What Bond do you envision?
AlphaOmegaSin
EnglandPosts: 10,924MI6 Agent
When reading the Novels?
For me it's Connery. The Covers of the Great Pan Releases depict a very Connery looking Bond -
For me it's Connery. The Covers of the Great Pan Releases depict a very Connery looking Bond -
1.On Her Majesties Secret Service 2.The Living Daylights 3.license To Kill 4.The Spy Who Loved Me 5.Goldfinger
Comments
But it must have been tricky for the early illustrators to come up with an accurate or appropriate image of Bond before Connery - you can see there's a wide variety of interpretations:
Probably because Fleming didn't overly give a description of Bond's looks until From Russia With Love, when the best description appears in SMERSH's files.
Even Fleming's commissioned portrait of Bond (first image below) wasn't quite right and the illustrator John McLusky thought it too "pre-war" so changed it to a more rugged look (second image below) for the novels's serialisations as comic strips in the Daily Express:
In my mind the Fleming illustration looks more like Peter Cushing but the second does give Bond the 'piratical' look mentioned in the earliest novels.
I can even picture Craig, though I wish his hair were darker.
I feel like a certain amount of attraction to both the Bond films and novels is that all men want to live vicariously through Bond. If I had to pick someone to see from the 3rd person perspective it would be Connery, but I think for the most part I read/listen to the novels almost in the perspective of being inside Bond, not a spectator.
Just finished listening to FRWL today so I couldn't resist adding my opinion.
It's always interesting to get other members opinions on the books. -{
I've read (or listened) to every book up to FRWL, and started Dr. No yesterday.
FRWL I enjoyed immensely, the only real complaint I could have with that book would be the fact that we don't see or hear from Bond until halfway through the book, which worked for the way Fleming told the story, but it just wasn't ideal for me. A minor complaint though.
CR was basically a perfect book as far as I'm concerned, which explains why the movie is so good, considering it follows it somewhat more than most movies follow books.
I liked Live and Let Die and Diamonds are Forever equally I'd say, both very good but not on the same level as the previous two I mentioned.
MR was of course tremendous, and far superior to the movie, Drax is maybe the best villain in the series for me so far.
I also read OHMSS a few years back because it is one of my favorite movies. That honestly could also be my favorite book as well, something about the story in both the novel and movie just grabs me. For me it would be a toss up between CR and OHMSS if I had to narrow it down to two.
Brilliant descriptive passages and characters. I'll admitted the villains aren't
great just a couple of hoods, But T Case is a great female character and Bond
even thinks of marriage and retiring to Japan. He even carries on the relationship
by moving her into his flat, as mentioned in FRWL.
So some might under rate DAF but I think it's a great adventure.
I enjoyed the novel mainly because Fleming has such a talent for making his scenes come alive and is wonderful at describing the places Bond travels to.
+1. Maybe even the whole Spectreville sequence, too, if they can pull it off without seeming ridiculous.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dadqDm8-xwE
It would be difficult since they have done so many train based action scenes in the series.
http://prettycleverfilms.com/files/2013/06/Peter-Lawford.jpg