500,000th Hit

I missed the exact moment, but the Double O Section quietly reached its 500,000th hit milestone over the weekend. Thanks, everyone, for making that happen!

Tradecraft: MGM Plots Year-Long James Bond Anniversary Celebration For 2012

Variety offers a few additional intriguing details on today's earlier story about the long-delayed next James Bond movie (Number 23 in the official chronology) finally starting production.  Notably, the trade reports that "MGM, which received a cash infusion last month of $500 million, had been expected to move quickly to lock down Craig and Mendes for the project in order to take advantage of the 50th anniversary of the Bond franchise.  MGM has already been working up plans for a 2012 yearlong commemoration of the golden anniversary of the first Bond pic, 1962's Doctor No." I like the sound of that!  Presumably at the very least that "yearlong commemoration" will see the remaining titles finally released on Blu-ray, but what else does it hold? Theatrical re-releases?  New books?  (You can bet on that!)  More toys?  (Action figures, please!)  What else?  I can't wait to see! Hopefully they'll pull out all the stops. Variety also backs Sony as the most likely distributor for Bond 23: "Insiders believe MGM may turn to Sony for co-financing, as it did on Casino Royale and Quantum of Solace, or sell off some major foreign territories." 

For all the details on today's announcement, see "James Bond is Back in Action!"

Taken: Extended Cut Contest Winner

Vegas Comes Up 007!

The winner of yesterday's flash contest for the Taken: Extended Cut DVD is Glen O. of Nevada.  Congratulations, Glen!  Your DVD will be mailed out this week. Weird, that's the second flash contest in a row won by someone from Nevada.  Guess it is a lucky state!  Despite all the contests this past week in celebration of the Double O Section's fourth blogiversary, I didn't manage to pack in quite all the prizes I'd intended to.  Consequently, I guess I'll just have to run some more in the weeks ahead!  Stay tuned.

In the meantime, this week's two biggest contests are still running.  There's still time to enter the huge DK giveaway for a chance to win DK James Bond books and the first two volumes of James Bond Blu-rays (click here for all the details on how to enter that contest) and to enter the contest to win OSS 117: Lost in Rio on DVD (click here for the details on that one). The DK James Bond contest runs until Monday night, and the OSS 117 contest runs until Thursday night.

Read my review of Taken here.

FLASH CONTEST: Win Taken: Extended Cut On DVD

Here's another flash contest as we wrap up this week of celebrating the Double O Section's fourth blogiversary. Up for grabs is one copy of Fox's single-disc Extended Cut DVD of the 2009 Liam Neeson neo-Eurospy movie Taken (review here).  And I'm changing up the rules again.  Since it's a weekend and there are likely fewer people surfing the net, I'm going to let this one run a bit longer. The winner will be announced at noon tomorrow, Pacific Time.  (That's after the time change happens if you're wondering.)  The prize will go to the seventh person to email me using the subject line "Taken Contest" and including your full name and mailing address in your email.  Entries that don't follow those guidelines will be discarded. Don't automatically assume someone else has already won until I post a winner.  Maybe everyone else is assuming that, too. The order of responses will be based on the time stamps in my Yahoo! email account.  The contest starts NOW, so go for it! Good luck!

And don't forget, there's still time to enter the huge DK giveaway for a chance to win DK James Bond books and the first two volumes of James Bond Blu-rays (click here for all the details on how to enter that contest) and to enter the contest to win OSS 117: Lost in Rio on DVD (click here for the details on that one). The DK James Bond contest runs until Monday night, and the OSS 117 contest runs until Thursday night. There will also be other long- and short-term contests popping up in the days ahead, so be sure to check back frequently!

Read my review of Taken here.

*The Fine Print: One entry per person, please. Double entries will be disqualified. One winner will be chosen based on the order of responses. The winner's name will be posted here and he or she will be notified via email. All entries will be deleted immediately after the contest’s close, and no personal information will be retained or transmitted to any third parties. This contest is open to anyone, in any country, but foreign readers should note that this is a Region 1 NTSC DVD and make sure that they have the proper equipment for playback. Unfortunately, the Double O Section cannot assume responsibility for items lost or damaged in transit.

CONTEST: Win OSS 117: Lost In Rio On DVD!

Time for the next of the many contests that will keep popping up this week to celebrate the Double O Section's fourth blogiversary–and it's another good one, if I do say so myself!  (Well, I don't run bad ones...) Earlier this week I reviewed Music Box's recent DVD of OSS 117: Lost in Rio, and today I have four copies of that awesome, awesome parody of Sixties spy movies to give away!  I said this movie belonged in every spy collection (which it definitely does), and here's your chance to add it to yours for free.  Unlike Wednesday's "instant win" flash contest (of which there will be at least one more, so keep checking back throughout the weekend!), we'll run this one fairly traditionally.  All you have to do to enter to win one of four copies of OSS 117: Lost in Rio is send an email with the subject heading "OSS 117 Contest" including your name and mailing address to the Double O Section by 11:59 PM, Pacific Time on Thursday, November 11 (James Bond's birthday!), 2010.* The winner will be announced in one week's time, next Friday, November 12. Good luck! And be sure to check back often for more great contests popping up randomly throughout the weekend and maybe even into next week.

Speaking of contests, the DK Books/James Bond Blu-ray contest is still running as well, so be sure to get your entries in by Monday for a chance to win those amazing prizes, too.  Full details on how to do that can be found here.

Read my review of the OSS 117: Lost in Rio DVD here.
Read my original film review of OSS 117: Lost in Rio here.

*The Fine Print: One entry per person, please. Double entries will be disqualified. Four prize-winners will be drawn at random and announced on Friday, November 12, 2010. The winners' names will be posted here and they will be notified via email. All entries will be deleted immediately after the contest’s close, and no personal information will be retained or transmitted to any third parties. The contest is open to anyone, in any country, but foreign readers should note that these are Region 1 NTSC DVDs and be sure they have the proper equipment for playback. Unfortunately, the Double O Section cannot assume responsibility for items lost or damaged in transit.

Repost: Fury In Marrakesh Review

Continuing this week's blogiversary celebration, here's another "classic" repost.  The ending of this Eurospy movie is just so bizarre that it's forever etched on my memory.  But even before that, the movie is just a lot of fun, and a great example of the genre. Here's the first part of my review of Fury in Marrakesh, along with a link at the end to the entire original post:

DVD Review: Fury In Marrakesh (Furia A Marrakech) (1966)

For a movie with Marrakesh in the title, I was expecting a lot of deserts and North African rooftops and marketplaces. But while the film does offer those sights, it also offers so many more: tropical beaches, Times Square neon, and snowy Alpine vistas. Fury In Marrakesh takes us to hot spy locations all around the world, and lets us soak up the atmosphere. It’s actually one of the best spy movies I can think of in terms of sheer variety in exciting settings. It’s also one of the most fun Eurospy films I’ve seen, delivering almost everything you could want from the genre: impressive chases, good fights, cool gadgets (loads of ‘em, in fact!), beautiful women (though, surprisingly, not a main one) and, of course, the aforementioned locales. Top that all off with one of the strangest, jaw-droppingly mind boggling endings of any Eurospy flick, and it’s easy to recommend Fury In Marrakesh–highly. In fact, provided they’re not put off by the inexplicable oddness of the ending, this would be a great introduction to the genre for James Bond fans looking to broaden their spy horizons. Maybe the next step into Eurospy waters from the slightly more sure footing of Deadlier Than the Male.

Supposedly Fury In Marrakesh is the third in the "Bob Fleming" series that began with Secret Agent Fireball, but it’s so hard to actually delineate Eurospy series since the movies and their characters had so many different names in the various countries they were released in. (Based on the popularity of the three genuine "077" movies starring Ken Clark, that number was ascribed to just about every Eurospy hero in one country or another at various times!) The marketing campaigns for Fury In Marrakesh showcased in the poster gallery on Fin de Siecle’s new Region 2 DVD call the movie by many different names (Death Pays In Dollars is a good one) and identify the hero as, variously, Bob Fleming, Joe Fleming and Bob Dixon, among others. On the English language dub included on this disc, Bob Dixon is the name they go with. But the movie is from the pen of Ernesto Gastaldi, writer of the two previous Bob Fleming movies, and directed by the team responsible for the first one as well, so it’s reasonable to assume that it is meant to be a Bob Fleming adventure. If it is, though, then it’s a Casino Royale-like reboot of the brief series–and only a year after it began! Fleming is now played by the younger, lither Stephen Forsyth, stepping into Richard Harrison’s shoes. And when we meet him, he’s still in spy school. Fury In Marrakesh is the story of his first mission. (His boss even worries it’s "too complex a mission " to send so green an agent!) And Forsyth (coming off as sort of a cross between George Lazenby and John Phillip Law) is better suited to playing a neophyte agent than the more world-weary Harrison. So is this a carefully constructed and deliberately recast prequel revealing all the complex motivations that drive Fleming in his subsequent adventures, explaining how he became such an arrogant chauvinist? Actually, it kind of works along those lines–but, no, clearly not. No Eurospy adventure was ever that thought through. It seems clear that it’s supposed to be a different character entirely, so I’ll call him by the name he’s given in this print: Bob Dixon.

For what it ultimately becomes, Fury In Marrakesh opens quite inauspiciously, with a girl drugging a man and then robbing his safe... which is hidden inside an awfully fake-looking television set. (What happens if someone wants to watch TV?) After this action-free, single-setting pre-title sequence that clearly has nothing on James Bond, we’re into the credits and the zippy theme music. Then the SPECTRE-like villainous organization assembles, and their perpetually sunglasses-wearing leader addresses them, dramatically revealing, "My real name is Karl Kuntz!" with a louder, obviously different voice than the rest of the dub. What could be the reason for that? Judging from the non-removable Swedish subtitles, the Swedes think he's called Charlie Clark. His objective? To spread Nazi counterfeit dollars and pounds ("Hitler's treasure," found in a hidden vault), flooding the market, making him and his men rich and ruining the American economy! (And presumably the British one as well, though he doesn’t mention it.) But there’s a problem. Someone in his own organization has already stolen some of the counterfeit money. The girl from the opening! She’s called Monique on the English track and Dora on the Italian one and in the Swedish subtitles, and she’s played by Dominique Boschero (Secret Agent Fireball, Fantastic Argoman).

The action moves to New York City, represented in 1965 by the World’s Fair... a place apparently teeming with spies! An American official says that Monique " was spotted by one of our agents at the Fair." One of them! Apparently, it was seen as a wise allocation of government funds to deploy lots of agents to the World’s Fair! I guess it was cheaper than really sending them to all those countries... and, hey, it paid off! Hearing that intel, the suited American officials determine, "We’re going to need the most discrete agent the CIA can assign to this mission." Cue Bob Dixon....

Go here to read the my entire review including a sleazy Q, a cocky agent, a crazy spy school and lots of striptease numbers.

Repost: Moneypenny Diaries Interview

Continuing this week's blogiversary celebration, here's another repost - and it's a direct follow-up to yesterday's re-posted review of The Moneypenny Diaries: Secret Servant. Here's the first part of an interview I conducted with James Bond continuation author Samantha Weinberg in 2008, along with a link to the lengthy full interview at the end. This is one of my favorite posts I've done here. Ms. Weinberg was an extremely gracious and forthcoming interviewee. Sadly, I think this interview was probably the biggest promotional push any of these books got, so it makes that much more sense to spotlight it again...

Centenary Exclusive:

Interview With Moneypenny Diaries Author Samantha Weinberg

Today is the Centenary of Ian Fleming's birth, and his heirs have (rightly) turned that into a celebration. Everyone's talking about Sebastian Faulks' new James Bond novel, Devil May Care, commissioned specially for the event, which hits stores today. It's erroneously been described as the first new Bond novel since Raymond Benson's The Man With the Red Tattoo in 2001, but most Double O Section readers probably know that isn't the case. Ian Fleming Publications have put out two excellent series of Bond novels over the past several years, Charlie Higson's wildly successful Young Bond adventures, and Samantha Weinberg's trilogy of Moneypenny Diaries. While the third volume, Final Fling, was recently published in Britain, the first one (here simply titled The Moneypenny Diaries) is finally hitting U.S. shelves, and I thought I'd shine the Centenary spotlight on that today here at the Double O Section.

Weinberg, writing under the pseudonym of Kate Westbrook (Moneypenny's supposed niece and editor of her diaries) took a concept that many fans (myself included) found dubious, and skillfully spun it into some of the very best James Bond continuation novels to date. It's a radically new approach to a Bond novel, the most different tack taken since Ian Fleming himself deviated from his own formula to have Bond Girl Vivien Michelle narrate The Spy Who Loved Me in the first person. It was her own story, and 007 only came into it in the last third. The Moneypenny Diaries comes from a similar angle, but with a far more interesting protagonist in M's famous secretary, Miss Moneypenny.
While Miss Moneypenny only appeared briefly in each of Fleming's novels, she certainly left an impression. Any woman able to get the last word in on Bond like she does in this passage from Thunderball is bound to do so! Here, 007 has just emerged from M's office, confounded by orders to clean the toxins out of his body at a health clinic:

Miss Moneypenny gave a secret smile. 'You know he thinks the world of you - or perhaps you don't. Anyway, as soon as he saw your Medical he told me to book you in.' Miss Moneypenny screwed up her nose. 'But, James, do you really drink and smoke as much as that? It can't be good for you, you know.' She looked up at him with motherly eyes.
Bond controlled himself. He summoned a desperate effort at nonchalance, at the throw-away phrase, 'It's just that I'd rather die of drink than of thirst. As for the cigarettes, it's really only that I don't know what to do with my hands.' He heard the stale, hangover words fall like clinker in a dead grate. Cut out the schmalz! What you need is a double brandy and soda.
Miss Moneyepenny's warm lips pursed into a disapproving line. 'About the hands - that's not what I've heard.'
'Now don't you start on me, Penny.' Bond walked angrily towards the door. He turned round. 'Any more ticking-off from you and when I get out of this place I'll give you such a spanking you'll have to do your typing off a block of Dunlopillo.'
Miss Moneypenny smiled sweetly at him. 'I don't think you'll be able to do much spanking after living on nuts and lemon juice for two weeks, James.'

Yes, Moneypenny made quite an impression standing up to the irrepressible 007 in her few paragraphs. Lois Maxwell solidified that impression in the films, making the role her own and playing up the flirtatious interplay between Moneypenny and Bond into a staple of the film series. (So much so that it was sorely missed from the otherwise excellent Casino Royale.)
Now Samantha Weinberg has gone a step further, developing the fan-favorite supporting player into a leading lady--and giving her a first name in the process. Weinberg calls her Moneypenny Jane, and Jane Moneypenny makes a very engaging protagonist and narrator. This new take offers a new point of view on Bond's world, and the opportunity to eavesdrop on life in the Office while 007 is away on assignment. All of Fleming's support staff get larger roles in Weinberg's SIS: Moneypenny, M, Chief of Staff Bill Tanner, the disagreeable Captain Troop, and even the steady parade of attractive secretaries to the Double O Section.

The point of view isn't the only new angle in The Moneypenny Diaries, however. Like Higson's novels, Weinberg's are period pieces, restoring 007 to the Cold War, Jet Age era that spawned him. This gives the author a freedom Fleming never had, as he was writing contemporary stories. She can integrate historical events into Bond's world. The first novel deals with the Cuban Missile Crisis, and 007's surprising role in it--as well as Moneypenny's. The second concerns notorious MI6 defector Kim Philby. And amidst these actual events, Weinberg weaves ongoing plot threads throughout the three novels like Moneypenny's quest for answers about her father's disappearance during WWII and, later, her attempts to identify a mole in the upper echelons of MI6.
Samantha Weinberg was kind enough to discuss some of these innovations, and more, with the Double O Section.

00: You've frequently credited your literary agent with the germ of the idea for The Moneypenny Diaries, but how much of it did he come up with, and how much did you create in your initial outline?

SW: We were discussing Bond in general when Gillon said, casually, 'What do you think about a Moneypenny biography?' My first reaction was: 'brilliant', and a second later, 'what about Moneypenny diaries?' It was that instinctive. From that point onwards, he left all the plot development to me, though I spoke to him several times during the process.

00: Who decided to integrate actual historical events into the books? And when did the ideas for the series' overarching plot lines (like Jane's father's disappearance and the mole in MI6) emerge?

SW: I wrote a brief outline - which included the concept of setting the diaries in real historical events - he read it, and then took it to the Fleming estate. When they expressed enthusiasm, I wrote a more detailed outline, which we then submitted to several publishers. By that point, the three main story lines for Volume 1 were established: the Cuban Missile Crisis, Jane's search for her father, and Bond/Office life in general. The first book followed the outline closely.

00: Did you plot out the overall story arc for the whole trilogy at that time, or did the plots for books 2 and 3 fall into place only after you'd already written the first one?

SW: I had some vague ideas. I always planned that Kate Westbrook would have an increasing role, and story arc of her own, as the series progressed. And that the second book would have something to do with the Cambridge spies. But none of the details; I literally (ha ha) left myself hanging at the end of book one with some loose ends that I didn’t have a clue how to resolve. (Particularly one relating to Colditz, which I only managed to navigate with the help of Henry Chancellor [author of James Bond: The Man and His World]).

It would have made my job a lot easier if I’d planned the entire trilogy at the beginning – and, with hindsight, I half wish I had – but it was also fun to try to wriggle my way out of some tight – albeit fictional – spots.

00: One of my favorite aspects of these books is the integration of actual historical events. Fleming didn't really have that opportunity (and sometimes when he tried it, the results were enjoyably embarrassing, such as Bond declaring in "Quantum of Solace" that his own loyalties lay with Castro's rebels, prior to the revelation that Castro was Communist!), and most of the continuation novels were also contemporary, so you're really the first author who's ever had the chance to incorporate Bond and Moneypenny into actual history. Did that daunt you at all?

SW: Quite the reverse. As a journalist/non-fiction writer, I feel much more comfortable with fact. So, having the history to hang the story off was a great comfort as well as a help. I enjoyed the research process enormously: digging through the archives, reading books about the period, talking to people and then, of course, hot-footing it off to Cuba to see the missile sites for myself.

00: Did you already have a great knowledge of the Cuban Missile Crisis, or the Philby affair, prior to writing the books, or did it mostly entail new research?

SW: I knew very little - so it was a lot of research. I have piles of books in my office. But it was fascinating and now I know a little more. [Editor's Note: Part of that research involved visiting Philby's fourth wife, Rufina, in Moscow - pictured below.]

00: In the second book, you portray Kim Philby as a complex, three-dimensional and even sympathetic character. What biographies did you rely on most, and to what extent did you extrapolate?

SW: Four main ones: Philby: KGB Masterspy by Phillip Knightley, Philby: The Long Road to Moscow by Patrick Seale and Maureen McConville, My Silent War by Philby himself, and, perhaps most importantly, Kim Philby: The Spy I Loved by Eleanor Philby. I also gleaned bits and pieces from Miranda Carter's biography of Blunt. I think/hope I painted a fairly true portrait of Philby, though it's probably on the sympathetic side; I tend to look for the emotion in people and probably rather under-emphasised the effects of what he'd done.

00: Very interesting! I didn't know about the Eleanor Philby book. I'll have to track that one down. Do you have any problems with corralling actual historical personalities to fit your fiction, or is it easier to write about people who already have well-documented stories?

SW: I love writing about real characters and trying to flesh out their life from what's been written about them.

00: You mentioned travelling to Cuba. Did you travel to every location you write about in The Moneypenny Diaries?

SW: Pretty much, and I'm feeling rather guilty about it now. I probably spewed out a small country's carbon allowance on the excuse of following Miss Moneypenny around the world! I went to Cuba, Miami, Washington, Switzerland (where I stayed with Peter Smithers, just as
Kate did in Guardian Angel [as the first book is known in Britain]), Berlin, Moscow, and from there by train to St. Petersburg, Jamaica, North Uist [Scotland]. I never went to Skye though!

00: Well, I'm sorry for the carbon-induced guilt! If it's any consolation, the research paid off. You painted very vivid depictions of each of those places--especially Moscow in Volume 2. Which of those thrilling cities did you like best?

SW: Definitely Moscow. It was exciting, beautiful, dynamic, and very, very cold (we went during a ‘cold snap’ – temperatures fell to –28C). Jamaica was amazing too, staying at [Ian Fleming's house] Goldeneye, hanging out with Chris Blackwell who, of course, knew Fleming well. [Ed: Fleming reportedly had an affair with Island Records founder Chris Blackwell's mother, Blanche.]

00: All we usually get of MI6 headquarters in Fleming's books is a few chapters. Were you influenced at all by other spy novelists who spend more time on this side of the business, such as John Le Carré or Greg Rucka? To me, your books read like bridges between their school of more realistic spy fiction and Fleming's imaginative world, which is a fantastic feat!

SW: Thank you. I'm a big Le Carré fan, and reread most of his books as I was writing Moneypenny. That was pretty depressing, to tell you the truth; I knew I could never hope to come anywhere near his brilliant depiction of SIS. I also spoke to several former spies, who had worked at the Office during the Sixties and who were wonderfully - if cagily - helpful. My aim was to make it a bit more realistic, yet stick as closely as I could to Fleming. So I guess it's a glamourised version of the real thing.

00: Or a realized version of the glamour! Either way, it works wonderfully.
SW: Thanks.

00: When did you first read Ian Fleming? Were you introduced to James Bond through the books or the movies?

Go here to see Weinberg's answer and read the entire interview.

Repost: Moneypenny Diaries Review

Continuing this week's blogiversary celebration, here's another repost.  The Moneypenny Diaries series is another one of my favorite things (in this case a series of books) that I've reviewed in my four years of blogging about spies that I feel has gotten unfairly overlooked.  While the premise of a first-person series of James Bond continuation novels focusing on Miss Moneypenny (a fairly minor character in Ian Fleming's books) sounded doubtful, author Samantha Weinberg (writing as Kate Westbrook) achieved a considerable feat: she not only made it work, but penned three of the most enjoyable 007 continuation novels to date. Sadly, they were launched with a cheap gimmick and then horribly marketed, with the second and third novels never even being published in America.  It's really too bad, because all of Weinberg's books were far superior to the massively hyped Sebastian Faulks continuation novel Devil May Care.  Oh well; I've beaten that point into the ground before.  My purpose here is to shine a light on The Moneypenny Diaries by reposting my review of the second book, Secret Servant, which was probably my favorite of the lot.  American Bond fans should take the trouble to track down the last two books.  They're well worth it.  Anyway, here's the first part of the review and a link to the rest at the end:

Review: The Moneypenny Diaries: Secret Servant

Samantha Weinberg’s second James Bond novel (writing as Kate Westbrook), The Moneypenny Diaries Vol. 2: Secret Servant, is even more fun than her first. Yes, despite that misleading cover that doesn’t even mention the main commercial attraction, this is a Bond novel. 007 just doesn’t happen to be the main character. Instead, as with the first volume, Ms. Weinberg uses the supporting character of Miss Moneypenny to examine the world of Bond’s Secret Service, and how M, Bond, Tanner and the others weathered the spy scandals that rocked real life England in the early Sixties.

I really like the way Weinberg has integrated real, historical events into Fleming’s world. Obviously, he couldn’t deal with issues so contemporary and scandalous when he was writing the books, but by placing Bond in a historical context (a good decision on the part of the new regime at IFP), Weinberg can. And forty-odd years later, she has access to information that Fleming couldn’t possibly have known, and a historical perspective. (In one retrospectively embarrassing attempt at injecting current events into his fiction, in the short story "Quantum of Solace," Fleming had 007 aiding Castro’s Cuban rebels against Batista! Who knew where that would lead?) It’s fascinating to see M and his team (usually glimpsed only in a single chapter of each Fleming book) grapple with these events. After all, a Soviet mole in the heart of British Intelligence poses a much greater threat to a man like M than a madman sending missiles off course from his private island! (And, lest one think that Soviet moles could never penetrate M’s Secret Service they way they did the real one, remember that Fleming himself mentions Burgess and Maclean in From Russia With Love, in which Bond is assigned to a Committee of Inquiry on the matter!)

While the first novel dealt with the Cuban Missile Crisis, this one revolves around Kim Philby’s defection. It works better, because the Cambridge spy ring was an espionage event that involved MI6 much more directly than the Cuban Missile Crisis. Possibly because of that, Weinberg also works Moneypenny (or Jane, to use the first name she’s given her), into the action much more organically. The first book’s greatest weakness was the barely credible way Moneypenny ended up in Cuba with James Bond. The way she gets caught up in the Philby affair is far more convincing. Really, how could she not? The secretary to the head of MI6 at the time would have been right in the thick of it all. It’s still impossible to believe that M would risk sending someone with as many secrets as Moneypenny into the heart of the Evil Empire–Moscow–for any reason, but the reason Weinberg comes up with is the most plausible I can think of. And it’s never been a requirement for any Bond novel to be entirely grounded in realism.

Secret Servant also revisits a particularly interesting period in Bond’s own fictional history. It begins following the events of Fleming’s You Only Live Twice, when Bond is presumed dead, and continues through his dramatic return in the opening of The Man With the Golden Gun. (For those a bit rusty on their Fleming, an amnesiac Bond comes back brainwashed by the KGB and attempts to assassinate his boss!) Witnessing these events through Moneypenny’s eyes gives us a unique perspective on a unique situation in the Bond canon, and allows Weinberg to fill in a few gaps from Fleming’s final novel, which he never had a chance to fully finish. (Bond’s "de-programming" is fleshed out somewhat more, for one thing.) Secret Servant ends just about where TMWTGG does, so the third (and supposedly final) Moneypenny Diary will give Weinberg quite a bit more freedom in how she uses 007 himself as a character.

Fleming never gave us much detail at all on Moneypenny. She rated a few sentences in most of the books, but managed to make enough of an impression that the filmmakers, and actress Lois Maxwell, were able to turn her into the iconic figure she is today. Weinberg goes even further, though, fortunately. Her Moneypenny is a fully realized character, very occasionally in contradiction with Fleming’s version, but that’s excusable since she really belongs to Weinberg now. (That sentence may shock purists, but it’s true. Moneypenny is the main character of these books, and for their sake the author has the right to tweak a date here or there if it serves her version of the character better.) I found myself really caring about the character, and eager to get back to Moneypenny’s world, not Bond’s, while reading the books. Furthermore, since reading the first Moneypenny Diaries, I’ve enjoyed her brief appearances in the Fleming books even more as I’ve been re-reading them....

Go here to read my full review.

Repost: Mister Jerico Review

Continuing this week's blogiversary celebration, here's another repost. Reader and frequent commentor CK Dexter Haven once commented that this was his favorite of my reviews (and reading his own excellent Persuaders! blog, one can see why!), and I have to agree. It's one of my favorites as well, and another obscure title worth showcasing. Here's the first part of the review, and a link to the rest at the bottom:

DVD Review: Mister Jerico (1969) Starring Patrick Macnee

Last year, Network put out a DVD of Mister Jerico, a long-lost ITC TV movie starring Patrick Macnee made immediately after the conclusion of The Avengers, with much of the same crew behind the camera. I would have thought this release would have been greeted by Avengers fans with unrestrained jubilation, but it didn’t really make much of a splash, even in the fan community. Maybe that’s because nobody knew about it. If you are an Avengers fan–and especially if you’re a Patrick Macnee fan–Mister Jerico is well worth watching. It’s even worth picking up a $30 all-region DVD player at Best Buy for, as its unlikely to be released anytime soon on Region 1 DVD. I’ve been intrigued by this elusive title ever since seeing a single still from it in Macnee’s book The Avengers and Me, and I’m very glad to finally be able to have seen it!

Macnee stars as Dudley Jerico (presumably the writers felt that "Jerico" was too unbelievably cool a last name, so their hero should be saddled with a first name mundane enough to tether him securely to earth), a con man with an incongruous reputation for scruples. We meet Mr. Jerico (yes, that's how it's spelled) mid-con, as he relieves a wealthy American tourist of $10,000. Just as Jerico and his partner make their getaway from the man’s yacht by speedboat, their ruse is detected and the yacht’s crew give pursuit in their own launch, guns blazing. Jerico gives them the slip, Macnee peels off his unflattering fake mustache, and an impossibly awesome theme song kicks in sung by Lulu, with music by George Martin and lyrics by Don Black. According to Lulu’s website, this amazing track from a trio of Bond musicians has never before been issued in its entirety prior to this DVD release, which allows the whole thing to play out at the end of the movie rather than cutting it off when the credits end. I can’t believe it’s never made it onto some sort of Lulu compilation! (If anyone knows otherwise, please let me know, as I’d love to have it on my iPod.)

Macnee relishes his victory as Lulu croons, "A little bit won’t satis-fy him/that’s why he takes from everyone/as they pass by him! Yes, they’re pleased that they know... Mister Jerico!" and the boat skirts a beautiful Mediterranean coastline. What’s not to like? Well... Confession time: I’ve omitted one little detail. There’s Marty Allen.

With that revelation, I’ve probably lost any spy fan who’s ever battled their way through The Last of the Secret Agents or any of Allen’s other vehicles with his comedy partner Steve Rossi. In fact, it was in part Allen’s dependably irritating presence here that kept me from watching Mister Jerico for so long, even after I had the DVD. Fortunately, his part turns out to be relatively small, and though I did cringe the first several times he attempted to generate laughs by creepily ogling various beautiful women, even Marty Allen managed to grow on me by the film’s conclusion. Perhaps that’s because I was so swept up in the general charm of the whole affair, but I'll give him enough credit for it that I might give Last of the Secret Agents another shot...

The movie begins in earnest when Macnee and Allen put down their stakes in Malta (the real Malta, mind you, not an Elstree backlot!) and catch the attention of Victor Rosso, a shady millionaire with a reputation for his lack of scruples, played by the always top-notch Herbert Lom, and his secretary, Susan (an impressive Connie Stevens, sporting a blond Jean Seberg haircut). Rosso invites Jerico to his mansion for reasons that are never adequately explained, but that don’t really need to be in this kind of glossy con man caper. Neither man trusts the other, but both are ever so cordial. (We’d expect nothing less from John Steed, would we?) Rosso seems to expect Jerico to attempt to con him, and Jerico, in turn, seems to see it as his obligation. So begins a thoroughly enjoyable, gentlemanly game of one-upmanship involving a priceless diamond, its long lost twin, and more than one paste copy thereof. Complicating matters (and forcing Macnee to steal the same gem again and again) is the presence of a third party, the beautiful and mysterious con woman known only as Georgina.

Macnee charms Lom, romances both Georgina and Susan, cracks safes, dangles from hotel balconies, and models a wide array of the most hideous outfits from fashion’s darkest decade, the Seventies. Actually, this was 1969, but apparently ITC was already fashion-forward, eschewing the waning decade’s mod esprit and Carnaby flair for actual flares and velour T-shirts. Yes, Macnee’s casual attire actually includes a golden velour T, worn with shockingly orange trousers. I’m not convinced that anyone outside of an ITC program ever actually wore orange trousers, even in the Seventies, but ITC was big on them. Mister Jerico previews all the hideously camp stylings we’d see in their next generation of programming, from The Persuaders to Jason King to The Adventurer (in declining order of sartorial taste). Macnee wears one particularly perplexing purple-print silk shirt that proves remarkably versatile. It can be worn alone for a pajama-like casual look (good for sneaking about and blending into well-stocked women’s wardrobes) or dressed up with a sash, pendant and a wide-collared jacket that appears to be made out of hemp. I wish that I could provide you with evidence of all these fashion crimes, but for some reason the DVD won’t play on my computer, thus preventing screencaps. C’est la vie.

As should be evident, the appalling outfits actually added immensely to my overall enjoyment of Mister Jerico, as they do with those other, later shows. Macnee proves that his undeniable charisma was not due to Steed’s generally tasteful wardrobe, because he still manages to ooze charm even in these outfits. Furthermore, the beauty of the scenery, the women and the cars more than makes up for all the aggressive orange and purple in the costumes....

Read the entire review here.

Repost: Zodiac Review

Continuing this week's blogiversary celebration, here's another repost.  This review seems worth spotlighting largely because of the fact that I seem to be in the minority in my opinion of this breezy, entertaining show–and I'd like to change that!  Personally, I really, really enjoyed it, and it's stuck with me long after my initial viewing almost a year ago.  Avengers fans in particular should seek this one out.  Here's the first part of the full review:

DVD Review: Zodiac: The Complete Series

If Roger Marshall, the man often credited with introducing the trademark wit to The Avengers, felt that he still had unfinished business when he left that show (supposedly due to being fed up with Brian Clemens), then Zodiac was his opportunity to finish it. In 1974, Marshall created Zodiac for Thames TV: a hip, current series about a police officer teamed up with an astrologer. To me, the premise didn’t sound very promising at first. It brings to mind any number of dreary, subsequent American shows about police working with all manner of psychics, swamis, mystics and ghost whisperers. Luckily, Zodiac is nothing like those shows. Its premise is a mere jumping-off point, not its raison d’etre. The heart of Zodiac, like The Avengers, is the relationship between two unique and appealing characters: aristocratic male cop David “Grad” Gradley (Anton Rodgers), and beautiful, liberated female astrologer Esther Jones (Anouska Hempel).

Gradley is a very Steed-like upper-class copper (he has to be a working policeman in order to keep his inheritance thanks to a convenient clause in his father’s will). In fact, so long as one can overlook his appalling, standard-issue “Seventies British TV haircut” (when I was little, I used to think those do's had to be part of the joke on Faulty Towers and Are You Being Served?) and his questionable fashion sense (Steed might well go overboard with the cravats–especially in The New Avengers–but he would never show up at Mrs. Peel’s apartment wearing all denim!), Rodgers makes a wholly satisfying Steed surrogate. He shares Patrick Macnee’s seemingly effortless charm, self-effacing good humor and readiness with a witty comeback when verbally sparring with Hempel (who always addresses him as “you arrogant man!”). And Hempel herself, fresh off of her sex siren phase in movies like the entertaining spy farce Tiffany Jones and Russ Meyer’s plantationploitation flick Black Snake, actually makes a totally credible Mrs. Peel stand-in, quickly proving that her acting skills are, in fact, more than the sum of her breasts, and revealing an adeptness at witty banter that she never had the opportunity to demonstrate in her films. The New Zealand-born Hempel (with whom I must confess a minor infatuation ever since first reading her irresistibly exotic name) actually had quite an illustrious spy career, but the roles in which she kept her clothes on were generally (and quite unfairly, as evidenced by Zodiac) marked by their brevity. After appearing as one of the many girls (the Australian one) at Blofeld’s clinic in On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, she went on to mostly small roles in Department S, The Persuaders!, The Adventurer and eventually a slightly larger one on Return of the Saint. The scant six episodes of Zodiac make it clear that she should have worked more in the Seventies.

Hempel’s Esther is a suspect in the first episode (“Death of a Crab”), but quickly befriends the urbane gadfly Gradley. It looks at first as if their relationship might be romantic (ala Moonlighting), but the final scene of the episode twists it into a friendship with plenty of sexual tension, ala Steed and Mrs. Peel. Even so, the sparks continue to fly through subsequent episodes, and it’s quite disappointing that the two should-be lovers don’t even come together in the finale. Of course, one has to assume that Marshall intended for the show to go on beyond that point, and understood from his tenure on The Avengers that the tension could propel it much better as an ongoing series than a relationship ever could. Anyway, Esther writes horoscopes and does astrological readings (and, apparently, palmistry) for high-end clients. Judging by her apartment, she seems to make a pretty good living at it. Despite insisting to Gradley when they first meet that “I’m an astrologer, not a spiritualist or a medium,” Esther seems to possess whatever sort of psychic powers any given episode calls for. In one she reads Tarot cards, and she frequently demonstrates hints of second sight. Gradley is an open-minded skeptic, the Scully to her Mulder. He may be skeptical, but he keeps her around long after “Death of a Crab,” and finds her skills useful. That said, it’s interesting to note that none of the episodes actually depend on astrology really working to for the mystery to be solved. Esther is a smart lady, and her deductions could be right for reasons other than the stars. But the show is open-ended enough to please skeptics and believers alike. Besides getting our leads together, “Death of a Crab” is a notable episode for the appearance of a very young–and beardless–John Rhys-Davies, already able to convey effortless authority in his sonorous voice even so early in his career.

Most episodes, in fact, feature notable guest stars. (Or, more often, guest stars who went on to become notable after the series.) Michael Gambon turns up in “The Cool Aquarian” as a ruthless (or is he?) business tycoon. His ruthlessness is quickly demonstrated by his readiness to burn up a rare stamp for which he’s just laid down £30,000. When his aghast lackey points out the value, Gambon says he hasn’t lost £30,000; he’s just made £20,000. There were only two such stamps in the world, and now there iss only one, which he owns, so it’s now worth more. Hm, I’m not sure I buy his logic. Couldn’t he have just hidden the extra and achieved the same effect? Anyway, apparently he’s pretty ruthless. Which is why it seems odd that a kidnapper abducts a teenage girl from a poor family and then sends his ransom note to Gambon’s millionaire businessman. Will such a man part with his beloved cash to save the life of a girl he has no connection to? And why was he the target anyway? That’s what Gradley has to figure out, and once again he turns to Esther for help. Aiding matters, it turns out that Gambon is a client of hers. In fact, it turns out that almost all suspects and victims of crime in all of London are clients of hers, which proves very convenient throughout the series.

The actual plot of each episode (although they do generally come together in a satisfying manner) is pretty much immaterial. The reason to watch the show is for the hugely entertaining, Avengers-like chemistry between the two leads. The banter is better than the cases. And there’s plenty of banter on display–and humor....

Click here to read my entire Zodiac review.

CONTEST: Win James Bond Bundles Including Blu-rays And DK Books!

Just in time for the start of the holiday season, here's the first–and biggest–of many contests that will pop up this week to celebrate the Double O Section's fourth blogiversary. I have three sets of DK's recent James Bond books The Book of Bond and Bond Cars and Vehicles to give away.  Even better, one grand prize winner will take home both books, plus the James Bond Blu-ray Collection Volume 1 and James Bond Blu-ray Collection Volume 2, all courtesy of DK Books!  We'll run this contest in a traditional manner: All you have to do to enter to win one of these prize packs is send an email with the subject heading "DK James Bond Contest" (be sure to use that whole title, because there will be other James Bond contests in the coming days and I'd hate for you to miss out on this one because of a misrouted email!) including your name and mailing address to the Double O Section by 11:59 PM, Pacific Time on Monday, November 8, 2010.* The winner will be announced next Tuesday, November 9. Good luck! And be sure to check back often for more contests popping up randomly throughout the week.

Read my review of DK's recent quartet of Bond books including Bond Cars and Vehicles and The Book of Bond here.

*The Fine Print: One entry per person, please. Double entries will be disqualified. Three regular winners and one grand prize winner will be drawn at random and announced on Tuesday, November 9, 2010. The winners' names will be posted here and they will be notified via email. All entries will be deleted immediately after the contest’s close, and no personal information will be retained or transmitted to any third parties. The contest is open to anyone, in any country, but foreign readers should note that these are Region A Blu-ray Discs and be sure they have the proper equipment for playback. Unfortunately, the Double O Section cannot assume responsibility for items lost or damaged in transit.

Repost: Seductive Espionage

One of the things I'm doing as part of this week-long blogiversary celebration is to spotlight some older posts that have slipped into the ether.  You can always explore months gone by in the Archives section on the right, but I'm aware that the Blogger format is slightly deficient in the convenience of carrying out such archaeological expeditions.  I'm working on that, but whenever I have time to spend on the blog content always trumps format and I'd rather spend that time writing a new post.  I do intend to fix that problem in the future, but for now I'll address it be re-posting certain posts that I want to showcase.  First up in this series is a review I wrote last year for an amazing art book about a series of Japanese spy movies from the Sixties that never actually existed.  Had I ever gotten around to doing a year end Best Of list in 2009, this surely would have been my top book pick.  It's a book I love dipping back into, and I could easily enjoy many more volumes of this.  Enough introduction.  Here's the original post–or at least the first half of it.  Click the link at the end to read the whole thing.

Book Review: Seductive Espionage: The World of Yuki 7 By Kevin Dart And Ada Cole

If you consider yourself a fan of Sixties spy pop culture, then you need this book!

When I first posted the link to Stephane Coedel’s fantastic animated trailer for Kevin Dart’s fictional Sixties spy heroine Yuki 7, I commented that I was dying to see the movie and that it was frustrating that A Kiss From Tokyo didn’t actually exist. Now I’ve read the book, Seductive Espionage: The World of Yuki 7, written by Ada Cole, based on Dart’s creation and overflowing with his amazing illustrations (as well as contributions from others), and as much as I’d like to see those Yuki 7 movies, it simply doesn’t matter that they don’t exist. It doesn’t matter because Dart and Cole have captured the essence of the Sixties spy genre, everything I love about it, and packed it into this book–not just a beautiful art book, but a thorough history of a series of movies that never was.

Often, the movies themselves almost feel like afterthoughts. Sometimes the poster captures the true essence of the Sixties spy genre better than the movie ever could. Take, for example, the majority of Eurospy posters. I love them. I collect them. I decorate my walls with them and I stuff the ones that won’t fit into tubes and sleeves and portfolios that litter my apartment. They’re all dripping with the best elements of James Bond: exotic locations and impeccable fashions, heroic leading men and sultry, sexy, frequently bikini-clad women clutching guns or–better still–spearguns, fast, exotic sports cars, helicopters, airplanes and even more exotic forms of transportation, amazing gadgets, exciting action and explosions galore. On paper, every movie is equal, regardless of the budget. How exciting a movie looks is limited only by the artist’s imagination, and the guys who created these posters had pretty good imaginations.

I’m looking right now at my very favorite poster in my collection, the German one-sheet for Deadlier Than the Male (or Tödliche Katzen), which hangs in my living room. Besides the gorgeous Elke Sommer, who can’t really be improved upon, there’s a man diving forward at me, out of the poster, clutching a gun. He doesn’t really look like Richard Johnson, but his pose is dynamic. There’s a man getting shot by some thugs in a car–not a scene that actually happens in the movie, but an exciting poster image. And there’s an exploding yacht and a flaming jetliner plummeting towards Earth. Those things do happen in the film (more or less), but in much less spectacular fashions. There’s a frame where a model of a jetliner suddenly stops being a model of a jetliner and is instead a modest detonation, and later on there’s a bomb that goes off, off screen, near a large-ish boat. On film, those incidents are limited by the production’s budget–but not on the poster. I love the film–love it!–but I might just love the poster even more. It’s like the director’s cut: what Ralf Thomas would have done if he’d had Broccoli and Saltzman money to work with.

Another German poster I love is the one for Lightning Bolt. After first seeing the image in The Eurospy Guide (whose caption points out the unmissable and nearly unbelievable phallic imagery of the swimsuit-clad girl perched atop the hero’s giant gun), I purchased the poster long before I’d ever seen the movie. Once again, there are explosions. There’s even a rocket launching! The poster played its own movie for me, and it was one I loved. When I finally saw the film Lightning Bolt, it certainly didn’t let me down. (I quite enjoyed it, in fact.) But it also didn’t live up to that poster image. How could it? While the second half of the film really made the most of its limited budget, the first half showcased mainly plywood sets and those ubiquitous Eurospy walls made of curtains. (There are no curtains on the poster.) The rocket launch, naturally, was a piece of grainy stock footage rather carelessly inserted into the proceedings. There are other Eurospy posters that I’ve bought and still haven’t gotten to see the movies of, but that doesn’t diminish my enjoyment of the poster images. I sincerely doubt that Password: Kill Agent Gordon can possibly live up to the incredible one-sheet (though I’d dearly love to see it try!), and while the authors of The Eurospy Guide are fairly dismissive of Goldsnake, that didn’t stop them from using its iconic poster artwork as the cover to their book–or stop me from buying the poster! It won’t stop me from watching the film, either, whenever I finally get the chance. But for now, the poster tells its own story. Segretissimo is a poster I haven’t been able to get my hands on yet, but from the tiny, tantalizing jpegs that I have seen, I want to acquire the poster just as much as I want to see the film!

My point is that it’s possible to capture everything wonderful about Sixties spy movies in two-dimensional images, and that’s exactly what Kevin Dart has done in Seductive Espionage. The spy posters he’s created–French, Japanese and UK Quads–painstakingly capture the spirit of the Sixties spy phenomenon. Dart’s ultra-cool style, laden with jittery brush strokes and ragged line work, isn’t an approximation of famous Sixties poster artists like Robert McGinnis or Frank McCarthy, but each layout might well have been for a real movie poster, and Dart perfectly captures the nuances that differentiate the advertising from each of those different countries. He’s created an ideal synthesis of actual Sixties movie poster styles and his own style.

Click here to read the entire review and see more images from the book.

The Double O Section Is Four Years Old Today

I can't believe I've been doing this for four years.  That's like college!  It's a long time.  And I think 4 might equal 80 or so in Blog Years.  So it seems appropriate to celebrate–and possibly even to celebrate all week long.  To do so, and to thank all the readers who continue to peruse the Double O Section in record numbers, I'll be running a number of contests throughout the week.  Some of them will run for the whole week, as usual, and others will have shorter durations. There might even be some lightning prizes of the "first person to email me" variety rather than the regular random selection.  So check back frequently for the best opportunity to win some really cool books, DVDs and Blu-rays featuring your favorite superspies like James Bond, Jim Phelps and Hubert Bonisseur de la Bath, among others!  I'll be interspersing these contests amidst reposts of some of my favorite posts from the past four years that more recent readers might have missed (mostly reviews and not news, as the latter has a tendency to date rather quickly) and, if all goes according to plan, lots of new content as well.  It's going to be a good week on the Double O Section!  Just like it's been a good four years.  Thanks for reading.  Be seeing you!