I just finished reading “The Lost Adventures of James Bond: Timothy Dalton’s Third and Fourth Bond Films, James Bond, Jr., & Other Unmade or ForgottenI just finished reading “The Lost Adventures of James Bond: Timothy Dalton’s Third and Fourth Bond Films, James Bond, Jr., & Other Unmade or Forgotten 007 Projects” by Mark Edlitz (published in 2020).
An interesting (unauthorized by the James Bond literary and film license holders) overview of several never made James Bond movies (including several different story treatments for the aforementioned never made third and fourth Timothy Dalton movies some Dalton only ended up making two James Bond movies before stepping down from the role to be replaced by Pierce Brosnan, as well as unmade stories for Roger Moore and Pierce Brosnan), the produced but mostly forgotten (and largely maligned) 1991-1992 “James Bond Jr.” children’s animated series and its novelizations/tie-ins, several James Bond comic book series of the 1990s (including the never completed “James Bond: A Silent Armageddon” and the never released “Barracuda Run”), Brazilian Bond comics, an American James Bond theme park ride, a Heineken commercial shot with current James Bond actor Daniel Craig, and other projects.
Fans of the James Bond films as well as of the “literary Bond” (as depicted in Ian Flemings original James Bond novels and in the subsequent continuation novels and comic books) should find this book of interest. Edlitz (who had written another James Bond related book prior to this, “The Many Lives of James Bond: How the Creators of 007 Have Decoded the Superspy” (2019)) is very knowledgeable of the subject and includes numerous interviews with the writers, directors, and, in at least one instance, actor (a voice actor who plays James Bond in a series of BBC produced radio adaptations of the Ian Fleming novels), who worked on these unrealized or mostly forgotten Bond projects.
My one slight quibble is with the format chosen: a very large (height and width) trade paperback format that doesn’t really suit a mostly text book such as this. The width of the book is greater than my eyes could scan each line of text from left to right without having to turn my head, move the book, or keep looking away and back again, which slowed down my reading quite a bit. (This is a book that would actually “read better” as an eBook, I think.)...more
I once again stayed up way too late another night last night to finish reading whatever present book I’ve been reading, in this case “Roger Moore as JI once again stayed up way too late another night last night to finish reading whatever present book I’ve been reading, in this case “Roger Moore as James Bond: Roger Moore’s Own Account of Filming ‘Live and Let Die’” (1973).
I really enjoyed this book, which is a day by day diary style account by Moore from his first days of shooting the movie to his last, and all of the many things that go into the making of a major motion picture like a James Bond movie and the many people involved in its making.
The first half of the book or more follows Moore’s shooting on location in Louisiana (mostly boat chases through the bayous and scenes in New Orleans) and Jamaica (where, among other scenes, the infamous Kananga crocodile farm scenes were shot). Then, just in time for Christmas, the first unit returned to England to begin several weeks of shooting at Pinewood Studios (for most of the movie’s interior scenes). Finally, for Moore and David Hedison (who plays American CIA agent Felix Leiter), several days of shooting on location in New York City, including scenes in some of the poorest and crime ridden neighborhoods of Harlem.
Moore agreed to record a daily account of all of this at the time so that this book could be released just before the movie as a promotional tie in. He details his encounters with fellow cast mates (like leading lady/“Bond girl” Jane Seymour and Bond villain Yaphet Kotto (“Mr. Big”)), Bond films producer Harry Saltzman, and director Guy Hamilton.
Even more interesting at times are Moore’s accounts of the head craft services person on location, George Crawford’s attempts to keep hundreds of film people fed each day and on schedule (including once even he accidentally *delayed* shooting for several hours when he accidentally took the car with Jane Seymour’s make up in it to go looking for food supplies, and another story of how, reluctantly, he had to turn over the chicken he was preparing for the film unit’s lunches when a refrigerator holding the raw chicken for a scene with the crocodiles got left off over night and the “crocodile bait” chicken went rancid; apparently even crocodiles won’t eat spoiled chicken).
Moore also details the many days that the weather wouldn’t cooperate, as well as his own various duties off screen such as interviews with various press reporters (the most common question being, “How will your James Bond be different from Sean Connery’s?”), still photography sessions, and promotional appearances.
Being a diary taken at the actual time of shooting, this book also goes into much more detail of Moore’s daily interactions with his wife at the time, Louisa Mattioli (which he was married to from 1969 to 1996), his children, and the personal friends and acquaintances he would spend his off hours with than Moore’s much later written memoirs do when he reflects in them back to this period of time filming his first James Bond film.
I highly recommend this book for fans of the James Bond movies and/or of Roger Moore, as well as those who would find it interesting to see just how a big budget, stunts and location shooting heavy movie of the early 1970s was made. (For instance, it wasn’t until his fourteenth day of shooting that Moore got to speak any real lines of dialogue, the two weeks prior to that having been mostly used shooting the boat chase scenes. Also, the headaches of trying to schedule the “royal premiere” date in London which required coordinating it with whichever member of the royal family who would be available to attend, something that American films—and even most British ones, I would suppose—would not have to deal with, but that is simply expected to happen with the release of a new James Bond.)
As I said, highly recommended, if you can find a copy. As this book came out nearly fifty years ago (1973), it is of course by now out of print. I got my copy to read via interlibrary loan with my local public library system (Tampa-Hillsborough Public Library) borrowing a copy for me from Salem State University Library in Salem, Massachusetts. Used copies can probably still be found online of either the first printings or subsequent printings (some under alternate titles like “Roger Moore’s James Bond Diaries” and “The 007 Diaries: Filming Live and Let Die”).
I give this a four stars out of five on GoodReads (and would probably give it four and a half if GoodReads as allowed for half stars in their ratings)....more
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