Gadgets in THE LIVING DAYLIGHTS and LICENCE TO KILL

Podcast Episode

Gadgets in THE LIVING DAYLIGHTS and LICENCE TO KILL

Dan and Tom take a look at the gadgets in THE LIVING DAYLIGHTS and LICENCE TO KILL. These are the two Timothy Dalton James Bond movies.

Gadgets in THE LIVING DAYLIGHTS and LICENCE TO KILL

Dan and Tom break down the gadgets in THE LIVING DAYLIGHTS and LICENCE TO KILL – the two Dalton James Bond movies.

Are these gadgets believable?  Flashy?  Dalton changed the tone of the character of Bond and to some extent the gadgets in the movies.

For instance, could the milk bottles really do that?  What about the remote keychain?  And there is also the X-Ray camera, Broomstick Radio, night-vision binoculars, the rocket engine, Dentonite toothpaste, the manta ray costume, and more.

And we get two looks at the use of lasers, one from each movie.  Were they believable?

Well, we take apart these and all the other key gadgets in these two movies. 

So, take a listen – did we miss any key gadgets from these two Bond movies? Let us know your thoughts, ideas for future episodes, and what you thought of this episode by dropping us a note at info@spymovienavigator.com.  The more we hear from you, the better the show will be!

You can check out all of our CRACKING THE CODE OF SPY MOVIES podcast episodes on your favorite podcast app or our website. Additionally, you can check out our YouTube channel as well.

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Top James Bond Kills of the Decade: 1970s

Top James Bond Kills of the Decade: 1970s

This is the second video in our series showing you James Bond’s best kills from each of his movies.   This one covers the five James Bond movies released in the 1970s.

In this video we look eleven James Bond’s kills in the movies: DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER, LIVE AND LET DIE, THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN GUN, THE SPY WHO LOVED ME, and MOONRAKER.  We think there are some fun as well as brutal killing in these scenes.

Enjoy “Top James Bond Kills of the Decade: 1970s” here and let us know your thoughts about this video, ideas for future videos, and if we missed any quality James Bond kills in this movie by either leaving a comment below or by dropping us a note at info@spymovienavigator.com

Top James Bond Kills of the Decade: will return with our look at James Bond’s kills in the 1980s. You can find our Top 10 James Bond Kills of the Decade: 1960s at this link.

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Robert Davi – An interview with Licence to Kill’s Franz Sanchez!

An interview with Robert Davi: Licence to Kill‘s Franz Sanchez! Join Dan and Tom as they talk with Robert Davi! He played Franz Sanchez in the movie Licence to Kill, Big Johnson in Die Hard, opera-singing Jake in The Goonies.  Maybe you know him as the man behind Davi sings Sinatra. Or maybe you know him from one of his other over 170 credits. We all know who Robert Davi is, and now we get to know him better! Robert Davi discusses being Franz Sanchez, getting the role, nailing Sanchez’s accent, working with the team, and other on set and off set aspects of being Sanchez. He’s a prankster and lets us in on a couple of his pranks! Robert Davi also talks about his non-James Bond life, including his music video with Bob Dylan, his other roles and he even discusses his family history. Did you know that there were Daví family members who helped discover America? Listen to our Robert Davi interview to find out more! It’s a fascinating talk with one of the best! Davi Sings Sinatra website: Davi Sings Sinatra: On the Road to Romance | Robert Davi Ideas/Comment? info@spymovienavigator.com Website Podcast episode Page: https://bit.ly/3UXssTe Check out our other videos on our website.

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Murder at the UN!  Murder in New Orleans!  Murder in San Monique!

Funerals, coffins, knives, and snakes!  Ambassadors, jazz, heroin, and voodoo rituals!  And where is Bond??  Let’s dig in and decode the pre-title sequence to Live and Let Die!

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This movie takes Bond to New Orleans on a mission to find out why three agents were killed in a 24-hour timeframe.  He meets Mr. Big, Tee-Hee, and Baron Samedi who are involved in smuggling heroin.

And of course, we’re introduced to the tarot card psychic, Solitaire.

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LIVE AND LET DIE Pre-Title Sequence Decoded!

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Join Dan, Tom and Vicky on this fun podcast as they dig into the funerals, coffins, knives, snakes, ambassadors & murder in LIVE AND LET DIE!

Murder at the UN!  Murder in New Orleans!  Murder in San Monique!

Funerals, coffins, knives, and snakes!  Ambassadors, jazz, heroin, and voodoo rituals!  And where is Bond??  Let’s dig in and decode the pre-title sequence to Live and Let Die!

Join Dan, Tom and Vicky on this fun podcast!

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In this episode, we examine the pre-title sequence of Live and Let Die.   We dive into:

  • Each of the 3 key deaths
  • The possibilities of how Dawes was killed
  • The funeral scene
  • Eon’s respect for the people/customs of New Orleans
  • The Olympia Brass Band
  • The music
  • How the casket worked in filming
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  • Was that snake real?
  • The title sequence
  • The initial post-title scene with M, Q, Bond, and Miss Carusso
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Join Tom and Dan & special guest host Vicki Hodges (from the UK) as we discuss the gadgets in ON HER MAJESTY'S SECRET SERVICE and LIVE AND LET DIE - and some Bond movie locations that have been visited and celebrities met!  

Join Tom and Dan & special guest host Vicky Hodges (from the UK) as we discuss the gadgets in On Her Majesty’s Secret Service and Live and Let Die – and some Bond movie locations that have been visited and celebrities met!

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We add a new host to our podcast, Vicki Hodges who lives in the UK.   She helps us look at the viability of the gadgets from the movies On Her Majesty’s Secret Service and Live and Let Die.

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Examining Ian Fleming’s Original James Bond Manuscripts – Part 2

Podcast Episode

Examining Ian Fleming’s Original James Bond Manuscripts – Part 2

Join Dan and Tom for Part Two of their journey to The Lilly Library at Indiana University in the USA, as they examine, in-person, all of these wonderful James Bond masterpieces, gaining some insight into the novels and into Ian Fleming’s way of writing!

Dan and Tom of SpyMovieNavigator.com had the privilege of examining 11 of Ian Fleming’s James Bond manuscripts – his actual typed pages, with hand-written edits in the margins, crossed-out sections, add-ins and more!  You can see where he changes a name that we all know, and then – there it is in the final published version of the novel!
Come with us to The Lilly Library at Indiana University in the USA, as we examine, in-person, all of these wonderful James Bond masterpieces, gaining some insight into the novels and into Ian Fleming’s way of writing!
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The Ian Fleming Manuscripts!  Bond from the Page to the Screen! 

Join us as we continue our discussion where we examine the Ian Fleming James Bond manuscripts at The Lilly Library at Indiana University in the state of Indiana in the United States.

We pick it up with the novel Dr. No:

Dr. No – published  1958 

  • Honey Ryder in the manuscript is not wearing a bikini – but just the wide leather belt and a hunting knife in a sheath!  Anyone can read this in the published book, of course, but looking at the manuscript and how Ian Fleming describes her is quite nice:   first he types that she emerges naked, but then in a handwritten note, in ink, he writes: “She was not quite naked.  She was wearing a broad leather belt around her waist, with a hunting knife in a leather sheath at the right hip.”   Fleming used a lot of detailed descriptions to make things spicy and hot.   The last line in his hand-written correction is, “The belt made her nakedness extraordinarily erotic.”  How cool is that!  Of course, in the movie, she was wearing a bikini and the knife was on her left hip.    
  • On pg 1, the Queens Club was originally called “The St. James Club”.  It was first changed to Kings Club and finally Queens club.  The manuscript goes on to say “which for fifty years, has boasted  ‘No Jews. No Negroes. No Dogs‘.  This was changed to “which, for fifty years has boasted the power and frequency of its black-balls.  This isn’t the last time in the Ian Fleming books where race and religion are written in, let’s call it “an ideology fortunately changed” 
  • The last line of the manuscript was handwritten by Fleming to be “Do what I tell you.   This was changed to “Do as you’re told” in the final version of the book. 

For Your Eyes Only – published 1960 

From A View to a Kill – nothing to do with the movie! 

  • A rosebush splits and opens to a shaft.   
    Takes place in Paris? 
  • “You’re just like a lot of children playing at Red Indians,” says Mary Ann.  Very close to in Goldeneye when Natalya Simonova says to Blond, “You are just like boys with toys.”  

Death Leaves an Echo 

  • Starts in Jamaica 
  • Mrs. Wilson is scratched to become Mrs. Havelock 

Quantum of Solace 

  • Not really a Bond story, but he is in it.   More of a story within a story, that someone narrates to Bond.   Weird. 
  • Nassau – Bond didn’t like Nassau.   Everyone was too rich. 
  • Bond leaving for Miami the next day.  Castro rebels etc. 
  • Last line:  about Bond: “For some reason, his life suddenly seemed hollow and lonely” 

 

Risico – 32 pages  

Hildebrand Rarity  32 pages 

  • On the island of Mahe – the largest island in the Seychelles group. 
  • Mr. Krest – who appears in the movie License to Kill, actually appears in the Hildebrand Rarity and he collects marine specimens – something to do with his Foundation.   There is supposedly a fish that is only found around Chagrin island 
  • Sharks and barracuda  
  • Bond sent to Seychelles because the British fleet is having trouble with their fleet based in the Maldives – communists sabotaging.  Bond found nothing and thought all was good. 
  • Krest is driven by money and he can get anything he wants – even species protected by law – with enough money.  Page 13  
  • Page 14: Krest: “Twenty-four hours on the island and I’ve already knocked off three-quarters of my list.”   
  • The Hildebrand Rarity – is a fish “caught by Professor Hildebrand of Johannesburg University in a net off Chagrin Island in the Seychelles group. April 1925”  A unique member of the SquirrelFish family 

 

Goldfinger – published 1959 

  • Title page: GOLDFINGER typed out. Then crossed out and above is handwritten: “The Richest Man in the World”, then that is scribbled out with pen, and beneath it is written in pen, “GOLDFINGER”   Fascinating to know what Ian Fleming was thinking when he did this, but the name could have been changed!     We could have been referring to Ian Fleming’s seventh novel (3rd movie from EON Productions) as “The Richest Man in the World.”   Doesn’t have the zing of Goldfinger, does it?   Maybe why Fleming changed it back! 
  • Jill Masterton was originally called Tilly Masterton.  Tilly was scratched out and renamed Jill.    Remember in the movie, the sisters have the last name of MasterSon, note the S, not Masterton with a T as the book has it 
  • His car was an Aston Martin DB III in the book.  In the manuscript, it was a DB7 until it was crossed out and became the DB III.  We all know the DB5 from this movie. 

 

On Her Majesty’s Secret Service – published 1963 

 

  • Page 29: Fleming scratches out  “M. Stomboni” and hand-writes in pen, “Draco”!    Another name change that to us Bond fans, Draco is so well known!  Not Stomboni!”   And Fleming describes his face as a very delightful face, “so lit with humour and mischief and magnetism . . .”  Gabriele Ferzetti was perfectly cast to place Marc-Ange Draco!   One of my favorite Bond characters ever. 
  • On page 33:  Draco is talking about his marriage and the result of his marriage is his daughter, “Terrizina.”   But wait!  Fleming scratches out Terrzina and pens in “Teresa”! 
  • On page 34, we discover that Tracy’s first husband, an Italian that Draco did not like, deserted her.  BUT…..Fleming scratches out “Draco” which was going to be her husband’s last name, and puts in instead Count “Julio Vincenzo.”   Wow!  So Fleming reversed the surnames of her Italian husband and her father because earlier on page 29 he changed Stomboni to Draco for Teresa’s father!!  All on Page 34 
  • Page 29: When Bond meets Draco for the first time, he does indeed throw the knife at a calendar, saying “September the 16th” and throws the knife sticking it in the calendar.   “Draco says, “actually the 15th but quite respectable.”   Very close to the movie. 
  • Blofeld info on Page 50 
  • Page 67 is the description in Chapter Nine: Ten Gorgeous Girls (Piz Gloria in the movie) 
  • Page 125: Piz Gloria mentioned.  Back up to …. 
  • Page 129: Blofeldhandwritten 
  • Page `62 the Walther PPK is mentioned 
  • Page 1`66: Fleming scratches out Harpers and writes in “Jack Daniels’ bourbon”  Bond pours himself a drink on the rocks and added water 
  • Married at the British Council (page 192) on New Year’s Day at 10:30 am.  The head of Station M was the best man.   After the ceremony at the Counsel’s home, Bond walks down the steps to the waiting Lancia, with white ribbons tied from the corners of the windscreen to the grill of the radiator.  This is not in Portugal however, but on the Autobahn near Strasburg and Kufstein. 
  • Tracy is driving in the written manuscript and Bond asks her to pull over because “I’ve got two things to do.”   1) He took her into his arms and kissed her.  In pen, Fleming writes about the typewritten lines, “That’s the first thing and I just want to say that” (back to typewritten  “I’ll look after you, Tracy.   Will you mind being looked after?”    Tracy replies with a smile, and concludes “Let’s just look after each other.” 
  • Then Bond wants to get out of the car and take down the ribbons, saying, “ I can’t stand looking like a coronation. D’you mind?”  So this part is very close to the movie.   Then they took the roof down on the car.  “Let’s,” says Tracy.  “We can only see half the world with it up (handwritten)… 
  • As they drive, Bond notices a speck of red – a car miles behind them.    And Tracy notices it is coming up fast and asks, “Do you want me to lose him?”  “No,” said Bond.  “Let him go.  We’ve got all the time in the world.”  And Bond waves them past.  He hears a shattering roar and the windscreen disappeared.  Bond catches sight of a gun being withdrawn into the red car, and Bond and Tracy’s Lancia crashed on the side of the road, and Bond’s head hits the windscreen and he was out. When he came to, an Autobahn patrolman was shaking him.  When Bond awoke, he saw Tracy with her face buried in the steering wheel.  That’s when Bond sayto the patrolman, just like in the movie, “It’s all right.  It’s quite alright.  She’s having a rest.  We’ll be going on soon.  There’s no hurry.  You see,” and Bond whispers into Tracy’s hair, “You see, we’ve got all the time in the world.”  This is the iconic line in the entire movie, and the Louis Armstrong song of the same title is haunting when heard from this point forward.   

Diamonds are Forever 

  • The manuscript starts out untitled – Handwritten Chapter 1 at the start 
  • Fleming had some major rework with inserts and cross-outs with his discussion with Vallance. 
  • Fleming is trying to describe the fake diamond that Bond was looking at.  He originally typed glass, then hand wrote crystal, crossed it out and changed it to quartz.  He had to change “glass” to quartz later on the page as well.  
  • Chapter 13 in the book:  Page 85 in the manuscript.  Insert describing Bond’s feelings about Negroes.  Probably good Fleming scratched it out. “Bond liked the Negro races but something in him objected to the idea of close physical contact with them and he knew that anthropologists were agreed that the revulsion was mutual.”
  • Wint and Kidd were originally Wint and Gore, no Mr. in front of their names, just the last names. 

 

The Spy Who Loved Me 

Ian Fleming with Vivienne Michel 

  • Spine & Title credits this to Ian Fleming and Vivienne Michel.  Vivienne Michel is the character name of the person who tells the story from her perspective 
  • On pg 9, “My name is Vivienne Michel and at the time I …”   Vivienne is originally spelled Vivian, crossed out and spelled Vivienne” 
  • Most of the edits were minor grammar, spelling, wordsmithing in this manuscript. 
  • Look at the last page as he changed the last line. I love looking at the last line changes.  It can really shape your closing thoughts of the book  It originally said: 
  • I knew exactly who he was and what he was. … This was a man.  
  • (the ellipses were words overtyped so we can’t read them.) 
  • Now says: 
  • “I knew exactly who he was and what he was and everything, every smallest detail would be written on my heart forever.”

 

You Only Live Twice 

  • Credit for the poem at beginning changed from “Japanese itinerant poet” to “Japanese poet” 
  • “To R.M. Hughes & Torao Sito” changed to “To Richard Hughes & Roao Saito 
  • Chapter 7 inserts for page 49 list the poison categories apparently replacing what was originally on pgs. 50 and 51 which are not in the manuscript 

 

  • Not many corrections in this version.  However, there are numerous pages with different typefaces and paper sizes.   I presume that this means pages were replaced in this edition of the manuscript so we can’t see the original 

 

Moonraker 

  • This must have been an early draft – a lot of inserts are in this manuscript 
  • 3T2A0178.jpg –  Title page with lots of renamed chapters including:
    “The Man with Ogre’s Teeth”   Was changed to  The “Shiner” 
  • My favorite Insert in all of the manuscripts was in chapter 2 of Moonraker.   There is a long hand-written insert that was pasted on top of the original manuscript page so we couldn’t see what it replaced.  What makes this so classic is that the paper Ian Fleming used for this had a letterhead of CONGRESS OF THE UNITED STATES, HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, WASHINGTON DC.  This letterhead isn’t in the book.  It just happened to be the paper Fleming used to write his changes. 
  • The ending again changes with a hand-written addition:  

She laughed. ‘I’m sorry I can’t oblige.  But there are plenty of others waiting to be picked.’ 

‘Yes, I suppose so,’ said Bond.  ‘Well, goodbye, Gala.’  He held out his hand. 

‘Goodbye, James.’ 

He touched her for the last time and then they turned away from each other and walked off into their different lives. 

 So, 11 manuscripts later, we feel like we know Bond, and Ian Fleming much better.  We’ve gotten a peek into Fleming’s mind as he developed these stories. This was a fabulous outing to see the original manuscripts of Ian Fleming’s James Bond novels  – what a unique experience and opportunity!   We really loved seeing the handwritten entries Fleming made.  That was really cool.  We would love to go back and study the manuscripts even more!   Just as a reminder, you need to make a reservation to use the reading room so don’t just show up.    

One final thought:  Indiana University is at a very large university in the US.   If you are into college sports of any type, you can try to schedule a visit around a game.  I scheduled our trip so that we could see the Indiana University basketball team play.  Dan is a big Marquette basketball fan.  I sort of forced him to go see Indiana play.  Unfortunately, the Indiana Hoosier basketball team got blown out.  That was the only disappointment with this trip.  The campus was great, the Lilly Library was fantastic, and Mother Bear’s pizza still is fantastic. 

This wraps up our trip to The Lilly Library at Indiana University!  

Subscribe to our podcasts on spy movies, as we look at connections between these films and other spy movie films, and their connections to the real world!  This podcast was focused on Bond and the Ian Fleming manuscripts.  We have podcasts focused on Mission: Impossibleclassic spy moviesconnections between Bond and Sherlock Holmes, classic spy movies like The 39 Steps, Filming Location trips we’ve taken and more. 

Thanks for listening!   This is Dan Silvestri and Tom Pizzato from SpyMovienavigator.com – the Worldwide Community of Spy Move Fans – spy movie podcasts, videos, discussions and more!  If you like our podcasts, please give us a 5-star rating on iTunes and in Google Play – that helps us a lot!  Like us on Facebook, Follow us on Twitter and on Instagram too.  And when you have feedback, an idea for a podcast, something you want to say – just click the red button on our website that says “Send us a Voicemail”, or send us a message and we may include it on our show! 


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Examining Ian Fleming’s Original James Bond Manuscripts – Part 1

Podcast Episode

Examining Ian Fleming’s Original James Bond Manuscripts – Part 1

Join Dan and Tom for Part One of their journey to The Lilly Library at Indiana University in the USA, as they examine, in-person, all of these wonderful James Bond masterpieces, gaining some insight into the novels and into Ian Fleming’s way of writing!

Dan and Tom of SpyMovieNavigator.com had the privilege of examining 11 of Ian Fleming’s original James Bond manuscripts – his actual typed pages, with hand-written edits in the margins, crossed-out sections, add-ins and more!  You can see where he changes a name that we all know, and then – there it is in the final published version of the novel!
Come with us to The Lilly Library at Indiana University in the USA, as we examine, in-person, all of these wonderful James Bond masterpieces, gaining some insight into the novels and into Ian Fleming’s way of writing!
This is Part one, covering Casino Royale to From Russia With Love, of a 2-part series!  Look for Part 2 as well!”

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Ian Fleming and the Lily Library 

The Ian Fleming Manuscripts!  Bond from the Page to the Screen! 

How would you like to touch and examine the actual pages that Ian Fleming typed when writing his James Bond novels?  Well, we did and here’s our story! 

Hi, this is Dan Silvestri and Tom Pizzato from SpyMovienavigator.com – the Worldwide Community of Spy Move Fans – spy movie podcasts, videos, discussions and more!  If you like our podcasts, please give us a 5star rating on iTunes and in Google Play – that helps us a lot!  Like us on Facebook, Follow us on Twitter and on Instagram too.  And when you have feedback, an idea for a podcast, something you want to say – just click the red button on our website that says “Send us a Voicemail”, or send us a message and we may include it on our show! 

We like traveling, hunting down spy movie filming locations and other significant places that played a part in spy movies.   Like, when we were in London not too long ago, we stood on the steps, and at the door of Les Ambassadeurs in London.   Of course, we know that is the casino that Bond is playing baccarat in at the beginning of Dr. No – where we first meet Bond on film, and with his now-famous, “Bond. James Bond” introduction to Sylvia Trench and all of us!  It’s also when Ian Fleming met with some of the EON folks early on to solidify a deal to turn the books into films.  

Well, how about visiting a place that owns 11 of Ian Fleming’s James Bond novels?  Type-written pages that he typed at Goldeneye in Jamaica!  With Ian Fleming’s hand-written notes, deletions and additions, edits in blue ink?  Well, Indiana University in the State of Indiana in the United States has a special library called, The Lilly Library – and they have the manuscripts!   

The maddening thing is that this is where I got my undergraduate degree.  I knew the library existed and that is was a rare book library.  I knew it had part of the Gutenberg Bible.  They have the letter with George Washington accepting the first presidency of the United States.  I just knew it as a rare book library and never went in there in my four years of study.  Now I find out it had 11 James Bond manuscripts typed and hand-written by Ian Fleming?   What better reason to go visit my alma mater, read the manuscripts and get a chance to see if Mother Bear’s pizza is still as good as I remember (it is). 

Only a fourhour ride for us, we drove down and spent a day and a half pouring over all 11 of the manuscripts.   We photographed every page of Casino Royale, the first novel.   We are trying to get permission to post some of these pictures.   We were able to turn the pages of each manuscript with ungloved hands – touching the very pages that Fleming typed in his typewriter in Jamaica.  And examining every edit he made in all 11 manuscripts.  

This was a thrill beyond belief!  If you are a spy movie fan, and especially as a James Bond fan, we would highly recommend this.   When we drove down there, parked the car in the nearby Student Union parking lot, and were walking to the door of the library, our hearts were racing!  We walked in, signed in, and went into the special room where they brought the manuscripts – from the vault!  SpyMovieNavigator was about to examine in person, the original manuscripts! 

One quick note:  you need to make a reservation for the reading room which you can do online at https://libraries.indiana.edu/lilly-library . You request what you want to read.   We allocated a day and a half and really could have used 3 – 4 days in order to go page-by-page with the manuscript and the published book.  

They brought each manuscript out, 2 at a time – one for Dan and one for Tom.  They set then on foam rubber stands that allowed the book to sit there, opened, on an angle so you can read, and easily turn the pages.   We were not allowed to pick up the books, and of course, not to make ANY marks on these valuable pages.    

Here are the manuscripts that they have.   Now, keep in mind, there may be other editions of these drafts – because there were some things in other drafts that made it into the books, and so on.   The only novel they don’t have is his last one, The Man With The Golden Gun. They don’t have Thunderball either, but that was based on a screenplay that was credited to Kevin McClory, Jack Wittingham, and Ian Fleming.  But that’s a different story we won’t go into this podcast, maybe a later one. 

Here are the 11 they have and we examined: 

  • Casino Royale published 1953  (21st  Movie: 2006) 
  • Live and Let Die – published 1954 (8th Movie: 1973) 
  • Moonraker – published 1955 (11th Movie: 1979) 
  • Diamonds are Forever – published 1956 ( 7th Movie:1971 ) 
  • From Russia With Love  published 1957 (Second Movie: 1963) 
  • Dr. No – published  1958 (First Movie: 1962) 
  • Goldfinger – published 1959 (3rd Movie – 1964) 
  • For Your Eyes Only – published 1960 (From A View to a Kill).  (12th Movie – 1981) 
  • Also part of this short story set: Death Leaves an Echo, Quantum of Solace, Risico 
  • The Spy Who Loved Me – published 1962 (10th Movie: 1977)  
  • On Her Majesty’s Secret Service – published 1963 (6th Movie – 1969) 
  • You Only Live Twice – published 1964 (5th Movie: 1967) 

Fleming used a lot of inserts to make changes.  Sometimes these would be written on the back of the previous page.  Other times they were typed and either inserted or pasted on the page. 

 We’re just going to go through a few of the highlights of paging through these manuscripts, book by book.   We can talk for a couple of hours about this great outing! 

Casino Royale published 1953  (Movie – 1962) 

  • The first page of the book and the manuscript have some slight differences so this isn’t the last manuscript. Many edits in all of the books handwritten by Ian Fleming.  
  • Fleming liked to name people in his books with names similar to real-life people.  Therefore, in the manuscripts, there are some name changes.  The first change is actually a company name change.  Messrs. Lascelles de Mercado was changed to Messrs. Caffrey.  It is interesting to see these as he had to go through other references to those names and change them too.  This was before cut/paste, Word, WordPerfect, Word processors, or even Wite-Out.  
  • What do you think, Petty?  Petty is scratched out.  Hand-written by Fleming is the word: “Penny.”   A couple of sentences later, Miss Pettavel is scratched out, and hand-written in its place is Miss Moneypenny!   OMG!  This is where it happened – right on this page!  Significant name change! 
  • The person who he modeled Pettavel after was based on Kathleen Pettigrew who was the personal assistant to the real-life MI6 director. 
  • CHECK FOR A VERSION RELEASED IN 2013 where Fleming had Bond as the real name, but James Secretan as his real name.  From an article by Susanna Lazarus, April 15th, 2013.  On page 59 in the version we have examined, he says his name is Bond! This isn’t until chapter 7. https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2309144/The-names-Secretan–James-Secretan-Early-Ian-Fleming-draft-reveals-nearly-chose-different-007.html  
  • Bentley details: changed it to an almost new 1933. 
  • The Bitch is dead – it’s in there! 
  • Vesper Martini – ingredients described 
  • In describing a member of SMERSH, the name “Maxim Gorki” is changed to “Trotsky” and gives an assassination date of August 22, 1940.  There was a real-life Russian Revolutionary named Leon Trotsky who was killed in Mexico.  Actually, the attack came on Aug 20th and Trotsky died on the 21st.  There was a Russian writer named Maxim Gorky who died in 1936.   

 

Live and Let Die – published 1954 

  • Title page IN RED INK: “The Undertaker’s Wind”, which is scratched out in blue ink, and above it printed in blue ink: “Live and Let Die”.   “Live and Let Die was also written in on the left side of the title page and scratched out.    
  • 134 manuscript pages Bond in America – because he did well with the CIA in the Casino job (Bond handling the Jamaican end for the British) 
  • All the gold coins minted before 1620.  Over 1000 have shown up in the US in the last few months 
  • Mr. Big stands for Buonaparte Ignace Gallia.  Plus he is huge height and bulk.  This was added to the story as an insert at x on page 11`.  Chapter 3 
  • There is a hand-written insert for Page 18,  “and don’t go stirring up a lot of trouble for us.  This case isn’t ripe yet.  Until it is, our policy with Mr. Big is “live and let live.”  Bond looked quizzically at Dexter.  “In my job,” he said, “when I come up against a man like this one, I have another motto.  It’s ‘live and let die.”   This is cool because this is an edit to the story and now a big part of it! 
  • Description of Solitaire page 36 
  • Solitaire: Her real name was added as a written in the edit by Fleming at the top of page 53: to Bond: “I will just tell you my real name.   It is Simone Latrelle, but you can call me what you like.” 

 

From Russia With Love  published 1957 

  • Puts chapter titles 
  • Donovan Grant – the result of a midnight union between a German professional (The Mighty O’Donavanweight lifter and a Southern Irish waitress (Grant).  Behind a circus test just outside of Belfast.  Page 11 in the original manuscript 
  • Lots of background details on Grant and his life.  Kills Dr. Baumbartner as a test.   Then put into training for Russians.  He was an advanced manic depressive.  He carried out many executions for the soviets 
  • Head of SMERSH was General Brubozabou – schikovknow as G. 
  • Soviets agree that an act of terrorism against the British Secret Service would be their next move – looking for a target of someone who is admired and whose destruction would cause dismay.   They decide on Bond who had twice frustrated the operations of SMERSH – at the Casino with LeChiffre and Mr. Big.  And another adds Drax (Moonraker) WHO WAS FOILED BY Bond.  The most recent info was Bond having something to do with a diamond affair, from Africa to America,  Pages 38 – 42.  Casino Royale, Live and Let Die, Diamonds Are Forever, and Moonraker had already been published – so some acknowledgment of previous missions and books.   
  • Bond’s scar: “three-inch scar showing whitely down the sunburned skin of his right cheek”  Page 43.  Page 44: Expert pistol shot, boxer, knife-thrower, does not use disguises; languages French and German; smokes heavily; vices; drinks but not to excess and women.  Knows the basic holds of Judo 
  • Kronsteen and Klebb get the orders to kill Bond.   Page 52 
  • Biela Klebb changed to Rosa Page 54 and  Fleming must scratch out Biela and insert Rosa from now on! 
  • Romanov gets recruited by Klebb page 58 and the dialogue is very very close to the movie.  It is a remarkable job in the movie to capture this moment.   
  • Klebb picks Grant page 75 
  • Bond in a funk page 84 because Tiffany Case, his love of several months, had left him.  They had gotten on very well, because M asked him to explain, and there “was some idea we might get married”  Page 89.  But she then met some American on the Military Attaché staff and they both went to America.   Fleming writes in the next top margin (page 90) that M was secretly pleased and the last thing he would want is “for Bond to be permanently tied to one woman’s skirt” and that is in the final print version of the book! 
  • Bond prefers to fly on the 13th of the month because no one wants to and he has fewer passengers to deal with and gets better service.  “I always choose the thirteenth whenever I can”  Page 97 
  • During a very rough part of the flight to Istanbul, Bond gets concerned, and Fleming writes in the bottom margin with an arrow to where it should be placed: “Bond “smelled the smell of danger.   It was a real smell, something like the mixture of sweat and electricity you get in an amusement arcade.”    Fleming describes Bond as going into his hurricane room – the kind of strong room they have in the middle of their homes in the tropics to protect themselves – he only did this when things were “beyond his control and no other possible action could be taken”   Page 100. 
  • Kerim: “Common blood is the best security” talking about his sons and uncles working with him. 
  • In the manuscript, the chapter titles The Tunnel of Rats – has pages 121 – 177 lined out in pencil.  Yet a lot of it is in the book.   Then again with CHAPTER TWENTY THREE from 178-187, and again for Chapter twenty-four FROM 188-195 and CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE from 196-20-5, and CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX from 206-213 and CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN from 214-220 
  • CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT is NOT lined out from 221–  228  

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