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chitoryu12 posted:And that's it, the worst of all the books we've read. A marvelous example in mediocrity at best, outright offensive to Fleming's memory and the concept of literature itself at worst. I have no shame in saying it should never be read. God drat. Swarms of giant carnivorous mutant gerbils. With a killswitch. I'm mesmerised by the awfulness. I can't believe Confessions of a Double-O Agent are going to be any worse, but I've been wrong before...
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May 12, 2020 13:56
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Well, this might be a stiff test, but I guess we're just going to have to stand proud and erect and prepare for what's coming.
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May 12, 2020 14:53
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chitoryu12 posted:But Moonraker was too silly to be real New thread title? chitoryu12 posted:As such, for these two books I will be implementing the Horny Counter. It shall mark every time Christopher Wood unnecessarily incorporates something sexual into the books, often in a way that makes the reader feel awkward or uncomfortable. I fear it will be hard for many of us, but we'll just have to get a grip and finish it quickly.
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May 13, 2020 00:08
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 James Bond acts cold, has a hard exterior, but it's really an attempt to armor himself against his own vulnerability. Deep down inside, he is absolutely full of fucks to give.
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May 13, 2020 00:30
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Chapter 1: Love in the Afternoonquote:The girl lay back against the pillow and looked out on to the balcony. The man was still leaning against the balustrade, his hands spread wide and his head tilted forward as he examined something that was happening on the beach. He was naked except for a light-blue towel hitched round his waist. Although in repose, there was a quality of tension about him, like a baited trap. His body was not conspicuously muscled, but lean and hard. The girl knew that. Horny Counter: 1 quote:What in this room was to be stored away? It was a sad room, the furniture heavy and ill-matched as so often in hotels, and the lining of the tall curtains beginning to drift away at the seams. No paintings hung on the heavy wood panelling and the carpet was an unlovely grey. Horny Counter: 2 quote:She nodded. ‘You told me.’ Why was he telling her again? Was it his way of saying firmly that the pleasant interlude was over? Or was he in a way excusing himself? Apologizing for making love to her and then leaving her? Whatever it was, she wanted him to kiss her. To kiss her and press her back into the pillows and hold her tight and make her forget everything except the marvellous feeling that had spilled over her the last time. Suddenly, the telephone next to the bed rings. Annoyed, the man snatches up the receiver and listens to what the man on the other end of the line has to say. quote:The girl watched the man’s face as he talked, and her last hopes disappeared. Eventually, he held the receiver over the rest like a bomb waiting to be dropped.  Our bait-and-switch character, Sergei Barsov, was played in the film by British actor Michael Billington. He had recently appeared in the historical shipping company drama The Onedin Line as Daniel Fogarty and as Czar Nicholas II in the 1975 TV drama Edward the Seventh. Appropriate for Wood intentionally making him seem to be Bond at the start, Billington supposedly screen tested for the role of Bond more than any other actor and was even Albert R. Broccoli's first choice for For Your Eyes Only in case Moore didn't come back. He would die of cancer in 2005. Chapter 2: Piste Dangereuse! quote:James Bond was angry with himself. He had committed a number of elementary blunders which a man of his training and experience should not have committed. He had been guilty of hubris and complacency. To put it in more direct terms, he had been a drat fool. Ah, he's back in character! quote:To start with, he should never have trusted the girl. Women you pick up in casinos are either straightforward whores or have run out of money playing some ridiculous system. Either way they are going to be very expensive and probably very neurotic. Bond loved gambling because to him tension was a form of relaxation, but he should have been more wary of the lynx-eyed redhead spilling five-hundred-franc plaques round his ankles and receiving his offer of a drink with an alacrity considerably less discreet than the scent she was wearing - Fracas by Piguet. Anybody knowing that he was in town would have expected him to make an appearance at the casino and could have organized the assignation accordingly. Mea culpa. While Wood's writing is often questionable, it's refreshing to finally abandon Pearson forever. quote:Bond was in Chamonix. M had suggested that he needed a few days’ ‘holiday’ and that the mountain air - a little skiing, a little walking - would do him good. In the summer you have to go high to ski. Through the Mont Blanc tunnel and up the Italian side of the Monte Blanco - somehow it did not seem to be the same mountain in Italian. Bond was not feeling charitable towards Italians. They had descended like a cloud of black corbeaux on the casino at Chamonix, wandering from table to table casting plaques upon the water and making too much noise. In an attempt to parlay large numbers of inflated lira into deflated francs they played everything badly and impeded Bond’s concentration with their nudging badinage. Bond accepts, and the two find themselves in a helicopter flying up the steep face of the Aiguille du Mort. The helicopter hits an air pocket that abruptly drops it, and the girl seems nervous. But Bond notes that her nervousness is a little more than just at the turbulence. quote:Do I have an alternative? thought Bond. He wished he could feel his Walther PPK 7.65 mm nestling inside his trouser band. But like a drat fool he had left it behind, hidden in the recess of the hideous cuckoo clock that guarded the exterior of his room in the Hotel Dahu. Horny Counter: 3  The girl with her "gypsy slutishness" (a phrase I would like never to see again) was unnamed in the film and played by Sue Vanner. She had a decent career for about a decade before marrying future multi-millionaire property tycoon Warren Todd in 1987 (stepson of Lisa Vanderpump). Todd just happens to be 16 years younger than Vanner, with his stepmother being younger than her. They remained married until Warren abruptly moved out last year with a much younger girl, reportedly an Eastern European woman named Anya that he met at the gym. quote:‘Why do you bring this?’ She pointed to the small red haversack that Bond had taken from his shoulders when he climbed into the Gyrafrance. The helicopter sets down on the packed snow, the air hard to breathe at such altitudes. quote:Bond kept a wary eye on the pilot and indicated with a courteous extension of the hand that the girl should descend first. He did not want to step in the snow, receive a bullet in the stomach and live just long enough to see the helicopter spiralling away into the sun. To his relief the girl acknowledged the gesture with a smile and swung her legs out of the cabin. He dropped down beside her and removed his Rossignol ST Competition skis from the outside of the Gyrafrance. The pilot was looking back impatiently as if eager to be off. In case the namedropping of skis seems excessive, please go back and read about how much Fleming waxed poetic on them in On Her Majesty's Secret Service. quote:‘Is he picking us up? Bond stares as the helicopter departs in a swirl of snow. The view stretches across three countries, with airplanes flying just above them in the distance. quote:‘Do you not want to ski?’ If you've seen the movie, you know that Bond's got some unique skiing gear! quote:The girl shrugged and poked at one of her ski bindings. ‘Follow me. There are some crevasses here.’ Are there indeed, thought Bond. A man can lay for a long time in the bottom of a crevasse. He cursed himself again for his folly. I will not add that to the Horny Counter but you're on thin ice, buddy. quote:Bond tightened the clasp on his haversack and felt the steel frame bite into his shouderblades. There was a touch of condensation in his goggles and he pulled them away from his face a couple of times and adjusted the visor to clear the mist. The leather-buckled straps of his Kerma Zicral sticks sat lightly on the tops of his hands and as a gust of wind cuffed snow into the air so he shifted his weight and sent the two-metre Rossignol STs sliding down the slope. "Let me tell you of how my mentor was murdered." quote:They skied for another hour before they came to the chalet- refuge. Bond had kept careful watch but had seen no sign that there was anyone in this part of the mountains but themselves. He had noticed chamois tracks, but that was all. Perhaps his instinct had been wrong for once. The helicopter pilot had been disgruntled because he was having problems with his wife or mistress - or both - and Martine Blanchaud was like himself; merely looking for congenial company and not part of some sinister plot. Maybe M’s surmise that he was run down and needed a few days’ holiday had been correct. M’s surmises usually were. Horny Counter: 4 quote:The girl raised an intrigued eyebrow and Bond wondered if she understood the exact meaning of the expression. She was very pretty and the mornings skiing had rekindled a number of his appetites. Perhaps it had been the Italians and the losing streak at the casino that had made him liverish. The film does not include this casino setup, nor any gambling from my memory. I guess Wood wanted to throw as much of the classic Bond into the book as possible. quote:As he did every time, the croupier had picked up the ball with his right hand, given one of the four spokes of the wheel a controlled clockwise twist with the same hand, and flicked the ball round the outer rim of the wheel anti-clockwise against the spin. The ball had run smoothly at first and then jiggled and joggled happily over the slots as the wheel began to lose momentum. Its carefree progress contrasted with the drawn faces round the table, some of them trying to keep pace with its movement like spectators at a tennis match. You're testing me, Wood. quote:The inside of the hut was sparsely furnished with a few solid wooden chairs and a hewn table. There was a large woodframed fireplace with a fire laid and waiting to be lit, and a two-tier bunk bed, each compartment being of strictly single dimensions. Panicles of dust hung in the descending shaft of sunlight that penetrated one of the small, thick-paned windows, and there was a thick coating of dust on most surfaces. Two tall doors flanked the fireplace and were presumably cupboards. Horny Counter: 5 quote:There was a crackle, a flame, a thin, determined column of smoke and then the fire began to draw lustily. The girl rose to him triumphantly. ‘Voilà!’ Horny Counter: 6 Purely because that was just so egregious. quote:‘No,’ he said. ‘I mean something completely different. Girl guides are-' He broke off, staring through the fragment of window not obscured by drifts. He was looking at a perfect field of snow traversed by distant ski tracks weaving down the side of the mountain. Three pairs of ski tracks. Bond’s heart raced. The tracks had not been there when they came. Somebody was coming towards the hut. Bond begins running for the door, but a sudden impulse makes him pause. He checks the cabinets and finds one of them locked. quote:Bond took his knee to it and then followed through with the whole weight of his foot encased in its Handson ski boot. Splinters of wood burst from the area of the lock and the door crashed open. What Bond saw made him want to be sick. A pretty girl in a transparent laundry bag. Naked. Dead. Her hands tied behind her back. Her body mutilated. Disgusting smears of blood on the thick polythene. Her flesh bruised and swollen. That part is also not in the movie. I should also point out that this book is unusually gory for the series. quote:Bond spun round towards Martine Blanchaud. The expression of stupefied horror on her face saved her life. This was one turn of the wheel she did not know about. Because this is a novelization of an action movie, it contains considerably more action than Fleming's books described in far more detail. quote:Bond skate-skied behind a pile of logs buried by the snow and surveyed the open ground before him. There were two men on skis wearing white military-type one-piece suits with hoods. They were both armed with carbines and one of the men was kneeling to take up a better firing position. Even as he ducked back behind the logs a bullet screamed into them, kicking up a flurry of snow. Bond jump-turned and headed for the slope, running at a reverse angle to the one by which he and the girl had reached the hut. He drove his skis against the snow as if they were ice-skates and dropped to the schuss position as soon as he began to pick up speed. That way he made a smaller target and moved faster. There was a pause in which he could hear his heart bearing and then another shot that whistled over his right shoulder. He rose just long enough to turn and then took the steepest line.  The film assassin outfits are considerably more "Bond Henchman" than white suits with hoods. The rifles are some sort of FN FAL with suppressors. quote:Within a second he knew that he had made a mistake. Bond slips his hand out of the restraining straps on his ski pole and begins skiing straight at one of the men, shouting at him in French. It confuses him long enough that he lowers his rifle for a moment. quote:Bond raised the stick in his right hand in a gesture that must have seemed like admonishment. His fingers fumbled and twisted at the point where the zicral shaft met the grip. Something gave and Bond could feel a pressure against the glove- clad pad of his thumb. The barrel of the machine carbine was on a direct line for his heart and the man's shoulder hunched forward. Bond squeezed the metal nerve with a desperation born of fear. There was a violent yellow flash and a pall of blood and guts was thrown twenty feet behind the man with a noise like a whipcrack. Through the smoking end of his now pointless ski stick Bond watched the rifle drop, the hands involuntarily fall to the obscene, pumping hole, the look of unbelieving amazement on the face, the ghastly recognition, the two steps back taken in death, and the final collapse into the bloody shroud of snow. It was over in seconds but Bond knew that the picture of that death would stay with him for the rest of his life.  Who needs a PPK when you have a ski pole gun? On the other hand, putting Bond in a canary yellow ski suit may have been a mistake. quote:Another shot from behind, no better directed than the rest. Farewell to obsequies. Bond dropped to his now familiar crouch and skated for the corridor between the rocks. Sufficient momentum attained, he dropped to the egg-shell position and hugged his knees. Bond is skiing too fast, faster than he can control. Suddenly, he finds nothing but air underneath him. quote:Bond began to turn in the air like a rag doll dropped from a window. The force of descent ripped a ski from his boot and he felt a sharp pain in his knee as it was twisted savagely by the motion. His widespread arms clawed at the air trying to achieve some balance, but the world spun past - granite, sky, snow. The wind screamed. It had been like this in dreams. The sudden jolt and the falling, falling, falling. But in dreams you woke up before you were spattered against the rocks like a bird’s dropping. Bond fought to reach his right arm behind his left shoulder. The second ski had gone and there was now some pattern to his descent. His fingers closed against the edge of the haversack and then lost contact. It seemed that he had been kicking in space for minutes. He clamped his hand to his shoulder and fumbled desperately. This time his fingers felt something. A semi-circle of metal. He pulled and closed his eyes. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nR532k8M35g The film's opening ski chase is one of the most famous Bond scenes of all time, though I personally think the first ski chase of On Her Majesty's Secret Service is much better....until the final jump. For Queen Elizabeth's Jubilee year of 1977, they ended the chase with Rick Sylvester taking a leap off a cliff thousands of feet high from Mount Asgard in Auyuittuq National Park. Sylvester had been hired because he performed a similar stunt for a Canadian Club commercial; it turned out the stunt was just special effects, but he decided he could pull it off for real. They had only a 15 minute window for the jump, only one of the three cameras captured it, and one of his skis nearly hit his chute. There were reports of standing ovations in theaters when this happened. quote:Nearly nine thousand feet above the town, Sergei Borzov of SMERSH Otdyel II, the Operations and Executions branch of the murder apparat of the Russian KGB, lay with his mouth open and watched his blood melting a hole in the snow. It would not be melting it for much longer. Already a long shadow was falling across the slope and the cold reached out ahead of it. He would never see her again, or the hotel on the Black Sea, or the children playing on the beach. All that he had consigned to memory before turning and funnelling his soul into her eyes. The room had been cool and dark and deep like a grave. The curtains stirring in a dying wind. The sheet above her breasts white as snow. White as snow. chitoryu12 fucked around with this message at 08:56 on Nov 21, 2020 |
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May 13, 2020 04:58
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You know, if we hadn't just come off Pearson, the shamelessness with which Wood just rips directly from Casino Royale when describing Bond at the roulette table would probably be rather obnoxious:quote:But on this June evening when Bond walked through the ‘kitchen’ into the salle privée, it was with a sensation of confidence and cheerful anticipation that he changed a million francs into plaques of fifty mille and took a seat next to the chef de partie at Roulette Table Number 1. He does at least have the sense to twist it by having Bond losing heavily in the end, instead of winning heavily as he does originally to prepare for facing Le Chiffre. Also: quote:'Ils sont fous, les anglais,’ "Ils sont fous, les [people]" ("These [people] are crazy!") is the catchphrase of Asterix's sidekick Obelix as he travels about the place and sees how different people do things. Original Asterix writer Rene Goscinny died in 1977 after 19 best-selling albums with artist Albert Uderzo. The comics are also relatively popular in the UK (alongside Tintin, they're a mainstay of any good children's library and some rubbish ones as well), aided by the legendarily skilful translation work of Anthea Bell and Derek Hockridge, and I very much hope this was an intentional tribute.
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May 13, 2020 20:40
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Chapter 3: Death to Spiesquote:Anya Amasova felt uneasy as the nondescript ZIS saloon approached the familiar drabness of the Sretenka Ulitsa. Why did they want her at such short notice? Why had no reasons been given? What had she done wrong? The last was the most persistent and worrying consideration. Nobody who worked for the KGB or any other branch of the Soviet bureaucracy could afford to believe that they were beyond blame. Original sin was as much a tenet of the Communist faith as of the Christian. Perhaps they had found out about her affair with Sergei - she interrupted her train of thought to scold herself. Not affair, that was one of their words. Cheap and shoddy. Transitory. She must find a better way to describe what had happened. Perhaps they had found out that she and Sergei had fallen in love. The room was almost certainly bugged and there might even have been a concealed camera. Such things were not unknown.  The previous thread covered Barbara Bach as Anya Amasova in the original The Spy Who Loved Me posts. quote:‘Comrade-Major.’ The driver had turned round and was looking at her with deadpan eyes. They had arrived. Number 13 Sretenka Ulitsa, headquarters of SMERSH. Horny Count: 7 As we all should remember, SMERSH only existed for a few years during World War II specifically to counter military subversion and had not existed since 1946. Fleming's continued usage of it was potentially a mistake that Wood has found a way (as we'll see) of keeping. quote:Anya Amasova’s progress within Otdyel 4 of SMERSH - the section responsible for internal security in the armed forces - had been steady rather than spectacular. She had been the youngest of four children born to the Anya was assigned to an outpost in Czechoslovakia after her training, surveying and occasionally liquidating Soviet spies and party members in the Warsaw Pact; she always delegated the actual act of killing. As a Major in Moscow, she has access to all personnel files below the rank of General and is responsible for the reports preceding a promotion or demotion (unbeknownst to her, resulting in 3 executions). quote:The bizarre course from which she had just been summoned was one that united several branches of the ever-expanding octopus of SMERSH, and it was here that she had met Sergei Borzov for the first time. He had been reticent about his role in the organization, as had she. It was never wise to talk too much) and dangerous to ask questions. As you may recall, this is basically a copy of From Russia With Love. quote:‘Ah, Major Amasova. Come and sit down.’ The warmth in the man’s voice surprised Anya. She had only met him on three occasions when answering questions about reports she had submitted. Such a close copy, in fact, that Nikitin was actually one of the officers present at the meeting that determined the plot with the Spektor device!  Rather than Nikitin, the Moore films beginning with this one (as well as The Living Daylights) featured General Gogol of the KGB, played by German-British actor Walter Gotell. Gotell grew up a fluent English speaker as his parents fled the rise of the Nazis when he was a child and he first worked for Albert R. Broccoli on The Red Beret in 1953; much of the crew from that film moved on to Eon when it was formed to work on Dr. No. Gotell achieved fame in the repeat appearances of Gogol as the more reasonable side of the Soviets in the Bond films, earning him many TV guest appearances through the 1980s. He would die of cancer in 1997. quote:‘I apologize for my late appearance, Comrade General. You heard of the technical problems with the Ilyushin?’ Ah, we do have a fly on the wall here! quote:‘The scope of the course came as a surprise to me.’ This was if anything an understatement. The movement order assigning her to the dacha on the south-eastern coast of the Crimea had confined itself to the words ‘Cold War Techniques’. It had come as considerably more than a surprise on the first morning of the course, in the company of twenty attractive young men and women, to be confronted by a folder with ‘Sex as a Weapon’ printed in bold letters on its shiny cover. What followed had been a revelation. Lectures, films, demonstrations, what was discreetly described as ‘Controlled Participation’ with electrodes attached to various parts of the body to measure the degree of response, tests, more measurements, interviews, instruction in the latest cosmetics available in the west and how to apply them, a course in haute couture. Military Records had suddenly seemed like a different world. Anya’s final rating had been ‘E Sensual’, which she knew meant that she made love well and enjoyed it. Despite every laboratory test that the scientists could devise her emotional stability had remained an unknown quantity. The private report which she did not see said that she had exceptional potential but with an element of risk attached to it. Horny Count: 8 quote:The Colonel-General nodded as if in agreement with some sentiment that needed no expression. ‘He was a fine young man. One of our best operatives.’ He studied her wondering face. ‘Your’ - a slight pause - ‘relationship could not escape notice. Nikitin must unfortunately inform Anya that her boyfriend was killed in action. After getting an initial reaction out of her, he quietly turns off the tape recorder under his desk. quote:With unusual haste, the general levered himself from his chair and circumvented the desk. ‘You must not blame yourself too much, my dear. Others might read more into the whole business than it warrants but you can rely upon me to keep an open mind. If Sergei’s judgment was at fault it was not because of you - because of your, your affair.’ The General seemed pleased at having found the word. ‘You are young and very beautiful, and you have need of guidance - of protection. You need a friend who is well placed. Especially at the moment.’ The rough hand dropped to her knee like a paw. Horny Count: 9 quote:Anya fought a desire to be sick. Her skirt was now pressed back against her waist and the animal hand ... She rose to her feet and thrust Nikitin aside as she launched herself at the desk. She pressed a finger to her lips and snatched up a thin state-issued ballpoint. Nikitin watched her like an animal ready to spring. And she stabs him, right? quote:The record of Sergei’s death still lay on the desk and Anya turned it over and wrote urgently. This had to work. She had seen Nikitin’s hand drop below the desk and she knew what it meant. That has an unintentional double meaning here... quote:She finished her message and thrust it into Nikitin’s wary hand. He looked at her with slow-burning hate and raised it to his eyes. ‘Most honoured. But I know from Military Records that there is another microphone hidden in your room.’
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May 14, 2020 01:58
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Chapter 4: Hunt the Submarinequote:August had committed an act of treachery against the English summer and rain was lashing the windows of M’s office overlooking Regent’s Park. I have no idea why a random, unnamed secretary is here. The films have dutifully retained Moneypenny through the entire series without fail. quote:‘007 is here, sir.’ Despite what it may seem, Q (as played by Desmond Llewellyn) will not be appearing in this book. quote:M attacked his pipe with a small pick and turned away to billow clouds of smoke towards the ceiling. There was a dry twinkle in his eye as he turned back towards Bond. will be very impressed when you submit your report. I don’t think he had any idea that you were going to be so zealous in your testing of his new toys.’ Martine is dead as well. As far as Bond is concerned, only SMERSH would ever be so brutal. quote:‘I think it was SMERSH, sir. They were after me. But, like last time, they wanted to make me stink even before I was rotting in my coffin. There was a dead girl in the hut - some drugged little tart from the back streets of Lyon, most probably. They’d hacked her up like shark bait.’ This book is...not kind. quote:‘And you were the shark.’ M nodded grimly. He could see the newspaper headlines (‘DRUG-CRAZED BRITISH AGENT SLAYS IN MOUNTAIN LOVE NEST!), the Home Secretary on the telephone, the official denials, the snide questions from the fellow- travellers in the House of Commons, the satisfied smiles round the table of the High Praesidium in the Kremlin. Yes, once again 007 had been fortunate. Was it Napoleon who had always supported one of his marshals because he was lucky? ‘Strange that this should happen now, James.’ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IAn8EL2AkGw Note that the above clip has a bunch of porn pics in it. This information is accurate (though the first subs were actually laid down and entered service a few years earlier than Wood gets it), and even the naming scheme follows along with the real Resolution-class subs. In real life, 4 were built and served until 1996. quote:M continued to stare levelly. Bond noticed that his pipe had gone out. ‘HMS Ranger has disappeared.’ The Ranger was on a pre-determined course. Bond's initial thought is that it's a simple accident, but the US Navy has combed the entire course and found absolutely no trace of the sub. M brings out the diplomatic bag from Cairo. quote:M produced a scuffed leather map-case and drew out a cylinder of tightly rolled, translucent parchment. Bond moved to his side and looked down at the surface of the desk that had been specially prepared for his interview. Under a sheet of glass lay a chart of the Southern Atlantic revealing the telltale bulge of the West African coast line. A thin black line zigzagged from north to south like the sales curve of a unsuccessful company. In California, Elon Musk awakes in a sweat. quote:‘This is the course that Captain Talbot, commander of the Ranger, was following,’ said M, following Bond’s glance. The lines are so close to identical that either the Navy has a huge leak, or someone has figured out how to plot the course of their submarines. Q believes the mysterious villain is using heat signature recognition (the same technology used by satellites to track missiles) to trace submarines. And someone in Cairo is claiming to be selling the blueprints for the system. quote:‘And don’t forget, James’ - M broke off to strike a match - ‘Sixteen Polaris missiles have a greater destructive potential than all the explosives used in the last war including the atom bombs at Nagasaki and Hiroshima. They could blast this country into the earth so that the North Sea and the Atlantic met at Birmingham.’
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May 15, 2020 05:15
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quote:M registered the sharp rise of Bond’s right eyebrow and continued. These bits are both pure Roger Moore; the eyebrow is obvious, but also the ability to do his own technical explanations on any subject at the drop of a hat, rather than having Q or an expert do it. It's a pretty huge giveaway that this is a film novelisation that here we get the infodump in the form of a conversation between Bond and M; Fleming would surely have delivered the same information via a bridging scene of some sort, with Bond alone in his office, turning over some problem in his mind while reading a routine briefing about the capabilities of Britain's nuclear deterrent.
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May 15, 2020 21:00
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The horny counter was definitely warranted.
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May 15, 2020 22:49
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Chapter 5: Introducing Sigmund Strombergquote:The room was large and splendidly furnished. The chairs in which the three men sat were deep and luxurious, and the cheerful gleam of the highly polished leather complemented the mirror sheen of the silver bowl tastefully arranged with dew-anointed red roses on the small glass-and-steel table between them. A heavy silver box lay unopened in the middle of the table and contained a mixture of Virginia and Turkish cigarettes both tipped and untipped. Thick glass carafes rested upon circular green mats. At one end of the room was a charming Romney of two small, rosy-cheeked children in Regency dress playing with a kitten. If you've seen the movie, you're probably confused! One of the changes Wood made from the film script was turning "Karl" into "Sigmund." I find the original much punchier. Also, does anyone find it kinda mean for him to describe Stromberg this way when the actor wasn't even wearing makeup for it?  Stromberg was played by German-Austrian actor Curd Gustav Andreas Gottlieb Franz Jürgens (pauses for breath), a journalist-turned-actor who was sent to an internment camp in Hungary in 1944 for his criticisms of Nazism. He became a common German language war film actor, transferring to Hollywood in 1957 with The Enemy Below where he played a U-boat commander. He also had a prolific stage career in Austria before dying of a heart attack in 1982 shortly after his final appearance on Smiley's People. Stromberg was originally written as Blofeld. Due to Kevin McClory filing an injunction against Eon, the film was delayed and rewritten to an original villain. quote:‘Doctor Bechmann. Professor Markovitz.’ There was no trace of warmth in the voice. ‘We come to the parting of the ways.. Horny Counter: 10 quote:Sigmund Stromberg was conceived as an indirect result of the second of these pursuits and a direct result of the third. His father was a fisherman, which may have had some hereditary influence on his eventual choice of career; not an immediate one, though, because his father never married his mother and as soon as the young Stromberg found himself anywhere it was with an aunt of his mother’s who lived a respectful distance from Apvorst. She was a kindly woman with no children of her own and she and her husband lavished all the love and care that they could muster on young Sigmund - neither name was his by birth but bestowed by his new ‘parents’. Sigmund Stromberg was not a warm-natured child but he worked conscientiously at school and became passionately interested in the sea. Not in ships and naval battles, like other boys, but in life below the surface. He was fascinated by fish and Frun Stromberg became disturbed by the long periods of time that the boy spent watching a fish tank in the window of a restaurant in the nearby small town of Magmo. Even on the coldest winter days young Sigmund would be staring through the condensation at the speckled trout living out their last days, a look of rapt concentration on his face, his skin pinched to an onion pallor by the cold. When he was older, he obtained a piranha fish from somewhere, which he kept in a small tank in his bedroom. Frun Stromberg had no idea where the fish came from and did not ask. She was already rather in awe of her adopted son as she chose to think of him. There's a lot going on here, and Wood actually has even more to say on Stromberg's background than Fleming ever did in his villains. quote:At night, Sigmund would take a flashlight and go out to seek food for his pet. Frogs, toads, mice and shrews. These were its summer fare. Wood is trying incredibly hard to create a Fleming-esque deformed, insane villain. quote:Herr Stromberg was an undertaker. Sigmund would stand in his father's workroom much as he had stood before the fish tank and observe the skills of the trade. The construction of the coffins, the linings, the woods that could be used, the styles and range of handles and accessories, the methods of presentation to the prospective customer. Stromberg did very well running the funeral home. He advocated cremation as the most ecologically sound method of corpse disposal, but his efforts to build a private crematorium were delayed by the firm he contracted having a slightly larger contract with the Nazis. quote:Stromberg became the man whose advice was always sought when there was a bereavement. Any man or woman of consequence would expect to be cremated by him and would know that in the manner of their going, the world would see ample evidence of their means. Stromberg specialized in the production of very expensive coffins with very expensive fittings. He argued - though with most of his clientele it was never necessary to argue - that the consecration of so much wealth to the flames was a kind of absolution, a purification of the body physical from the taint of Mammon before it passed into the everlasting twilight. It was the equivalent of the old Norse heroes being burned in their long boats. It also showed the world that one had money to burn. I'm honestly not sure if any future Bond authors manage to get more graphic and gruesome than Christopher Wood. quote:It was on this grim fertilizer that the seeds of Stromberg’s fortune had flourished. With the end of the war he moved his business to Hamburg, where the opportunities for expansion were so much greater. But his mind was already on other things. Most of Europe’s merchant fleet had been sunk during the war and Stromberg was swift to see the possibilities as Marshall Aid began to pour in to help the stricken continent to its feet. He moved his money into shipping and was soon on smiling terms with Greeks as his first shabby cargo boats gave way to tankers. By his middle twenties Sigmund Stromberg was a dollar millionaire. Stromberg learned of a planned protection racket among the various criminal organizations on the Mediterranean, planning to sell these "services" to the wealthiest Greek shipping magnate. Stromberg exaggerated his relationship with the Greek, arranged for a meeting with all of them aboard his largest tanker (headed up by one of his oldest companions who knew all of his secrets), and had them all promptly blown up by a bomb before the Greek arrived. quote:Those who were in the know believed that the Greek had caught wind of the plan and taken his own retaliatory measures to nip an incipient protection racket in the bud. It therefore came as no great surprise when two months later, his chauffeur started the Rolls Royce Silver Cloud and saw his legs passing his eyes as an explosion carried the vehicle, his master and himself to a height of forty-five feet before depositing their mangled remains in a smoking crater half that depth.
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May 16, 2020 03:26
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Wow, this guy is actually a good writer of disreputable pulp, and I mean that as a compliment. I only remember the film Stromberg as the guy with the fish tank and the neat table.
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May 16, 2020 18:28
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Chapter 5: Room 4cquote:Stromberg allowed his words to sink in and stroked a weblike fold of skin that stretched between the smallest finger of his left hand and its neighbour. He had been born with this, and Frun Stromberg had been eager to have it removed. However, even this simple operation had been beyond the family’s means when Sigmund was an infant, and as he grew older and more assertive he had resolutely refused to undergo surgery. He even affected the mannerism of dosing the finger and thumb of the right hand round the translucent curve of flesh and tugging at it ruminatively. You can see their attempt at this in the shot of Stromberg in the previous post. They didn't do a whole lot so you'd likely watch the movie without even noticing. quote:‘Sir, with respect, surely the technical Stromberg silenced Bechmann with a gesture. ‘The problem is not of a technical nature. I have nothing but admiration for the work you have both carried out on the Submarine Tracking System. The first stage of its exploitation has been conspicuously successful.’ He paused. ‘Perhaps too successful. Perhaps it has encouraged thoughts of covetousness and greed.’  Unnamed in the movie and looking completely different, Miss Chapman was played by Royal Shakespeare Company actress Marilyn Galsworthy. She acted alongside such illustrious alumni as Patrick Stewart and Alfred Molina, but never went for more than a handful of minor film and TV roles. quote:Room 4c was long and narrow, and painted a brilliant, almost blinding white. The girl had never been in it before, and was surprised to find it empty. She had supposed that this was where Stromberg kept papers too secret even for her eyes. As she walked through the door she was startled by a high- pitched buzz and a red flashing light at the far end of the room. She stopped, then relaxed. It must be some kind of security device. Stromberg had sent her here, so presumably it was safe to proceed. As the girl jabs at buttons (breaking a nail in doing so), the doors on the other end of the wall slide apart to reveal a massive aquarium filled with colorful fish and coral. quote:‘Stay calm!' She said the words out loud and peered across the tank to see if she could make out where she was. In the murk something moved. The girl saw what it was and screamed again. The nose appeared first, like a streamlined shell. Then the small pig eyes. Then the whole fish. It was a great white shark. The girl shrank back in terror and the shark sped towards her. She caught a glimpse of the two rows of jagged teeth set back beneath the pointed snout and then the fish keeled away, its white belly nearly brushing against the glass. The girl sank to her knees and started to sob hysterically. What did this nightmare mean? What in God’s name was happening to her? Horny Counter: 11 quote:‘It is you who betrayed us, Kate Chapman, and you will pay the penalty!’ This man leaves nothing to the imagination! Maybe he should start! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CDeNNNPzUlg The film, for obvious reasons, is substantially less gruesome. quote:The silence in the room was broken by a soft purr as the Romney slid back into place and two sweet and wholesome eighteenth-century children beamed down upon the three men in the room. Bechmann fought a desire to be sick and Markovitz wiped the sweat from his forehead with a wide bandana handkerchief.  Dr. Bechmann was played by Cyril Shaps, who served as an ambulance driver and then a warrant officer in the Royal Educational Corps in WW2. Despite his low prominence to modern viewers, his film and TV career spanned 194 credits over almost 50 years from Lawrence of Arabia to classic Doctor Who, almost always in minor or background roles but always present. He was acting all the way until his death in 2003, with his final role being a pew opener in The Importance of Being Ernest.  Professor Markovitz was played by Milo Sperber, a Polish-British actor who (like quite a few of our actors for some unexplainable reason!) came to England from fleeing the Nazis. He worked in anti-Nazi BBC propaganda during the war and worked in West End theatre until 1984, and film and TV until 1990 just two years before his death; his final role would be as Poirot's tailor, Fingler, in the TV film adaptation of The Kidnapped Prime Minister. quote:The red slowly oozed from Stromberg’s eyes and his mouth regained its normal shape. During the television transmission, the two men sitting on either side of him had been aware of an increased pattern of breathing from their employer, and on one occasion a long, sibilant hiss. Nevertheless, no sum of money on earth would have induced them to turn and look at him. The horror of the television screen was enough.
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May 18, 2020 23:56
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chitoryu12 posted:The film, for obvious reasons, is substantially less gruesome. Successfully keeping a great white in captivity would certainly be a feat worthy of a Bond villain. Sadly it looks like the movie's shark is merely a dead or drugged tiger.
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May 19, 2020 23:34
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Chapter 6: On The Scentquote:The muted drone of the fanjets changed key and Bond felt himself projected forward as the nose of the British Airways VC10 tilted and began its long descent towards Cairo International Airport. The North African coast had been crossed west of the Ras el Kenayis and Bond calculated that with any luck he would be on the ground within thirty minutes. Just time to review the situation and consume another dry martini. He reached above his head and pulled the call button for a stewardess. Was it a sign of growing old or was it really true that stewardesses were not as beautiful as they used to be? The girl approached him, brushing a wisp of errant hair away from her forehead.  As usual, Bond is flying in the latest aircraft. BOAC first got the Vickers VC10 in 1964 a few months before Fleming's death. It held the record for the fastest Atlantic crossing by a subsonic passenger airliner (at 5 hours and 1 minute) until it was beaten in February 2020, and only because that plane was propelled by the jet stream of Storm Ciara. While they left passenger service in 1981, they were used until 2013 by the RAF as aerial refuelers. quote:‘Yes sir?’ Imagine being able to not only get a freshly mixed cocktail on regular passenger service, but being able to direct the stewardess in how to prepare it. quote:Bond did not care for the word ‘topped’ but he nodded agreeably. ‘And I'd like it in the largest glass you’ve got, please.’ Bond hated to see a good drink suffocating in a tiny glass. The martini would already be less than perfection without the addition of half a measure of Kina Lillet - a taste that his friends were always trying to cure him of, without success. There was no point in asking for it because airlines did not carry such fundamental treasures. Also, that's not a "martini." You just poured a bunch of gin and vodka in a glass and slightly diluted it. quote:Bond adjusted a stream of cool air on to his face and told himself not to be grumpy and pompous. Perhaps it was that drat medical making him feel old. He knew that he smoked far too much and was at the upper level of what a man could decently drink without being considered to have an overreliance on alcohol. He did not need some apple-cheeked little whippersnapper fresh out of medical school leaning across a table and telling him that he was endangering his health. Yeah, all those darn kids fresh out of *checks notes* years of medical school? It's unclear if Wood is trying to maintain continuity to Fleming's stories, shift the timeline forward, or use Roger Moore's Bond. If it's the first one, Bond would be about 56 using the Pearson timeline. If it's the last one, Roger Moore was 49 when he filmed this. quote:Bond produced his gunmetal case and lit his fifteenth cigarette of the day. Horny denied. quote:The stewardess saw Bond smile as she approached with his drink and thought how different his face suddenly looked. Something told her that he did not smile very often. It was a handsome face but something about it frightened her. When the smiled switched off, the features were cold and cruel, the eyes hard as flints. She thought that he would probably make love very well without saying anything. Bond (correctly) determines that if the blueprint of the tracking system used to find Ranger was for sale rather than the system itself, it must have been stolen from the owner to sell without their knowledge. His guess is that the Soviets must be the actual developers of the system; they'd already been working on something like it and it would be a massive boon to the war effort. Which means Soviet intelligence is probably in red alert mode trying to get the plans back, which makes this a bad time to be a spy on the move. quote:Bond took a taxi from the airport and checked in at the Nile Hilton on the island of Roda, stuck like a lozenge in the throat of the Nile. His suite was air-conditioned and functional, and a welcome escape from the hot sun that burned down outside. He took a cold shower, changed into a blue towelling dressing- gown and called room service for a long glass of tomato juice and a plate of scrambled eggs.  Checking the geography, the hotel Bond is staying at appears to be what's now called the Grand Nile Tower Hotel on the northern tip of the island. It was opened in 1974 as Le Meridien Cairo. quote:When this arrived, he was staring out of one of the double- glazed windows at the six-hundred-foot Cairo Tower - the tallest, and perhaps the ugliest, building in the East - and considering his first move. On the face of it, everything was very simple. A Mr Fekkesh was the ‘contact’ and Bond had his telephone number. Ring him up and talk business. It was like being given a list of contacts as a salesman. ‘Good morning, sir. My name is Bond. I represent the Great Britain Company. We're interested in old silver, antiques and nuclear submarine tracking-systems.' Bond shook his head at the idiocy of it all. One day, soon, there would be a computer doing his job. While this seems like a surprising statement, remember that this book was written just a year before the release of the revolutionary Apple II. Unlike in Fleming's day, computers were becoming more and more common in business; he had died right at the beginning of the semiconductor era of computers when they were still room-sized devices. We're 13 years from Fleming's death, so technology has made a huge leap since his books.  Cairo Tower was finished in 1961, its unusual shape meant to evoke a lotus. President Nasser claimed that the funds came from a $6 million bribe from the US, which he put into the tower as a way of snubbing them. It's home to a rotating restaurant at the top, though I'm not 100% sure it existed in 1976 when this was written. quote:Bond finished chasing the last mouthful of scrambled egg round the plate and dressed himself in a pair of dark blue buckskin shoes purchased from Honest in the Rue Marboeut, off-white cotton trousers and a navy-blue silk shirt with a long collar. His cotton jacket with the propinquitous blue stripes and the single vent, made for him by someone in Hong Kong who makes such things better than anyone else in the world, he threw on the double bed. We get our first advancement of airline security hampering espionage. Gone are the days of Bond simply walking aboard a plane with a gun in his shoulder holster. Part of this was driven by the decreasing cost of air travel bringing even international flights away from wealthy upper-class white businessmen, but a major incident was the infamous Dawson's Field Hijackings of September 1970. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nk9jt7rd_IA Four airliners were hijacked by the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (plus an attempted fifth that ended when the hijackers were defeated) and landed at Dawson's Field, a remote airstrip in Jordan. After days of negotiation, the hostages were released and the empty planes destroyed by explosives by the hijackers. Aircraft security was rapidly ramped up, in particular the implementation of X-ray machines in international airports. quote:Bond deftly reassembled the Olivetti and typed ‘The quick brown dog jumped over the lazy doge’ to make sure that it was in perfect working order. Next, he picked up the screwdriver, looked at his watch, and went to work on the gun. Precisely four minutes, forty-eight seconds later he slapped the chamber of the assembled weapon and sat back to look at his Rolex Oyster Perpetual and expel a sigh of pleasure. It was the first time that he had beaten five minutes for the job. Bond cleaned the oil from the gun with the now soiled handkerchief and walked into the bathroom to wash his hands. He wrapped the handkerchief in two Kleenex tissues and dropped it into the waste bin. Just before the call would be disconnected by the operator, the line connects (with the telltale second click that the call is being recorded). The woman on the other end hurriedly tells Bond to meet them at the Semiramis Palace hotel before hanging up. quote:He replaced the receiver slowly and picked up his jacket. The slight padding in the shoulder was in fact a substitute for a holster, which he now considered it unwise to carry when exposed to the attentions of hijack-happy security guards. The ‘padding' could be easily removed and rezipped under the arm pit, or inside the waist band of the trousers, to form a serviceable holster for the Walther. Some speed of draw was inevitably lost. Bond had been capable of hitting a man at twenty feet in three-fifths of a second with a conventional holster draw. With the reinforced nylon, he had never broken the magic second. Still, it was better than being held up at an airport for hours while his credentials were checked out and he was eventually released with grudging apologies - or at some airports, where he might be driven away to a small room with no windows and padded walls to suffocate the screams. Bond unzipped the padding, turned it inside out and zipped it against the armpit. He put on the jacket, inserted the Walther and checked his appearance in the looking-glass above the writing desk. Only a professional would notice the faint bulge. Still, he was up against professionals. Bond makes the usual security features (a hair on the cupboard door, talcum powder on his suitcase locks, etc.) and heads out into the suffocating evening heat of Cairo. quote:The driver spoke fractured English, like a central European in an American situation comedy, and on the way Bond inquired about the imaginary address of a number of nonexistent friends in Cairo. Into this list he slipped the Semiramis Palace. The driver’s face lit up in recognition. Yes, it was very near. That tall block of flats silhouetted against the dome of the Sultan Hassan Mosque. Bond pinpointed the building in his mind and looked ahead admiringly to the vast complex of mosques, palaces and fortifications built just below the crest of the Mokkatam Hills. This was the Citadel of Saladin, so the guidebooks told you, built over a period of seven hundred years and half a dozen conquests.  The Citadel of Saladin (Qalaʿat Salāḥ ad-Dīn) was completed by Saladin in 1183 and served as the seat of the Egyptian government and residence of its ruler until Isma'il Pasha (grandson of the famous Muhammad Ali) moved into the modern Abdeen Palace in 1874. The Citadel has gone through two major reconstruction efforts, so relatively little of Saladin's original palace remains. quote:The sky was now tinged with red, which would quickly become purple, violet and then night. Bond watched the shadows creeping across the face of the Mohammed Ali mosque and filled his nostrils with the alien smells that wafted up to him. To Bond, who travelled widely, smells could pinpoint a place and a mood better than sights or sounds. What was in this bittersweet odour tonight? Spices, jasmine, detritus, corruption, history? Mostly tonight, thought Bond, it was danger - and perhaps death. He felt the reassuring pressure of the Walther PPK beneath his left shoulder-blade and began to retrace his steps down to the wide, worn staircase. chitoryu12 fucked around with this message at 10:29 on Nov 21, 2020 |
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May 20, 2020 02:56
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Chapter 7: The Sound of Musicquote:The lift was like a beautiful bird-cage; an exquisite prison of thin horizontal bars interlaced with a petit point of ironmongery by a craftsman who was obviously a frustrated flower-arranger. It probably dated from the time of the French occupation. Bond! Manners! quote:Bond moved swiftly down the stone corridor following a wavy line down the wall that looked as if it had been made by a child walking along with a pencil. He passed the door with fourteen on it and continued to the end of the corridor, where there was a door which looked as if it was not used very often. As he had surmised, this led out on to a fire-escape. Worth remembering in case there was any unpleasantness. He retraced his footsteps down the corridor and stopped outside the door with fourteen on it. No sound. He knocked and waited. There was a spyhole in the middle of the door and as the seconds ticked by he wondered whose eye would be glued to the other side. He was about to knock again when the door opened eight inches to release a whiff of unfamiliar scent. Horny Counter: 12  Felicca here was played by Olga Bisera, a Yugoslavian-born actress. After a brief stint in Hollywood, she moved to Italy and appeared in over a dozen movies (mostly cheap exploitation flicks) before retiring in 1982. You may notice that there's a lot of actors here who primarily worked in Italian film at the time, like Barbara Bach, and Roger Moore made a one-time switch to Angelo Roma for his tailor. I don't know exactly how it all came to be, but it possibly has something to do with Moore having just filmed Street People in Italy (with at least one of his costumes being partially recycled for Bond) and the initial filming taking place in Sardinia. quote:‘I came alone,’ said Bond. Horny Counter: 13 quote:‘You will be.’ The girl turned away from the door and gestured towards another door which opened out on to a balcony. ‘Mr Fekkesh is detained at the moment. He asked me to look after you.' Smooth. quote:Bond tried to appear embarrassed, and fumbled the photograph back on to the shelf. ‘I’m sorry - er, when are you expecting him back?’ Horny Counter: 14 for the "overlush trollop" comment. You don't even know the poor woman and you've already decided she's Slutty McSlutslut because she dares to have visible boobs and makeup. quote:‘Your drink.’ She's barely known this version of Bond for a few minutes and she's already chugging to deal with him. quote:‘I did. Twice. Once on the telephone and again at your front door.’ Bond’s voice had a hard, cutting edge to it. ‘Look, Felicca. I hope you won't think me rude but I’ve come a long way and I’d be very angry if I found I was on a wild-goose chase. What do you know about the tracking system?’ Horny Counter: 15 quote:Yes, thought Bond. I bet you are. Good as gold. Enough gold to buy a tracking system capable of hunting down nuclear submarines. How much would that be worth? One million pounds? A hundred million? Horny Counter: 16 for the sheer audacity of going further with this. quote:Bond drank of the nectar and then dashed the vessel from his lips. With a quick jerk of his arms he broke her grip and threw her down on the cushions. Felicca stared up at him, her right hand slowly moving to her bruised left shoulder. Her eyes asked the question shortly before her mouth did. ‘Why?’ Horny Counter: 17 for Bond's inability to stop staring at this girl's thighs while trying to intimidate her. quote:In retrospect it had seemed strange. Bond could remember looking at the gun for seconds. He had seen the slight movement of the wooden blocks as it was thrust between them. Heard the death rattle of their clicking. Established the make of the gun - a Japanese M14. Seen the finger tightening round the trigger and the whole hand contracting to ensure that the shot was not jerked away at the last instant.  The pistol is a Nambu Type 14. Wood likely selected it because it was listed in Dr. No as one of the potential guns for Boothroyd to test for replacing Bond's Beretta 418. It was rejected likely because it's a full-size pistol firing an underpowered 8x22mm round that's only available from Japan. In the film, our surprise hitman is carrying a Beretta 951. This single-stack 9mm pistol was copied by Egypt as the Helwan Brigadier as their service pistol at the time, making it easily available for filming in Cairo. quote:In reality the whole image could only have been before his eyes for a fraction of a second. Then the girl was propelled into his arms as if by the point of a javelin. The hideous thump that ran through his own body as if his arms were shock-absorbers. Then the dead-weight collapse. The rattle at the back of the throat. The warm blood pumping through his fingers. Bond threw himself sideways, still using the girl as an unintended shield. Two more shots thudded into the wall beside his head and he rolled over twice and tore out the Walther. Thank God it was dark in the room. He fired blind on to the terrace and a string of beads whipped away like a serpent. Silence, save for the chinking of the wooden blocks. Was the gunman waiting for him on the terrace? Bond edged his way round the wall and waited with his back beside the opening. The light had gone out on the balcony above. He could imagine the neighbours wondering what had happened, debating whether to call the police. Deciding to do nothing. Far below there was still the tinkle of that drat piano. What tune was it playing? The notes rose up like soap-bubbles. ‘Moonlight Becomes You.’ Bond permitted himself a grim smile. No point in staying here. The gunman had probably escaped immediately after the shooting. Let himself out of the flat by the front door. Bond judged the distance and his line of departure and then threw himself through the bead curtain. Three strides and he was in the first room he had entered. Nobody. The outer door shut Was there any point in going down the fire-escape or should he go back to the girl? Better the girl. If she died and Fekkesh did not turn up then he was finished. And he did not want to get involved with the Egyptian police. There would be a lot of questions and he would be asking none of them. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IgahWzHNlkc quote:It was then that he heard the sigh. At first he thought it was the girl, but unless she had crawled out on to the balcony it was too close. Bond switched off the light and moved along the wall to the balcony. Still in shadow, he peered out. At first there seemed to be nothing - and then, a hand. Knuckles straining white as they clung desperately to the bottom of one of the railings of the balustrade. Another bloodstained hand dragged itself like a half-crushed spider towards the M14, lying like a tempting prize beneath the guard rail. Bond’s blind shot must have wounded the man. He had tried to scramble back along the balconies to the corner of the building and slipped. Now, like a good professional, he was trying to save his life and take Bond’s. An elbow found a precarious perch on the parapet and the hand clawed forward towards the butt of the gun. Bond could see the clenched teeth, the intense ruckling of the brow. There was a smell of cordite and sweat in the air - the sweat that a man gives off when he is close to death. The man’s fingers brushed against the gun and then, in a desperate flurry of movement, sought to scratch it backwards to where it could be seized. As a background to the spectacle the distant pianist offered up a medley of Rodgers and Hart numbers.  The hitman, Sandor, was played by Milton Reid. Reid was a British actor born in India to a Scottish customs and excise inspector and an Indian woman. He had a long career as a muscle-bound villain, including previously appearing as one of Dr. No's guards and a temple guard in the 1967 Casino Royale. He was a professional wrestler under the ring name The Mighty Chang; you may recall him from being mentioned in the previous thread as challenging Harold Sakata to a wrestling match for the role of Oddjob in Goldfinger. While his previous appearance in a Bond film worked against him, he would finally get a named character and a single line for this film. He's believed to have died of a heart attack in India in 1987, but he had effectively disappeared from the public radar at the time and there's little concrete information beyond a corpse. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ClkNJ0Ki26o Rather than a simple and quick exchange of gunfire, Bond and Sandor actually get into a proper fistfight in the film. quote:Bond ducked back into the bedroom and switched on the light. This time, the police would be called. He had to move fast. Felicca was lying with her face in a pillow and for a moment he thought that she was dead. Her face was grey and her whole body seemed to have shrunk. It was as if the bullet had punctured her spectacular buoyancy. Now she looked like another person. Vulnerable, defeated. I'm debating whether "spectacular buoyancy" counts as horny here. quote:Maybe I was wrong about you, thought Bond. Maybe you do love Fekkesh. Maybe that is why you got involved, and found yourself getting out of your depth. One thing is for certain: the water is closing over your head. chitoryu12 fucked around with this message at 10:30 on Nov 21, 2020 |
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May 21, 2020 03:09
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chitoryu12 posted:I'm debating whether "spectacular buoyancy" counts as horny here. I say be generous and assume he's referring to her personality, as opposed to her...  personality.You don't want to overload the counter.
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May 21, 2020 04:32
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Watching the fight between Roger Moore and Milton Reid, it's really obvious that Reed is a pro wrestler.
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May 21, 2020 21:31
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chitoryu12 posted:Bond hated to feel powerless, and at the moment he was playing in a game he did not understand against people he could not see. The situation made him angry and he vowed that when the girl returned he would get some hard facts out of her. By force if necessary. Another bit that's absolutely pure Roger Moore... quote:The girl disappeared and he made up a story about her and Fekkesh. It was something on the lines of The Blue Angel and it explained why he had left his wife and two children to live with an overlush trollop. ...but this is a very odd observation for any incarnation of Bond, and doubly so for one who is living before the home video era. The reference is to a German tragicomic film with Marlene Dietrich, in which a respectable schoolmaster falls in love with a cabaret woman and leaves his family and job for her (it doesn't end well). It was a contemporary hit on English-language release in 1931, but even the oldest presentation of Bond would have been a child at the time (and, by Pearson's telling, living in the Soviet Union), so to see it and remember it well enough to think of it in a moment like this, he probably would have had to go to a private screening of some sort. In fact, can anyone remember Bond drawing a reference to a specific film before? I can't, off the top of my head.
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May 22, 2020 00:53
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Trin Tragula posted:Another bit that's absolutely pure Roger Moore... Christopher Wood was also born after the film released, so presumably he found a way to watch it by 1976. I think Bond referenced films and actors but Fleming was much more interested in books than movies.
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May 22, 2020 01:38
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Oh boy, there goes the horny meter again.chitoryu12 posted:It was rejected likely because it's a full-size pistol firing an underpowered 8x22mm round that's only available from Japan. By the time Fleming was writing, even Japan didn't use 8mm Nambu any more. Funnily enough, a nickel plated Type 14 appears in Never Say Never Again, where Bond takes it off a henchman and later drops it into an ice bucket.
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May 22, 2020 05:10
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Chapter 8: Death of a Salesmanquote:‘You have come tonight to the most fabulous and celebrated place in the world .. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z1t9X43Nm30 Pretty much nothing has changed about this show since 1976. It remains one of the most striking time capsules of this dive into James Bond, one of the few things that remains exactly as it was when first put to paper (and then to film). quote:Major Anya Amasova, sitting at the end of the fifth row with an empty seat beside her, took advantage of the sudden burst of light to check that the two men assigned to her by General Nikitin were in position. They were. Standing, it seemed to her, self-consciously, at either diagonal of the audience. They were both looking up at the enormous, overpowering structure, taking advantage of the unexpected history lesson. Instantly, they were snatched from view as the lighting changed, throwing the pyramid into silhouette. Horny Counter: 18 There's not even anything sexual! It's just a giant statue of a cat with a man face! Your gratuitous use of French for no reason doesn't disguise how weird you are! quote:When light permitted, Bond sorted through the rows of tourists looking for Fekkesh. Only the beautiful, erect girl in the fifth row did not seem to belong to a tour party. Poor devils, he thought, Cairo, Giza, Memphis, El Amarna, Abydos, Luxor, Kamak, Assuan. Five thousand years of history in three weeks, two donkey rides and a bout of gastro-enteritis. Fortunately, no donkey rides are necessary to get to the light show if you book a $19.61 ticket! The seating is right on the edge of Cairo where the city ends, so you can take a vehicle or walk to it. quote:‘... and for five thousand years I have seen all the suns men can remember come up into the sky ..' The girl in the fifth row was worth concentrating on. It was impossible to see her clearly but there was a quality of luminosity about her that drew her forward from the lumpy women with clumsy cardigans draped round their sunburnt shoulders. But maybe this was not the best time to be a girl watcher. Similarly placed to himself were two men wearing lightweight suits that looked as if they had been made out of cardboard boxes. They appeared uncomfortably out of place - like Toby Mugs amongst Dresden Shepherdesses. They looked like the kind of failed Bulgarian weightlifters that Redland recruited to eliminate enemies of the State. Maybe they were friends of the man on the concert grand who would never find anyone to play a duet with him. Bond and Anya both spot Fekkesh simultaneously, looking through the audience for the correct row. He makes it all the way to her, but suddenly grows pale and frightened as he looks into the distance. As the lights go out, he runs. quote:Bond cursed and started to run towards the back of the audience. In the darkness, his feet caught against a cable and he tripped and nearly fell. He cursed again and there was an impatient ‘Ssh!!’ from the hypnotized onlookers. Why the hell had Fekkesh taken off like that? Who had he seen? Could he have recognized Bond? Hardly likely. One of the heavies? Possibly. Bond abandoned speculation and concentrated on running as fast as he dared. A sudden blaze of an illumination on the pyramid of Mycerinus showed him a figure and its grotesquely larger shadow running down the north side of Cheops. By some strange, optical illusion, the shadow seemed to be moving out of time with its owner, almost as if giving chase to it. Bond pulled out his Walther and sprinted, the distorted voices from the amplifiers bombarding his ears as he ran past. Now it was dark again. God! This was like the night barrage before the battle of El Alamein. The blinding flashes of the twenty-five pounders throwing into relief the advancing infantry. In the previous thread, we talked about the late, great Richard Kiel. Jaws took some limited inspiration from Horror, the gangster with the steel-capped teeth in the original novel that Fleming hated but our readers loved. The famed gentle giant had rejected the role of Chewbacca in Star Wars to play Jaws, as it would be an easier role with higher pay.  Amazingly, this role was not completely original for him! In the 1976 film Silver Streak starring Gene Wilder and Richard Pryor, Kiel had played Reace, a hulking henchman with metal-capped teeth. quote:Fekkesh was desperate. Desperate as a man who has taken out a mortgage he cannot repay, or gambled in a game when the stakes are too high, or promised a woman he loves something he can never give her. But most of all he was desperate because he knew that his time was running out. That he was going to die. When he found the opening in the wall, he pressed into it like a bug into a crack. Anywhere to get away from the big man who killed for Stromberg. Why? Why had he listened to them? What had they been able to do to him to make him believe that he could ever turn against Stromberg and get away with it? Especially with this. It was too big. He had been insane. He should have stayed on the fringe. Taken the money, been grateful. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n1gQ-1zEljg The light show at the pyramids is abbreviated here, but you can immediately see how unchanged it is. quote:To Bond, the noise that ended the screams was like that of a stick breaking. He raced towards it and arrived as the huge man materialized from between two blocks of stone like a spirit escaping from some rifled sarcophagus. For a second the two men faced each other and then Jaws showed his gleaming teeth in a contemptuous smile and turned on his heel to be swallowed up by the night. Bond hesitated, torn between the knowledge that he must find Fekkesh and an impulse to pursue this terrifying giant with the gleaming teeth. There was no choice. Fekkesh came first. Bond held his gun low and edged his shoulder round one of the thirty-ton blocks of stone that formed the base of the pyramid. His heart sank as he saw a foot protruding from the shadows. He knelt down swiftly and felt for the man’s heart. Something glistened in the darkness; a pool of blood spreading from the neck and shoulders. Someone, there were no prizes for guessing who must have chopped half through the man’s neck. Bond forgot about the heart and pushed back the man’s head. The face with the wide staring eyes was recognizable. Fekkesh.. One last twinge of the sentimental Bond of Ian Fleming. quote:There was an entry for the following Thursday: ‘Max Kalba, Mujaba Club. 7.30 pm.’ Neither the name nor the club meant anything to Bond but it was the only lead he had unless he searched Fekkesh’s flat and could get into his office at the Cairo Museum. That and find the big man. There could not be many countries in the world where he would find it easy to hide in a crowd. Bond shivered as he looked down at the broken body at his feet. How could the neck have been torn open like that? It was almost as if - no. He rejected the suggestion as being too horrible, too absurd. But, there again, he had once examined a rat after a terrier had killed it and - almost against his will, Bond’s gaze dropped once more to the bulging eyes, the thin sharp-nosed features, the blood beginning to coagulate around the jagged puncture marks. Fighting against nausea, he thrust the diary into his pocket and turned away from this place of terrible death. 1977 and still a good Brit. quote:Bond heard the soft footfall in the sand too late and turned the wrong way. A flash of lightning struck him behind the right ear and a deep pit opened up at his feet. He tumbled slowly into it and looking back as he rolled over and over could see that the triangular face of Cheops was rising not four hundred and fifty-five feet into the sky, but for ever until it blotted out the heavens like a great black cliff.
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May 23, 2020 06:46
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God, have I lost my touch so soon? I forgot Fekkesh! Somehow I forgot this man even with his bright blue suit and bow tie. He's played by Nadim Sawalha, a Jordanian-born British actor who is the father of Julia Sawalha (who played Lydia in the 1995 Pride and Prejudice and Ginger, the lead female, in Chicken Run) and Nadia Sawalha (who played Annie Palmer on EastEnders and currently has the popular YouTube channel The Sawalha-Adderleys). Nadim was a member of a Bedouin family that settled in Madaba and slowly abandoned their nomadic lifestyle, giving young Nadim an opportunity to move to England when he was 21. Nadim would later play a police chief in Tangier in The Living Daylights and is still alive at 84 years old, with his latest role being 2018's Tel Aviv on Fire where he played the protagonist's uncle, Bassem.
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May 25, 2020 08:35
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Chapter 9: Shock Tacticsquote:Somebody was tapping on Bond’s head and asking to come in. The sound was a long way away and heard through many closed doors but it was distinctive and persistent. Bond waited, hoping that whoever it was would go away, but the sound continued, rhythmic and jarring. With each tap a tiny filament of pain ran through Bond’s brain. It was no good. He would have to see who was there. Grumbling to himself he began to force his eyes open. How difficult it was. He must have been deep in sleep. Curse them for disturbing him. Now, who was there in the thick swirling mist? Bond screwed up his eyes to concentrate. The face was like a hallowee’en mask, round and shiny with two deep-socketed eyes that seemed to be pouring out rivulets of tears. The tears fell like twin cascades to be sucked into the recessed corners of a broad, straight mouth thatched with a white moustache of horizontal hairs. Bond was puzzled. None of the features moved. And there was no nose. And the strange lustre of the perfect round face. It was shiny. Shiny as a button. You're probably quite confused if you've seen the movie! This scene does not exist in it and was added for the book, while some parts and characters that are in the movie have been removed. quote:A rough hand jerked Bond's head backwards and he looked into a square, clumsily-featured face that might have been whittled with a blunt penknife. So, the two men at the son-et- lumiére had been Russians. At least, this one was. Bond did not say anything but concentrated on clearing his head and testing the rope that secured his hands behind the back of a chair. It must have been tightened nearly to the bone. His ankles were also bound to the two front legs of the chair. This was ominous. The more so when one examined the apparatus that the second man was connecting to a heavy-duty battery. It was a small metal box with an on/off switch and a glass panel showing a red calibrated dial. There was also a lever, currently resting at the top of its vertical slot and, most sinister of all, two long thin wires leading away from the side of the box and ending in metal claws. We're not even halfway through the book and Wood is already giving us the torture sequence! quote:Bond looked round the shabby, featureless room and tried to find items to concentrate on. If you were being tortured it helped to focus on something. Direct yourself away from the agony and the information you were supposed to be giving to some totally unrelated, meaningless object. Bond’s eyes glanced off the naked lightbulb and lit upon a calendar on the far wall. It showed the Egyptian version of a pin-up, a pretty black-haired girl showing her face but nothing else and extending a shy hand towards a motor scooter. She gazed at Bond as she must have gazed at the cameraman, not quite certain what either of them was doing. Yes, she would do. They would see this thing through together. That throws Bond for a loop. Didn't the Russians kill Fekkesh? Rather than presenting this course of inquiry to see if it throws them off, Bond just says he didn't do it. quote:‘Sorry, chum. You’ve drawn the same answer. I didn’t kill him.' No flicker of emotion passed through the man’s face. He shrugged and then bent forward and started to unbuckle Bond’s belt. Bond’s stomach froze. If the beads of sweat that were pouring off him ran over it they would turn into icicles. He looked towards the man standing by the metal box and then turned away. The man’s eyes were glistening lasciviously. Pain was his mistress. The top of Bond’s trousers was unhooked and the buttons undone one by one. He was like a child being taken to the lavatory. Then the trousers and underpants were pulled down to his knees. Bond sought the surprised eyes of the girl in the calendar. It was strange but he felt embarrassed looking at her. She was like the girl at the dentist who hands you a glass of pink water that your numb mouth finds it difficult to spit into. Her disdaining smile apologizing for your clumsiness. Horny Counter: 19 Wood's claims about molestation in school bring some bad things to mind here... quote:‘This is your final chance. Where is the microfilm?’ That's some interesting, well-educated vocabulary to describe James Bond getting his balls electrocuted. quote:The operator bit his lip for an instant and then returned to the machine. He moved his hand to the on/off switch and then turned to Bond as if to photograph him in repose. Bond could feel him estimating how much give there was in the ropes. How far Bond’s tortured, screaming body would be able to leap into the air. Then, he pressed down the switch. Bond is utilizing the horny as a defense mechanism! quote:‘You are stupid, Mr Bond. Because, in the end, you are going to tell us everything we want to know.' Bond’s gaze did not deviate. ‘We will start slowly, just to give you a taste of what is to come.’ Le Chiffre really should have invested in car batteries. He'd have gotten a lot farther. quote:‘You see.’ The voice came through the mists of purple pain. ‘It is not pleasant, is it? And it can go on, and on, and on.' Bond’s body was awash with sweat. He could feel it dripping down on to his chest. There was a cruel throbbing from his wrists telling of the strain he must have put on his tightly tethered hands when the current threw him forward. ‘But do not despair. It is when you can no longer feel that you should become worried. For then you will no longer be a man.’ God save me, thought Bond. Is there any other force on Earth or in Heaven that can pluck me from this crucifying rack of pain? ‘Would you rather talk now, or later?’  quote:This time, Bond was prepared for the wave of pain. It swept in like a rising tide, probing familiar ground, infiltrating pre-explored crevasses. And then it edged forward, overlapping itself to invade new territory. Saturating unexplored sand, drawing forth new screams of seared, screeching agony. The hinges of Bond’s mouth snapped back and his throat divided into the columns of an organ as he hurled himself forward against the cruel ropes. The roman candle of pain between his legs was burning out his soul. Imagine if we had a Roger Moore film where Bond actually went through all of this. quote:‘But Major. With respect.’ The voice belonged to the senior torturer and had precious little respect in it. ‘We have experience of these methods. We have enjoyed much success with them. The man will not die until we want him to.' They mercifully remove the clamps from Bond's junk and begin cutting his bindings with a knife. Little do they know, Bond is an expert in leaping up from torture sessions and beating up people! quote:Bond risked another glance. The operator of the machine was sulkily wrapping the connection wires round his fingers. Suddenly the mist of pain rose as it was penetrated by the bright sunlight of an idea. It might just work. Bond lolled forward and felt the knife sawing through the ropes at his tortured wrists. Half way through, three-quarters, seven-eighths. He braced himself and, as the rope parted, hurled himself towards the hideous instrument of torture that had set out to emasculate him. It was still humming and a red light glowed. Too late, the operator saw what was in his mind and desperately sought to free his fingers from the enveloping wire. Bond drove the lever down so that it buckled against the bottom of the slot. The needle on the gauge leapt forward and with a bright flash the man’s body jack-knifed in the air. There was a two-tier scream and a disgusting smell of burning, frizzled flesh. The man’s features flattened against the wall with a sickening, blood-smearing crunch but he was dead one-twentieth of a second before the impact. If they made the movie a faithful adaptation of the book, it would have been the first X-rated Bond. quote:Bond looked down at the two untidy heaps of human being and wondered how long it would be before streams of homeless vermin started to leave their bodies. The girl was staring at him as if mesmerized by the events of the last few seconds. Bond fastened his trousers and looked at her just long enough to see that she was beautiful and not pointing a gun at him The only important factors to him! quote:‘Thanks for saving my life.’ He smiled grimly, and added as an afterthought, ‘And possibly one or two other people’s.’
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May 27, 2020 01:29
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chitoryu12 posted:Chapter 7: The Sound of Music I have heard it said as a compliment that when so and so hits someone, they stay hit. Well, Sandor is someone who doesn't stay hit.
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May 27, 2020 05:55
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It's very interesting that Wood decides to bring in the pin-up girl to the previously all-male setting of torture sequences, and then chooses to have a woman come in and put a stop to it. This is the 1970s, sir. Respectable secret agents don't do homoeroticism any more.
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May 27, 2020 14:20
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Trin Tragula posted:It's very interesting that Wood decides to bring in the pin-up girl to the previously all-male setting of torture sequences, and then chooses to have a woman come in and put a stop to it. This is the 1970s, sir. Respectable secret agents don't do homoeroticism any more. The next chapter has Wood unironically claim Bond isn’t a masochist.
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May 27, 2020 15:26
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https://twitter.com/theianfleming/status/1265608506440368131?s=21 Let’s hope he did better research for the biography than the novel...
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May 27, 2020 15:42
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Chapter 10: Adventures in Clublandquote:The Mujaba Club was an incongruous building to find in a bustling tourist metropolis on the eastern bank of the Nile three hundred and seventy-five miles south of Cairo - for that was where Bond eventually found it. On the outskirts of Luxor. It was surrounded by clumps of palm trees, to be sure, but that, apart from its awnings and shutters, was its only obvious concession to the mystic East. In all other respects it was redolent of the era when Britannia ruled the waves and most of the land that divided them. It looked like a cross between an open prison, a Methodist church hall, a youth hostel and the officers’ mess of an inferior county regiment, and, because it was none of these things, yet clearly built by English hands, it had to be a club.  It has been claimed by some blogs that the Mujaba Club was portrayed by the Mena House (now the Marriott Mena House) in Cairo, within walking distance of the Great Pyramid of Giza. However, the hotel owners claim no knowledge or records of filming occurring there and it's believed to have been a lookalike set. quote:Bond was feeling less depressed. He was not a masochist but the pain and relentless action of two nights before had left him with a keen edge of purpose. He had a lead, something to go on, something to get his teeth into. Most important of all, there was a tough, ruthless game being played for enormous stakes and he had been dealt in. No matter the insignificance of his cards. What was vital was that he should have the chance to play them. I have no faith in any author who claims James Bond is not a masochist. quote:Outside the club was an impressive range of cars. Bond noted the larger Mercedes and the latest Cadillac which must have been flown over from the States almost before it was available to the American public. There was clearly a lot of money about. Most of it, from the look of the number plates, Arabic. Bond squared his shoulders beneath the sculptured lightness of his black barathea dinner jacket and met the eye of the garishly dressed doorman. The man wore a curved dagger in a scabbard of semi-precious stones tucked into the waistband of his embroidered burnous. He had a nose like a falcon and his sharp, dark eyes ran over Bond like the editor of Burke’s Peerage considering an applicant for a vacant baronetcy. Bond passed muster and returned the slight inclination of the head that passed him through to the interior of the club. Bond finds the reception desk empty and a list of competitors in the upcoming bridge tournament, none of whom are Max Kalba. He decides to head to the bar and ask around. quote:The bar was another pleasant surprise. Spacious, comfortable and with the minimum concession to Arab kitsch. A long mirror-backed bar ran along one wall and there were groups of tables and low-backed armchairs and cushioned window-seats. Two fans in the ceiling turned slowly and silently. Through a door at the far end could be seen a candle-lit dining-room with waiters in short tunics and deep purple waistcoats. One or two couples were already studying menus. Bond settled himself at the bar and ordered a vodka martini. The dress of the people around him was interesting. Some of the men wore dinner- jackets; others affected traditional costume and their strong aquiline features could barely be seen emerging from their white robes and flowing head-dresses. For the most part, they sipped daintily from tiny cups of coffee and talked eloquently with their hands whilst their womenfolk sat silent and respectful, only their dark, almond eyes taking off to make whirlwind sorties round the room. They were beautiful, these women, thought Bond, perhaps more so than the Europeanized ones with pendant jewellery hanging from their foreheads. So much of their mystery was still hidden and only those darting eyes spoke of immortal longings awaiting satisfaction. Who wants to go from gratuitous gore and graphic descriptions of boobs to cheesy poo poo? quote:With a pang of sadness, Bond realized that this girl reminded him of someone he had once loved and married. Tracy had been fair and this girl was dark but there was about their faces those same qualities of courage, spirit and resourcefulness that Bond prized above all others in a woman. But a voice of caution shouted in Bond's ear. Careful! This girl is a Russian. She is almost certainly a member of SMERSH and is therefore a deadly enemy. Her presence here is not programmed by Eros but whatever poor, demented god controls the movements of spies and double agents. Beware! Ahh, there we go. quote:Taking the advice of his conscience, Bond dismissed the hovering barman and slid from his stool. Three steps and he was by the girl’s side. Yeah, this dialogue feels very Moore. quote:Anya looked into the handsome, cruel face with a sense of déjà vu. Was it only in the last two days and in the file marked Angliski Spion at the Department of Military Records that she had seen this man before? As she allowed herself to be steered towards the bar she could understand why he was the most respected as well as feared of the British agents. His body seemed to flow rather than move in a series of programmed steps. He was like a panther or some other animal that lived by speed and stealth - and death. This is the Taittinger vintage that Bond drinks with Vesper during their famous dinner in Casino Royale. quote:Anya stretched out her hand for her glass. ‘I am sorry. That is not the way I would have handled it.’ Lesson one: do not assume that James Bond will talk to you in any way except as himself. quote:Bond glanced quickly at his watch. It was ten past seven. ‘Not this evening, I won’t.’ He stood up and slid some money across the bar. ‘You must excuse me, I have work to do. It made a delightful change to meet you informally.’ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zxeyloxgFbU quote:‘Yes, sir?’ The maître d’hôtel was standing at his side. Bond heads down the corridor into a room where Mr. Kalba is lining up a billiards shot with the requisite 3 beautiful Egyptian girls surrounding him, looking very bored. quote:‘Mr Kalba?’  Max Kalba was played by Vernon Dobtcheff, a French-born British actor with a ridiculous 364 film and TV credits dating back to 1962. He's spent much of his time in lesser known productions or minor roles in larger ones, including the German butler who gets punched out in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade and the very first character to say "Time Lords" on Doctor Who. While not exactly a B-list celebrity, he's well regarded in the British and French acting community. quote:The man did not wait for an answer to his question but handed back the chalk and leaned over the table. The cue came back swiftly and decisively and then shot forward. It was a difficult shot. The cue ball played flat and hard without spin to kiss the red and then come back with sufficient momentum off the end cushion to touch the side of the table and then drift back endlessly towards the lonely white ball six inches from the near cushion. Kalba took his eye off the cue ball when it was half way down the table on its return journey and reached for his cigar. He did not need to look. He knew the ball was going to find its target. A good way to open a conversation if you want someone to start shooting at you. quote:Kalba turned to the girls and jerked his head towards the door. Without demur they started to file out, leaving behind the chalk and the cigar. ‘Why do you bring me this news?’ As Kalba giggles to himself, one of the club servants comes in to inform him that he has a phone call. As the call is coming from outside the club and ringing in the phone room, he can't have it transferred and will need to come to the phone personally. quote:Kalba sucked in his breath and turned to Bond and Anya. ‘Perhaps a welcome respite. It will give you time to discuss your opening bids.’ What's happening is you two getting played like saps. quote:Max Kalba did not rub his hands together as he walked briskly towards the telephone-room but anyone watching his progress would have been able to tell that he was pleased. And why not? Two rich customers had arrived in person to do business and their rivalry could only force up the price of the merchandise. Whichever of them had put paid to Fekkesh had only saved him the trouble of performing an act which would have to have been done sooner or later. It was not just a question of the money. There was going to be more than enough even for him. It was making sure that Stromberg never caught up with him. When he changed his face and went to live in South America he did not want to leave anyone who would be in a position to betray him. Even the source of all the wealth to come, Stromberg’s beautiful but treacherous assistant, was going to get a nasty surprise when the time came for her suddenly to leave her employer and fly to join him. Kalba smiled grimly and pushed open the door of the telephone-room.
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May 28, 2020 00:02
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chitoryu12 posted:Let’s hope he did better research for the biography than the novel... I'm bracing for disappointment.
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May 28, 2020 01:47
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Ian Fleming would be 112 today.
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May 29, 2020 01:12
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Somebody Awful posted:Ian Fleming would be 112 today. And I have turned 28 today! I share a birthday with both Fleming and Blofeld!
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May 29, 2020 03:31
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chitoryu12 posted:And I have turned 28 today! I share a birthday with both Fleming and Blofeld! Happy birthday! 
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May 29, 2020 03:52
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May 29, 2020 04:51
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Chapter 11: A Clash of Personalitiesquote:Bond looked down into the beautiful blue eyes staring up at him brazenly. Could she be telling the truth? The Russians did not own the tracking system. They had responded to the same invitation to do business as the British. That would explain why they had thought he killed Fekkesh. And if the defector was not Russian he must have been working for someone else. Someone else who had developed the tracking system. Someone else who Bond leaps out the window and quickly spots Jaws getting into a small truck. As the villain struggles to turn over the engine, Bond quickly opens the rear doors and climbs in among the electrical equipment. quote:Then the back door opened. Extremely Moore. quote:Undeterred, Anya continued to frisk him. ‘Make no mistake, Commander. I intend to recover that microfilm.' Oh my God they're both the worst secret agent. quote:Jaws’ real name was Zbigniew Krycsiwiki. He was born in Poland, the product of a union between the strong man of a travelling circus and the Chief Wardress at the Women’s Prison at Kracow. The relationship and subsequent marriage had been a stormy one and, when it broke up, the young Zbigniew stayed with his mother and attended school and subsequently university at Kracow. He grew to a prodigious height but in temperament he followed his father and was surly and uncooperative, given to sudden outbreaks of violent temper. Because of his size he commanded a place in the university basketball team, but he was sluggish of reaction and his lack of speed was constantly exposed by more skilful but less physically endowed players. This lack of ability to compete despite his natural advantages played upon his mind and he became, more and more, a dirty player singled out by the crowd for jeers and abuse. A series of incidents culminated in his being ordered from the court during a key match against Poznan and reaching up to tear down the net and assault the referee. A merciless flaying with the loop of metal meant that the official had his scalp lifted from his head before Zbigniew was eventually pacified. In true Fleming form, the bad guy has a detailed backstory that inevitably includes a bunch of lovely things in Eastern Europe. quote:That was the end of his career as a basketball player and university student. He worked for a while for a butcher and then in a slaughterhouse before being arrested by the secret police in the 1972 bread riots. His appearance on the streets hurling paving stones owed nothing to political conviction but was a direct result of his natural appetite for violence. This appetite was temporarily sated when the police manacled his hands behind his back in a punishment cell and beat him with hollow steel clubs encased in thick leather until his jaw was turned into bonemeal. They left him, thinking they had killed him, but they reckoned without the tenacious hold on life exerted by Zbigniew Krycsiwiki. He prised the cuff of? one of the manacles apart on a wall hook, strangled a warder and drove through the prison gates - and three guards who got in his way - in a stolen three-ton truck. He exchanged this for a private car and drove to Gdansk where he succeeded in stowing away on one of Stromberg's vessels that happened to be taking on timber in the port. It's up to you if you want to take any of this as canon. None of this backstory exists outside this book. quote:He was eventually discovered near to death as the vessel neared Malmo. Reports of his grotesque size and appearance attracted the interest of Stromberg, who flew down from Stockholm to view the strange stowaway. To Stromberg, ugliness could be more affecting than beauty and in Zbigniew’s swollen, brutish face and huge ungainly body he saw a creature that might have come from the Stygian, unexplored depths of the ocean. He determined to recast him in the mould of his imagination and when told by local medical opinion that the jaw could never be rebuilt he cast further afield. This muteness is implied in the film, but Moonraker would remove it to give Richard Kiel a single line at the end of the film. The novelization of Moonraker would instead maintain continuity with this book. quote:It was six o’clock when the jolt of the vehicle coming to a halt made Bond open his eyes. He was cold and stiff and Anya was leaning against his chest, asleep. Her shoulders were slightly hunched as if she sought to nuzzle closer to whatever warmth his body might provide. Bond shook her gently awake and saw her eyes suddenly open wide like those of a startled animal. She turned her head and, seeing what she had been using as a pillow, drew quickly away. Almost like a perfectly pre-built Egyptian set! quote:‘Where are we?' Anya was at his side. I was so close to increasing the Horny Counter. I only didn't because this is child's play for Wood. quote:The first rays of the rising sun shone directly in their faces as they skirted the avenue of sphinxes and moved warily through an opening in a high wall and into an inner courtyard containing two rows of stone columns rising to a height of sixty feet. Bond looked about him and felt uneasy. Anybody lying in wait for them would have an overwhelming advantage. Why had the executioner come here? Was he looking for something? Was he meeting someone? Bond barely flings himself and Anya out of the way as a two-tone block of granite slams onto the ground where they were standing. Jaws leaps onto a pulley from the scaffolding like a pirate and descends to the ground in a manner way cooler than any Bond villain before him. quote:Bond prepared to defend himself but his heart quailed. Even without the terrifying teeth the man was awesome. Bond was over six foot tall but he would have to grow another fourteen inches to match this giant. His arms were like weightlifters' legs and his extended fingers could have touched three sides of a chess board. As Bond took up his fighting crouch the man’s head tilted back and his lips parted slowly. The unveiling of the hideous, jagged teeth was calculated to strike fear, like the raising of the dorsal spines of a fighting fish.  Anya's pistol in the film is a Beretta 950 Jetfire with nickel plating and pearl grips, a successor of sorts to the 418 that Bond previously carried. Its most unique feature is that the barrel can be tipped up, allowing for the chamber to be loaded or unloaded without needing to manipulate the slide (which makes it usable by people with very weak grip strength, like the elderly or disabled). quote:‘The microfilm. Throw it at my feet!' And this is why you just shoot. quote:There was a crack like a stick snapping and Bond rolled sideways waiting for the impact of the blow that was going to shatter his head like a pineapple. It did not come. Instead, there was a mounting rumble, building into a roar. The whole structure around him began to crumble and a block of stone crashed down inches from his fingers. The scaffolding was breaking up like a dynamited log-jam. Dust and rubble poured down and a falling plank brushed his shoulder. Bond rolled again and then half scrambled, half ran, expecting at any second to be crushed to death as he fled into the courtyard. He ran until the roar no longer seemed to pursue him and then collapsed on his knees. Behind him the last plank tipped, teetered and fell and the dust began to settle. Unlike the fight with Sandor, this is a very faithful adaptation of what's on film. quote:He ran through the columns, screwing up his eyes against the pain. His back felt as if it was broken. The sun dazzled him. Through the hole in the wall and along the avenue of Sphinxes. Bond came up behind the passenger side of the van because there was less chance of being seen in a rear-view mirror and raised his hand to grip the door handle. A pause and he hauled it open. Anya was bent over the controls, fiddling with a couple of wires under the dashboard. The canister and the Beretta lay on the seat beside her. Bond lunged for them gratefully and slipped them in his pocket. ‘I didn’t know you were mechanically minded.' He held out the ignition key. ‘Why don’t you try this? You’ll find it easier.’ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DDQzRai6Uao Bond's uncharacteristically deadpan delivery and sarcastic jibes at Anya were reportedly ad libs by Roger Moore in response to Barbara Bach's inability to drive stick. quote:‘Step on it!’ Bond relinquished the key and reached for the Beretta. As the engine leapt into life, Jaws rolled from the bonnet and snatched at the handle of Bond’s door. Bond locked it half a second before the fist formed round the metal and the handle was torn off. Anya fought the wheel round and the van leapt forward. Like a wounded buffalo, Jaws charged the vehicle and butted and kicked it. There was no easy escape route from the ruin. Anya had to reverse. She clawed at the wheel and accelerated backwards. Jaws threw his bulk to one side and the van crashed against the wall. He hurled himself forward and, tearing off a bumper, used it as a flail to belabour the box on wheels that was enraging him. It was how he had attacked the referee at the basketball match. Anya swung the van round but the lock was not tight enough. A block of stone barred their escape. Again she reversed and Bond momentarily lost sight of the mad giant. Bond begins making mental arrangements for finding a new place to say and hand over the microfilm. He pulls out the microfilm and studies it, and suddenly notices that Anya has no reaction at all. And her hand is on his thigh. quote:Bond’s hand dived towards his thigh, but it was too late. A wasp had stung him. He could feel his neck stiffening, his fingers locking. The film dropped to the floor. Against his leg, the needle still glinted evilly from the centre of the ring. How stupid of him. How typical of SMERSH. Have you so short a memory, James Bond? Do you not remember Rosa Klebb? Now he could feel nothing and the puppet strings that pulled his mind were being snipped one by one. There was only the soft female voice whispering to him like a chiding lover, chitoryu12 fucked around with this message at 00:39 on Jun 2, 2020 |
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May 29, 2020 05:47
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According to this article on the long and complicated process of writing the film, the scene of Bond getting his junk hooked up to a car battery was actually in the original draft by Wood. The book appears to be keeping stuff that he liked from the old drafts.
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May 29, 2020 06:06
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chitoryu12 posted:Unlike the fight with Sandor, this is a very faithful adaptation of what's on film. I found it more effective in print, personally.
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May 31, 2020 02:30
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Chapter 12: A Marriage of Conveniencequote:James Bond walked through the teeming Khalili Bazaar and felt a weariness near to death. Whatever poison the Russian bitch had pumped into him - and Bond favoured a relation of curare with its hatchet effect on the central nervous system - was still creeping through him like an anaesthetist in carpet slippers and there was no part of his bruised, tortured body that did not ache. But the ache that really counted was deep inside. Beyond reach of the most powerful electric current. Once again, Bond lets his horny defeat him. quote:Bond was not used to crawling back with his tail between his legs and he did not relish the prospect of arriving at Station Y with nothing to show for his efforts but multiple contusions and a hideous, nagging fear that he might now be impotent. Horny Counter: 20 quote:The dark, cool interior of the shop was like a labyrinth, with passages leading off in all directions. It was also open to another narrow, bustling street at the back. Very useful for comings and goings if one was being followed. The guide stopped in a small room that could be entered by either of two doors. The walls were hung with carpets. Bond noticed the Arab’s eyes darting around suspiciously before he spoke. ‘I think you will find that this is what you are looking for, sir.’ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mq95sPcNVCU What the devil indeed! One of the inventions of the films that became a trope was MI6 constantly setting up field headquarters so M could personally bring his entire office into the immediate area of operations. The most ridiculous may be The Man with the Golden Gun, which had them take over the capsized wreck of the Queen Mary. It made one wonder why they thought this would somehow be a more secure method of getting information to Bond than couriers. quote:He opened the door and found himself in a long whitewashed room, mercifully warmer than its antechamber - secretaries always had to suffer; that was one of the rules of the Civil Service. At the end of the room was a wide, polished wood desk with four wire baskets on it and behind the desk - a woman in the uniform of a Russian Army Major training a Walther PPK on him. Anya! Her eyes narrowed as he came in and her elbow advanced across the desk. The barrel was pointing at his heart. Was he going mad? At least Wood has a good sense of humor that comes across. quote:Nikitin and his ADC, Major Amasova, are officially here as part of the delegation discussing defence matters with President Sadat. That doesn’t concern us - well, it does, but it doesn’t, if you know what I mean.’ Bond nodded briskly. He was not in the mood for M being light-hearted. ‘Their real business is rather more serious and immediate. You may not be aware of it but the Russians have also lost a nuclear submarine.’ Nikitin speaks in Russian, which Anya translates as the Soviet Union graciously allowing MI6 the use of the microfilm they legitimately and skillfully obtained. Bond fires back by informing them that the microfilm is completely useless: when he examined it briefly in the van, he noted tiny scratches on the images. He believes the microfilm was, in fact, a method of taunting them: the mysterious villain released it with the most important data redacted to demonstrate that he had it in the first place. quote:The two off-white worms that were Nikitin’s lips dosed over the yellow teeth and the artificial fire behind the eyes was switched off. Belling's team has done some paper and writing analysis to theorize that the blueprints may have been drafted in Italy, but whoever did the photographing for the microfilm did a sloppy job of it. M takes that as further proof that it was industrial espionage, a hasty job done by someone as fast as possible. Bond notes a splotch in the corner and asks if they can try to enlarge it. quote:The screen went blank and then flashed a series of giant close-ups as the projectionist homed in on the wanted segment. Bond glanced towards Anya. She was gazing raptly at the screen. Her chin tilted forward on the heel of her hand. She looked like a keen student attending her first lecture. There was something natural and unforced about her pose that was beguiling. She was a strange girl. There was not that coldness and remoteness that permeated most of the Russian spies he had come across. Horny Counter: 21 quote:‘Hold it there!’ Bond felt a sense of mounting excitement as he looked at the screen. There was a diagonal line running from top to bottom which marked the edge of the blueprint and on its right some shadowy lettering lacking the blunted hardness of the symbols on the blueprint. When the blueprint was photographed it must have been lying on something and that something had crept into the right-hand corner of the microfilm. Bond strained to read the lettering. O-R-A-T-O-R-Y. There was also a symbol. A place likely greatly feared by the author! quote:‘They must have had a remarkably advanced science sixth if they were inventing submarine tracking systems,’ said M drily. ‘I know the Jesuits are reputed to be drat clever but —' He shrugged and turned towards Anya who was biting a lip as she stared at the screen. That would be the best twist. quote:‘I have seen that symbol,’ she said. The light of battle shone in her eyes. ‘Looks like a bishop’s mitre, sir.’ That was Belling’s contribution.  Want to show your webbed-finger pride? There are various T-shirts, stickers, and phone cases available! quote:Of course! Bond kicked himself for not getting there first. Sigmund Stromberg. A man who had come from nowhere to build up a huge merchant fleet in a matter of years; one of the first to see the commercial advantages of moving huge quantities of oil in super-tankers and now owner of four of them with an individual dead weight in excess of four hundred and fifty thousand tons. A man who was reputed to be ruthless in his business dealings and suspected of involvement in the recent spate of tankers that had broken up in American waters - all of them belonging to rival operators. The Stromberg symbol was a squat fish standing on its tail. Fight the power, sister. quote:Bond tried to concentrate. Oratory, oratory. What the devil did it mean? Anya was right. Stromberg had never shown any signs of altruism or desire to become a philanthropist. Unless one counted his report interest in oceanography. Bond remembered reading something about him setting up a Marine Research Laboratory in the Mediterranean. That was probably as near as he - Eureka! Pro gamer tip for anyone planning on engaging in worldwide espionage and sabotage: don't put your corporate logo on your evidence. quote:‘Ye-es,’ said M, looking from Bond to Anya before turning towards Nikitin. ‘Well done, indeed. Gratifying to discover that new era of Anglo-Soviet cooperation of which you spoke so heart-rendingly bearing fruit in such a short time.’ He tapped burning shards of tobacco from his upturned pipe into a large stone ashtray. ‘It augurs well for the future.’
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Jun 2, 2020 00:53
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Somewhere in the previous thread there was a mention of watches being recalled for radioactivity - not sure if someone else has posted this but it's probably a reference to the Rolex GMT Master: https://www.hodinkee.com/articles/rolex-gmt-master-6542-recall-radioactivity-document
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Jun 3, 2020 18:09
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Chapter 13: The Drowned Volcanoquote:Anya’s blind fingers traced a path across the rough, hot stone and closed about the supple plastic. Its tapered haft settled into the palm of the hand and her thumb and first finger tightened against the minuscule serrations on the cap. An anti-clockwise twist and the thumb flicked languidly until the cap dropped to the stone with a sound that wobbled into silence. With eyes still closed, she slid her left hand forward and pressed the nose of the Pizbruin against its palm. Pressure from three fingers and the tube gave a small, sibilant hiss and relinquished a teaspoonful of warm, liquid cream. Anya replaced the tube beside the cap and pressed her hands together. She felt the cream escape between her fingers and began to rotate her hands, spreading the sun tan lotion evenly. Then she drew herself up on the mattress and began to massage the cream into her naked breasts and shoulders. They were good breasts, there was no escaping the fact. They were firm and ripe, and they stood rather than hung. The aureoles of the nipples were a rich, chocolate brown and the nipples themselves jutted out expectantly like plump, juicy antennae. Horny Counter: 22 and never describe nipples like that again. quote:Anya saw the line where Black Sea honey gave way to Mediterranean bronze and laid a fresh knout of guilt across her back. Was it so little time ago that she had laid under another sun and thought about another man? She looked down at the soft, glistening flesh undulating beneath her fingers and withdrew her hand abruptly. Her behaviour was not kulturny. She was not conducting herself like a responsible Soviet citizen with a senior position in one of the most important government departments. But what in her life before the Crimean experience had prepared her for the sybaritic indulgences that the West lavished upon its favoured bourgeoisie? Not her one- room flat on the sixth floor of the Sadovaya-Chemogriazskay Ulitz, the women’s barracks of the State Security Departments, or her monthly salary of two thousand roubles. Nor serving with the rank of Major in the dreaded K.G.B. It must be this sudden role-reversal that had unbalanced her. She must take a grip on herself. Instead of baking her self-indulgent body an unnecessary brown she should be reading an improving work. Something by Engels, for instance. She was shamelessly ill-versed in his writings. Angrily, she pulled her severe one-piece bathing costume over her breasts and slipped the straps across her slim shoulders. She was not to know, that by its very simplicity - and because it was slightly too small for her - the costume made her body seem almost more erotic than it was when naked. *sigh* Horny Counter: 23 quote:Anya rose to her feet, screwed the top firmly back on the tube of Piz-bruin and folded up the sun mattress. She left the balcony and entered the large cool bedroom, closing the sliding glass door behind her to maintain the air conditioning at its current temperature. Air conditioning! No wonder this suite cost each day nearly as much as her monthly salary. It was shameful. She blushed. Shameful, too, the way she had so easily succumbed to its pleasures. Taking off her costume, she enjoyed the sensation of the cool air against her body and stood on tiptoe to place the sun mattress on top of one of the white louvred cupboards. She would not be using it again. The mirror threw back her reflection and she felt ashamed of her nakedness, as if she was exposing it to someone else rather than herself. She must have a shower and put on some clothes. Bond would be back soon and she did not want the embarrassment of him finding her undressed. She picked her costume from the double bed and walked towards the bathroom, passing the small bed in which Bond slept. She wondered if he had noticed that every morning she made the bed before any of the maids came in. She had to admit that it was pride that made her do it. She did not want anyone to think that her husband found her sufficiently unattractive to be dismissed from his bed. Not of course that she would ever sleep with Bond in a thousand years. Their presence together was for the convenience of the State. He was handsome, yes. Very handsome. One need not be afraid of admitting it. But he was an Engliski Spion who killed swiftly and, apparently, without feeling. Such a man could never touch her - could he? Anya felt a sudden pang of fear. There's one minor scene from the film that's missing here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sHqb1FwBP2Y quote:Anya left the shower and put on a loose-fitting cotton shift that descended to the middle of her well-shaped thighs. To her, the hotel with its crust of tiles, baked white walls and dark vaulted doors and windows looked like a loaf of bread attacked by mice. There was a private beach with a thatched bar surrounded by straw mushrooms - more mice sheltering underneath? - terraces, shady colonnades, gardens of Bougainvillaea and broom sloping down to the tightly-packed shrubs that fringed the sand, and a stone jetty with a small lighthouse at the end of it. And all about, the many-blued sea, changing its colour as it nosed over white sand or nuzzled yellow rocks, worn smooth as much-fingered gold.   Bond and Anya's luxurious hotel room was the Hotel Cala di Volpe in Sardinia, which remains virtually unchanged to this day. In case you're thinking their room is way too huge, you're right! That's actually the Bar Pontile off the lobby. quote:A sharp toot, toot, on the horn of a motor-car drew Anya to the balcony and she looked down to see Bond standing beside a small, bright red, dart-shaped saloon. Her lip began to curl. The car looked brand new and very expensive.   The actual film car, "Wet Nellie", was white. Wood would get his wish for a red one in For Your Eyes Only with a brand new Lotus Esprit Turbo, which was promptly self-destructed. The 1976 Lotus Esprit S1 is possibly the second most famous Bond car after the Aston Martin DB5. It has excellent handling, so much so that they actually had trouble with exciting car chases due to how grippy the tires were, but is somewhat underpowered (and US imports are even worse due to emissions standards). The Esprit was so stable, in fact, that Lotus engineer Robert Becker had to take over as a stunt driver because he was the only one who could get the car really moving in an interesting way.  The most distinctive feature of Wet Nellie, of course, is that it can turn into a submarine. This was a custom vehicle made from an Esprit body shell, which was not sealed and required the pilots to wear scuba gear. The submarine version of the vehicle went on tour for a time before ending up in a storage unit, which was bought for less than $100 at auction when the owner failed to make payment. The car's interior was restored and it continued to see exhibition until 2013 when it was bought by maniac-on-acid Elon Musk, who plans to convert it to a functional convertible car/submarine because he's a loving dumbass who really shouldn't be in charge of anything. quote:‘I will come down,’ said Anya, firmly. She arrived within seconds, conscious that the car was already beginning to attract admiring attention from guests and hotel staff. ‘We do not need such a car. Where does it come from?' Funny enough, this is another departure from the original Bond. While he's known for his flashy personal cars, the Aston Martin DB Mark III is the only "company car" he gets that's actually a sports car with gadgets. Other than Strangways' Sunbeam Alpine, his rentals or borrowed cars are all completely average. The introduction of Q Branch's DB5 in Goldfinger set the tone for Bond being constantly equipped with the latest British and German sports cars that instantly draw attention to someone who's supposed to ostensibly be undercover. quote:Bond looked chastened. ‘I’m sorry you feel like that, darling.’ He smiled engagingly at an old lady straining to catch word of what she imagined to be the honeymoon couple’s first tiff, and took Anya's arm. ‘Let me try and give you some better news. Stromberg has extended an invitation to his establishment. That letter from the President of the Royal Society must have done the trick. I found a note in reception. They’re sending a craft to pick us up.’ Remember when Bond either took cover identities that required little expert knowledge or spent hours learning enough about a subject to pass? quote:‘It sounds as if there will certainly be bluster.' Anya looked appealingly disapproving. Bond picked up the hand that had stung him. ‘If you see me getting out of my depth, show him your wedding-ring.’ There's something frustrating about Wood's writing, and it's similar yet very different to the frustration I experience with John Pearson, or Stephenie Meyer. Wood is clearly a good writer, with a massive vocabulary, strong sense of sardonic British humor, and a Fleming-like knowledge of how to write a captivating thriller scene (if a bit more gore-happy). But his skill is constantly hampered by his need to stick to the existing fanciful script and sudden detours into obscene sexual writing that derail anything profound or interesting about what's going on. quote:Bond turned his attention to the crew of the Riva. Three hard-faced, blunt-featured men who looked as if they opened doors with their noses. What were they, Corsicans? Bulgars? They had hardly said a word since Anya and he had come aboard. They were uniformly dressed in blue espadrilles, canvas trousers and blue T-shirts bearing the fish emblem between the sinister SS-motif of the Sigmund Stromberg Steamship line. How insensitive could you get when European memories of the Nazis were so long? It was almost as if the loathed initials were intended to strike fear. 1976 and we're still getting Corsican and Bulgarian henchmen. quote:Out of the shelter of the bay, the wind freshened and the sea became choppy. The helmsman gunned the motor and the sharp prow of the Riva rose shark-like as if bent on devouring the gaunt outcrop of land it was bearing down on. Only seabirds could be seen wheeling about the steep cliff-faces and white water showed where grotesquely shaped needles of rock broke surface. It was a bleak and dismal place to find sandwiched between the holiday-brochure blues of sea and sky. Why should Stromberg favour such a remote spot when the Costa Smeralda contained so much that was available and beautiful?   Rather than an oil rig with a glass dome, Atlantis in the movie was a miniature by famed set designer Ken Adam. And rather than a volcano caldera, it's set in the middle of the ocean. quote:Bond sucked breath between his teeth. This was something. But a marine research laboratory? It looked more like a military installation. Bond looked at Anya. Her pensive face suggested that she shared his view. Arriving at the mouth of a cave, Bond and Anya are let out but only Bond is allowed into the elevator. quote:Was there a slight hint of alarm in her eyes as he stepped into the lift? He rather hoped so. Certainly, he was feeling tense himself. The pulse quickening, a slight drying in the back of the throat that made him want to swallow. The lift sank silently and trembled to a halt. A pause, and the door slid back with a soft hiss. Bond stepped forward and paused. After the bright Mediterranean light this was like going into a darkened auditorium. The door slid shut behind him and Bond’s eyes tested the gloom. There was no sign of Stromberg. The silence lay thick as the pile on the deep carpets. But though there was silence there was movement. Brightly coloured movement. Both sides of the sixty-foot-long room formed armoured-glass aquarium walls. Ingeniously designed lighting made the endless streams of fish that glided past seem like some psychedelic back projection. Living, moving wallpaper. Bond stepped to the nearest wall and found himself face to face with a cherry-pink snapper that was nosing the glass and slowly opening and shutting its mouth as if blowing him kisses. A shoal of angelfish shimmered past. Bond turned round slowly. What a conception. The cost of building the aquarium and assembling the collection must have been astronomical. Stromberg explains that Atlantis is located in a 3000-year-old crater lake formed from a volcanic explosion, which he eventually plans to turn into a massive maritime research center. Because this version of Bond is an idiot who never prepares, Stromberg casually walks over and asks "Sterling" to identify a species. quote:Bond felt his stomach turn to ice. The sudden change of subject and the aggressive edge to the voice were contemptuously chilling. It was like being interviewed for a job and hearing the interviewer’s chair Scrape back. He advanced towards the glass feeling as if someone had applied a coating of talcum powder to the roof of his mouth. Stromberg was watching him intently. What the devil could he say? That he had left his spectacles at the hotel and was blind without them? How ridiculously lame it sounded. He peered into the tank - my God! Could it be true? He looked again. What a fantastic coincidence. The chap he had shared a study with at school had kept two of those. He remembered the outlandish Latin name.  quote:‘Something that I think you’ll find very interesting, Mr Sterling.’ There was no warmth in the voice but the edge of distrustful menace had been blunted. ‘A plan that I am developing. It’s a project very close to my heart.’  quote:There was a challenge in the voice but before Bond could consider means of answering it, he was saved by the soft, muted warbling of a concealed telephone. You didn't even clean the tank? quote:‘I am sorry, Mr Sterling- Stromberg had materialized behind him like a ghost. Had he too seen the hand? Bond turned away and tried to appear composed before the searching eyes that fed on secrets. ‘Something has arisen that requires my urgent attention. I hope you will forgive me if I bring our meeting to a close. At least you will have enjoyed a small maritime excursion.' Bond continues his trend of casually blowing his cover. quote:The lift door closed, and for several seconds Stromberg continued to stare at it reflectively. He then crossed to the aquarium where Bond had last been standing and looked downwards. His was not a face on which it was easy to read expressions, but a faint cloud of preoccupation wrinkled the serene brow. Obediently, the swivelling lenses of the closed-circuit television followed his every move and awaited the inevitable summons. Stromberg was still looking at the floor of the tank when he eventually spoke. chitoryu12 fucked around with this message at 19:33 on Jun 6, 2020 |
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Jun 5, 2020 02:56
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