Messy desk for JB, TSWLM: a ski pole, a pic of Anya, Lotus keys, microfilm, a set of steel dentures, plane tickets to Egypt, two Swiss bank books in the names of Bechman and Markovitz stamped "cancelled", a bowl of sheep's eyes and dates, and a Pterois volitans (handsome but deadly).
say that's pretty good!
I'm going to start searching every 1977 Lotus Esprit in my neighbourhood, to see if they've accidentally left the keys in the ignition. For the purposes of our art-project. Somebody else want to acquire the steel dentures?
I'm reading Roger Moore's diary from the filming of LALD. It's very entertaining, of cource. He comes across as tougher than usual and with more edge. Being James Bond was new to him at the time, and that makes it more interesting.
I wish more Bond actors would do this. Imagine Connery's diary from FRWL, Lazenby's would be R-rated, I'm not sure if I want Dalton's diary from TLD or LTK. Brosnan's diary from GE would be great.
I'm reading Roger Moore's diary from the filming of LALD. It's very entertaining, of cource. He comes across as tougher than usual and with more edge. Being James Bond was new to him at the time, and that makes it more interesting.
I wish more Bond actors would do this. Imagine Connery's diary from FRWL, Lazenby's would be R-rated
Monday:
Strewth, what a day! Turned up at the airport to get on the plane to Switzerland. Was expecting Harry to be leading the party, but Cubby had a quiet word with him and after Harry went to casualty it seems that Cubby will be going.
On the plane sat next to a nice Sheila called Diana. I’m sure she fancies me. Some fella called Peter tells me he’ll be directing the movie. “I thought that was Cubby’s job”, I said, and he just smiled vaguely and walked away.
There were two stewardesses, and one asked me if there was anything she could do, so we [Some pages missing at this point.]
Arrived at the hotel, up on top of a mountain covered in snow. Seems a strange place to put a hotel. Was shown to my room by a good-looking chambermaid, and [Some pages missing at this point.]
Cubby phoned to tell me to have a good night’s sleep, since tomorrow would be a busy day. “Sure, boss”, I said, “no worries.” Went to the bar for a quick nightcap and was recognised by the barmaid. “You’re James Bond”, she said. “That’s right, darling.” Must have been the drink I ordered. We got talking, and after the bar closed we [Some pages missing at this point.]
Monday: Have arrived in Tangier. The hotel seems very comfortable. Mr Broccoli said the cast and crew were having a drink in the hotel bar, at his expense. I decided to spend the evening memorising the script for the next day’s shoot. The noise from the bar below was quite loud.
Tuesday: It was very hot and sunny. I asked Mr Glen about my motivation, and should I be contemplating the Stanislavsky method behind my character’s actions or externalising the emotions engendered. My training in Shakespeare should prove useful, I thought. “Just point the gun and shoot, Tim” he said.
Wednesday: A scene with John Rhys-Davies, whom I remembered from the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts. His performance in I, Claudius was a significant one which I was keen to discuss, hoping that he would give me some insight into the subtleties of embodying a literary character in a different medium. “Look, Tim”, he said, “just point the gun at me, ok?”
Monday: First day in Istanbul. The taxi from the airport cost 12s6d, plus a 3d tip for the driver. The hotel manager wanted me to take a room at 20 guineas a night, so I asked him what else was available. He said there was one at 10 guineas, so I took that.
Tuesday: Breakfast cost 2s. Saltzman sent a car to take me to the location, which was 2 miles and 400 yards from the hotel. I made the driver sign a receipt to agree this was so, and have kept it with the receipts for breakfast and yesterday’s taxi.
Terence introduced me to the leading lady, Daniela Bianchi. We got on very well, and she asked me for my autograph. Since we were getting on so well, I only charged her £5.
Wednesday: Breakfast was 2s, lunch cost nearly a pound! Saltzman and Broccoli were on set today. I gave them all the receipts I had collected so far, explaining that they should reimburse me by Friday.
Thursday: Still waiting for the cheque from those two bastards. It better be here by tomorrow.
Monday: First day’s shooting at Pinewood. As I was rehearsing in a corner saying “The name’s Bond... James Bond” over and over, Martin came up and asked if I was ready. “Of course”, I said,“ the name’s Bond... James Bond.” He smiled, and told me to save it till we were doing the scene.
Tuesday: My first scene with Judi Dench. I wasn’t starstruck at all, though it did take 75 takes to get the scene done since I kept saying “the name’s Bond... James Bond”. They had to put her on an orange crate so she could look me straight in the chin. At the end I thanked her and said I had enjoyed worked with her. “That’s wonderful, Mr Dalton”, she said.
Wednesday: Michael and Barbara posed with me for some photos. I’m really enjoying being with them, and trust them absolutely. I’m sure we’ll be working together for a long long time.
Monday: First day's shooting at Pinewood. Hit the gym. Hit the stuntman too, a couple of times (Everton supporter). Bought a crate, so I could look Dame Judy squarely in the chin. Tried on the wardrobe, thank God they have it on several lorries as I have fourteen wardrobe changes before lunchtime.
Monday: A scene with the delightful Deborah Kerr, with whom I’d shot “Eye Of the Devil” just recently. She reminded me of our wonderful scene in “Separate Tables”, for which I’d won an Oscar. “Oh yes”, I said, “that was just before I made “Please Don’t Eat The Daisies” with the charming Doris Day.” Doris was in a film called "That Touch Of Mink" with Cary Grant who made a film with me called "The Bishop's Wife".
Tuesday: John Huston, a lovely man, was directing a scene today and acting in it as well, as M. There’s not many who can do both jobs at the same time, one being the wonderful Orson Welles who’s also in this film. Orson was once in a film called “The Third Man”, though he didn’t direct that, with the great Trevor Howard who I knew from back home. Trevor was in a film called "Father Goose" with Cary Grant, who was in a film called "The Grass Is Greener" with Deborah Kerr, with whom I'd been filming yesterday.
Wednesday: Had lunch with the very funny Peter Sellers, with whom I’d made “The Pink Panther” some years earlier. Peter was accompanied by his wife, the beautiful Britt Ekland, who said she’d love to be in this film too. “Don’t worry”, I said, “Bond films are like busses, you’ll get in one sooner or later”.
I've made a strange discovery while reading Roger Moore's LALD diary. While filming on Jamaica he got two script in the mail from a producer. One of them was ".. a proposed series of Westerns a long the lines of cowboy Bond called 'Morgan Kane' ".
What's strange about that, you ask? Morgan Kane is the main character in a series of 83 western novels by a Kjell Hallbing under the pseuydonym Louis Masterson. He wrote the first one in 1966 and must have written several of them each year until he stopped in 1978. The books were very popular in Scandinavia and was translated into about 11 languages, selling a total of 22 million books. Yes, there is a very successful series of western novels written in Norway by a Norwegian. I know there has been several unsuccessful attempts of making film(s) about Morgan Kane, but I had no idea there was a script that early and it was sent to such famous actors as Roger Moore.
I finally found a copy of the Lycett biography, and am randomly flipping through it.
The store actually had two hardcover copies, one British and one American, both hardcovers in perfect shape … I decided the British one had a classier layout, less hype blurbs, more fonts with serifs.
I like how the section on Casino Royale starts right after the section of photos. I suspect my book will have more wellworn spine splits in it's second half by the time I'm done, like certain record albums where you can tell the owner has only ever played one side.
I've been making my way through Ian Flemmings original books in order gradually, 1st time reads, and just recently finished Diamons Are Forever.
I liked the first three in there own way. Diamonds is kind of a mixed bag, but it picked up rather well for the last stretch. Thinking back, so much of it is just things happening without much tension; smuggling the Diamonds, meeting Shady Tree, going to the horse race with his good buddy Felix. It's nice to get see Felix again, and get a sense of how his life is going after his injuries. I kind of enjoyed their road trip in the Studillac, until Bond (and the reader) have to read through a nearly incomprehensible article about corruption behind the horse race scenes. I was baffled by the need of a whole chapter devoted to a mud bath rendezvous, the chapter is long just to get to the point where Bond is basically straight-jacketed just in time to make a couple of gangsters entrance more suspenseful. Why did he let Felix talk him into doing this...? It doesn't seem like Bond's thing, particularly given how detached he seems to be about Felix's activities.
There's an ironic moment when Bond grows impatient with going through the motions while the gang he's trying to infiltrate evaluate him, and decides to shake things up. It seems ironic because it risks drawing the reader's attention to the author's own writing sins, dragging a story out unnecessarily. I wanted to communicate to Bond my sympathy that he was stuck in a storyline that Flemming was taking too long with.
It kicks into gear with a car chase. I was uncertain about Specterville but ended up liking it, I'm glad it was taken seriously and it was fun to have a confrontation in such a colorful setting. The torture seems unnecessary, even though it happens off screen (does Flemming shred Bond in every single book?). But then there's a fun getaway that really feels like classic Bond of any era, set the place on fire as a distraction and then make good one's escape. And I loved the set up where they re-route the tracks, and Bond waits in dueling pose to make his shot as the train goes by, awesome imagery there!
The Queen Elizabeth confrontation was genuinely tense and dramatic, getting into the subtleties of how precisely Bond has to be to survive a standoff between Wint and Kidd. The sequence reminds me of The Living Daylights movie briefly ("Get in the bathroom, and lock the door" while he does the dirty part of the job). The approach here is a far cry from the movie Bond going around killing with impunity, without much care or thought, then flashing his licence to kill and walking away. I'm intrigued by this idea that here he makes the kill and stages a scene that will pass the scrutiny of the immediate investigation, then Bond and M only talk about it obliquely without hard confirmation of what happened.
The final wrap up isn't much of a fight, more a turkey shoot; and easy wrap up for Bond. Somehow, even though the book as a whole is uneven and has long stretches of uneventfulness, the last stretch of the novel from the car chase with Ernie and after that was very memorable and enjoyable. I loved Tiffany's pronouncement, that ends up closing the story, "It reads better than it lives."
And now I am ready for From Russia With Love. I've deliberately held off on re-watching the movie, so that I can approach the book with my expectations minimized.
superadoRegent's Park West (CaliforniaPosts: 2,656MI6 Agent
Finally finished Steve Cole’s “Heads You Die.” I struggled and wrestled with it for over six months but finally built the momentum in the past three weeks to finish it. It’s not really so bad and I enjoyed the Cuban setting. I accidentally read it out of order, so I only have one more Cole book to read, Red Nemesis; I’ve been downloading these on Kindle so I’ll have something to read in the car, oftentimes in the dark, where I spend literally hours when driving the wife or daughter to their oh so important activities!
I coincided finishing Heads You Die with the arrival of Forever and a Day at my library, with a loan period of three weeks; that’s enough time even for nightly bedtime reading and it also coincides with the holidays, providing me one of my favorite Bond related pastimes that immensely helps add to my enjoyment of this time of the year! I’ve only finished Chapter One and I already have questions, hopefully healthy ones!
"...the purposeful slant of his striding figure looked dangerous, as if he was making quickly for something bad that was happening further down the street." -SMERSH on 007 dossier photo, Ch. 6 FRWL.....
In adition to Anne Applebaum's "Red famine" about the famine in Ukraine Stalin engineered in 1931-33 (highly recomended!) I'm re-reading Fleming's Bond books. I just read the short story "The living daylights" and I think it's among Fleming's best work. An excellent short story thriller :007)
I liked that one. Didn't think it was as good as Higsons series, but there was some nice touches there.
Will you be adding a review of it to your continuation thread?
“The scent and smoke and sweat of a casino are nauseating at three in the morning. "
-Casino Royale, Ian Fleming
Musings of a Budo Bum by Peter Boylan. "The techniques are really a vessel for carrying all the things that are budo..."
Here is an excerpt from google books: "Most books about martial arts (budo) focus on techniques, although some tell the history, and a few wax philosophical. It is rare indeed to discover a book that so fluently combines all this within the broader context of culture and lifestyle, and does so in such a humble, engaging, and accessible way. "Budo Bum Anthology" is a book that answers not so much "how" or "what" as it does "why?" "
In addition to works by Dave Lowry, "The Musings" is one of my personal favorites. If you are interested in Peter Boylans writing or about budo in general, he has a blog: http://budobum.blogspot.com/
"I mean, she almost kills bond...with her ass."
-Mr Arlington Beech
Comments
I'm going to start searching every 1977 Lotus Esprit in my neighbourhood, to see if they've accidentally left the keys in the ignition. For the purposes of our art-project. Somebody else want to acquire the steel dentures?
I wish more Bond actors would do this. Imagine Connery's diary from FRWL, Lazenby's would be R-rated, I'm not sure if I want Dalton's diary from TLD or LTK. Brosnan's diary from GE would be great.
Monday:
Strewth, what a day! Turned up at the airport to get on the plane to Switzerland. Was expecting Harry to be leading the party, but Cubby had a quiet word with him and after Harry went to casualty it seems that Cubby will be going.
On the plane sat next to a nice Sheila called Diana. I’m sure she fancies me. Some fella called Peter tells me he’ll be directing the movie. “I thought that was Cubby’s job”, I said, and he just smiled vaguely and walked away.
There were two stewardesses, and one asked me if there was anything she could do, so we
[Some pages missing at this point.]
Arrived at the hotel, up on top of a mountain covered in snow. Seems a strange place to put a hotel. Was shown to my room by a good-looking chambermaid, and
[Some pages missing at this point.]
Cubby phoned to tell me to have a good night’s sleep, since tomorrow would be a busy day. “Sure, boss”, I said, “no worries.” Went to the bar for a quick nightcap and was recognised by the barmaid. “You’re James Bond”, she said. “That’s right, darling.” Must have been the drink I ordered. We got talking, and after the bar closed we
[Some pages missing at this point.]
Monday: Have arrived in Tangier. The hotel seems very comfortable. Mr Broccoli said the cast and crew were having a drink in the hotel bar, at his expense. I decided to spend the evening memorising the script for the next day’s shoot. The noise from the bar below was quite loud.
Tuesday: It was very hot and sunny. I asked Mr Glen about my motivation, and should I be contemplating the Stanislavsky method behind my character’s actions or externalising the emotions engendered. My training in Shakespeare should prove useful, I thought. “Just point the gun and shoot, Tim” he said.
Wednesday: A scene with John Rhys-Davies, whom I remembered from the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts. His performance in I, Claudius was a significant one which I was keen to discuss, hoping that he would give me some insight into the subtleties of embodying a literary character in a different medium. “Look, Tim”, he said, “just point the gun at me, ok?”
Monday: First day in Istanbul. The taxi from the airport cost 12s6d, plus a 3d tip for the driver. The hotel manager wanted me to take a room at 20 guineas a night, so I asked him what else was available. He said there was one at 10 guineas, so I took that.
Tuesday: Breakfast cost 2s. Saltzman sent a car to take me to the location, which was 2 miles and 400 yards from the hotel. I made the driver sign a receipt to agree this was so, and have kept it with the receipts for breakfast and yesterday’s taxi.
Terence introduced me to the leading lady, Daniela Bianchi. We got on very well, and she asked me for my autograph. Since we were getting on so well, I only charged her £5.
Wednesday: Breakfast was 2s, lunch cost nearly a pound! Saltzman and Broccoli were on set today. I gave them all the receipts I had collected so far, explaining that they should reimburse me by Friday.
Thursday: Still waiting for the cheque from those two bastards. It better be here by tomorrow.
Monday: First day’s shooting at Pinewood. As I was rehearsing in a corner saying “The name’s Bond... James Bond” over and over, Martin came up and asked if I was ready. “Of course”, I said,“ the name’s Bond... James Bond.” He smiled, and told me to save it till we were doing the scene.
Tuesday: My first scene with Judi Dench. I wasn’t starstruck at all, though it did take 75 takes to get the scene done since I kept saying “the name’s Bond... James Bond”. They had to put her on an orange crate so she could look me straight in the chin. At the end I thanked her and said I had enjoyed worked with her. “That’s wonderful, Mr Dalton”, she said.
Wednesday: Michael and Barbara posed with me for some photos. I’m really enjoying being with them, and trust them absolutely. I’m sure we’ll be working together for a long long time.
Craig?
Monday: First day's shooting at Pinewood. Hit the gym. Hit the stuntman too, a couple of times (Everton supporter). Bought a crate, so I could look Dame Judy squarely in the chin. Tried on the wardrobe, thank God they have it on several lorries as I have fourteen wardrobe changes before lunchtime.
Monday: A scene with the delightful Deborah Kerr, with whom I’d shot “Eye Of the Devil” just recently. She reminded me of our wonderful scene in “Separate Tables”, for which I’d won an Oscar. “Oh yes”, I said, “that was just before I made “Please Don’t Eat The Daisies” with the charming Doris Day.” Doris was in a film called "That Touch Of Mink" with Cary Grant who made a film with me called "The Bishop's Wife".
Tuesday: John Huston, a lovely man, was directing a scene today and acting in it as well, as M. There’s not many who can do both jobs at the same time, one being the wonderful Orson Welles who’s also in this film. Orson was once in a film called “The Third Man”, though he didn’t direct that, with the great Trevor Howard who I knew from back home. Trevor was in a film called "Father Goose" with Cary Grant, who was in a film called "The Grass Is Greener" with Deborah Kerr, with whom I'd been filming yesterday.
Wednesday: Had lunch with the very funny Peter Sellers, with whom I’d made “The Pink Panther” some years earlier. Peter was accompanied by his wife, the beautiful Britt Ekland, who said she’d love to be in this film too. “Don’t worry”, I said, “Bond films are like busses, you’ll get in one sooner or later”.
What's strange about that, you ask? Morgan Kane is the main character in a series of 83 western novels by a Kjell Hallbing under the pseuydonym Louis Masterson. He wrote the first one in 1966 and must have written several of them each year until he stopped in 1978. The books were very popular in Scandinavia and was translated into about 11 languages, selling a total of 22 million books. Yes, there is a very successful series of western novels written in Norway by a Norwegian. I know there has been several unsuccessful attempts of making film(s) about Morgan Kane, but I had no idea there was a script that early and it was sent to such famous actors as Roger Moore.
Goldfinger is the only Bond story that I think the film-makers actually improved Fleming's story.
Infinitely better than the dreadful film.
Moonraker is in order.
The store actually had two hardcover copies, one British and one American, both hardcovers in perfect shape … I decided the British one had a classier layout, less hype blurbs, more fonts with serifs.
I like how the section on Casino Royale starts right after the section of photos. I suspect my book will have more wellworn spine splits in it's second half by the time I'm done, like certain record albums where you can tell the owner has only ever played one side.
Re-reading Fleming it's been interesting to rediscover two things that Bond really disliked: Flying and SCUBA diving.
I liked the first three in there own way. Diamonds is kind of a mixed bag, but it picked up rather well for the last stretch. Thinking back, so much of it is just things happening without much tension; smuggling the Diamonds, meeting Shady Tree, going to the horse race with his good buddy Felix. It's nice to get see Felix again, and get a sense of how his life is going after his injuries. I kind of enjoyed their road trip in the Studillac, until Bond (and the reader) have to read through a nearly incomprehensible article about corruption behind the horse race scenes. I was baffled by the need of a whole chapter devoted to a mud bath rendezvous, the chapter is long just to get to the point where Bond is basically straight-jacketed just in time to make a couple of gangsters entrance more suspenseful. Why did he let Felix talk him into doing this...? It doesn't seem like Bond's thing, particularly given how detached he seems to be about Felix's activities.
There's an ironic moment when Bond grows impatient with going through the motions while the gang he's trying to infiltrate evaluate him, and decides to shake things up. It seems ironic because it risks drawing the reader's attention to the author's own writing sins, dragging a story out unnecessarily. I wanted to communicate to Bond my sympathy that he was stuck in a storyline that Flemming was taking too long with.
It kicks into gear with a car chase. I was uncertain about Specterville but ended up liking it, I'm glad it was taken seriously and it was fun to have a confrontation in such a colorful setting. The torture seems unnecessary, even though it happens off screen (does Flemming shred Bond in every single book?). But then there's a fun getaway that really feels like classic Bond of any era, set the place on fire as a distraction and then make good one's escape. And I loved the set up where they re-route the tracks, and Bond waits in dueling pose to make his shot as the train goes by, awesome imagery there!
The Queen Elizabeth confrontation was genuinely tense and dramatic, getting into the subtleties of how precisely Bond has to be to survive a standoff between Wint and Kidd. The sequence reminds me of The Living Daylights movie briefly ("Get in the bathroom, and lock the door" while he does the dirty part of the job). The approach here is a far cry from the movie Bond going around killing with impunity, without much care or thought, then flashing his licence to kill and walking away. I'm intrigued by this idea that here he makes the kill and stages a scene that will pass the scrutiny of the immediate investigation, then Bond and M only talk about it obliquely without hard confirmation of what happened.
The final wrap up isn't much of a fight, more a turkey shoot; and easy wrap up for Bond. Somehow, even though the book as a whole is uneven and has long stretches of uneventfulness, the last stretch of the novel from the car chase with Ernie and after that was very memorable and enjoyable. I loved Tiffany's pronouncement, that ends up closing the story, "It reads better than it lives."
And now I am ready for From Russia With Love. I've deliberately held off on re-watching the movie, so that I can approach the book with my expectations minimized.
I coincided finishing Heads You Die with the arrival of Forever and a Day at my library, with a loan period of three weeks; that’s enough time even for nightly bedtime reading and it also coincides with the holidays, providing me one of my favorite Bond related pastimes that immensely helps add to my enjoyment of this time of the year! I’ve only finished Chapter One and I already have questions, hopefully healthy ones!
I am currently going retro and reading Victor Canning's Rex Carver escapades. Number 4: The Python Project
Will you be adding a review of it to your continuation thread?
-Casino Royale, Ian Fleming
Here is an excerpt from google books: "Most books about martial arts (budo) focus on techniques, although some tell the history, and a few wax philosophical. It is rare indeed to discover a book that so fluently combines all this within the broader context of culture and lifestyle, and does so in such a humble, engaging, and accessible way. "Budo Bum Anthology" is a book that answers not so much "how" or "what" as it does "why?" "
In addition to works by Dave Lowry, "The Musings" is one of my personal favorites. If you are interested in Peter Boylans writing or about budo in general, he has a blog: http://budobum.blogspot.com/
-Mr Arlington Beech