Previously on James Bond...



Ian Fleming, circa 1960.
Or Benedict Cumberbatch, circa 2040.

In the spirit of getting even more behind and attempting to emulate Douglas Adams's laid-back attitude to deadlines, I'm not watching the next film until Friday. I thought I fill in a little detail before then, just to ease the transition.

The TV version of Casino Royale hardly set the world on fire, but the continued success of the Bond novels meant that there was still interest in exploiting them commercially. A TV series was first mooted, and Fleming wrote storylines for a few episodes, but no-one was willing to finance it. The storylines were recycled for several short stories, since reprinted in compilation form.

The next and most serious attempt came to Fleming via a mutual friend. Ivar Bryce introduced Fleming to Kevin McClory, an independent film producer who had already had some success. McClory owned property in the Bahamas and was fascinated by the idea of shooting a film underwater. He proposed an original Bond film, which Fleming would co-write and he would produce.



The only director to have his own theme tune.

This project took up the next several years, and went through countless drafts with several writers. For some time, Alfred Hitchcock was seriously interested in directing what would have been a major international production with an astronomical budget. It is for this reason that the film eventually collapsed. No one was willing to shell out for it without Hitchcock on board, and he refused to sign without studio support.

Fleming, irritated at the waste of his time and effort, used the storyline for his next Bond novel in lieu of actually writing an original story. The finished book, in which Bond encounters an international organisation of villainy named SPECTRE, headed by one Ernst Stavro Blofeld, who plots to blackmail the world with stolen nuclear bombs, was published in 1961 as Thunderball. Fleming was immediately sued for plagiarism.

Since he had only been co-author of the story, McClory's case against him was solid and ultimately the verdict went against him. Fleming retained the rights to the book, on the condition that McClory and fellow writer Jack Whittingham received acknowledgement on the title page. McClory would retain the film rights. More on this later.

The court case left Fleming exhausted, and combined with a hard-living lifestyle he shared with his most famous character, there had been a considerable toll to his health. He died shortly afterwards, leaving his last Bond novel, The Man with the Golden Gun, to be published posthumously.

Fleming, Salzman and Broccoli.
You can see why people called him "Cubby".

Meanwhile, the rights to all the other unsold Bond material - everything except Casino Royale and Thunderball - was being examined by Canadian producer Harry Salzman. He ultimately signed a deal to buy up not only that, but all future Bond material produced by Fleming, and partnered with Albert R. "Cubby" Broccoli to find financing. Salzman had experience, but Broccoli, being a friend of Howard Hughes and a descendant of the cultivator of the popular vegetable, had the contacts to make things happen. They were turned down by every major studio, but eventually made a handshake deal with United Artists, a smaller outfit set up by silent movie stars Douglas Fairbanks, Charlie Chaplin and Mary Pickford. A holding firm was created and named Danjaq after their wives - Dana Broccoli and Jacqueline Salzman - while a production company was set up to actually make the films. Its name, Eon Productions, showed the scale of Broccoli and Salzman's gamble - Everything Or Nothing.

With Thunderball off limits, the other books were examined as to provide a first James Bond story. Logistics stated that something on a smaller scale but with an international flavour might be best - perhaps a story set in distant Jamaica, with Bond acting as detective and seeking out a sinister, shadowy force...