TSWLM: is Fekkesh really useful to Bond's investigation?
SeanIsTheOnlyOne
Posts: 503MI6 Agent
Bond's egyptian contact tells him the man in possession of the microfilm is named Max Kalba but that Bond must get in touch with Aziz Fekkesh first. Somehow, meeting Fekkesh is a waste of time considering the race Bond is involved in and the fact he already knows Kalba has the microfilm.
In Giza, Bond only discovers the date of Fekkesh's upcoming meeting with Kalba. Does he really need such an element to go further? I don't think so. He could have directly come to Kalba and discussed the auction's price. Furthermore, Kalba does not seem so unsettled when Bond tells him about Fekkesh's absence, so why bother?
I suspect the whole part with Fekkesh is a writing trick simply to introduce Jaws and show his cruelty. I'm not saying I don't like this part, but I don't find it very useful plotwise.
Comments
I've never really believed this part of the film makes sense, but never thought about it enough to say for sure
the microfilm is pure Hitchcockian mcguffin, an excuse to bring the two spies together, and exactly halfway through the movie magically reveals the clue to investigate Stromberg in the second half
and as you say, its pursuit allows for Jaws and Bond to first meet
once the good guys know about Stromberg, does anyone ever mention this very important submarine tracking system again?
in this film above all other BondFilms, its the underlying mythic story structure that is important rather than any specific nuts and bolts of a realistic spy story. theres almost no Fleming, but a lot of Joseph Campbell Hero's Journey monomyth . so I expect it to be about as logical as for example a Ray Harryhausen film.
Yes. The screenwriting isn't great here. Not only does Fekkesh seem a waste of time but so is Hossein, Bond's first contact in Egypt. If my memory is correct, in the novelisation Fekkesh is directly Bond's contact, although he is is still only a go between to Kalbar. As you say, the two characters serve only to introduce Sandor [who also exits] and Jaws.
@chrisno1 I confirm. In the novelisation, there's no interaction between Bond and Hossein. If you think about it, this whole part would have worked if Hossein had only said "I don't know who is in possession of the microfilm but I can tell you the name of the broker".
Regarding Hossein: I think it was a nice touch that they added a little snippet of background info of Bond's life before he joined the Royal Navy. Apart from the Craig films, I think there are only two other mentions in the entire series to Bond's early life: YOLT - Bond mentions to Moneypenny that he studied at Cambridge and in GE - Trevelyn comments that Bond's parents died in a climbing accident.
Regarding Fekkesh: I always assumed Bond needed to question Fekkesh to find out how many microfilms he had bought and what he had done with them. He could then cross reference what he knew by later questioning Kalba. After Jaw's kills Fekkesh, Bond finds out that he has a meeting with Kalba so he knows where and when to find him.
Regarding Kalba: It could be that he is quite a reclusive person and is not so easy to find. Bond possibly feigns being Fekkesh at the door to gain access to the club. The guy in white who tells Bond who Kalba is probably thinks he's talking to a VIP and so is willing to impart with this information. Bond gathers that Fekkesh was there to buy a microfilm so Bond's primary goal is to obtain it from Kalba. Once he had chance to study the film, he could then interrogate Kalba further to find out how and where he was getting the microfilms.
Regarding Fekkesh: I always assumed Bond needed to question Fekkesh to find out how many microfilms he had bought and what he had done with them.
I may be wrong, and perhaps I'm the only one who understood it that way, but the microfilm seems unique. That's precisely why it is priceless. The scene in Q's lab tends to show Stromberg's assistant hastily copied the data, and putting other pieces on the market would have cheapened the object. From Fekkesh's POV, it's not the smartest move.
I gather that Fekkesh could have been making copies of the one film that he bought and was selling them to other parties. Essentially to any enemy party of the Royal Navy - the Argentinians, the Chinese, the Cubans, the Indians, the Soviets etc.
Somehow the British were able to intercept one of these transactions and got their hands on one of the copies of the microfilm which leads to Bond being sent to Cairo.
Fekkesh is a middle man. Kalbar has made some elements of the microfilm available to him as copies so that the British and the Russians understand the nature of the weaponry info he is selling. Kalbar can't do this personally without exposing himself, so Fekkesh is his 'front'. One assumes when he was supposed to meet OO7 at his apartment and we later when see him in conversation with Anya, Fekkish is vetting the prospective buyers before a meet with Kalbar. Hossein is still completely superfluous to requirements.
How the secretary got to know about Kalbar is another question that has not been posed and must surely need answering - the film doesn't tell us, nor, I don't think does the novelisation.