love and luck

[theladyrose]

I'm not quite sure why, but I've always been drawn to this particular passage of Ian Fleming's. The man's not John le Carré by any means, but Fleming does have his profound moments amidst the "kiss kiss bang bang" of the Bond novels.

He was amused by by the impartiality of the roulette ball and of the playing-cards — and their eternal bias. He liked being an actor and a spectator and from his chair to take part in other men's dramas and decisions, until it came to his own turn to say that vital "yes" or "no," generally on a 50-50 chance.

Above all, he liked it that everything was one's own fault. There was only onself to praise or blame. Luck was a servant and not a master. Luck had to be accepted with a shrug or taken advantage of up to the hilt. But it had to be understood and recognized for what it was and not be confused with a faulty appreciation of the odds, for, at gambling, the deadly sin is to mistake bad play for bad luck.

One day, and he accepted the fact he would be brought to his knees by love or by luck. When that happened he knew that he oo would be branded with the deadly question mark he recognized so often in others, the promise to pay before you have lost: the acceptance of fallibiity.

[/end tonight's studying]

Comments

[st-crispins.livejournal.com]

but Fleming does have his profound moments amidst the "kiss kiss bang bang" of the Bond novels.

Yes. And that's why I fell in love with the novels (despite their out of date cultural chauvinism)and consider them far superior to the films.

There's a reason Fleming's book were bestsellers: they appealed not only to the broader audience but to a more intellectual audience (which included President Kennedy at the time).

Le Carre and Fleming form the two poles of modern espionage fiction. See here:

http://www.museum.tv/archives/etv/S/htmlS/spyprograms/spyprograms.htm

[theladyrose.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the link! Kennedy put From Russia With Love in his top 10 favorite books of all time, if I remember correctly; no wonder the producers were so quick to adapt that work as the second Bond film. From Russia With Love is probably the closest to a realistic spy thriller out of any of the films.

[one-blankpage.livejournal.com]

the dads' dance at fddd this year was based on that song. class of 007 - what else would they do? ;)


I've never watched the movies or read the books. perhaps I should?

[theladyrose.livejournal.com]

I wish I could've been there to see it! You'll have to describe the dance a little more. Do you mean "The Look of Love" from Casino Royale or the brass title theme? Those are the two most famous pieces of music from the movie.

You'd probably be better off with the books first, but I'm not sure if you'd particularly like some of them.

[romanticizing.livejournal.com]

Oh, I remember that passage. I read Casino Royale last year. I do like the books--I've only read a few, but I own most of them. I love tracking down the old paperbacks at used book stores. Have you read many of them?

You know, the other day I was watching something on TV and I suddenly realized the characters were playing baccarat. I made myself pay attention when Fleming was describing the rules in the book, and I actually remembered! That was my little exciting nerd moment.

By the way, I started watching The Prisoner this weekend past :)

[theladyrose.livejournal.com]

I've read Casino Royale and a few of the short stories, but I've been wanting to read the rest of the original Fleming novels for ages. The cover art on the earlier editions is gorgeous, although the new reprint covers aren't too bad. Which ones have you read?

Yay for understanding baccarat; Fleming does go into great detail about all of the plays, doesn't he? It breaks my heart that they're playing Texas Hold 'Em in the upcoming movie. Ian Fleming must be rolling in his grave.

Oh, the Prisoner! I hope that you like it — there's much trippy philosophical goodness to be found :)

[romanticizing.livejournal.com]

Were the short stories from For Your Eyes Only? I read some of those, though I can't remember how many. I do remember the awesome cover, though:



Most of the ones I have are the Signet books that look like that. Besides Casino Royale, I've also read Goldfinger and The Spy Who Loved Me (which is kind of bizarre and written from the perspective of the main character who's some random girl, so it's a while before Bond even enters the story--and it's completely different from the movie). I feel like I might've read one other but I can't remember it right now. They're fun, anyway, and rather quick reads.

Texas Hold 'Em? What?! I didn't know that. Yeesh. That's not cool! I really hope the movie's good, though; I am kind of worried about it. I noticed there were a lot more things blowing up in the trailer than in the book.

I've only watched two episodes of The Prisoner so far, but I am intrigued. It's yet another TV show I've started watching because Ron Grainer did the theme :x It's such an awesome theme, though!
I keep meaning to ask my mother about Secret Agent, because I know she used to watch it. We sang the theme song in the car on our way home from the Spy Museum last summer :)

[theladyrose.livejournal.com]

Yes, For Your Eyes Only is one of his short story collections; the other is Octopussy and the Living Daylights.

I'm somewhat familiar with the female narrator (Vivienne Michel, I think?) of The Spy Who Loved Me; Fleming apparently was so convinced that the novel was a failure that he allowed the producers to use only the title and nothing else from the novel. I've also heard that most fans think that the film adaptation of Goldfinger is superior to the novel just because Fleming drags on so long with the golf and other little plot details. That, and Pussy Galore wasn't implied to be a lesbian at all in the movie.

They've kept the general Le Chiffre/casino game/torture premise for the movie; I'm hoping that the Bond/Vesper relationship will follow Fleming's vision. For a supposed return to Bond's origins, the movie's premise looks awfully modern.

Which episodes have you seen of the Prisoner so far? I can assure you that the last few ones are even more mind-bending and rather sci-fish.

The title theme is excellent, isn't it? It makes me sad that there are so few instrumental title themes for modern TV shows. There are a few rumors that Patrick McGoohan actually whistled the theme to Grainer to arrange, but I think that theory's bunk. The rejected arrangements of Grainer's theme are pretty interesting as well; there's a more big-band version as well as a softer, more contemplative one. I could upload them for you and/or all of the soundtracks if you like.

Danger Man is possibly my favorite British spy show ever; though it's more conventional in premise (lone spy averting political troubles at home and around the world) there's a morally ambiguous realistic feel that prevents the show from feeling dated. If you do get around to seeing it some time, I'd be interested in hearing whether or not you think John Drake is Number Six.

I really have to visit the Spy Museum sometime; it's on my lifetime dream list of places I want to go to :)

[romanticizing.livejournal.com]

Yep, Vivienne Michel. I think I liked the book, though it's been a few years since I read it so I don't remember it that well. I do remember that it was basically Vivienne's life as a series of horrible experiences with horrible men until our Commander Bond shows up. It just seemed kind of odd to have him be absent for so much of the book.

Haha, oh man, the lesbian (or, as he wrote, Lesbian) stuff in Goldfinger is just.. well, it's sort of embarrassing to read now. I was cracking up during those parts. The best bit is the end. Throughout the book, it's been mentioned that she's a lesbian, and Bond is thinking how she's such a challenge (rather than, y'know, "Oh she's a lesbian so never mind"). And the end.. OK, I'm going to see if I can find it somewhere, because I'm sure it's much better than my summary would be.
OK, here's the last 2 pages:





HAHA. That's just insane. "I never met a man before"? Oh dear. So terribly cheesy. And the South isn't like that! And why does he say TLC is short for Tender Loving Care treatment instead of just Tender Loving Care? And.. yeah, none of that held up at all. Plus she's supposed to be an acrobat-turned-burglar, which doesn't really make sense either.

I'm a little concerned about the Bond/Vesper relationship since they randomly threw another girl in the movie. But aside from that I hope it's like it was in the book. And I still don't really know what to make of Daniel Craig.

I've only seen two episodes of The Prisoner so far, but I think I'm going to watch another just now.

Oh, it's such a shame about themes for modern TV shows! I love the old instrumental themes. Anyway, yeah, I would love to hear the other Grainer stuff whenever you've got the time. I really wish I could track down more of his stuff. I just found a few more online yesterday, which I am happy about. Have you heard of this show Man in a Suitcase? Apparently a lot of the people from Danger Man worked on it. It sounds neat, but it's not out on DVD here, unfortunately. I did find one episode online, though. Grainer did the theme, too, and I really like it. If you haven't heard it, I can give you a link or something. It seems like the sort of thing you'd know about, though.

Wow, that's quite a recommendation for Danger Man. I definitely want to check it out sometime. Oh, I can get the DVDs through inter-library loan! I think I'll do that. So much TV to watch..

The Spy Museum is awesome. It's one of the few museums in DC that charge admission. They have a really amazing collection of actual spy stuff, and they have movie and TV stuff, too. They have the shoe phone from Get Smart! Oh, and they had a ceiling vent thing you could climb through, which I thought was pretty much the coolest thing ever. And they have a HUGE shop, but I was broke at the time so I didn't get anything. Ooh, I see on the web site they are doing spy-themed tours of DC now! I'll have to do that when I go home on break. Have you been to DC before?

sorry, this is a superlong comment

[theladyrose.livejournal.com]

There's no need to apologize; I like superlong comments :)

That passage is hilarious! Try as he might, Fleming's not exactly the best man to delve into female psychology or sexuality. I remember hearing of one particularly controversial line of his that sounded something like "All women love the sweet tang of semi-rape." Apparently his description of Las Vegas in Diamonds Are Forever is a little kooky, too.

I really hope that the other woman will have as much screen time and relevance to the plot as the woman on the boat in the pre-titles sequence from the Living Daylights. It seems to me that Daniel Craig's probably closer to a Timothy Dalton than a George Lazenby (although it feels rather insulting comparing an established, talented actor like Craig to Lazenby). I'm really hoping that he'll keep Casino Royale grounded enough and stay truer to Fleming's characterization even if the rest of the movie is going "bang bang" most of the time.

I've uploaded the Prisoner music here (http://theladyrose.livejournal.com/194888.html?mode=reply). I'm not acquainted with Grainer's Man in a Suitcase theme, but I would appreciate hearing it.

Yay for interlibrary loans! I do think that you'll enjoy Danger Man; it has a lot of the moral ambivalence and glamor that Fleming touches on in his work but with a more idealistic flair. It makes for an interesting comparison to the trippy cynicism of the Prisoner.

There's this great book called Saints & Avengers: British Adventure Series of the 1960's by James Chapman that offers some interesting perspective on how shows like Danger Man and Man in a Suitcase portrayed political and social trends. You might be interested in the historical aspect.

I've been to DC twice, but the last time was at least five years ago. After all that you've said about the Spy Museum, you've convinced me that I need to go back and visit :)

[romanticizing.livejournal.com]

That "semi-rape" line sounds familiar, actually. That's pretty awful. I think the other books I read had similarly demeaning descriptions. I still like reading them, though!

I really hope that the other woman will have as much screen time and relevance to the plot as the woman on the boat in the pre-titles sequence from the Living Daylights.

Haha, that's a perfect way of putting it. And amusing, actually, since I keep meaning to do a post on that sequence, and I think I might actually get around to it this weekend. It's one of the best ones, I think. (Oh--did you see the fake Entertainment Weekly covers from the summer, by the way?)

Thanks for the music to The Prisoner! Here is the Man in a Suitcase theme. It's a crap quality mp3, but at least it's longer than the 30-second title sequence (which is actually around on YouTube).
Do you have a favorite TV theme song?

Hmm, I might have to check out that book you mentioned. I requested Danger Man from the library, but I guess I should finish The Prisoner first, haha.

What did you think of DC when you visited? I spent a long time hating it but now that I'm at school, of course, I miss it. I sort of rediscovered the city over the summer, and now I think it's great :) There's so much there!

[romanticizing.livejournal.com]

Oh, and I meant to add: Fleming goes into such detail about baccarat in Casino Royale, but he goes into much more detail about golf in Goldfinger. He explains the rules for like ten pages. That took me forever to get through!