Has anyone noticed the different editions and how they handle Case's response to Bond asking if he can smoke when the first meet? I first noticed it because I have the MJF editions and in that version she responds, "So long as it's tobacco." However, in the audiobook I heard her respond by saying, "If that's the way you want to die."
I wonder which was in the original?
All of the Cape Version and the 100th anniversary collections say "If that's the way you want to die."
"And if I told you that I'm from the Ministry of Defence?" James Bond - The Property of a Lady
Though I enjoy DAF because of Fleming's descriptive writing and it's gives such a time capsule of the 1950's, I always had a hard time defending the plot.
The Spang brothers are smuggling diamonds from Africa for what? For illegal profit. How does this involve British intelligence and Bond? This is obviously an international law enforcement problem, not something that would involve an intelligence agency. Customs officers, FBI, Interpol, etc. would be covering these crimes.
Mr. Big was different - though he was smuggling Morgan's treasure - it was in order to fund SMERSH operations in the West, so involving the CIA and the BSS was necessary.
So, though I enjoy DAF and I know Fleming wrote it because he wrote about DeBeers and diamond smuggling as a journalist, I found it odd he used this as a basis for a plot that would involve Bond.
When reading Flemings Description of how Bond got the Diamonds into the States, you have to smile when thinking About how much the Art of smuggling has changed since the 50's )
1.On Her Majesties Secret Service 2.The Living Daylights 3.license To Kill 4.The Spy Who Loved Me 5.Goldfinger
Silhouette ManThe last refuge of a scoundrelPosts: 8,845MI6 Agent
When reading Flemings Description of how Bond got the Diamonds into the States, you have to smile when thinking About how much the Art of smuggling has changed since the 50's )
You see, criminals have to always be one step ahead of the Law if they want to be successful! -{
"The tough man of the world. The Secret Agent. The man who was only a silhouette." - Ian Fleming, Moonraker (1955).
Diamonds are still a large smuggling commodity. Back in April it was discovered that some Sicilian mobsters smuggled $450 million in diamonds from Africa back in 2011. One of the largest black market commodities at present are rare antiquities up to 10,000 years old that ISIS is looting and selling off from Syria. They're making up to a million dollars per item and one of the most blatant forms of selling is threatening buyers if they don't cough up the price it will be destroyed. They've been using taxis to smuggle in the items from Syria into Lebanon and Turkey. then middle men use Skype to display the looted items to dealers.
1.On Her Majesties Secret Service 2.The Living Daylights 3.license To Kill 4.The Spy Who Loved Me 5.Goldfinger
Silhouette ManThe last refuge of a scoundrelPosts: 8,845MI6 Agent
We can't be too harsh on the smuggling methods detailed in the DAF novel - it was written some sixty years ago and many things have changed since then! It also sadly dates the novel more than many of the others for precisely this reason.
"The tough man of the world. The Secret Agent. The man who was only a silhouette." - Ian Fleming, Moonraker (1955).
As with Scaramanga in GG, there's all this build up by M about how we should take these gangsters seriously, but the result is a damp squib
Exactly. Whereas in Doctor No the villain is successively built up as a figure of mystery and dread, the Spang twins barely register. We meet Serrafimo and he gets killed a chapter later. There are promising elements to the character--his ill-treatment of the barbershop girl and his western cosplay--but they don't build to anything resembling a complete portrait. Bond versus the Wild West is a neat concept, but Fleming doesn't sustain it.
Still, there is some enjoyable stuff in the book, it just reads like Fleming's travelogue stuff and he has written a book around it.
Yes, and the travelogue structure works against that of the thriller. Whereas in YOLT the travelogue is a lengthy interlude between Bond's psychological collapse and his revenge, almost all of DAF is a travelogue. Various events happen to Bond along the way, but the episodic, picaresque structure creates a stop-and-start rhythm, rather than a steadily building sense of excitement and danger.
To compensate for the weaker-than-usual plotting, the novel is often strong in characterization. Aside from Vivienne Michel, Tiffany Case is probably Fleming's best female character. Neurotic, vulnerable, and proud, she feels like a real human being, not a pin-up. The psychologist Adam Phillips wrote that "People become real to us by frustrating us," and that's what Tiffany does to Bond. She forces him to show his commitment and, ultimately, his love.
The subsidiary villains are also terrific (right down to walk-ons like Lamebrain Pissaro). Shady Tree, the self-pitying hunchback, deserves more space, while Wint and Kidd are much scarier and nastier than their movie counterparts. Ernie Cureo is an excellent, lively sidekick. There are also several scenes that could still be used in future Bond films, including the horrific punishment of Tingaling Bell, Bond and Tiffany's difficult courtship (including the great moment when she thinks Bond is just another crook), Spectreville, the Brooklyn Stomping, and the train scenes.
The film version starts out strongly but gets worse with each reel, and its treatment of Tiffany Case is unforgivable.
I have only read about 6 Bond novels, but so far DAF I think is the weakest of the bunch.
I just found it quite hard going and not really much of a "spy" novel. Also I did not think the diamond smuggling made for a very good plot-line.
I found Spectreville to be a bit silly, as were the villains, they came across as very "keystone capers" type villains to me and did not really seem that menacing.
The pacing is off, and the story is quite uneven.
It does have some very good bits in it, but ultimately I felt it a bit of a let down.
It is the only Fleming novel so far that I have had to push myself a bit to finish it, and I can't stand having to do that.
I liked the idea of them stowing the diamonds out through their teeth and the dentist, probably how they were doing it in real life. One thing I can say about DAF is it was the one where Fleming has a whole 100 page seperate non-fic as proof that he did his homework. However, if Fleming had delved into a little more fiction and played around with the levity of diamond smuggling, maybe that the diamonds were being traded for illegal drugs and arms, and that this organization was growing powerful at an alarming rate, or something of the sort, it would've given a lot more weight to the mission. Instead M was more concerned with England losing money than the criminal underworld gaining money, which might not be too far off from reality, but still. It takes a while longer than the previous 3 to pick up the pace, but I am one that did enjoy Spectreville. and Bond also recommends us a great Golfing book, teaching us that lifestyle that is Bond.
The Problem with the Spang Brothers is that we never learn anything about there Past.
Yes, they just sort of *are* aren't they? Nothing to back them up or give them a third dimension. Some nice sequences and some interesting characters (Wint & Kidd and Shady Tree) along with a superb leading lady (Tiffany Case) but... not much else.
The Problem with the Spang Brothers is that we never learn anything about there Past.
Yes, they just sort of *are* aren't they? Nothing to back them up or give them a third dimension. Some nice sequences and some interesting characters (Wint & Kidd and Shady Tree) along with a superb leading lady (Tiffany Case) but... not much else.
Yes, their depictions were lacking, which is a shame because I liked them in the brief parts they were in, esp. the one in London.
"...the purposeful slant of his striding figure looked dangerous, as if he was making quickly for something bad that was happening further down the street." -SMERSH on 007 dossier photo, Ch. 6 FRWL.....
Comments
The American Versions of the Novels were censored. That's most likely why the Line is different.
That's interesting! Thanks for the info, I always assumed that the title of Chapter 5 from Live and Let Die was the only censor in America...
http://www.thebondologistblog.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/Banned
All of the Cape Version and the 100th anniversary collections say "If that's the way you want to die."
The Spang brothers are smuggling diamonds from Africa for what? For illegal profit. How does this involve British intelligence and Bond? This is obviously an international law enforcement problem, not something that would involve an intelligence agency. Customs officers, FBI, Interpol, etc. would be covering these crimes.
Mr. Big was different - though he was smuggling Morgan's treasure - it was in order to fund SMERSH operations in the West, so involving the CIA and the BSS was necessary.
So, though I enjoy DAF and I know Fleming wrote it because he wrote about DeBeers and diamond smuggling as a journalist, I found it odd he used this as a basis for a plot that would involve Bond.
You see, criminals have to always be one step ahead of the Law if they want to be successful!
"The successful criminal brain is always superior. It has to be!"
Yes, I didn't realise that I'd done that!
Exactly. Whereas in Doctor No the villain is successively built up as a figure of mystery and dread, the Spang twins barely register. We meet Serrafimo and he gets killed a chapter later. There are promising elements to the character--his ill-treatment of the barbershop girl and his western cosplay--but they don't build to anything resembling a complete portrait. Bond versus the Wild West is a neat concept, but Fleming doesn't sustain it.
Yes, and the travelogue structure works against that of the thriller. Whereas in YOLT the travelogue is a lengthy interlude between Bond's psychological collapse and his revenge, almost all of DAF is a travelogue. Various events happen to Bond along the way, but the episodic, picaresque structure creates a stop-and-start rhythm, rather than a steadily building sense of excitement and danger.
To compensate for the weaker-than-usual plotting, the novel is often strong in characterization. Aside from Vivienne Michel, Tiffany Case is probably Fleming's best female character. Neurotic, vulnerable, and proud, she feels like a real human being, not a pin-up. The psychologist Adam Phillips wrote that "People become real to us by frustrating us," and that's what Tiffany does to Bond. She forces him to show his commitment and, ultimately, his love.
The subsidiary villains are also terrific (right down to walk-ons like Lamebrain Pissaro). Shady Tree, the self-pitying hunchback, deserves more space, while Wint and Kidd are much scarier and nastier than their movie counterparts. Ernie Cureo is an excellent, lively sidekick. There are also several scenes that could still be used in future Bond films, including the horrific punishment of Tingaling Bell, Bond and Tiffany's difficult courtship (including the great moment when she thinks Bond is just another crook), Spectreville, the Brooklyn Stomping, and the train scenes.
The film version starts out strongly but gets worse with each reel, and its treatment of Tiffany Case is unforgivable.
I just found it quite hard going and not really much of a "spy" novel. Also I did not think the diamond smuggling made for a very good plot-line.
I found Spectreville to be a bit silly, as were the villains, they came across as very "keystone capers" type villains to me and did not really seem that menacing.
The pacing is off, and the story is quite uneven.
It does have some very good bits in it, but ultimately I felt it a bit of a let down.
It is the only Fleming novel so far that I have had to push myself a bit to finish it, and I can't stand having to do that.
Yes, they just sort of *are* aren't they? Nothing to back them up or give them a third dimension. Some nice sequences and some interesting characters (Wint & Kidd and Shady Tree) along with a superb leading lady (Tiffany Case) but... not much else.
Yes, their depictions were lacking, which is a shame because I liked them in the brief parts they were in, esp. the one in London.