For Your Eyes Only
Encyclopedia
For Your Eyes Only is a collection
of short stories
by British author Ian Fleming
featuring the fictional British Secret Service agent Commander James Bond
. It was first published by Jonathan Cape
on 11 April 1960. It marked a change of format for Fleming, who had previously written James Bond stories only as full-length novels.
The collection contains five short stories: "From a View to a Kill", "For Your Eyes Only", "Quantum of Solace", "Risico" and "The Hildebrand Rarity". Four of the stories were adaptations of plots for a television series that was never filmed whilst the fifth Fleming had written previously but not published. Fleming undertook some minor experiments with the format, including a story written as an homage to an author he greatly admired, W Somerset Maugham.
Elements from the stories have been used in a number of the Eon Productions
James Bond film series, including the 1981 film
, For Your Eyes Only
, starring Roger Moore
as James Bond. The film used some elements and characters from the short stories "For Your Eyes Only" and "Risico". "From a View to a Kill" also lent part of its title (but no characters or plot elements) to the fourteenth Bond film, A View to a Kill
(1985), whilst plot elements from "The Hildebrand Rarity" were incorporated in the sixteenth Bond film, Licence to Kill
(1989). "Quantum of Solace" was used as the title for the twenty-second Bond film.
, (then located in Versailles
) to his base, Station F, in Saint-Germain
in France
. Since Bond is already in Paris
, his superior, M
, sends him to assist in the investigation in any way he can. To unravel the mystery, Bond disguises himself as a dispatch-rider and follows the same journey to Station F as the previous rider. As expected, the assassin attempts to kill Bond. Bond, however, is ready and kills the assassin. He then uncovers the assassin's hidden base of operations.
n couple, the Havelocks, who refused to sell their estate to Herr von Hammerstein, a former Gestapo
officer who is the chief of counterintelligence for the Cuban secret service. They are killed by two Cuba
n hitmen at Gonzales's direction; all three work for von Hammerstein. The Havelocks turn out to be close friends of M
, who served as the groom's best man during their wedding in 1925. M subsequently gives Bond a voluntary assignment, unconnected to sanctioned Secret Service duties, to travel to Vermont
via Canada
, track down von Hammerstein at his rented estate at Echo Lake and prevent further harm to the Havelocks' only daughter by any means necessary. When Bond arrives on the scene, he finds the Havelocks' daughter, Judy
, who intends to carry out her own mission of revenge. Judy kills von Hammerstein by shooting him in the back with a bow and arrow from 100 yards away at the exact moment that he dives into a lake. A shootout then occurs between Bond and Major Gonzales and the two Cuban gunmen. Bond kills all of them.
and attends a dinner party at Government House
. When the other guests have left, Bond remarks that if he ever marries, he imagines it would be nice to marry an air hostess. The Governor then tells Bond the story of a relationship between a former civil servant, Philip Masters and air hostess
Rhoda Llewellyn. After meeting aboard a flight to London, the couple married, but after a time Rhoda began a long open affair
with the eldest son of a rich Bermudian family. As a result, Masters' work deteriorated, and he suffered a nervous breakdown. After recovering, he was given a break from Bermuda by the governor and sent on an assignment to Washington. Upon his return Masters was determined to end his marriage and he divided their home into two sections, half to each of them and refused to have anything to do with his wife in private—although they continued to appear as a couple in public. Masters eventually returned to the UK alone, leaving Rhoda with unpaid debts and stranded in Bermuda—a cruel act which he would have been incapable of carrying out just a few months earlier. The governor explains his point to Bond: when the "Quantum of Solace" drops to zero, humanity and consideration of one human for another is gone and the relationship is finished. Despite the success of Masters' plan to take revenge on his unfaithful wife, he never recovered emotionally. After a time, Rhoda married a rich Canadian. The governor then reveals that the dinner companions whom Bond found so boring were in fact Rhoda and her rich Canadian husband.
that is sending narcotics to England. M instructs Bond to get in touch with a CIA
informant, Kristatos
, who in turn tells Bond that a man named Enrico Colombo is behind the racket. When Bond sets out to find more information on Colombo, he is captured and brought aboard Colombo's ship, the Colombina. Colombo informs Bond that Kristatos is actually the one in charge of the drug smuggling operation, and that Kristatos is backed by the Russia
ns. Colombo agrees to help Bond by providing information about things "as long as none of it comes back to Italy"; Bond agrees to help Colombo eliminate Kristatos. Bond, Colombo, and his men sail the Colombina to Santa Maria when Kristatos's men are loading another shipment of drugs, they attack Kristatos's ship and adjacent warehouse and discover Kristatos lurking near the warehouse, preparing to detonate a bomb. Kristatos tries to escape, but Bond kills him.
Bond is on an assignment in the Seychelles
Islands; through Fidele Barbey, his influential and well-connected local contact, Bond meets an uncouth American millionaire named Milton Krest, who challenges the two to aid him in the search for a rare fish, The Hildebrand Rarity. Bond, Barbey, Krest and his English wife, Elizabeth, set off aboard the Wavekrest in search of the fish. During the journey, Bond learns that Milton verbally and physically abuses everyone around him, especially his wife—whom he punishes with the use of a stingray
tail he dubs "The Corrector". Krest finds the Hildebrand Rarity and kills it—along with many other fish—by pouring poison into the water. After finding and killing the Hildebrand Rarity, set sail for port. Along the way Krest gets very drunk, insults Bond and Barbey and tells his wife he will beat her again with the stingray tail. Later that night, Bond hears Krest choking; investigating, Bond finds that Krest has been murdered—apparently by having the rare fish stuffed down his throat. So as not to be entangled in a murder investigation, Bond throws Krest overboard and cleans up the scene of the crime, making it look as though Krest fell overboard after one of the ropes holding his hammock broke: Bond suspects both Barbey and Mrs. Krest, but is unsure which is responsible. However, when Mrs. Krest invites Bond to sail with her to Mombasa—his next destination—aboard the Wavekrest, he accepts her invitation with reservations.
notes that two of the stories ("Quantum of Solace" and "The Hildebrand Rarity") are experimental for Fleming, whilst the remaining three are straightforward Bond adventures. In the two experimental stories Bond is given something of a more human side, with "Quantum of Solace" evidencing Bond's reaction to the Governor's story by showing a compassionate side, as he sees the real life of Philip Masters and Rhoda Llewellyn as being more dramatic than his recent mission; the forthcoming trip he has to make to the CIA, he now sees as "dull and unexciting". In "The Hildebrand Rarity", Bond is also shown with a humanitarian side, with feelings for the plight of Liz at the hands of her husband and for the use of the poison on the fish by Milton Krest.
An aspect of Bond's relationship with M is shown in "From a View to a Kill", with Bond taking the decision from M's shoulders about what should happen to the murderers of M's friends, the Havelocks; the scene also shows the reader about the weight of command and M's indecision as to what path to follow. The daughter of M's friends, Judy Havelock, is a tough and resourceful character, according to Benson, although after she has revenged her parents' death and is wounded, softens and allows Bond to take up his usual role of protector.
In the "Risico" story, academic Christoph Lindner identifies the character of Enrico Colombo as an example of those characters who have morals closer to those of the traditional villains, but who act on the side of good in support of Bond; others of this type include Darko Kerim (From Russia, with Love), Tiger Tanaka (You Only Live Twice) and Marc-Ange Draco (On Her Majesty's Secret Service).
World War II
again makes an appearance in the stories: in For Your Eyes Only, Von Hammerstein being a former Gestapo
officer whilst the RCMP
officer, Colonel Johns, served with the British under Montgomery
in the Eighth Army
. In "The Hildebrand Rarity" Milton Krest is of German descent and "Risico" sees both Enrico Colombo and Aristotle Kristatos as having fought for the British in the war.
Justice and revenge are themes that run through two of the stories. In "For Your Eyes Only" the idea of revenge is looked at from a number of angles: Bond's, M's and Judy Havelock's and each has a different interpretation. Bond's approach to killing is also dissected in "For Your Eyes Only" whilst the morality of killing is a theme in "The Hildebrand Rarity".
television commissioned Fleming to write episodes of a television show based on the James Bond character. This deal came about after the success of the 1954 television adaptation of Casino Royale
as an episode of the CBS television series Climax!. Fleming agreed to the deal, and began to write outlines for the series; however, CBS later dropped the idea. In January and February 1959 Fleming adapted four of television plots into short stories at his Goldeneye estate
in Jamaica and adding a fifth story he had written in the summer of 1958. The stories were originally titled The Rough with the Smooth, although this was changed to For Your Eyes Only for publication. Fleming biographer Andrew Lycett
noted that at the time Fleming was writing both the television scripts, and the short story collection, "Ian's mood of weariness and self-doubt was beginning to affect his writing" and this can be seen in Bond's internal monologue of thoughts.
"From a View to a Kill"
"From a View to a Kill" was initially intended to be the backstory for Hugo Drax
, the villain of the novel Moonraker. The story would have taken place during World War II
, and featured Drax as the motorcycle assassin—who crashes his bike and is taken to an American field hospital. Later, the hospital is bombed, leaving Drax with amnesia
and a disfigured face. The story was one that Fleming had drawn up for the television series. The SHAPE head of security, Colonel Schreiber, was designed to be the antithesis of Bond, with greying hair, the air of a bank manager, desk with silver framed photographs of his family and a single white rose; the description shows Fleming using colour to show Schreiber's lack of colour and personality. The idea of the underground hideout was inspired by Fleming's brother Peter's band of Auxiliary Units
who dug tunnel networks in Britain in 1940 as part of a resistance movement
in advance of a German invasion.
"For Your Eyes Only"
The story was originally entitled Man's Work and was set in Vermont
, where Fleming had spent a number of summers at his friend Ivar Bryce's Black Hollow Farm, which became the model for von Hammerstein's hideaway, Echo Lake. The name of the villain of the story, Von Hammerstein was taken from General Baron Kurt von Hammerstein-Equord
(1878 - 1943), one of Hitler's opponents.
"Quantum of Solace"
"Quantum of Solace" was based on a story told to Fleming by his neighbour and lover Blanche Blackwell about a real-life police inspector, who Fleming turned into the civil servant, Philip Masters. As thanks for the story, Fleming bought Blackwell a Cartier watch. Fleming wrote the story in the style of W Somerset Maugham and this was Fleming's homage to a writer he greatly admired. "Quantum of Solace" was first published in Modern Woman's Magazine of November 1959.
"Risico"
In 1958 Fleming holidayed with his wife Anne in Venice
and at the Lido peninsula; Fleming was a great admirer of Thomas Mann
's work Death in Venice
, which was based on the Lido and the Flemings visited it for that reason, using the location as the backdrop for "Risico". For the love interest in the story, Lisl, Fleming used the name of an ex-girlfriend from Kitzbühel
in Austria, where he had travelled in the 1930s. For the name of Colombo, Fleming borrowed the first name of Gioacchino Colombo
, the Ferrari engine designer.
"The Hildebrand Rarity"
In April 1958 Fleming flew to the Seychelles via Bombay to report for The Sunday Times
on a treasure hunt: although the hunt was not as exciting as he hoped, Fleming used many of the details of the island for "The Hildebrand Rarity". Fleming combined the backdrop of the Seychelles with his experience he and Blanche Blackwell had undergone when they had visited Pedro Keys, two islands off Jamaica, and watched two scientists do something similar with poison to obtain samples. For the villain of the story, an abusive American millionaire, Fleming used the name Milton Krest: Milton was the code name of a Greek sea captain who ferried British soldiers and agents through German patrols and who received the Distinguished Service Order
and an MBE
, whilst Krest was the name of tonic and ginger beer Fleming drank in Seychelles. "The Hildebrand Rarity" was first published in Playboy
in March 1960.
; it was 252 pages long and cost fifteen shilling
s. The subtitle, Five Secret Occasions in the Life of James Bond, was added for publication; 21,712 copies were printed and quickly sold out. For Your Eyes Only was published in the US in August 1960 by Viking Press
and the subtitle was changed to Five Secret Exploits of James Bond; in later editions, it was dropped altogether.
Artist Richard Chopping
once again provided the cover art for the book. On 18 March 1959 Fleming had written to Chopping about the cover he had undertaken for Goldfinger, saying that: "The new jacket is quite as big a success as the first one and I do think [Jonathan] Cape have made a splendid job of it". Moving on to For Your Eyes Only, Fleming said "I am busily scratching my head trying to think of a subject for you again. No one in the history of thrillers has had such a totally brilliant artistic collaborator!"
, writing in The Guardian
, noting the short-story format, "thought it better than the novels" and wrote that "the first story is full of the old wild improbabilities, but one of the others has a positively Maughamish flavour." Iles also thought that "it seems that one must either enjoy the novels of Mr. Ian Fleming beyond reason or be unable to read them at all." Writing in The Guardians sister paper, The Observer
, Maurice Richardson thought that "our Casanovaesque cad-clubman secret agent is mellowing a bit now"; Richardson liked the format, saying that "the short form suits him quite well" although the downside is that "if it checks the wilder fantasies it cuts short the love-affairs". Writing in The Spectator
, Kingsley Amis
(under the pseudonym
Christopher Pym) wrote that "each episode of the Bond novels meant the adventure was less probable and more preposterous than the last, and now our hero seems to have lost, as well as any claims to plausibility, the know-how, the know-who, know-what and sheer zing that used to carry the unlikely plots along. Perhaps all that mattress pounding is taking it out of poor Bond".
Writing in The Listener, John Raymond was of the opinion that Bond's "admirers ...will find him in top form" and that the stories, "all but one of which are well up to 007's high standard". Raymond believed that "The Commander seems to be mellowing with the years" and because of this was "less of a show-off...and, for once, his chronicler has almost cut out the sadism". In terms of the villains in the book, most notably Milton Krest, Raymond saw that Fleming's "capacity to create villains is undiminished".
The critic for The Times
reflected that "the mood of For Your Eyes Only is, in fact, a good deal more sober and, perhaps, weary than before"; the critic also thought that the short form worked well with Bond, and that "the girls, though a short story allows them only walk-on parts, are as wild and luscious as ever". Philip Stead, writing in The Times Literary Supplement
thought that "Mr. Fleming's licensed assassin is in pretty good form." Stead considered that in the stories "occasionally there seem to be echoes of Ashenden
and glimpses of Rogue Male
, but the Bond ambience is persuasive".
In the US, James Sandoe, writing in the New York Herald Tribune
thought that For Your Eyes Only had "urban savagery and mighty smooth tale-spinning". Writing in The New York Times
, Anthony Boucher
- described by a Fleming biographer, John Pearson
as "throughout an avid anti-Bond and an anti-Fleming man" – described what his main issue with Fleming's work was: "his basic weakness as a storyteller, which can be summed up in two words: 'no story.'" In the short story form, however, Boucher finds that Bond's tales "are proportionate" and that Fleming's "prose...is eminently smooth and readable" even if "Bond's triumphs are too simple and lack...intricate suspense".
Four of the five short stories in For Your Eyes Only were adapted into comic strip
s published in the British newspaper Daily Express
and subsequently syndicated around the world. The first three stories were adapted by Henry Gammidge
and illustrated by John McLusky
and appeared in the newspaper between 3 April 1961 and 9 December 1961. All three comics were published again in 2005 as part of the Dr. No anthology by Titan Books
. The fourth adaptation, "The Hildebrand Rarity", did not appear until six years after the comic-strip versions of the other stories. It was adapted by Jim Lawrence and illustrated by Yaroslav Horak
. This adaptation was reprinted by Titan Books in 2009 as part of Volume 2 of the The James Bond Omnibus collection.
For Your Eyes Only (1981)
A number of details from the story are used in the film For Your Eyes Only
, released in 1981 and starring Roger Moore
as James Bond. The film shows the murder of the Havelocks by a hit man, although it names the hitman as Gonzalez, rather than Gonzales. The film also changes the name of the Havelock's daughter, Judy, to Melina. For Your Eyes Only also uses much of the plot of "Risico", including the characters of Colombo and Kristatos.
A View to a Kill (1985)
Part of the title of the story From a View to a Kill was used for the 1985
Bond film A View to a Kill
, with none of the story used in this, or any other film to date.
Licence to Kill (1989)
Milton Krest, his foundation, the Wavekrest, and "the Corrector" were incorporated into the 1989 film Licence to Kill
.
Quantum of Solace (2006)
Quantum of Solace was chosen as the title of the twenty second Bond film; none of the story was used for the film's plot. Daniel Craig
, who starred as Bond in the film, said the film also shares the primary thematic element of the story as "it relates to the fact that if you don't have that Quantum of Solace in a relationship, you should give up. If you are not respecting each other, it's over, and at the end of the last movie Bond doesn't have that because his girlfriend has been killed."
Anthology
An anthology is a collection of literary works chosen by the compiler. It may be a collection of poems, short stories, plays, songs, or excerpts...
of short stories
Short story
A short story is a work of fiction that is usually written in prose, often in narrative format. This format tends to be more pointed than longer works of fiction, such as novellas and novels. Short story definitions based on length differ somewhat, even among professional writers, in part because...
by British author Ian Fleming
Ian Fleming
Ian Lancaster Fleming was a British author, journalist and Naval Intelligence Officer.Fleming is best known for creating the fictional British spy James Bond and for a series of twelve novels and nine short stories about the character, one of the biggest-selling series of fictional books of...
featuring the fictional British Secret Service agent Commander James Bond
James Bond (character)
Royal Navy Commander James Bond, CMG, RNVR is a fictional character created by journalist and novelist Ian Fleming in 1953. He is the main protagonist of the James Bond series of novels, films, comics and video games...
. It was first published by Jonathan Cape
Jonathan Cape
Jonathan Cape was a London-based publisher founded in 1919 as "Page & Co" by Herbert Jonathan Cape , formerly a manager at Duckworth who had worked his way up from a position of bookshop errand boy. Cape brought with him the rights to cheap editions of the popular author Elinor Glyn and sales of...
on 11 April 1960. It marked a change of format for Fleming, who had previously written James Bond stories only as full-length novels.
The collection contains five short stories: "From a View to a Kill", "For Your Eyes Only", "Quantum of Solace", "Risico" and "The Hildebrand Rarity". Four of the stories were adaptations of plots for a television series that was never filmed whilst the fifth Fleming had written previously but not published. Fleming undertook some minor experiments with the format, including a story written as an homage to an author he greatly admired, W Somerset Maugham.
Elements from the stories have been used in a number of the Eon Productions
EON Productions
Eon Productions is a film production company known for producing the James Bond film series. The company is based in London's Piccadilly and also operates from Pinewood Studios in the United Kingdom...
James Bond film series, including the 1981 film
1981 in film
-Events:*January 19 - Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer acquires beleaguered concurrent United Artists. UA was humiliated by the astronomical losses on the $40,000,000 movie Heaven's Gate, a major factor in the decision of owner Transamerica to sell it....
, For Your Eyes Only
For Your Eyes Only (film)
For Your Eyes Only is the twelfth spy film in the James Bond series and the fifth to star Roger Moore as the fictional MI6 agent James Bond. It marked the directorial debut of John Glen, who had worked as editor and second unit director in three other Bond films. The screenplay by Richard Maibaum...
, starring Roger Moore
Roger Moore
Sir Roger George Moore KBE , is an English actor, perhaps best known for portraying British secret agent James Bond in seven films from 1973 to 1985. He also portrayed Simon Templar in the long-running British television series The Saint.-Early life:Moore was born in Stockwell, London...
as James Bond. The film used some elements and characters from the short stories "For Your Eyes Only" and "Risico". "From a View to a Kill" also lent part of its title (but no characters or plot elements) to the fourteenth Bond film, A View to a Kill
A View to a Kill
A View to a Kill is the fourteenth spy film of the James Bond series, and the seventh and last to star Roger Moore as the fictional MI6 agent James Bond. Although the title is adapted from Ian Fleming's short story "From a View to a Kill", the film is the fourth Bond film after The Spy Who Loved...
(1985), whilst plot elements from "The Hildebrand Rarity" were incorporated in the sixteenth Bond film, Licence to Kill
Licence to Kill
Licence to Kill, released in 1989, is the sixteenth entry in the Eon Productions James Bond series and the first one not to use the title of an Ian Fleming novel. It marks Timothy Dalton's second and final performance in his brief tenure in the lead role of James Bond...
(1989). "Quantum of Solace" was used as the title for the twenty-second Bond film.
"From a View to a Kill"
Bond investigates the murder of a motorcycle dispatch-rider and the theft of his top-secret documents by a motorcycle-riding assassin. The rider was en route from SHAPE, the Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers EuropeSupreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe
Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe is the central command of NATO military forces. It is located at Casteau, north of the Belgian city of Mons...
, (then located in Versailles
Versailles
Versailles , a city renowned for its château, the Palace of Versailles, was the de facto capital of the kingdom of France for over a century, from 1682 to 1789. It is now a wealthy suburb of Paris and remains an important administrative and judicial centre...
) to his base, Station F, in Saint-Germain
Saint-Germain-en-Laye
Saint-Germain-en-Laye is a commune in the Yvelines department in the Île-de-France in north-central France. It is located in the western suburbs of Paris from the centre.Inhabitants are called Saint-Germanois...
in France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
. Since Bond is already in Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
, his superior, M
M (James Bond)
M is a fictional character in Ian Fleming's James Bond series, as well as the films in the Bond franchise. The head of MI6 and Bond's superior, M has been portrayed by three actors in the official Bond film series: Bernard Lee, Robert Brown and since 1995 by Judi Dench. Background =Ian Fleming...
, sends him to assist in the investigation in any way he can. To unravel the mystery, Bond disguises himself as a dispatch-rider and follows the same journey to Station F as the previous rider. As expected, the assassin attempts to kill Bond. Bond, however, is ready and kills the assassin. He then uncovers the assassin's hidden base of operations.
"For Your Eyes Only"
"For Your Eyes Only" begins with the murder of a JamaicaJamaica
Jamaica is an island nation of the Greater Antilles, in length, up to in width and 10,990 square kilometres in area. It is situated in the Caribbean Sea, about south of Cuba, and west of Hispaniola, the island harbouring the nation-states Haiti and the Dominican Republic...
n couple, the Havelocks, who refused to sell their estate to Herr von Hammerstein, a former Gestapo
Gestapo
The Gestapo was the official secret police of Nazi Germany. Beginning on 20 April 1934, it was under the administration of the SS leader Heinrich Himmler in his position as Chief of German Police...
officer who is the chief of counterintelligence for the Cuban secret service. They are killed by two Cuba
Cuba
The Republic of Cuba is an island nation in the Caribbean. The nation of Cuba consists of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city...
n hitmen at Gonzales's direction; all three work for von Hammerstein. The Havelocks turn out to be close friends of M
M (James Bond)
M is a fictional character in Ian Fleming's James Bond series, as well as the films in the Bond franchise. The head of MI6 and Bond's superior, M has been portrayed by three actors in the official Bond film series: Bernard Lee, Robert Brown and since 1995 by Judi Dench. Background =Ian Fleming...
, who served as the groom's best man during their wedding in 1925. M subsequently gives Bond a voluntary assignment, unconnected to sanctioned Secret Service duties, to travel to Vermont
Vermont
Vermont is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. The state ranks 43rd in land area, , and 45th in total area. Its population according to the 2010 census, 630,337, is the second smallest in the country, larger only than Wyoming. It is the only New England...
via Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
, track down von Hammerstein at his rented estate at Echo Lake and prevent further harm to the Havelocks' only daughter by any means necessary. When Bond arrives on the scene, he finds the Havelocks' daughter, Judy
Judy Havelock
Judy Havelock is a fictional character in the James Bond short story "For Your Eyes Only" that is included in the eponymous anthology written by Ian Fleming....
, who intends to carry out her own mission of revenge. Judy kills von Hammerstein by shooting him in the back with a bow and arrow from 100 yards away at the exact moment that he dives into a lake. A shootout then occurs between Bond and Major Gonzales and the two Cuban gunmen. Bond kills all of them.
"Quantum of Solace"
After completing a mission in the Bahamas, Bond is in NassauNassau, Bahamas
Nassau is the capital, largest city, and commercial centre of the Commonwealth of the Bahamas. The city has a population of 248,948 , 70 percent of the entire population of The Bahamas...
and attends a dinner party at Government House
Government House
Government House is the name of many of the residences of Governors-General, Governors and Lieutenant-Governors in the Commonwealth and the remaining colonies of the British Empire. It serves as the venue for the Governor's official business, as well as the many receptions and functions hosted by...
. When the other guests have left, Bond remarks that if he ever marries, he imagines it would be nice to marry an air hostess. The Governor then tells Bond the story of a relationship between a former civil servant, Philip Masters and air hostess
Flight attendant
Flight attendants or cabin crew are members of an aircrew employed by airlines primarily to ensure the safety and comfort of passengers aboard commercial flights, on select business jet aircraft, and on some military aircraft.-History:The role of a flight attendant derives from that of similar...
Rhoda Llewellyn. After meeting aboard a flight to London, the couple married, but after a time Rhoda began a long open affair
Cuckold
Cuckold is a historically derogatory term for a man who has an unfaithful wife. The word, which has been in recorded use since the 13th century, derives from the cuckoo bird, some varieties of which lay their eggs in other birds' nests...
with the eldest son of a rich Bermudian family. As a result, Masters' work deteriorated, and he suffered a nervous breakdown. After recovering, he was given a break from Bermuda by the governor and sent on an assignment to Washington. Upon his return Masters was determined to end his marriage and he divided their home into two sections, half to each of them and refused to have anything to do with his wife in private—although they continued to appear as a couple in public. Masters eventually returned to the UK alone, leaving Rhoda with unpaid debts and stranded in Bermuda—a cruel act which he would have been incapable of carrying out just a few months earlier. The governor explains his point to Bond: when the "Quantum of Solace" drops to zero, humanity and consideration of one human for another is gone and the relationship is finished. Despite the success of Masters' plan to take revenge on his unfaithful wife, he never recovered emotionally. After a time, Rhoda married a rich Canadian. The governor then reveals that the dinner companions whom Bond found so boring were in fact Rhoda and her rich Canadian husband.
"Risico"
Bond is sent by M to investigate a drug-smuggling operation based in ItalyItaly
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
that is sending narcotics to England. M instructs Bond to get in touch with a CIA
Central Intelligence Agency
The Central Intelligence Agency is a civilian intelligence agency of the United States government. It is an executive agency and reports directly to the Director of National Intelligence, responsible for providing national security intelligence assessment to senior United States policymakers...
informant, Kristatos
Aristotle Kristatos
Aristotle "Aris" Kristatos is a fictional character and the main antagonist in the Ian Fleming short story "Risico" found in the anthology For Your Eyes Only and the 1981 James Bond film For Your Eyes Only, in which he was referred to as Aris Kristatos...
, who in turn tells Bond that a man named Enrico Colombo is behind the racket. When Bond sets out to find more information on Colombo, he is captured and brought aboard Colombo's ship, the Colombina. Colombo informs Bond that Kristatos is actually the one in charge of the drug smuggling operation, and that Kristatos is backed by the Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
ns. Colombo agrees to help Bond by providing information about things "as long as none of it comes back to Italy"; Bond agrees to help Colombo eliminate Kristatos. Bond, Colombo, and his men sail the Colombina to Santa Maria when Kristatos's men are loading another shipment of drugs, they attack Kristatos's ship and adjacent warehouse and discover Kristatos lurking near the warehouse, preparing to detonate a bomb. Kristatos tries to escape, but Bond kills him.
"The Hildebrand Rarity"
Seychelles
Seychelles , officially the Republic of Seychelles , is an island country spanning an archipelago of 115 islands in the Indian Ocean, some east of mainland Africa, northeast of the island of Madagascar....
Islands; through Fidele Barbey, his influential and well-connected local contact, Bond meets an uncouth American millionaire named Milton Krest, who challenges the two to aid him in the search for a rare fish, The Hildebrand Rarity. Bond, Barbey, Krest and his English wife, Elizabeth, set off aboard the Wavekrest in search of the fish. During the journey, Bond learns that Milton verbally and physically abuses everyone around him, especially his wife—whom he punishes with the use of a stingray
Stingray
The stingrays are a group of rays, which are cartilaginous fishes related to sharks. They are classified in the suborder Myliobatoidei of the order Myliobatiformes, and consist of eight families: Hexatrygonidae , Plesiobatidae , Urolophidae , Urotrygonidae , Dasyatidae , Potamotrygonidae The...
tail he dubs "The Corrector". Krest finds the Hildebrand Rarity and kills it—along with many other fish—by pouring poison into the water. After finding and killing the Hildebrand Rarity, set sail for port. Along the way Krest gets very drunk, insults Bond and Barbey and tells his wife he will beat her again with the stingray tail. Later that night, Bond hears Krest choking; investigating, Bond finds that Krest has been murdered—apparently by having the rare fish stuffed down his throat. So as not to be entangled in a murder investigation, Bond throws Krest overboard and cleans up the scene of the crime, making it look as though Krest fell overboard after one of the ropes holding his hammock broke: Bond suspects both Barbey and Mrs. Krest, but is unsure which is responsible. However, when Mrs. Krest invites Bond to sail with her to Mombasa—his next destination—aboard the Wavekrest, he accepts her invitation with reservations.
Characters and themes
Continuation Bond author Raymond BensonRaymond Benson
Raymond Benson is an American author best known for being the official author of the adult James Bond novels from 1997 to 2003. Benson was born in Midland, Texas and graduated from Permian High School in Odessa in 1973...
notes that two of the stories ("Quantum of Solace" and "The Hildebrand Rarity") are experimental for Fleming, whilst the remaining three are straightforward Bond adventures. In the two experimental stories Bond is given something of a more human side, with "Quantum of Solace" evidencing Bond's reaction to the Governor's story by showing a compassionate side, as he sees the real life of Philip Masters and Rhoda Llewellyn as being more dramatic than his recent mission; the forthcoming trip he has to make to the CIA, he now sees as "dull and unexciting". In "The Hildebrand Rarity", Bond is also shown with a humanitarian side, with feelings for the plight of Liz at the hands of her husband and for the use of the poison on the fish by Milton Krest.
An aspect of Bond's relationship with M is shown in "From a View to a Kill", with Bond taking the decision from M's shoulders about what should happen to the murderers of M's friends, the Havelocks; the scene also shows the reader about the weight of command and M's indecision as to what path to follow. The daughter of M's friends, Judy Havelock, is a tough and resourceful character, according to Benson, although after she has revenged her parents' death and is wounded, softens and allows Bond to take up his usual role of protector.
In the "Risico" story, academic Christoph Lindner identifies the character of Enrico Colombo as an example of those characters who have morals closer to those of the traditional villains, but who act on the side of good in support of Bond; others of this type include Darko Kerim (From Russia, with Love), Tiger Tanaka (You Only Live Twice) and Marc-Ange Draco (On Her Majesty's Secret Service).
World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
again makes an appearance in the stories: in For Your Eyes Only, Von Hammerstein being a former Gestapo
Gestapo
The Gestapo was the official secret police of Nazi Germany. Beginning on 20 April 1934, it was under the administration of the SS leader Heinrich Himmler in his position as Chief of German Police...
officer whilst the RCMP
Royal Canadian Mounted Police
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police , literally ‘Royal Gendarmerie of Canada’; colloquially known as The Mounties, and internally as ‘The Force’) is the national police force of Canada, and one of the most recognized of its kind in the world. It is unique in the world as a national, federal,...
officer, Colonel Johns, served with the British under Montgomery
Bernard Montgomery, 1st Viscount Montgomery of Alamein
Field Marshal Bernard Law Montgomery, 1st Viscount Montgomery of Alamein, KG, GCB, DSO, PC , nicknamed "Monty" and the "Spartan General" was a British Army officer. He saw action in the First World War, when he was seriously wounded, and during the Second World War he commanded the 8th Army from...
in the Eighth Army
Eighth Army (United Kingdom)
The Eighth Army was one of the best-known formations of the British Army during World War II, fighting in the North African and Italian campaigns....
. In "The Hildebrand Rarity" Milton Krest is of German descent and "Risico" sees both Enrico Colombo and Aristotle Kristatos as having fought for the British in the war.
Justice and revenge are themes that run through two of the stories. In "For Your Eyes Only" the idea of revenge is looked at from a number of angles: Bond's, M's and Judy Havelock's and each has a different interpretation. Bond's approach to killing is also dissected in "For Your Eyes Only" whilst the morality of killing is a theme in "The Hildebrand Rarity".
Background
In the summer of 1958, CBSCBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
television commissioned Fleming to write episodes of a television show based on the James Bond character. This deal came about after the success of the 1954 television adaptation of Casino Royale
Casino Royale (novel)
Casino Royale is Ian Fleming's first James Bond novel. It paved the way for a further eleven novels by Fleming himself, in addition to two short story collections, followed by many "continuation" Bond novels by other authors....
as an episode of the CBS television series Climax!. Fleming agreed to the deal, and began to write outlines for the series; however, CBS later dropped the idea. In January and February 1959 Fleming adapted four of television plots into short stories at his Goldeneye estate
Goldeneye (estate)
Goldeneye was the name given by Ian Fleming to his estate in Oracabessa, Jamaica. He purchased the land next door to Golden Clouds estate and built his house on the edge of a cliff, overlooking a private beach. The original house was a modest structure consisting of three bedrooms and a swimming...
in Jamaica and adding a fifth story he had written in the summer of 1958. The stories were originally titled The Rough with the Smooth, although this was changed to For Your Eyes Only for publication. Fleming biographer Andrew Lycett
Andrew Lycett
Andrew Lycett is an English biographer and journalist.He was educated at Charterhouse School and studied history at Christ Church, Oxford University. He then worked for a while for The Times as a correspondent in Africa, the Middle East, and Asia...
noted that at the time Fleming was writing both the television scripts, and the short story collection, "Ian's mood of weariness and self-doubt was beginning to affect his writing" and this can be seen in Bond's internal monologue of thoughts.
"From a View to a Kill"
"From a View to a Kill" was initially intended to be the backstory for Hugo Drax
Hugo Drax
Sir Hugo Drax is a fictional character created by author Ian Fleming for the James Bond novel Moonraker. Fleming named him after his friend, Sir Reginald Drax. For the later film and its novelization, Drax was largely transformed by screenwriter Christopher Wood. In the film, Drax is portrayed by...
, the villain of the novel Moonraker. The story would have taken place during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, and featured Drax as the motorcycle assassin—who crashes his bike and is taken to an American field hospital. Later, the hospital is bombed, leaving Drax with amnesia
Amnesia
Amnesia is a condition in which one's memory is lost. The causes of amnesia have traditionally been divided into categories. Memory appears to be stored in several parts of the limbic system of the brain, and any condition that interferes with the function of this system can cause amnesia...
and a disfigured face. The story was one that Fleming had drawn up for the television series. The SHAPE head of security, Colonel Schreiber, was designed to be the antithesis of Bond, with greying hair, the air of a bank manager, desk with silver framed photographs of his family and a single white rose; the description shows Fleming using colour to show Schreiber's lack of colour and personality. The idea of the underground hideout was inspired by Fleming's brother Peter's band of Auxiliary Units
Auxiliary Units
The Auxiliary Units or GHQ Auxiliary Units were specially trained, highly secret units created by the United Kingdom government during the Second World War, with the aim of resisting the expected occupation of the United Kingdom by Nazi Germany, after a planned invasion codenamed Operation Sea Lion...
who dug tunnel networks in Britain in 1940 as part of a resistance movement
Resistance movement
A resistance movement is a group or collection of individual groups, dedicated to opposing an invader in an occupied country or the government of a sovereign state. It may seek to achieve its objects through either the use of nonviolent resistance or the use of armed force...
in advance of a German invasion.
"For Your Eyes Only"
The story was originally entitled Man's Work and was set in Vermont
Vermont
Vermont is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. The state ranks 43rd in land area, , and 45th in total area. Its population according to the 2010 census, 630,337, is the second smallest in the country, larger only than Wyoming. It is the only New England...
, where Fleming had spent a number of summers at his friend Ivar Bryce's Black Hollow Farm, which became the model for von Hammerstein's hideaway, Echo Lake. The name of the villain of the story, Von Hammerstein was taken from General Baron Kurt von Hammerstein-Equord
Kurt von Hammerstein-Equord
Kurt Gebhard Adolf Philipp Freiherr von Hammerstein-Equord was a German general who served for a period as Commander-in-Chief of the Reichswehr...
(1878 - 1943), one of Hitler's opponents.
"Quantum of Solace"
"Quantum of Solace" was based on a story told to Fleming by his neighbour and lover Blanche Blackwell about a real-life police inspector, who Fleming turned into the civil servant, Philip Masters. As thanks for the story, Fleming bought Blackwell a Cartier watch. Fleming wrote the story in the style of W Somerset Maugham and this was Fleming's homage to a writer he greatly admired. "Quantum of Solace" was first published in Modern Woman's Magazine of November 1959.
"Risico"
In 1958 Fleming holidayed with his wife Anne in Venice
Venice
Venice is a city in northern Italy which is renowned for the beauty of its setting, its architecture and its artworks. It is the capital of the Veneto region...
and at the Lido peninsula; Fleming was a great admirer of Thomas Mann
Thomas Mann
Thomas Mann was a German novelist, short story writer, social critic, philanthropist, essayist, and 1929 Nobel Prize laureate, known for his series of highly symbolic and ironic epic novels and novellas, noted for their insight into the psychology of the artist and the intellectual...
's work Death in Venice
Death in Venice
The novella Death in Venice was written by the German author Thomas Mann, and was first published in 1913 as Der Tod in Venedig. The plot of the work presents a great writer suffering writer's block who visits Venice and is liberated and uplifted, then increasingly obsessed, by the sight of a...
, which was based on the Lido and the Flemings visited it for that reason, using the location as the backdrop for "Risico". For the love interest in the story, Lisl, Fleming used the name of an ex-girlfriend from Kitzbühel
Kitzbühel
-Demographic evolution:-Personalities:*Karl Wilhelm von Dalla Torre , entomologist and botanist*Alfons Walde , expressionist painter and architect*Peter Aufschnaiter , mountaineer and geographer...
in Austria, where he had travelled in the 1930s. For the name of Colombo, Fleming borrowed the first name of Gioacchino Colombo
Gioacchino Colombo
Gioacchino Colombo was an Italian automobile engine designer.Colombo was born in Legnano. He began work as an apprentice to Vittorio Jano at Alfa Romeo. In 1937, Colombo designed the 158 engine for the Alfetta and caught the attention of Enzo Ferrari. Ferrari asked Colombo to design a small V12...
, the Ferrari engine designer.
"The Hildebrand Rarity"
In April 1958 Fleming flew to the Seychelles via Bombay to report for The Sunday Times
The Sunday Times
The Sunday Times is a British Sunday newspaper.The Sunday Times may also refer to:*The Sunday Times *The Sunday Times *The Sunday Times *The Sunday Times...
on a treasure hunt: although the hunt was not as exciting as he hoped, Fleming used many of the details of the island for "The Hildebrand Rarity". Fleming combined the backdrop of the Seychelles with his experience he and Blanche Blackwell had undergone when they had visited Pedro Keys, two islands off Jamaica, and watched two scientists do something similar with poison to obtain samples. For the villain of the story, an abusive American millionaire, Fleming used the name Milton Krest: Milton was the code name of a Greek sea captain who ferried British soldiers and agents through German patrols and who received the Distinguished Service Order
Distinguished Service Order
The Distinguished Service Order is a military decoration of the United Kingdom, and formerly of other parts of the British Commonwealth and Empire, awarded for meritorious or distinguished service by officers of the armed forces during wartime, typically in actual combat.Instituted on 6 September...
and an MBE
Order of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...
, whilst Krest was the name of tonic and ginger beer Fleming drank in Seychelles. "The Hildebrand Rarity" was first published in Playboy
Playboy
Playboy is an American men's magazine that features photographs of nude women as well as journalism and fiction. It was founded in Chicago in 1953 by Hugh Hefner and his associates, and funded in part by a $1,000 loan from Hefner's mother. The magazine has grown into Playboy Enterprises, Inc., with...
in March 1960.
Release and reception
For Your Eyes Only was published on 11 April 1960 in the UK as a hardcover edition by publishers Jonathan CapeJonathan Cape
Jonathan Cape was a London-based publisher founded in 1919 as "Page & Co" by Herbert Jonathan Cape , formerly a manager at Duckworth who had worked his way up from a position of bookshop errand boy. Cape brought with him the rights to cheap editions of the popular author Elinor Glyn and sales of...
; it was 252 pages long and cost fifteen shilling
Shilling
The shilling is a unit of currency used in some current and former British Commonwealth countries. The word shilling comes from scilling, an accounting term that dates back to Anglo-Saxon times where it was deemed to be the value of a cow in Kent or a sheep elsewhere. The word is thought to derive...
s. The subtitle, Five Secret Occasions in the Life of James Bond, was added for publication; 21,712 copies were printed and quickly sold out. For Your Eyes Only was published in the US in August 1960 by Viking Press
Viking Press
Viking Press is an American publishing company owned by the Penguin Group, which has owned the company since 1975. It was founded in New York City on March 1, 1925, by Harold K. Guinzburg and George S. Oppenheim...
and the subtitle was changed to Five Secret Exploits of James Bond; in later editions, it was dropped altogether.
Artist Richard Chopping
Richard Chopping
Richard Wasey Chopping was a British illustrator and author best known for painting the dust jackets of Ian Fleming's James Bond novels starting with From Russia, with Love .-Early life:...
once again provided the cover art for the book. On 18 March 1959 Fleming had written to Chopping about the cover he had undertaken for Goldfinger, saying that: "The new jacket is quite as big a success as the first one and I do think [Jonathan] Cape have made a splendid job of it". Moving on to For Your Eyes Only, Fleming said "I am busily scratching my head trying to think of a subject for you again. No one in the history of thrillers has had such a totally brilliant artistic collaborator!"
Reviews
Francis IlesAnthony Berkeley Cox
Anthony Berkeley Cox was an English crime writer. He wrote under several pen-names, including Francis Iles, Anthony Berkeley and A. Monmouth Platts.- Life :...
, writing in The Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
, noting the short-story format, "thought it better than the novels" and wrote that "the first story is full of the old wild improbabilities, but one of the others has a positively Maughamish flavour." Iles also thought that "it seems that one must either enjoy the novels of Mr. Ian Fleming beyond reason or be unable to read them at all." Writing in The Guardians sister paper, The Observer
The Observer
The Observer is a British newspaper, published on Sundays. In the same place on the political spectrum as its daily sister paper The Guardian, which acquired it in 1993, it takes a liberal or social democratic line on most issues. It is the world's oldest Sunday newspaper.-Origins:The first issue,...
, Maurice Richardson thought that "our Casanovaesque cad-clubman secret agent is mellowing a bit now"; Richardson liked the format, saying that "the short form suits him quite well" although the downside is that "if it checks the wilder fantasies it cuts short the love-affairs". Writing in The Spectator
The Spectator
The Spectator is a weekly British magazine first published on 6 July 1828. It is currently owned by David and Frederick Barclay, who also owns The Daily Telegraph. Its principal subject areas are politics and culture...
, Kingsley Amis
Kingsley Amis
Sir Kingsley William Amis, CBE was an English novelist, poet, critic, and teacher. He wrote more than 20 novels, six volumes of poetry, a memoir, various short stories, radio and television scripts, along with works of social and literary criticism...
(under the pseudonym
Pseudonym
A pseudonym is a name that a person assumes for a particular purpose and that differs from his or her original orthonym...
Christopher Pym) wrote that "each episode of the Bond novels meant the adventure was less probable and more preposterous than the last, and now our hero seems to have lost, as well as any claims to plausibility, the know-how, the know-who, know-what and sheer zing that used to carry the unlikely plots along. Perhaps all that mattress pounding is taking it out of poor Bond".
Writing in The Listener, John Raymond was of the opinion that Bond's "admirers ...will find him in top form" and that the stories, "all but one of which are well up to 007's high standard". Raymond believed that "The Commander seems to be mellowing with the years" and because of this was "less of a show-off...and, for once, his chronicler has almost cut out the sadism". In terms of the villains in the book, most notably Milton Krest, Raymond saw that Fleming's "capacity to create villains is undiminished".
The critic for The Times
The Times
The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
reflected that "the mood of For Your Eyes Only is, in fact, a good deal more sober and, perhaps, weary than before"; the critic also thought that the short form worked well with Bond, and that "the girls, though a short story allows them only walk-on parts, are as wild and luscious as ever". Philip Stead, writing in The Times Literary Supplement
The Times Literary Supplement
The Times Literary Supplement is a weekly literary review published in London by News International, a subsidiary of News Corporation.-History:...
thought that "Mr. Fleming's licensed assassin is in pretty good form." Stead considered that in the stories "occasionally there seem to be echoes of Ashenden
Ashenden: Or the British Agent
Ashenden: Or the British Agent is a 1928 collection of loosely linked stories by W. Somerset Maugham. It is partly based on the author's experience as a member of British Intelligence in Europe during the First World War.-Plot summary:...
and glimpses of Rogue Male
Rogue Male (novel)
Rogue Male by Geoffrey Household is a classic thriller novel of the 1930s.-Storyline:The protagonist, an unnamed British sportsman, sets out to see whether he can stalk and prepare to shoot a European dictator...
, but the Bond ambience is persuasive".
In the US, James Sandoe, writing in the New York Herald Tribune
New York Herald Tribune
The New York Herald Tribune was a daily newspaper created in 1924 when the New York Tribune acquired the New York Herald.Other predecessors, which had earlier merged into the New York Tribune, included the original The New Yorker newsweekly , and the Whig Party's Log Cabin.The paper was home to...
thought that For Your Eyes Only had "urban savagery and mighty smooth tale-spinning". Writing in The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
, Anthony Boucher
Anthony Boucher
Anthony Boucher was an American science fiction editor and author of mystery novels and short stories. He was particularly influential as an editor. Between 1942 and 1947 he acted as reviewer of mostly mystery fiction for the San Francisco Chronicle...
- described by a Fleming biographer, John Pearson
John Pearson (author)
John Pearson is a writer best associated with James Bond creator Ian Fleming.Pearson was Fleming's assistant at the London Sunday Times and would go on to write the first biography of Ian Fleming, 1966's The Life of Ian Fleming....
as "throughout an avid anti-Bond and an anti-Fleming man" – described what his main issue with Fleming's work was: "his basic weakness as a storyteller, which can be summed up in two words: 'no story.'" In the short story form, however, Boucher finds that Bond's tales "are proportionate" and that Fleming's "prose...is eminently smooth and readable" even if "Bond's triumphs are too simple and lack...intricate suspense".
Adaptations
Comic strip (1961 – 1967)Four of the five short stories in For Your Eyes Only were adapted into comic strip
Comic strip
A comic strip is a sequence of drawings arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often serialized, with text in balloons and captions....
s published in the British newspaper Daily Express
Daily Express
The Daily Express switched from broadsheet to tabloid in 1977 and was bought by the construction company Trafalgar House in the same year. Its publishing company, Beaverbrook Newspapers, was renamed Express Newspapers...
and subsequently syndicated around the world. The first three stories were adapted by Henry Gammidge
Henry Gammidge
Henry Gammidge was a writer of the James Bond comic strip that appeared in Daily Express newspaper and syndicated worldwide. Gammidge adapted Ian Fleming's James Bond novels, which were then drawn by illustrator John McLusky. Gammidge worked on eleven stories, which were published from 15 December...
and illustrated by John McLusky
John McLusky
John McLusky is a former comics artist best known as the original artist of the comic strip featuring Ian Fleming's James Bond.-Biography:...
and appeared in the newspaper between 3 April 1961 and 9 December 1961. All three comics were published again in 2005 as part of the Dr. No anthology by Titan Books
Titan Books
Titan Publishing Group is an independently owned publishing company, established in 1981. It is based at offices in London, England's Bankside area. The Books Division has two main areas of publishing: film & TV tie-ins/cinema reference books; and graphic novels and comics reference/art titles. The...
. The fourth adaptation, "The Hildebrand Rarity", did not appear until six years after the comic-strip versions of the other stories. It was adapted by Jim Lawrence and illustrated by Yaroslav Horak
Yaroslav Horak
Yaroslav Horak is a Russian born, Australian based illustrator and comics artist, best known for his work on the newspaper comic strip, James Bond.-Biography:...
. This adaptation was reprinted by Titan Books in 2009 as part of Volume 2 of the The James Bond Omnibus collection.
| Story | Start date | End date | Adaptator | Illustrator |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| "Risico" | 3 April 1961 | 24 June 1961 | Henry Gammidge | John McLusky |
| "From a View to a Kill" | 25 June 1961 | 9 September 1961 | Henry Gammidge | John McLusky |
| "For Your Eyes Only" | 11 September 1961 | 9 December 1961 | Henry Gammidge | John McLusky |
| "The Hildebrand Rarity" | 29 May 1967 | 16 December 1967 | Jim Lawrence | Yaroslav Horak |
For Your Eyes Only (1981)
A number of details from the story are used in the film For Your Eyes Only
For Your Eyes Only (film)
For Your Eyes Only is the twelfth spy film in the James Bond series and the fifth to star Roger Moore as the fictional MI6 agent James Bond. It marked the directorial debut of John Glen, who had worked as editor and second unit director in three other Bond films. The screenplay by Richard Maibaum...
, released in 1981 and starring Roger Moore
Roger Moore
Sir Roger George Moore KBE , is an English actor, perhaps best known for portraying British secret agent James Bond in seven films from 1973 to 1985. He also portrayed Simon Templar in the long-running British television series The Saint.-Early life:Moore was born in Stockwell, London...
as James Bond. The film shows the murder of the Havelocks by a hit man, although it names the hitman as Gonzalez, rather than Gonzales. The film also changes the name of the Havelock's daughter, Judy, to Melina. For Your Eyes Only also uses much of the plot of "Risico", including the characters of Colombo and Kristatos.
A View to a Kill (1985)
Part of the title of the story From a View to a Kill was used for the 1985
1985 in film
-Events:* 3 December - Roger Moore steps down from the role of James Bond after twelve years and seven films. He is replaced by Timothy Dalton.* The Academy Award for Best Picture was won by Out Of Africa, while the highest grossing film was Back to the Future.* Bliss wins AFI Award for best Movie...
Bond film A View to a Kill
A View to a Kill
A View to a Kill is the fourteenth spy film of the James Bond series, and the seventh and last to star Roger Moore as the fictional MI6 agent James Bond. Although the title is adapted from Ian Fleming's short story "From a View to a Kill", the film is the fourth Bond film after The Spy Who Loved...
, with none of the story used in this, or any other film to date.
Licence to Kill (1989)
Milton Krest, his foundation, the Wavekrest, and "the Corrector" were incorporated into the 1989 film Licence to Kill
Licence to Kill
Licence to Kill, released in 1989, is the sixteenth entry in the Eon Productions James Bond series and the first one not to use the title of an Ian Fleming novel. It marks Timothy Dalton's second and final performance in his brief tenure in the lead role of James Bond...
.
Quantum of Solace (2006)
Quantum of Solace was chosen as the title of the twenty second Bond film; none of the story was used for the film's plot. Daniel Craig
Daniel Craig
Daniel Wroughton Craig is an English actor. His early film roles include Elizabeth, The Power of One, A Kid in King Arthur's Court and the television episodes Sharpe's Eagle, Zorro and The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles: Daredevils of the Desert...
, who starred as Bond in the film, said the film also shares the primary thematic element of the story as "it relates to the fact that if you don't have that Quantum of Solace in a relationship, you should give up. If you are not respecting each other, it's over, and at the end of the last movie Bond doesn't have that because his girlfriend has been killed."
External links
- Ian Fleming Bibliography of James Bond 1st Editions
See also
- James Bond novels
- James Bond (character)James Bond (character)Royal Navy Commander James Bond, CMG, RNVR is a fictional character created by journalist and novelist Ian Fleming in 1953. He is the main protagonist of the James Bond series of novels, films, comics and video games...
- Differences between James Bond novels and filmsDifferences between James Bond novels and filmsThe James Bond novels, written by English author, journalist and World War II intelligence officer Ian Fleming, and the later James Bond films, often differ in tone and detail, a trend which increased with each new movie production. The James Bond novels, written mainly in the 1950s and early...