The Incredible World of James Bond
Encyclopedia
The Incredible World of James Bond was a 1965
television special
produced by David L. Wolper
for United Artists Television
to showcase the James Bond
film series
and promote the upcoming December 1965 release of the film Thunderball
.
In the United States, the show replaced The Man From U.N.C.L.E.
on NBC
on Friday, 26 November 1965; the day
after American Thanksgiving
that unofficially begins the shopping frenzy for Christmas
. It was the highest rated American television show for the week.
merchandise, black and white scenes of Ian Fleming
at his home Goldeneye
in Jamaica
giving comments on his writing, a biography of James Bond
with footage of Glencoe, Eton
, Fettes College
, and Royal Marine Commandos on exercise, home movie footage shot by production designer
Ken Adam
in the Bahamas during the production of Thunderball, and scenes from four Bond films.
Behind the scenes footage from the making of
Thunderball included scenes of the preparation and filming of a scene of a rocket firing motorcycle destroying Count Lippe's car, a choreographed fist fight in a studio mock up of the cabin of the Disco Volante
, a photo shoot
of the Bond girls on a beach in the Bahamas, and a scene of the Aston Martin DB5
driving away from the Château d'Anet
that was not seen in the finished film.
Director Terence Young, producers Albert R. Broccoli
, Harry Saltzman
, Kevin McClory
, editor Peter R. Hunt
and action director and stuntman Bob Simmons
are shown during sequences. The James Bond Theme and other music from the Bond film soundtracks are heard with the gun barrel titles and 007 logo from the Goldfinger film trailer appearing in the opening titles.
The narration was to have been originally given by Sean Connery
. However when Connery read the script and found out they were referring to James Bond as an actual person he refused to do the show. Telephone calls from Joan Crawford
who was a major shareholder in Pepsi Cola, the sponsor of the show, failed to sway Connery and his narrating chores were taken by Alexander Scourby
.
The special is available on DVD on the "James Bond Ultimate Edition" of Thunderball.
toys and a record album titled The Incredible World of James Bond. The album featured the original soundtrack
music and cover version
s of four of the themes from the first three Bond films played by United Artists Records
house band The Leroy Holmes
Orchestra. The back of the album cover
was full of photographic stills from the Bond films. The record was later reissued with an attractive Frank Gauna designed album cover
on Unart Records in 1967 with two music tracks deleted to fit on the budget album.
1965 in television
The year 1965 in television involved some significant events.Below is a list of television-related events in 1965.For the American TV schedule, see: 1965-66 American network television schedule.-Events:...
television special
Television special
A television special is a television program which interrupts or temporarily replaces programming normally scheduled for a given time slot. Sometimes, however, the term is given to a telecast of a theatrical film, such as The Wizard of Oz or The Ten Commandments, which is not part of a regular...
produced by David L. Wolper
David L. Wolper
David Lloyd Wolper was an American television and film producer, responsible for shows such as Roots, The Thorn Birds, North & South, L.A. Confidential, and the film Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory...
for United Artists Television
United Artists Television
-Background:UA purchased Associated Artists Productions in 1958, giving UA access to the pre-1950 Warner Bros. library and the Popeye cartoons made by Fleischer Studios and Famous Studios between 1933 and 1957....
to showcase the James Bond
James Bond
James Bond, code name 007, is a fictional character created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels and two short story collections. There have been a six other authors who wrote authorised Bond novels or novelizations after Fleming's death in 1964: Kingsley Amis,...
film series
Film series
A film series is a collection of related films in succession. Their relationship is not fixed, but generally share a common diegetic world. Sometimes the work is conceived as a multiple-film work, for example the Three Colours series, but in most cases the success of the original film inspires...
and promote the upcoming December 1965 release of the film Thunderball
Thunderball (film)
Thunderball is the fourth spy film in the James Bond series starring Sean Connery as the fictional MI6 agent James Bond. It is an adaptation of the novel of the same name by Ian Fleming, which in turn was based on an original screenplay by Jack Whittingham...
.
In the United States, the show replaced The Man From U.N.C.L.E.
The Man from U.N.C.L.E.
The Man from U.N.C.L.E. is an American television series that was broadcast on NBC from September 22, 1964, to January 15, 1968. It follows the exploits of two secret agents, played by Robert Vaughn and David McCallum, who work for a fictitious secret international espionage and law-enforcement...
on NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
on Friday, 26 November 1965; the day
Black Friday (shopping)
Black Friday is the day following Thanksgiving Day in the United States, traditionally the beginning of the Christmas shopping season. On this day, most major retailers open extremely early, often at 4 a.m., or earlier, and offer promotional sales to kick off the shopping season, similar to Boxing...
after American Thanksgiving
Thanksgiving
Thanksgiving Day is a holiday celebrated primarily in the United States and Canada. Thanksgiving is celebrated each year on the second Monday of October in Canada and on the fourth Thursday of November in the United States. In Canada, Thanksgiving falls on the same day as Columbus Day in the...
that unofficially begins the shopping frenzy for Christmas
Christmas
Christmas or Christmas Day is an annual holiday generally celebrated on December 25 by billions of people around the world. It is a Christian feast that commemorates the birth of Jesus Christ, liturgically closing the Advent season and initiating the season of Christmastide, which lasts twelve days...
. It was the highest rated American television show for the week.
Plot and production
The show featured film scenes of the worldwide popularity of James Bond novels, films, and tie-inTie-in
A tie-in is an authorized product based on a media property a company is releasing, such as a movie or video/DVD, computer game, video game, television program/television series, board game, web site, role-playing game or literary property...
merchandise, black and white scenes of Ian Fleming
Ian Fleming
Ian Lancaster Fleming was a British author, journalist and Naval Intelligence Officer.Fleming is best known for creating the fictional British spy James Bond and for a series of twelve novels and nine short stories about the character, one of the biggest-selling series of fictional books of...
at his home Goldeneye
Goldeneye (estate)
Goldeneye was the name given by Ian Fleming to his estate in Oracabessa, Jamaica. He purchased the land next door to Golden Clouds estate and built his house on the edge of a cliff, overlooking a private beach. The original house was a modest structure consisting of three bedrooms and a swimming...
in Jamaica
Jamaica
Jamaica is an island nation of the Greater Antilles, in length, up to in width and 10,990 square kilometres in area. It is situated in the Caribbean Sea, about south of Cuba, and west of Hispaniola, the island harbouring the nation-states Haiti and the Dominican Republic...
giving comments on his writing, a biography of James Bond
James Bond (character)
Royal Navy Commander James Bond, CMG, RNVR is a fictional character created by journalist and novelist Ian Fleming in 1953. He is the main protagonist of the James Bond series of novels, films, comics and video games...
with footage of Glencoe, Eton
Eton College
Eton College, often referred to simply as Eton, is a British independent school for boys aged 13 to 18. It was founded in 1440 by King Henry VI as "The King's College of Our Lady of Eton besides Wyndsor"....
, Fettes College
Fettes College
Fettes College is an independent school for boarding and day pupils in Edinburgh, Scotland with over two thirds of its pupils in residence on campus...
, and Royal Marine Commandos on exercise, home movie footage shot by production designer
Production designer
In film and television, a production designer is the person responsible for the overall look of a filmed event such as films, TV programs, music videos or adverts. Production designers have one of the key creative roles in the creation of motion pictures and television. Working directly with the...
Ken Adam
Ken Adam
Sir Kenneth Adam, OBE, born Klaus Hugo Adam , is a motion picture production designer most famous for his set designs for the James Bond films of the 1960s and 1970s.-Childhood in Germany:...
in the Bahamas during the production of Thunderball, and scenes from four Bond films.
Behind the scenes footage from the making of
Making-of
In cinema, a making-of, also known as behind-the-scenes, is a documentary film that features the production of a film or television program...
Thunderball included scenes of the preparation and filming of a scene of a rocket firing motorcycle destroying Count Lippe's car, a choreographed fist fight in a studio mock up of the cabin of the Disco Volante
Disco Volante
Disco Volante is a 1995 album by the band Mr. Bungle. It is by far the most experimental of all their productions, as it picks up inspirations from a wide variety of musical styles, including death metal, techno, '50s space age pop, musique concrète and Italian avant-garde...
, a photo shoot
Photo shoot
A photo shoot is generally used in the fashion industry, whereby a model poses for a photographer at a studio where multiple photos are taken to find the best ones for the required brief...
of the Bond girls on a beach in the Bahamas, and a scene of the Aston Martin DB5
Aston Martin DB5
The Aston Martin DB5 is a luxury grand tourer that was made by Aston Martin. Released in 1963, it was an evolution of the final series of DB4. The DB series was named honouring David Brown ....
driving away from the Château d'Anet
Château d'Anet
The Château d'Anet is a château near Dreux, France, built by Philibert de l'Orme from 1547 to 1552 for Diane de Poitiers, the mistress of Henry II of France...
that was not seen in the finished film.
Director Terence Young, producers Albert R. Broccoli
Albert R. Broccoli
Albert Romolo Broccoli, CBE , nicknamed "Cubby", was an American film producer, who made more than 40 motion pictures throughout his career, most of them in the United Kingdom, and often filmed at Pinewood Studios. Co-founder of Danjaq, LLC and EON Productions, Broccoli is most notable as the...
, Harry Saltzman
Harry Saltzman
Harry Saltzman was a Canadian theatre and film producer best known for his mega-gamble which resulted in his co-producing the James Bond film series with Albert R...
, Kevin McClory
Kevin McClory
Kevin O'Donovan McClory was an Irish screenwriter, producer, and director. McClory was best known for the 1983 James Bond film Never Say Never Again, which was the result of a long legal battle between McClory and Ian Fleming over the writing credits and later the film rights to...
, editor Peter R. Hunt
Peter R. Hunt
Peter R. Hunt was an English film editor, television producer and director. Hunt was known for his work on the James Bond films with his innovative editing style.-Career:...
and action director and stuntman Bob Simmons
Bob Simmons (stunt man)
Bob Simmons was an English actor and stunt man, best known for his work in many British made films, most notably the James Bond series.-Biography:...
are shown during sequences. The James Bond Theme and other music from the Bond film soundtracks are heard with the gun barrel titles and 007 logo from the Goldfinger film trailer appearing in the opening titles.
The narration was to have been originally given by Sean Connery
Sean Connery
Sir Thomas Sean Connery , better known as Sean Connery, is a Scottish actor and producer who has won an Academy Award, two BAFTA Awards and three Golden Globes Sir Thomas Sean Connery (born 25 August 1930), better known as Sean Connery, is a Scottish actor and producer who has won an Academy...
. However when Connery read the script and found out they were referring to James Bond as an actual person he refused to do the show. Telephone calls from Joan Crawford
Joan Crawford
Joan Crawford , born Lucille Fay LeSueur, was an American actress in film, television and theatre....
who was a major shareholder in Pepsi Cola, the sponsor of the show, failed to sway Connery and his narrating chores were taken by Alexander Scourby
Alexander Scourby
Alexander Scourby was an American film, television, and voice actor known for his deep and resonant voice...
.
The special is available on DVD on the "James Bond Ultimate Edition" of Thunderball.
Record album
Pepsi Cola and Frito Lay also sold promotional James Bond tie-inTie-in
A tie-in is an authorized product based on a media property a company is releasing, such as a movie or video/DVD, computer game, video game, television program/television series, board game, web site, role-playing game or literary property...
toys and a record album titled The Incredible World of James Bond. The album featured the original soundtrack
Soundtrack
A soundtrack can be recorded music accompanying and synchronized to the images of a motion picture, book, television program or video game; a commercially released soundtrack album of music as featured in the soundtrack of a film or TV show; or the physical area of a film that contains the...
music and cover version
Cover version
In popular music, a cover version or cover song, or simply cover, is a new performance or recording of a contemporary or previously recorded, commercially released song or popular song...
s of four of the themes from the first three Bond films played by United Artists Records
United Artists Records
United Artists Records was a record label founded by Max E. Youngstein of United Artists in 1957 initially to distribute records of its movie soundtracks, though it soon branched out into recording music of a number of different genres.-History:...
house band The Leroy Holmes
LeRoy Holmes
LeRoy Holmes was an American songwriter, composer, arranger and conductor....
Orchestra. The back of the album cover
Album cover
An album cover is the front of the packaging of a commercially released audio recording product, or album. The term can refer to either the printed cardboard covers typically used to package sets of 10" and 12" 78 rpm records, single and sets of 12" LPs, sets of 45 rpm records , or the front-facing...
was full of photographic stills from the Bond films. The record was later reissued with an attractive Frank Gauna designed album cover
Album cover
An album cover is the front of the packaging of a commercially released audio recording product, or album. The term can refer to either the printed cardboard covers typically used to package sets of 10" and 12" 78 rpm records, single and sets of 12" LPs, sets of 45 rpm records , or the front-facing...
on Unart Records in 1967 with two music tracks deleted to fit on the budget album.
External links
- documentary credits http://www.davidlwolper.com/shows/details.cfm?showID=196
- Record album http://www.317x.com/albums/v/various/card.html