Shame Ian Fleming couldn't survive long enough to make a polished version

I’m always amazed by how different these books are from the Bond movies.

Yes this one clearly feels like half a Bond Story with only the first draft. However, a benefit is Christopher Lee took a nothing villain and made him one of the iconic villains of the Roger Moore era because Christopher Lee is that awesome.

Maybe Noel Coward just told the whistling thing to Fleming, as a secret laugh, and the latter simply bought it.

Honestly, I half expected them to do the Bond amnesia and M assassination attempt in Skyfall. It could easily have fit in that movie.

*still feels absolutely awful for accidentally ruining the M twist for you* 😭😭 Such a brilliant scene though and something that I would absolutely love to see on screen!! I know i've mentioned it a few times but it's such a fantastic and interesting way to introduce a new Bond actor! How much more memorable can you get having Bond #7's first scene include him trying to outright murder Ralph Fiennes. :P

The opening of this book definitely feels like Fleming tried to do a Pre-Title Sequence. You an almost see the poison dribbling down the glass segueing into a Maurice Binder Title Sequence à la ‘Thunderball’. Fun Story: My Mum’s an English teacher and they had a snippet from this book in one of the textbooks she used. I suggested using the corresponding bit from the movie in her lesson, so I asked my friend for the DVD. I was just getting in to Bond at this point, and this was the point when I discovered that the books and the films often didn’t match one another. Indeed, I was super confused when the film seemed to stop being about Bond and instead be a film about some random Southern sheriff shouting at elephants. Either way, I do remember, when I finally read the book, there’s a passage where Goodnight talks about her dress, and how Q Branch installed a hidden device in one of the buttons and thinking “hey! They used that line almost verbatim in the film!” And hey, a Bond book set in Jamaica is no bad thing - it was a country Fleming knew very well, so he does a very good job when it comes to world-building. If I may be a literature buff for a brief moment, it gives the book a good sense of verisimilitude. P.S.: Have you checked out Fleming’s travel guide ‘Thrilling Cities’? It’s no use as a travel guide anymore (it’s over 50 years old) but Fleming’s anecdotes are great. Vintage did a reissue a few years ago, and I think it should easily be available at all good book retailers, and some of the lesser ones too.

Much like the movie, it has one or two great moments but on a whole it's rather lackluster. I love the attempted assassination of M and I would love to see that in a future movie Bond and Sukie's son does make a appearance in Reynonds Benson's short story Blast from the Past.

I find it interesting how Skyfall takes some of it's ques from Fleming's The Man With The Golden Gun. Mainly a washed up, believed to be dead Bond getting one last mission to prove himself plot of the movie. Skyfall does pull off the getting him back in his prime better though. But also, interestingly, the assassination of M. If you look past the fact that Silva successfully kills Dench's M and not an attempt by, but instead look at a line in the book from M about his predecessor dying on the job. So when casting rolled around I did predict that M would die and Fiennes would turn out to be Miles Messervy. Naomi Harris was obviously turning out to be Moneypenny and Ben Whishaw was confirmed to be playing Q, so Fiennes being him was likely. Turns out I was mostly spot on, apart from the name 😂

Just to clarify. I freaking LOVED Christopher Lee in MWTGG as Scaramanga. And I think he was the best thing about Goldeneye Rogue Agent. I mean, he can modify your eye to give you telekinesis. Ill take that xD

Perfect timing Calvin. Just sat down to eat and needed something to watch. Been looking forward to your thoughts on this last actual novel as well, particularly the first few chapters.

Read the short story Blast from the Past (1997) by Raymond Benson if you want to find out what happened to James and Kissy’s child.

Calvin - I just found your page via the podcasts. Just brilliant. Thanks for doing this.

Bond: And who do you represent Mr. Scaramanga? Scaramanga: Caribbean money. Bond: Cuban? Scaramanga: I said Caribbean didn't I? Cuba's in the Caribbean ain't it? Bond: Castro or Bautista?

Great review Calvin. I haven't read that one yet. Looking forward to your live streaming.

Calvin, I just thought that you should know that David Hedison, who played Felix Leiter in Live And Let Die and Licence To Kill died. He was 92.

Great review as usual Calvin! You should do a ranking of your top 10 Bond film scores and of all 11 series directors, I'd love your thoughts on those, keep up the good work!

Nice. Was waiting for you to review this one

Always love your book reviews , makes me wanna buy it straight from Amazon !

Thanks for giving us the history of this book. The shortcomings make much more sense now that I now that it was essentially unfinished.

I don't usually catch your videos 12min after they're posted. Nice.

Will you be reviewing the Bond novels ordered by the Fleming Estate from later authors?

Oddly, this was the first Bond book I read. I had a stack of them, and tried a couple times to read Casino Royale and FRWL, but it never took. Then one weekend, I sat down and flipped to near then end of this one to see how it compared to the movie. That last chase scene you mentioned, it really grabbed me and I remember reading the whole last part of the book in one sitting. I was so surprised at how different the tone was from what I was expecting. Right now I'm listening to the "celebrity performances" version of the audiobook performed by Kenneth Branagh, and it's really good! I love his performance for Scaramanga and Leiter!

Search out the comic strip adaptation if you can (it's been published in graphic novel form). It does a pretty good job of adding the details and plot elaborations that Fleming was unable to do. In particular,it builds upon the aftermath of the M assassination; while (by expanding on a couple of brief sections of narrative in the novel)providing more of a substantial back-story for Bond and Scaramanga.

Can't wait to see the live stream

13:43 "Okay, that's fine..." most British moment of this video. 😂🤣

The opening to thid book Bond trying to Kill M is I wish how Bond 25 would start

One could argue that Bond's attempted assassination of M was the culmination of the self doubt that festered inside Bond for so many years. Throughout the series, Fleming made it quite clear that Bond was always conflicted about his duties and he loathed M when he was ordered to do the dirty work for King and Country.

It seems such a shame, that this book is unfinished in a sense. One feature I really like about the Bond books is that they don't seem to follow a typical Bond formula, as most of the movies do. That is also one reason why OHMSS is one of my most favorite Bond movies ever.

You have to keep in mind that by this book (more or less a first draft in my opinion) Bond has pretty sever PTSD... Bond is not a very integrated personality from the get go and by the end of the sequence of novels has gone about as far as a man can go. In fact like many a similar servant of the Crown he has nowhere left to go too, the State has used him and used him up without a qualm. M in the last two books knows this and it ambiguous as to whether he is actually trying to help his protege or hoping he will be finished of and no longer his concern. A few times in the books Bond reflect on the 00 life and that it’s rewards are finite and prospects bleak, he has no illusions when things are going well and by now, when things have gone so bad for him he knows that the deck is now firmly stacked against him finding any kind of ending that is not wracked with misery, regret and recriminations.... that said Bond is a great personification of certain aspects of the British character that pop up over and over, and we love him for all that...

Calvin, will you do Gardner, Benson and the other external authors (and the movie novelizations)? I love these reviews.

Been really enjoying your reviews. I know there are numerous Bond novels by other authors CV you could turn to next but I'm really hoping you'll be reviewing the Young Bond novels by Charlie Higson, which I think are outstanding.

The Movie version of this book is def one of the most underrated Bond films. Up there with Quantum of Solace, Spectre, Living Daylights, Licence to Kill, World is not Enough, Moonraker and Never Say Never Again.

I haven’t read all of Fleming’s books but I loved reading this

Yul Brynner as Scaramanga would've been awesome!

This one was my second James Bond novel and it was amazing. So underrated.

Now we need the film review. Good video though calvin

Nice video ☺️☺️☺️ really enjoyed it 👍🏼 subscribed btw. :)

One of my favourite youtubers to watch on all things 007. :)

Really looking forward to when you review the two Anthony Horowitz Bond novels.

I can’t wait to hear your thoughts on the Octopussy short story. It’s one of my all time favorites. My dad and I listened to the audiobook version once on a big road trip when I was a teenager.

Also nice to see James Bond Jr reviewing his dads books hehe

Really enjoyed all these book reviews. It's interesting that you visualised Scaramanga as a Western, Sam Elliot type character - I imagined Josh Brolin being Scaramanga when I was reading it.

Just finished this one, a very good read!

I have mixed feelings. It isn't up to Flemings own high standard of CR, MR, OHMSS and YOLT. But knowing it was the last Bond Fleming wrote, I have a sense of sadness reading TMWTGG. Where might Bond have gone next, if Fleming had lived a few years more?

I thought this was a very good, and very fair review. I'm excited to hear that you're going to review the non Fleming books. I'm generally not a fan with a couple of exceptions. I really enjoyed Colonel Sun. I actually like it better than some of Fleming's weaker novels. I think it's terribly underrated and the fact that it seems to have almost been forgotten about is disappointing. Can't wait for that review.

Calvin: Yes, I am going to be reviewing Colonel Sun and the non-Fleming Bond novels, in fact I'm reading Colonel Sun right now. Comments: Calvin, are you going to read Colonel Sun? Or the non-Fleming Bond novels? You totally should!

I like the filtering process to get Bond to meet M, but good point about his time in Russia

M treats Bond like a teenage son who has gone off the rails and gives him a second chance he was probably expecting it to happen eventually he doesn't seemed surprised at all

It looks like Bond also fed Goodnight some snake.

I'd take an 'incomplete' novel like this over a boring novel (like diamonds are forever) or one that crashes in its final act (like goldfinger).

Just wanted to mention that the new James Bond novel With A Mind To Kill follows up on what happens to Bond after this story. Quite a bit of it also tells you what happened to Bond at the hands of KGB in between You Only Live Twice and The Man With The Golden Gun.

I agree that the beginning is a mess but from the moment he gets the mission it actually works quite well however the film improved on a lot the things in this novel - not the action obviously. That´s mainly because of JW Pepper but he´s not in the novel, so that´s good. I think the book version of Scaramanga was used as inspiration for Sanchez in LTK.

Will you be including the novelizations in your reviews? Christopher Wood's James Bond, The Spy Who Loved Me and James Bond and Moonraker are two of the best novels in the canon, IMO.

Listened to the audiobook today for the first time, read by Kenneth Branagh on Audible who I must say does a stellar job. Watching this review, I can totally see in retrospect that it was a first draft novel. Personally didn’t find the plot all that exciting, Bond spends the majority of the time under Scaramanga’s eye, nosying about the hotel, listening in on conversations, and only getting into one brief shootout at the end, all felt very barebones. I did love the part Felix Leiter played though, in being like Bond caught up in the whole affair and playing along, and him and Bond working together under Scaramanga’s nose.

Calvin I read somewhere the case of Bond's child with Kissy was revisited by a different Bond writer as a short story I guess. I liked this book. Of course it is clear in the novels that OHMSS changed the series.

I've been watching a lot of documentaries on the Bond films. What's funny is that apparently Christopher Lee and Ian Flemming where cousins, and on top of that also worked in Naval intelligence during WW II. I wonder how much he knew about the books?

I just finished it for the first time, really enjoyed the story and it being a little more brief than others like From Russia with Love, which I got bored with.

Are you going to review the Bond books written by other authors?

Since you are a fan of the Bond/M scenes you will love Colonel Sun.

Listening to your review it sounds like they gave silva bonds assassination of m story in skyfall Because I can totally imagine silva being brainwashed by spectre what do you reckon Calvin

I always enjoyed this book. Not the best, but I found it great fun.

Calvin, get your backside in front of the PlayStation and play No One Lives Forever if you have not already. It is 100% worth your time!

To me, I really enjoyed the book. Even an average Fleming 007 novel is better than most other average novels. I like how Goodnight is his ally & is it Leiter or some other CIA man goes undercover in the hotel ?

The late 90's/early,2000 James bond writer made a short story about James bond 's son

A vote for Quantum of Solace. IMO Fleming is on par with Somerset Maugham as a short story writer and Quantum in particular is a superb story. When I read this as a teenager I did not appreciate it. Now I do. These are to be read for pleasure.

Is there a livestream tonight?

Good review & agree with your opinion of the book. Probably my least favourite Fleming novel but appreciate his ill health & premature death left it unfinished.

Mark Hazard sounds like it would the main character from one of the Italian Bond rip-offs

The whole 'homosexuals can't whistle' thing is apparently a genuine old wives tale. It's probably a bit obscure nowadays though... mostly because it's complete nonsense, but still...

James Bond can type 007 words a minute

This is definitely a lower tier Bond adventure, but it is tragic as Fleming died before it could realistically be completed.

You HAVE to read "Colonel Sun" (a superb continuation of Flemings work) and John Pearsons "autorized biogropjhy of James Bond" ... the later fleshes out Flemings stories. Give John Gardner at leats a try and read his first 3 books (I love License renewed and Icebreaker is phenomenal; his later work is hit and miss). Raymond Bensons novels feel more like Brosnan Bond movies and not like a Fleming novel.

Ironically what the book could benefit most from is a character like Andrea from the film - the villain's moll who tires of her abused existence and conspires with 007 to bring him down.

Funnily enough, didn't Christopher Lee know Ian Fleming personally?

Wasn’t there a girl in the book named Tiffy because her parents have all these daughters and they were named after flowers. They ran out of names for their youngest daughter and named her Artificial.

With a Mind to Kill - its Simply the best continuation 007 book- A.Horowitz acknowledged p.263, readers may notice a few other “easter eggs” here and there: - Bond’s debating with Scaramanga in his mind p.104; - Bond remembering previous arch villains he tangled with Mr Big, Dr No; Le Chiffre, Drax p. 108, - Bond’s mentions his secretary , Loelia Ponsonby p.154 - He remembers the Oriental X train travel in the company of a psychotic Smersh Killer p.113 - plan to assassinate the target at the Berlin State Opera classical symphony - (The Living Daylight) p.237 - the spy who came in from the cold border crossing ending- like, last chapter - Bond remembers Tracy & compares Katya p.246 - last page echoes the last page of YOLT….. Bond keeps…..

In Fleming's ideas for GOLDEN GUN, Scaramanga took Bond on because he was gay, and sexually attracted to him, however it was thought too controversial and rejected by the publisher's, and this sub-plot was deleted. This was re-introduced by the script writers in Skyfall, for the adversary.

There is follow up on Bond and Kissy's child but it's a bit odd. [Presumably Fleming must have had plans to follow it up in later books but never got to write them]. John Pearson's 'autobiography' says that the child is a son, also called James, which he is aware of and supports financially but is otherwise an absent father to. John Gardner said as this wasn't part of the film continuity [and maybe also as it was a Pearson embelishment rather than based on Fleming] he was firmly told not to use or even mention the son. Raymond Benson as part of one of his uncollected short stories [included in the UK ominbus of his non-novelisation books] called 'Blast from the Past' [included in the 'union trillogy' collection] did eventually cover it but in a very 'thow away' manner [James Bond wiki describes it as 'alternative continuity'].

I do think the actual plot and characterisation in this are top notch, but the travelogue elements take over too much over the rest and make the book sort of uneven, but not bad in quality, which is why some fans do not rank this as highly as the plotting and characterisation alone would.

Plomer over at Cape let two glaring errors slip into print, ones Fleming himself should have caught. He forgot his character's name is Honeychile Rider not Honey Wilder. And Mary Goodnight couldn't possibly be driving Strangway's old Sunbeam. Dr. No's henchmen crashed a lorry into the car thinking Bond was behind the wheel, both car and truck plunged into a ravine. Nevertheless the Golden Gun book is lean, mean Fleming tapping that golden vein he mined so well.

I think that it is you have a room for me.

Funny thing is, Archer did the plot line of him being brainwashed by Russia and Assassinating Mallory.

I watched "The Spy Who Loved Me" yesterday. Good to have more Bond content. Raymond Benson revisited the son of Bond and Kissy, but he (the son) dies, IIRC; dying on a mission.

The Bond 25 news drought is real

1

He rejects the knighthood in this novel, but he accepts it at a later date since he has one when Woody Allen tries to kill every man over 5'6 and make all women beautiful.

Isnt there that rumour that Fleming didnt finish it or was editted by his publisher? Or something

On further review, he doesn’t say that gay men can’t whistle; he says that men who can’t whistle are gay. That doesn’t preclude men who _can_ whistle from also being gay, I suppose.

A weak effort with an awesome start and a good climax, but that's all. Veeeery slow-paced. By the way, I've read it in Catalan, as I share origins with Scaramanga. A 1965 first edition. I could write a small local legend regarding Scaramanga and that edition, but I would disgress. On to Colonel Sun to close the original Bond cycle (I really don't care about the rest except the Horowitz books, as they're semi-canonical to this original run, as it's Colonel Sun itself).

Such a half-assed book. There may have been extenuating circumstances, but those can only excuse low quality; they can't improve it. I wanted to believe there was some intrigue going on with brainwashed Bond. but he was so robotic, and it was all so obvious, you could really see it all coming from a mile away. After that it's a mediocre tale of running down a generic villain whose nefarious plot couldn't be less interesting. I do actually like that Felix was around for this one (though I'm really starting to question how he can work undercover with such an obvious giveaway as two very specific prostheses) and the highlight of the book for me, such as it was, was when he teased Bond about the obituary that had run for him. You could see him choking back a sob as he delivered those lines: He was not going to admit to how devastated he'd been on learning of his friend's unexpected demise, but you could tell. Somehow it had never occurred to me that Fleming would have done better to have written a book about Bond's ordeals in the USSR, though when you say it, it's so obvious. I really wish Fleming had just stopped one book earlier: Either Bond's death is not a fake-out, or he decides that, after killing Blofeld, he's made peace with himself and is happy to walk away from the Secret Service and into the much simpler and more morally upright life of a fisherman on that charming little island. As for the next book, here's how I rank em: "Octopussy" is a tedious slog that really doesn't matter. "The Living Daylights" is a fun, no-frills basic Bond plot in the same way that most of the stories in the first collection were. (Golden Gun is also a no-frills basic Bond plot, but it's not fun and should not have been spun out into novel length.) "Property of a Lady" is a charming little piece, the highlight of the collection. "007 in New York" is a pointless shaggy dog tale whose ending is so lame I couldn't stand it. It's a shame to make that the last bow of James Bond, it's a line completely unworthy of the long chain of lines that began with the description of a casino at 3 AM. Then there's _Thrilling Cities,_ which I read last month, and _The Diamond Smugglers,_ which I just started. Of course they're very different writings, and being set in the real world, are much less exciting than Bond stories; but they have more charms than either _Golden Gun_ or _Octopussy._

Wait M was originally a man? , Judy Dench totally owns that role i cant see M as anyone else.

Sometimes - and I don't know if it is deliberate on your part - you misquote plot elements. For example, Bond was already using the cover name "Mark Hazard" before discovering that Scaramanga was in Jamaica, and liaising with Goodnight to get organised to investigate. It wasn't a case of Bond and Goodnight "coming up with" the cover. On the other hand, you don't apply enough criticism to weaknesses in Fleming's structure. That Felix Leiter is seconded by the CIA, from Pinkerton's, because of his "prior knowledge of Jamaica gained mostly in company with Bond", is the work of a tired author. Leiter had never been to Jamaica with Bond. The events of Thunderball occur in the Bahamas, and Leiter is half-dead in hospital when the events of Live and Let Die move to Jamaica. Further, the idea that Leiter would go ahead and set up what Scaramanga thinks is Mary Goodnight tied to the railway track? - not a chance. Leiter and the other CIA man, Nicholson, would have taken their already-strong evidence and brought the army down on Scaramanga to avoid all that.

Francisco " Paco " Scaramanga

It is a bit sad, that this was the last book by Flemming, especially since Scaramanga sounds like a really interesting villain. Oh well, maybe after the Craig Era, we will see a remake of the Novel, because a real Anti-Bond is still a good idea. And I like the idea, that this could be the end of Bond as a character. He not only declines the honours of the crown, but maybe also the service to Her Majesty. He just hasn't in him anymoe. Bit of a downer, but I would like it. Oh well, hear you next time!

Not sure what you've heard about anthony horowitz bond books but his third one 'with a mind to kill' dives much more into the whole brain washing thing

Just read it.Thank God they didn't use the story for the movie.It was boring as fuck.Bond working as a Scaramanga as assistant ! Bloody sugar crops.WTF ?

Not a great book. The way M just calmly goes, "Oh well, we'll just have to deprogram him, no biggie" was ludicrous, even for Bond. And once he meets Scaramanga I kept going, "JUST SHOOT HIM ALREADY! It is your job!" One where the film is definitely an improvement on the book (IMO).

The "gay people can't whistle" thing could indicate "M" is gay.