Ian Fleming Vs John Le Carre: Event Report On The Two Giants of Spy Novels

I tend to agree with the late, great actor George C. Scott, who refused his Oscar for the film Patton, saying that art should not be compared and should not compete.

Scott said that you can not hold up two great paintings and say "And the winner is.."

Ian Fleming (seen in the above photo) is often compared to John le Carre (seen in the below photo), with le Carre being offered as the anti-Fleming when it comes to realism. Yet le Carre has often stated that his novels come more from his imagination than from his five years as a British intelligence officer.

In my view, Fleming and le Carre are two very different kinds of writer. I prefer Fleming, with From Russia With Love as my favorite novel, but I also read and enjoy le Carre's novels, especially his early novels, such as Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy. Both are great Cold War spy novels and they can both be read and reread and enjoyed.

Fleming and le Carre should not be pitted against each other.

And yet I was interested in reading Tom Cull's piece at the James Bond website MI6 - not to be confused with the British intelligence agency - on the Ian Fleming vs John le Carre debate.

Within the fitting grandiose setting of the Emanuel Centre in London’s Westminster, last Tuesday saw two of the most influential writers working today make the case for their respective choices for the greatest spy novelist of all time.

In one corner Anthony Horowitz, the author of the latest Bond continuation novel “Trigger Mortis”, argued for Ian Fleming.  He was pitted against David Farr, who recently adapted John Le Carre’s “The Night Manager” for our screens with global success.

Accompanying them were four esteemed actors who added colour to the debate by performing readings of each author’s novels, who included Simon Callow, Lesley Manville, Alex Macqueen and Matthew Lewis.

... The Bond films, of course, are intertwined with the book’s success and yet whenever the film franchise chooses to stick closely to the original texts, they are all the better for it. Fleming’s Bond was the first modern spy and Mr. Horowitz stressed that in those early books he was no cartoon hero and Fleming adroitly made him vulnerable.

Mr. Horowitz discussed Fleming’s wonderful use of language as only he wished he could write and asked, “did Le Carre ever write a sentence with such a smile?” The sheer number of great set pieces, book titles and iconic moments are incredible for one writer to have created in 12 books. Do we really know Le Carre’s characters in the same way?

Fleming’s Bond is in our national identity. 

...In Le Carre’s novels, he is seeking himself just as his characters seek their nemesis. Deep ideas but never high-brow. He tackles moral problems, which tests the reader and asks the sort of questions that we ask ourselves about our own identity.

You can read the rest of the piece via the below link:

https://www.mi6-hq.com/sections/articles/event-ian-fleming-john-le-carre-debate?id=04194

And you can listen to audio of the debate via the below link:

http://www.intelligencesquared.com/events/ian-fleming-vs-john-le-carre-anthony-horowitz-and-david-farr/

BBC 4 Radio Offers Ian Fleming's 'Diamonds Are Forever'

I'm a huge fan of Ian Fleming's thriller Diamonds Are Forever. I first read it as a teenager and I've reread the novel several times over the years.

In Fleming's novel, James Bond goes after diamond smugglers and the American mob. Great stuff.

I was disappointed in the 1971 film version of Diamonds Are Forever, even though the film makers reenlisted the great Sean Connery to portray Bond again. The film was a silly comedy and sadly did not use much from Fleming's novel.

So I was very interested in listening to BBC 4 Radio's faithful adaptation of Fleming's thriller.

The James Bond website MI6 reports on the radio program and offers a link to the BBC 4 radio program.

BBC Radio 4's 'Diamonds Are Forever' is an all-star Ian Fleming James Bond adventure, directed by Martin Jarvis and starring Toby Stephens as 007.  

Fleming's fourth Bond novel is especially dazzling. Its dark humour encompasses millions of pounds worth of diamonds smuggled out of British mines in Africa. Responsible? Somebody known as 'ABC'.

James Bond is sent undercover by MI6 to New York to follow the pipeline. Masquerading as a courier he meets enticing, ice-cold, Tiffany Case. She stands between Bond and gang-bosses whose criminal diamond business stretches from Sierra Leone, via London, to the gambling tables of Las Vegas.

Bond infiltrates the mob. Horse-racing scams, a car chase, a rigged card game, pursuit by locomotive - Bond and Tiffany endure all. Eventually flown to West Africa, Bond unmasks the ultimate villain.

You can link to the radio program via the below link:

https://www.mi6-hq.com/sections/articles/event_radio_daf_listen_online?t=&s=&id=03940

And you can link to BBC 4 Radio via the below link:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0631r4y

After listening to the radio program, I suggest you read Ian Fleming's Diamonds Are Forever.

A Look Back At The Timothy Dalton-James Bond Era

The James Bond web site MI6 offers a piece on the Timothy Dalton era as James Bond.

On this day in 1986, Welsh actor Timothy Dalton was officially announced as the fourth James Bond 007.

After Roger Moore retired from the role following  "A View To Kill"" in 1985, and a record breaking stint of seven consecutive 007 films, producer Albert R, Broccoli had to begin again the arduous task of choosing a new James Bond for the big screen.

 

... With his tough approach to the James Bond character, Dalton radically reversed the on-screen image of Bond and returned the character to the 007 Ian Fleming wrote about.
 

Clearly, this came as a shock to Roger Moore fans who were quite at ease with Moore's laid-back approach to the character. Dalton publicly announced a desire to get back to "Fleming's Bond" and was quite successful at it.
 

Dalton's debut Bond outing "The Living Daylights" had its premiere on 29 June 1987 at the usual venue, the Odeon Leicester Square in London.

 

You can read the rest of the piece via the below link:

 

http://www.mi6-hq.com/sections/articles/dalton_bond_era.php3?t=&s=&id=03547

 

You can also read an earlier post on Dalton as Bond via the below link:

 

http://www.pauldavisoncrime.com/2012/12/a-q-with-john-glen-director-of-licence.html

Note: As I wrote in a previous post, in my view, Sean Connery is James Bond, as an advertisement once proclaimed, but I think Timothy Dalton was very good as Bond.

Dalton replaced Roger Moore, who portrayed Bond in a lighthearted manner. Dalton, who was and is a serious actor, reread all of the Ian Fleming novels and then attempted to portray Ian Fleming's Bond.

Dalton portrayed Bond as serious, quiet, cold, sardonic, tough and ruthless. I think he largely succeeded.

Except for a few silly bits, I think The Living Daylights and Licence To Kill were good Bond films.

I believe Bond fans should take a second look at Timothy Dalton's portrayal of James Bond.