CommanderBond.net

CommanderBond.net presents on the main page...

The James Bond da Vinci Code

A look at the Bond movies' pre-title sequences and their structural importance (part I)

What a great article: thought-provoking, cogently argued, illuminating and a lot of fun. I confess I do sometimes feel that some of the films are a collection of exciting moments, but this has made me look at their structure in a whole new light.

An interesting article and very thought-provoking, as spynovelfan commented. However, I don't entirely agree with the writer's analysis of symmetry in Robin Wood's terms, in reflection of comments made about GOLDFINGER and Hitchcock's BLACKMAIL. The author of this article has commented that the plot of GOLDFINGER has symmetry because the pre-titles sequence plays out similarly to the end of the motion picture. However, that isn't plot symmetry, as much as sequence symmetry. The difference between the two is that plot symmetry reflects a conclusion to the point of the story, while sequence symmetry is an indirect repeat of events that happened in the beginning of the film.

For instance, the pre-title sequence in GOLDFINGER isn't plot symmetry, because it offers no connection to the rest of the film, like the author said. However, the author says a similar thing happens in BLACKMAIL. I disagree. In BLACKMAIL, the opening sequence leads indirectly to the murder situation. That's plot symmetry because the film really is about the choice between love versus duty. In that way, BLACKMAIL is more like TSWLM, TLD or any of the later Bond films because the opening sequence indirectly leads into the real story. This is a feature of Hitchcock films where they start to lead one place, then indirectly lead to another. In that aspect, I believe Wood was referring to symmetry. This also connects to why he would believe the earlier films didn't have such symmetry - because it was only later that the pre-titles sequence became more of a prologue to the film.

Nonetheless, the article was deeply intriguing and I'd never seen the visual and sequential symmetry of Goldfinger. Great work.

Thanks AndyPandy. You have a valid point. I should perhaps have referred to “Plot Symmetry” as “Structural Symmetry’. Blackmail is very like Psycho or North By Northwest in that Webber’s failure to make his date with his girlfriend leads indirectly to her killing Crewe in self-defence, just as Marion stealing the money leads indirectly to her death or Cary Grant signalling the telegram boy in the hotel leads Roger Thornhill being mistaken for the non-existent secret agent, George Kaplan, and all the events that follow. My main point was that there is no connection between the criminal pursued in the opening sequence and the blackmailer in the climax, even though the two chases are present in a symmetrical fashion. There is, I concede, a cause-and-effect absent from the structure of Goldfinger. It is, however, present in the novel. Where the assignment in Mexico leads to Bond being delayed at Maimi Airport, encountering an old acquaintance, Du Pont, and meeting Goldfinger as a result. I deal with this at length in my second article on the pre-title sequences. Coming soon. . . .

This post has been edited by Craig Arthur: 31 August 2008 - 02:21

Spectacular.

I love this place. We can go from...

Virtually every structural justification for Ian Fleming’s inclusion of the references to the Mexican assignment in the novel has vanished in Goldfinger’s transition to the cinema screen

...to...

How firm is your stool today?

in seconds, and everything in between. There's quite an acreage of in between those two, admittedly.

Splendid article. To get this stuff for free; fantastic.

Very insightful piece which brings something new to the table. A rarity.

Superb stuff.

Wow, you chopped a lot off the top from the last I saw of it, Craig; it's still very good, though, but I'd advise you on making you paragraphs shorter.

Indeed, it does fit the novel. That's my own thing about GOLDFINGER - it does feel like two films: the PTS is a mini-movie that doesn't belong anywhere in the framework of the plot of the main storyline. However, other Bond films like YOLT and OHMSS do have PTS sequences that suit the main storyline, much in the way a Hitchcock film would. The events in the PTS of both films come back in the rest of the film in a rather prominent manner.

Very interesting article. I have not seen Blackmail but I have seen the others.
I wonder what Guy Hamilton would say about it and if he realized he did what Craig said he did on purpose at the time?
In the commentary he refers to the pre credit sequence as "a bit of nonsense".

A very well written piece and dead on. Well done, Craig Arthur.

Wonderful read, Craig. You've admirably illustrated the methods of the madness involved in crafting the PTS and linking it to the film proper. Also, I must admit, I'd not recognized that OP was so vastly similar to GF. Much moreso than AVTAK or any of the others.

And as a Hitchcock fan (I just bought Blackmail!), I really appreciate your analysis of Wood's earlier analyses and the relationship to the Bond films.

Thank you.

Fantastic stuff, What a great look at what is really going now with the PTS. I now have to go back and watch every movie again. Wow, what hard work.

A very enjoyable article. It's amazing what you can find when you look hard enough!!