Today, the Shattered Lens wishes a happy birthday to director Sam Mendes!
Now, it’s true that Sam Mendes won an Oscar for directing American Beauty and he probably came close to winning a second one for his work on 1917. However, my favorite Mendes film remains Skyfall.Skyfall is one of the best of the Bond films and I say this as someone who was never really a fan of Daniel Craig’s mopey interpretation of the character. Based on his previous films, Sam Mendes may not have been the first name that come to mind when people talked about someone who could make a great Bond film but, with Skyfall, he did just that.
Here, in a scene that I love, James Bond pursues Silva (Javier Bardem) through the London Underground. It’s very suspenseful, very droll, and, most importantly, very British.
Today is the official birthday of the bikini and today’s scene that I love features a moment that played a huge role in the bikini’s growing popularity.
Ursula Andress was one of the very first Bond girls, appearing opposite Sean Connery in Dr. No. Andress played the role of Honeychile Ryder, who was good with a knife and totally willing to trespass on Dr. No.’s beach. Andress set the standard by which almost all future Bond girls would be judged and the scene where Bond and Ryder first meet remains one of the most famous in the Bond franchise. It was such a culturally-defining moment in 1962 that it apparently led to rocketing sales of bikinis. Up until this film came out, bikinis were apparently considered to be too risqué to be worn anywhere other than France.
(Personally, I’m thankful that Andress and Dr. No made bikinis popular. I look good in a bikini and, even if I don’t swim, I do like lying out by the pool and pretending like I’m capable of tanning as opposed to just burning.)
Of course, in the original novel, Honey Ryder is naked (except for a belt and a knife) when Bond first sees her. Personally, I think that’s a bit much. I prefer the scene as it plays out in the movie, where everyone is flirtatious and fashionable.
Though Dr. No is best known for turning Sean Connery into a star, it also did wonders for Ursula Andress’s career. Whereas she had previously been best-known for briefly dating Jams Dean and being married to John Derek, Andress was now an actress who was able to pick her roles and to become financially independent, a development she would later tell the Daily Independent that she owed to “that white bikini.” Andress also appeared in Playboy several times, even after becoming a star. When she was asked why, she replied, “Because I’m beautiful,” and I have to say that I absolutely love that answer.
Everyone knows that Sean Connery made his debut of James Bond in 1962’s Dr. No but what they may not know is that Sean Connery was not the first actor to play James Bond. James Bond made his first appearance 8 years earlier when an American television show called Climax! presented a 48-minute adaptation of Ian Fleming’s first Bond novel, Casino Royale.
In this version of Casino Royale, James Bond was known as Jimmy Bond and he was about as American as you can get. (Felix Leiter, meanwhile, was now English and named Clarence Leiter). Jimmy Bond was played by Barry Nelson, an actor who is probably best known for playing the blandly friendly hotel manager in Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining. Casino Royale’s villain, Le Chiffre, was played by none other than Peter Lorre.
This version of Casino Royale was initially meant to serve as a pilot for a weekly television series but, perhaps fortunately, the Climax version of Casino Royale didn’t get much attention when it was originally aired. According to Sinclair McKay’s authoritative Bond book, The Man With The Golden Touch, this version of Casino Royale was forgotten about until a copy of it was discovered in the 1980s. By that time, of course, everyone knew that James Bond was English and that Felix Leiter was American.
Thanks to YouTube, I’ve seen the Climax! Casino Royale and it’s definitely a curiosity. If Dr. No hadn’t launched the James Bond film franchise, there would be little reason to watch this version of Casino Royale. It moves a bit slowly, is way too stagey, and it reveals that, contrary to what we’ve all heard, live television was not always the greatest thing on the planet. Not surprisingly, this adaptation contains none of the brutality or the moral ambiguity that makes Fleming’s novel such a fun read. American television audiences would not see Jimmy Bond strapped naked to a chair and an American television show would never end with the hero saying, “The bitch is dead.” The best you can say about this version of Casino Royale is that Peter Lorre makes for a good villain (in fact, of the three versions of Casino Royale, the television version is the only one to feature an effective Le Chiffre) and Barry Nelson would have made a good Felix Leiter.
That said, I still find the television version of Casino Royale to be fascinating from a historical point of view. This is the type of show that you watch for curiosity value. This is the type of show that you watch so that you can think about how different things could have been.
So, presented for your viewing pleasure, here’s the original version of Casino Royale:
117 years ago today, Ian Fleming was born in Mayfair, London. A member of British Intelligence during World War II, Fleming is today best-remembered as the creator of James Bond.
Today’s scene that I love comes from 1962’s Dr. No. Here is Sean Connery, in his first appearance as Fleming’s iconic secret agent. Eunice Gray was cast as Sylvia Trench, who was originally envisioned as being Bond’s permanent “London” girlfriend. She also appeared in From Russia With Love before the idea was abandoned. We all know that Bond’s true love was Tracy di Vincenzo.
Seeing as how today would have been Gert Frobe’s birthday, it seems only appropriate that today’s scene of the day should be one of the best moments from the original Bond franchise. In 1964’s Goldfinger, Frobe sets the standard by which all other Bond villains would be judged.
1997’s Tomorrow Never Dies, which was directed by Roger Spottiswoode, was one of the most underrated of the Bond films. Perhaps not coincidentally, it also starred the most underrated Bond, Pierce Brosnan.
In this pre-credits opening scene, Brosnan shows us exactly who James Bond is meant to be. He’s the best at his job but he still knows how to enjoy himself. After the recent Daniel Craig films, it can be somewhat surprising to go back see how enjoyable James Bond was when he was angst-free.
Today, the Shattered Lens wishes a happy birthday to director Sam Mendes!
Now, it’s true that Sam Mendes won an Oscar for directing American Beauty and he probably came close to winning a second one for his work on 1917. However, my favorite Mendes film remains Skyfall.Skyfall is one of the best of the Bond films and I say this as someone who was not really a fan of Daniel Craig’s mopey interpretation of the character. Based on his previous films, Sam Mendes may not have been the first name that come to mind when people talked about someone who could make a great Bond film but, with Skyfall, he did just that.
Here, in a scene that I love, James Bond pursues Silva (Javier Bardem) through the London Underground. It’s very suspenseful, very droll, and, most importantly, very British.
In a little over a month, No Time To Die is finally going to be released!
Can you believe it? A part of me feels like we’ve been waiting for this film for close to a 100 years. No Time To Die was first announced in 2016 and, like a lot of people, I was surprised and excited to hear that it would be directed by Danny Boyle. Boyle, however, left the film due to creative differences and was replaced by an equally intriguing choice, Cary Joji Fukunaga. All of the behind-the-scene turmoil and the constant rumors of Daniel Craig being tired of playing Bond gave the impression that No Time To Die was a trouble production and the frequent changing of the film’s release date didn’t help. Of course, the truth of the matter is that No Time To Die was one of the many big films that was delayed by the pandemic. Still, it has been six years since James Bond was last seen on a movie screen.
No Time To Die is going to be Daniel Craig’s last outing as Bond. There have been rumors of Craig’s Bond dying and someone else stepping up to assume both his name and his rank. I think it’s more probable that Bond either retires or fakes his own death like Bruce Wayne did at the end of The Dark Knight trilogy. The Craig Bond films have borrowed more from Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight films than most critics have acknowledged.
The final trailer for No Time To Die dropped yesterday. It seems to promise a lot of typical Bond stuff — glamorous locales, elaborate action scenes, and Ben Whishaw. It also features Craig’s rather angsty interpretation of Bond. (I’ve always felt that Craig tends to get a little bit too angsty as Bond, to the extent that he actually crossed the line from troubled to whiny in SPECTRE.) Lea Seydoux reprises her SPECTRE love interest role and Christoph Waltz’s Blofeld also makes an appearance in the trailer and it would appear that we’re still doing the whole, “Every Craig film is a part of a bigger story” thing.
Rami Malek is also prominently featured, playing a villain. Hopefully, this villain won’t be another lost relative of Bond’s. That was a narrative decision that made absolutely no sense in SPECTRE….
You may have, at this point, guessed that I’m hoping this film will be more like Casino Royale and Skyfall than like Quantum of Silence and SPECTRE. My feelings on the Craig films have been mixed but I’m an unapologetic fan of the Bond franchise so I can’t wait to finally see the new movie.
No Time To Die will be released on October 8th! I’ll be there!
4 Shots From 4 Films is just what it says it is, 4 shots from 4 of our favorite films. As opposed to the reviews and recaps that we usually post, 4 Shots From 4 Films lets the visuals do the talking!
98 years ago today, the British director Guy Hamilton was born. Though Hamilton rarely seems to get as much credit as Terence Young, he was one of the most important of the early James Bond directors. With Goldfinger, he set the template the many subsequent Bond films would follow: an over-the-top villain, nonstop action, and one liners. (“No, Mr. Bond, I expect you to die.” Not to mention, “I must be dreaming.”) Hamilton went on to direct Sean Connery’s final Bond outing and he also directed the first twofilms to star Roger Moore as 007, all three of which are rather underrated in my opinion. Guy Hamilton’s Bond films reminded us that James Bond’s cinematic adventures work best when they’re fun to watch, which is something that I think the modern Bond films would be well-served to consider.
In honor of Guy Hamilton’s contributions to my favorite film franchise, here are….
4 Shots From 4 Films
Goldfinger (1964, dir by Guy Hamilton)
Diamonds are Forever (1971, dir by Guy Hamilton)
Live and Let Die (1973, dir by Guy Hamilton)
The Man With The Golden Gun (1974, dir by Guy Hamilton)
Here is the 2nd trailer for what will probably be Daniel Craig’s final outing as British secret agent James Bond, No Time To Die!
Speaking as someone who has had mixed feelings about Daniel Craig’s tenure as Bond (I loved Skyfalland I liked Casino Royale but Quantum of Solace and SPECTRE rank as two of the worst Bond films of all time), I have to say that this trailer looks pretty good. If nothing else, I’m happy to see an emphasis on action as opposed to the whiny angst that overtook SPECTRE.
As critical as I’ve been of Daniel Craig’s interpretation of the character, he’s a good actor and he’s got an underappreciated talent for comedy. Oddly, the Bond films haven’t really taken advantage of that talent. Craig has been the grim and serious Bond. which may be true to Ian Fleming’s original conception of the character but which hasn’t always made him a compelling cinematic hero. Hopefully, Craig will actually get a chance to have some fun with the role in No Time To Die.
Through the Shattered Lens 