Q. for John Glen @ TLD screening
Shady Tree
London, UKPosts: 2,969MI6 Agent
I attended the BFI's screening of 'The Living Daylights' this evening, followed by an on-stage conversation with John Glen. Michael G. Wilson was in the audience.
I had the opportunity to ask John Glen a question from the floor to do with villainy in the 1980s Bond films: "Villainy in your Bond films is much more complicated than was the case previously, and it's much more enmeshed in politics. In your films we see more villains than before dressed in Russian military uniforms; there's an allusion to the Falklands conflict in the pre-credits sequence to 'Octopussy'; and in 'The Living Daylights' there's a romanticisation of the mujahideen. I wonder if all this leaves the Bond films of the 80s looking more dated than, say, the Bonds of the 60s and 70s where the typical villain would be more clearly apolitical, a meglomaniac."
John Glen picked up on the Falklands reference and briefly explained that this was deliberate. The BFI's Artistic Director complimented me on the question and suggested I should be bought a drink at the bar, but I was already on my way to the BFI IMAX for their screening of 'You Only Live Twice'.
I could have said more but it wouldn't have been appropriate to get into too much detail... Although it's true that, in earlier films, Goldfinger and Blofeld were both sponsored by Red China, their relationship to this superpower was structurally peripheral - and, indeed, the Chinese officials seem completely overawed by Blofeld in YOLT. On the other hand, in John Glen's Bond movies - with the exception of 'License To Kill' - the rhetoric of Thatcher and Reagan-era Cold War politics is mixed up right in the middle of the films, though this probably has more to do with Wilson and Maibaum than with Glen himself.
Another person made a comment from the floor that 'License To Kill' was his favourite Bond film, and this attracted an enthusiastic round of applause from the audience. John Glen himself said he thought LTK was his most accomplished Bond, but he bemoaned the cuts imposed by the censor for the 15 certificate.
I had the opportunity to ask John Glen a question from the floor to do with villainy in the 1980s Bond films: "Villainy in your Bond films is much more complicated than was the case previously, and it's much more enmeshed in politics. In your films we see more villains than before dressed in Russian military uniforms; there's an allusion to the Falklands conflict in the pre-credits sequence to 'Octopussy'; and in 'The Living Daylights' there's a romanticisation of the mujahideen. I wonder if all this leaves the Bond films of the 80s looking more dated than, say, the Bonds of the 60s and 70s where the typical villain would be more clearly apolitical, a meglomaniac."
John Glen picked up on the Falklands reference and briefly explained that this was deliberate. The BFI's Artistic Director complimented me on the question and suggested I should be bought a drink at the bar, but I was already on my way to the BFI IMAX for their screening of 'You Only Live Twice'.
I could have said more but it wouldn't have been appropriate to get into too much detail... Although it's true that, in earlier films, Goldfinger and Blofeld were both sponsored by Red China, their relationship to this superpower was structurally peripheral - and, indeed, the Chinese officials seem completely overawed by Blofeld in YOLT. On the other hand, in John Glen's Bond movies - with the exception of 'License To Kill' - the rhetoric of Thatcher and Reagan-era Cold War politics is mixed up right in the middle of the films, though this probably has more to do with Wilson and Maibaum than with Glen himself.
Another person made a comment from the floor that 'License To Kill' was his favourite Bond film, and this attracted an enthusiastic round of applause from the audience. John Glen himself said he thought LTK was his most accomplished Bond, but he bemoaned the cuts imposed by the censor for the 15 certificate.
Critics and material I don't need. I haven't changed my act in 53 years.
Comments
During the end credits of CR there was an influx of people into the cinema, taking up the spare seats in readiness for the Cubby tribute. These attendess were introduced as members of the Broccoli family, who had come to celebrate the event. Barbara Broccoli was among them.
There was a tight turnaround, with the screening of QOS following immediately after Zec's and Wilson's conversation, so there was no opportunity for questions from the audience - although beforehand the audience had been invited to think up some good questions. Anyway, with the Broccoli family out in strength, and with a clear focus on Cubby's tribute, I would not have wanted to ask Michael G. Wilson any 'fannish' questions about the Bond films on this occasion, as it wouldn't have seemed appropriate. One would have felt like a gatecrasher. (Indeed, I wonder whether, in the event, the timings were stage-managed to prevent the opportunity for any fanboys like me to ask unpredictable or challenging questions from the floor which might have marred the tone of eulogy!)
The Broccoli guests all left the cinema after the tribute and before the QOS screening, presumably to go off to a party somewhere celebrating the BFI season.
For me, the chance to see CR and QOS in the cinema, virtually back-to-back, was the real highlight of last Sunday. (Yesterday's screening of TB at the BFI IMAX - although taking place after the official close of the Cubby season - was 'unfinished business' in the sense that it replaced an earlier screening of TB which had had to be substituted because of a fault.)