The James Bond films are the longest running and most successfull
film franchaise in the history of cinema.
It's hard to imagine a world without the James Bond films,
which have been with us since Dr No hit the big screen
in 1962, catapulting Sean Connery to fame and introducing
us to an exiting and, for many, unimaginably sophisticated
world.
The impact of Dr No on cinema audiences of the time was
dramatic - there had never been anything like it before
- and it took James Bond from being a successful success
series to an unprecedented worldwide phenomenon.
Of course, while Dr No started it, it didn't have
everything we now associate with the James Bond films. John
Barry was brought in to perform Monty Norman's James
Bond Theme, and in doing so created one of the most
instantly recognisable audio brands ever, but it wasn't
until the follow up, From Russia With Love, that
Barry's soundtrack really began to take up those elements
that we so much associate with James Bond today.
From Russia With Love, is arguably the best James
Bond film, with a great cast and locations, as well as being
faithful to the book. It is also the film in which SPECTRE
is properly introduced, with Blofeld's face obscured and
our only way of positively identifying him being his white
cat. And who can forget the claustrophobic fight on board
the Orient Express?
By Goldfinger respect for Ian Fleming's work was
beginning to take a back seat to the possibilities offered
by the big screen for Eon's creativity, and while the story
remains close to the novel, the third James Bond film begins
to replace 007's ingenuity with over the top gadgets in
the shape of the Aston Martin DB5.
However it was Thunderball when the world went completely
James Bond crazy - ironic since it had caused so many problems
for Ian Fleming with the writ against him by Kevin McClory.
It went on to become the biggest grossing Bond film for
years when adjusted for inflation and all the elements converged
into cinematic greatness - beautiful women, exotic locations
and spectacular underwater photography; slightly OTT gadgets,
Ken Adam sets, and a plot that was years ahead of its time;
and what it has in abundance is a great John Barry score.
After that came You Only Live Twice, from which
time the films jettisoned most of Ian Fleming's input in
favour of making the gadgets more unbelievable and starting
to play it more for laughs. The exception to this of course
is On Her Majesty's Secret Service, which ditched
the gadgets and remained faithful to the book. However,
when it was relatively unsuccessful largely because the
public wanted Sean Connery rather then George Lazenby, the
producers must have had a change of heart.
They convinced Connery to return and they jumped right
back on the path they were going down with You Only Live
Twice - Diamonds Are Forever has more gadgets,
more action and bigger sets, plus it predates Roger Moore
in introducing some of the juvenile humour that lasted throughout
the 1970s and 80s and blighted the James Bond films until
the arrival of Daniel Craig.
