Would Bond be the iconic figure he is if the films hadn’t been made?

Monsieur Sixte

Would Bond be the iconic figure he is if the films hadn’t been made? In other words, would the novels alone have been able to achieve this? I’m assuming that we agree that he is iconic.

Matt S

It's far more difficult for a character to be on the iconic level of Bond if it's not on screen in the era of film. If Bond were only a character on paper, he would be competing with all of the most iconic characters who came before him, because they have all been put on film. Any other character special enough on paper or in the theatre is now on film. He'd be forgotten amongst other male characters created by British authors like Hamlet, Holmes, and Heathcliff.

Number24

Or perhaps Bond would be more like Modesty Blaise, a female spin on the same genre that didn't get a good movie.

Sir Hillary Bray

He would be more like George Smiley -- well-known to aficionados of the genre and fans of the author, but hardly a global icon.

caractacus potts

no because most people don't read new books today, and certainly don't know about books from three generations ago.

James Bond would have been popular once upon a time amongst people who read books in the 1950s, as much as happened in our reality.
and known today only by those who still remember some of the books they read 60 years ago.
… there were a lot of mass market thriller series cranked out for the pocketbook market at the time.

Number24 wrote:

perhaps Bond would be more like Modesty Blaise

the Titan collections of Modesty Blaise comic strips are easy enough to find, I think they're still in print and show up in every used book store with a graphic novels section. Whereas the 13 novels are very scarce. Somehow, at this point, I think the character is best known as the comic strip version she started out as.

George Smiley has been in several well regarded movies, especially the two versions of Tinker Tailor... but I do think Le Carre spy stories appeal to a more bookish crowd than Ian Fleming's.


It may be important to remember that Fleming was trying to sell the film rights to his character as soon as he had begun writing Casino Royale, constantly networking with Hollywood and television types, and at least four of the books were written around abandoned film/tv proposals.
Something would have got made. We were just lucky Saltzman & Broccoli were the ones who finally got the film rights, and they assembled that great team. If all that had ever been made was the Climax Mystery Theatre production, the character would be a footnote to history. Or imagine if McClory had somehow made Thunderball on his own in the late 1950s, with a budget less than Dr No's, what are the odds that too would have been quickly forgotten?

Bleuville

Number24 wrote:

Or perhaps Bond would be more like Modesty Blaise, a female spin on the same genre that didn't get a good movie.

I've read both Bond and Modesty Blaise and have some hardbacks.
When you look at the Bond paperbacks their peak years were 1962 to 1965 after the Dr No and other films
and in 1964 the paperback versions were reprinted 4 or 5 times in one year! due to the great demand and sold in their millions.

Bond paperbacks are available new in bookshops like Waterstones and you can still order Modesty Blaise books
from the publisher Souvenir Press.

cheers, Bleuville.

Number24

Thanks. I've read a fesw of the Modesty Blaise books in the past and enjoyed them. Hopefully Modesty Blaise will be turned into a HBO series some day, perhaps starring Gemma Arterton?