<\/p>\n It was in 1954 that Ian Fleming, English author, journalist and naval intelligence officer, who had penned a few spy novels about an English secret service agent called James Bond, was noticed.\u00a0 Well, sort of.\u00a0 The American CBS television network paid $1,000 for the rights to turn the first of his James Bond novels, Casino Royale, into a one-hour television adventure.\u00a0 The low-budget black-and-white television show was nothing spectacular, especially in light of what was yet to come.<\/p>\n Then, in what has to be the luckiest move on this planet, Fleming sold a six-month option on the film rights to his publisher and future James Bond novels to Harry Saltzman in 1961. After this six-month period, Saltzman joined up with the noted Albert. R. Broccoli to form Everything Or Nothing Productions (EON Productions) to make the first Bond film.\u00a0 This partnership would continue until 1975.\u00a0 The producers of the Bond movies chose to start off with the sixth novel, \u2018Dr. No\u2019 at which point the tales had started to become increasingly elaborate and the villains flamboyantly megalomaniacal.\u00a0 Which, of course, is all part of the James Bond magic and appeal.\u00a0<\/p>\n There weren\u2019t too many Hollywood studios interested in funding the James Bond films then, most dismissing them as \u2018too British\u2019 or \u2018too blatantly sexual\u2019.\u00a0 Eon Productions took the risk and it paid off.\u00a0 To date Eon Productions, still owned by the Broccoli family, has produced all the James Bond movies, most of them at their London Pinewood Studios and at various exotic locations. With a combined gross profit of over $6 billion to date, the films produced by Eon constitute the third-highest-grossing film series, behind the Harry Potter and Marvel Cinematic Universe films.<\/p>\n Interestingly, Sean Connery was not Broccoli\u2019s first choice as 007, but he was chosen after Patrick McGoohan turned down the role.\u00a0 Surely McGoohan has kicked himself several times ever since. \u00a0The producers spotted the pretty unknown Connery in a most unlikely place: playing the role of a singing Irishman in Disney’s leprechaun fantasy \u2018Darby O’Gill and the Little People\u2019.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Connery was certainly rough and ready enough, but he needed to be refined enough to fit the worldly, suave side of Bond.\u00a0 The fledgling Connery was dunked into the sophisticated social scene of London and given a total image makeover including a new haircut and clothes.\u00a0 Filming of \u2018Dr. No\u2019 took place on location in Jamaica and at Pinewood Studios in England. \u00a0James Bond had been born.\u00a0<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The first Bond film saw itself through with a paltry budget of $1 million and a later addition of $100,000 from United Artists.\u00a0 It could be said that a good investment had been made.\u00a0 \u2018Dr. No\u2019 made back 20 times its cost upon its initial release and $60 million over the years through theatrical re-releases. Critical reaction was mixed upon its release, but the film eventually gained a reputation as one of the best in the James Bond series.\u00a0 \u2018Dr. No\u2019 did lack the gadgetry and gimmicks of later Bond outings but many of the iconic features of a typical James Bond film were rooted, such as the trademark view-down-the-barrel-of-a-gun as the movie begins.\u00a0 Right at the start of the movie, amongst the card tables of the \u2018Le Cercle\u2019 casino in London, James Bond pronounces the immortal line of “Bond…James Bond”. Then there\u2019s the malicious villain with his plans of world domination in the form of nuclear physicist Dr. Julius No, and the typical Bond girl personified by Ursula Andress in her iconic white bikini, as Honey Ryder.\u00a0 We\u2019re introduced to a Bond quintessential quip as Honey rises from the sea and asks him, “Are you looking for shells?” to which Bond replies, “No\u2026 I’m just looking!”<\/p>\n <\/p>\n So What Does \u2018James Bond 24\u2019 Have in Store For Us?<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n It’s been almost two years since director Sam Mendes and his crew rocked the cinematic world with the most successful of all the Bond films, \u2018Skyfall\u2019, which commemorated the James Bond franchise\u2019s 50th anniversary, while grossing $1 billion worldwide and nabbing two Oscars to boot.\u00a0 This month, Mendes returns to the director\u2019s chair for the making of the 24th<\/sup> James Bond movie, making him the only other director to lead two consecutive Bond films since John Glen, who made five \u2013 \u2018For Your Eyes Only\u2019, \u2018Octopussy\u2019, \u2018A View to a Kill\u2019, \u2018The Living Daylights\u2019 and \u2018License to Kill\u2019.<\/p>\n Until now the upcoming movie has been dubbed \u2018James Bond 24\u2019 but will hopefully earn a more riveting title before its release.\u00a0 Since Ian Fleming is no longer around to pen further 007 novels, the movie is based on a book written by Sebastian Faulks, in the style of Ian Fleming.\u00a0 The novel \u2018Devil May Care\u2019 was authored by Faulks in 2008 to celebrate the 100th\u00a0anniversary of the birth of Ian Fleming.\u00a0 The book is set in 1967 and has been written as a sequel to \u2018The Man With The Golden Gun\u2019. The plot sees Bond trying to foil the plans of the chemist Dr. Julius Gorner, who harbours all sorts of evil intentions and heinous plots to devastate the modern world.\u00a0<\/p>\n Daniel Craig once again stars as the suave spy, having signed on to star in at least two more Bond films after the success of \u2018Skyfall\u2019.\u00a0 However, amidst all the splendour of being Bond, it has been revealed by Craig that he was actually planning to end his stint as 007 after \u2018Skyfall\u2019, but was talked into staying.\u00a0 So luckily for those of us who have a thing for blonde spies with big biceps and erm\u2026 perfect torsos, we\u2019ll get to see him doing his thing again alongside those actors who made a debut in \u2018Skyfall\u2019: Naomie Harris as Miss Moneypenny, Ben Whishaw as Q, and Ralph Fiennes as the managerial M.\u00a0<\/p>\n Filming locations for \u2018Bond 24\u2019 are reputed to be Austria, Rome and closer to home – Morocco.\u00a0 Out of these three venues, Rome is the rookie, as no Bond movie has been filmed there before.\u00a0 A few scenes in \u2018Quantum Of Solace\u2019 were filmed in Austria, and \u2018The Living Daylights\u2019 presented some stunning scenes set in both Austria and Morocco.<\/p>\n The buzz is that Scandinavian actresses have been sought for the minor female roles, while the lead Bond Girl will be British. Then again, the movie grapevine also suggests that \u2018Blue is the Warmest Colour\u2019 star L\u00e9a Seydoux might be in line for the female lead.\u00a0 \u201812 Years a Slave\u2019 star Chiwetel Ejiofor has also been rumoured to play the film’s villain.<\/p>\n The Bond Icons<\/strong><\/p>\n It\u2019s those recurring, distinctive themes that make the character Bond and his movies so iconic. His creaseless, stylish suits, his smooth one-liners, the impossibly gorgeous women. The sexy Aston Martin. The Walther PPK. The Martinis, shaken not stirred. Bond-philes the world over can surely compile legions of lists detailing their best Bond icons.\u00a0<\/p>\n Favourite Bond icons range from Martinis to metal teeth, exploding toothpaste to mini rocket cigarettes and a deadly bowler hat to a detonator watch.\u00a0 The oldest, and what has to be the most popular Bond icon, is surely the stunning silver Aston Martin DB5 that James Bond took for a few spins in \u2018Goldfinger\u2019, \u2018Thunderball\u2019, \u2018GoldenEye\u2019, \u2018Tomorrow Never Dies\u2019, \u2018Casino Royale\u2019 and again in \u2018Skyfall\u2019. The slick vehicle comes complete with machine guns hidden under the headlights and a button that releases oil to foil one\u2019s enemies. There\u2019s even an eject button to get rid of unwanted passengers.\u00a0 There are other commendable cars that dropped into various Bond movies like the Lotus in \u2018The Spy Who Loved Me\u2019.\u00a0 This nifty number, that\u2019s delivered to Bond by Q in Sardinia, is nothing too shabby.\u00a0 Quite capable of transforming into a submarine, it\u2019s also equipped with anti-aircraft missiles and is a real babe magnet.<\/p>\n The Bond Girls<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n At some point on his spy mission, Bond will meet a stunning woman, or two, or three. They could be victims rescued by Bond, fellow agents, voluptuous villainesses or crafty henchwomen. Sometimes the Bond girl in mention has even switched sides after being wooed by Bond\u2019s magnetism and charm.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The tough Bond, who never allows a woman to get to him, has fallen in love fictionally only twice.\u00a0 His heart is completely taken with Tracy di Vicenzo in \u2018On Her Majesty’s Secret Service\u2019.\u00a0 Bond and Tracy actually get married but violence and villainy put an end to that happy union.\u00a0 After marrying in Portugal, the newlyweds drive away in Bond’s Aston Martin and when Bond pulls over to remove flowers from the car, Blofeld and a sidekick commit a drive-by shooting that kills Tracy.\u00a0 In \u2018Casino Royale\u2019, Bond falls in love with Vesper Lynd, a double agent who turns her allegiance for love.\u00a0 In the movie she gets to save Bond’s life but unfortunately he doesn’t manage to save hers. At the start of \u2018Quantum of Solace\u2019, we meet an avenging Bond who is seeking revenge for her death.<\/p>\n Roald Dahl, the famous novelist, who was the screenwriter of \u2018You Only Live Twice\u2019, mentioned the formula he was given for the film: “You put in three girls\u00a0… Girl number one is pro-Bond. She stays around roughly through the first reel of the picture. \u00a0She is then bumped off by the enemy, preferably in Bond’s arms. The next girl is anti-Bond and normally captures him, but Bond will save himself by using his charm and sexual potency: she is normally killed mid-way through the film. Girl number three will survive and end the film in Bond’s embrace.\u201d<\/p>\n Bond girls often have wildly creative and very risqu\u00e9 names.\u00a0 The most obvious, and the most controversial, would have to be Pussy Galore from \u2018Goldfinger\u2019.\u00a0 It was so suggestive in fact, that American censor boards refused to allow it on promotional materials and for the US market she was then referred to as Miss Galore or Goldfinger’s personal pilot.\u00a0 Other monikers include Honey Ryder from \u2018Dr. No\u2019, Holly Goodhead from \u2018Moonraker\u2019, Mary Goodnight and Chew Mee from \u2018The Man with the Golden Gun\u2019, Plenty O’Toole from \u2018Diamonds Are Forever\u2019, Xenia Onatopp from \u2018GoldenEye\u2019, and Christmas Jones from \u2018The World Is Not Enough\u2019.\u00a0<\/p>\n In the more modern of the Bond movies, the women are rather more ingenious, somewhat independent and aloof.\u00a0 The Honey Ryders and Pussy Galores don’t grace the screen merely for the pleasures of Bond.\u00a0 That\u2019s not to say that beautiful women have been banned from the Bond screen.\u00a0 What a bland Bond world that would be! \u00a0The relationships between Bond and women have been redefined in a world where gender roles are shifting.\u00a0 Take Vesper Lynd as an example, who gives as good as she gets.\u00a0 She is one of the only women with whom Bond has a proper relationship.\u00a0 In \u2018Quantum of Solace\u2019 we are introduced to Camille Rivera Montes, a Bolivian agent who is seeking revenge for the murder of her family.\u00a0 She\u2019s a beautiful, intelligent woman with own agenda and she doesn’t land up in Bond\u2019s bed. Amazingly.\u00a0 Then there\u2019s Eve in \u2018Skyfall\u2019, the MI6 agent who\u2019s involved in a major slip-up that puts Bond\u2019s life at risk.\u00a0 She gets to shave Bond shave with a straight-edged razor.\u00a0 A vision of a woman in control, her hands clutching a sharp blade, grazing his neck.\u00a0 Love and sex scenes in past Bond movies have been clear and unambiguous, but the scene with Eve is entirely ambiguous.\u00a0 Do they or don’t they? \u00a0Eve is later revealed to be Eve Moneypenny, secretary to M.\u00a0<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The Bond Baddies: <\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n The first Bond villains are larger-than-life megalomaniacs with preposterous plans for world domination.\u00a0 As the movies progress the baddies become more \u2018real\u2019 somehow, perhaps reflecting the modern world in which we live where one can never judge moral fibre from mere appearances.\u00a0 Some of the more notable Bond baddies include:<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Dr. No is the first of the Bond Baddies.\u00a0 He wants to sabotage American missiles and send them off-course using directed radiowaves.\u00a0 He is a bad yet brilliant scientist with a Napoleonic complex of note. As a result of a radiation accident he sports bionic metal hands.\u00a0 His perverted villainous behavior is exemplified at a dinner party where he lectures his dinner guests on the nature of power before torturing them half to death.<\/p>\n \u00a0 Auric Goldfinger is the big and balding Baddie who aims to steal the U.S. gold supply from Fort Knox to finance nefarious activities.\u00a0 He is always remembered for the infamous line of, \u201cNo, Mr. Bond. I expect you to die!\u201d Mr. Goldfinger is surrounded by a posse of loyal henchmen and this sets a trend for later Bond movies: the main villain who is surrounded by his staunch sidekicks.<\/p>\n \u00a0 Ernst Blofeld is another quintessential sixties Bond baddie with a shaved head, North Korean-style tunic and white fluffy cat, who has a thing for feeding unfortunate minions to ravenous piranhas. We first meet him in \u2018From Russia With Love\u2019. Blofeld tries to expedite nuclear war between Russia and the United States and then attempts to nuke the world on his own.\u00a0 He pops up again, like a bad penny, in \u2018Thunderball\u2019, equally bent on wreaking havoc on the world.\u00a0 In these first two appearances, we don’t see his face, but only his lower body as he strokes his ubiquitous white cat.\u00a0 He appears again\u00a0in \u2018You Only Live Twice\u2019, \u2018On Her Majesty\u2019s Secret Service\u2019 and \u2018Diamonds Are Forever’ where Blofeld meets Bond face-to-face. In \u2018Diamonds Are Forever\u2019, Bond is besieged by a brood of Blofelds who are duplicate decoys of the villain \u2013 unfortunate aides who\u2019ve undergone plastic surgery.<\/p>\n![\"mM2UCNdu-EvffXl3SzfY3VUo-jOJSGzHGmysZ1ESeIc\"](\"http:\/\/www.marbellarocksmag.com\/nottingham\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/32\/2014\/09\/mM2UCNdu-EvffXl3SzfY3VUo-jOJSGzHGmysZ1ESeIc.jpg\")
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