got me thinking a "MR. MOTO" film series might work was the Tom Sellick adventure, "HIGH ROAD TO CHINA".  It had a look and general feel to it that reminded me of the Moto novels.

[profh0011]

I just thought of a parallel to the "MR. MOTO" novels.  In the "BLACK PANTHER" movie, one of the good guys is a C.I.A. agent-- despite every bit of evidence pointing to them as one of the most sinister, corrupt, EVIL organizations on the planet, from the 1950s to today.