JAMES BOND

 

 

 

 

JAMES BOND

 

 

Dr No Ursula Andress and Sean Connery in Dr. No.     This brilliantly directed and innovative spy movie has arguably the most famous and erotic scene in all the Bond movies – Honey Rider, played by Ursula Andress, slowly emerging from the sea. Sean Connery of course plays Bond. He is usually rated the best of the Bond actors, although not by me. I reserve that accolade, controversially perhaps (especially for someone as controversy-averse as myself!), for Australian George Lazenby, the only Bond actor to have had a special forces background. It is the first of the movies, based on Ian Fleming’s superb spy novel of the same name, published in 1958. The movies are out of sequence with the books, partly because Harry Saltzman and Cubby Broccoli never acquired the movie rights to the first Bond book, Casino Royale. In my humble opinion (and all y’all know by now how humble I am!) Jack Lord is the best Felix Leiter there has ever been.   Jack Lord as Felix Leiter and Sean Connery as James Bond None of the movies comes up to the books, but you can see why the movie was such a sensation back in ‘63. The music is wonderful, the opening credits still look good, and some of the acting is superb. Joseph Wiseman makes a splendid baddie, whilst the Superintendent could have come straight from central casting. Bond girl Ursula Andress, playing Honey Ryder, emerges from the sea in a bikini ¿ a sequence dubbed one of the sexiest in film history The Jamaican setting is wonderfully evocative. It’s still worth watching. They’ll still be showing it in fifty years, long after its critics have moved on to pastures new. The fictional SPECTRE was of course modeled on the DVD, about which Ian Fleming was well-informed. Ian Fleming wanted his first James Bond film to feature Mafia villains and be as fast-paced as possible to distract the audience from unlikely storylines, a previously unseen memo reveals. The message from the author, written in 1958, warned against any 'cardboard' acting and suggested the script writers should use an Italian phone directory to make the names as authentic as possible. While the Mafia did not feature in a Bond film, the plot ultimately formed the basis for the Thunderball movie, though with significant changes. No cardboard: This memo, written by Ian Fleming to Jack Whittingham in 1958, outlines the plot for a Bond film which would eventually become Thunderball   Memo: Ian Fleming, pictured, sent the suggested to playwright Jack Whittingham Differences between the original script and the Thunderball familiar to fans include dropping the Mafia villains in favour of global terrorist group SPECTRE, and changing Bond's love interest from straight-laced police investigator to a fiery, sexually-aware young woman called Domino. He sent the page-long summary of ideas for the film - which had suggested titles of James Bond, Secret Agent, and later Longitude 78 West - to playwright Jack Whittingham, who was tasked with producing the first 007 screenplay. A secret memo in which Mr Fleming spells out his ideas for the first James Bond movie including using names from the phonebook for characters has come to light. The correspondences predates Dr No, the first Bond film to make it to cinemas, by four years. Although a final script was made for the film, it never went into production due to a legal wrangle. Along with the memo is a final edition bound script for Thunderball, which will be sold at auction in London this month. The items were held by Mr Whittingham, who died in 1972, and have now been made available by his estate. In his memo the prolific novelist outlined the plot, involving the Mafia blackmailing the British out of £100million pounds using a stolen nuclear warhead.         Final cut: The script developed by Mr Fleming and Whittingham eventually became the film Thunderball, starring Sean Connery (pictured) Mr Fleming wrote: 'My concern is... to make it as fast-moving and packed with incidents as possible. To my mind the chief weakness is the thinness of the Mafia threat and this must be considerably strengthened. 'I am badly in need of good Italian names for the Mafia gangsters and these could perhaps be obtained from the Venice telephone directory! 'In order to keep the feet of this film firmly on the ground production will have to be particularly brisk so as not to allow the audience time to worry about probabilities. 'Production will have to be particularly strong in portraying the Secret Service and the Mafia. Any suspicion of cardboard must be avoided and the acting throughout should be under-played and without exaggeration. 'More subsidiary incidents should be added where there is any sign of the pace flagging but, for the time being, my invention has run out.'       Novel: Mr Fleming later turned the script into a novel (right) but did not credit Mr Whittingham or his producer, who had helped craft it. A court case later awarded Mr Whittingham the film rights to the book. The finished screenplay, right, is part of the auction lot Although the scrip was finalised, plans for the film were shelved in 1960 due to a disagreement with producer Kevin McClory. Mr Fleming went on to write Thunderball as a novel in 1961, but in doing so failed to credit Whittingham and McClory for their input. The case was settled out of court in November 1963 and McClory was awarded the film rights for Thunderball, which premiered in 1965, a year after Fleming's death. The memo along with a first draft 'continuity treatment' for Thunderball by Whittingham, and first draft shooting script for the film that are all for sale now were used as evidence in the case. Katherine Schofield, of auctioneers Bonhams, said: 'Fleming decided in 1958 to turn one of his James Bond books into a film and this pre-dated Dr No by four years.       Titles: Pages of the memo up for auction show potential titles for the film which would become Thunderball 'The memo is Fleming's thoughts of what the film would be. He was an amazing novelist but found it difficult to convert his work to the big screen which is why he employed Whittingham. 'Fleming is saying in the memo "let's do it like this". One idea he had was to use the Mafia as the bad guys which is different to what was eventually made. Never forget that writing books was just his day job. Poignantly, Dr No was the only Bond movie released before Ian Fleming, the greatest intelligence thriller writer of all time, was assassinated by the German DVD, using poison. Serena Scott Thomas Sophie Marceau Denise Richards Halle Berry

On the actor's 85th birthday, a look back at his classic role The link between the actor Sean Connery and the character James Bond has proved to be an indelible one, no matter what Connery himself thinks of that fact. The Scottish actor, who turns 85 on Aug. 25, told Playboy in a 1965 interview that—although the role had treated him well—he was “fed up to here with the whole Bond bit.” He found the fact that fans identified him with the secret agent “a bit of a bore,” and lamented the lack of recognition for his other roles. Still, as the first man to play Bond on screen, the association stuck. And when LIFE Magazine featured Connery on its cover in 1966, he posed—naturally—as his famous alter ego, in a tattered, drenched wetsuit unzipped to his navel. The photograph accompanied a review, inside the magazine, ofThunderball, Connery’s fourth installment in the franchise and, according to LIFE, the “wildest 007 movie yet.”   James Bond Girls – Then And Now   Eunice Gayson Daniela Bianchi   Shirley Eaton Honor Blackman Claudine Auger Akiko Wakabayashi Diana Rigg Lana Wood Jill St. John Jane Seymour Gloria Hendry     Maud Adams   Britt Ekland   Barbara Bach   Lois Chiles   Corinne Cléry   Lynn-Holly Johnson   Carole Bouquet   Grace Jones Tanya Roberts Maryam d’Abo Carey Lowell Famke Janssen Izabella Scorupco Teri Hatcher     Michelle Yeoh

Hungary has blocked the main crossing point from Serbia used by migrants as Austria, Slovakia and the Netherlands all followed Germany's lead to impose border controls

 

 

 

Slovakia and the Netherlands all followed Germany's lead to impose border controls

Europe shuts up shop: Hungary blocks main crossing point from Serbia used by migrants as Austria, Slovakia and Netherlands ALL follow Germany's lead to impose border controls A record 5,809 migrants entered Hungary in a new surge on Sunday, smashing the previous day's record of 4,330 Increase came ahead of laws coming into force tomorrow under which those entering Hungary illegally can be jailed Reports that Serbia will 'push through' as many as 30,000 migrants on Monday before tough new laws are rolled out Germany's Vice Chancellor Sigmar Gabriel said today that the country may take in up to a million refugees this year Hungary has blocked the main crossing point from Serbia used by migrants as Austria, Slovakia and the Netherlands all followed Germany's lead to impose border controls this afternoon. Police were seen closing off a gap in the razor-wire barrier along the Hungary-Serbia border as other officers former a human shield to block off the railway tracks. The move comes after it emerged that Hungary was bracing itself for a massive surge of up to 30,000 migrants in just one day as Serbia attempts a huge 'push through' before its neighbour introduces tough new border rules. A record 5,809 migrants entered Hungary in a new surge on Sunday, smashing the previous day's record of 4,330, Hungarian police have revealed. The sharp increase came ahead of laws coming into force tomorrow under which people entering the EU country illegally can be jailed.  Scroll down for video  +30 A refugee breaks down in tears as she cradles a child be the side of railway tracks at the Hungary-Serbia border near the town of Horgos. Thousands are expected to cross the border today +30 Germany, Slovakia and Austria have started to impose border controls in a bid to control the flow of migrants through Europe +30 Migrants wait to board a train at the Keleti railway station in Budapest, Hungary ahead of their journey to the Austrian border this morning +30 Hungary is set to introduce tough new border rules under which people entering the EU country illegally can be jailed. Hungarian soldiers are pictured near the border fence   More than 5,800 migrants entered Hungary on Sunday, breaking the previous day's record of 4,330. Migrants are pictured left and right waiting for a train in Budapest +30 With both countries imposing border controls, a traffic jam built up today on a road heading to Freilassing in Germany from Salzburg in Austria +30 A makeshift bedroom is prepared for migrants at a sports hall in Hanau, Germany. Refugees will continue to arrive in Germany despite the government's introduction of temporary border controls Index.hu reported that Hungary's neighbour Serbia would try to 'push through' as many as 30,000 migrants on Monday before the new Hungarian laws come in to force. Hungarian official sources are quoted as saying Serbia would speed up the provision of buses for the migrants, who enter Serbia from Macedonia after leaving Greece. Meanwhile, European Union members are on collision course today over proposals to distribute asylum-seekers across the continent - a plan backed by safe-haven Germany but resisted by several states in the east. Once in Hungary, most migrants seek to travel onto western Europe, particularly to Germany and Sweden, via Austria. But with tens of thousands crossing its frontiers, German authorities on Sunday decided to reinstate border controls, and all trains between Austria and Germany were temporarily suspended, leaving thousands effectively stranded in Austria. In addition to the new laws, Hungary is also building a controversial 13ft fence all along its 110-mile border with Serbia. Migrants board buses to travel from Hungary to Austria   +30 On the move: A refugee cradles a tiny baby as he leads others along a railway track at the Hungary-Serbia border this morning +30 Step by step: Two men raise up their arms in celebration as they walk down the tracks at the border between Serbia and Hungary this morning +30 In addition to the new laws, Hungary is also building a controversial 13ft fence all along its 110-mile border with Serbia. Migrants are pictured walking along the tracks near Hungary's border with Serbia +30 Thousands more migrants are expected to be 'pushed through' from Serbia to Hungary throughout today, it has been claimed +30 Migrants who arrive in Budapest (pictured) overnight gather in the morning at the railway station as they try to be on the early trains leaving Budapest due to fears that the borders will possibly close in the coming days +30 Many have been sleeping near the Keleti railway station in Budapest, Hungary, in the hope of catching early trains for the Austrian border Migrants sleep at Budapest train station on way to Austria   This morning, Germany's Vice Chancellor Sigmar Gabriel said the country may take in one million refugees this year, up from the record 800,000 arrivals predicted so far. 'There are many signs that Germany this year will take in not 800,000 refugees, as forecast by the interior ministry, but one million, he wrote to members of his centre-left Social Democratic party. It comes amid fears thousands of refugees will be plunged into 'legal limbo' as EU countries impose differing border rules to deal with the migrant crisis. The United Nations agency UNHCR warned the European Union that it must avoid fragmenting into a patchwork of countries with different border restrictions..   EU BACKS PLANS TO BLOW UP BOATS BELONGING TO PEOPLE SMUGGLERS OPERATING IN THE MEDITERRANEAN EU member states approved on Monday plans for military action against people smugglers in the Mediterranean, seizing and destroying boats to break up networks operating out of Libya, sources said. The European Union launched a first, intelligence gathering phase of its EU NavFor Med operation in July but now it will be allowed to stop and if necessary destroy boats which have carried thousands of migrants risking their lives to get to Europe. 'The conditions have been met' to launch the new military phase, one European diplomat told AFP. The decision comes as EU interior ministers meet later Monday in Brussels to try and agree quotas for the redistribution of the massive flood of migrants fleeing war and upheaval across the Middle East and North Africa. Many member states were reluctant to step up action against the traffickers for fear of getting embroiled in Libya where rival factions have been fighting it out for control since the ouster of longtime strongman Moamer Kadhafi in 2011. EU leaders agreed however that there had to be a much tougher response, including the use of force, after more than 700 migrants drowned off southern Italy in April. +30 EU member states approved on Monday plans for military action against people smugglers in the Mediterranean, seizing and destroying boats to break up networks operating out of Libya The second phase of the operation approved Monday still restricts EU NavFor Med to action in international waters. A third phase involves military action against people smugglers inside Libyan territorial waters, aiming to destroy their boats and networks before they set sail. This step is more controversial given the increased risks and requires at a minimum a UN Security Council resolution and preferably Libyan government agreement.  EU NavFor Med currently comprises four ships - one Italian, one British and two German - and sources said it will likely need several more vessels for the enlarged mission which is expected to begin next month. The EU, which has no central armed force of its own, has taken part in a whole series of peacekeeping and civilian emergency missions, among them anti-piracy operations off the Horn of Africa, military training in Somalia and Mali. A motorway linking Austria to Hungary, which crosses the border at the point where thousands of migrants have been streaming west towards Germany, has been closed in both directions this morning. 'The reason is the flow of migrants expected by the police,'  the Austrian road operator ASFINAG said in a statement, adding that traffic in the other direction had been halted on the Hungarian side. How long the closure would last was unknown, it added.  The interior minister of the southern German state of Bavaria said on Monday that temporary border controls could remain in place 'for weeks at least' as the country grapples with an unprecedented influx of refugees. Europe's largest and richest economy has been a magnet for many people fleeing war and poverty in Syria and other parts of the Middle East and Africa, with most crossing the border from Austria into Bavaria. +30 Refugees wait for buses after arriving at the border between Austria and Hungary near Heiligenkreuz, about 110 miles south of Vienna +30 Migrants carry children as they wait to be taken through the border between Austria and Hungary this morning +30 A man and a child sleep at the main railway station in Frankfurt am Main, western Germany, where refugees from Syria, Iraq and Pakistan arrived during the night +30 Refugees rested in Frankfurt am Main train station as it emerged that Germany is expecting to take in one million refugees this year +30 Walking the line: A migrant carries two of his children down the railway track in the early morning to a temporary holding centre for migrants near the border between Serbia and Hungary in Roszke, southern Hungary +30 Hungarian soldiers arrive at the border with Serbia near Roszke. Their arrival comes as Hungary prepares to introduce tough laws on people coming into the country +30 There are reports that Serbia would try to 'push through' as many as 25-30,000 migrants on Monday before the new Hungarian laws come in to force. Migrants are pictured walking towards a checkpoint near the border shared by the two countries With thousands of refugees arriving each day, Germany said it was reaching its limits and decided to temporarily introduce border controls late on Sunday afternoon, in a bid to stem the flood of arrivals. 'We need to have a stricter control here in general, because we have established in the past few days that there are many en route here that are not really refugees,' Bavarian Interior Minister Joachim Herrmann told radio station Bayern 2. 'It's got about in the last few days that you are successful if everyone claims to be Syrian,' he added. Controls on Germany's border with Austria have led to traffic jams at crossings this morning. Authorities in Bavaria said there was a roughly two-mile tailback Monday on the A8 highway at Bad Reichenhall, near the Austrian city of Salzburg, news agency dpa reported. Regional broadcaster Bayerischer Rundfunk reported a four-mile queue on the A3 highway near Passau. +30 Hungarian official sources say Serbia will speed up the provision of buses for the migrants today. Hungarian soldiers are pictured gathering near the border with Serbia at Roszke this morning +30 Migrants walk through the night towards a checkpoint along the railway tracks connecting Horgos and Szeged near Roszke, near the border between Hungary and Serbia A spokesman for German police on the border with Austria said they had arrested around 30 smugglers and about 90 migrants since the controls had been introduced. Meanwhile, train lines between Austria and Germany reopened on Monday morning apart from one line to Munich, which was still closed because of people on the track, a spokeswoman for Austrian rail company OeBB said. Luxembourg Foreign Minister Jean Asselborn told German radio that he understood Germany's decision, but said it was important that it remained a temporary measure. 'We need to all mind out that this doesn't result in a domino effect and that Schengen really collapses,' he said, referring to Europe's system of open borders. He called on interior ministers from the EU's 28 member states who are meeting in Brussels on Monday to reach concrete decisions on how to redistribute about 160,000 asylum seekers across the bloc. Not everyone in Germany believed the move to close the borders would improve the situation on the ground. +30 Border controls: A Hungarian soldier patrols along a huge fence erected along the border with Serbia near Roszke ahead of an expected influx of some 30,000 migrants +30 The sharp increase in refugees arriving in Hungary came ahead of laws coming into force tomorrow under which people entering the EU country illegally can be jailed 'These measures will not create more order but only much more chaos and will ensure that the conditions for the people now sitting or standing on the other side of the border will get even worse,' the parliamentary leader of the opposition Greens, Katrin Goering-Eckhardt told rbb radio. It comes as France called for the 'scrupulous respect by all European Union countries' of rules setting out the bloc's borderless Schengen zone. 'These rules, in particular, require the registration of migrants in the country where they crossed the (EU's) external borders,' French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said in a statement after speaking with his German counterpart.  Germany made the decision to reimpose border controls after admitting it could no longer cope with a record influx of refugees. The city of Munich alone recorded an influx of 63,000 asylum seekers in two weeks.  Under the Schengen agreement, temporary border controls are allowed for reasons of 'public policy or internal security'. France's anti-EU, far-right National Front on Sunday party urged France's leaders to 'suspend urgently the Schengen agreement and re-establish its borders, especially with Germany.' +30 Families could be seen walking along the litter-strewn railway track between Serbia and Hungary this morning as it emerged that record numbers arrived in Hungary on Sunday +30 There have been claims that Serbia is laying on extra buses to transport migrants ahead of a new clampdown on border rules in neighbouring Hungary Interior ministers from EU nations will meet this afternoon in an emergency council called to deal with the unprecedented influx of migrants. Diplomats said after talks in Brussels on Sunday that Hungary, Slovakia and the Czech Republic were refusing to accept the compulsory distribution of 120,000 asylum seekers - even though Hungary, which has taken in large numbers, would benefit. Renewed discussions on Monday morning did not produce any breakthrough either. One diplomat said Lithuania and Romania had also expressed unhappiness with the scheme that would oblige them to take in thousands of migrants fleeing violence and oppression in Iraq, Syria or Eritrea. 'I don't have the idea that we will get agreement at ministerial level,' the diplomat said, adding that meeting may just result in vague words on future relocation of migrants. 'The biggest question will be if there will be a wording on quota system and how it will look like,' said another. +30 Refugees who came via Hungary, are pictured in Nickelsdorf, Austria today. Controls on Germany's border with Austria have led to traffic jams at crossings this morning +30 Train lines between Austria and Germany reopened on Monday morning apart from one line to Munich, which was still closed because of people on the track. Refugees are pictured at a temporary camp in Austria today European Council President Donald Tusk said on Friday he would summon EU leaders for an emergency summit if their ministers could not agree a solution. However, some governments question the value of such a meeting before interior ministers meet again for a regular council on Oct. 8. Among arguments EU and German officials have used to press eastern leaders who say their societies cannot take in large numbers of immigrants have been warnings that failure to fix a common plan on migration could wreck the Schengen open borders system which is especially valued in formerly communist states.  Home affairs ministers will first receive a briefing by a number of EU and United Nations bodies, such as EU border agency Frontex and refugee agency UNHCR, about the latest information on migratory flows. They will also hear a presentation by the European Commission on its new proposals to redistribute asylum seekers across the bloc. An earlier plan to relocate 40,000 from Italy and Greece is expected to be given a legal green light by ministers, partly because it is voluntary - a result of EU leaders blocking a Juncker proposal for mandatory quotas in June. Diplomats said that Hungarian objections to the separate Juncker plan to relocate 120,000 from Italy, Greece and Hungary meant that the wording of the proposal would no longer specify from which countries asylum-seekers would be moved. Talks among EU envoys had also led to tougher wording on plans to deport unwanted migrants and tighten defences of the bloc's external borders - demands especially of eastern states.

DISPLACED PEOPLE OF WWII AP Photo Betti Malek—pictured on May 17, 1945—was one of numerous child refugees brought from Belgium to England after the Germans seized Antwerp in 1940. Peter J. Carroll—AP Photo Refugees in La Gleize, Belgium, on Jan. 2, 1945, wait to be transported from the war-torn town after its recapture by American forces during the German thrust into the Belgium-Luxembourg salient.   Ian Smith—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images A group of Dutch refugee children arriving at Coventry Station in the U.K., in 1945.   Leonard McCombe—The LIFE Images Collection/Getty Images Exhausted, homeless German refugees huddled in a city municipal building seeking shelter. 1945.   Keystone—AP Photo German civilian refugees prepare to flee war-torn Aachen, Germany as the battle for the doomed city draws to a close, Oct. 24, 1944.   FPG/Hulton Archive—Getty Images German civilian refugees walking through the streets of Aachen, Germany, on their way to a safer area away from the combat zone, on Oct. 15, 1944.   A Frenchwoman with two children and belongings loaded on a baby carriage seen in Haguenau, France on Feb. 20, 1945, before they started on their long trek to a safe rear area. They are some of the refugees leaving the town because of the planned withdrawal of the 7th U.S. Army.     ://