Diamonds in disguise
Barbel
ScotlandPosts: 38,077Chief of Staff
Diamonds in disguise
As we all know, the 1971 film of “Diamonds Are Forever” doesn’t owe a great deal to Ian Fleming’s novel of the same name (mainly the first 15-20 minutes and the cruise liner ending). I’d like to put forward the theory that it owes an equal if not bigger debt to a novel by another well-known UK thriller writer, Alistair MacLean. “Fear Is The Key” was published in 1961, and filmed in 1972. Both book and film feature:
(1) A reclusive billionaire being held captive by a smooth master criminal, who then uses the billionaire’s organisation as a front for his own scheme.
(2) A two-man team of hitmen working for the villain.
(3) A featured car chase in which the protagonist, accompanied of course by the lovely leading lady, runs rings around the cops who think he’s a baddie. (A 30-second clip from the 10-minute chase: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hV4nIKIBO8Q )
(4) A climax on an oil rig (modified to suit the villain's scheme) with a small submarine attached; the plot is resolved, hero wins, etc.
Now I don’t know about you, but that sounds very like DAF to me. I’m sure there are more resemblances between the two stories- if I’ve missed anything, please point it out.
Point (1) is not in Fleming’s novel, and the explanation for it being in the film has always been that Cubby Broccoli had a dream about meeting his old friend, Howard Hughes, in one of Hughes’ residences- only when the man turned round it wasn’t Hughes at all- Cubby then had Mankiewicz and/or Maibaum write it into the script (Howard Hughes becoming Willard Whyte). I’m not doubting that explanation in any way, but am beginning to wonder if Cubby had been reading MacLean the night before!
Point (2) – Wint and Kidd are in Fleming’s novel, though treated much more seriously than they are in the film (no surprises there). Royale and Larry in MacLean’s book more closely resemble Fleming’s hitmen: Royale is older, deadly and calm while Larry is young and more excitable.
Point (3) – Of course many thrillers in the late 60s/early 70s have a car chase. Both the books have car chase scenes (albeit that in Fleming isn’t much like the film version) though the films play this up much more. The car Barry Newman drives (I'm not an expert) looks pretty similar to the one Bond has.
Point (4) – The oil rig isn’t in Fleming at all, while the entire plot of “Fear Is The Key” leads toward it.
The two films do not have the same general feeling in any way. As a side point, John Vernon plays the head villain, Vyland, and IMHO he'd have made an excellent Bond baddie- if things had been different, he could have played Seraffimo Spang.
As we all know, the 1971 film of “Diamonds Are Forever” doesn’t owe a great deal to Ian Fleming’s novel of the same name (mainly the first 15-20 minutes and the cruise liner ending). I’d like to put forward the theory that it owes an equal if not bigger debt to a novel by another well-known UK thriller writer, Alistair MacLean. “Fear Is The Key” was published in 1961, and filmed in 1972. Both book and film feature:
(1) A reclusive billionaire being held captive by a smooth master criminal, who then uses the billionaire’s organisation as a front for his own scheme.
(2) A two-man team of hitmen working for the villain.
(3) A featured car chase in which the protagonist, accompanied of course by the lovely leading lady, runs rings around the cops who think he’s a baddie. (A 30-second clip from the 10-minute chase: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hV4nIKIBO8Q )
(4) A climax on an oil rig (modified to suit the villain's scheme) with a small submarine attached; the plot is resolved, hero wins, etc.
Now I don’t know about you, but that sounds very like DAF to me. I’m sure there are more resemblances between the two stories- if I’ve missed anything, please point it out.
Point (1) is not in Fleming’s novel, and the explanation for it being in the film has always been that Cubby Broccoli had a dream about meeting his old friend, Howard Hughes, in one of Hughes’ residences- only when the man turned round it wasn’t Hughes at all- Cubby then had Mankiewicz and/or Maibaum write it into the script (Howard Hughes becoming Willard Whyte). I’m not doubting that explanation in any way, but am beginning to wonder if Cubby had been reading MacLean the night before!
Point (2) – Wint and Kidd are in Fleming’s novel, though treated much more seriously than they are in the film (no surprises there). Royale and Larry in MacLean’s book more closely resemble Fleming’s hitmen: Royale is older, deadly and calm while Larry is young and more excitable.
Point (3) – Of course many thrillers in the late 60s/early 70s have a car chase. Both the books have car chase scenes (albeit that in Fleming isn’t much like the film version) though the films play this up much more. The car Barry Newman drives (I'm not an expert) looks pretty similar to the one Bond has.
Point (4) – The oil rig isn’t in Fleming at all, while the entire plot of “Fear Is The Key” leads toward it.
The two films do not have the same general feeling in any way. As a side point, John Vernon plays the head villain, Vyland, and IMHO he'd have made an excellent Bond baddie- if things had been different, he could have played Seraffimo Spang.
Comments
There is an older post showing how similar the boat chase in LALD is to the one
in Puppet on a chain.
So maybe the early 70s Bonds owe more to Maclean than Fleming.
Thanks for bringing this up....something else to look out for now... -{
It's a fairly obscure film today. If you can track it down, I don't think you'd be disappointed.
When eight bells toll.
Stop it. It has some great sequences and Tiffany in the Book is a far superior leading lady
To the film version.
IMHO it always worth reading the Fleming stories -{
I second that {[]