REMINDER: Bond Screenings Tonight and Sunday in Los Angeles
George Lazenby in Person!

As reported last month, George Lazenby will be appearing tonight at the Egyptian Theater in Hollywood as part of a James Bond Weekend at the American Cinematheque. Four 007 movies all told will screen between the Cinematheque's two theaters. Tonight, Friday, June 17, they'll show On Her Majesty's Secret Service and Diamonds Are Forever at the Egyptian Theatre. Best of all, Mr. Bond himself, George Lazenby, will appear in person for a Q&A between the films moderated by Complete James Bond Movie Encyclopedia author Steven Jay Rubin! If you didn't catch Laz in person at the Aero last year, make every effort to do so this time! As totally candid as only an Australian can be, he was a wildly entertaining (and thoroughly uncensored) storyteller. The Q&A alone should make the night worthwhile, but on top of that you've also got the opportunity to see the best James Bond movie ever in one of the best theaters in the country. (Plus Diamonds Are Forever. Ahem.) Tickets are supposedly available through Fandango here, but I'm never able to make that work for Cinematheque screenings. It will probably say that they aren't available for that showtime, but as far as I know none of these shows are yet sold out. Be sure to arrive early, though, if you plan to get your tickets at the box office, as I wouldn't be surprised if tonight's show, with Lazenby, does sell out.

On Father's Day, Sunday, June 19, you can catch the first two Bond films back-to-back at the Aero in Santa Monica. Dr. No starts at 7:30 followed by From Russia With Love. Once again, tickets are supposedly available through Fandango, but once again it's unlikely to work. Hit up the theater box office sometime in advance, or arrive early the day of the show.

All of these showings are listed as being 35mm presentations, which I'll take any day over even a pristine digital presentation. If I'm going to a cinema, I want to see film!

New Bond Author Jeffery Deaver On Spy Tradecraft

What better way to celebrate today's release of Jeffery Deaver's new James Bond continuation novel Carte Blanche than heading on over to The Wall Street Journal to read the author's primer on espionage tradecraft, "Lessons Learned From Bond—James Bond?"  It's a really good overview of the basics of spying that shows that Deaver has done his research and clearly enjoyed his foray into the world of secret agents.  Deaver offers tips worthy of Michael Westen (or William Johnson) on what to do if you think you're being tailed, how to forge a signature, and how to choose good dead drops, among other things.

New Spy Novels Out This Week: James Bond and Tom Clancy

This is a huge week in America for high-profile spy novels.  Two of the biggest names in the genre go head-to-head at bookstores today giving spy fans plenty of pages to keep them engrossed on the beach this summer: James Bond and Tom Clancy.  And both of them have help.  Bond is aided by the highest-profile and bestselling author to pen a 007 continuation novel since Kingsley Amis, American thriller writer Jeffery Deaver.  With no offense intended to John Gardner, Raymond Benson, Charlie Higson and Samantha Weinberg (each of whom penned some terrific entries in the series), this is probably the first time since Colonel Sun that a James Bond continuation novel has boasted a "marquee value" author capable of selling a ton of books without the Bond name, and therefore capable of drawing legions of new readers to the brand. Clancy, meanwhile, is aided by co-author Peter Telep, whose previous novels span all genres.  Since returning from his seven-year hiatus following The Teeth of the Tiger, Clancy has opted to work with collaborators.  (Grant Blackwood co-wrote last year's Jack Ryan novel Dead or Alive.)

It was a little over a year ago that we first heard the exciting news that Ian Fleming Publications had tapped Deaver to pen the first contemporary James Bond continuation novel in nearly a decade.  (Higson, Weinberg and Sebastian Faulks had written period pieces set roughly in the timeline of Fleming's original novels; Benson was the last author to tell a Bond story set in the present day.) Then, this book was known only as Project X. In the interim, it's gained a real title, Carte Blanche, and been released in Britain, last month, to very favorable reviews.  The plot finds a Bond firmly rooted in the 21st Century driving a Bentley, traveling to Serbia, Dubai and South Africa, and taking on a villain who built his empire on refuse! I only just received my UK edition (a lousy Second, grumble, grumble) from Amazon, so I'm only about 100 pages in, but I must say, so far I'm loving it.  Interestingly, I picture Daniel Craig when I read Deaver's Bond.  In other books, I've always pictured a literary 007 quite separate from any actor.  I'll post a full review when I finish, but I don't want to rush; I want to savor the new James Bond novel!  Order Carte Blanche from Amazon here.

Deaver's book may well clock in as the longest Bond novel ever at 432 pages (in the US edition), but it's got nothing on Clancy's and Telep's tome, a typical 768-page behemoth!  This one caught me by surprise when we first heard about it a few months ago, because Clancy just had a novel out late last year which isn't even in paperback yet! I haven't yet picked up Against All Enemies, but it's my understanding that this novel does not feature Clancy's perennial hero Jack Ryan.  Instead, it introduces a new hero, CIA agent (and ex-Navy SEAL) Maxwell Moore. Moore's mission takes him from Pakistan to another desert in America's own backyard: Mexico.  According to the book's copy, "Here a drug war rages between the Juarez and Sinaloa cartels. The landscape is strewn with bodies, innocents and drug dealers alike, but is there an even deadlier enemy lurking in background? Into this deadly brew, Moore leads a group of specially selected agents whose daring actions reveal shocking answers and uncover an unholy plan—a strike against the very heart of America."  It sounds like a vintage Clancy plot, and I'm excited by it.  Despite a couple of less than stellar later books, I'm hopeful that this one will represent a return to form for the man who ruled the spy genre in the 1980s. And while the next Jack Ryan movie remains in limbo (as reported recently), now Clancy fans can at least get their fix in print!  Order Against All Enemies from Amazon here.

Movie Review: X-Men: First Class (2011)
The Superhero Tentpole As Sixties Spy Movie

While I love the richly textured period detail in the recent OSS 117 movies, those parodies also made me wish that someone would make a straight spy movie set in the Sixties, with Sixties fashions and attitudes, but contemporary fight choreography and special effects. Well, now Matthew Vaughn has done it, and it’s excellent! Some might not see it as a straight spy movie since it’s also got superheroes, but regular readers of this blog are no doubt aware of the long association between the spy and superhero genres, which actually thrived in the Sixties. Despite the title, X-Men: First Class is a spy movie with superheroes, not the other way around. And as it’s a prequel to the previous entries in the X-Men series, it is not required that a viewer have any prior knowledge of the characters to see this one… so even if you generally avoid superhero fare, but you like Sixties Bond movies, by all means do yourself a favor and see X-Men: First Class, post-haste!

Matthew Vaughn (Layer Cake) takes his stylistic guidance primarily from Sean Connery Bond movies, Sixties heist flicks (including the original Ocean’s 11) and British television adventure series of the era, like The Avengers, The Champions and Department S. There are so many nods to Sixties spy sources that espionage fans will be in constant ecstasy savoring it all. First and foremost, X-Men: First Class has all the Jet Age globetrotting of the original Bond films. In the first half-hour alone (more or less), the plot jumps smoothly (more or less) from Germany to New York to London to Switzerland to Las Vegas to Langley to Argentina to Miami, and later makes additional stops in Moscow and Cuba. Vaughn savors all the locations in the same way that Terence Young did, providing lingering establishing shots of each new locale to stimulate the audience’s escapist travel fantasies too often ignored by modern Bond movies. (Or cut too quickly to take in, as was the case with the deplorable Quantum of Solace.)

The CIA has a millionaire villain named Sebastian Shaw under surveillance. They suspect him of collaborating with the Soviets, but they don’t know the half of it. Kevin Bacon plays Shaw, and in keeping with the character’s comic book origins which were torn wholesale (by writer Chris Claremont) from the classic Avengers episode “A Touch of Brimstone,” he ably channels all the louche decadence of Peter Wyngarde (who guest-starred on that episode). In the comics, Shaw had a confederate who wore that influence on his sleeve with a name that conjured both the actor and his most immortal character, Jason King (hero of the ITC show Department S and its spinoff Jason King): Jason Wyngarde. Sadly Jason Wyngarde isn’t in this movie, but Bacon’s svelte Shaw seems to owe as much to Wyngarde (both the character and the actor) as he does to the Shaw of the comics, who was based on the more solidly built Bond villain Robert Shaw. While he doesn’t sport Jason King’s (and Wyngarde’s) distinctive facial hair (which would have been rather anachronistic to this film’s 1962 setting), he does share his affinity for cravats and flamboyant velour suits (which is in itself a tad anachronistic, but more forgivably so). The character also shares Jason King’s taste for luxury. His private submarine/mobile lair (whose first appearance is one of the film’s biggest spy fan delights) is decked out in all the luxury trappings of a Sixties bachelor pad. Its velvet cushions, paisley wallpaper, shag carpets and stocked minibar (natch) all recall not only that crate (average on the outside) that Jason King used to smuggle himself into East Berlin, but also James Bond’s iceberg mini-sub in A View To A Kill.

But I’m getting ahead of myself. When we meet Shaw, he’s entertaining a selection of America’s richest and most powerful men at his Hellfire Club, which has been relocated from The Avengers’ London to Las Vegas. (The establishing shot of Vegas deliberately evokes Diamonds Are Forever, even if it’s a decade early.) The CIA is keeping tabs on the event from a car across the street, but agent Moira McTaggart (Rose Byrne) realizes the need to get closer and sees her opportunity, which comes right out of “A Touch of Brimstone.” Shaw’s right-hand woman, Emma Frost (again, Claremont deliberately appropriated Emma Peel’s first name for his Hellfire Club’s White Queen; Diana Rigg’s Peel was the Black Queen in “A Touch of Brimstone”), played by Mad Men’s January Jones (remaining safely in her comfortable Sixties milieu; more on her in a moment), is shepherding a bevy of lingerie-clad beauties into the Playboy Club-like event. Moira quickly strips down to her underwear, which, of course, is black lingerie sexy enough in itself that it might have been selected deliberately for the occasion, but as it happens, it’s a moment of inspiration. “What are you doing?” asks her male partner, aghast. “Using some equipment not issued by the CIA,” she replies (or something to that effect). That gives Vaughn the opportunity to keep his female spy in lingerie while she does her spying (yes, actual spying—something you don’t see too much in any spy movies anymore!), which seems very appropriately Sixties. Also appropriately Sixties is the spot-on art direction by Chris Seagers (Johnny English), which recalls not only Ken Adam’s Bond sets, but also his famous war room from Dr. Strangelove, which is lovingly recreated. In the club, there’s also a nod to Live and Let Die with a revolving booth. The only aspect that could stand to be more Sixties is Henry Jackman's score.  There's nothing wrong with it, and sometimes (as during the Maurice Binder-inspired end titles), it evokes the era plenty.  But I would have preferred a brassier, more John Barry-ish accompaniment throughout, akin to Michael Giacchino's Incredibles music.  Oh well.

When Moira’s intelligence gathering reveals the presence of mutants in our midst to the CIA for the first time (well, at least to her; her superiors require convincing), she sets out to recruit an expert on the phenomenon. That leads her to Oxford, where she meets newly-minted Professor Charles Xavier, played here by James McAvoy (and in the previous movies, at a more advanced age, by Patrick Stewart). Charles has penned a thesis on mutant genes, but keeps secret his own mutant power of telepathy, preferring to use it for parlor tricks to pick up girls in pubs. (He also manages to use the word “groovy” in his pick-ups—and, surprisingly, sells it!) With Charles she also gets his adoptive sister, Raven (Jennifer Lawrence), whose mutant power allows her to assume the form of any person she wants. (She’ll later become Mystique, played by Rebecca Romijn in the other X-Men movies.) Raven’s demonstration convinces the CIA that they need a mutant division, and it’s quickly established under the direction of an underused Oliver Platt.

Xavier’s first mission for the CIA (to locate Sebastian Shaw and the nefarious mutants already observed by Moira) takes him into contact with the movie’s real star, the future Magneto (played in the other films by Ian McKellen), Erik Lehnsherr. Erik is played by Inglourious Basterds’ Michael Fassbender in a truly star-making turn that also unspools as an extended audition for James Bond. People have been touting Fassbender as a successor to Daniel Craig since Hunger, but this is the first performance in which he’s truly sold me on the notion. (And then some!)

Fassbender’s part is by far the most complex and well-developed in the movie—and also the coolest. As a child, Erik’s mutant gift for manipulating metal (I know, it sounds like a really lame power but actually turns out to be the coolest one in the film!) first manifested itself when he was separated from his parents while interned in a concentration camp. The Nazis, led by Bacon’s character in a previous identity, conducted horrifying experiments on him and he watched his mother murdered before his eyes. When we catch up with him again in 1962, he’s using his powers as a revenge-driven Nazi hunter. He’s also dressing like James Bond (a suit he wears in Geneva could have come right off Connery’s back in From Russia With Love—complete with hat) and behaving like him as well. (And when he’s not in suits, he wears more black turtlenecks than Sterling Archer—and pulls off the look with great elan.) These moments of Erik exuding cool and exacting vengeance in Europe and South America are among the film’s most Bondian, and they’re utterly thrilling as filmed by Vaughn. The future Magneto’s quest to find his mother’s killer takes him from Argentina to Miami, where he engages in some Goldfinger-style scuba skulduggery and finally crosses paths with Charles Xavier in the film’s best spy setpiece.

Despite having vastly different outlooks on their mutant status, Charles and Erik share a common objective in tracking down Sebastian Shaw. Therefore, they team up and forge a moving friendship. Fassbender and McAvoy have excellent chemistry together, and I wish that events of this movie would have allowed for further adventures together, because they make a great team. Of course their ultimate destinies (explored in Bryan Singer’s compelling X-Men and X2 and Brett Ratner’s risible X3) lie light years apart, but this period of friendship is fertile enough that it easily could have (and probably should have) fuelled a trilogy rather than a single film. Vaughn accomplishes in this single movie what the entire Star Wars prequel trilogy failed to; he succeeds in making the character we all know turns out to be a villain into a thoroughly likable hero, and we’re rooting for him not to take the path we know he does. However, that ultimate choice feels a bit rushed crammed into the movie’s final fifteen minutes or so, and I wish it had played out over more films. Oh well. The friendship and ultimate schism between these two men provides the heart and backbone of X-Men: First Class, but the entire ensemble is for the most part successful.

Together, Charles and Erik recruit a small cadre of young mutants to the CIA team in a recruiting sequence reminiscent of great Sixties capers like Grand Slam, Topkapi and Ocean’s 11. They also find another mutant already working for the CIA in a Q capacity in the form of Hank McCoy (the future Beast, played by Nicholas Hoult). While the (slightly) older characters are the more interesting ones, the scenes of the young mutants exploring and developing their powers are expertly handled, leading to an action climax that incorporates each of their specific skills like a super-powered Mission: Impossible against the backdrop of the Cuban Missile Crisis.

Shaw also has his own team of mutant hench-people, foremost among them the aforementioned Emma Frost. January Jones aims for ice queen but comes off more as wooden, though she makes a most attractive clothes horse for costume designer Sammy Sheldon’s fabulous Emma Peel-inspired attire. (Still, her performance here is a definite improvement over the one in the Liam Neeson neo-Eurospy caper Unknown earlier this year.) For a fairly major character from the comics, Emma Frost has remarkably little to do in the movie—and disappears for most of the second half. But when she is on screen, it’s always in an amazing take on Diana Rigg’s wardrobe, which is a welcome sight—if a tad anachronistic for 1962. Her catsuit probably should have been closer to Cathy Gale’s looser motorcycle leathers than Emma Peel’s body-hugging get-up… but that’s just not as much fun! And this movie is fun.

In X-Men: First Class, Matthew Vaughn has crafted not just a fantastic homage to Sixties spydom, but a fantastic movie in its own right—and the best in the X-Men series to date. Watching it makes me even sadder that his take on The Man From U.N.C.L.E. never came to fruition. Vaughn clearly loves the era and the genre. Thanks to him, I finally have that Sixties-set modern action movie I always wanted—and enhanced with well-executed superheroics. This is the spy movie to beat so far this year, and all fans of the genre should check it out.

For more on the connections between these X-Men characters and The Avengers (including wardrobe similarities), click here.

Upcoming Los Angeles Spy Screenings

Including George Lazenby in Person!

Father's Day Weekend is a James Bond weekend in Los Angeles! The American Cinematheque will screen four Bond films between its two theaters. On Friday, June 17, they'll show On Her Majesty's Secret Service and Diamonds Are Forever (didn't they just show that one?) at the Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood. Best of all, 007 himself George Lazenby will appear in person for a Q&A between the films moderated by Complete James Bond Movie Encyclopedia author Steven Jay Rubin! If you didn't catch Laz in person at the Aero last year, make every effort to do so this time! As totally candid as only an Australian can be, he was a wildly entertaining (and thoroughly uncensored) storyteller. The Q&A alone should make the night worthwhile, but on top of that you've also got the opportunity to see the best James Bond movie ever in one of the best theaters in the country. (The Egyptian is tied for me, personally, with the Music Box in Chicago. But of course there are plenty I've never been to.) Tickets are supposedly available through Fandango here, but I'm never able to make that work for Cinematheque screenings. It will probably say that they aren't available for that showtime, but as far as I know these shows are not yet sold out. So your best bet, if you live in the area, is swinging by the box office sometime to pick up your tickets in advance.

On Father's Day itself, Sunday, June 19, you can catch the first two Bond films back-to-back at the Aero in Santa Monica. Dr. No starts at 7:30 followed by From Russia With Love. Once again, tickets are supposedly available through Fandango, but once again it's unlikely to work. Hit up the theater box office sometime before the show date.

All of these showings are listed as being 35mm presentations, which, to me, is a great thing. Last time the Egyptian showed Bonds, a bunch of them were DCPs.  They were absolutely stunning digital prints, I'll admit, but personally, I'll take a scratchy film print over pristine digital any day.  That's just the feel I want if I'm seeing a movie in a theater.  That said, hopefully these prints won't be scratchy!  My favorite viewing experience ever of OHMSS was a dye-transfer Technicolor print they showed at the Egyptian some years ago. I've seen nice prints on the big screen since then, but never another as good as that. I always hope that's the one they'll get...

The Spy Star of the Summer: Finn McMissile

Michael Caine may have starred in more spy movies than just about anyone over the years. His latest spy role is his biggest in decades—and one with a bit of a twist.  As previously discussed, in Pixar's Cars 2, he plays a spy car.  The conceit of Cars and its sequel is that anthropomorphic cars are the characters. I still haven't seen the original, but I don't believe there are people in this world.  So when thinking of possible new characters for a sequel that might sell lots and lots of toys, the notion of spy cars must have been an obvious one! Caine plays Finn McMissile of British Intelligence. Though the design probably owes as much to Sixties BMWs as the Aston Martin DB5, James Bond's famous car is clearly the inspiration for the character.  As seen in the second trailer, Finn has lots of tricks up his sleeve—everything you'd expect of a good gadget car. (Plus, his Beemer-like grill makes a great mustache!) Obviously, those gadgets feature prominently in the new Cars toy line. Disney has made a mint in merchandising off of the Cars brand, and the cynic in me suspects that the whole reason for a sequel was to sell more toys. But really, what better reason than to sell spy car toys? I would have absolutely loved this movie if it had come out during my childhood—and the toys.

I'm guessing that, like me, just about everyone reading this blog grew up with one version or another of the Corgi James Bond Aston Martin. (My own model from the late 80s or early 90s was probably the most boring; it wasn't gold like the original and it didn't have the tire slashers like the slightly later version or the newest one, and the Bond figure and the guy who got ejected were both just hunks of brown plastic, not painted... but I absolutely loved it nonetheless! Still do, in fact.) Since the current Bond movies aren't really targeted at kids and the Aston Martin in the last one didn't feature any gadgets, it's only right that Disney provide this generation with a cool spy gadget car toy. But they're not offering just one. Instead, there are many, many iterations of mini Finn McMissiles to be had, in different scales and with different functions. The Secret Spy Attack Finn McMissile is a very traditional spy gadget car, sort of like the AC Gilbert Goldfinger Aston, but with a big plus: not only do missile launchers pop out when you push the buttons, but it talks in Michael Caine's voice!



This one is crazy. They call it the Zero Gravity Finn McMissile, and it's a remote control car that drives not only on the floor... but on the walls! That's just what every parent ever has wished for, right? A remote control car that their kids can drive on the walls. And it seems to make a horrible noise, too... even better for aggravating mom! You've gotta check it out:



Then there are some smaller ones, like the "Submariner" version (clearly influenced by another Corgi classic, the Lotus Esprit from The Spy Who Loved Me) and the "Lights and Sound" version, which is pretty self-explanatory. I just love that spy cars will be the must-have toy again, right up through Christmas! But maybe coolest of all is this life-size remote control version. No, that one's not for sale, unfortunately. But it's doing a promotional tour of the country, so it's possible you might be able to see it in person. (Though you might feel kind of weird about that if you don't have kids.) Check out the pictures on the Disney fansite Stitch Kingdom. Looking at ones like this one, from the rear, you get a much better sense of the design than you do from the trailers. I love how they just added fins to a very recognizable DB5 back end, right down to the Bond-inspired license plate!

There's also a YouTube video here of the life-size touring cars, including Finn.

Smiley Re-Jacketed

In George Smiley's first appearance in Call For the Dead, John le Carré described his most famous creation in a rather unflattering manner: "Short, fat, and of a quiet disposition, he appeared to spend a lot of money on really bad clothes, which hung about his squat frame like skin on a shrunken toad."  Yet now, thanks to artist Matt Taylor, Smiley is undergoing an uncharacteristically stylish upgrade.  In a move that surprised the book industry, le Carré defected from long-term publisher Hodder and Soughton to Penguin in 2009. Part of the new publisher's appeal to the author was said to be the chance to occupy the same roster as his literary idols, Graham Greene and Joseph Conrad, both of whose catalogs are very handsomely maintained by Penguin. Ironically, another spy author whose company the move puts him in is Ian Fleming. "I dislike Bond. I'm not sure that Bond is a spy. I think that it's a great mistake if one's talking about espionage literature to include Bond in this category at all," le Carré told an interviewer in 1966... though he later conceded that his reactive statement may have been a tad harsh. Penguin have been the stewards of Fleming's Bond books for the last decade now, and expertly shepherded them through a succession of classy reissues on both sides of the pond. No matter how le Carré feels about Fleming, one can't help speculate that 007's treatment in the hands of Penguin may also have played a part in his decision to make the publisher his new home.

Now, in anticipation of the new film version of le Carré's seminal work, Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy (see today's earlier post), Penguin have unveiled a series of Smiley reissues just as striking as their Bond covers. On June 7 they'll release the first two books in the "Karla Trilogy" (Tinker, Tailor, which earns a "Soon to be a major motion picture" banner, and The Honourable Schoolboy) with colorful new covers by Taylor, who also provided artwork for the recent paperback edition of le Carré's latest novel, Our Kind of Traitor. The third volume, Smiley's People, follows on June 28. After that, the reissues continue with non-Smiley works The Little Drummer Girl (the same day as Smiley's People), A Perfect Spy and The Naive and Sentimental Lover (both in late July).

These three novels are not the only ones featuring George Smiley, but they are the best and the most substantial—and they form the core not only of le Carré's body of work, but of the Espionage Canon as a whole. This trilogy is absolutely essential reading for anyone with even a passing interest in the spy genre. (I'm praying that the new Tinker, Tailor movie will prove successful enough to merit film versions of all three novels; I'd love to see The Honourable Schoolboy filmed!) All three books will also be issued as eBooks the same day. Unfortunately, there's no way of telling from Penguin's website if the author's introductions from the Scribner editions (penned in the 1990s) will be included in the new reissues. I suppose it's possible that those might belong to the old publisher like special features on a Criterion DVD that fail to appear on a subsequent studio version. I do hope they're included, because I've found all of them to be insightful supplements to the novels. For constant coverage on all things Smiley, I recommend the relatively new website SmileyWatch (linked on the right of this blog), who first reported on Tinker, Tailor's new cover back in April.

Upcoming Spy DVDs From MGM's Limited Edition Collection

Including Works From Broccoli and Saltzman, Diana Rigg, Edward Woodward, Richard Johnson and More!

The next monthly wave of titles from MGM's MOD program, the Limited Edition Collection, includes some real spy gems!  Most exciting is the spy movie that Albert R. Broccoli and Harry Saltzman collaborated on between Dr. No and From Russia With Love: 1963's Call Me Bwana, starring Bob Hope and Anita Ekberg. Long unavailable on home video and never before released in widescreen (though it's run that way on TCM), this title is probably best known to Bond fans for the in-joke in Sean Connery's second 007 outing. Bond's ally Kerim Bey uses 007's Q-issued sniper rifle to shoot the Bulgarian KGB stooge Krilencu as he attempts to escape his safe house through a secret exit in the mouth of Anita Ekberg on a poster for Call Me Bwana painted on the side of his building. (In Ian Fleming's novel, it was Marilyn Monroe.)  But Bwana is notable for more than that; it's a spy movie in its own right.  When an unmanned American space capsule crash-lands in the African veldt, the CIA sends self-professed African expert Bob Hope (The Road to Hong Kong) to retrieve it.  The other side sends beautiful secret agent Anita Ekberg (The Cobra) and scientist Lionel Jeffries (Chitty Chitty Bang Bang), and soon all the interested parties find themselves on safari together.  In typical Bob Hope fashion, hilarity ensues.  Much of the Bond team established on Dr. No remains in place here, including editor Peter Hunt, production designer Syd Cain, composer Monty Norman, D.P. Ted Moore, title designer Maurice Binder and scribe Johanna Harwood.

The 1969 Eurospy movie The File of the Golden Goose doesn't quite live up to the promise of its all-star cast (which includes Edward Woodward, Charles Grey, Yul Brynner, Walter Gotell, Ivor Dean, John Barrie and Adrienne Corri), but it's still a welcome release on DVD. American Secret Service agent Brynner is sent to England where he teams up with Scotland Yard detective Woodward to go undercover to bust a brutal counterfeit gang known as the Golden Goose. All the double-crossing expected of the spy genre ensues, but the stodgy movie feels more like a generic Forties or Fifties noir (thanks in part to some unnecessary narration), belying its origins as a remake of 1947's T-Men. Director Sam Wanamaker made a much better Eurospy movie the following year, The Executioner, which has already been issued on MOD from Columbia.

Don Sharp's 1975 political thriller Hennessy is a real surprise! Based on a story conceived by Deadlier Than the Male star Richard Johnson, its contriversial subject matter ensured an extremely limited release in Seventies Britain, and it's never been very widely available since.  Fans have long demanded it on DVD, but probably never thought it would actually happen. Rod Steiger plays Hennessy, a peaceful Irishman driven to extremism after his wife and child are killed during violence in Belfast. As retribution he plots to assassinate the Queen of England by bombing the British Parliament when the Royal Family is in attendance. Johnson plays the Special Branch operative out to stop him, and Eric Porter plays an IRA thug out to stop him as well, out of fear of British reprisals in Ireland for such a horrific act. Trevor Howard, Lee Remick, Patrick Stewart and Queen Elizabeth II herself (via stock footage) co-star.

Diana Rigg fans will be pleased to note that this wave of titles also includes Peter Hall's 1968 version of Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream starring Rigg (between The Avengers and Bond) as Helena. Judi Dench, decades prior to playing M, also appears, as Titania.  Impossibly young versions of Ian Holm (Game Set Match), Helen Mirren (RED), Michael Jayston (Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy) and Barbara Jefford (who lent her voice to Daniella Bianchi's Tatiana Romanova in From Russia With Love) round out the dream cast.

Though there are no pre-order links up yet, all of these titles will be available soon from online outlets like Amazon and Screen Archives Entertainment.

Caine and Lazenby

Michael Caine is famously friends with both Sean Connery and Roger Moore, and there are many pictures out there of Harry Palmer with one or the other of those Bonds.  He's even made movies with each of them (though The Man Who Would Be King has a distinct edge over Bullseye!), and the three memorably teamed up together to present the Best Supporting Actor Oscar in 1989. (That's a pretty priceless TV moment, in fact; if you've never seen it, be sure to check it out.)  And of course Caine also made a great movie with Pierce Brosnan.  But one Bond I've never seen him with is George Lazenby, which is why I was excited to see this picture of the two together (both sporting scruffy beards) at the 1969 Cannes Film Festival at Quantum of Bond.  I really don't think I've ever seen this photo before, though I supposed it might have gotten lost in the shuffle amidst all the other wonderful images in Charles Helfenstein's exhaustive and fantastic book The Making of On Her Majesty's Secret Service. At any rate, if you're a fan of either actor (and I'm betting that encompasses pretty much anyone reading this blog), you'll probably get a kick out of this picture. Also be sure to visit Quantum of Bond where it was initially posted.  A big thanks to that site's Philippe Lombard, who turned up the image on Allposters.fr.

More Bond Memoirs From Roger Moore

The Book Bond points the way to a very exciting news item on 007 Magazine Online revealing that Sir Roger Moore is writing a follow-up to his fantastic 2008 autobiography My Word Is My Bond. Whereas that one covered his whole life to date (and comes highly recommended!), the new volume will focus specifically on his tenure as James Bond. Since the actor's years in Bondage only amounted to three chapters in his autobiography, it seems reasonable to expect that he's got plenty more anecdotes worth reading on the subject. The new book, Bond on Bond, will be published in September 2012 by Michael O'Mara (publisher of My Word Is My Bond) to celebrate the cinematic 007's 50th anniversary.  In addition to Sir Roger's recollections, Bond on Bond (and I personally love that a Roger Moore book about James Bond references Bob Dylan) will also feature lots of color photographs (many presumably never before seen) from the actor's personal collection. Said the inimitable Sir Roger: "I'm greatly looking forward to delving into my memory box again and rummaging through the photo albums to admire my great physique, dashing good looks and full set of teeth." Go read all about it on 007 Magazine Online.

Between this and George Lazenby's autobiography, 2012 is shaping up to be a very promising year for books on and by Bond actors! In other Roger Moore book news, the actor recently revealed on his website that there is also a new book in the works on his classic TV series The Persuaders! to celebrate that show's 40th anniversary later this year.

Tradecraft: Sony Cinches Up Bond Deal

Even though we already knew it, Sony and MGM officially confirmed yesterday that Sony, who previously partnered with MGM on Casino Royale and Quantum of Solace, will once again distribute the next James Bond movie (the 23rd official entry in the series), which is due out on November 9, 2012.  The official press release, which can be read on Deadline, also adds that the deal includes Bond 24 as well.  Frankly, I'm surprised that Sony didn't manage to finagle a few more Bonds out of MGM in this agreement. I guess we'll go through all this again for Bond 25. In the meantime, I think this is probably good for the series. Sony knows what it's doing with Bond (even if Quantum of Solace was bad), and Barbara Broccoli has said many times how much she liked working with Sony's Amy Pascal, so I think 007 is in good hands.

REMINDER: Octopussy and The Man With the Golden Gun Screening Tonight in L.A.

More Bond on the Big Screen Coming Up

As reported at the beginning of the month, The American Cinematheque's Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood and Aero Theatre in Santa Monica are currently hosting a month-long tribute to the late, great John Barry. Among the films being screened in the retrospective (entitled "Scorekeeper: A Tribute to Composer John Barry") are six Bond movies, the first of which run tonight. Spy fans in the Los Angeles area can celebrate St. Patrick's Day by watching The Man With the Golden Gun and Octopussy at the fantastic Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood (along with "rare John Barry interviews courtesy of EON Productions") at 7:30. From Russia With Love and Diamonds Are Forever follow tomorrow (Friday, March 18); Goldfinger and You Only Live Twice wrap up the Bond weekend on Sunday, March 20.

The Barry retrospective then continues with Midnight Cowboy and the quirky take on Sherlock Holmes They Might Be Giants on Friday, March 25 at the Aero in Santa Monica, Dances With Wolves on Saturday, March 26, a Michael Caine double feature of the Harry Palmer movie The Ipcress File and Deadfall on Sunday, March 27, and finally Nicholas Roeg's Walkabout on Wednesday, March 30.  All screenings begin at 7:30. 

Tickets can supposedly be ordered through Fandango, although I don't think I've ever actually had any luck getting Cinematheque tickets that way.  It always says sold out, even when the movie isn't sold out.  You're probably better off purchasing at the theater box office.  For more information on "Scorekeeper: A Tribute to Composer John Barry," visit the Egyptian's website or the Film Score Monthly boards, which for some reason seem to have more details.

James Bond In Drag

See Daniel Craig as James Bond in a new video now, without waiting for Bond 23 in 2012!  Recalling the denoument of Cyril Connolly's spoof "Bond Strikes Camp," Daniel Craig has dressed in drag to support women's equality for International Women's Day 2011 in the short promotional piece "Equals?," directed by Craig's friend Sam Taylor Wood.  Of course there's nothing unusual about an actor using his clout to support a good cause.  What's kind of unusual about this is that he's doing so in character, with Judi Dench playing M and addressing 007 in voiceover.  Therefore it's not merely Craig, but Bond himself who returns in drag later in the scene!  I've got to say, I think it's brilliant using James Bond to promote women's equality.  I wouldn't be surprised if Barbara Broccoli had something to do with this piece as well, at least sweeping aside any copyright issues. It's a very cool video and I respect Craig for making it.  Learn more about International Women's Day at WeAreEQUALS.org.


Thanks to Josh for the alert on this one!

Jeremy Duns Examines Ben Hecht's Unfilmed 1960s Casino Royale Script

This is the must-read Bond story of the year. While it's always been public knowledge that Ben Hecht, one of the most accomplished and prolific screenwriters of Hollywood's Golden Age (whose work includes the Alfred Hitchcock spy classic Notorious) contributed to Charles K. Feldman's Casino Royale script, spy novelist (and all-around expert on the genre) Jeremy Duns actually tracked down Hecht's drafts at a library in Chicago.  Last weekend, he published a fascinating examination of them in the UK newspaper The Telegraph, along with script excerpts. Even though some of his ideas did indeed end up being incorporated in Feldman's sprawling, all-star 1967 mess of a spoof, Hecht's take on the novel was apparently a straightforward and relatively faithful adaptation.  All fans of Ian Fleming's novel and Hecht's work and Sixties Bond films—and all who enjoy speculating on What Might Have Been—should waste no time in heading over to The Telegraph to read all about it. Truly fascinating stuff!

Speaking of Duns, his blog, The Debrief, has been a link here for some time, and it's one that spy fans should definitely check in on regularly.  He's always posting interesting, in-depth and meticulously researched articles.  One recent post I learned a lot from debunked a lot of the myths about Ian Fleming that spring from the notoriously unreliable 1990s biography 17F: The Life of Ian Fleming by Donald McCormick.  I always just thought of the book as shamefully erroneous; I didn't realize that it was actually the work of a documented hoaxer.  I also had no idea as to the extent of his ceaseless hoaxing, and certainly fell for a few of his oft-reprinted assertions over the years, like the myth that Elizabethan spy and alchemist John Dee signed his secret correspondence "007." Duns explodes this and other misnomers started by McCormick and perpetuated in the press over the years in various news stories.  Check that out, too.

Bondathon!
Plus: In Defense of Never Say Never Again

Here is a truly amazing video that all Bond fans simply must check out chronicling a recent 3-day, 25-film 007 marathon hosted by CommanderBond.net's Athena Stamos to celebrate her birthday. The time-lapse video is edited by her boyfriend and co-host, filmmaker Brad Hansen, and it's much more than just a chronicle of a rotating crew of Bond fans having fun.  It's a remarkable sociological experiment, and truly must-see footage.  Take a look:

I was fortunate enough to be there, but sadly for only two films, as I had an incredibly busy weekend.  But it seems to have been the right two films!  I watched the 1983 Battle of the Bonds duology, Octopussy and Never Say Never Again.  As you no doubt saw in the video, everyone present rated each movie at the end. Some of the results were surprising, to say the least.  Never Say Never Again (or Sag Niemals Nie as I tend to think of it, thanks to the awesome German poster that prominently decorates my living room) was one such surprise. Personally, I've always been a fan of this film. (There's just so much to love in it! That fight with Pat Roach! Douglas Slocombe's photography! Connery! And, most of all, Barbara Carrera as Fatima Blush!) But many Bond fans are not.  Indeed, in the audience at Athena's party, a good number of die-hards grumbled about the prospect of sitting through this one and even warned newbies in the crowd that it wasn't a good one. Yet as we watched, those fans kept "waiting for it to start sucking."  And it never did. Sure, it sags a little bit after the wonderful Fatima Blush's untimely death, but even then there's lots of great stuff going on.  By the time Connery winked at the audience and Lani Hall's title song reprised, it had won new fans of old haters.  In fact, its total score even beat Thunderball's. (No, I don't quite agree with that, but I do love the movie.) Why was this?

Brad has posted a very thoughtful analysis of the event and the ratings on CBn, a must-read to supplement the remarkable video.  Among other insights as one of the only two veterans of the whole marathon, he posits that Never Say Never Again held new appeal coming as an oasis of Connery after so much Moore.  (Nothing against Moore, mind you, whose movies went over well with the crowd; just a break in the monotony.) He points out that viewing all the films in order and with a talkative audience including a mixture of die-hard fans, casual fans and first-time viewers can radically alter the way one appreciates these films. All very true, but I think there's another factor at play here, too.  I think too often people tend to watch Never Say Never Again with other Connery movies. Amidst those Sixties films, it's bound to come up short.  Not necessarily because of a great disparity in quality, but simply because of the radically different styles associated with the two decades. Never Say Never Again is very thoroughly an Eighties Bond movie, and I think it greatly benefits from being watched in that context.* I always advise friends who don't like the movie to watch it with the Moores and Daltons of that era and see how it holds up.  The result is quite different.  If you're among those who loathe Never Say Never Again, give it another try in this context. You don't need to do a full 3-day Bondathon to see it in a different light. You might be pleasantly surprised!

Read Brad Hansen's full Bondathon analysis on CommanderBond.net here.

*By the way, I consider the Eighties to be 007's second Golden Age, after the Sixties. Not only did the decade offer the greatest variety of actors playing the part and the second most films; it also offered some of the best, like For Your Eyes Only and The Living Daylights. The former has actually surpassed The Spy Who Loved Me for me in recent years to become my favorite Moore Bond.

Upcoming Spy Screenings: John Barry and James Bond in L.A.
Celebrate St. Patrick's Day With Octopussy

The American Cinematheque's Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood and Aero Theatre in Santa Monica will host a nearly month-long tribute to the great John Barry later in March, including (unsurprisingly) many spy films. The retrospective, entitled "Scorekeeper: A Tribute to Composer John Barry," runs from March 3-30 and includes the Bryan Forbes duo Seance on a Wet Afternoon and The Whisperers at the Aero on Thursday, March 3, Out of Africa at the Aero on Friday, March 4, The Man With the Golden Gun and Octopussy at the Egyptian on Thursday, March 17 (along with "rare John Barry interviews courtesy of EON Productions"), From Russia With Love and Diamonds Are Forever on Friday, March 18 (also including rare Barry interviews), Goldfinger and You Only Live Twice on Sunday, March 20, Midnight Cowboy and the quirky take on Sherlock Holmes They Might Be Giants on Friday, March 25, Dances With Wolves on Saturday, March 26, a Michael Caine double feature of The Ipcress File and Deadfall on Sunday, March 27, and finally Nicholas Roeg's Walkabout on Wednesday, March 30.  All screenings begin at 7:30. Wow!  What a line-up! 

Personally, I'm most excited about Octopussy, because it's one of the only three Bonds I've never had the chance to see on the big screen (after this screening, it will only be A View To a Kill and Never Say Never Again), The Ipcress File (because it's the only Harry Palmer I haven't seen on the big screen) and They Might Be Giants.  I'll definitely be attending all of those screenings.  Frankly, I could do without Goldfinger since nobody ever does a Bond festival without it, but I can never pass up You Only Live Twice.  I do wish there were one more Bond night with A View To A Kill and The Living Daylights, since I think Barry's last two Bond scores were also two of his best, but you can't really complain about this line-up.  I'm glad that John Barry is getting proper recognition by the Cinematheque, since the stupid Academy chose to reduce his tribute in the Oscar memorial reel to a little tiny box only visible over Celine Dion's shoulder.  (It makes me so mad! The whole reel should have played out to the five-time Oscar winner's music, with nobody singing. At least the BAFTAs got it right.)

Tickets can supposedly be ordered through Fandango, although I don't think I've ever actually had any luck getting Cinematheque tickets that way.  It always says sold out, even when the movie isn't sold out.  You're probably better off purchasing at the theater box office.  For more information on "Scorekeeper: A Tribute to Composer John Barry," visit the Egyptian's website or the Film Score Monthly boards, which for some reason seem to have more details.

Another spy movie playing at the Egyptian this month, on Saturday, March 12, is 1973's Scorpio starring Burt Lancaster and Alain Delon (paired with The Mechanic—the original version). Director Michael Winner will be on hand in person for the double feature.

Casino Royale's Tobias Menzies Plays Ian Fleming on PBS This Weekend

Early last year, we learned that Britain's Channel 4 was making a miniseries based on William Boyd's novel Any Human Heart, which features Ian Fleming and other historical figures as a supporting characters. At the time, there was no information on who would play Fleming and the project fell off my radar.  It played in the UK last autumn, but I didn't read anything about it at the time.  Now Any Human Heart will air in the US on PBS's Masterpiece (just coming off the truly fantastic Downton Abbey) in three parts beginning this weekend.  And James Bond author Fleming (in his wartime Naval Intelligence days) is played by Tobias Menzies, the actor who played M's assistant Villiers (sort of a mash-up of Moneypenny and Bill Tanner) in Casino Royale!  He also narrated a number of remarkable "background materials" in a dossier telling the story of Daniel Craig's Bond's pre-00 career on that film's website. Menzies is probably most famous in America, though, for his role as Brutus on HBO's Rome.  I wouldn't have pegged him as Fleming, but I have to admit that he does kind of look the part in that still from the series.

Any Human Heart follows a writer named Logan Mountstuart as his life intersects with a number of famous figures, including Fleming, Ernest Hemingway (Julian Ovenden), Wallis Simpson (Gillian Anderson) and her husband the Duke of Windsor (Tom Hollander). Mountstuart is played at different points during his life by Sam Claflin, Spooks/MI-5's Matthew Macfadyen and Jim Broadbent.  Hayley Atwell (one of the few highlights of the 2009 Prisoner remake) also stars.  I believe that Menzies' Fleming will only appear in the second segment, when he assigns Macfadyen's Mountstuart to a wartime spy mission involving Wallis and Edward, but I could be wrong.  (Mitch Silver's novel In Secret Service, published after Boyd's, also concocted an espionage plot involving Fleming, Simpson and the former monarch... though not very successfully.)  The first part airs this weekend on most PBS stations, but you'll have to check your local listings. After that, it should be available to watch online on the Masterpiece website for a while, and the DVD comes out on April 5. You can watch a short trailer on the Masterpiece website.