Symphonic James Bond Concert In Melbourne; 29-30 March

An upcoming concert by the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra will have a licence to thril.

On 29 and 30 March 2008, the MSO will be playing an array of different musical selections from the James Bond films from 1962’s Dr. No through 2006’s Casino Royale.

The orchestra will be under the direction of composer and conductor Carl Davis while soprano Mary Carewe will provide vocals.

The full repertoire follows:

• Dr No: The James Bond Theme
• From Russia with Love
• Goldfinger: Goldfinger
• Goldfinger: Dawn Raid at Fort Knox
• Thunderball
• Casino Royale: The Look of Love
• You Only Live Twice
• On Her Majesty’s Secret Service: We Have All The Time In The World
• Diamonds Are Forever
• Live and Let Die
• The Spy Who Loved Me: The Voyage to Atlantis
• The Spy Who Loved Me: Nobody Does It Better
• For Your Eyes Only
• Moonraker
• The Man with the Golden Gun
• The Living Daylights
• Licence To Kill
• GoldenEye: GoldenEye
• GoldenEye: A Pleasant Ride in St Petersburg (Tank Chase)
• The World is Not Enough
• Casino Royale: You Know My Name
• The James Bond Theme: Reprise
• Tomorrow Never Dies: Surrender

The MSO Pops Symphonic James Bond will take place at 7:00pm on Saturday, 29 March and 2:00pm on Sunday, 30 March. The event will take place at the Arts Centre, Hamer Hall in Melbourne, Australia.

Tickets range in price from $24 to $96. To purchase tickets or more details on the event, visit the official website.

Keep watching CommanderBond.net for all the latest on James Bond events happening around the world.

Official 'Quantum of Solace' Trailer Coming 2 July

According to Ain’t It Cool News, an official Quantum of Solace trailer will be attached to Sony Pictures’ Hancock, a superhero comedy starring Will Smith, Jason Bateman and Charlize Theron. Hancock hits cinemas on 2 July in the United Kingdom and the United States.

It’s unclear whether the trailer will be a teaser or a theatrical. The teaser trailer for Casino Royale was released in May 2006 so it’s possible that the 2 July trailer will be the second and that we’ll get a teaser in the spring.

Filming will be nearly completed in July so there will be a lot of good footage ready for the trailer regardless of whether it’s a teaser or a theatrical trailer.

Keep your eyes on the CommanderBond.net main page for all the latest news and complete coverage of Quantum of Solace.

'Quantum of Solace' Website Updated

The official James Bond website for Quantum of Solace, www.007.com, has been updated.

In addition to the previously available content, the website now features the classified 007 dossier (which was first revealed on the Casino Royale website) and a Bond trivia challenge.

Furthermore, Bond fans can participate in an online version of 007 Scene It?, which features clips from the films, trivia questions and other on-screen puzzlers.

Check them out at www.007.com.

Keep your eyes on the CommanderBond.net main page for all the latest news and complete coverage of Quantum of Solace.

'Quantum of Solace: The Complete James Bond Short Stories'

When Quantum of Solace was first announced as the title of the 22nd James Bond film, many fans wondered what sort of book tie-in would feature this time around as the short story of the same name is already included in Ian Fleming’s For Your Eyes Only collection.

It appears that Penguin has now taken the first step in answering that question.

Due for release on 29 May 2008, the same day all 14 of Fleming’s Bond novels are reissued in hardback in the UK, is Quantum of Solace: The Complete James Bond Short Stories.

To be published by under the Penguin Modern Classics label, this trade-size paperback will retail for £8.99 (click here for cover artwork).

While the amazon listing does not go into specific detail regarding the contents inside the book, it’s a fairly safe bet to assume this will be the For Your Eyes Only and Octopussy & The Living Daylights collections in one book. The previous two collections run at 192 and 128 pages respectively, while this new collection is listed at 320 pages.

The For Your Eyes Only collection features From a View to a Kill, Quantum of Solace, Risico and The Hildebrand Rarity in addition to the title story.

Octopussy & The Living Daylights features The Property of a Lady and 007 in New York in addition to the two short stories in the title.

Pre-order online:

• Order Quantum of Solace: The Complete James Bond Short Stories from Amazon.co.uk

Keep watching CommanderBond.net for the most complete literary James Bond coverage on the web. To keep track of all the upcoming 007 releases, events, television shows, and more–just keep your eyes on the CBn Calendar, located on the right panel of our main page.

'Chitty Chitty Bang Bang' Set To Soar On The Big Screen Once More?

When Chitty Chitty Bang Bang was first released as a film in 1968, the tagline promised the ‘most fantasmagorical musical entertainment in the history of everything’.

And according an article posted last week in the Sunday Express, Bond fans may start hearing a lot more about it in the upcoming year.

The article states that the film is reportedly set to soar on the big screen once more as a remake with ‘big-name stars, a multi-million pound budget and cutting-edge special effects’; backed by Bond production company Eon Productions, who are said to be in possession of the necessary rights.

‘It will probably go into production next year after we’ve finished with the latest James Bond film,’ said one Eon executive.’

The popular tale of a magical flying car, one of the few non-Bond novels originally penned by Fleming, first debuted in theatres in 1968 with Dick Van Dyke, Sally Ann Howes and Lionel Jeffries in the main roles.

The film, produced by Albert R. Broccoli, also featured an array of 007 series cast and crew members, including actors Gert Fröbe, Desmond Llewelyn, a screenwriters Richard Maibaum and Roald Dahl, associate producer Stanley Sopel, production designer Ken Adam, art director Harry Pottle, and many others.

The Sunday Express article adds that Johnny Depp is reportedly being courted to star in the remake. ‘We’re hopeful that he’ll say yes,’ added the Eon executive.

In recent years, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang became very well known as a popular stage perfomance. The musical ran at the London Palladium from 2002 to 2005 and became a massive hit, earning over £70 million.

As a word of warning, the above information from the Sunday Express is yet to be confirmed and should be treated as such. In it’s 40+ year history of producing the official 007 films, Eon Productions has only been behind one non-Bond film, 1963’s Call Me Bwana.

We’ll just have to wait and see…

Keep your eye on the CommanderBond.net main page for all the latest James Bond news and coverage.

Tom Ford Dresses 007 For 'Quantum of Solace'

According to The Times, Tom Ford International will be dressing Daniel Craig for the actor’s second James Bond film, Quantum of Solace.

The American fashion designer’s name was first mentioned (briefly) in the Entertainment Tonight preview and Bond set visit, which aired on television two weeks ago.

Italian company Brioni previously dressed Pierce Brosnan for all four of his 007 films as well as Craig for his debut in 2006’s Casino Royale.

‘The Bond franchise is a very unusual thing,’ said Lindy Hemming, who was the costumer designer from GoldenEye through Casino Royale (Louise Frogley replaces her for Quantum of Solace). ‘I’m not sure I properly realised it at first. These are films that are going to be watched for ever and ever. You need to watch out for the clothes. You need to make sure they can be looked at for years and years without looking too… fashion. With Roger Moore, I think the decision was taken to be fashionable. We laugh at it now, but I’m sure it all looked good at the time.’

Claiming Timothy Dalton’s Bond dressed like an off-duty policeman, Hemming wanted something different when Pierce Brosnan took over the role in 1995. ‘More modern. More European. Classic and beautifully tailored, but not so ex-military,’ she said.

Hemming went on to mention that she considered various European designers, including Armani, before finally choosing Brioni. ‘I was taken to the factory to see how they were made. They were absolutely open to any sort of idea. They have a lifetime of making clothes for presidents and politicians, and they don’t have that thing that they can’t change what is going on. Whether it be 13 inside pockets, or one jacket with no vents and another that needs to open down the back. Some other companies are like elephants. They take a long time to change direction.’

‘Our tailors would go to London for all the fittings,’ said Brioni co-chief executive Antonella De Simone. ‘Bond has always been an icon of style and sartorial elegance. And we dressed other characters, too. Mrs Moneypenny. In Casino Royale, everybody at that casino table was dressed by Brioni. And these were very strange guys. A big black man, a fat man, the models. All the people on the table.’

One thing both Hemming and Brioni insisted upon was that no money changed hands throughout the 11-year association between Bond and the fashion company.

‘This is not our policy,’ said De Simone. ‘We were chosen for our art, never for money. We want to be discreet and elegant. Outside the glamour and the noise.’

As several Bond collectors will already be aware, besides the odd film still, there was never a Brioni advertisement specifically featuring Brosnan or Craig. The only exception came in late 2006 around the release of Casino Royale when the company unveiled a £3,000 tuxedo with a stitched ‘James Bond’ included in the silver lining.

Why the switch from Brioni to Tom Ford occurred isn’t quite clear to all the parties involved, but The Times article does point out that the departure of Brioni chief executive Umberto Angeloni occurred during the same time frame last year when Frogley replaced Hemming for Quantum of Solace.

British-based company Dunhill was also previously reported several times to be involved with Craig’s second Bond adventure. Craig himself wore a Dunhill dinner jacket to the premiere of Casino Royale.

When questioned, a spokesperson for the company said: ‘Nothing has been confirmed. Although there’s a possibility that it won’t be us.’

Officially, Tom Ford was even more quiet on the matter. ‘No comment’ was the spokesperson’s reply to the request for info from The Times.

Keep your eyes on the CommanderBond.net main page for all the latest news and complete coverage of Quantum of Solace.

James Bond Signing Session With Raymond Benson In April

Former James Bond continuation author Raymond Benson will be making an appearance in London this upcoming April for a meet-and-greet and book signing session.

Benson will be at the Adrian Harrington Bookshop in Kensington on Tuesday, 15 April from 4:00pm to 6:00pm.

Fans will be able to chat with the author and bring along their 007 novels and other Benson work to be signed. The shop will also be selling the author’s Bond adventures as well as his newest original novel, A Hard Day’s Death.

The Adrian Harrington Bookshop is located at 64A Kensington Church Street, Kensington, London W8 4DB, UK. The shop can be reached at 020 7937 1465.

As 1999 was the last time Benson visited the UK for a book signing, this is an event not to be missed.

007 fans best know Benson as the author of six Bond continuation novels, three short stories and the film novelizations for Tomorrow Never Dies, The World Is Not Enough and Die Another Day. Click here for CBn’s four-part interview with Raymond Benson.

Stay tuned to CBn for all the latest literary James Bond news.

Literary 007 Reviewed: Ian Fleming's 'Moonraker' (Part II)

This is Part II of the Moonraker reviews. Click here for Part I.

With 2008 marking the centenary of Ian Fleming, the newest CommanderBond.net review series, Literary 007 Reviewed, now continues with the author’s third James Bond adventure, 1955’s Moonraker.

As several CBn Forum members are already aware, every two months a James Bond adventure is chosen for members of the Blades Library Book Club to read. Proceeding in chronological order, the club first read Fleming’s Moonraker back in May 2004.

What follows are selected reviews from the Book Club Forum members. For further details on the club or to post your own review of Moonraker, simply click here.

‘Moonraker’ reviewed by… 1q2w3e4r

Definitely a good read. I think it’s a little under appriciated actually. We get a good feel for Bond and M’s relationship and is the only time apart from a visit to Quarterdeck in On Her Majesty’s Secret Service that we see the two interact outside SIS.

The gambling scene is great, as is the entire Blades sequence.

Gala Brand, while I never really got Bond’s huge attraction to her because she’s not one of Fleming’s best written women (I think T. Case is) the end is great, because Bond’s human, capable of failure and mistakes while remaining himself and full of self confidence.

It’s also probably the best example of Bond’s home life. And the book reads like what a good adaption of it should have been. Bond knows Drax is up to something, but not what. He snoops around, collects circumstancial evidence at best but follows his hunch. EON tried this for about five minutes of Die Another Day and the Cuba sequences were what most viewers say was the most “Bond part” of the movie.

I like this one better than Live and Let Die which drops off in parts where Fleming plugs his friends book on voodoo. For me it’s just behind Casino Royale, From Russia with Love, Diamonds Are Forever (which I love don’t know why it gets a bad wrap) and Majesty’s.

‘Moonraker’ reviewed by… Johnboy007

Another excellent novel. I had this misfortune of starting this book, then having to stop for a few months then have to read it very fast. The gambling scene is probably Fleming at his best.

4/5.

‘Moonraker’ reviewed by… rafterman

I’ll give this one four stars. An excellent third novel in the series. This one lacks a lot of the Fleming sweep, which at this point was still building, but it sacrifices all that in exchange for a great face off between Bond and the baddie. That’s all there is to this one, much like Casino Royale, Moonraker is all about the relationship between our hero and the villain. It sets them up in another high stakes world, this time Bridge and lets their personalities clash. For the first third of the book we’re practically without a major plot, just a simple case of Bond doing M a favor. It all adds to the character of Bond and illuminates his world.

The book only takes place over a week, but plenty happens and it all culminates with two things that would never find their way into a film adaptation these days–Bond loses the girl and doesn’t face the villain. Rather Drax is killed by his own plan being sabotaged by Bond. It’s poetic justice.
All in all it’s a great noveland a sure sign that the series had legs.

‘Moonraker’ reviewed by… Trident

Moonraker was the first Bond-book I read back in 1977 after seeing The Spy Who Loved Me in the cinema. I was a kid then and didn’t know what to expect from the novels. You can imagine I was thorougly surprised. And badly hooked for the rest of my life.

Moonraker simply breaths the smells and tastes and feelings of the story. While reading I could smell the cigarette-smoke at the Blades Club, the industrial-metallic mix in the rocket-shaft, the clean air of the may-afternoon at the cliffs. I tasted with Bond various alcoholics and cigarettes. Not to mention the exquisite food and wine. I felt the wind rushing by in Bonds face as he tailed Drax’ Mercedes and the leather-upholstery Gala was thrown on Drax’ backseat.

I smelled burnt rubber and spilled gasoline after Bond’s crash and the overwhelming chemical stench back at the rocket-site. I fliched with Bond as he was punched by Drax (while feeling the wires around his wrists and feet) and I hissed while Bond cut the wires with the blowtorch (after burnig his face considerably with the desk-lighter). I felt the abrasive concrete surface of the ventilation-shaft and I heard the horrible noise of the steamhose. And all these impressions culminated in the take-off of the Moonraker. I was stunned and from that day on had to read every Fleming-novel I could possibly lay my hands on. Thank you, Mr. Fleming. I owe you some of the most interesting moments in my reading-life!

‘Moonraker’ reviewed by… Robert Watts

I read this a while back last year. It was my third Fleming, after Casino Royale and Live and Let Die and I was hooked from the minute I picked it up. I finished Part One in a couple of hours, and continued on a bit before going to bed. In the morning I suitably resumed reading from the point where we learn of Gala’s morning. I finished the novel that day. The build up in the first two parts is excellent–once you reach part three and everything begins to to unravel itself so quickly you can’t put down that final part, just like the previous two.

By far one of Fleming’s best crafted stories, along with Thunderball, From Russia With Love, On Her Majesty’s Secret Service and the seriously underated Diamonds Are Forever.

Keep your eyes on the CBn main page for further reviews of Ian Fleming’s James Bond 007 adventures in the upcoming months.

Young Bond To Return 'By Royal Command'

The Young Bond Dossier (now the official news source for youngbond.com) today landed a massive scoop for James Bond fans – the title of the fifth novel in Charlie Higson’s bestselling Young Bond series: By Royal Command.

The announcement of the title, evocative of some of Ian Fleming’s best, comes on the same day Higson delivered the novel to publishers.

Due for release later this year, By Royal Command will, reports the Young Bond Dossier, see James “forced to go on the run, pursued by enemy agents and the British authorities. James must choose between friendship and duty. His life will never be the same again…” The book’s locations include England and the Alps.

Working titles for the novel included “The Shadow War”, “Diamond Rain” and “Dynamite Kiss”.

By Royal Command follows 2005’s SilverFin, 2006’s Blood Fever and Double or Die and Hurricane Gold, both released last year. The entire series has been a critical and commercial success.

By Royal Command will be released in a hardback edition in the UK on 4 September 2008, retailing for £12.99.

Keep watching CommanderBond.net for the latest literary James Bond news.

Jamaica Will 'Bond' With Ian Fleming Centenary Celebrations

As reported on CommanderBond.net in August of last year, one of the many planned events for 2008 to celebrate the Ian Fleming centenary is the ‘For Your Eyes Only: Ian Fleming and James Bond’ exhibition.

Set to open in April and be held at the Imperial War Museum in London, this exhibition will give visitors an in-depth exploration into the 007 phenomenon and the life of his creator.

An update from The Gleaner notes that Jamaica will have a starring role in the celebrations.

A series of activities–some executed in Jamaica while others will be organised and staged in Britain and elsewhere by the Fleming family and the British Government–are being put together.

The ‘For Your Eyes Only: Ian Fleming and James Bond’ exhibition will feature a recreation of Fleming’s study at Goldeneye, Jamaica, the location where he wrote many of his Bond novels.

‘We start off with Jamaica, with Fleming’s study at Goldeneye,’ said Terry Charman, senior war historian at the Imperial War Museum. ‘His writing desk, chair, typewriter and paintings of the beach that Fleming did as well as one by Sir Noel Coward, Fleming’s old friend.’

There are some sculptures, photographs, pictures of Goldeneye. The exhibition also features quotes of Fleming saying how much he loved the island and the people and how he fell in love with it,’ he added.

Lucy Fleming, the author’s niece also emphasized the important connection between the literary James Bond series and the country when she spoke at a Jamaica Tourist Board (JTB) reception in London this week.

She quoted the author himself, who said: ‘Would these books have been born if I hadn’t been living in the gorgeous vacuum of a Jamaican holiday? I doubt it.’

For further details on the exhibition, check out this CBn article.

A book by Ben Macintyre will accompany the exhibition and can currently be pre-ordered online:

• Order the UK hardback edition of For Your Eyes Only: Ian Fleming and James Bond from Amazon.co.uk
• Order the US hardback edition of For Your Eyes Only: Ian Fleming and James Bond from Amazon.com

Ian Fleming’s centenary takes place on 28 May 2008, the same day Devil May Care, the all-new Bond novel by Sebastian Faulks, is set for release.

Stay tuned to CBn for the latest details and coverage of the Ian Fleming centenary events.