The "Real" First Bond Film ?
DrMaybe
Posts: 204MI6 Agent
http://geocities.com/simonbermuda/index.html
An Orson Welles project that never saw the light of day... but what a project!
A very close adaption of Ian Fleming's Moonraker.
Orson Welles was scheduled to direct and star as the lead villain, Hugo Drax.
Unfortunately, he ran into some trouble with the producer (who wanted nudity and sex) and it was dumped. Apparently there is about 40 minutes of salvageable footage.
Dirk Bogarde as the first cinema version of Bond?
An Orson Welles project that never saw the light of day... but what a project!
A very close adaption of Ian Fleming's Moonraker.
Orson Welles was scheduled to direct and star as the lead villain, Hugo Drax.
Unfortunately, he ran into some trouble with the producer (who wanted nudity and sex) and it was dumped. Apparently there is about 40 minutes of salvageable footage.
Dirk Bogarde as the first cinema version of Bond?
Comments
Orson Welles in his 1950s pomp directing a Bond film? GOOD, Welles has a good visual flair that often suprises the viewer, even his most worst films have a style that makes them watchable.
Dirk Bogarde as Bond? NOT BAD, Fleming favoured Cary Grant or David Niven and Dirk does have that suave sophisticated look, but he also had a tetchiness about him, the public-schoolboy-gone-bad that fits well with Fleming's own descriptions. Bogarde was no beefcake, but I don't think he'd have to be, given MR (the novel) is hardly a fight-fest
Peter Lorre as a henchman? OK, it could be worse - it could be Herve Villachaize - although I always pictured Krebs as more of a muscle man
A nude scene? GOOD, certainly a lot closer to Fleming, although, unlike most of his heroines, Gala Brand only strips to her undies in the novel
Orson Welles as Drax? GOOD, always liked his Le Chiffre until he started playing magic tricks.
It's a lot of fun reading the article and it's well researched and put together even if it is a load of pony.
In retrospect, I wonder if these hoaxes are related in any way.
The only thing that made me scratch my head was Lorre playing a subservient villain. He was still somewhat an "A" lister and had played LeChiffre in the teleplay, so it seemed like a step down for him, playing Welles flunky.