OUR MAN FROM BOND STREET

A View to ... Nothing ?

2012-01-15T03:03:00.000-08:00

Alerted by some UK medias ( Daily Mail , The Sun and various internet websites ) by the beginning of the new year about the London bound shooting of Skyfall , I thought it'd be fun to pass by the area and have a look on the first unit at work .

Unfortunately , I arrived a bit late on the actual Trinity square spot .

Two full days after the shooting started there actually . Mind you , there was still some units at work, obviously .

Security was still tight ( impossible to enter the building , guarded by C&M Location Services people ) - meaning filming was still taking place inside .

Interestingly all the familiar yellow B23 ( cryptic ) signs had already disappeared from the area ( stolen by mad 007 collectors - or intentionally removed by the Production , not to alert them ? ) .

No one in the area seemed to have reliable information about the exact sequences filmed here ( and the Shooting panels posted here and there were excessively anonymous , as you can see ) .

As I was merely acting as a basic tourist , and not endorsing my Journalistic work cover , I refrained from texting Eon's current P.R to ask about the possibility of wandering closer to the set ...

Weather was beautiful with a clear blue sky , so I merely walk back home following the Thames , happy enough to have witnessed somehow a little part of the Skyfall shooting ...

Bond in Motion ( bicycle not included )

2011-12-16T02:58:00.000-08:00

BOND IN MOTION, opening January 2012 at the National Motor Museum, Beaulieu, is the world’s largest official collection of original James Bond vehicles.

After months of suspense, The National Motor Museum, Beaulieu and EON Productions are pleased to announce that BOND IN MOTION will be unveiled on 17th January 2012.

The exhibition will showcase 50 of the best loved and most iconic James Bond vehicles in celebration of the 50th year of James Bond.

BOND IN MOTION will run from January to December 2012 at Beaulieu. It will feature a range of vehicles which have appeared in Bond films over the years including cars, boats, motorbikes, sleds, jets and many more.

In addition, 2012 also marks the 40th anniversary of the world-famous National Motor Museum, a fitting year to be hosting a major new exhibition marking 50 years since the first James Bond film was screened.

Look out for more information coming to you very soon on BOND IN MOTION.

So you're fifty eh ? Soon reaching retirement age then ...

2011-10-17T05:40:00.000-07:00

As some of you may already know , was in London last week to check up various things ;

First thing I noticed while in the Tube were large adds for a new book dedicated to Ian Fleming's Elite Commando .
Checked later about that one at Harrington's , whose owner clearly advised me against buying said tome . Oh well , maybe for completists only then ?

Next on the agenda was of course a visit to Eon's offices - with two purposes .

First , trying to obtain the date of the Pinewood Studios Bond23 Production launch International Press conference ( rumoured to be happening next month ) .
Sorry to report that despite turning my old French charm full towards the lovely Blonde receptionist , I couldn't get a clear answer ( " If there were such a conference already planned , don't you think I'll be the first to know ? " kindly answered me the innocent creature ) .

Second : getting a lil' bit more informations about next year Beaulieu ' Bond in Motion ' unique exhibition .
Been a little bit more successful on that one , getting a teaser poster and various infos .
Exhibition will be opening January 2012 at the National Motor Museum in Beaulieu .
Teaser I'm reproducing below . Very classy . Very Bond . Very Vintage . Love it .
As a bonus , also got printed on that one the official 50th Anniversary logo , which I'm ashamed to say looks like the work of a 12 years old kid using PaintShop Pro for the very first time . Come on guys : don't you have better designers at Eon's who could just devise something , eerr , a bit more imaginative than this oh-so Classic Gunbarrel motive ?
It's the 50th Anniversary damnit , not just a tea Party ...
Note to future thiefs : I have colorized said logo - which was originally only in Black & White .

That was about all the news I learnt while being on British soil those last days .
Oh , and I saw a beautiful vintage DBS Aston Martin parked in Portobello Road too .
Unfortunately she was painted metallic blue ( mind you : a Bronze one would have do too ... ) .

Welcome to the home of James Bond Ancestors ?

2011-10-07T06:37:00.000-07:00

A Scottish castle is to play a starring role in the new James Bond film with main star Daniel Craig visiting Argyll to play the famous 007 special agent.

Scenes of the still unnamed “B23” ( although recent rumours have it already christened ' Skyfall ' ) , the 23rd Bond film to be made, will be filmed at Duntrune Castle on Poltalloch Estate near Lochgilphead in mid-Argyll.

The local business community has welcomed what will be a major boost to the economy.
According to local sources , shooting will depict an assault against the venerable mansion , and is supposed to take place by the ending of the film .
Scenery will have to be covered by fake snow - a decision which has been already notified to the concerned inhabitants .

James Bond fans will remember Scotland was already used as a 007 location in several movies - starting with the infamous McGregor Castle of Casino Royale ( the 1967 version ) , then appearing as a local MI6 undercover HQ in Twine ( 1999 ).Incidentally Terence Young also shot most of the Helicopter chase in FRWL ( 1963 ) in Scotland too ( passing it for Yugoslavia ) .
007 Afficionados will also remember the ending of the 1990 TV movie ' Ian Fleming Spymaker ' - which depicted an assault on a fortified castle , sequence was filmed in... Scotland .

Turkey and China are among the other locations, and Oscar-winning actress Dame Judi Dench, who took part in a fundraiser at Inveraray Castle in Argyll on Saturday night, will return in her role as “M”.

Director Sam Mendes has already visited Duntrune, famous for being the oldest constantly inhabited castle in Scotland, and filming is due to take place in February 2012.

So now you know where to spend your next year Winter holidays ...

A View To a Thrill

2011-07-31T01:14:00.001-07:00

Book project 1 updating : to all the people who helped me with the writing on my book on Fleming & the 007 saga , some details regarding publication .
Manuscript won't pass the quorum of Readers before Autumn now .
Should have been earlier but troubles with a so-called internal contact in the Publishing House delayed the whole operation .
Which actually may not be such a bad thing after all , since there's not quite much as a James Bond actuality these days ... Till the beginning of shooting of Bond23 this Autumn that is !

To entertain you , here are some variations on proposed covers dear friend of mine Stephane Tron created for the project . May he be eternaly thanked for those great designs of his .
Those are merely sort of concept art so far . Ideas just thrown in ( I've always found Nature Morte type of covers more striking than a casual illustration , how good they may be ) .

As a side point ,must confess I've been recently approached by a French publisher to write another book on the Bond saga - this time the Cinematographic one - to tie in with next year's 50th Anniversary hoopla ... But after initial positive contacts last month , a defeaning silence followed when I dared mentionning costs of Photographic material if book wasn't okayed by Eon / Danjaq - laughs ...

To see more of Stéphane's incredible Fan arts visit his own site at http://007art.free.fr/

New French Carte Blanche Competition

2011-07-13T10:49:00.000-07:00

Trying to entice potential Summer readers to discover the new Jeffery Deaver's James Bond adventure , Flammarion launches today a brand new competition - so simple to win even Austin Powers could enter !

You just have to answer three basic questions - so easy to find out when you take the time to surf onto the French promo website ...

And if you're lucky enough you could even win a brand new complete DvD box of Eon all 22 James Bond movies .

So what are you still doing there ?

A bit late but still ...France got its own Carte Blanche

2011-06-02T01:37:00.000-07:00

Each new Ian Fleming Publication James Bond novel is nowaday marketed like a Hollywood blockbuster .
With Press preview , Press launches and multi medias promotion campaign .

Such was of course the case of Carte Blanche , the latest Continuation novel ( although I guess this term isn't really favoured anymore by the IFP people...) penned by American Thrillers auteur Jeffery Deaver .

Promotion started last Summer - with an invitation to discover the new writer in London .
The operation was very hush hush - so secret indeed that no France medias ever reported the event...Despite frantic attempts by yours truly to try to raise the interest around that litterary reboot of Ian Fleming's most famous creation .

Cut to late May a year later , with the Press presentation of the new book set in London Saint Pancras very chic Champagne Bar , reputedly longest bar of Europe ( people will do everything these days to get into the Guiness Book of Records I guess... ) .

Having been kindly invited by the P.R people of Hodder & Stoughton and the Colman Gety agency , I was nonetheless forced to pass the invitation to a friend of mine based in the UK - for practical reason . Impossible to get an affordable EuroStar ticket for London less than a week before proposed departure date . Sigh .
Thanks to the superb Journalistic skills of the aforementionned friend ( none other than Simon Gardner, John Gardner's son ), we were able to present French James Bond fans with some exclusive photo reports of the whole day ( mucho gratias indeed , Mr Gardner Jr ! ) .

The book was due to be in store the very next day in England - May the 26th to be precise . As in most of the World - the English-speaking one , that is .
But the French publisher - Flammarion - has already selected another publication date of its own : a week later , June the 1rst .

At first I thought they had delayed publication because of internal problems ( getting the French translation right - which they almost managed . There are still some minor errors regarding military ranks and stuff ) but the reason was much more simple : Flammarion's own publication calendar was organised in a different time setting way - and they simply couldn't have proposed the French version of Carte Blanche by May the 26 as with the rest of the World .

So once again, people might say the French have done everything to be pointed at again but I can assure you that was merely due to a different publication calendar setting .

Last but not least : Flammarion issued a brand new French promo website to tie-in with the release - to which content I participated in some capacity.
http://www.007carteblanche.fr/

P.S : now that I have read the full novel I can safely state it is indeed a vast improvement upon the last one penned by Sebastian Faulks . Strangely enough I kept having the image of Daniel Craig while reading it . Oh , and don't be afraid by the publicity ' Re-boot ' stint . Re-boot it may be as was then labelled the ' Licence Renewed ' John Gardner first novel in 81 .
In short : Fans won't jump to the roof while reading the litterary 21rst Century adventures of Mr Bond .
Pfewww . Thank God for that !
On another hand , must sadly report the botched job done by Flammarion's translaters - who obviously didn't know scratch from the world of Fleming when they decided to tackle the job of translating Jeffery Deaver's work into French . Military inaccuracies , basic mispelling , and sometimes...complete misunderstanding of classic lines ( come on , who in the 21rst century cannot translate correctly ' shaken and stirred ' I ask you ? ) .
Which is rather sad for it anihilates most of the interest sustained by this great story .
Coincidently , Flammarion decided to try to ' re launch ' the title by mid July - following disappointingly low sales in the past month .
Heck, like I told'em ' you do not launch a Bond book with a zero promotion budget . ' ( which they did , unfortunately ) .

If you want to win a French edition of Carte Blanche - or a complete set of Eon 007 movies on DvD ! - , try the competition in the ' Concours ' part of the website

Carte Blanche : the French Promo site that never was

2011-05-30T04:41:00.000-07:00

It is rather well-known I'm considered as some kind of French specialist as far as 007 business is concerned .

Bearing in mind that two years ago , the French PR bureau in charge of Sebastian Faulk's DEVIL MAY CARE promo had shamelessly « borrowed » huge chuncks of the www.jamesbond-fr.com bio section , without first asking us ( things were promptly repared after a tonic mail from yours truly ) , we decided this time to directly propose the French Publishing House in charge of issuing Jeffery Deaver's Carte Blanche in French language some ideas of our own for the creation ( and administration ) of a brand new French site .

To achieve this effect , the main Web designer of jamesbond-fr.com worked round the clock to propose an original aproach – due to match my precise instructions .
Which were ' no girl with flaming gun in hand , no roaring car , no explosion and no nudity ' .

In short : a clean approach – to favor both 007 fans and new potential readers as well .

Our Web designer perfectly understood the point and rose to the challenge .

We had consequently by mid March some pages to show to the French Publisher .

And then Fate torpedoed us in the guise of someone I met on FaceBook – arguing he was himself working in that very same Publishing House .
We had several common friends I trusted , so I accept him amongst my FB relatives , and then naturally asked him to forward the CB promo website proposition to the right person .

It then seems a much more trustee and faster way to get in touch with the right persons , don't you think ?

WRONG !

Cut to one month later ( April ) and roughly thirty mails later : we still hadn't heard back from the French Publishing House PR bureau .
I had a nagging feeling in my stomach and began to reconsider the validity of using that FaceBook ' Friend ' as a go-between .

Comes May – a rather busy month for me with its annual Cannes International Film Festival .
By then, I had finally heard again from the mysterious FB guy , who even had the nerves to ask me where I was staying during the Festival ( assuring he was going to appear there by the second week ) . Never saw him there .

Back in Paris by mid May , I was now officially seriously worried .

It was obvious our proposed French Promo site project couldn't be used anymore – we simply didn't have enough time left before the French launch ( June the 1rst ) to do a proper job as we thought earlier back in March .

I decided then to fluke the unofficial approach and simply try to directly contact the PR bureau .

I had been fortunately in touch earlier with one of the two translators hired to do the French version of Carte Blanche , and that person kindly pointed me – minutes after receiving my email – to the Attachée de Presse put in charge of the French promotion .

Turned out she NEVER received our own project , was sincerely sorry to learn we had put time and labour to try to submit that , and was , of course , interested at once by a proposed collaboration .

Heck, after all, www.jamesbond-fr.com is the biggest 007 French site in term of connections per day , quite simply ...

So here we are .
Do enjoy two of the proposed French Carte Blanche website pages we worked on three months ago ...
And which , mysteriously , never managed to reach the P.B Bureau in time to be officially considered .

Lesson to be learn : beware your FaceBook friends .
You may think it's Daniel Craig answering you but it could also be some nerd frantically typing from his bedroom ...

Carte Blanche... A la Carte !

2011-05-19T04:20:00.001-07:00

We are glad to report we'll be working in advisory capacity with the P.R agency in charge of the French Carte Blanche promo campaign .
French release date of the book will be June the first ( due to a peculiar Flammarion publishing calendar , title couldn't be announced on May the 26th as with the international editions ) .

The French cover will be – in all modesty – one of the best looking of the whole bunch with a silver Ian Fleming Publication 007 logo impressed on the Carte Blanche motive ( several variations were proposed till that one was finally agreed by all parties and decided upon ) .

No gadget tie-ins this year ( such as the mini Devil May Care booklet which was inserted as a freebie in various French newspapers ) but a massive huge poster campaign in Train Stations and Metro .

The name's Armstrong... Vic Armstrong ...

2011-04-26T08:48:00.000-07:00

Received today copy of Robert Sellers's Vic Armstrong biography " The True Adventures of the World's Greatest StuntMan " .

The CV of that guy would make any decent Film fan blemish with awe ( Some fan - namely Steven Spielberg himself - signed the introduction of the book ... ) .

Am about to devour it by the night .

More details tomorrow...

" No well dressed man should be without one..."

2011-04-13T14:04:00.000-07:00

One of the most memorable stunt of the 4th James Bond movie ( Thunderball ) appears in its precredits sequence . 007 escapes the Villain's lair by casually flying off the turrets of the Chateau d'Anet , using a revolutionary type of vehicle , the Jet Pack .

The Jetpack is actually a Bell Rocket Belt, a fully functional rocket pack device. It was designed for use in the army, but was rejected because of its short flying time of 21-22 seconds. Powered by hydrogen peroxide, it could fly about 250m and reach a maximum altitude of 18m, going 55km/h.

Despite its impracticality in the real world, the Jetpack made a spectacular debut in Thunderball. Although Sean Connery is seen in the takeoff and landings, the main flight was piloted by Gordon Yeager and Bill Suitor.

You have been dreaming about flying a personal jetpack for way too long.

Your wait is finally over! Jetlev Technologies, Inc. is proud to introduce the Jetlev R200, the recreational jetpack that almost anyone can enjoy over water.

It is designed for safety, stability, ease-of-use, and precise and effortless flight controls. Learn basic flight with video-assisted training on land and as little as six minutes of on-water instructions.

No other flying device even comes close to the Jetlev R200’s stability, agility and ease of use. Feel as one with the jetpack when you fly, and experience levitation flight so stable that you feel as if you are suspended on cables.

The three-dimensional degree of freedom will thrill and enthrall you like nothing else you have ever experienced.

You can fly over deep open water with the assurance that it is one of the safest power sports ever invented.

The Jetlev R200 will forever change our pre-conceived notions about personal flight!

You Only Read Twice ( if it's a good book )

2011-03-25T09:49:00.000-07:00

Okay , think you know your litterary James Bond , eh ?

Here's a selection of rarely seen ( some would say ' almost mythical ' ) titles linked to the agent with a Licence to Kill ...

First , the 1967 pastiche ' Holmes Meets 007 ' - written by journalist Donald Stanley in 1964 . In which the 221b Baker Street duo encounters James Bond and M in very unusual circumstances ... Two limited series of the book were produced , running from number 1 to 221 (b , of course ) plus 25 additional copies for friends & family ( numbered I to XXV ) .

Then we have the strange case of the supposedly real Glidrose approved novel ' The Killing Zone ' - which finally turns out to be everything but official !

The Killing Zone relates the story of 007 going after a drug lord in Mexico after his friend and colleague, Bill Tanner, is murdered by said Villain ( plot looking suspiciously like the 16th James Bond film , Licence To Kill , released four years later ) . Book is known about the Fan communauty mainly for its shocking ending , with the funeral at sea of Commander Bond ( in grand You Only Live Twice - filmwise , tradition . ) .

Initially published ( or so it seems ) in 1985 , the precise year no new John Gardner official 007 novel appears on the market , it finally turned out to be nothing but a fraud from a so-called Thriller writer ( actually an ex convict ) apparently badly in need of some publicity ...

More recently - in 1997 - surfaces in official merchant sites ( such as Amazon ) the strange ' Your Deals , Mr Bond ' ( Not to be mixed with John Gardner's ' No Deals , Mr Bond ' novel ) - which even appears to be included into Wikipedia datas research pool .

A collection of bridge-related short stories published by B.T Batsford .

The title piece is a short story featuring James Bond, who is assigned by M to defeat a villain named Saladin who is threatening to explode nuclear bombs in several major cities ( with a plot like this , you could be forgiven for thinking said book is written by a tenth grade pupil...).

Carte Blanche : Your Mission , should you decide to accept it ...

2011-01-25T04:32:00.000-08:00

Wonderful stuff received this very day in my mail box ( the real one - not the Matrix-like ones ) : an A4 plain white enveloppe encrusted with the literary 007 logo . Send by Hodder & Stoughton ...

Enveloppe seemed to contain unusual stuff when I picked it up : surprise , a brand new MP4 reader , complete with set of headphones , Usb link and a Press announcement about Mr Jeffery Deaver's next James Bond novel ( you know , the one with a French title . Hoorray ) .

Truly Mission: Impossible stuff ... Was almost expecting after fiddling with the controls that the thing casually blew in my face .

( Have to confess that , although being myself a true geek regarding new technology gadgets , I'm definitly not the Engineer type . You know , the one who can instantly understand how works the latest Tokyo manufactured gadget ...)

Hence a few minutes ( nah, let's be honest : a good half an hour ! ) fighting with the thingie , just to try to have it ,well, ...Passing on its ' on ' mode .

Don't laugh , I'm embarassed enough .

Anyway , the Technika MP4 Player containts the Carte Blanche video animation ( which can be seen on the official site ) , music tracks ( 2 ) , Radio tuning , Recording function, etc.,etc...

Hats down to the Communication bureau who thought of that great idea .

Haven't had such fun since receiving the blue Promo diskettes for the Independance Day movie launch way back in 1996 .

Can't help wishing to have next a vintage Aston Martin DB5 parked right in front of my house in Paris , with a buxom Blonde as Chauffeur ...Come on, Hodder & Stoughton, please ...

EXCLUSIVE REPORT 3 : “ A Jeffery Deaver novel but set in the world that Ian Fleming created. “

2011-01-21T02:52:00.000-08:00

We were lucky enough to have our own very special correspondent at Dubaï being able to attend Mr Jeffery Deaver's first official Public Conference as the new James Bond thriller writer.

In the last part of her report , we'll learn more tantalising titbits about the plot of Carte Blanche...
Once again, a big " thank you " to our special correspondent for bringing us that exclusive report .
Text & Photo copyrighted Miss N.Cloet 2011 - Editing & Publishing copyright Media Bis 2011 . Report written by Nathalie Cloet

( M. Jeffery Deaver ) continues to explain that if a scene is approached in a certain way (using example of the Goldfinger book intro – bond sits reflecting at airport after killing an assassin), we start to think about the consequences of taking a human life, and our way of thinking is elevated.

When asked why he gave up working as a lawyer, Mr Deaver explained: “So many lawyers become writers because we hate practicing law.” He knew when he was very young that he wanted to write fiction, and was writing novels while doing several jobs. He shredded his first book, because he was embarrassed to read it. He was 40 years old when he was making enough money to quit working as a lawyer, and now enjoys very much going to the office in pyjamas.

He takes about one year to write a book, of which 9 months is spent on research and an extensive outline (170 pages).

Two months is spent writing the actual book (about 40 pages per day) and one month is spent editing. Carte Blanche is 99 % finished, only some editing is left to do.

When asked how much freedom he was given to write the Bond novel, he explained that they - Jeffery Deaver and Ian Fleming Publishing company - first settled on common ground, and immediately agreed to set the novel in contemporary time.

At the same time, Carte Blanche will be a Jeffery Deaver novel, written in his own style, featuring James Bond. All in all, he called it “a very enjoyable mutual project”.

On the question of who he had in mind as Bond when writing the book, he answered that he had seen most of the movies, but has the imprint in mind from the books, where Ian Fleming described Bond as resembling Hoagy Carmichael ( who was also the base of the Daily Express Comic strips adaptations of Ian Fleming's novels .NdA ) . He also stated that he was delighted to be associated with Bond, but that he had not thought beyond Carte Blanche, as he is currently busy with other books.

Finally, the last question that was permitted from the audience was to ask if the minor characters from the Bond series: M, Q, Moneypenny would be present in the book.

He explained that this would be a Jeffery Deaver novel but set in the world that Ian Fleming created. All characters will be updated to fit the time period. “I wanted to move seamlessly” he stated, and also hinted that we might see accessories that we seem familiar with, and characters will be familiar but suitably updated. The women, similar to the women Ian Fleming created, will be very strong and resourceful.

The event ( which lasted about two hours ) concluded with a rendering of “Nobody does it Better” once more sung by Celeste, and addressed to Mr. Deaver himself, after which he kindly was available for autographs on both his existing books or book inserts for Carte Blanche.

Nathalie Cloet – Special agent “ Live “ from the Dubai Emirate airlines Festival of Literature 2011 .
© Media Bis

Acknowledgments : Lucy Charasse ( Colman Gety ) ; http://www.emirateslitfest.com/ ; Mr Jeffery Deaver; Miss Nathalie ( Tintin ) Cloet .

EXCLUSIVE REPORT 2 - " With Villains , anything goes ! "

2011-01-20T10:37:00.000-08:00

We were lucky enough to have our own very special correspondent at Dubaï being able to attend Mr Jeffery Deaver's first official Public Conference as the new James Bond thriller writer.

In the second part of her report , we'll learn tantalising titbits about the plot of Carte Blanche .

Text & Photo copyrighted Miss N.Cloet 2011 - Editing & Publishing copyright Media Bis 2011 .
Report written by Nathalie Cloet

He ( James Bond ) is carried forward into the current age, Deaver’s Bond is 30-something, born in the late 70’s, and very much follows his own conscience.
On why Bond is so influential throughout the years: “Bond is not a cardboard character hero. He has a great deal of depth, Fleming made him question a lot of things. He is a real, a flawed individual. At times he hurts, and has difficulty doing what he does.”

On how Bond has influenced his own life: Mr. Deaver admitted to being a “nerd” growing up, socially inept, and drawn to reading Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Sherlock Holmes.
He picked up his first Fleming book at age 8 or 9, and feels that Fleming set the standard for Crime fiction for him, and that he was disappointed by other writers when reading them afterwards.

He calls himself a very plot-driven author, and thinks of himself as sick & twisted.
He works up to 10 hours a day.

He stated that it is very rare for a writer to be in his situation, where he makes a living as an author.

He uses only 10% of his ideas in actual books, and as is well-known, all of his books have 2-3 big surprise endings, including Carte Blanche.

He stated that he will never kill his protagonists, just as he will never hurt children or animals.
So, it will be quite likely that James Bond will survive this adventure. (Thank God in name of all Bondfans! ) .

Unfortunately Bond did not find time during this adventure to go for a sauna and a swim, or take a tour of the Burj Khalifa.

Mr. Deaver wants people to stay up late reading, and after having finished the book saying “That was fun”, not “I learned something”, but “I enjoyed that”.

On the subject of villains, Mr. Deaver commented: “With villains, anything goes. One can create the most sick and twisted characters. My villains echo Ian Fleming’s villains: quirky, unique, larger than life and passionate. Every character has a sense of depth.”

He explained wanting to step away from stereotypical villains (a banker for a US bank) or stereotypical henchmen ( “a guy with my hairstyle and a ponytail, a leather jacket and a goatee” ).

“We need a villain who is as smart and rugged as our hero, but more ruthless than him, so that when our hero defeats the villain, there is a resonance with the reader.”

WATCH THIS SPACE FOR NEXT MONDAY FINAL PART OF THE REPORT !

EXCLUSIVE REPORT - " State of Excitement : Jeffery Deaver onstage appearance at the Dubai Emirate Airlines Festival of Literature "

2011-01-20T05:29:00.000-08:00

PART 1

We were lucky enough to have our own very special correspondent at Dubaï being able to attend Mr Jeffery Deaver's first official Public Conference as the new James Bond thriller writer.

Text & Photo copyrighted Miss N.Cloet 2011 - Editing & Publishing copyright Media Bis 2011 .

Report written by Nathalie Cloet

Tuesday, 18 January 2011.

The location where the event was being held, the Dubai Cultural and Scientific Association is quite a while away from the city centre.

A small book stand was set up by Magrudy’s, containing mainly Ian Fleming and Jeffery Deaver novels, although some young bond books and the odd copy of Devil May Care could be found as well.

Here one could also purchase the “special book plates” mentioned in the press that Mr. Deaver would be signing after the event. A bit disappointing, as these turn out to be just stickers one can stick in the book afterwards.

In the audience we find mainly what seems to be academics and general literature fans, I felt rather alone as an actual Bondfan in the room !

With a small delay, at about 8.10 pm, the event started with a short film, showing excerpts of the Bond films, of course starting with a few of the gunbarrels ;

Followed by an elegant performance by local singer “Celeste” in a sparkling black dress, singing Diamonds Are Forever, Goldfinger and Goldeneye.

Finally, the hostess of the evening, Shahnaz Pakravan , introduced Jeffery Deaver to the audience, in his 1st public appearance as a James Bond author, as Jeffery 00-Deaver, to which he jokingly replied that he prefers “Deaver. Jeffery Deaver”.

Upon being asked how he came to write the Bond novel, Mr. Deaver explained being approached by Ian Fleming publications in the month of November 2009 and after debating for about 7 seconds said yes to this opportunity.

He then immediately decided to set the story in Dubai, as he had travelled to Dubai previously, and had then decided to set a book in the city.

He did specify that he had seen more than the “tourist” side of Dubai, and would feature that in the book. He called this the “Wikipedia trap”, merely stating facts and pictures that can be found anywhere online. “A book needs emotional resonance, not facts”.

On how much Dubai will feature in the book: “Secret agents are standing backstage and will whisk me off if I say too much” joked Mr. Deaver, though explaining that it is a typical Bond book, in the mold that Ian Fleming created.

James Bond gets an assignment, and different leads take him to different locations.

In Dubai ,there is some very fast paced action, races through the streets.

He finds the locals very helpful, and has some wonderful food & drinks along the way.

“Bond has made an indelible impression on Dubai, just as Dubai has made an indelible impression on Bond.

”
“James Bond is a hero in the traditional sense of being a hero, willing to lay his life on the line for his country in the line of duty, although always wondering if what he is doing is the right thing to do”

WATCH THIS SPACE FOR PART 2 OF THE EXCLUSIVE REPORT !

Remerciements : Lucy Chavasse - Colman Getty ; http://emirateslitfest.com/. ; Mr Jeffery Deaver ; Nathalie Cloet

James Bond à la Carte : a Photo report

2011-01-20T00:23:00.000-08:00

Our local correspondent , Miss Nathalie Cloet , was present at Jeffery Deaver 's Dubaï Emirate Airlines Festival of Literature tuesday Public conference .

The writer discussed the art of Thriller writing in front of a captivated audience .

Complete and detailled review of the event will be available soon .

Young Bond author Charlie Higson will make himself an appearance for a conference titled 'The making of Young Bond'
( Event set on Friday 11 March, 15:00-16:00Al Baraha 2, InterContinental Hotel ) .

We have people everywhere...

Watch this space for more exclusive info .

Acknowledgment : Miss N.Cloet
Photos copyrighted Media Bis / N.Cloet - Do not reproduce without authorization .

James Bond is given...CARTE BLANCHE

2011-01-16T23:29:00.000-08:00

U.S Writer Jeffery Deaver revealed this morning the title of his new James Bond thriller at Dubaï , during a World wide Book event .

The new novel will be entitled CARTE BLANCHE ( we French undoubtly appreciate the nod ...And hope our local publisher won't change it for some ' Operation Carte Blanche ' or something * ... ) .

Seems only natural since ( prominent ) part of the story will take place in the Emirates ( more precisely the Deira and Port Saeed areas ) .

As a bonus we just learnt that les Editions Flammarion ( which already published in France Sebastian Faulk's Devil May Care ) will offer French fans a translation of Monsieur Deaver's 007 oeuvre .
Crossing fingers that no one will want an original title of their own for the French readers now...

More details on the plot are also promised to surface soon ...

In the meantime , enjoy that ' auto production ' promo clip ( edited from official sources ) .

Keep reading this blog !

* : First Gallimard French title of Goldfinger being... Operation Chloroforme !

Here we go again...At last !

2011-01-11T12:12:00.000-08:00

MGM announced today , January , tuesday the 11th of 2011, that "BOND 23" is set to go into production in late 2011.
Michael G. Wilson and Barbara Broccoli of EON Productions, together with Gary Barber and Roger Birnbaum, the Co-Chairmen and Chief Executive Officers of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc., today announced that the 23rd James Bond film will have a worldwide release on November 9, 2012.

Daniel Craig will be returning as the legendary British secret agent ( sigh... ) , with Sam Mendes directing a screenplay written by Neal Purvis, Robert Wade and John Logan.
That script is being kept under wraps - and likely to be very different from the synopsis submitted earler last year by Peter Morgan, then attached to the production .

As we all know , the reason for the 007 delay is because it took that long for MGM's future to sort itself out what with the failed auction sale of the studio, then the pre-packaged bankruptcy getting approval, and eventually Spyglass taking over studio filmmaking.

MGM, which received a cash infusion last month of $500 million, had been expected to move quickly to lock down Craig and Mendes for the project in order to take advantage of the 50th anniversary of the Bond franchise.

Last but not least , MGM has already been working up plans for a 2012 yearlong commemoration of the golden anniversary of the first Bond pic, 1962's "Doctor No." ( this being the actual quotation of the Variety article dedicated to that annoucement . ) . Better warm up the Visa card I'd say ...
YAY !

Reflections on the Past ...

2010-12-12T02:27:00.000-08:00

Can you remember what was the very first James Bond film you saw at a Cinema ?
I can .
In December 1971 , an uncle and a cousin of mine ( twice my young age ) decided to take me to the movies during the Christmas holidays .
Since I had already seen it , I couldn't be dragged to the latest Disney flick as usual ( The Aristocats had opened some time earlier that month ) .
I wasn't too much of a Western fan , so seeing ' Once Upon A Time In The West ' was out of the question ( not even sure a 9 years old would have been admitted here ).
" Diamonds Are Forever " had opened in Paris on December the 20th ( same date as England . The film premiered in the USA a few days earlier , on December the 17th ) .
My mischievous nexts of kin decided they weren't going to waste a whole afternoon watching kiddie stuff , so they deliberatly opted for the latest James Bond flick...

I should point out both of them were fans of sort of the British agent , having already seen most of the previous entries of the series ( my cousin had spent his own childhood in New York and was therefore more versed into anglo-saxon culture . He also introduced me to The Beatles , but that's another story ...).

Anyway , to the little boy I was then, the Guy Hamilton romp truly blew me away ...To the point of influencing my future professionnal life .
I clearly remember being terrified by the Slumber inc. episode , and extremely intrigued by the 007 number appearing on the film poster - which I then assimilated to the handle of a...Saucepan (for months I tried to duplicate it , always getting it wrong , and wondering how the hell I ended up with a kitchen appliance while Sean Connery had a perfect gun ! ) .

Anyway , the damage was done (...Forever ) on that fateful Saturday of December 1971 .

And two years later , the infernal pair took me to see " Live And Let Die " . My fate was sealed .

Les Diamants sont éternels (Trailer)
envoyé par cjbf. - Les dernières bandes annonces en ligne.

Report from London - November 2010

2010-12-02T03:30:00.000-08:00

Met various interesting parties while being in London last week .
First , journalist Robert Sellers - busy writing another Bond inclined book , due to be published next year in Britain .
Cannot talk about its subject yet , but it will deal with a proeminent figure of the Movie Bond universe ...
Also learnt interesting new titbits about the proposed Leo DiCaprio Ian Fleming biography movie ( still only in talks for the moment it seems )

Also met Mrs Sylvan Manson , daughter of screenwriter Jack Wittingham ( involved in the tortuous story of the creation of the first 007 movie screenplay in the late 50s ) .
Am still wondering if Mrs Manson is indeed allowed to sell reproductions of those early stroyboarded sequences of a proposed ' Thunderball ' adaptation though...Dangerous waters there...

Finally passed at the Fleming Art gallery and had a look on their latest exhibition ( not 007 related ).

Oh , and had the pleasant surprise of receiving back home Mr Jeffery Deaver's answers to my online interview of him sent some time ago ...

Everything that glitters is not gold

2010-10-26T13:00:00.000-07:00

Readers of this blog already know my ( unbiased ) opinion about the new ' re-invention ' of the vintage Rare ' GoldenEye ' game - based on the Pierce Brosnan 1995 debut movie .

I just tested the new Activision game at the Paris 2010 Game Show ...

Activision had done things well : the GE stand was virtually the first stand the visitor will stumble upon when entering the huuuuge place .

A platform has been erected with multi-screens , allowing people to test various levels of the game .

An Aston-Martin DBS was parked besides it , and various glamourous hostesses were ' at hand ' if any male 007 afficionado looks a bit perplexed ...

The girls were all dressed in gold lamé dresses , and for a moment I thought I was transported back in time at the Premiere of ' Goldfinger ' ...

As for the game itself , well, I played a classic ' shoot your opponent ' dual screen level .

Nothing new there ( as usual , it took me some time to adapt to the split screen, allowing my adversary to blast me to smithereens in ten seconds the first time we played... ) .

That level was FPS-like , so the perspective of playing Daniel Craig playing Pierce Brosnan playing 007 wasn't too harsh to deal with ...

But it still remains nevertheless the main point of my angst : why, o why remaking a classic game ( and a classic film - to some extent ) and changing the lead with the current actor / incarnation of James Bond ?

A bright idea from the Activision Consumer dpt . , surely thinking potential buyers of the game won't remember an old movie from 1995 - and will associate only agent 007 with Daniel Craig ?

It feels somehow...awkward to see Craig performing ( re-acting ? ) Pierce's moves , and delivering his lines ( the actor dubbed himself for that game ) .

Perhaps to tone down that bizarre impression of deja vu , screen - and videogame - writer Bruce Fernstein changed some locations during the course of the story : for instance , the Tiger Helicopter theft in Monte-Carlo is replaced by a similar plot devise set in Dubaï...

As for the level I tested , nothing new under the sun I must say ...

I would have liked much more to be able to test Blood Stone , but this later title seems to be purposely ' toned down ' by Activision in favor of the GE one : only the opening credits sequence was screened on some monitors , and there was only one panel decorated with the title cum Daniel Craig pose...

My verdict is still dangerously low regarding the newest Activision efforts .

I will perhaps change my mind regarding Blood Stone when I'll get a complete preview version, but I'm pretty sure GE won't get my approval even if it turns out to be one of the very best game of all time ( which I greatly doubt ) ...

Book of the Century : George Lazenby's autobiography to be published !

2010-10-11T09:35:00.000-07:00

Great news forwarded to me from the 2010 Frankfurt Book Fair via movie critic mastermind Tony Crawley : the autobiography of George Lazenby, the man who had the unenviable task of inheriting James Bond’s shoes after Sean Connery, has been taken off the table by Century.

John Elek of AP Watt sold the book by Lazenby, who was working as a car salesman and model before playing 007 in On Her Majesty’s Secret Service.

Tentatively titled "The Other Fella", the book will be released by Century Publishing House in spring 2012.

At least , the man himself will put to rest all the rumours still surrounding the shooting of that film ( Dame Diana Rigg herself refused to answer my questions about it some years ago ... ) .

OHMSS remains the best of the non-Connery Bonds - if not the best of the entire series of films produced so far by Eon Productions .

Although it doesn’t have the so-so realistic approach of the most recent films , but stick instead to the original Ian Fleming novel ( thanks to Richard Maibaum's fantastic script ) , the 6th James Bond film can in all honesty still be descrided as nothing short of a masterpiece .

Many thanks to Tony Crawley

Not the Property of a Lady but...John Griswold's Ian Fleming / James Bond Collection Auction Sale

2010-09-27T18:59:00.000-07:00

A one in a lifetime event : courtesy of a friend of the Ian Fleming Foundation, I've been forwarded the catalog of the future John Griwold's Ian Fleming - James Bond collection Auction , due to take place on October the 4th.

Prepare to be salivating like an enraged dog : Mr Griswold's Bond material collection is indeed astronomical ...

From an original Jonathan Cape Ian Fleming Casino Royale first printing edition ( priced between $ 10.000 / 30.000 ) to unknown Robert McGinnis Diamonds Are Forever film teaser posters , not forgetting rare promo material , a complete Queen Ann Press Ian Fleming novels limited edition set , a gold painted plaster bust of Ian Fleming or a unique hand painted porcelaine figure of Shirley Eaton , a 14k gold S.P.E.C.T.R.E ring , etc. , etc. that auction will certainly be remembered as one of the best 007 orientated style one ever .

A long life James Bond enthusiast since the early 1960s , Mr Griswold is best known as the author of the definitive Fleming 's work study , the unique " Ian Fleming's James Bond : Annotations & Chronologies for Ian Fleming Bond stories " , published in 2005 .

Direct link to catalogue of items :

www.artfact.com/catalog/searchLots.cfm?scp=c&catalogRef=PBJD2AI7NJ

Go ahead, Blofeld : Make my day !

2010-09-08T16:17:00.001-07:00

It was more or less known amongst film fans & movie historians that Clint Eastwood has been aproached to replace Sean Connery as James Bond in the 1970s ( Cubby Broccoli recalled the event in his memoirs ' When the Snow melts ' ) .

Director Guy Hamilton confirmed me on a couple of times that United Artists wanted a big US name to carry on the franchise .

They were even considering Burt Reynolds ( fresh from John Boorman's Deliverance ) to step into the British spy's shoes ...

At the times , Clint Eastwood was best known for his parts in the Sergio Leone so called Spaguetti Westerns ( where he played some sort of recurrent character , promptly nicknamed ' the man with no name ' by Critics & audience alike ) .

" I was offered pretty good money to do Bond , confirmed today the acclaimed actor turned director , this was after Connery left . My lawyer represented the Broccolis and he came and said ' they would love to have you ' . But to me , well, that was somebody's else's gig . That was Sean's deal . It didn't feel right for me to do it . I always like characters that are more grounded in reality . Maybe they do super things or more-than-human things - like Dirty Harry he has a knack for doing crazy things - but still they're not caped crusaders ...

Although it could be considered as pure heresy to have an American actor impersonnating Ian Fleming's creation, I for one think that some of the Dirty Harry's best lines & quips would have perfectly worked in a more serious Bond context approach ( à la Daniel Craig ) ...But not , I repeat NOT , for the tongue-in-cheek approach chosen by the film producers for the 7th entry of the Eon series , the comedy-enhanced Diamonds Are Forever ...

Many thanks to Tony Crawley for sending me the original info .

Back in Bond Age ...

2010-08-23T03:32:00.000-07:00

Back in Bond Age !

Wonderful surprise in my mail box today : a big package ( so big it completely fullfilled my box ) was waiting for me .

The sender ?

Hodder & Stoughton - London.

After unwrapping the big brown box ( posted from...Switzerland ) , I feverishly opened it , to discover various pieces of interest inside .

- A signed harcover copy of Jeffery Deaver's The Burning Wire .

- A copy of Jeffery Deaver's Garden of Beast .

- An enveloppe , marked ' Private & confidential ' , with an instruction letter and a personnalized encoded badge ( ' for future development ' ) .

- A copy of Ian Fleming's From Russia With Love ( not signed . Damnit ) .

- A cd with a video intervention of Mr Deaver himself ( a real - and completely unexpected - threat ) .

Now, that's what I call intelligent marketing .

Makes you feel like Jim Phelps at the beginning of a new mission of the I.M.F ( fortunately nothing catched fire after I read the instruction message ) .

Almost nothing revealed on Mr Deaver's future blockbuster ( correction...Nothing at all , to be honest ! ) , but having definitly the journalist hooked for more !

Congratulations to all parties involved - and of course to Mr Jeffery Deaver for kindly autographing me a copy of his book and taking time to record that video message , even if I couldn't attend last month's London event .

Blisterin' barnacles : has James Bond copied Tintin ?

2010-08-19T01:23:00.000-07:00

It's common knowledge amongst movie-goers that next year will be the Tintin year with the release of the Steven Spielberg produced first movie , directed by unknown New Zealand filmmaker Peter Jackson...

Thought it'd be interesting to go back to the first live action movie inspired by the adventures of Tintin , and pinpoint some interesting trivias with another world wide known hero...

Shooting of the movie ( titled ' Tintin & the Golden Fleece ' ) began on May the 2cd of 1961 ( at the times , a certain Ian Fleming was still trying to get 007 on the screen via a movie tentatively called ' Thunderball ' ) .

Locations chosen for that first adventure were : Istanbul , Macedonia ( proemently featuring the Meteora area ) , Greece and Yugoslavia...
Which will then be used again by Eon production less than 3 years later for their second James Bond film, From Russia With Love .

Amazingly , the Meteora location is just used for the scenery ...While there is indeed a 'climbing' sequence of some sort in the Tintin adventure ,when the reporter had to escape a huge tower in Istanbul by slowly descending along its wall using a tigh rope (see pic ) .
Further on in the story Tintin & Captain Haddock have to meet a priest up in the San Stefano monastery , and casually climb up using a small track along the moutain ...Which has obviously disappeared in 1981 when James Bond and his party decided to pay a visit to the very same area in For Your Eyes Only .
( See caption of the Tintin movie when they passed by the house where the winch is located in the John Glen flick .)

Interestingly , although the Eon team had to make do with irrate protesting monks during their shooting of the For Your Eyes Only final sequence, the monastery had welcome Tintin with open arms...

Terence Young himself used to say that the James Bond movies were really only Tintin adventures for grown ups .
The man who created the screen 007 obviously knew what he was talking about ...

Back to the Future : Goldeneye 2010

2010-07-21T04:46:00.000-07:00

Ok , no new film on the horizon but two new ' virtual adventures ' lined up for the end of the year ...

On a personnal level , I just find the idea of using the title of a Pierce Brosnan movie for a Daniel Craig game version totally...Hideous , but I can easily understand the marketing behind that unholy decision.

Find it rather tedious though to hear exactly the very same orchestration of the James Bond Theme both for the Blood Stone AND Goldeneye wii games - the one used by Eon to introduce viewers to Daniel Craig's 007 in Casino Royale in the official movie trailer that is .

Is it an obligation from Danjaq , or merely a cruel lack of inspiration from both Bizarre creation and Eurocom ( developpping the new Goldeneye instalment for Activision ), I wonder ?

Come on people : watch again the inspired teaser trailers from the classic movies ( ' This man has a Licence To Kill . It means he can kill whom he chooses , where he chooses , when he chooses ' ...) and come up with something a little more original...

" Ever wanted to be a 00 agent ? "

" A Licence to play "

" For Your Wii Only "

Tales from the Crypt

2010-07-21T02:02:00.001-07:00

Distinguised members of the World Press and 007 fans alike were invited today by the Ian Fleming Publication company to briefly meet the new James Bond author , Mr Jeffery Deaver .

Location of the event was the gothic Hammer-like crypt under St Andrew church in Holborn, London .

A place which would have seem more suitable for a meeting with, say, J.K Rowlinds or Dacre Stocker... Very cloak and dagger atmosphere.

Lucky attendees were introduced one by one to Mr Deaver, and then disposed of twenty minutes each to ask their questions to the writer .

No press kit was made available at the time as a reminder of the meeting .

Wild guess : what about the official book launch at Buckhingham Palace next year ?

Stone Bleeding : Blood Stone , the newest James Bond videogame

2010-07-16T08:27:00.001-07:00

Activision has finally announced its new James Bond game, helmed by Project Gotham Racing and Blur developer Bizarre Creations. Featuring an original story by Bruce Feirstein (who penned the screenplay for GoldenEye , worked on revisions on both T.N.D and Twine , and created the script for 2003's Bond game, Everything or Nothing), James Bond 007: Blood Stone features a mix of third-person cover-based shooting, hand-to-hand combat and "adrenaline-fuelled driving sequences" on land , sea -- and air , with various nods to past movie Bonds stunt sequences.

Daniel Craig will reprise his role as suave spy guy ( his videogame avatar looking particulary bland) alongside Judi Dench, who once again plays stern boss lady "M." Grammy award-winning singer Joss Stone will be playing Blood Stone's obligatory gun-toting secret agent colleague and temptress . Miss Stone also provides the game's original theme song, "I'll Take it All," with a little help from Dave Stewart from the Eurythmics.

Judging from its visually inspired credits sequence , very reminiscent of the Casino Royale and Die Another Day ones , the script of the game - and its title - seems to refer to those famous ' conflict diamonds ' hinted at during 007's 20th cinematographic mission...

The game was officially introduced to the World Press on wenesday, July the 14th , Activision held the "Bond Event 2010" at the One Marylebone conference venue in central London, parking an Aston Martin outside the doors to let invited guests know they were at the right place ( what else is new , then ) .

Bizarre's James Bond 007: Blood Stone is set to launch on PC, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 this holiday season. N-Space is developing a DS version for the same time frame.

Bond 23 officially pronounced dead ?

2010-07-02T00:56:00.000-07:00

In a tragic case of History repeating , the Bond 23 production future is beginning to look more and more like the ill fated Bond 17 one...
Various sources quoted the Eon crew - which was supposedly working on the pre-production of the movie before the official April announcement of the delay due to the MGM financial troubles , had been now told that the film was ' officially canned ' .

The situation now seems to mirror the way the third Timothy Dalton movie - advertised at the 1990 Cannes Film Festival under the code name ' Bond 17 ' - is repeating itself .

Another nail in the coffin of the ill fated Bond 23 production is the fact that strictly no annoucements , news or Press release regarding the mere status of the movie have been made during the whole latest 63rd Cannes International Film Festival . Not a whimp, not even gossips . Utter ( and defeaning ) silence...

It should be noted however that no official Press statement has been yet issued so far by Eon, MGM or Sony to confirm the definitive halt regarding production of this third Daniel Craig 007 movie.

Fingers crossed...

Pics property of Media Bis - Do not use or reproduce . © 2010

Ian Fleming is on the walls of London...

2010-06-29T12:22:00.000-07:00

Courtesy of our London permanently based friend Julian Vialon, we received this very day two pics of the blue plaque dedicated to that obscure journalist with a taste for good wines and women...Ian Lancaster Fleming .

The plaque can be seen on the 22b Ebury Street, Belgravia, London. Ian Fleming's residence from 1934 till 1945 .

Interestingly , the building where Fleming's flat was situated was constructed in 1830 as a Baptist church but is now divided into several flats.

This plaque was originally erected at 7 Lawrie Park Road, Lewisham in 1963 and then removed to appear now at this address ...

Pass me the ketchup , please...

2010-06-27T09:03:00.000-07:00

Except for the ( then ) remarkable analysis of Kingsley Amis in his funny little ' Book of Bond ' , where the author tried to decipher 007's way of life through looking with a magnifying glass into Ian Fleming's oeuvre , there hadn't been so far that many studies dedicated to the Gourmet side of James Bond .

Such a tragic loss was finally put to rest back in 2008 when two French writers decided to publish a Cooking book entirely based on 007's most famous and favoured recipes .
A mamoth task , mainly based on the cinematographic James Bond's tastes .

From the From Russia With Love stern hotel breakfast ( yogurt and figues ) to the slightly more complex A View To A Kill omelette soufflée - not to forget the emblematic Vesper Cocktail of 2006's Casino Royale , every food & beverage allusion is reproduced in this quite original work .

It should be mentionned that the project originated from a Librarian - who's also been a James Bond fan for decades .

To order the book ( French edition only so far ) :
Agnès Vienot Editions
29 Euros

Do not reproduced covers - Media Bis documentation copyrighted

The Empire Strikes Back

2010-06-10T01:12:00.000-07:00

Merely hours after the may the 16th of 2002 Screen International Kevin Mc Clory Cannes announcement that the Irish producer was seeking bidders for his supposed ' rights to make a James Bond Film ' , Danjaq and Eon fiercely counter attacked by publishing this statement in the various Cannes Trade papers .

Remember that was the 40th aniversary year of the official Film series , and less than five month prior to the release of Die Another Day .
No one was going to spoil the Party ... And certainly not that pain in the ...of McClory !

Interestingly , I clearly remember that no one in the press took attention of that last salvo from the Thunderball co-producer . He clearly had his day already..

Pic copyrighted Media Bis Archives . No reproduction allowed without permission .

To sell: James Bond rights to make a perfectly legitimate movie...

2010-06-03T14:49:00.000-07:00

As late as year 2002, independant ( and a bit silly ) producer Kevin McClory still had the idea of launching a rival James Bond production opposed to the classic Eon series .

Since all his previous attempts failed ( excluding the so-so Never Say Never Again 1983 film ) our man decided to part with those " rights " of his he had used for years to try to convince studios he could legitimately offer the opportunity of creating exclusive versions of his ' film scripts ' ( supposedly earlier treatments of the ' Thunderball ' screenplay ).

That's why I discovered in Cannes with some astonishment on May the 16th of 2002 that full page add printed in an issue of the daily Screen International magazine during the International Film Festival ...

Note how our clever producer offers not just the rights to do a remake but a whole " James Bond outlines, treatments and screenplays co-authored by Ian Fleming , Kevin McClory, Jack Witthingham , Len Deighton & Sean Connery himself " bundle !!

No decent Producer could pass such a drooling offer , couldn't he ?

It should be pointed out no one ever heard of the mysterious Dutch ' Marian Van De Veen - Van Rijk ' either .

Was it a lawyer , some foreigh friend of McClory or just someone naive enough to think there was indeed some money to make out from this deal ???

For more information about that affair, read the excellent Robert Sellers book ' The Battle for Bond ' .

New James Bond Continuation Writer announced

2010-05-27T21:13:00.000-07:00

Not quite sure the litterary James Bond should be revived ad nauseum though .
As of today , the Ian Fleming Publication company announced another writer to step into Ian Fleming's shoes,this time to coincide with 2011's Ian Fleming birthday date ( heck, wasn't it last time 2008 Devil May Care to honour Fleming 100th anniversary ? Why this obligation to link each and every new novel to some historical landmark, I wonder ).

American thriller writer Jeffry Deaver is best known - in English language countries at least - for his Lincoln Rhyme books, most notably The Bone Collector, which was adapted for film in 1999, starring Denzel Washington and Angelina Jolie.

In 2004, Deaver won the Crime Writers’ Association’s Ian Fleming Steel Dagger Award for his book Garden of Beasts. In his acceptance speech he talked about his lifelong admiration of Fleming’s writing.

This may have triggered the Ian Fleming Publication company interest for this writer indeed .

Let us hope the result will be a substantial improvement upon Sebastian Faulks bloated hommage ...And, ahem , please , please guys , leave the grandiose Promo launches to Eon and do not try to mimic them with a pseudo Bond girl delivering the book in military attire amidst embarrassed Naval officers of Her Majesty...

" Six bullets to your one ? " - " I only need one... "

2010-05-27T05:59:00.001-07:00

Everyone at Our Man From Bond Street wishes Sir Christopher Lee the very happiest of birthday for his 88th year .

When Le Figaro sent me on the trail of James Bond...A Political affair of some sort !

2010-05-09T01:22:00.001-07:00

Although there is an official « James Bond Walk » in London ( sort of ) , there's nothing more exhilarating for a Fan than to re discover by himself places of interest linked to the 007 saga ...

I was contacted in Autumn 95 by Le Figaro newspaper to write a piece on ' James Bond's London ' to coincide with the then new release of Goldeneye in France .

Promotion was high on that first Pierce Brosnan adventure , everyone was waiting for a new movie for quite some time .

Le Figaro paired me with a lovely Photographer lady , booked us in a London Palace ( separate rooms halas ) , and off we went , searching for places of interest for James Bond fans in the city .

My goal was simple : using ' Bill Tanner ' ( aka Kingsley Amis ) funny little ' Book of Bond ' I wanted to have a look on some specific Fleming described places - plus some classic Film version ones as well...

We dutifully went to that ' little square off King's Road ' to try to pinpoint Bond's flat ( that silly writer didn't give any precise reference house n° in Moonraker ) , then to the College of Arms ( O.H.M.S.S ) ,then to Fleet Street ( for a Fleming Hommage pic ), etc, etc...

Anyway those two rather pleasant days passed like the wind - all expenses taken care courtesy of Le Figaro .
We went back to Paris . I dutifully wrote my piece .
And then waited with baited breath for publication in ' Le Figaro Magazine ' , the week end published extra mag .
And waited .
And waited again .

And then the Paris lavish Goldeneye Premiere took place , the hectic Press conference with Pierce and the whole cast ...And still no article in Le Figaro ( and no pay check either of course ) .

I finally decided to call the editor himself to ask about the situation .
The answer was dreadfully simple : Le Figaro , notoriously right winged media , had been appalled by Pierce's declaration during his Paris press conference , when he made a direct reference to the disaster-bound Rainbow Warrior Affair ( a Flemingesque story where two French military scuba divers had been caught trying to blow up a Green Peace ship , by order of the French goverment . )

Le Figaro's reaction was swift , painless and deadly : they erased each and every trace of Goldeneye coverage in their columns ...Not forgetting to erase my proposed salary too . Sigh .

Politics .

I will never get into that .

I swear .

Bottom of the Barrel ( French / Italian style ) : Shut Up While U Speak !!

2010-05-02T05:43:00.000-07:00

Category : to be avoided

Rethorical question : is it humanly possible to shoot a Bond parody actually worse than the Italian James Tont movies ?
Pragmatic answer : just try to watch " Tais toi quand tu parles " .

This 1981 Franco Italian venture hasn't been released on DvD yet ( even in France ! ), so you might have trouble looking for it ( that is , if you're a real masochist , eerr I mean completist ! ) .

Film tells the story of you and me , that is the ultimate James Bond Fan whose real life is a misery and who finds escapism into the movie adventures of a certain British agent with a licence to Kill .

Trouble is : when such a basic idea gave us interesting plots like " The Man With One Red Shoe " ( US remake of French ' Le Grand Blond Avec une Chaussure Noire ' ), or even the interesting ' Operation Kid Brother ' , that Philippe Clair-directed comedy is a total mess .

Main responsible : the director itself who would make the 3 Stooges comedies pass for an Ernst Lubitsch 's masterpiece .
Really .
With an humour as subtle as a twelve tons Sherman tank , director Philippe Clair ( who appears in a cameo as a North African contact ) offers a basic ' what if ' comedy with Aldo Maccione ( Italian comic who should have stayed beyond the Alps ) trying to pass for France's greatest secret agent on a deadly mission in Tunisia .

Fact that said ( French ) agent is named...James is irrelevant of course .
Giacomo ( "James " in Italian...Wink , wink, nudge , nudge),a 007 fan whose flat is decorated with Bond Posters with his face replacing those of Connery and Moore (ahaha) is therefore mistaken for his Hero during a trip to Tunisia .

Reality and delusion clash together when the guy also got mistaken by the ' Opposition ' as a real secret agent , and who then tries to eliminate him from the surface of the Earth...

Trouble is : as the movie continuously switches between the 'real ' Giacomo who manages to stay alive by pure luck only AND the fictionous invincible version of himself ( his...Avatar . Sort of ) , one has trouble understanding what is really happening on the screen !!

On the plus side , the presence of bellissima Edwige Fenech ( whose first apparition is a casual frame-by-frame re-shot version of Ursula Andress in Dr No ) as the obligatory Female interest ( AND double agent , of course ), some nice locations and some - scarce - funny gags ( mostly directed toward Bond Fans : when Giacomo is finally recruited by the French Secret service for a deadly mission , he answers " Ah, I hope it's the Goldfinger mission and not the Moonraker one . That last one sucked ! " ) .

And that's all .

You've been warned !

A STYLE IS BORN

2010-05-01T02:18:00.000-07:00

B.J. as his team called him (“for Big Jerk, I guess”) was the second of the Bond stars to die (at the absurdly young age of 45) in 1970, six years after Ian Fleming. A hard-drinking American from Newark, New Jersey, Robert Brownjohn created the style and impact of all 007 credit titles. For just a brace of Bonds... The writhing names shimmering around the undulating belly-dancer (actually, three) at the start of From Russia With Love and the projection of clips and names upon the gold-painted body of actress Maggie Nolan for Goldfinger .
B.J. was design director for the major McCann-Erickson ad agency when meeting 007’s producers via mutual friends. They made mention of a belly-dancer in one scene. Bingo! Or, indeed, in BJspeak: “Duck soup!” (Easy!) His mind went back six years to when he was teaching typography with a slide-projector. “This student came in late, walked in front of the projection beam. Immediately, the type being projected shot on to his shirt. Obviously, the shirt was not flat like the screen, so the type changed shape and size. It look great!”
Voila, Bond movie credits were born.
B.J. created more credits for Where The Spies Are, The Night of the Generals and Michael Kohlhaas - Der Rebel but never worked for Eon again.
Eon was not pleased with him daring to title a rival spy film and B.J. was not pleased with on money. “Few companies will meet my price of £5,000. Not much when I have to pay my team and hire a studio. I’m lucky if I make £1,000. In the States, Saul Bass gets £17,000 a movie.”

Tony Crawley

James Bond: Bloodstone ? Awww...

2010-04-21T16:08:00.001-07:00

"James Bond: Bloodstone" may be the name of Bizarre Creations' super secret racing game in the 007 universe, reports Strategy Informer.
Activision will published the game, their second title after the adaptation of Quantum of Solace since taking over the licence from EA.

HMV list "James Bond: Bloodstone" as a 'driving racing' game, though whispers suggest it might have some first-person shooting too. Platforms are listed as Xbox 360, PS3 and Wii.
So it's apparently ' bye bye PC ' too ...Sigh .

Whatever this James Bond title is called it won't be tied to any movies coming out, especially as the upcoming 23rd Bond film has been put on indefinite hold.

So is it back to the improbable 007 Game universe where Bond can do pretty much anything , from defusing atomic missiles on a space station ( NightFire anyone ? ) to piloting some hightech underwater sub ?
Not to mention the constant use of gadgets which would make our dear old Q cringe with sadness...

UK soap actor Adam Croasdell is understood to be providing the voice of James Bond.

Whether this Activision and Bizarre title is purely a driving game will likely remain secret until E3 this June.

The game has been repeatedly delayed, but is expected to hit shelves in October this year.

Has James Bond finally met his match ?

2010-04-19T15:08:00.001-07:00

LONDON, April 19, 2010
007 producers, Michael G Wilson and Barbara Broccoli of EON Productions, today announced they have suspended development on the next James Bond film previously scheduled for release 2011/2012.

“Due to the continuing uncertainty surrounding the future of MGM and the failure to close a sale of the studio, we have suspended development on BOND 23 indefinitely. We do not know when development will resume and do not have a date for the release of BOND 23,” stated Michael G Wilson and Barbara Broccoli jointly.

EON Productions have produced twenty two James Bond films since 1962.
In 1995, Michael G Wilson and Barbara Broccoli took over the 007 franchise from Albert R ‘Cubby’ Broccoli and are responsible for producing some of the most successful James Bond films ever, including CASINO ROYALE and more recently QUANTUM OF SOLACE. The James Bond franchise is the longest running in film history.
EON Productions and Danjaq LLC are affiliate companies and control all worldwide merchandising for James Bond.

Bonnie Parker is no Domino...

2010-04-14T12:38:00.001-07:00

When he didn’t want Julie Christie to be Domino in Thunderball and couldn’t spring Raquel Welch loose from 20th Century Fox, Cubby Broccoli next signed the equally unknown Faye Dunaway, two years away from her movie debut in Otto Preminger’s Hurry Sundown.
“She had a change of heart,” said Cubby, “and we let her out of it.”
He never gave up, though.
He tried to tempt her into Bondage in the 70s and 80s: Diamonds Are Forever and Octopussy.
No way!

Tony Crawley
www.crawleyscastingcalls.com

Richard Maibaum - the Man who created the screen Bond

2010-04-13T09:05:00.000-07:00

“The success of the Bond films stems directly from the success of the novels. However, they do present problems for a screenwriter. I told Ian he wrote too well; he had an untransferable literary quality... all those descriptive passages, beautifully chosen words that reveal the characters, great hunks of interesting details. It all has to be cut. I’m limited to setting down only what can be said and done by the actors and photographed by the cameras. Take Goldfinger - there were only four lines used from the original book.
“As a young man, I worked as an assistant writer for Alfred Hitchcock on Foreign Correspondent. He told me: “Audiences shouldn’t have time to think about logic. If I have 13 bumps, I know I have a good picture.” By bumps, he meant shocks, high points, thrill... The old lady in Goldfinger who suddenly appears with a machine gun - she’s a bump! From the beginning of Dr. No, the producers and I have not been satisfied with 13 bumps. We always aim for 39! To make every foot of film pay off in terms of excitement, comedy or drama. Nothing must drag. As Hitch said: “Dear boy, don’t be dull.”

Ian Fleming 's James Bond first choice ?

2010-04-13T09:02:00.000-07:00

I thought I knew all the guys who’d tried to be or were considered for James Bond. From Hollywood heavy John Payne (a kind of Robert Mitchum wannabe), Trevor Howard, Peter Finch and Michael Billington to Edward Underdown, Richard Harris, John Richardson and Peter Sellers, etc, etc.
Surprise, surprise. When British movie star Richard Todd died in December 2009, obituaries in the British media revealed that the Scots-Irish actor had been invited to add 007 to his collection of British heroes such as Wing Commander Guy Gibson, Robin Hood and Sir Walter Raleigh. Fortunately, he was too busy. As an actor, Todd was as boring as his roles (his were squeaky clean-cut heroes, so the villains always had far more charisma)... boring as his friends (Ronald Reagan included)... and boring as his second career (dairy farmer).
NdA : not quite sure about the truth regarding what's been said in the TV obit though . Ian Fleming's James Bond first choice , really ?

Tony Crawley

Maggie Nolan invented Body Painting ( sort of )

2010-04-07T04:21:00.000-07:00

There is a girl called Dink in Goldfinger.
Not important. Part of the wallpaper... You see her butt getting a friendly pat from 007 while taking the air at a Miami pool. She is played by a London actress called Maggie Nolan who was far better known to the male population as Great Britain’s foremost nude model, Vickie Kennedy.
And it is she, not Shirley Eaton, who is the goldened girl in Robert Brownjohn’s famous credits sequence.
I was at the shooting one afternoon, watching Brownjohn angle his camera and movie projector this way and that to enable various clips from all three Bond films (up to then) to be wittily and sexily projected upon Maggie’s shining body.
I recall 30 minutes or more spent on making sure Sean’s golf-putt landed right in the centre of Maggie’s cleavage ...
Yes, I must admit to watching her statuesque body, as well. (And I was paid to do so!). “It’s hard work,” she said during a tea break. “Takes an hour a day - twice - before and after lunch - to get all the gold painted on me. (Not to mention getting it off). Then I had to stand and/or lie on a hard platform for hour after hour with the projector flickering Mr. Bond all over me. Still, the result made it all worth while.”
Even so, most fans thought it was Shirley Eaton.

Tony Crawley
Pic © Media Bis 2010

It's a tough job but...

2010-04-03T18:38:00.000-07:00

1963

My first year in London as assistant editor of the Rank Organisation’s Showtime Magazine.

First assignment: Catching up with the Beatles on the last day of A Hard Day’s Night (doing the jumping in a field near Twickenham Studios).

Next: Watching Sean Connery make Goldfinger (ironically delivering a line about the Beatles to Shirley Eaton).

Next: Interviewing Honor Blackman at home. One helluva week! I recall the school clock opposite her Hammersmith apartment striking 12.

High noon! Good timing - she’d just got up.

“Night-clubbing until 4.30,” she explained, curling up on her sofa.

She’d been on the UK screen scene since 1947 - a long wait for fame.

“Our writers just don’t seem able to write for women. It was a fight to get Cathy Gale’s character approved in The Avengers. Same for Pussy Galore. She’s a fascinating creature, the least predictable of all of Bond’s flames. As for James, it would be very square of me to knock his bad traits - viciousness, ruthlessness with women... That’s why we like him, isn’t it? He’s rather a gorgeous type to have a wild affair with. A weekend in Paris, say. No more than that. You couldn’t pin him down.”

Tony Crawley Photos © Media Bis 2010 www.crawleyscasting calls.com

Sylva Koscina , the best Bond girl that never was !

2010-04-03T18:28:00.000-07:00

Sylva Koscina was the best Bond Girl that never was...

She was so nearly Daniela Bianchi in From Russia With Love, 1963. And Claudine Auger in Thunderball, 1965.

Sylva was missed, not miffed.

Her attitude was, win some, lose some. And she adored the UK films she did make, for producer Betty Box (who turned down the Bond franchise), including her copy-Bond, Deadlier Than The Male, with one of the many nearly-007s, Richard Johnson ( NdA : one my all time personnal Bond ripp off favourite ) . Sylva, a Yugoslav-born Italian star, was perfect Fleming material.

Maybe a tad too hot... “As you can see, I dress simply in my private life. Cinema - is different. I invented the topless look, you know. In Three Tales of Love, with Rossano Brazzi. Very easy for me to wear a transparent halter like that. A bra I do not need. Today, no. Maybe in a few years... I don’t lke them. They are cumbersome, ugly, no? Not feminine at all. The only time I wear a bra is when I have to take one off in the movies! This is not exhibitionism. This is my work.”

Yes, ma’am. Tony Crawley [Every 007 film has a page on Tony’s website, crawleyscasting calls.com]

The name's Taylor...Rod Taylor ...Who ?

2010-04-03T18:21:00.000-07:00

Cannes, 1997

There was one helluva lotta interest in Welcome To Woop-Woop at the 50th Cannes festival.

It was another off-beat Australian movie from Stephan Elliott, flamboyant director of the highly successful Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert, in 1994.

Woop-Woop, however, was the sound of instant vomit.

A major (and quite delirious) disappointment.

No matter, it had served my purpose. It had brought the craggy Aussie, Rod Taylor - the Russell Crowe of his hey-day - back to Europe.

We’d not sunk a schooner or two together for 28 years. Back in 1969 was when he’d summed up his movies for me (The Birds, Zabriskie Point, The Time Machine, The Mercenaries) as “the usual Rod Taylor bullshit.”
Now he had a bigger surprise...

The cowardly British spy, Boysie Oakes, in The Liquidator (by John Gardner, no less) had not been the only spy offered to him when he was a hot Rod. “I’m sure I never told you this before, but back in the 60s Cubby Broccoli - dear old Cubby! - said he had something for me. I should do a test. He had these books written by Ian Fleming. Whaddyer mean, I yelled, a fucking TV series? No fucking way!”
Taylor laughed, cracked open another bottle. “I should be shot in the head.”

Tony Crawley
Photo © Tony Crawley
[Every 007 film has a page on Tony’s website, crawleyscasting calls.com]

The name's Warbeck...David Warbeck...Who ?

2010-04-03T12:08:00.000-07:00

1973
This time Sean was gone. For good. (Well, never say never...)
To take over Live And Let Die, Hollywood wanted McQueen, Newman or Redford. (Honest!) Pat McGoohan still refused.
Cubby checked Michael McStay, Simon Oates and John Ronane while waiting for Roger Mortuary to be free.
When he wasn’t... well, I ran into David Warbeck promoting his awful Russ Meyer flick, Black Snake ( NdA : still worth seeing ...But not for Warbeck ! ) .
A New Zealander of Scots descent, David was a London schoolteacher between acting gigs.
He had great news for me.
If Roger wasn’t free of The Persuaders, it would be Bond, David Bond. “That’s what they tell me.”
We did an interview, to be released as soon as his news became official.
It didn’t.
On holiday in Menton, I saw a British paper: THE SAINT IS NEW 007. Damn!
Warbeck would be considered again (twice) and became (a) totally ignored by UK films and (b) a star of Roman rip-offs of Bond/Rambo/Indy, whatever action hero was hot.
He was also James Coburn’s pal in Sergio Leone’s Duck You Sucker!
In one spaghetti thriller, Warbeck actually said: “You’re muddling me with Roger Moore.”
Nice guy, nice try... but not quite.

Tony Crawley
[Every 007 film has a page on Tony’s website, crawleyscasting calls.com]

Terence Cooper , the perfect Bond ?

2010-03-31T05:19:00.000-07:00

1966.

The call was so secret even the phone bell sounded muffled. “Ya wanna meet the new 007? And be first in the world to interview him?”

Sure! When, where? “Call ya soon.”

That’s how I met Terence Cooper, one of the caboodle of Bonds in the four-ringed circus of the first Casino Royale.

He’d been waiting in the SIS corridors for ten years to be 007.

“When producer Kevin McClory tried to get Bond on the screen,” he told me in Gerry’s Bar (where else?), “he had a contract with... guess who’s name on it? No, not Sean’s. Mine.

In 1957 ! Five years before Dr. No. Sean doesn’t play the part right.

Me? Just hope I get across OK without tripping over the flaming carpet.”

Very Bondian - a falling black comma of hair; sent down from Oxford for “various irregular activities” - Cooper called himself the greatest con-man. (Or second, after McClory).

He almost punched out Casino producer Charles Feldman when they met at the Pickwick Club. “Thought he was making a pass at my girlfriends.”

No, he gave Cooper a seven-year contract, rising from £250 to £1,000 a week.

“Why? I don’t know. I was always very rude to him, so he didn’t know what to make of me. But, as all the other people who treated him like that happened to have great talent, Charlie probably mistook me for being a tremendous actor.”

Charlie wuz wrong!

Tony Crawley - www.crawleyscastingcalls.com

Girls, ( Golden ) Gun & Gizmos : The James Bond London Science Museum Exhibition Press Day ! - Oct.2002

2010-03-31T02:28:00.000-07:00

Or...How I got the cold shoulder from Honor Blackman ( and I'm still wondering why to this day ! )

Back in Autumn 2002 , the usual Bond craziness engulfed the World Medias .
I was hired by a TV production company to cover the Press day of the 007 London Science Museum exhibition - the very first of its kind in Europe , where Eon graciously displayed props, sketches , vehicles and various gadgets used in the James Bond films since 1962...

Add to this a string of super guests stars ( Sir Christopher Lee, various Bond girls ) and the -rare- presence of both Barbara Broccoli and Michael G Wilson together and you'll probably understand why I was drooling like Tex Avery's proverbial wolf ...

Being ' French TV ' , we were given the red carpet treatment and I joyously passed from one Celebrity guest to another , followed by my faifhfull cameraman , to get the most of the unique day .
We were lucky enough to get sweet Caroline Munro , the producer himself - Mickey G - who even called his half-sister to join us ( she declined as usual , being notoriously shy of the medias . Damnit...) , Sir Christopher Lee ,etc.,etc...

But there was someone I had never met so far in the assembly .
A Bond girl of legend , former P.A of a certain Mr Goldfinger ...
So , with my usual French charm , I decided to ask Mrs Honor Blackman a quick interview .
Haven't figured out to this day what happened then, but the lady quickly shot back a stern ' no ' and then headed straight to the toilets ( overdose of petits fours ? ) .

We were really flabbergasted by her behaviour - and even more so when learning later a James Bond Fan friend of mine had managed that very morning to get her pic taken right besides Mrs Pussy Galore ( hated when this happen...To others ! ) .

Incidentally , this kind of ' thank you , but no thank you ' behaviour also occured to me with ...George Lazenby , when trying to interview him at the 2002 Ian Fleming Foundation Stoke Park Anniversary Golf course ...The guy politely told us ' please wait for me here ...' and we never saw him again of the whole day ...

Sometimes you asked yourself questions like ' what the hell do those people think they are ? '

Smelling a rat ?

2010-03-07T02:53:00.000-08:00

According to Ian Lancaster Fleming , civil servant James Bond buys his eau de Toilettte and perfume at Floris .

I keep on wondering how the heck the guy has enough money to buy those ( and his tailored-made shirts , and his own brand of cigarettes , and , etc., etc... )

Perhaps the salaries at MI6 were astronomically high in the 50's ?

Thanks to Julien Vialon for bringing back those samples from his latest London trip ...

Picture copyrighted Media Bis - Do not reproduce without authorization .
© 2010

My tailor is rich ( but he deserves it )

2010-02-23T03:06:00.000-08:00

My best friend ( and actor ) Julien Vialon - a former French 007 Fan Club President himself - paid a visit to London last week and took the time to visit some crucial ' James Bond locations ' - so to speak .

First step was to have a look at the World famous tailor , Turnbull & Asser , based in Savile Row ;

Celebrities and Stars like Sir Winston Churchill , Sir David Niven, Art Garfunkel , ' several Princes of Wales ' ( quote from their opening page ! ) have been regular customers of the grandiose Tailor office ...Not to forget all the James Bond actors of course .

Amongst those Celebs , a Film director called Terence Young who took his future Dr No star - a former scottish truck driver who will be rocketed to stardom a few months later - to have his new 007-like shirts specially made for him ...The rest is History .

Thanks to the kindness of Turnbull & Asser 's people - and more specially M. Raymond Bailey - Julien listened to some fascinating information on the behind-the-scene tailor business with Mr Bond ...

For instance the little-known fact behind Daniel Craig's Casino Royale shirt measurement seance in the shop ;

The actor casually ripped open the first model when trying it for measurements - being slightly too ...Muscular for the size !

Aknowledgements : Turnbull & Asser , M. R. Bailey .

Pics taken by Julien Vialon and kindly reproduced .

Sir Sean Connery pic reproduced from Turnbull & Asser Livre d'Or - Do not use without permission .

Spy Craze ( Monty Python style )

2010-02-20T09:48:00.000-08:00

Ok, let me just indulge myself : Spamalot! has at least opened in Paris this week - with tremenduous success I might add , and as a long time ( die hard ) Python Fan, I wanted to pay a little hommage to that band of Gonzos who initiated me to the finest Art of British Humour .

So started to search for James Bond related material in Monty Python's Flying Circus catalogue of fabulous sketches ...

Mind you, I could have taken the obvious easier route and start writing a panegyric about the most Bondian member of the Pythons...

You know the guy who's incapable of correctly slamming the door of a Z9 BMW coupé in the Q work room ... ( and had already sent up the Bond image in a TV commercial years earlier...) , but it would have been too...Contrite .

( Find instead two pictures taken at Stoke Poges's 2002 Ian Fleming Foundation James Bond Anniversary affair where I interviewed the Silly Walk Master for French TV... )

Hence the proud displaying of this other gem : a nice send up of Brit 1960's Spy craze Tv series ...With Terry Jones at his best !

Think Danger Man, think Man In A Suitcase , think The Avengers ... And, of course , most of all...Think about a certain Double O Agent who started it all...

And , above all, pay attention to the Credits music !

Many ,many thanks to Doug Redenius & the Ian Fleming Foundation .

The 00,7 % Solution

2010-02-10T06:15:00.000-08:00

While watching Guy Ritchie 's re-invention of Sherlock Holmes , I couldn't help thinking about the parallels with Ian Fleming's own litterary Hero .

Both characters were established stalwart Hollywood heroes , and yet were recently completely turned upside down for a new movie-goers generation ...With a tremenduous success of each of the concerned ' franchise ' ( heck, Holmes movies have been here since the dawn of Cinema too ) .

Some years back I had started writting a comparative study about Holmes & Bond , mainly focusing on the common denominators between the two .
That little piece has never seen the light of printed publication so far so I guess part of it could entertain the readers of that Blog more than a decade later .

Let's start with the obvious : both 007 & Sherlock Holmes have survived the loss of their original creators .
Afficionados will instantly point out the fact that one of the official 007 Continuation novels writer ( such are named the authors having succeeded Ian Fleming with new James Bond litterary adventures ) was also the creator of Holmes nemesis most famous trilogy ,the infamous Professor Moriarty one. ( John Gardner - as it is him we're referring to - wrote three novels using the character of Professor Moriarty , nemesis of Sherlock Holmes in the original ACD series. The third of this series, titled simply 'Moriarty', was delayed due to a dispute with the publisher, but was finally released shortly after his death.).

More intriguing even is the fact that way back in 1988 , a certain John D.Bryan thought he had a brilliant idea and wrote a study simply titled ' James Bond : Did he really live twice ? ' .
With the open goal of thoroughly researching similarities between Fleming's and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's 221b resident creations .
Having eagle-spotted said title in a 007 magazine books review section of the time, I got in touch with its author...

Let's be honest : if it wouldn't be for its intriguing subject alone , this book would be a mish-mash of rehearsed ideas , mixing film-biased opinions with literary-ones with the obvious result of completely confusing the poor reader in the end !
( For example , the author heavily insists on the fact that Sherlock too uses...Gadgets - and quote therefore Basil Rathbone's tricked cane appearing during his tenure as Sherlock Holmes . I have re-read Sir ACD original work - with a magnifying glass ! - and have been so far incapable of pinpointing such a ' gadget' as part of Holmes routine equipment... )

This noted , if I had to point out a Fleming - universe character akin to Sherlock Holmes , I would choose myself someone in the like of...Major Boothroyd aka Q , for the sheer genius of some of his inventions ! But this is another story ...

This book succeeds on one idea : trying to put on a same level two very different universes - with their own codes .
Bearing that in mind , it becomes a fascinating reading - since it pre-empted the Martin Campbell / Guy Ritchie efforts by more than 20 years ahead ( if one does indeed see the Richie Holmes variation as some sort of Victorian rejuvenated James Bond ...)

' Re booting ' maybe the 'in' thing right now in Hollywood ...But it certainly ain't no brand new idea either... Unless it's done with utmost care for the original subject .
Which I'm pleased to note , was the case both for 2006's Casino Royale and 2009's Sherlock Holmes as well !

So, ok, I'll admit it's not MY Sherlock Holmes ( and neither is , should I add, Daniel Craig's 007 the James Bond I imagine ) , but both visions will ensure the longevity of Sir arthur Conan Doyle's and Ian Lancaster Fleming's litterary creations for the 21rst century movie goers generation . And for this alone we should be grateful ...

Acknowledgements : M.Thierry Saint Joanis & La Société Sherlock Holmes de France .

Sir Johnny Dankworth , R.I.P

2010-02-07T06:13:00.000-08:00

David Arnold signaled us on his FB page the passing of the great music composer Johnny Dankworth , author - amongst many wonderful scores - of the unmistakable themes of ' The Avengers ' ( 1961 Honor Blackman season ) and...Joseph Losey 's joyous and mad Modesty Blaise ...

Here's to you , Sir !

Half Spy...Half Wit . 100% Cheesy : it's Fox HUNT !

2010-02-07T00:25:00.000-08:00

Someday , an illustrious Film historian will have to write a definitive review of George Lazenby 's numerous winks and / or cameos regarding that character he played in the 1969 Peter Hunt directed Masterpiece ... Be it ' The Return of the Man From U.N.C.L.E ' ( a remarkable awful 80's revival of a once great franchise ) , the new ' Alfred Hitchcock Presents ' anthology episode ' Diamonds Aren't Forever ' or...This singularity of a movie - Fox HUNT !

That one is indeed a strange object .
Years before licencing & merchandising brought us such gems as Electronic Arts' Goldeneye : Rogue Agent or Activision's lame QofS adaptation, some inspired producers decided to combine a live action movie with a video game format !
Like any second grade spy movie, Fox Hunt has beautiful women, double agents, and exotic locations (Las Vegas and Colorado to name two…) but ultimately reveils its real cheesy second grade nature trying to be smarter than its illustrious counterparts , while clearly not having the necessary budget to achieve such a daunting task .
Basic ex : when was the last time you saw a 007 clone take a jet-propelled wheelchair ride through a hospital, escape from crossdressing Soviets, or shoot down anvil-wielding Rob Lowe clones while freefalling from 20,000 feet - AND trying to outsmart Moonraker pre-credits sequence ? ( those of you who answered ' in an Austin Powers movie ' won. But Austin Powers movies do have budget ! ) .

Some nice ideas here and there though : our hero ( your average BTTF / Karate-kid type Teen ) is a Cult 80's TV series geek , which allows for hilarious excerpts from 'Fung Yu ' , 'The Love Cruise ' or even 'Fantasy Isthmus' . Ok , I'm red with shame now...

The result : a less than inspired movie , with a budget so miserable it tries to pass US snowy Rocky Mountains for Azerbaïdjan's URSS ones (...Without erasing the US road signs ! ) and make John Landis similar 'Spies Like Us ' caper looks like the Citizen Kane of modern Spy Comedy thrillers ( yep, it's that good indeed ) .

And as for the game itself ( released in 1996 for PC & PS1 only ) , let's just say that it was already out-of-date at the very time of its initial release ( with badly photographed VR inserts , directly taken from the 16mm shot namesake film of course ).
In the likes of legendary ' Who Shot Johnny Rocks ? ' Live action games , Fox HUNT suffers today from its obvious Video capture technique limitations...And some really , really dumb plot .

And what about dear old George Lazenby in it ?
Our fav' 007 plays ' veteran Spy & master of diguise ' Chaucey ( a sort of Q-like figure , if you want ).
A character who seems molded on The Wild Wild West 's Artemus Gordon one ...
Trouble is , George plays it straight ( while some distance would have been much appreciated ).
That's the main default of the whole enterprise : a Spy comedy which takes itself much too seriously indeed ...

Conclusion: for completists only ( do not even think it has been released on DvD.)

No One Comes Close to...Shrek ?

2010-02-05T04:03:00.000-08:00

A few years back , I asked my friend Stephane ( a mad James Bond Fan illustrator ) to create a 007 variation of the Shrek franchise ...
Here is the magnificent result .
Check all the little details embedded in the illustration ( such as Honey Ryder belt on Princess Fiona 's...Green bikini - nice touch - , or the more obvious Martini glass held by that infamous Villain ,Lord Farquaad himself...)

And don't forget to have a look on Stephane 's recently revamped website :

http://007art.free.fr/

The most dangerous Bond ...Ever !

2010-02-03T00:00:00.000-08:00

If not Pierce, who for The Living Daylights...?
Mrs. Cubby - the Dana of Danjac SA - said: “Have another look at Tim Dalton.” He had been seen for OHMSS.
“I felt it’d be dumb, really stupid, to take over from Connery... particularly at 25.” (Much the same reason why Pierce was relieved at not being able to make Dalton’s Daylights).
This time, Tim was keen.
Having by now read all the books, he wanted to “try and capture Fleming’s Bond.
I couldn’t see myself taking over and not doing it my own way.”
Fine, said Cubby. Let’s go. “You must bring your own interpretation to it.” Difficult with script, written for Moore, slightly adjusted for Brosnan...
Tim finished Brenda Starr in Jacksonville, Florida, on a Saturday, flew to London on the Sunday and was playing 007 on Monday morning.
“A transitional film,” he said. “You have a very valid responsibility to the past and the prize success of those films.” Cubby was delighted with Tim. “ A vanishing breed: a gentleman actor with a highly tolerable ego.”
Even Sean approved.
Declining GoldenEye ( nda : although officially announced in 'Bond 17 ' ) , Tim holds the record of being considered for films made by each of the other 20th Century 007s (OHMSS, Diamonds Are Forever, For Your Eyes Only, Octopussy.).
Sad to see him go.
Tim remained as close to Fleming’s Bond as he did to members of the Broccoli family. They invited him to be one of the pallbearers at Cubby’s 1996 funeral.

Tony Crawley
Photos © Nicole Michelet & Media Bis ( 1989 )

The Man Who Was James Bond ...

2010-02-01T00:43:00.000-08:00

R.I.P Martin Grace .

James Bond stuntman and stunt double Martin Grace has passed away at the age of 67 on 29-01-10 .

Mr Grace was a stunt performer and co-ordinator, and was Roger Moore's stunt double through most of the Bond films. His first 007 credit was on "You Only Live Twice" in 1967, before becoming Moore's regular stunt double from "The Spy Who Loved Me" (1977) up until his departure from the series in "A View To A Kill" (1985).

Since I was planning to follow up my first entry on the 1983 Octopussy shooting exclusive pictorial, I decided to slightly modify its angle to pay hommage to the man .

So do remember the man who make Roger Moore 's 007 look invincible while browsing on that page .

Pictures taken during the 1rst unit filming at Petersborough by September 82', at the Nene Valley Railway , where most of the Train action sequences were shot .

Many thanks to Ross Hendry ,for kindly giving me copies of the photos he took this very day - and permission of using them .
Those pics have all been embedded with a micro dot ( courtesy of Photoshop ) , enabling me to trace them ,should anyone decide to reproduce the pics without permission . You've been warned .

La Preuve par... Bond ? Pas vraiment...

2010-01-23T01:28:00.001-08:00

For once , this article hasn't been typed in English . Since it is mainly a log of some franco-french misadventures of mine with the wonderful world of garlic French TV production companies , I figure it wouldn't really be of interest to my US, UK ...Errr , ' Rest of the World ' friends . ( But if you insist ? )

Exceptionnellement cet encart se fera non pas dans la langue de Shakespeare mais bien dans celle de Molière , plus propre à frapper les esprits hexagonaux ...Qui sait une version destinée à l'exportation verra peut-être aussi le jour ...

L'histoire de notre télèvision nationale regorge littéralement d'anecdotes qui feraient le bonheur d'un romancier ; entre les pré-projets improbables vendus au Mipcom , les annonces grandiloquentes d'achats de produits mirifiques , et les transferts en vase-clos de têtes d'affiches censées appâter la ménagère de moins de cinquante ans , les arcanes de la petite lucarne feraient passer Alexandre Dumas pour un aimable scribouillard...

Bref , avec sa carte de visite ' spécialiste ès 007 ' le créateur de ce Blog s'est retrouvé plus d'une fois embriqué dans des projets qui auraient fait verdir de terreur Ed Wood himself si il en avait connu tous les tenants et les aboutissants... Et justement , lecteurs fidèles , je m'en vais donc vous narrer une de ces dernières mésaventures ( en prenant grand soin de modifier toute identité par respect pour les organismes et individus impliqués dans l'histoire ) .

C'est donc l'histoire d'un certain Brett Sinclair , énergique journaliste / critique de Cinéma traumatisé par la vision ( trop) précoce des Diamants Sont Eternels à l'âge de 7 ans en 1971 . Au fil des années notre homme , nanti d'une jolie Maîtrise de Journalisme ( qui ne lui servît au demeurant pas à grand'chose dans le métier ) , fît ses classes à Mad Movies , Travelling, Vision , Vidéo 7 , Le Journal de Pif ,Ciné-Live, La Semaine du Charcutier ( avec Odile Deray ) avant de se servir de sa British attitude pour aller squatter les Studios de Pinewood dès 1992 et y tourner le tout premier doc inédit consacré aux coulisses de l'agent 007 sur un coup de tête finançé par Ellipse Productions , charmée par l'applomb du jeune blanc-bec ...

Il se trouve que par un hasard curieux, ces mêmes Britanniques qu'affectionne tout particulièrement notre journaliste décidèrent en 2008 sur un coup de folie de célèbrer le centenaire de la naissance d'un obscur auteur de romans de Gare ( dixit Raymond Chandler himself) , le peu connu Ian Lancaster Fleming , père du tout aussi peu connu James Bond 007 , fonctionnaire assermenté au Service Secret de Sa Majesté ...

2008 vit donc fleurir au pays du Chapeau Melon & des Bottes de Cuir une foultitude de commérations James Bond : entre les fastueuses expositions thématiques ( For Your Eyes Only à l'Imperial War Museum , Bond Bound à la galerie Fleming pour ne citer que les deux plus emblématiques ) , les inaugurations de plaques officielles , les rééditions de bouquins et enfin et surtout l'année suivante la géniale rétrospective du British Film Institute qui consacra plusieurs mois à la projection en copie neuves des 22 films officiels en présence de guests de choix ( Producteurs, réals, Sfx men, comédiens et Bond Girls ...), le James Bond Fan était aux anges .
La vague se répercuta bien sûr aux Etats-unis , qui amplifièrent le mouvement avec leur modestie coutumière ( expo officielle au Musée d'Arts Modernes de New-York...).

Et en France me direz-vous ?
En France donc, pays qu'appréciait Ian Fleming à un tel point qu'il décida de situer toute l'intrigue de son premier roman dans la ville normande fictive de...Royale-les-Eaux ( eh oui, pour les nuls : Casino Royale ne se passe donc pas en Tchechoslovaquie comme dans le film de 2006 mais bien chez les mangeurs de grenouilles ! ) ; en France donc , patrie des Arts et des Lettres ...Eh ben...Rien !

Certain journalistes bûtés essayèrent dès 2007 de convaincre des Musées de monter des rétrospectives 007 thématiques ...Mais après l'acceuil tonitruant de rigueur , l'aspect bassement financier de ce type de projet fît reculer tout ce joli monde ( et certains s'empressérent alors en lieu et place de monter une rétrospective StarWars au Musée des Sciences de la Villette . Ce qui leurs coûta effectivement sûrement beaucoup moins cher en terme de licences et de droits d'exploitations ! Bref ) .

Echaudé – mais pas rebuté ! - par ces experiences enrichissantes dans le monde de la Culture , notre journaliste donc décida de revenir à ce qu'il sait faire de mieux : courir après les Bond Girls les moins décaties et les interviewer live pour la télé ... Commença alors un autre parcours du combattant qui ferait passer le chemin de croix d'un certain J.C pour une aimable ballade dans une bourgade du Club Med' ...

Histoire de protéger ses fesses , vu qu'il aimerait bien encore travailler en Télèvision dans son pays natal, notre héros ne va pas s'épancher sur les pourtant véridiques expériences qu'il rencontra face à des décideurs et autres chargé(e)s de Production hexagonaux ...
La somme de ces anecdotes toutes plus vraies que nature pourrait donner matière à un roman satyrique consacré au système , dans la plus pure tradition d'un San Antonio ou d'un Pierre Dac aux meilleurs de leurs formes respectives...

Petit florilège quand même de certains points évoqués en rendez-vous avec productions :
- Et Ian Fleming, vous pourrez l'interviewer ?
- Filmer Sean Connery chez lui, pas de problème ! Euh, il est américain c'est ça ?
- C'est un beau projet . Il faudrait que Daniel Craig accepte de faire une voix off en Français comme fil directeur ...Et gratuitement si possible...
- C'est qui , Ian Fleming ???

Toutes ces profondes réflexions m'ont bien été faites par des responsables plus ou moins haut plaçés de boîtes de Productions télèvisuelles...
Quelle attitude adopter devant des gugusses pareils , je vous le demande ? Soit on choisit d'être diplomate façon Montand contre DeFunès dans ' La Folie Des Grandeurs ' , soit on craque et on éclate de rire .
Hélas , dans les deux cas , le pronostic vital du projet est déjà à l'agonie...

Voilà , j'arrête là mes jérèmiades qui vont finir par lasser .
D'ailleurs Max Pécas vient de m'appeller pour me dire qu'il est partant pour tourner une Bio de Fleming avec Aldo Maccione dans le rôle-titre . Problème : il ne dispose d'une villa pseudo-Jamaïcaine à la Tronche-sur-Mer que le temps d'un week-end ( la villa appartient au beau-frère du Producteur qui a des parts dans la société ) et il n'a pas eu le temps d'écrire son scénario .
Qu'à cela ne tienne : je me colle à mon traitement de texte ...
K.B.C – Janvier 2010

MythBusters : The Guys Who Loved The James Bond Films ...

2010-01-21T14:05:00.000-08:00

Courtesy of Miss A. Stamos ( who posted it originaly on her FB page . Don't kill me for borrowing that one , Athena , please ! ) I remember receiving two or three years ago from the Discovery Channel Network which also aired that show in France the two-parts one dedicated exclusively to some Bond Stunts ( the Live and Let Die speedboat jump , the Casino Royale Gas tank explosion , etc.,etc ... ). Love that one !!! ( specially the part where the guys kept trying replicating Daniel Craig shooting at the Gas Tank in the Nambutu Embassy yard , and then virtualy destroying said embassy . They finally had to use...Plastic explosive put on said gaz tank to achieve the very same effect ...). Movie magic indeed ! :D

James Bond's smarter brother ...Really ?

2010-01-20T04:17:00.000-08:00

That's one of the great mystery of life : why the heck did Loïs Maxwell , Bernard Lee and , yes , the rather acting-gifted Neil Connery accepted to sign and appear in ' Operation Kid Brother ' ( besides ...Money ) ???
That's precisely the question I asked Miss Maxwell when finally meeting her in 1995 . " Oh Lord , so you do know about that ! " she exclaimed " we all thought then it would pass under the radar ... You see , Bernard and I were a bit...Fed up with Cubby paying us peanuts for the Bond series , so we went to Italy and did that movie . Sean's brother , Neil , was the star , but he wasn't an actor and had a terrible time ..." That was more or less confirmed by director of said movie , Alberto De Martino , whom I had invited at the Valenciennes Film Festival in 2006 for the Italian Genre Hommage section : " Neil was under constant pressure from his brother Sean, who kept urging him not to do the movie , fearing it would damage his own image . I think we also had to deal with Eon's lawyers at one point ...Surprisingly , the film finally did very well at the Italian B.O though ..."
Let's be honest : for the sheer fun of it , every true James Bond Fan must see ' Operation Kid Brother ' . Despite Neil Connery's , errrrr , performance , the film makes up with the supporting cast ( besides Miss Mawxell and Bernard Lee , film reunited Daniela Bianchi , Anthony Dawson & Adolpho Celi ) , the scenery ...and the sheer nonsense of the story ( having a dentist becoming a secret agent to replace his missing 00 brother...Better than Austin Powers indeed ! ).
Oh , and the catchy theme song by Ennio Morricone & Bruno Nicolai will have you humming all day long ( there's also an Italian lyrics version ) ...

Miss Taro N° 1 : Martine Beswick

2010-01-20T02:13:00.000-08:00

1964. Martine Beswick was my favourite Bond Girl. (Well, I didn’t come across Ursula until 1966). After losing the Dr No role of the dangerous minx, Miss Taro, she merely danced in the credits - and then became first girl to be a Bond Babe twice: Zora, the gypsy cat-fighter in FRWL and the bikinied agent, Paula, committing suicide in Thunderball. “She wasn’t in the book. I know because I read it never thinking... I’d be in a second film. In fact, they told me that. They even scrapped the part, then got so desperate (they needed an extra girl in the plot), they put the part back and me in it!”
1967, Twickenham Studios. While shooting The Penthouse, Martine told me she’d never been a Miss Jamaica. “Baloney, just Bond publicity. I was Miss Auto Car - and made sure I was going to win, making sure my hair, figure, was perfect. I was after the prize - a car - in order to sell it back. They didn’t like that. Nor did I. Hah! It was a second-hand car. It still paid my way to London... Sean is great. Terence Young is fantastic. An actors’ director. He takes an interest in each actor individually in a scene - not just the star. He even encourages the extras. Terry used to say I was Miss Jamaica... in 1927.”
Tony Crawley
[Every 007 film has a page on Tony’s website, crawleyscasting calls.com]

How to raise the tension while posing for a damn lucky Film critic ...

2010-01-19T00:56:00.000-08:00

She got the sticky end of the lollipop, did Mollie Peters - the first nude Bond Girl (in Thunderball). She was the only one of the four girls to miss out on the sunny locations of Bahamas where the global media was. She stayed home, wed to a London copper. Good. She was available when photographer pal Marc Sharratt and I wanted her for a beauty layout in Showtime magazine. We booked a room at the Skyway Hotel at London Airport (why so far out of town I’ve no idea). We arrived, set up camera and lights. Mollie arrived and took off all her clothes and said: “Where do you want me?” Silence. A long silence. We recovered and I started directing her, seated at the dressing table, brushing her flaxen hair. Bingo! All over in 40 minutes.
Imagine trying that today with six producers, five publicists, two agents, a two make-up team, three coiffeurs... and months of e-mails.
Took me one phone call and one delightful lady.
Yeah, yeah, it’s Molly in the credits, but she always told me ’twas Mollie. And that’s how I remember her. Not as 007’s “physical”-therapist Patricia Fearing - but brushing her hair at the Skyway Hotel.
It’s a toss-up about which became the major (or kinky) fashion statement of Thunderball - Claudine Auger’s swimsuit. Or The Glove - a mink affair, used by masseuse Mollie Peters at the Schrublands health farm. And, yes, indeedy, used by Sean upon Miss Peters - “it reduces tension” - minutes before she cut herself a slice of history as the first Bond Babe to be seen nude in the franchise albeit through a steamed-up glass wall of a shower.
Mollie, who missed all the fun (and publicity) of shooting in the Bahamas, won the role of Patricia Fearing after tough opposition from Uschi Bernelle, Elizabeth Counsell and Justine Lord.
Justine went on to make six chapters of The Saint with a chap called Moore. Elizabeth had been seen - just! - in From Russia With Love. Or, at least, one of her knees was seen as Woman In Punt gliding by with actor Michael Culver... while Bond was on the river bank with, bien sur, another girl.

Tony Crawley Photos © Eon Productions, 1965 / Media Bis , 1992
[Every 007 film has a page on Tony’s website, crawleyscasting calls.com]

How Sir Michael Caine attended the birth of the Goldfinger theme song...And wishes he hadn't !

2010-01-16T19:31:00.001-08:00

I will always remember the hilarious Michael Caine introduction of the memorable 1998 Royal Albert Hall John Barry Concert in London ...

The acclaimed actor told a packed house about how , broken and houseless , he came to ask for shelter at his friend's doorstep in 1964 ...The night the James Bond composer precisely rattled his brain to try to find a correct tune for the third James Bond movie ...

In his typical no-nonsense fashion, the actor told the audience ( of which I was a fortunate member ) that he desperatly tried to find some sleep while his musician friend kept on banging on his piano next door , and ended his little speech , having the audience rolling with laughter , with those immortal words :

" In the early morning , I tried to make a good face - fortunately we actors always have some make-up with us , no , not that kind of make-up ! - and then ask John what was the tune he had been working on the whole damn night .
- It's called ...Goldfinger , a harassed and obviously gutted composer simply answered before collapsing to bed .
So that was it . I've been fortunate enough to litteraly attend to the birth of the greatest James Bond song ever ! "

Pics copyrighted Media-Bis ( April 1998 )

Never Say Never Again for Young James Bonds...

2010-01-16T10:24:00.001-08:00

As I have already written in the very first entry of that Blog , I've been peripherally involved into the French promotion of ' that film ' in 1983 .
You know : the ' Canada Dry Bond ' , which looks like a Bond film, reads like a Bond film , even stars some of the best Bond comedians ...But ultimately fails to even mimic the indomitable Eon one and only recipe to success...

Anyway , some really curious things must have passed through the heads of the Warner Publicity execs desperatly trying to outdo the competition , such as those games designed primary for a target audience between 6 and 8 ( I cannot honestly see any adult doing those ! ) and which should have been inserted into various medias ( newspapers,etc.)...

Those demented NSNA themed mind games ( ? ) were part of the UK official Exhibitors Campaign book , released by Warner around July 83...

All documents property of MEDIA BIS ( courtesy of Columbia-EMI-Warner Distributors . U.K )

A James Bond TV series ? Cubby Broccoli raised the prospect back in 79'.

2010-01-14T04:35:00.000-08:00

London, June 1979.
The UK opening of Moonraker was the last time I chatted with Cubby Broccoli. Full of his usual affability. “I’ve done the farming. I’ve raised the broccolis, now I’m raising the Bonds.” Not tired of him yet? “Never!” he roared. “It’s a very exciting venture and when you work with friends - Derek Meddings, Ken Adams, Bob Simmons - and this pretty young lady [Corinne Clery was sitting between us], it inspires you to keep making more. So does finding new, exciting people like Michael Lonsdale, the best villain since Goldfinger... I like Rog but he’s not contracted. He works from picture to picture... Yes, we have rights for a Bond TV series, but I don’t see us making TV at this stage.
Why not keep making the films? I hope I play the most important part of doing that, as the one that sits there, making the decisions, working (I hope) as a creative producer, writer and ideas man. For example, Jaws was my creation. I’d met Richard in America and told the boys to write an idea for him. We write the impossible and we shoot the impossible... I have to make the ultimate decisions (I have the bills to prove it) so if there’s a mistake I like it to be my mistake and not somebody else’s... We’ll survive only if we make good films. If we make lousy films, we’ll go down the drain like everybody else.”
Tony Crawley
[Every 007 film has a page on Tony’s website, crawleyscasting calls.com]

One Man Too Many ( sounds like an U.N.C.L.E movie ! )

2010-01-09T04:31:00.000-08:00

Contrary to his Eon / Danjaq partner , co-producer Harry Saltzman sometimes veered off the Bond canon towards other type of movies .

Such as this ' One Man Too Many ' ( word-for-word translation of the original French title ) which seems to be some kind of mix between the Dirty Dozen and...Unglorious Basterds !

Synopsis tells us this : in 1943 , a group of resistants managed to save twelve prisonners from death penalty . Problem : once they think they're safe at last they realized there's...One man too many amongst the group .

Released in 1967 and directed by no less than a young Costa Gavras , film boats an impressive line-up and is co-produced by Les Artistes Assoçiés ( french counterpart of United Artists ) , Sol Produzioni ( Italy ) and Compania Cinematographica Montoro ( Italy ) .

Title seems unfortunately not to be available on DvD . Sigh .

Liebegrusse aus dem Casino Royale in Karlovy Vary

2010-01-08T04:38:00.000-08:00

In May 2006 a group of Members of the german James Bond Fan-club "Bondklub Deutschland" travelled for one Day to Karlovy Vary. At this time the First Unit of "Casino Royale" was in the City for filming Scenes around the Grand Hotel Pupp (alias Hotel Splendide in the Film) and the "Kaiserbad" (an old Bath (Cesars Bath), used in the Film as the Casino Royale).
The most interesting thing was, that everything was open, so we could go into the Hotel. We have been in the Foyer, have seen the Lift, have been inside in an Resting Room and in the Restaurant of the Hotel We have also seen the Area, where the Dinner was served between 007 and Vesper Lynd.

There was no fence around the Hotel (as f.e. in Bregenz at the filming of QofS). So we could see in the Restaurant Daniel Craig drinking Coffee (after Jogging) , Eva Green outside the Hotel walking with her dog, Lindy Hemming with her Assistant in the City and Martin Campbell walking between Hotel and the Kaiserbad.

When we arrived in Karlovy Vary we have been first to the Mühlbrunnenkolonade, which was seen in CR as the Train Station. After a nice and long walk through the old City we have been to the Grand Hotel Pupp and have been surprised, that there was no Security or a Fence around the Hotel against Visitors or Fans. Interesting is that in the Film the driving from the Train Station to the Hotel is in Reality the vice versa direction, as they would drive from the Hotel to the Mühlbrunnenkolonaden.

And it was funny, that we heard from other Tourists that they thought the Hotel was really renamed ' Hotel Splendide ' . It was great to see that really each plate with the Name of the Hotel, or the Restaurant was changed.
First we went into the Restaurant of the Hotel, which is also usable for guests who don`t stay in the Hotel.
We had a drink and met other friends. We were finally a group of 10 Persons. Then we saw a staircaise into the Hotel and we went into . There was a great Restroom, where we could have also a few drinks.
From there we had a view to the table, where 007 and Vesper had Dinner after the Victory over Le Chiffre at the Pokergame.
We had also a short glimpse of Michael G. Wilson and Barbara Broccoli, who rushed through the Restroom.
Then we went to the Foyer and we saw the lift, which is different to the lift in the Film.

When we went back to the Restaurant, we saw Daniel Craig drinking a Cup of Coffee in a small corner of the Restaurant.
A Member of our group asked him for a Photograph, but Daniel said no, because he didn`t wanted to be photographed in his Jogging Clothes.

Afterwards we walked along the Car Park of the Hotel, which was closed for Public Use and full of Security people, because there was standing the Aston Martin and the Bentley (used as the Hotel Transfer).
The we made a walk to the Kaiserbad, which was decorated as Casino Royale and prepared for a filming in the Evening. Later we saw a group of Extras, which filmed later in the Night a scene inside the Kaiserbad.
In the Evening, before we left Karlovy Vary, we saw the Preparation of the Street in Front of the Hotel. It was made wet, for filming a Night sequence as we heard (probably the Sequence when 007 follows the kidnapped Vesper and runs to his car)
It was a wonderful day ,which made great memories.

Wolfgang Thuerauf - January 2010 .

Text and pics copyrighted .
The Pictures are from Sascha Braun, Heiko Lorson (signed at the Pics) and from Alexander Stundner (not signed).

1969 : 007 POSITION VACANT - REPLACEMENT NEEDED PRONTO

2010-01-08T02:33:00.000-08:00

“It’s a slight problem if we have to get a new Bond ” Cubby Broccoli told me. “But there’s always somebody lurking out there that would be a good Bond. Or a bad ’un!” Right! Althougfh it was inconceivable that two producers who chose as correctly as Connery could have made the enormous error as Lazenby. He wasn’t the only guy in the frame... Roger Moore was set until shooting clashed with his Persuaders schedule. And so a new search began for - what else - “a young Connery.” Ian Ogilivy was approached (he became Roger's Saint successor in 1978). Also seen: Michael Billington (soon enough, an Eon house pet) and a certain Timothy Peter Dalton. Cubby was also was keen on Jeremy Brett, who became the ultimate Sherlock Holmes, 1984-94). Ironically, Ian Fleming’s own sketch of Bond greatly resembled Holmes. Broccoli’s most surprising idea was... Oliver Reed. An ex-Hammer Films werewolf (he once asked me if he should move to France, “where they like ugly men - look at Belmondo!”), Reed had too many problems: drinking, brawling, weight, etc.. Cubby decided that the need “to destroy his image and re-mould him” was too great. Two telly-Americans were tested - Adam Batman West, bordering on the plump, and Roy Thinnes from The Invaders, bordering on the boring. And a third ran: Tom Selleck. “I was asked to screentest but I turned it down. I’m sure that being between Roger and Sean wouldn’t be a good career move.” Finally, from an alleged 413 contenders, George Lazenby, beat the other finalists: Robert Campbell, Anthony Rogers, Hans De Vries (who immediately joined the Cubby’s dream team of Connery/Bardot in Shalako) and John Richardson, husband of double Bond Girl, Martine Beswick Soon as he became Bond, all his 32 minutes of Lazenby’s 1965 screen debut as “British Spy” suddenly disappeared from Spain’s Marc Mato, agent S.077/Espionage in Tangiers. “Cubby Broccoli will tell you that I was a failure and difficult to work with,” said Lazenby later “Unfortunately, he told a lot of people that and it meant that it was impossible to get employment.” What Cubby actually said was: “You’re only a star when the public says so.” Even after a further 59 roles in 34 years, the public never said that about George.

Tony Crawley Photos © Eon Productions, 1969 [Every 007 film has a page on Tony’s website, www.crawleyscasting calls.com]

The GoldenEye Pierce Brosnan signed cut storyboarded sequence

2010-01-05T10:01:00.000-08:00

Back in 1995 , I supplied some colleagues of Canal +'s Journal du Cinéma some 007 merchandise to be presented to Pierce Brosnan during a Live TV interview ( notably a big 1965 German manufactured toy Aston Martin - the one operated with batteries -, which Pierce failed to correctly activated : he pushed buttons randomly until the ejector seat suddenly popped out and launched its passenger ...Much to the visible surprise of the Star , whose reaction wasn't faked ! )
To thank me for my participation , the TV crew then asked him to sign me that storyboard of an unused sequence of the movie ( was it ever shot ? I wonder ... )

Document property of Media Bis 1995 - Not to be reproduced .

The " Could someone please tell me what the heck is exactly happening ? " Affair

2010-01-03T14:30:00.000-08:00

From the Sunday Times edition of 2010, January the 3rd

"Pre-production on ' Bond23 ' has been halted and filming postponed while the future of the Bond franchise hangs in the balance.

The 23rd Bond film was to have been bankrolled by MGM but the Hollywood studio is up for sale in a bid to clear mounting debts.

The 007 blockbusters are a lucrative franchise and could be sold off. “In the words of another great British hero, Antarctic explorer Captain Oates, the next James Bond movie may be some time,” said Terence Doyle, editor of British Film Magazine.

Michael G Wilson, who produces the Bond films with Barbara Broccoli, admitted: “We just don’t know enough about the situation to comment but we know it’s uncertain.”

The earliest a new film is likely to go into production is at the end of this year, for release in 2011, a full three years after the last Bond, Quantum Of Solace.

Pre-production work on the film, which will again star Daniel Craig, pictured above with Quantum love interest Olga Kurylenko, is on hold until next month.

The sale of MGM, which owns the Pink Panther franchise, comes after a year in which it released only the failed remake of Fame. Potential bidders include Time Warner, Lionsgate and other undisclosed parties ."

And then ,less than 24h later , all the Fan websites headlined ' Sam Mendes IS the Bond23 director ' ...While Variety ( the media from which originated the leak ) remains a triffle bit more cautious about said info .

Patience you must learn , Bond Fans from all over the World ...

The Year We Make Contact !

2010-01-01T10:36:00.000-08:00

HAPPY NEW YEAR , EVERYONE !!!

Below the belt parodies...Literally ( part 1 )

2010-01-01T04:47:00.001-08:00

Being the notoriously dedicated completist that I am, I felt obliged to post those, ahem, very subtile parodies (advertised at the Cannes International Film Market in the 90's ) ...
I hasten to say I've never watched any of them .
As Oscar Wilde would say " copying is the most sincere form of flattery "...Indeed !

Those were the days : typical 80's haircuts...I mean The Living Daylights official Gears of course

2009-12-31T12:47:00.000-08:00

Aaaaaaaaaaah ,those great Bonnie Tyler / Bryan Ferry's type Hair dos of the 80's !
Unmistakable , like a vintage Duran Duran track ( or ahA, for that matters...).
Purists will note the black coma of hair on the guy's face . Clearly a subtile hommage, no doubts !

THE SWIMSUIT OF THE YEAR

2009-12-30T00:57:00.000-08:00

THE SWIM SUIT OF THE YEAR
You recognise the suit, of course.
The “in” suit of 1965. What you might well call a veritable Thunderball of a swimsuit. The suit first turned up in the Pinewood screen tests of the various pin-uppables jetting into town to be trying and vying for the role of Domino Derval. Like... comely French starlet Yvonne Monlaur... ex-Bluebell girl Gloria Paul, a British “star” in Italian movies had to make do with a 007 send up, The Intelligence Men... and South African Marisa Menzies.†
Yvonne was already popular in Britain because of her comedy, Inn For Trouble, and Circus of Horrors (quite a comedy, too!). She went home to thud ’n’ blunder actioners, one of which, Nick Carter va tout casser, opened in America as... License To Kill.
Claudine Auger wore the suit more for publicity pix in the Bahamas than in the movie - where she (or censors?) kept hiding the transparent section with a jacket thingie for her poolside lunch with Bond.
Remember the menu?
Domino: “What sharp little eyes you’ve got.”
Bond: “Wait ’til you get to my teeth.”
Tony Crawley

[Every 007 film has a page on Tony’s website, crawleyscasting calls.com]
Photos © Eon Productions, 1965
Those pics have all been embedded with a micro dot ( courtesy of Photoshop ) , enabling me to trace them ,should anyone decide to reproduce the pics without permission . You've been warned .

Original Dr No / Goldfinger drawning found !

2009-12-29T05:11:00.000-08:00

A nice original drawning found in a Second hand Comics bookstore of Marseille...

Raquel Welch IS Domino ( or should have been...)

2009-12-29T00:25:00.000-08:00

FROM RAQUEL WELCH WITH LOVE
December 1963, Elstree Studios. The newest Hollywood rage Raquel Welch has a surprises for me. Stretch marks and how she was almost Domino in Thunderball... Cubby Broccoli loved Julie Christie on TV in 1961 but she was too flat-chested for Cubby’s famous tit-test. So he went for the tits of the hour - and signed Raquel. 20th Century Fox was not happy.
“Next thing, the studio called me on a Saturday,” she told me. “Now in Hollywood, nobody calls anybody from the studio on a Saturday. I mean, the head of the studio just doesn’t go near a phone, any phone, on a Saturday. But he did. ‘We gotta picture for you - Fantastic Voyage,’ he said. ‘Well, I don’t wanna do it; I wanna do Thunderball.’ And he said: ‘Well, that’s tough, baby, because we have a deal going with those boys and we have cooled the whole issue.’
“As it turned out, they used four girls in Thunderball. I looked like three of ’em. We would have cancelled each other out. But in Fantastic Voyage, I’m the only girl... No chance of being mistaken for Stephen Boyd or Donald Pleasence!”
As she was an unknown, it was no big deal. Eon released her - “which may or may not have done her a favour,” pondered Cubby. Ironically, she had already tested for Fox’s Bond flick, Our Man Flint. And that did no one any favours.
Tony Crawley
Photos © 20th Century Fox, 1966
[Every 007 film has a page on Tony’s website, crawleyscasting calls.com]

Christmas Bonus : LICENCE TO REMEMBER - exclusive Bond Memories From Tony Crawley - Part 3

2009-12-21T06:48:00.000-08:00

More , more ...Much Moore : Roger Moore IS James Bond

Dolphin Square, September 24, 1969.
My first Roger Moore interview is for... Playback, the 3M tape magazine.
On how/why he uses tape-recorders - certainly never to practise accents.

Pinewood, December 31, 1974.
Roger is completing That Lucky Touch (it wasn’t) and talking his head of to me about being a cop’s son... discovered as an extra: “everybody was in a toga, carrying a spear. And my spear was longer, that’s all there was to it... I wasn’t a born talent like Albert Finney, I had to work at it...”
You did a week as a stand-up comic in Wales? “No, four nights. Before they sacked me. Ghastly... In Hollywood, they suggested I was too English... When I first said: ‘My name is Bond, James Bond,’ it sounded just like Sean... I like being Bond, you’d have to be fucking daft not to!” .

Les Ambassadeurs, July 3, 1980.
My final film reception (Sea Wolves) before moving to France. The headline became: NO MOORE BOND. “I’ve done it. I’ve proved I can do it. I’ve proved I can make money. And I object to discussing terms for the next film while being threatened with their many clones being tested. Which strikes me as being slightly bad manners. I’m not into that rat-race.”
Tony Crawley

[Every 007 film has a page on Tony’s website, www.crawleyscasting calls.com]

Christmas Bonus : LICENCE TO REMEMBER - exclusive Bond Memories From Tony Crawley - Part 2

2009-12-21T06:39:00.000-08:00

Chateau Claudine , cuvée 65'
A meeting with CLAUDINE AUGER

May 17, 1965, was a Monday and the day I met the then newest Bond Girl in her suite at the Dorchester Hotel in London. Corinne Clery, Sophie Marceau, Eva Green, they came later. The very first French Bond babe was Claudine Auger - Domino in Thunderball. She told me many things that afternoon... “James Bond is sometimes very tough with his women. No matter. I like this sort of man... I never wanted to be a beauty queen, winning Miss France was a surprise. My parents were very angry. I was only 16... My younger sister, Anne-Marie, is far more beautiful than me, she’s like a young Sophia Loren. Her favourite star is Sean Connery. Sean gave me a handsome photograph signed specially for her.”
And then she got to her clothes. Or not... “Oh, I must have 120 dresses at home, 50 swimsuits... Funny, non, to have so much. You see, when I’m at home, I’m not wearing anything. I like to be nude in my house. It makes me feel so free. Non, I do not bother pulling the curtains. I’ve never seen anyone looking at me. Yet.”
I was. Just looking at and drinking in her great looks and warm personality... slowly... like a good French wine. Chateau Claudine. Tony Crawley
Photos © Eon Productions, 1965
[Every 007 film has a page on Tony’s website, www.crawleyscasting calls.com]

2009-12-21T06:35:00.000-08:00

Found this fake on the Web recently . It wouldn't have changed the final ( awful ) product but at least it would have made it looking a bit more...Bondian !

Christmas Bonus : LICENCE TO REMEMBER - exclusive Bond Memories From Tony Crawley - Part 1

2009-12-16T10:05:00.000-08:00

Warning : all pics property of Media Bis and/ or individuals .

Each pic is embebded with MB logo microdot to trace it .

Intro : as some form of respect to my illustrious ,eeer , Elders , I decided to invite some of them writing something on that Blog about agent 007 .
First one to call back is the great Film journalist Tony Crawley , who graciously sent me several paragraphs of funny anecdotes about his numerous encounters with that man Bond .
So seat back, relax and enjoy a trip down to Memory Lane .
Text & Pics copyrighted Tony Crawley ( otherwise mentionned ) .

The year is 1963.
The first week shooting of FRWL coincides with the publication of OHMSS .
A Media Party is arranged . A coach from London to Pinewood in the Bucks countryside.

More Bucks ( Fizz ) on tables laddened with good muncheables on the FRWL set ( Nb : Gipsy camp set , most probably ) .
The whole team is there . The men who make Bond great : Sean, Cubby Broccoli, Harry Saltzman, Ian Fleming and Terence Young .
Oh, plus the Duke of Bedford - dunno why ?
I grab a book and get Sean to autograph it . And the Duke .Why not ?
' Hope to see you soon at my shack ' , he scribbled - he has one of the finest UK Tourist glory , the 18th Century Stately Home called Woburn Abbey...

A Journalist Pal shoots me with Sean .
He pulls his Walther on me . Looking into those hard,Bondian eyes is quite ...Something . Almost scary .
He was charming , but then the 007 hysteria and his hassles with disorganised schedules of the franchise had not yet begun.
More champers on the bus back to town where I should say the night ended with me pissing all Fresco in what proves to be Bedford Square . Never told the Duke .
Next Time I saw Sean was on Goldfinger . He was in bed , or rather on it , with Shirley Eaton ( they share his PJs ) seconds before her paint job and his going to a fridge , saying something about the Beatles .
Wasn't everybody in 64' ?

Photo copyright Graham Spears.
Every 007 film has a page on Tony's Website : www.crawleyscastingcall.com

" When you were young and your heart was an open book..."

2009-12-15T01:23:00.000-08:00

Last thursday will be engraved in my memory forever .

Through sheer luck I managed to get a free ticket to attend to Sir Paul McCartney one & only French Concert of his ' Good Morning Europe ' 2009/2010 Tour ...The aptly called Good Evening Paris mega gig . More than 15.000 Fans waited for Macca , due to appear by 08.00PM...An hour later , patience was running low and expectations...Very High !

Perhaps to compensate for his lateness , Sir Paul gratified his audience of a 40 minus plus Encore at the end of the Concert...

So now, it's Karaoke time , people !

When you were young and your heart was an open book

You used to say live and let live

( You know you did , you know you did , you know you did )

But in this ever changing World in which we live in

Makes you give in and cry

Say Live And Let Die

Live And Let Die

What Does it matters to ya

When you got a job to do

You gotta do it well

You gotta give the other fellow Hell...

You used to say Live and let live

You know you did, you know you did you know you did

But in this ever changing World in which we live in

Makes you give in and cry

The Live and Let Die

Live and Let Die

Voodoo Dolls , anyone ?

2009-12-14T07:59:00.000-08:00

In the " Oh God , how could Danjaq allows such misery to see the light of day ? " department , we present to-day the latest MATTEL James Bond Girls Dolls ...

Is it me , or are the heads definitly ' Thunderbirds ' - like ?

('Kay, the Pussy Galore one is really the most ,uh, ah, the less , err . Awww , can't even find a positive comment for that one ... )

Remy Julienne : The Real James Bond behind a wheel - Part II

2009-12-11T11:41:00.001-08:00

Let's go on with some more exclusive Remy Julienne Archives :

- The cover of his Promo brochure of 1985

- The real story-board of part of the A View To A Kill Seine bank / Eiffel Tower car chase

- The Man himself goofing around with THAT car ( yes ...We ALL did that , when near an Aston Martin DB5 . Must be compulsory I guess ... ) . That pic was used as the cover of the official Remy Julienne 1995 released VHS video program ' Il Fait Des Bonds ' ( impossible to translate in English . Litteraly , it means ' He Makes Leaps ' . But the French word for ' Leap ' is indeed...Bond ! Aha . Clear enough ? )

Some anecdotes now : to achieve the filming of the chase between the DB5 and the Xenia Ferrari at the beginning of GoldenEye , Rémy had to devise an ingenuous ploy .

Simply mounting a false DB5 body on the chassis of a much sup-upped car ...

For despite all efforts , the poor old DB5 - which was also available as the ' real thing ' for the shooting of the sequence ( close-ups & all ) couldn't compete with the super-charged Italian beauty ...

Several fiberglass made DB5 bodies were available ( many of them turning up much later in various Movie auctions under the false denomination ' GoldenEye one & only Double - car ' ) .

All material copyrighted MEDIA BIS - Do Not reproduce without written authorization

Amos Burke - R.I.P

2009-12-11T03:50:00.000-08:00

It is with a great sadness that we report the death of actor Gene Barry today .

Although most well-known in the rest of the World as the suave Gentlemanly Amos Burke ( one-time Secret Agent himself , courtesy of the Spy - craze of the Sixties ) , he will be mostly remembered in France as the equally dashing Gene Bradley , from the excellent I.T.C vintage series ' The Adventurer ' , created by Dennis Spooner , prolific writer whose name is to be found in almost each and every Cult British TV series of the 1960s/70s...

( if there's ever been a Schizophenic series in the World - apart from ' The Prisoner ' , it is indeed that one : a main character playing a namesake Actor who's doing undercover missions for Her Majesty . Great plot indeed ! And note the initials of both actor & character...)

R.I.P Gene Barry

This Man IS James Bond : Yes sireee...

2009-12-08T21:25:00.000-08:00

The Christmas Early Present' from Our Man From Bond Street Team :

( This critic page is dedicated to Pierre Patin )

So you thought you knew your James Bond Canon, down to the Barry Nelson entry , eh ?

In 1979, I was proudly publishing the first photocopied issues of my Fanzine , and started meeting other young crazy Film buffs in Paris . One of them discovered one day an oddity and started at once raving about it . At first we simply couldn't believe our ears when he described the movie he just saw by chance in a low zone Paris Chinatown Cinema .

A Hong Kong film starring a fake Bruce Lee ( ok , that , we were used to . So many copycats Bruce Lee appeared after the death of the Enter the Dragon star . All of them generally awful ) .

But co-starring were the likes of ...Clint Eastwood ' Man With No Name ' silent Hero, Popeye the Sailorman ( I kid you not ! ) , the French erotic symbol of the 70's Emmanuelle and,and...

A character always impeccably dressed in tuxedo and bow-tie called...JAMES BOND !!!!!

And - oh , the irony ! - that James Bond is on the...Villain's side ! ( But it's a ploy ! OMG ! )

Played by US actor Alexander Haig ,who actually looks more like Barney Collier from Mission Impossible than 007 himself ! ( sorry for the awful Caption pics : it's been Hell trying to find extracts of that movie on the Net . ) . What boggles the mind is the fact that Alexander Haig seems to speak...Fluent French ( listen closely to the credits sequence . )

To sum up a rather , errr , bizarre script : story has Bruce Lee ( actor Bruce...Leong ! ) fighting in Heavens against the most Evil Masterminds of all Times : The Godfather , Dracula ( who looks more like BLACKula , due to awful make-up ) ...And the Emperor of Evil Himself ( call it Satan, for us Westerners ) .

On the Good side , along Bruce ,are ...Popeye , Saïtochi the Blind Samuraï , Kato from The Green Hornet and Clint Eastwood !

' In between ' ( so to speak ) is the sensual...Emmanuelle ( in the Sylvia Kristel chic Sexy heroine mould ) , a treacheress " à la Vesper Lynd " ( an inspiration for the Eva Green characterisation perhaps... ) .

Film is called for Westerners ' The Dragon Lives again ' , dated back 1977 , directed by a certain Law Kei ( I kid you not ) and seems to be still available in DvD through a distributor called ' 5 Minutes To Live ' ( honest ! Must be the average time a normal cinemagoer manages to hang on while trying to watch that movie... )

Let's be thoroughly honest : although I finally DID see that...Thing ( yep, am so badly addicted to Bond stuff ! ) , it's really awfull ( The HK ' Ace Goes place ' series looks like a Kurosawa movie in comparison...)

So bad ...It actually becomes Fun watching it !

That is , if you're enjoying a Video night with friends ...And booze !

You can trace in Zone 3 DvD ( Hong Kong / Taiwan ) .

I've PsP format encoded the actual complete overture credits sequence of the Movie - starring James Bond firing against Bruce Lee ...With a soundtrack shamelessly borrowed from Lalo Schiffrin's Enter The Dragon AND ...The James Bond Theme !!!!! ( Danjaq people, I'm actually working for you , right now.... ) .

That sequence is actually a presentation of all the main characters , so you'll get a pretty general idea of the whole thing ...Without having to watch it entirely - how nice am I, eh ?

And , as a special Christmas Bonus , I cannot resisting adding ...Errr , you'll see by yourself !

Last info : this film is actually called in France ' LA RESURRECTION DU DRAGON ' , which makes some more sense ( not much , but still...) .

( Lord , I DO hope I'm not the only one enjoying that piece of crap ... Or else my reputation will go down the drain ! Which reputation ? Awwwww , come on...) .

THE GREATEST FISTICUFF / MARTIAL ARTS / COMEDY / ESPIONNAGE / WESTERN / DOWNRIGHT HORRIBLE MOVIE EVER MADE !

Aspirin needed - Aces Go Places : The Mad Hong Kong James Bond spoof series , Part 1

2009-12-08T19:39:00.000-08:00

Fasten your seat-belts !

I've started slowly with the mild ' From Hong Kong With Love ' and ' Le Magnifique ' but I'm now going full speed with a review of that unique Action/ Comedy HK film series , which I discovered at the Cannes International Film Market in the 80's .

Although truly atrocious by Western standards in terms of comedy and acting , those films hugely make up for with their truly unbelievable stunts , shot without any CGI or computer effect of any sort .

A vehicle for a HK comic duo , formed by Inspector 'Kojak' ( Karl Maka , the Baldy one . at least ,that his name in the US subtitled versions I've seen - and bought in CDV ) and his younger sidekick/ nemesis , Sam , the Ladies Man , subtly nicknamed...King Kong ( honest ! ) played by Sam Hui .

The story of each entry of the film series is basically the same : King Kong tries to commit the theft of the Century ...And Inspector Kojak ( spelt Kojirak in HK original version ) tries to do his best to catch him during the whole movie ...

Now that I think of it , that structure reminds me of the...Pink Panther series !!!

I won't go into describing the various scripts ( more or less the same story ,with different settings ).

Suffice to say the movies are truly spectacular by themselves .

By number two, the series had already gained some international Cult following ( even in France , where the obligatory Cannes Film Market one & only Midnight screening of each new film became THE event not to be missed for young movie critics of my generation . Still clearly remember the pure madness of each of those screening ,with the audience - apparently only composed of Professionnals from the medias & the Industry alike - , screamed , hooted and laughed during each viewing...Not forgetting enthusiastically whistling the catching tune theme of the series ! see & hear video 2 ) .

So let's concentrate on the more ' Bond- orientated ' entries of the series .

Which are ,first , the aptly named 'AGP 3 - Our Man From Bond Street ' , and the following one ' AGP 4 - You Never Die Twice ' ( God , I missed those cheesy titles in our bleak 21rst Century Film entries ) ;

Directed by none other than Tsui Hark himself , AGP3 is a roller-coaster of a movie .

To my knowledge ,two different versions officially exist : a normal Hong Kong edited one , and a slightly more tight one ( story-wise ) for export . Since I got both I won't bother going into specifics and will only review the main set scenes ...

Let's first try to get a decent synopsis out of the frenetic ,no hold barred story .

Said story begins in Paris where our Hero , ' King Kong ' , has just stolen a fabulous diamond belonging to none other than Her Majesty Elisabeth II ...

His scheme to achieve such exploit makes the Ethan Hunt 's Mission Impossible plans truly ...Laughable in comparision ( rocket-propelled skate-board ,underwater re breather anyone ? ) .

Unfortunately for him , the Opposition - in the guise of Jaws ( Richard Kiel himself ) and an Odjobb look-alike - managed to substitute said diamond .

Sam is then recruited by Her Majesty ( who casually cruises under the Seine in her private submarine - as big as the Red October one ! Aboard the ship is also that mysterious ' Man From Bond Street ' , who turns out to be ...You-know-you , and who'll finally appear as a dastardly traitor by the end of the movie .Shocking ! ) to retrieve the Royal diamond and save the Crown of England .

Inspector Kojak , on another hand , is still fuming trying to catch Sam ( which he failed to do at the last minute of every entry of the series ) .

It's really a bit like the classic Warner Road Runner cartoon ...With humans !

That's the main core of the film . Like I said the basic story in itself is not that important . What's really catching the eye is the stunts .

We know HK actors are famous for their Stunt habilities ( see Jackie Chan, a former stunt man himself ) and the ' Aces Go Places ' series is clearly a catalogue of the most fantastic motorized , air-borne and...Underwater stunts ever devised for movies !

And there's also the Gadgets ,which would make Q green with envy : radio controled toys , missile-launching helicopter , twin Machine guns mounted on 'James Bond' vintage coupé sportcar...Not to forget the deadly hat of our old friend Odjobb : those guys obviously knew their Classics !

Oh..I almost forgot to mention the guest-stars , who became a trademark early on in each new entry . In OMFBS , we got Richard Kiel , Peter Greaves ( in Jim Phelps mode ) , the aforementionned Oddjob look-alike - with a right steel-hand ! , a Sean Connery / James Bond sort of ( looking more like OSS 117 Jean Dujardin than the Scottish actor but , heck... ) .

One last word : it's really ...Uncanny how similar are some action sequences from AGP III To...A View To A Kill ones . The Eiffel Tower fight is almost a carbon copy of the 007 one ( made several years later ) . Is Eon a fan of the Aces Go Places film series ? Go figure ( if I may say so ) ...

If you can put your brain on the 'off ' mode for a couple of hours , I'd cheerfully advise you to try at least to watch ' Our Man From Hong Kong ' ... And then perhaps try the following one ' You Never Die Twice ' ,which I'll introduce to you , innocent audience , by a next Post !

How To Destroy The reputation of The most Famous Secret Agent of The World ?

2009-12-07T06:51:00.000-08:00

This is actually the terrific pre-production title of one of the best French Bond spoof ever produced so far ( on which the newest OSS 117 adventures largely dwelled upon ) .

Directed by Philippe de Broca in 1973 , who's also responsible for ' That Man In Rio ' , another Bond spoof , also starring France n°1 Action Film Hero ...Jean Paul Belmondo !

Readers of this blog are probably aware of Jean Paul Belmondo tenuous connection with James Bond : being the then boy-friend of Ursula Andress in 1967 , he starred as the French Legionnaire at the end of the Casino Royale epic fight sequence ( " The French arrived ! Les-Français-sont-arrivés " ) .

In Le Magnifique ( the original title then became only the tag line ) , Belmondo plays a French Spy novelist , living up his dreams through the incredible adventures of his litterary alter ego , the one & only Bob Sinclair .

The clever editing , which mixes the miserable everyday life of the Paris-based writer ( trying to get a raise from his publisher , falling in love with his student neighbour,etc.,etc ) and the grandiose exploits of the formidable secret agent ( both being played by Belmondo, of course ) makes an excellent entertaining film , with gorgeous scenery and some dry humour ( the fim begins with the most improbable death which ever occurred to a secret agent : found dead , drowned and mauled by Sharks in a ...Phone box . You have to see the film to fully understand the gag ) .

One of the most enjoyable scene of the whole movie is the interrogation sequence were a string of interpreters tries to decipher the mumbling phrases of an Albanian spy .

Since the available Albanian translator only speaks...Romanian , they then use a Romanian interpreter who only speaks Serbian, which in turn is only spoken by a Serbian, who is only understood by a Russian who speaks Czech . A language finally spoken by the French translator ...Love it !

As usual, Belmondo does most of his stunts and clearly enjoys sending up his 'Secret Agent' personna .

Car chases , exotic locals ( Mexico and the Aztec pyramids - lair of the infamous S.P.E.C.T.R.E-like evil organization ) , gun à gogo and the exquisite presence of the beautiful Jacqueline Bisset ( as the obligatory love interest - and also briefly appearing herself in the 67' version of Casino Royale as ' Miss Goodthighs ' ) makes this one a 'must see' for every decent 007 spoofs amateur .

A remake of some sort was miserably produced for French Television in 1999 , ' Bob Le Magnifique ' . Word of advice : to be avoided .

The 2002 James Bond London Science Museum Exhibition Press Day

2009-12-06T23:49:00.000-08:00

As 2010 is slowly looming towards its end and we'll soon enter the 50th anniversary year of the James Bond films series, a little reminder of the last most important event of the 2002 last Anniversary year ...

Back in Autumn 2002 , the usual Bond craziness engulfed the World Medias .

I was hired by a TV production company to cover the Press day of the 007 London Science Museum exhibition - the very first of its kind in Europe , where Eon graciously displayed props, sketches , vehicles and various gadgets used in the James Bond films since 1962...

Add to this a string of super guests stars ( Sir Christopher Lee, various Bond girls ) and the -rare- presence of both Barbara Broccoli and Michael G Wilson together and you'll probably understand why I was drooling like Tex Avery's proverbial wolf ...

Being ' French TV ' , we were given the red carpet treatment and I joyously passed from one Celebrity guest to another , followed by my faifhfull cameraman , to get the most of the unique day .

We were lucky enough to get sweet Caroline Munro , the producer himself - Mickey G - who even called his half-sister to join us ( she declined as usual , being notoriously shy of the medias . Damnit...) , Sir Christopher Lee ,etc.,etc...

But there was someone I had never met so far in the assembly .

A Bond girl of legend , former P.A of a certain Mr Goldfinger ...

So , with my usual French charm , I decided to ask Mrs Honor Blackman a quick interview .

Haven't figured out to this day what happened then, but the lady quickly shot back a stern ' no ' and then headed straight to the toilets ( overdose of petits fours ? ) .

Incidentally , this kind of ' thank you , but no thank you ' behaviour also occured to me with ...George Lazenby , when trying to interview him at the 2002 Ian Fleming Foundation Stoke Park Anniversary Golf course .

The guy politely told us ' please wait for me here ...' and we never saw him again of the whole day ...