Has anyone read the Fleming Bond stories first?

Matt S

Has anyone read the Fleming Bond stories before ever seeing a Bond film? In 1962 I'm sure there were many people who had read all of the stories before seeing Dr. No. But now, how many people were introduced to Bond through the books? Is there anyone here? I was thoroughly brought up by the Bond films.

Barbel

That would be me. I inherited the books from my grandfather in the 1960s and read them all. I was eight at the time I started, and I still haven't stopped reading them!

AlphaOmegaSin

Like many others, I was introduced to the Series through the Films first.

002

The only Fleming stories I was able to read before seeing the films was Casino Royale, Thunderball and, possibly, The Living Daylights.

Obviously we have not yet seen the 'proper' versions of The Hildebrand Rarity and 007 in New York or I could add those too.

Risico and Property of a Lady have already been (partly) filmed (as For Your Eyes Only and a part of Octopussy respectively).

Thunderpussy

I'm similar in that the Books I'd have read before they were filmed, would
Have been the short stories. FYEO, OP, FAVTAK, TLD and CR.

CmdrAtticus

I had seen the first four films before I began reading the novels (some of that due to
my young age). I read all of them before OHMSS was released and then researched as much about Fleming as one could do before there was an internet.

DutchJamesBondFan

I think I'm one of the few people who got introduced by a game, Everything or Nothing when I was 5 or 6. Then I saw Die Another Day and all the other movies. I started reading the books only 2 or 3 years ago.

Tecolote

I read DR NO before it came out and at least most of, if not all, the others before the respective films came out. IIRC I bought most of them as Signet paperback "James Bond Thrillers" between Dr NO and FRWL and/or GF. I didn't read them in order though...

Regards,

Tecolote

Barbel

Hey Tecolote, you're in the rare position of having an image of Bond from the books before Connery portrayed him- perhaps you'd like to take a look at this thread http://www.ajb007.co.uk/topic/33752/who-do-you-picture-when-reading-the-bond-novels/ and share your thoughts with us?

superado

Like some others, the only stories I've read before seeing the film versions during their theatrical releases were TLD and CR. I don't remember if I got to read FAVTAK before watching AVTAK, since it was during that period that I was acquiring the Fleming books one by one as time constraints and my budget allowed (kind of like the present time too!)

Felix the Leitercat

Matt S wrote:

Has anyone read the Fleming Bond stories before ever seeing a Bond film? In 1962 I'm sure there were many people who had read all of the stories before seeing Dr. No. But now, how many people were introduced to Bond through the books? Is there anyone here? I was thoroughly brought up by the Bond films.

Hello Matt S--I got into James Bond, JRR Tolkien, and Robert E. Howard/Conan all around the same time, late 60s-early 70s, moving into jr. high school. Saw a few Bond movies, then read books to see how they compared. I read "The Man with the Golden Gun" before I saw the movie and I did not like either that much. Ian Fleming was very sick and dying when he wrote TMWGG and it was not as good as the other books which range from excellent to at least very solid.

Did you know in the book world, OHMSS, YOLT and TMWTGG were a trilogy??? Some call them the Blofeld trilogy. Book OHMSS and the movie follow each other reasonably closely and leads into the YOLT book which bears no resemblance to the movie, they have nothing to do with each other except for Japan setting. A decisive encounter with Blofeld in YOLT kicks off the book TMWTGG, when Bond is a mysterious sleeper agent for the Soviets like the Manchurian 007, great start and the rest of the book was downhill.

If you have not read the Fleming books, Casino Royale, Dr. No. Goldfinger, From Russia with Love, Thunderball (the weird and controversial one Fleming wrote with co-authors, Kevin McClory and Jack Whittingham, and ended up in lawsuits that plagued Saltzman and Broccoli for years) all jibe with the movies somewhat to very closely. Fleming was a fine author IMHO, great adventure tales.

Weirdly I think Fleming, Tolkien, Howard might have a lot to say to each other--they created universes for their leading heroes to occupy, bad guys to match, great levels of detail in their writing, etc. Hope the younger generation will rediscover them always.

Thanks, regards,
Felix the Leitercat -{ B-)

UnderwaterBattle007

CmdrAtticus wrote:

I had seen the first four films before I began reading the novels (some of that due to
my young age). I read all of them before OHMSS was released and then researched as much about Fleming as one could do before there was an internet.

Very similar to myself, I first saw Goldfinger and Thunderball in 1967ish, quickly followed by the others.

However as my mother was strict on Sundays she always forced me and my two brothers to read for at least 2 hours before being allowed to go out and kick a ball about.

So I read the Fleming James Bond novels.

By the time Diamonds Are Forever came out I'd read all the books and had moved onto Robert Ludlam novels. So every Bond film from Diamonds Are Forever through to Casino Royale I'd read before the film came out.

AlphaOmegaSin

I think that a lot of Bond Geeks around my Age (Early to mid 20's) grew up with the Films first.

Matt S

AlphaOmegaSin wrote:

I think that a lot of Bond Geeks around my Age (Early to mid 20's) grew up with the Films first.

I think anyone who grew up from the mid-1960s to present saw the films first. Only Tecolote and Barbel here were introduced through the books.

UnderwaterBattle007

Matt S wrote:

AlphaOmegaSin wrote:

I think that a lot of Bond Geeks around my Age (Early to mid 20's) grew up with the Films first.

I think anyone who grew up from the mid-1960s to present saw the films first. Only Tecolote and Barbel here were introduced through the books.

I agree, however it was interesting to see the slight changes in the films from the books, when the films followed the novels as each one was released although OHMSS was the last one to follow the novel storyline apart from part two of Casino Royale.

One that springs to mind is the "laser beam between the legs"scene in Goldfinger, whereas in the book it's a circular saw. Also in the film the card game at the start where Goldfinger is cheating is Gin Rummie whereas in the book it's Canasta.

AlphaOmegaSin

Or with some large Changes, like with the MR Novel to Film Translation -{

Matt S

AlphaOmegaSin wrote:

Or with some large Changes, like with the MR Novel to Film Translation -{

I wouldn't even call that a change. It's an original story with a few elements from the novel. You Only Live Twice was the first Bond film to have a completely non-Fleming story, and many followed.

AlphaOmegaSin

It has got a couple of Scenes from the Novel though (When Bond and Goodhead are placed beneath the MR Shuttle and then escape through the Shaft) Both of those are from the Source Material. But yes your right, MR is an original Story.

UnderwaterBattle007

Moonraker is one of my favourite Bond novels hence my "avatar"

Barbel

And a good one, too. Welcome to AJB!

AlphaOmegaSin

UnderwaterBattle007 wrote:

Moonraker is one of my favourite Bond novels hence my "avatar"

It's some of Flemings strongest Work -{

Thunderpussy

It's also one of my favourites with one of the best Fleming villains !
I love the whole " Britain in the 50s" atmosphere, with the description of the
Rocket, very much in keeping with the sci-fi designs of the time, as in the
Classic " Destination Moon - 1950" . The card game between Bond and Drax,
Is a superb bit of writing -{ , and I still love reading how Drax reacts to Bond
Getting the better of him.

DEFIANT 74205

I think Moonraker was a lot of people's favourite novel. It certainly was mine - among the Fleming novels, Moonraker is one of the very best. It was a masterpiece.

AlphaOmegaSin

The Novel is a Masterpiece, I agree -{

Only Fleming could create a Villain like Hugo Drax.

Silhouette Man

DEFIANT 74205 wrote:

I think Moonraker was a lot of people's favourite novel. It certainly was mine - among the Fleming novels, Moonraker is one of the very best. It was a masterpiece.

It's my favourite too, being the first Bond novel that I read. -{

Le Samourai

I read the first three Fleming novels before ever seeing any of the Bond films. Probably not a common occurrence for someone in his mid 40s. Most of the people I know who read the books first are a bit older.

AlphaOmegaSin

I finished it in a Day, I couldn't stop reading

Charmed & Dangerous

I first saw DAF at the cinema in '71 and instantly became a Bond fan, although it was not until LALD in '73 that I picked up the novels, by which time I'd seen most of the Connery Bond films as double-bill releases in the cinema. However I then started getting the books (my uncle gave me some of his old Bond paperbacks) and I collected the rest, like TP, from jumble sales and second-hand book shops. So I'd pretty much read all of the books which became films after about 1974.

I have to say that it was great spotting scenes that I'd read in the books (eg the keel-hauling scene from LALD which finally appeared in FYEO) although, as the films didn't closely follow the books, I was never really disappointed that they turned out differently.

002

I'm wondering if some of my students will be able to list a Fleming book before the film experience? -{

I'm working on getting my Year 10s to reading some, like, actual books. To do this I've brought a selection of some old books of mine (and my kids') in from home -- different reading ages etc. It's been great to see them making a beeline for the Bond books; I've seen some of them fighting over both Moonraker and Thunderball...! )

AlphaOmegaSin

Have they enjoyed them?

002

Not sure. They're reluctant readers at the best of times (I tend to get the low lit classes - mostly boys) but I'm hoping that, as the theme of our study is war, that a bit of 007 Cold War stories will not only be relevant but also popular.

The same boys keep going back to the same Bond novels so I'm guessing that the answer is 'yes'.