James Bond Villains etc and the Use of Archaic Weapons/Methods/Devices

Comments

• Jellyfish EnglandPosts: 465MI6 Agent

  February 2016

  Doesn't Stamper have some old torturing tools in Tomorrow Never Dies?
• superado Regent's Park West (CaliforniaPosts: 2,651MI6 Agent

  February 2016

  I'm sure that there are many other examples, but from your list the only instance from a Fleming source is the carpet beater that I think is just incidental. Henry Chancellor's James Bond, The Man and His World mentions that many of the Bond villains were inspired from Etonian schoolmates of Fleming as well as martinet schoolmasters (negative father/authority figures to Fleming) who dished out painful and rigid discipline on Fleming; the carpet beater I think is just an extension of that kind of corporal punishment. Apart from that, to the best of his knowledge Fleming seemed intent on using a variety of then-current and tested firearms, under the guidance of course of Geoffrey Boothroyd.
  
  In your other examples, I think it was just a matter of using interesting weapons as a change from the basic firearms and other military weaponry; this is more of a cinematic practice and the continuation novels borrowed plenty from that practice. I also remember the variety of edged-weapons used by Bond and Graves in DAD, which transitioned from foils to broadswords, which is a perfect example of how an action sequence was made to look interesting.
  
  Talk about archaic, in the most recent Young Bond book, Shoot to Kill, James adopts and nurses a homemade, crudely misshapen air pistol throughout the book, which made me sympathize for him and wonder why he had to go through the trouble!

  "...the purposeful slant of his striding figure looked dangerous, as if he was making quickly for something bad that was happening further down the street." -SMERSH on 007 dossier photo, Ch. 6 FRWL.....
• broadshoulder Acton, London, UKPosts: 1,363MI6 Agent

  February 2016

  The Axe. Max Zorin.

  1. For Your Eyes Only 2. The Living Daylights 3 From Russia with Love 4. Casino Royale 5. OHMSS 6. Skyfall
• Silhouette Man The last refuge of a scoundrelPosts: 8,669MI6 Agent

  February 2016 edited February 2016

  OK, I've amended the title a bit as I feel it was too restrictive by focusing only on archaic weapons. Therefore let's open things up a bit! -{

  "The tough man of the world. The Secret Agent. The man who was only a silhouette." - Ian Fleming, Moonraker (1955).
• Barbel ScotlandPosts: 36,205Chief of Staff

  February 2016

  Would Rosa Klebb's knitting needles count?
• Silhouette Man The last refuge of a scoundrelPosts: 8,669MI6 Agent

  February 2016

  Barbel wrote:

  Would Rosa Klebb's knitting needles count?

  
  Yes, why not!

  "The tough man of the world. The Secret Agent. The man who was only a silhouette." - Ian Fleming, Moonraker (1955).