To Russia I flew...
Napoleon Plural
LondonPosts: 10,453MI6 Agent
Revisited Fleming's old work over the weekend. Both brilliant and appalling in equal measure!
Good o' Kerim Bey's obsession with rape! Charming! Chaining his woman to the table leg so she becomes his willing slave. It all to make him larger than life, a loveable rogue.
But then: Red Grant's eyes described by Bond as 'opaque - the eyes of an introvert, of a man who rarely looks out into the world but is for ever surveying the scene inside him'. Brilliant!
And the way the narrative changes, so we know Grant is a killer but Bond doesn't! Very good, sort of mock-innocent narrative, rare for Fleming.
Then again: why build a telescope into the Russian hq? Surely a microphone would have been better to start off with! You don't really need to know the Russian's latest dress sense! What they're saying is what's important.
And Grant is such a shifty figure, and Bond so on his guard, you can't really believe he wouldn't verify with HQ that they'd actually sent someone out to help him.
This is also a distracting book to read in that bits of dialogue are lifted, in summarised form, and planted onto the screenplay. It's a lot darker and grimmer - well, the finale for instance. A rollicking good read though, and it captures Bond's awkard Englishness in trying to get on with Grant and make him comfortable.
Still not really sure how he escapes Grant's pistol in the train shootout though, does he flip the cig case up across his heart or something?
Good o' Kerim Bey's obsession with rape! Charming! Chaining his woman to the table leg so she becomes his willing slave. It all to make him larger than life, a loveable rogue.
But then: Red Grant's eyes described by Bond as 'opaque - the eyes of an introvert, of a man who rarely looks out into the world but is for ever surveying the scene inside him'. Brilliant!
And the way the narrative changes, so we know Grant is a killer but Bond doesn't! Very good, sort of mock-innocent narrative, rare for Fleming.
Then again: why build a telescope into the Russian hq? Surely a microphone would have been better to start off with! You don't really need to know the Russian's latest dress sense! What they're saying is what's important.
And Grant is such a shifty figure, and Bond so on his guard, you can't really believe he wouldn't verify with HQ that they'd actually sent someone out to help him.
This is also a distracting book to read in that bits of dialogue are lifted, in summarised form, and planted onto the screenplay. It's a lot darker and grimmer - well, the finale for instance. A rollicking good read though, and it captures Bond's awkard Englishness in trying to get on with Grant and make him comfortable.
Still not really sure how he escapes Grant's pistol in the train shootout though, does he flip the cig case up across his heart or something?
"This is where we leave you Mr Bond."
Roger Moore 1927-2017
Roger Moore 1927-2017
Comments
The book and cigarette case would esily stop Grant's .25 dum dum bullet.
Bond’s Beretta
The Handguns of Ian Fleming's James Bond
Why no, our charming hero says, even quoting from his mate Mathis something along the lines of "I like the stronger sensations". So our fine fellow is about to watch one woman beat another woman to death while he sips his raki - and he's okay with that! Kind sir, may I interest you in a copy of Hostel 2?
Roger Moore 1927-2017
I always questioned this. I don't know anything about dum-dums and how soft they are, but back when they were legal I shot a .22 from a pistol through two telephone directories at ten feet. Standard lead bullet, standard .22 ammunition. Five inch barrel - so nothing ultra powerful, and certainly not as powerful as a .25.
I suppose the cigarette case made all the difference.
http://apbateman.com
Add to this the 'Bond factor'...and Bond survives with some pain in his ribcage :007)
(If mistaken, I'll gladly stand corrected ;% )
"I am not an entrant in the Shakespeare Stakes." - Ian Fleming
"Screw 'em." - Daniel Craig, The Best James Bond EverTM
I Shot a Colt .25 at a phone book about a month ago. It penetrated about one and a half inches. The phone book was dry, not soaked with water as phone book shooters generally prefer.
Bonds metal cigarette case and about 150 pages of novel, plus the boards on the front and back of an Ambler thriller should be sufficent to slow the .25 down so that it would cause Bond's ribs to be "on fire" at impact, without penetrating oo7's skin.
Bond’s Beretta
The Handguns of Ian Fleming's James Bond