Should James Bond have been stuck in his own time ?
Ricardo C.
Posts: 916MI6 Agent
Does anyone think that like other famous literary characters that have been adapted to film, should Bond have been kept in the area he originated ? The majority of Agatha Christie mysteries adapted to film and television retained the original decades of their respective literary adventures. I am sure this would have happened to Bond if EON somehow loss the rights to the series at some point. So what do you all think ?
Comments
It's = it is by the way. Should read 'stuck in its own time'. {:)
Roger Moore 1927-2017
Yeah sorry about that. I changed it to "in his own time".
As for the films, no, I think they should stay in the present, although a few original traits of Fleming's Bond would not go amiss...
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I think it's an interesting question - but I agree with Nap - Fleming had the vision of using all the latest gadgets in his era, and I think that to keep the films interesting - and interesting to the current generation, you would have to be a fleming purist not to get frustrated with him being stuck in the 60's and the restrictive technology that had to offer.
However, it must be frustrating that the movies have been removed so far from the origional novels, but I guess this will leave room for re-makes.... a continual recycle machine.
I'd imagine if a new generation took over EON or if they ever sold the rights to the franchise.
I think your spot on there. The language of the books is very much that of the 50s. Fleming, like Bond, was certainly the type of sophisticated "old chap" that doesn't exist anymore. The kind of Etonian that would consider it "sporting" to have a few rounds of golf before lunch or a short drive along the coast in the bentley.
I think, as time goes on, that old fahioned Englishness - a major part of Fleming's literature - sadly dies out.
Strange, I kind of agree with everything that everyone has said.
I wish all the Bond movies were period pieces, but I'm not sure it would be succesful. I'm just old fashioned and a fan of old fashioned things, cars, style, manners.
But, Mr. thesecretagent, Arigato Gozaimasu. I also have often wondered about Ralph Fiennes as Bond. He's very close to what I imagine when I read the novels. And I've always struggled to put into words my image of Daniel Craig. "Royal Marine NCO" is closer than I've come.
I loved the Holmes series and would love to see the books produced in a similar way. I know it's not the recipe for commercial success but I can see some merit. I don't think it takes away from the large scale cinematic productions, just another interpretation of the stories.
1) Ian Flemmings "pure" Bond - Ie, period Bond, from the fifties and early sixties when Flemming wrote him.
2) Evolving Movie but Contemporary style Bond - Film versions of Bond that don't overdo the tech - Dr No, LALD, TLD, TWINE, CR.
3) Sci Fi Bond. - Where the tech goes overboard. DAF, MNKR, DAD, - where the tech overshaddows everything into full Sci Fi mode.
Although I am thinking of the films with 2 and 3, I can imagine the computer games will vary between them too.
I can easily imagine a tv series could be written for Bond either in the modern reboot era like Spooks or perhaps CSI in format style, or alternatively a period piece series set after the war, or perhaps the late fifties, early sixties. I personally would prefer the latter, simply because there are plent yof contemporary films and series set in modern times. Bond is an exception to me by who he is. (QOS excepted). But to see all of Flemmings stories set in his timeframe? All the villians as they were written? That would be something.
Commnder Aticus - you make a good point. Jerry Brett WAS Sherlock Holmes, and to me, Joan Hickson WAS Miss Marple. Though I must say, as an "alternate" Bond, more Black Ops than Shipboard officer, I like Craigs turn. - Well as seen in CR anyway!
It would certainly whet fan appetites in between the movies, which take an indeterminable amount of time to make these past 2 decades. I see Bond as being played by a younger, relatively unknown actor, and the art direction in the vein of Mad Men. Alas, I suspect that this is all just fantasy as obtaining the rights could be prohibitively expensive.
That's the thing I like about Bond, I can picture him in pretty much any post WW2 setting and it works.
I don't personally believe that "old fashioned Englishness" will every die out as long as there is a monarchy and an upper class and upper class educational institutions there.
I don't doubt that the hardbred English elitism (and I don't meant that term in a derogatory way) is still in existence, even if it includes more contemporary pop culture elements. That said, I don't know if that whoe culture and attitude still holds the same appeal for the mainstream audience in and outside of Britain these days. Could you imagine the Jeremy Brett Sherlock Holmes TV series debuting in its current form today? I love the period Granada series as much as the next 221b Baker St. fan, but there's a reason why Steven Moffat's Sherlock was such a smashing success. James Bond's appeal is in his enjoyment of traditional "Establishment" privileges while behaving as an iconclast; Don Draper on Mad Men works because he operates in a similar way.