*SPOILERS * Place your Bets here!

Don’t forget OHMSS. I wouldn’t say those were the only times they did the books justice. Often, EON adapt select scenes and they turn out fantastic. Possibly the best adaptation they’ve done is of The Living Daylights which was filmed nearly verbatim. Additionally, the shark attack on Felix Leiter carries more emotional weight in the film as we’ve had much more build up over the course of 16 movies and we actually see it happen before Bond finds Leiter on the couch. It was also a nice nod to have the Octopussy story be the backstory for Octopussy’s father’s and Bond’s history in the film.

2 Likes

It’s not that I’m clamoring for it, I just would be fine with it if that’s the route they went down. There’s something to be said for having an interest in seeing how something written in the 50’s/60’s would translate to modern sensibilities.

Look at a character like Moneypenny. The way she is written in 2020 is much different than she was in 1962, and I enjoy both. I’m glad they didn’t leave her in the past and brought her along. I wouldn’t mind seeing the same thing happen with a Goldfinger or a Red Grant.

Or look at Casino Royale. Let’s pretend that book had been filmed as a movie in 1960 as Connery’s 1st. It’s a very simple book and probably would have been a simple movie, much like Dr. No turned out.

Now look at what a modern telling of that turned into in 2006. The plot was expanded and updated and fans loved it.

If CR ‘06 had been a reboot, wouldn’t you have enjoyed the new telling of it?

2 Likes

Indeed, when they’ve been adapted, such as in the scenes you mention the results are great. So why not do that more and with not just a select scene or two.

I get the impression that this was the thinking behind Craig’s CR (perhaps inspired by Tarantino’s pitch).

Their problem may seem to be that there’s no Fleming’s left to adapt. My argument would be that they’ve in the main only appropriated titles, characters and select scenes. But serious adaptations of the books, rather than their parts, there are only three (as you corrected me there’s OHMSS).

These three movies vs the rest seem the best reason possible to have another go at Dr No, deadly assault corses, giant squids and all.

I know this has been discussed ad nauseum both here and on the old boards, but after re-reading the entire Fleming canon, these are the unfilmed scenes I’d like to see:

A proper Dr No obstacle course (more than Bond just Bond crawling through the vent) including the giant squid,
The cliffs of dover scene from Moonraker,
The train derailment from Diamonds are Forever,
Maybe the castle of death (I don’t know though, after rereading You Only Live Twice, it wasn’t as exciting as I remember),
The entirety of From a View to a Kill,
The train fight from The Man with the Golden Gun (complete with a potentially maimed Leiter),
Use Vivien Michel and Gala Brand at some point

1 Like

I just finished reading TMWTGG last night and, having read your post and others like it, I was looking for the connections between Silva and Scaramanga but couldn’t find them.

1 Like

Cannibalized, absolutely. Bastardized? Maybe. “Raped”, I think, is a bit strong.

2 Likes

I am starting to lean toward he will (but still hope he won’t) for the reasons stated plus two more:

  • the title including the word “no” and how punctuation could change its meaning to “(Dr.) No, time to die.”
  • apparently in the book, the character survived a bullet aimed at his heart because his heart was on the other side of his chest, and the masked gunman in the snow has what looks like a bullet hole in his parka over where his heart would normally be

Of course, it doesn’t prove that they’re not just incorporating unused elements of the character. The title and masks could be coincidence, the board could be misdirection. Or it could all be tongue in cheek.

2 Likes

In particular, Silva’s entrance, where he flirts with Bond to, potentially, unsettle him coupled with Bond has been sent on what is probably a death sentence, just so M could demonstrate the brilliant agent who’s in there.

He also quotes Scaramanga (book version) at one point, but having not watched Skyfall, or read TMWTGG in quite some time, I cant recall exactly what, unlike Blofeld in Spectre quoting Bond’s narration from the start of Goldfinger, but that’s purely because I ADORE that opening.

Stand by it, whilst the film wont state it, NTTD will adapt the elements of the book the film didn’t.

Excellent observation, rubixcub. I did not pick up on the possible bullet hole on the masked gunman even after (I’m ashamed to say how many) all my viewings. Interesting…

Well spotted! With these mounting clues it will almost be embarrassing for them if he’s not DN!

1 Like

Embarrassing…cause Soooooo many people have read the books…

I did say almost and was just a bit of jest. But for those in the know it’ll be a little frustrating

So…3 people on here? :stuck_out_tongue:

Nah… don’t do Dr No (film AND character) such a disservice by putting him in Bond#25. Joseph Wiseman and my first Bond film deserve to be left with their own reputations unmarred and revised.

1 Like

It appears that lots of the votes saying he is NOT Dr. No are not because people don’t believe it but because they don’t WANT to believe it, including my own vote.

This comes out a week earlier in the UK than the US, correct? If so, the answer to this is the sole spoiler I want to know beforehand.

1 Like

I think a lot of No actually comes from most us remembering that this rumour was started by an idiot not listening when Malek said Dr. No was probably his favourite Bond film. IF it’s right, I’ll paraphrase Bond;

“When they said it they had nothing, It being true was blind luck”

1 Like

Yeah, that occurred to me. And the character’s outfit and hairstyle could be a coincidence, as could the mask name – I would think they picked the mask based on its appearance, not its name. The fan art board is the big thing; if this was all unfounded rumor, could the powers that be just be toying with us?

I once said the mask looked like a Japanese No mask - I was hardly the first though - but I have patently zero idea whether it is an actual no mask. I suspect even many Japanese fans would be hard pressed to tell for sure.

When they did the announcement in Jamaica, there were many mentions of DN, but only because they returned to shooting there (IIRC, the opening of the announcement was done on the beach where that famous scene was shot). In the press material which was made available on that day, there were also some old images and clips from DN. Some people apparently thought that they had to jump on conclusions and started speculating wildly. All this suddenly developed a life of its own, and all of a sudden, Eon had a nice buzz without doing much. The Dr No rumors are utter bogus, I say.

Interestingly, there was also some stuff from LALD (which was also shot in Jamaica) among that press material. To me, that made it crystal clear that the official references to DN were only made because of the location, and not because they want to remake or resurrect whatever. But what puzzles me most is the fact that everyone jumped on DN and ignored LALD completely, despite the fact that they basically got the same treatment (except for the fact that Malek mentioned it as his fav Bond movie).

Personally, I find the idea of reviving Dr Kananga / Mr Big much more intriguing than the idea of a modernised Dr No. And it would make much more - for the lack of a better word - sense. Besides, Safin’s scarred face screams for the necessity of a double identity. And what seems to be the underground lair looks much more like Mr Big than Dr No.

4 Likes