Despite talk of sex and bizarre situations, perhaps a point in James Bond's favour might be that Fleming's From Russia With Love had been mentioned by President Kennedy as one of his Top 10 favourite books.
That said, given that he'd been assassinated only two months earlier, this might have been a sore point with the FBI.
PS I went down a minor rabbit hole on this; noting the date of the paperwork I wondered when Goldfinger had its release, and it was in September 64. I then wondered how quickly Thunderball got its 65 release, and it was around or after Christmas in the UK, so almost a 1966 film, putting it in the year of the Beatles' Revolver and England's victory in the World Cup.
A link then took me to this brilliant article on Bond films on TV by 007 Magazine, some of the cuttings are highly evocative for those of us who grew up in the 60s and 70s.
EDIT: I have removed this link as it says it was 'not secure' and now I have a few strange or bogus pop up messages telling me my systems file is damaged to and to turn on my anti-virus software - though I don't recall switching it off. There are screenshots below.
That’s very interesting @Barbel from what I surmise is that Jack Lord had actually signed up to be Felix Leiter again, but it now seems that at the last moment either he or his agent upped the demands of salary/casting which led to the hasty casting of Cec Linder who was frankly unsuitable for the role.
Yeah, well, sometimes nothin' can be a real cool hand.
It was indeed intended for jack Lord to play Felix again, but he (or his agent) demanded equal pay and billing with Sean Connery (!) and that just wasn't going to happen.
Here is a screen grab showing the controversy surrounding the Bond films being bought up by ITV in the early 70s. Cinemas were up in arms about it - though it's odd, as I don't recall the old Bonds playing much at the local cinemas. Then again, at my tender age, I wouldn't know. But they never ran even later, when they were more viable - showings of Live and Let Die and The Man With The Golden Gun would have cleaned up in 1978/9 but for many of us the first showing would have been on ITV. Anyway, pressure forced ITV to delay showing Dr No by a year.
Another screen grab of nostalgic cuttings - but they show a shot of an older Connery from Diamonds Are Forever to promote the TV premiere of Thunderball!
Some adverts to promote the TV showings, tied in with topical news stories of the day, we're told.
Now I had these cuttings in a few old scrap books, but seems I don't need to scan them out post them on this website now!
More TVTimes covers, though not to mark the premiere of a film on ITV, given that the video and DVD market was a thing now. Mentions in the copy that only 3 Bond films have been shown on the BBC - non-official flicks Casino Royale 67 and Never Say Never Again, plus a one-off showing of From Russia With Love to tie in with a classic British film season.
Finally, the year each film debuted on ITV and the ratings. Anomalies are explained in the copy - Diamonds are Forever got a low rating in Christmas 1978 because it clashed with the first ever showing of The Sound of Music, which was followed by additional popular variety shows of the time. In fact, it got a higher rating the second time it was shown. Other low ratings came from some Bond films not being shown nationally at the same time, as other regions might show the movie the following day!
No Time To Die had the shortest time between its cinema release and going on telly, it had a piddling 2.5m for its New Years Day showing, at the time I recall it was hardly promoted. .That said, it's been on telly the last few days and I can hardly watch more than a couple of minutes of it; most Bonds I dislike have a curate's egg thing going on; I can enjoy a couple of classic scenes or get on with it on some level, but not this one.
Some very odd transmission slots for those premieres.
I remember the TB and OHMSS prems because I was packed off to bed before the movies had ended ! 😫
My family didn't watch The Sound of Music, but didn't watch DAF either, so maybe we were playing Monopoly.
The first prem I watched in its entirety was LALD and I am surprised to see this was in January as I was certain it was a Boxing Day or Christmas Day occasion. I watched many Bond films at Christmases, but obviously they were not as many premiere films as I thought.
My recollection is that through the 60's and early 70's people still turned out to theaters for those double feature Bond re-releases.
I can recall back around 1970 or 1971 sitting in a packed theater (and this was a 900 plus seat old school single theater) for a double feature of TB and YOLT. I went to school with the son of the owner of the theater chain and he told me they loved the Bond re-releases. The rental fees were lower, attendance was always good and sure fire profitable filler between new releases.
Barbel
ScotlandPosts: 38,106Chief of Staff
Comments
Despite talk of sex and bizarre situations, perhaps a point in James Bond's favour might be that Fleming's From Russia With Love had been mentioned by President Kennedy as one of his Top 10 favourite books.
That said, given that he'd been assassinated only two months earlier, this might have been a sore point with the FBI.
PS I went down a minor rabbit hole on this; noting the date of the paperwork I wondered when Goldfinger had its release, and it was in September 64. I then wondered how quickly Thunderball got its 65 release, and it was around or after Christmas in the UK, so almost a 1966 film, putting it in the year of the Beatles' Revolver and England's victory in the World Cup.
A link then took me to this brilliant article on Bond films on TV by 007 Magazine, some of the cuttings are highly evocative for those of us who grew up in the 60s and 70s.
EDIT: I have removed this link as it says it was 'not secure' and now I have a few strange or bogus pop up messages telling me my systems file is damaged to and to turn on my anti-virus software - though I don't recall switching it off. There are screenshots below.
Roger Moore 1927-2017
That’s very interesting @Barbel from what I surmise is that Jack Lord had actually signed up to be Felix Leiter again, but it now seems that at the last moment either he or his agent upped the demands of salary/casting which led to the hasty casting of Cec Linder who was frankly unsuitable for the role.
It was indeed intended for jack Lord to play Felix again, but he (or his agent) demanded equal pay and billing with Sean Connery (!) and that just wasn't going to happen.
(There's an Imaginary Conversation about this.)
Sounds interesting, but I'm deterred by your warning.
Here is a screen grab showing the controversy surrounding the Bond films being bought up by ITV in the early 70s. Cinemas were up in arms about it - though it's odd, as I don't recall the old Bonds playing much at the local cinemas. Then again, at my tender age, I wouldn't know. But they never ran even later, when they were more viable - showings of Live and Let Die and The Man With The Golden Gun would have cleaned up in 1978/9 but for many of us the first showing would have been on ITV. Anyway, pressure forced ITV to delay showing Dr No by a year.
Roger Moore 1927-2017
Another screen grab of nostalgic cuttings - but they show a shot of an older Connery from Diamonds Are Forever to promote the TV premiere of Thunderball!
Roger Moore 1927-2017
I recall these old covers!
Roger Moore 1927-2017
Some adverts to promote the TV showings, tied in with topical news stories of the day, we're told.
Now I had these cuttings in a few old scrap books, but seems I don't need to scan them out post them on this website now!
More TVTimes covers, though not to mark the premiere of a film on ITV, given that the video and DVD market was a thing now. Mentions in the copy that only 3 Bond films have been shown on the BBC - non-official flicks Casino Royale 67 and Never Say Never Again, plus a one-off showing of From Russia With Love to tie in with a classic British film season.
Roger Moore 1927-2017
Finally, the year each film debuted on ITV and the ratings. Anomalies are explained in the copy - Diamonds are Forever got a low rating in Christmas 1978 because it clashed with the first ever showing of The Sound of Music, which was followed by additional popular variety shows of the time. In fact, it got a higher rating the second time it was shown. Other low ratings came from some Bond films not being shown nationally at the same time, as other regions might show the movie the following day!
No Time To Die had the shortest time between its cinema release and going on telly, it had a piddling 2.5m for its New Years Day showing, at the time I recall it was hardly promoted. .That said, it's been on telly the last few days and I can hardly watch more than a couple of minutes of it; most Bonds I dislike have a curate's egg thing going on; I can enjoy a couple of classic scenes or get on with it on some level, but not this one.
Roger Moore 1927-2017
Some very odd transmission slots for those premieres.
I remember the TB and OHMSS prems because I was packed off to bed before the movies had ended ! 😫
My family didn't watch The Sound of Music, but didn't watch DAF either, so maybe we were playing Monopoly.
The first prem I watched in its entirety was LALD and I am surprised to see this was in January as I was certain it was a Boxing Day or Christmas Day occasion. I watched many Bond films at Christmases, but obviously they were not as many premiere films as I thought.
My recollection is that through the 60's and early 70's people still turned out to theaters for those double feature Bond re-releases.
I can recall back around 1970 or 1971 sitting in a packed theater (and this was a 900 plus seat old school single theater) for a double feature of TB and YOLT. I went to school with the son of the owner of the theater chain and he told me they loved the Bond re-releases. The rental fees were lower, attendance was always good and sure fire profitable filler between new releases.
This came from @trevorbaxendale on Twitter - I thought I'd drop it here!
Tania Mallet and Harold Sakata at Geneva Airport.
Roger Moore 1927-2017
Doesn't Harold look cheerful ! You'd never think he was the monosyllabic heavy henchmen !
Also from Twitter. Cool, isn't it?
Roger Moore 1927-2017