Showing posts with label 007. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 007. Show all posts

Thursday, 13 April 2023

Casino Royale – 70 Years of 007

It is 2023 and 70 years ago today the first James Bond book Casino Royale by Ian Fleming was published. It was of course the start of what has subsequently become a symbolic series of books. It was the same year that Queen Elizabeth II was crowned, 14 books later and if you mention 007 everyone will know who you are talking about. 

For readers Ian Fleming's James Bond introduced us to an iconic character who is a coldblooded assassin and a hard drinker as well. You don't be come a double O without being willing to kill in cold blood. In my view it is clear that the groundwork for the James Bond character is laid out pretty much in its entirety in Casino Royale. His character has of course spawned a number of imitators. Think Sol Weinstein's Israeli Bond, Kim Newman's Anno Dracula novel  Dracula Cha-Cha-Cha whose vampire character is called Hamish Bond (this is by far my favourite), the 1981 novel Night Probel by Clive Cussler where his eponymous hero Dirk Pitt finds himself working with a retired Secret Service agent. Don Pendleton's Marc Bolan series and of course the James Coburn “Flint” films to name a few. 

Casino Royale is in my view a masterpiece. From the interesting and very clever intelligence reports that form parts of the opening chapters to the tales of an aged Cold War spy.

All the Bond books are atmospheric and obviously deserve to be recognised as the classics and best of the spy genre. Everyone has their favourite Bond book and I am no exception. My favourite Bond book unsurprisingly is Casino Royale. It is not solely because it is the first in the series, though that is part of the reason but also because for me (and possibly for others as well) it was the introduction to stubtle and not so stubtle product placement in books. It was also my introduction to spy thrillers as well. But then again, Ian Fleming mentions these things because they were things that he liked and enjoyed. Why mention food that you don't like to eat or cigarettes that you don't like to smoke. I loved the fact that he is very particuar about food and drink. Whilst Gin is my drink of choice, I will never turn down a good Martini. 

Furthermore, the thing about Ian Fleming's writing is that not only is it so quoteable but also it is the “hooks" at the end of chapters that heighten tension and pull the reader rapidly into the next chapter which one certainly wants to read. To this day reading the bit where Bond's genitals are being beaten with a carpet beater by Le Chiffre still makes me cringe. He has in my opinion and as Umberto Eco stated in his 1979 essay about the Bond books a rhythm, a polish, a certain sensuous feeling for words. For many also it is a book for boys.

All the key players of the series including MI6, Moneypenny, and M are introduced in Casino Royale, but we are also introduced to two other key characters that we will come into contact with in future books and that is Felix Leiter of the CIA who is a character in six 007 novels and René Mathis of the  French Deuxième Bureau who is also in From Russia With Love and is mentioned in Thunderball.

For me Casino Royale is the sort of thriller that for many it may not considered to be literature. However, it does in its own way read just as good as any literature book and in any event nowadays there are quite a few thrillers that should be considered not only as thrillers but also literature as well. 

The plot itself is quite simplistic and concise and whilst I certainly favour the 2006 version of Casino Royale as one of my favourite Bond films. It is the simplicity of the book which makes it standout. The final twist in the story and Bond’s bitter response to it, sets his character up for the rest of the series of books. The Bond in the books is of course mostly the same “Bond” all through the series. He does however change in that the further away from the war in the books the calmer he comes across.

Spy thrillers to this day still follow the trend set out in Casino Royale in that they continue to reflect the real world and of course good against evil.  In fact, to this day the plots and themes of Casino Royale are surprisingly current.

Casino Royale has always been for me a first-rate thriller. Whilst it’s not a very long read, I personally love this book in that it captures the reader and holds on until the end. With a breathtaking plot where by Fleming manages to keep us (or I should say) as far as I am concerned, enthralled and looking forward to more books in the series. For Casino Royale to be celebrating 70 years and for the Bond canon to still be seen as one who aet the original standard which has since been copied by others. It is not surprising that if readers are asked to name their favourite spies, Bond will always been on the list. Bond is of course one of the ultimate heroes in fiction.  Casino Royale is the best Ian Fleming novel in my opinion and if you are only going to read only one, this is it.




Sunday, 15 August 2021

Cinematic Bond at 60: National and International Perspectives - Call For Papers

 

A History Research Group Symposium

Bournemouth University (Online), 4 March 2022

Keynote Speaker: Professor Andrew Spicer (University of the West of England)

In 1962 the first James Bond film, Dr No (Terence Young) was released. The film was a huge financial success for EON productions, catapulted Sean Connery to lifelong stardom and started a period of Bondmania that lasted for most of the 1960s. As a cultural icon and cultural phenomenon, James Bond and the Bond film have become a globally recognised brand.

The films have been widely analysed for their spectacle, their often problematic engagement with masculinity, gender relations and cultural appropriation as well as the ideological implications of how they engage with their backdrop of social and geopolitical change across the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. 

With 2022 marking 60 years of the cinematic Bond and the latest instalment, No Time to Die (Cary Fukunaga), due (allegedly) for release in October 2021, critical reflections on this ongoing franchise are relevant and timely.

This one-day online symposium, hosted by the History Research Group at Bournemouth University, will offer delegates the opportunity to discuss and interrogate the Bond franchise across diverse concepts. We are especially keen for scholars from outside of the United Kingdom to bring international and transnational perspectives to the character of Bond and the films. Likely topics include but are not restricted to:

  • Gender
  • Class
  • Race and ethnicity
  • Imperialism and post-imperialism
  • Colonialism and post-colonialism
  • Cold War and/or Cold War I
  • Stars and stardom
  • Fashion/style/aesthetics
  • Music and/or sound design
  • Adaptation/adoption/appropriation
  • Fans and fandom
  • Audiences
  • Reviews and reception
  • Marketing and merchandise

Delegates will be invited to submit their papers for an intended edited collection to be published in the Routledge Studies of Espionage and Culture series.

We seek proposals for 20-minute papers, or for pre-constituted panels of three or four papers, that engage with any aspects of the above topic. 

Abstracts of no more than 300 words, along with a short biographical note, should be submitted for peer review to:

Dr Laura Crossley: lcrossley@bournemouth.ac.uk by 29th October 2021.


Thursday, 10 January 2013

BOND - Shaken not Stirred?

Now the that the 85th Annual Academy Award Nominations have been announced, it seems that the multi-million box office success that is SKYFALL has been snubbed in the main categories. However, it notches up 5 nominations for:
  • Achievement in music written for motion pictures (Original score) Thomas Newman
  • Achievement in music written for motion pictures (Original song) Music and Lyric by Adele Adkins and Paul Epworth
  • Achievement in sound editing - Per Hallberg and Karen Baker Landers
  • Achievement in sound mixing - Scott Millan, Greg P. Russell and Stuart Wilson
  • Achievement in cinematography - Roger Deakins



Good luck, 007
 

 
 
 
 

 
 
 

 

 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 

Saturday, 17 January 2009

James Bond Exhibition

Since 17 April 2008 the James Bond/Ian Fleming centenary exhibition has been taking place at the Imperial War Museum. This celebration of all things James Bond and Ian Fleming is a fascinating exhibition and one that should not be missed.

The exhibition includes personal belongings of Ian Fleming and his family and range from letters to Christmas stockings and all things in between along with photographs of his family, his time at Eton and his naval work. There are also a number of interactive screens (including a roulette wheel) which visitors are encouraged to play with. Alongside this there are artifacts from a number of James Bond films including the gun used by Scaramanga, the blood stained shirt worn by Daniel Craig in Casino Royale and my favourite Rosa Klebb's flick-knife shoes in From Russia with Love. There is also a collection of various James Bond books from throughout the world.

If you have not managed to see the exhibition then I would suggest that you hot foot it down to the Imperial War Museum as it is due to close soon, as a matter of fact on 1 March 2009.