James Bond Villains etc and the Use of Archaic Weapons/Methods/Devices

Silhouette Man

In this thread I want to collate a list (if possible) of all of the archaic weapons, methods and devices used by James Bond and especially the villains in the Bond films, books and comic strips etc. It will mainly apply to the Bond films however as I think that most examples of such archaic weapons, methods and devices come from there.

Anyway, here's my starter list so far:

Le Chiffre (CR novel) - Carpet Beater (archaic nowadays at least)
Le Chiffre (CR 06 Film) - Knotted Rope
Mr Big (LALD novel) - Keelhauling
Kristatos (FYEO film) - Keelhauling
Bond (MR) - Antique glass-handled sword
Caber (Licence Renewed) - Dueling Pistol
Gobinda (OP) - Blunderbuss
Max Zorin (AVTAK) - Fire axe
General Konstantin Chernov (No Deals, Mr Bond) - Large Mace and chain
Silva (SF) - Antique Duelling Pistols
Elektra King (TWINE) - Antique Torture Device
Dominic Greene (QoS) - Fire axe
Bond/Kincaid (SF) - Antique shotguns

Can we think of any more to add to the list?

What is the purpose of these old and archaic weapons in Bond's world would you say?

As always, I'd love to hear from you! -{

Jellyfish

Doesn't Stamper have some old torturing tools in Tomorrow Never Dies?

superado

I'm sure that there are many other examples, but from your list the only instance from a Fleming source is the carpet beater that I think is just incidental. Henry Chancellor's James Bond, The Man and His World mentions that many of the Bond villains were inspired from Etonian schoolmates of Fleming as well as martinet schoolmasters (negative father/authority figures to Fleming) who dished out painful and rigid discipline on Fleming; the carpet beater I think is just an extension of that kind of corporal punishment. Apart from that, to the best of his knowledge Fleming seemed intent on using a variety of then-current and tested firearms, under the guidance of course of Geoffrey Boothroyd.

In your other examples, I think it was just a matter of using interesting weapons as a change from the basic firearms and other military weaponry; this is more of a cinematic practice and the continuation novels borrowed plenty from that practice. I also remember the variety of edged-weapons used by Bond and Graves in DAD, which transitioned from foils to broadswords, which is a perfect example of how an action sequence was made to look interesting.

Talk about archaic, in the most recent Young Bond book, Shoot to Kill, James adopts and nurses a homemade, crudely misshapen air pistol throughout the book, which made me sympathize for him and wonder why he had to go through the trouble!

broadshoulder

The Axe. Max Zorin.

Silhouette Man

OK, I've amended the title a bit as I feel it was too restrictive by focusing only on archaic weapons. Therefore let's open things up a bit! -{

Barbel

Would Rosa Klebb's knitting needles count?

Silhouette Man

Barbel wrote:

Would Rosa Klebb's knitting needles count?

Yes, why not!