Book No. 4: Diamonds Are Forever

Diamonds Are Forever was first published in 1956.
Diamond smuggling was something of a hobby to Ian Fleming. Not that he participated in it, he just enjoyed studying it. He even wrote a non-fiction book on the subject a year later in 1957 called The Diamond Smugglers.

M gives Bond the assignment of infiltrating a smuggling ring, that's been going on for some time now, from Africa to the US. He instructs Bond to travel down the pipeline to see who's behind it all. As Peter Franks, Diamond Smuggler, he begins his mission.
On the trail, he meets Tiffany Case, a member of the diamond smuggling pipeline. Through her help, he finds out that the operation is being controlled by The Spangled Mob, of the United States. But Bond must get past The Spangled Mob's homosexual hitmen Mr Wint & My Kidd to get to the top.
The pipeline begins in Africa where a dentist would pay miners to smuggle diamonds in their mouth which the dentist would extract during a routine appointment. From there the dentist would take the diamonds and rendevous with Rufus B. Saye who would transport the diamonds to London via helicopter. In London, Tiffany Case would get an assignment from a contact only known as ABC, she would then meet with "the hire" (in this case, Bond) and explain to that person how to smuggle the diamonds to New York City. It end in Las Vegas, near The Spangled Mob's HQ. Headquarters are located in the thought to be ghost town of Spectreville. Felix Leiter comes back, although not working for the CIA. After being almost eaten by sharks in Live and Let Die, he now works for Pinkertons, a private investigator company based out of the United States.

Although this book is 100% better than the movie adaptation, its still nothing special. It took awhile for it to excite me. But still, its a pretty good read. I give it a 6/10.

Book No. 3: Moonraker

Ian Fleming wrote and published Moonraker in 1955. And takes place entirely in England. Very rare for our super secret agent.
Moonraker was not the first choice for Ian. He first suggested "The infernal Machine", then "The Inhuman Element", and "Wide of the Mark". Publishers liked "The Moonraker Sense", "The Moonraker Plan", and "Bond, and The Moonraker" much better. Even more title were thrown around like "Mondays Are Hell", "Hell Is Here", "The Moonraker", "The Moonraker Plot", "The Moonraker Secret", and 'Too Hot To Handle".
Interestingly, when first published in the US, the title was "Too Hot To Handle". This is also the only Ian Fleming novel to be translated from "British-English" to "American-English". Such British phrases like "knave of diamonds" where changed to "jack of diamonds", and "lift" to "elevator". Later publications where changed back to the original language.

M likes to play cards at the club, Blades. M suspects Sir Hugo Drax is cheating at bridge. Why should M care that someone is cheating? Because Drax is a millionaire, and has no reason to cheat. Smelling foul play, he brings James Bond, an expert at cards and casinos, to the club. Bond confirms M suspicions, and decides to have fun with it. He tries to also cheat and give Drax a taste of his own homemade hooch. And boy, oh boy does it taste foul. Bond ends up winning £15,000.
Upon further investigation, its found out that Hugo Drax is the financial backer of the "Moonraker" project. A missile operation designed to protect Britain during the Cold War. M, still curious about Drax,orderss Bond to infiltrate his operations. Bond uncovers a fiendish plot to destroy London. He must destroy Drax's plans, but not without the assistance of a Special andattractivee Agent Gala Brand.

This book was pretty good.Definitelyy much better than its movie counterpart. But still, not as good or exciting as Casino Royale. I give it a 7/10


Bond Timeline:
Casino Royale: May 31 - July 16 1951
Live and Let Die: January 2 - Jan 27 1952
Moonraker: The events take place between May 26 and May 30th, 1952.

Please post with any questions.

Book No. 2: Live and Let Die

Live and Let Die is the second James Bond novel published. Ian Fleming had it published in 1954. It is considered the most controversial Bond novel. Due to the depiction of blacks. No, not just African-Americans, but also Jamaicans. Of course, this story takes place in the early fifties, before the civil rights movement of the sixties. Only recently, in 2002, was the book published in the United states with the original title of chapter 5: "Nigger Heaven" For almost 50 years, chapter 5 to US citezens was known as "Seventh Avenue" Another term used at the time, but would not be acceptable today, "niggerheads" which are the cauliflower looking coral.

This story takes place in New York, New Orleans, and Old Jamaica. Well, I should say "original" Jamaica. Lets just keep it simple, it takes place in Jamaica.

James, after getting brand new skin on the back of his hand, is sent to New York City to investigate a certain Mr Big. Mi Big, as it turns out, happens to be selling 17 century gold doubloons to finance SMERSH, the Soviet organization who has vowed to kill spies, the same evil organization who the former Le Chiffre worked for. As it turns out, Mr Big is also working out of New Orleans. So he goes down there along with his CIA buddy, Felix Leiter, for further investigation. On the trail of Mr Big, he then goes to Jamaica and discovers Mr Big's main gold doubloon operation. While in Jamaica Bond meets allies Quarrel, a native Jamaican, and Strangways. Head of Section in Jamaica. Bond also meets Solataire, the psychic who's being used by Mr Big for his own evil purposes. Before Bond could bring Mr Big down, Felix is fed to some sharks and loses a leg and an arm.

This book wasn't as greatly fantastic as its predecessor, Casino Royale. In the most exciting part, Bond had to go snorkeling, to secretly sneak up to the island hideout of Mr Big. It was very suspenseful, and well written. It just wasn't the best story of al time. I give it a 6.5/10.

The events in the novel take place between January 2 to 27, 1952.

The many forms of "Casino Royale"

The TV Show
In 1954, CBS began a series called Climax! That was an hour long mystery drama show. For one episode, CBS paid Ian Fleming $1000 for the rights to adapt Casino Royale. The one our episode aired on October 21, 1954 and starred Barry Nelson as "Jimmy Bond" actually making him the very first actor to play James Bond 8 years before Sean Connery. Jimmy Bond was an American secret agent, Felix Leiter's name was changed to Clarence Leiter and giving the county origin of England. Vesper Lynd was changed to Valerie Mathis.

The Comic Strip
The Daily Express Newspaper in England ran a comic book adaptation of Casino Royale from July 7 to December 13 in 1958. The comic was written by Anthony Hern and drawn by John McLucky.

The 1967 Movie
Earlier in 1955, Ian Fleming sold the movie rights of his novel to Michael Garrison and Gregory Ratoff for $6000. After trying to sell the rights to 20th Century Fox, the ended up selling it to Charles K Feldman during the 60's. The Bond films where already an enormous success, and Feldman went to the executive producers of EoN Productions Cubby Broccoli and Harry Saltzman and proposed a serious adaptation of the novel starring then Bond star Sean Connery. They declined. Feldman decided to produce a spy-spoof meant to poke fun at the Bond films. Casino Royale was released in 1967 by Columbia Pictures.
The retired Sir James Bond (David Niven) is persuaded to rejoin Her Majesty's Secret Service and head an operation to destroy SMERSH. His mission? Topple Le Chiffre (Orson Welles), whose baccarat winnings support the evil organization. Vesper Lynd (Ursula Andress) joins the mix and helps recruit baccarat ace Evelyn Tremble (Peter Sellers) to impersonate James Bond and confront the villain. Adding to the mayhem is Sir James' neurotic nephew, Jimmy Bond (Woody Allen), a SMERSH defector. The agent currently using the name James Bond and the number 007 would help if he could, but he and Moneypenny are too "busy."
The movie has no less than five people credited as director: Val Guest, Ken Hughes, John Huston, Joseph McGrath, and Robert Parrish. Casino Royale was budgeted for $12,000,000 and grossed $22,660,450 in the US.

The Stage Play
In 1985, Raymond Benson, who became the fourth official James Bond author in the late 90's, wrote a stage play for Casino Royale. The play was submitted to a British agent, who suggested it never be produced.

The 2006 Movie
In 1989, Sony Pictures Entertainment acquired Columbia Pictures, and with it anything and everything Casino Royale. Sony then decided to remake Casino Royale as a serious Bond movie. They also had the idea to create a rival Bond series. This pissed MGM and EoN (the owners of the Bond series) off, seeing as how a rival Bond series would cramp their style. Ten years later, in 1999, all things were settled between Sony and MGM when Sony traded the rights to Casino Royale for partial rights to MGM's Spider-Man. But in the end, it all didn't matter. In 2005 Sony bought out MGM and now owns the studio, and the film rights to the entire James Bond universe. Also in 2005, after a three year hiatus from making Bond films, EoN Productions announced the 21 Bond film to be made. It would be Casino Royale, with a new star.

Daniel Craig is scheduled to be the sixth official actor to portray James Bond. So far, Judi Dench is the only other confirmed player, reprising her role as M. With Rose Byrne expected to be announced as the actress portraying Vesper Lynd later this week.
The plot is said to be the same as the novel. Except there will be no SMERSH. And it is said that this is a "Bond Begins" and this is meant to be Bond's first mission. The car Bond wil be drivng has been confirmed as the new Aston Martin DBS. The 1969 Aston Martin DBS was featured in the sixth Bond film, On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969). Casino Royale will be set in modern times. It will be directed by Martin Campbell, who also directed GoldenEye to great success.
The movie is set to be released in November 17, 2006. Principle photography begins Monday January 30th. A treaser poster is also expected to be released at the end of this month. Casino Royale official movie site: http://www.sonypictures.com/movies/casinoroyale/site/

Please post a comment if you have a question.

Book No.1: Casino Royale

Casino Royale (1953)

Ian Fleming purchased a house in Jamaica and called it GoldenEye. The name comes from a mission orchestrated carried out by him while he was in the British Naval Intelligence during World War II. Since visiting Jamaica he so decreed that he'd never spend a winter again in England. So after Christmas every year, Ian would travel to Jamaica. It was at this house, in front of the Caribbean Sea, that he wrote his first Novel, Casino Royale.

While traveling to the US during the war, Ian first stopped at Lisbon in Portugal (a neutral country during the war). There, he supposedly played Baccarat at a casino against a German officer, figuring that if he took as much money from him as possible, he could somehow make a small dent in the German funds. He banco'd him three times and lost every time. This is where he claims to have gotten inspiration for the novel.

The events in this novel take place between Thursday May 31st to Monday July 16 1951.

Spoilers Ahead: Key plot points revealed.
Monsieur Le Chiffre is an agent of the Soviet counterintellegence organization known as SMERSH. SMERSH is short for Smert Shpionam, which in Russian translates to "Death to Spies." SMERSH vows to identify and eliminate all spies that oppose Comrade Stalin. Le Chiffre is the paymaster for Syndicat des Ouvriers d'Alsace, a trade union in France controlled by SMERSH. Le Chiffre lost an enormous amount of funds for SMERSH by attempting to start a chain of brothels. M, head of MI6 and British Intelligence, caught whiff of the situation, and sent one of his double-o agents, James Bond, to a casino in France named Royale. M knew Bond to be an expert card player. Bond's orders are to stop Le Chiffre from recovering his funds, in hopes that SMERSH will kill Le Chiffre. Bond is sent with an assistant, the emotional Vesper Lynd who becomes his lover. At Royale, Bond put his name down for a long game of Baccarat.

Baccarat appears in several of the Bond films. Its a French game that's surprisingly simple to play. One player is the dealer, with numerous players surrounding him or her. Its almost exactly like 21 or Blackjack, except for the goal is not 21. Its 9. Tens and face cards count as zero. For example, if you hold a king and a 9, who have a baccarat, and you automatically win. Unless the dealer shows the same. Once you get to 10, you go back to zero. For example, if you have an 8 and a 6, instead of having 14 you have a 4. Again the goal is a count of 9. There are other rules and so forth like any card game, but I don't want to waste your time so . . .

At the casino Royale, Bond meets Felix Leiter, an American who works for the CIA. Felix becomes an important ally, and appears in most of the novels and many movies. Bond plays Baccarat for days, as each player gets eliminated. In the end, he's able to beat Le Chiffre and win the game. In retaliation, Le Chiffre abducts Bond, and submits him to the most grueling tortures I have ever heard of. He strips Bond naked, sits him on a chair that has no bottom, and hit him repeatedly with a carpet beater from underneath. Yeouch. A SMERSH agent shows up and assassinates Le Chiffre. The agent notices Bond, and knows he is a spy. The agent explains to Bond that its not his mission to kill him, but he won't save him either. Instead, he brands his hand so any SMERSH agent can recognize him as a spy, then leaves him for dead. Felix comes to his rescue and he's brought back to be rehabilitated. During the rehabilitation, Bond and Vesper grow closer together until it is revealed that she is a double agent from Russia, and was assigned to keep Bond from getting away from Le Chiffre. She commits suicide, to which Bond has mixed feelings. She ended up being a horrible person. How could he let himself get close only to be hurt?
END SPOILER

9/10. This book was surprisingly exciting, considering the main plot point was a card game. Ian Fleming makes it seem so exciting by explaining the game, then playing it out in the mind of a pro. This book, however does have quite a bit of French. Thank goodness I took it in high school. Its not required that you know French to understand the book, it just helps to understand the card game a bit better. The greatest part was the torture sequence. Nothing like this has ever played out in a Bond movie, and it seemed very real. Ian Fleming wrote in such a way that he lays it all out as your actually thinking it. Its easy to read, and fast to get through.

English to English translation: This book is British so here's a tip. In a deck of cards, a knave is a jack. For example, the knave of clubs, is the jack of clubs.

Please post a comment with any questions.