Explanation: What is going on in the beginning of OHMSS?

I've watched this movie a number of times. I just watched OHMSS today. I still have no idea why Tracy is walking into the ocean. Why does Bond think she's in immediate danger? Why is she unconscious when he brings her back to the beach? :s
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Comments

  • broadshoulderbroadshoulder Acton, London, UKPosts: 1,363MI6 Agent
    I've watched this movie a number of times. I just watched OHMSS today. I still have no idea why Tracy is walking into the ocean. Why does Bond think she's in immediate danger? Why is she unconscious when he brings her back to the beach? :s

    She's at the end of her tether.

    She has nowhere else to go. Later that night she plays gambling with no money. And Draco's men are there to make sure she doesn't do anything rash
    1. For Your Eyes Only 2. The Living Daylights 3 From Russia with Love 4. Casino Royale 5. OHMSS 6. Skyfall
  • BarbelBarbel ScotlandPosts: 37,865Chief of Staff
    As broadshoulder says, she's at the end of her tether. Her child has died of spina bifida, her no-good husband has died too, she's quarrelled with her dad- who tells 007 some of this later in the film (and in more detail in the book).
    Bond assesses her state of mind quickly and saves her from drowning herself- he's interrupted by Draco's men, who as broadshoulder says are there to keep an eye on her (although they should've moved more quickly when they saw what was happening).
  • James SuzukiJames Suzuki New ZealandPosts: 2,406MI6 Agent
    It is clearier in the Novel but its defintley there in the film.
    Fleming describes Tracy as a 'Bird with a Wing down.'
    Bond saves her and his romance with her helps her to gain control over her life.
    “The scent and smoke and sweat of a casino are nauseating at three in the morning. "
    -Casino Royale, Ian Fleming
  • Absolutely_CartAbsolutely_Cart NJ/NYC, United StatesPosts: 1,740MI6 Agent
    She was trying to commit suicide.
  • Bondage007Bondage007 AustraliaPosts: 371MI6 Agent
    What's less clear is why Draco's men are trying to kill him....twice. Then Draco says "I've been informed of everything you've done for her..."
    2019 Bondathon...in progress (6) FRWL (7) GE (8) FYEO (9) TND (10) MR (11) GF (12) LALD (13) DAF (14) LTK (15) TMWTGG (16) TB (17) TSWLM (18) DAD (19) AVTAK (20) YOLT (21) QOS (22) SF (23) TWINE (24) SP
  • HigginsHiggins GermanyPosts: 16,619MI6 Agent
    Well, they obviously had Draco's orders to keep all kind of playboys away from her by all means and that's what they've followed
    President of the 'Misty Eyes Club'.

    Dalton - the weak and weepy Bond!
  • ThunderpussyThunderpussy Behind you !Posts: 63,792MI6 Agent
    The producers at times do try and stick to what Fleming wrote. ;) Tracy needs to be
    a tragic burnt out character, so that Bond ( Knight in shining armor) can save her, not
    only from Physical harm, but from the Psychological trauma, of her past life. In the book
    she had also lost a child. I think it's a lovely little tableau, and straight from Fleming. ;)
    "I've been informed that there ARE a couple of QAnon supporters who are fairly regular posters in AJB."
  • Napoleon PluralNapoleon Plural LondonPosts: 10,467MI6 Agent
    I don't think it is necessarily that clear, and anyway where did Draco's men spring from all of a sudden?

    It doesn't help that on some prints it looks like twilight and a nice time to go for a bathe, when it should be dawn and look brittle and cold, and less open to a generous interpretation.

    The whole Draco's men thing doesn't work for me, I mean, he kills one of them doesn't he? Things are bound to be a bit frosty after that, but Bond doesn't kill one of them in the book.
    "This is where we leave you Mr Bond."

    Roger Moore 1927-2017
  • broadshoulderbroadshoulder Acton, London, UKPosts: 1,363MI6 Agent
    I don't think it is necessarily that clear, and anyway where did Draco's men spring from all of a sudden?

    It doesn't help that on some prints it looks like twilight and a nice time to go for a bathe, when it should be dawn and look brittle and cold, and less open to a generous interpretation.

    The whole Draco's men thing doesn't work for me, I mean, he kills one of them doesn't he? Things are bound to be a bit frosty after that, but Bond doesn't kill one of them in the book.

    They were tailing Tracey all the time. Marc Ange was desperately worried for her and kept a watch on her.

    Its twilight. Why should it be dawn?
    1. For Your Eyes Only 2. The Living Daylights 3 From Russia with Love 4. Casino Royale 5. OHMSS 6. Skyfall
  • HigginsHiggins GermanyPosts: 16,619MI6 Agent
    stag wrote:
    As everone points out yet Barbel makes a good observation. Dracos men weren't doing their job properly & should have intervened earlier when the saw her walk into the ocean (could they have been keeping watch from afar though?).

    I'd guess that they simply wanted to see some wet T-Shirt and didn't want to ruin that moment ;)
    President of the 'Misty Eyes Club'.

    Dalton - the weak and weepy Bond!
  • Asp9mmAsp9mm Over the Hills and Far Away.Posts: 7,535MI6 Agent
    Why should it be dawn?

    It's dawn in the book.
    ..................Asp9mmSIG-1-2.jpg...............
  • DigificWriterDigificWriter Posts: 191MI6 Agent
    Asp9mm wrote:
    It's dawn in the book.

    The movie is not the book; if you want the book, go read the book.
  • LoeffelholzLoeffelholz The United States, With LovePosts: 8,998Quartermasters
    I love how that novel opens (Fleming was a master of the First Sentence): "It was one of those Septembers when it seemed that the summer would never end." :007)
    Check out my Amazon author page! Mark Loeffelholz
    "I am not an entrant in the Shakespeare Stakes." - Ian Fleming
    "Screw 'em." - Daniel Craig, The Best James Bond EverTM
  • Matt SMatt S Oh Cult Voodoo ShopPosts: 6,610MI6 Agent
    Asp9mm wrote:
    Why should it be dawn?

    It's dawn in the book.

    And from the film, I would have expected Bond to have been awake all night. The sun would have set in the evening by the time Bond put on his dinner suit (he wouldn't have put it on before 6).
    Visit my blog, Bond Suits
  • ThunderpussyThunderpussy Behind you !Posts: 63,792MI6 Agent
    It's Dawn eh ? I always thought it was Tracy :p :))

    sadly DigificWriter without the book, there'd be no film. I also think
    Fleming's writing should command a little respect, at least. :#

    How do you know Bond wasn't awake all night, He does gamble into the early
    Hours, You know. 3 o'clock in the morning sometimes. ;)
    "I've been informed that there ARE a couple of QAnon supporters who are fairly regular posters in AJB."
  • Matt SMatt S Oh Cult Voodoo ShopPosts: 6,610MI6 Agent
    sadly DigificWriter without the book, there'd be no film. I also think
    Fleming's writing should command a little respect, at least. :#

    If a film needs to rely on its source material to be explained, it's a bad film. A film stands alone from the book as its own piece of work. There's no disrespect to Fleming in this, but unless the book is a novelisation of the film, they are not one in the same.
    Visit my blog, Bond Suits
  • DigificWriterDigificWriter Posts: 191MI6 Agent
    sadly DigificWriter without the book, there'd be no film

    Doesn't matter. An adaptation of something is, by the very nature of what that word actually means, going to be its own thing that is separate from the thing from which it's been adapted.
    I also think Fleming's writing should command a little respect, at least.

    To change certain things when adapting something from one medium to another isn't 'disrespecting the source material'; it's simply doing what one needs to do in actually making an adaptation.

    If you make a movie, television series, comic book, radio play, theater play, etc. that is exactly the same as the source material from which it is derived, you're not making an adaptation of said source material, you're simply translating that source material into the medium in which you're working.

    The idea that adaptations can't change anything about the thing from which they're being adapted is a ridiculous fallacy that completely misunderstands the entire point of what an adaptation is meant to do and be.
  • LoeffelholzLoeffelholz The United States, With LovePosts: 8,998Quartermasters
    edited October 2015
    Asp9mm wrote:
    It's dawn in the book.

    The movie is not the book; if you want the book, go read the book.

    ?:) A bit hostile, isn't that?

    Ironically, OHMSS benefits (to my mind) by being closer to its source material than possibly any other Bond film...and it's one of the things that makes it a revered classic in retrospect, if not a huge success when it came out, because of how far Bond had strayed by the time of YOLT's hollowed-out volcano.

    I can testify that adapting a novel into a screenplay is the most difficult thing I've ever undertaken---the totality of what must be excised to make it work is extremely daunting. Taking the essence of a story in a 350-page (or whatever) novel, and whittling it down to 120 pages or so is NOT for the faint of heart, to say nothing of the loss of internalization, and finding a way to convey ideas visually without cumbersome exposition via dialogue. Writing prose and writing a screenplay are two very different mental muscle groups.
    Check out my Amazon author page! Mark Loeffelholz
    "I am not an entrant in the Shakespeare Stakes." - Ian Fleming
    "Screw 'em." - Daniel Craig, The Best James Bond EverTM
  • Asp9mmAsp9mm Over the Hills and Far Away.Posts: 7,535MI6 Agent
    Asp9mm wrote:
    It's dawn in the book.

    The movie is not the book; if you want the book, go read the book.


    What an idiot thing to say 8-)

    Go and re-read the conversation again before jumping in with hostile comments like that.
    ..................Asp9mmSIG-1-2.jpg...............
  • ThunderpussyThunderpussy Behind you !Posts: 63,792MI6 Agent
    Strangely, I never needed the pts of OHMSS explained to me, In fact apart from yourself and
    DigificWriter, Most of the rest of us can understand it.
    So I'll leave the rest of this never ending naval gazing, to the intellectuals of AJB. ;)
    I'm off, to find a happier thread where a few fans relish and love the films and Books, and don't
    go endlessly blowing the tiniest element out of all proportion. Honestly some seem to relish in
    nitpicking, to the extent of making it an Olympic event. :))
    "I've been informed that there ARE a couple of QAnon supporters who are fairly regular posters in AJB."
  • DigificWriterDigificWriter Posts: 191MI6 Agent
    My "If you want the book, go read the book" comment wasnt intended to be hostile, but it was intended to be bluntly illustrative of how silly complaints about one pithy little detail being different are.
  • Silhouette ManSilhouette Man The last refuge of a scoundrelPosts: 8,845MI6 Agent
    She was trying to commit suicide.

    At its most basic, yes. It all boils down to that in the end...
    "The tough man of the world. The Secret Agent. The man who was only a silhouette." - Ian Fleming, Moonraker (1955).
  • DigificWriterDigificWriter Posts: 191MI6 Agent
    Thunderpussy: How did I get included in the conversation as not understanding the "cold open" sequence of OHMSS? I havent even seen the movie yet.
  • ThunderpussyThunderpussy Behind you !Posts: 63,792MI6 Agent
    You haven't, up till this point I though you were the world's leading authority on it ! :))
    "I've been informed that there ARE a couple of QAnon supporters who are fairly regular posters in AJB."
  • Asp9mmAsp9mm Over the Hills and Far Away.Posts: 7,535MI6 Agent
    My "If you want the book, go read the book" comment wasnt intended to be hostile, but it was intended to be bluntly illustrative of how silly complaints about one pithy little detail being different are.

    Nobody was complaining. And I was just addressing someone elses comments asking why dawn was mentioned in the first place.
    ..................Asp9mmSIG-1-2.jpg...............
  • DigificWriterDigificWriter Posts: 191MI6 Agent
    You haven't, up till this point I though you were the world's leading authority on it ! :))

    Most of the stuff that I've figured out about the pre-Craig films (specifically about how they relate to each other) has been discovered without actually having seen the vast majority of those films.

    In fact, up until I started watching Dr. No last week, Tomorrow Never Dies had been the only pre-Craig Bond film I'd ever actually seen, and most of what I knew about the character had come from either the James Bond Jr. cartoon or from doing research on the franchise.
  • HigginsHiggins GermanyPosts: 16,619MI6 Agent
    Asp9mm wrote:
    It's dawn in the book.

    The movie is not the book; if you want the book, go read the book.

    He can't read.
    He's only watching the pictures :D
    President of the 'Misty Eyes Club'.

    Dalton - the weak and weepy Bond!
  • Silhouette ManSilhouette Man The last refuge of a scoundrelPosts: 8,845MI6 Agent
    edited October 2015
    You haven't, up till this point I though you were the world's leading authority on it ! :))

    Most of the stuff that I've figured out about the pre-Craig films (specifically about how they relate to each other) has been discovered without actually having seen the vast majority of those films.

    In fact, up until I started watching Dr. No last week, Tomorrow Never Dies had been the only pre-Craig Bond film I'd ever actually seen, and most of what I knew about the character had come from either the James Bond Jr. cartoon or from doing research on the franchise.

    I think that explains all we need to know! :D

    I would politely suggest as a prerequisite that you actually watch all of the Bond films and read the original novels before getting into arguments about the specifics of Bondology with seasoned members here. :)
    "The tough man of the world. The Secret Agent. The man who was only a silhouette." - Ian Fleming, Moonraker (1955).
  • Asp9mmAsp9mm Over the Hills and Far Away.Posts: 7,535MI6 Agent
    Most of the stuff that I've figured out about the pre-Craig films (specifically about how they relate to each other) has been discovered without actually having seen the vast majority of those films.

    In fact, up until I started watching Dr. No last week, Tomorrow Never Dies had been the only pre-Craig Bond film I'd ever actually seen, and most of what I knew about the character had come from either the James Bond Jr. cartoon or from doing research on the franchise.

    :)) Brilliant.
    ..................Asp9mmSIG-1-2.jpg...............
  • superadosuperado Regent's Park West (CaliforniaPosts: 2,656MI6 Agent
    edited October 2015
    In Charles Helfenstein's Making of OHMSS, there's an interview with Michael Reed, the director of photography and he's asked about the light exposure of that scene that were made too bright in some prints of the movie. Reed responds that they shot at dawn and that as the fight scenes progressed, he allowed more sunlight to show as it should have in the timeline of the narrative.

    Never really thought why Tracy became unconscious and I think that's one important detail that has always nagged at me but never bothered to think about more and even dismissed it as faking on her part. So, perhaps because she was extremely distraught at that point to want to end it all. At that moment when Bond saves her, while her mind was processing what was happening to her she then passes out because she should be dead soon but instead she's being carried off by a stranger.
    "...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.....
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