Electronic Arts (EA) has released a teaser trailer for their upcoming James Bond video game, From Russia With Love.
CLICK HERE to download/view the Quicktime trailer (4.8 megs)
From Russia With Love will be based on the classic 1963 Bond film but will also feature new plot twists, gadgets and characters. Sean Connery lent his voice and likeness to the project.
Visit EA’s official From Russia With Love website.
Over the last several months, members of the CBn Forum have been reviewing all the James Bond films in the “Countdown Threads“. If you wish to join in on the forum discussion all you have to do is register. Now here are some select reviews, varying in opinions, of From Russia With Love…
‘From Russia With Love’ litho by Jeff Marshall
From Russia With Love is one of those taut thrillers with such a well put together cast, that it rarely lets up until the very end of the film. Sean Connery is James Bond all the way in this film and performances like this one are surely some of the best in the series.
The film’s best point is the cast. The villains simply shine. Ernst Stavro Blofeld: faceless, intimidating, and calm, in my opinion the very best incarnation of the character in any film in this movie series. Rosa Klebb is also terrific as the toad-like, cold-hearted Colonel and master planner Kronsteen emits a quiet, but powerful menace that one has to respect. That said, there is naturally the renowned Red Grant by Robert Shaw. A terrific performance for a perfect enemy.
The score is a great improvement from the previous film, the 007 Theme can never go wrong. The direction is sharp with great editing and an extremely well thought out plot. One of the most gripping thrillers in the series, no wonder fans want another From Russia With Love.
The first of what I consider to be a group of 6 Bond films that were all “Sheer perfection”. Wonderful adaptation of a great story, and the train sequence proves you don’t need big effects to put a cinema-goer on the edge of the seat. Perfect casting all round, and great editing from Hunt. A joy to watch.
The second Bond film in the series ranks in my top list of the 007 pics, and one of my favorite movies in general. Masterfully directed by Terence Young, and expertly written by Dick Maibaum, From Russia With Love is the grittiest and most suspenseful-packed to ever grace the cinema screen. The cast is top-notch, especially Robert Shaw, as SPECTRE killer Red Grant, who practically steals the show from the start, and Sean Connery’s relaxed, rasping portrayal of James Bond is so good it puts Pierce Brosnan to shame. I just love everything about this film, it’s so entertaining in every aspect that whenever I watch it, it brings me glee that day. It’s that impact that makes cinema grand.
#1
Because it’s a spy thriller! It’s also totally plausible and yet still enormously entertaining. Sean Connery is in his prime. The locales, the supporting players, music just ooze coolness and classic cinema. The fight with Red Grant is legendary. Also that element of bizzare that Bond is famous for is apparent: We’ve never really seen middle aged, female lesbian villian henchman before. Only in a Bond film the spy world is full of charcaters where noone is who they appear to be.
From Russia With Love is without a doubt the best Bond film when it comes to plot and intrigue. The idea behind it is so simple: Bond is ordered to recover the Soviet Lektor decoding device, while SPECTRE is trying to trap Bond and ultimately assassinate him.
This is Connery’s best outing as James Bond, and is the best single performance by an actor portraying James Bond. Connery was good as Agent 007 in Dr. No, but in From Russia With Love, he truly makes the character his own. He grasps the humorous elements of the character better (although there is not much of this present in the film, when it does occur, he does it quite well), he displays a physicality about him that is much more refined than it had been in Dr. No.
You really do have to hand it to the producers as well for assembling the best supporting cast in a Bond film. Robert Shaw is just simply fantastic as Red Grant, the SPECTRE assassin. He commands the attention of the audience every second he is on the screen, and when he is face to face with Bond on the Orient Express, the audience truly gets the feeling that they are watching two titans of their craft trying to outsmart the other and eventually gain ultimate victory. Lotte Lenya is excellent as Rosa Klebb. She is also another one of the truly menacing Bond villians in the series.
Daniela Bianchi is a true delight to watch on screen as the SPECTRE agent Tatiana Romanova who is assigned to seduce Bond and lead him into the hands of the assassins. She eventually falls for Bond and does not want him harmed. The chemistry between Bianchi and Connery is unmatched by any other Bond girl-Bond chemistry in the entire series.
It may sound as though, from this review, that I think that From Russia With Love is the best of the Bond films. Not true, but it is close. From Russia With Love does drag in some parts of the film, but it makes up for the few slow parts with some magnificent scenes. The fight between Grant and Bond in the train car is one of the best fights ever filmed. It is extremely violent, and one can tell just from watching it that it took a lot of hard work and preparation to put that scene together, and it clicks with the audience quite well. You truly get the sense from that scene that Grant and Bond hate eachother, and rightfully so. The finale when Rosa Klebb tries to kill Bond with her poison-tipped shoe is also another highlight.
From Russia With Love also represents one of the musical highlights of the series in John Barry’s score. It is a very sensual and compelling score that enhances the film without drawing attention away from the screen and to the score, as some non-Barry Bond scores have been known to do.
This is the film that Connery became James Bond. Its just a real spy thriller. There’s no secret lair, theres no metal-toothed henchman. This movie gives us the first real taste of cinematic SPECTRE, but it is long before Blofeld became larger-than-life, or at all a self parody. The film does a great job of constantly building pressure constantly to the climactic meeting of Bond and Risa Klebb. Tania is perhaps my favorite Connery Bond Girl. Her near helplessness is almost endearing.
Love the visuals, love the music. I really enjoy this movie.
After seven films, Roger Moore retired from the role of James Bond in 1985. In 1987, Timothy Dalton made his 007 debut in The Living Daylights. His two James Bond outings don’t get the respect they deserve mainly due to the public’s disapproval of Dalton’s serious approach to the character.
John Barry is once again at the top of his game with a fantastic score and a catchy title song performed by the Norwegian trio, a-ha (Picture left to right — Keyboards: Magne Furuholmen, Guitar/Drums: Pal Waaktaar-Savoy and Vocals: Morten Harket). The Living Daylights would turn out to be John Barry’s last James Bond film. Some say he chose not to return because of his bad experience with a-ha, but maybe it’s just because eleven James Bond scores was enough for him.
Title Song: “The Living Daylights”
Film: The Living Daylights, 1987
Highest Chart Position: United Kingdom: #5
Highest Chart Position: United States: Didn’t Chart
Official Web Site: a-ha.com
Status: Active
Albums
Purchase a-ha’s Latest Album: “Lifelines”
from Amazon.com or Amazon.co.uk.
Compilations
Purchase a-ha’s Latest Compilation: “The Singles 1984-2004”
from Amazon.com or Amazon.co.uk.
Soundtracks
Purchase The Living Daylights Soundtrack
from Amazon.com or Amazon.co.uk.
Timothy Dalton returned as James Bond in 1989’s Licence To Kill. It would turn out to be Dalton’s final outing as Bond. Michael Kamen, known for action movies like Lethal Weapon, took over from John Barry. Kamen’s score put a fresh twist on the “James Bond Theme” and Gladys Knight performed the title song which was written by Narada Michael Walden, Jeffrey Cohen and Walter “Baby Love” Afanasieff.
Michael Kamen, Vic Flick, and Eric Clapton had composed a song for use as the title song and they got as far as shooting footage for the music video before the song was scrapped and replaced with Gladys Knight’s version. Clapton is rumored to have the only surviving copies of the song. Gladys Knight was the first female singer of a title song since Rita Coolidge’s “All Time High” for 1983’s Octopussy. Licence To Kill would turn out to feature Maurice Binder’s last James Bond title sequence before his death in 1991
Title Song: “Licence To Kill”
Film: Licence To Kill, 1989
Highest Chart Position: United Kingdom: #6
Highest Chart Position: United States: Didn’t Chart
See Gladys Knight LIVE in Las Vegas at the Flamingo: caesars.com
Status: Active
Albums
Purchase Gladys’ Latest Album: “At Last”
from Amazon.com or Amazon.co.uk.
Soundtracks
Purchase the Licence To Kill Soundtrack
from Amazon.com or Amazon.co.uk.
EA’s ‘From Russia With Love’
Electronic Arts (EA) launched the website teaser for their new James Bond video game, From Russia With Love on April 8th with a promise of more to come on April 27th.
Well… more has come. Only minutes ago, the full official website was launched. Not much is there yet, but check out the games features and sign up for EA’s James Bond 007 Communique’ Newsletter. There are also 18 screenshots and six pieces of concept art that make you wish the game was in your hands now. Sorry, you’ll have to wait, but not long.
EA GOES RETRO IN JAMES BOND FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE VIDEOGAME
Sean Connery to Reprise Role as BondREDWOOD CITY, Calif., April 28, 2005 – Electronic Arts (NASDAQ: ERTS) today announced the latest installment in the widely successful James Bond videogame franchise, From Russia With Love, starring Academy Award-winner, Sir Sean Connery. The highly anticipated game is scheduled to ship this fall on the PlayStation 2 computer entertainment system, the Xbox video game system from Microsoft, and the Nintendo GameCube under the EA GAMES brand.
From Russia With Love, the game, will be based on the classic Bond film but will also feature new plot twists, gadgets and characters. Sir Sean Connery, appearing in his first-ever videogame, lent his voice and likeness to the project.
“As an artist, I see this as another way to explore the creative process,” said Connery. “Video games are an extremely popular form of entertainment today, and I am looking forward to seeing how it all fits together.”
Officially licensed by MGM Interactive, From Russia With Love is being developed by EA’s Redwood Shores, Calif. studio. This game has not yet been rated by the ESRB.
– Official EA press release
Before the name became a legend
Before the boy became the man
He was just Bond…JAMES BOND
– U.S. tag line
Young James Bond by Kev Walker
Already a best seller in the UK, SilverFin, the first Young Bond novel by Charlie Higson, is officially released today in the U.S. (although many online retailers started shipping the hardcover as early as two weeks ago).
To coincide with the U.S. release, Ian Fleming Publications have unveiled a second illustration of young James Bond by Kev Walker; this one shows him in his Eton school uniform.
The U.S. edition of SilverFin from publisher Miramax/Hyperion will be slightly edited for content considered too “racy”, i.e., the sentence, “…her muscular legs gripping him like steel”, has been cut from the description of a wrestling match between Bond and “Bond Girl” Wilder Lawless.
Unlike the UK edition, which only came as a trade paperback, U.S. buyers have a choice of either a hardcover ($16.95) or paperback ($7.99) edition. (UPDATE: The paperback edition is being released at a later date TBA.)
The help promote the book in the U.S., author Charlie Higson will embark on a seven city reading and signing tour starting today in Chicago. The author will then move onto Denver, San Francisco, Seattle, Los Angeles, New York (New Jersey), and finally Washington D.C.
CLICK HERE for Charlie Higson’s complete book tour schedule with appearance details.
SilverFin is also being released this week in Portugal. A German edition has been announced for August.
The already completed Young Bond Book Two, which currently has the working title Double M, will be released in January 2006. It will be set largely in Sardinia (a location featured in the 1977 James Bond film classic The Spy Who Loved Me) and will involve art theft, smuggling, and bandits. Higson reports it will be an even longer book than the 372 page SilverFin.
Last weekend, Ian Fleming Publications released the first official image of James Bond at age 13. The illustration by Kev Walker is reportedly being considered for use on the cover of Book 2.
Keep watching CBn for the latest news on SilverFin and the Young Bond series.
Purchase the U.S. hardcover edition of SilverFin
Purchase the U.S. paperback edition of SilverFin (release date TBA)
In September of 1982 that John Gardner’s second James Bond 007 novel, For Special Services, was published. Continuing on after his previous James Bond novel Licence Renewed, this novel has today become one of his most popular Bond adventures. CBn looks back at this second of ultimately 16 novels in total written by Gardner in the 80’s and 90’s. Included are trivia notes about the book and CBn forum fan reactions.
UK first edition
As with the first continuation James Bond novel, Licence Renewed, I must acknowledge grateful thanks to the literary copyright holders – Glidrose Productions – for inviting me to follow in Ian Fleming’s footsteps, and attempt to bring Mr. Bond into the 1980s. In particular, my personal thanks to Dennis Joss, Peter Janson-Smith, and John Parkinson, for their patience and trust.
Great acknowledgments must also go to Peter Israel, of the Putnam Publishing Group, and my personal manager, Desmond Elliott, both of whom have given me valuable assistance and support: as have Tom Maschler, Mary Banks and, particularly, Tony Colwell, who spotted a character flaw and brilliantly suggested a major plot change. I would also like to express my personal gratitude to all members of Saab (GB) Ltd, and Saab-Scania in Sweden, for the amount of time, trouble, patience and enthusiasm they have put into proving that the James Bond Saab really does exist. In particular, I must mention – among a host of others – John Smerdon, Steve Andresier, Philip Hall, John Edwards, Ian Adcock, Peter Seltzer, and Hans Thornquist.
When going through the acknowledgments for Licence Renewed, I realised I had omitted a most important name – the knowledgeable man who privately researched a short list of motorcars, which eventually led to my putting Mr Bond into a Saab: Tony Snare.
Ian Fleming, being the great craftsman he was, always attempted – with some licence, granted to all writers of fiction – to get the nuts and bolts correct. I have tried to do the same thing, with one exception. While the NORAD Command Headquarters exists – in the Cheyenne Mountains, Colorado – I found it impossible to get any accurate description of the way into this incredible defence base. It has, therefore, been necessary for some invention here. All the space satellites mentioned do exist, and it is my understanding that the race for a Particle Beam Weapon is going on at this moment.
The only exception, among the satellites, is the important one which I have designated the Space Wolf. However, I am firmly assured that the capability of these weapons does exist and that they are real, even though, at the time of writing, no country will admit to any being in orbit.
1982 – John Gardner
German paperback
For Special Services is the pick of the bunch. It’s probably Gardner’s best novel as well in my opinion. Highly entertaining stuff.
CBn Forum member 1q2w3e4r
For Special Services. Top twist. Basic plot’s got heavy Goldfinger overtones, the drugged ice cream etc. Bit gimmicky with the return of SPECTRE and Leiter’s daughter, but suitably nasty bit with the ants on the bed. A traitor. Great. Long sequences in a hotel room. Er…great.
CBn Forum member Jim
UK paperback
The book For Special Services is the best over all Gardner Bond novel. From the begining to the end an excellent, thrilling Bond novel. Gardner dealt with the return of SPECTRE, and Blofeld in a very unique way, and forces Bond to deal with emotions and issue that have been left hanging since You Only Live Twice. The revenge motive on the part of both Bond and Blofeld made the tension more so.
CBn Forum member kevrichardson
Either For Special Services or Icebreaker would make great Bond films.
CBn Forum member tdalton
I really like For Special Services. I love the fact that the villain has recreated Tara (the house from Gone With The Wind) out in the middle of the Texas desert with a full car racetrack set up for fun and games. Now that’s just strange enough to be in Bond story! I miss outrageous lairs like this — lairs that grow out of the villain’s twisted mind.
CBn Forum member zencat
Ian Fleming Publications has unveiled plans to spin off their successful Young Bond concept into a series of graphic novels based on the character. The illustrated adventures of Young Bond are reportedly due out at the end of 2006.
Young James Bond by Kev Walker
This is the first announcement of an expansion of the Young Bond franchise beyond the five planned novels by author Charlie Higson. Whether the new graphic novels will be adaptations of the Higson novels or original adventures is not yet known.
In conjunction with this announcement, IFP has revealed the first official image of James Bond at age 13.
The image, crafted by illustrator Kev Walker (best known for his work on the Judge Dread comics), keeps in-style with other illustrations featured on the official Young Bond website. Walker’s image shows Bond as a lanky youth with shaggy hair, loose trousers and a rather daggy-looking jacket, a far cry from the tuxedo-clad spy we’re all familiar with.
“The hardest thing when writing SilverFin was picturing the young Bond in my mind,” says author Charlie Higson. “We have so many different images of Bond as man, what would he have looked like as a boy? I was really pleased that we managed to get an artist as good as Kev Walker to imagine him for me. Now I know what he looks like. Kev’s also done a fantastic job of making the thirties look cool and exciting for a modern audience. Young Bond and his world have really come alive.”
Corinne Turner, Managing Director of Ian Fleming Publications, says: “This visualisation of Young Bond is an exciting stage in the development of the series. We want to take our readers beyond the books, and we think young boys will identify with the dynamic graphic novel style.”
The image is reportedly being considered for the cover of Higson’s second Young Bond novel due out in January of next year.
The first Young Bond novel, SilverFin, has already sold 30,000 copies in the UK and is due for release in the US next week (although many online retailers are shipping the book early).
Keep watching CBn for the latest news on SilverFin and the Young Bond series.
Purchase the U.S. hardcover edition of SilverFin
Purchase the UK paperback edition of SilverFin
SilverFin, the first Young James Bond novel by Charlie Higson, will be released in Germany as James Bond: Stille Wasser sind tödlich according to this listing on Amazon.de. The title translates to “Silent Waters Are Deadly.”
No cover art has been revealed, but it’s likely the art will be a variation on the now familiar “eel” artwork that has so far graced all editions. This will be the first original continuation novel since Raymond Benson’s 1998 The Facts of Death to be translated into German.
SilverFin has reportedly been sold to 15 different countries. The book was first released in the UK in March. It will be released in the U.S. and Portugal next week.
The release date for Stille Wasser sind tödlich is August 2005.
The James Bond continuation novels by Raymond Benson are now all officially out of print, according to the author himself. The Benson novels join the other out of print 007 adventures by Kingsley Amis, John Pearson, Christopher Wood, and John Gardner. Despite performing to expecations, Ian Fleming Publications has no plans to issue reprints.
Striking cover art was a hallmark of the Benson era
Currently the only in print James Bond novels are the original 14 books by Ian Fleming and the first Young Bond novel, SilverFin, by Charlie Higson.
However, Bond fans can still find the Raymond Benson continuation novels (as well as the other continuation novels) on eBay or via online book search engines like Bookfinder.com. Also, second hand copies can be found on the shelves of some used bookstores. Because of very low print runs, the UK hardcover first editions are becoming increasingly rare and expensive. The hardcover first edition of Tomorrow Never Dies, for example, sells for $300 and up.
The Benson short stories appeared exclusively in Playboy and TV Guide. Seeking out back issues of these magazines is the only way to read these 007 adventures.
Raymond Benson has gone on to pen the bestselling series of books based on Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell. His second book, tentatively titled Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell – Barracuda, is due for publication in Fall ’05.
Below is a checklist of the Raymond Benson James Bond adventures. Happy hunting!
To keep up with Raymond’s latest work, future appearances, and to purchase his books, visit Raymond Benson.com.
John Brosnan, author of the landmark first examination of the James Bond film phenomenon, James Bond in the Cinema, was found dead in his home in South Harrow. His death was reported on 11 April. Friends had become alarmed at his absence over Easter, and gained access to his flat. He had died in his sleep, possibly several days earlier. An autopsy determined that the cause of death was acute pancreatitis.
James Bond in the Cinema first edition, 1972
Brosnan was born in 1947 in Perth, Western Australia, and became active as a sci-fi fan in the mid 1960s. By 1970 he had moved to London, where he settled for good. Brosnan published at least 23 novels in his lifetime. His collaborations with Leroy Kettle were pseudonymous; the best known of these horror tales is probably Bedlam (1992), the film version of which (Beyond Bedlam) gave Liz Hurley her first main role. More ambitious science-fiction novels, under his own name, included the Sky Lords novels from 1988, and his last published novel, Mothership (2004). He had already completed a draft of the sequel at the time of his death.
But to Bond fans Brosnan (no relation to Pierce) is best known as the author of James Bond in the Cinema, the first book written about the 007 film phenomena. It was first published in the UK and U.S. in 1972 and covered the series up to Diamonds Are Forever. A revised edition in 1981, published only in the U.S., covered the series up to Moonraker. For Bond fans of the Connery and Moore era, James Bond in the Cinema was an essential part of any Bond collection.
CBn offers its sincere condolences to the family and friends of John Brosnan.
