'A Thoroughly English Movie Franchise' Spectre, the James Bond Films, And

‘A thoroughly English movie franchise’ Spectre, the James Bond films, and Genre JAMES CHAPMAN The James Bond films are genre films par excellence: they demonstrate both the industrial processes of popular film-making and the narrative patterns of repeti- tion and variation that underpin the idea of genre in popular cinema. Indeed the Bond films are such a uni ue and distinctive brand in their o!n right that the term "Bondian# has been coined to describe both the professional discourses of the film-makers on the one hand and the style and content of the films on the other. $s Janet %oolacott noted after observing the making of The Spy Who Loved Me '()**+ for an ,pen -niversity case study of media production: ".Bondian/ !as the phrase used by 01ubby2 Broccoli and other members of the production team to mean .in the spirit of James Bond/...To a certain extent the term .Bondian’ !as used to describe the Bond films, !hich !ere seen as a distinctive formula, a spe- cific genre of film# '()45, 6(7+. The emergence of ne! approaches to genre studies !hich extend beyond the reductive structuralism of the ()*7s and !hich understand film genres and cycles in relation to their !ider industrial and cultural contexts has seen the Bond films find their place on the agenda of academic film studies. This is amply demonstrated over the last decade or so by the gro!th of Bond scholarship that has seen the films analysed from a range of critical and theoretical perspectives, James Chapman is Professor of Film Studies at the Uni- versity of Leicester. He is the author of Licence To Thrill: A Cultural History of the James Bond Films (1999), The Brit- ish at War: Cinema, State and Propaganda, 1939-1945 (1998), Past and Present: National Identity and the British Historical Film (2005), co-author of Projecting the Future: Vol. I, Issue 1 · Spring 2017 Science Fiction and Popular Cinema (2012) and Projecting ISSN 2514-2178 Empire: Imperialism and Popular Cinema (2009), and co- DOI: 10.24877/jbs.5 editor of The New Film History: Sources, Methods, Ap- Distributed under CC BY 4.0 UK proaches (2007) and Windows on the Sixties: Exploring Key Texts of Media and Culture (2000). including film history '1hapman+3 geopolitics 'Black3 8odds+3 cultural studies '1omentale et al+ and gender studies '9unnell+ among various others. It is no co- incidence that much of this ne! !ave of Bond scholarship has focused on the films of the 8aniel 1raig "era#3 !hich seem to have brought a degree of critical respectability to the once-derided franchise. This article considers ho! the most recent Bond film, Spectre '67(:+3 fits the "Bondian# formula. I !ill examine the production contexts and the genre conventions of the Bond films in order to as- sess the extent to !hich the 8aniel 1raig films represent either a ne! departure for the series or a continuation of the formula as before. In order to do this, it is necessary in the first instance to consider the history of the Bond series and its place in popular film culture. THE CONTEXTS OF THE BOND FILMS The origins of the James Bond film series are to be found in the institutional and economic contexts of the British and American film industries in the ();7s. The $nglo-American political economy of the Bond films !ith their combination of -< dollars '-nited Artists+ and British cultural capital 'the novels of Ian 9leming) exemplified a process in the film industry after the Second %orld %ar in the emergence of so-called "runa!ay# productions: =olly!ood films shot overseas, especially in Europe, !hich by the ();7s !ere estimated to account for nearly half of all American features 'Maltby ()):3 *7+. Britain became a particularly at- tractive base for such "runa!ays# in the ():7s and ();7s: production and labour costs !ere cheaper3 there !ere tax breaks for American artistes !ho made their permanent home in Britain, and the legal and regulatory frame!orks !ere easier to navigate than the notoriously bureaucratic film industries of 9rance or Italy. American producers could also benefit from the British 9ilm @roduction 9und 'popularly kno!n as the >ady Levy a&er the Treasury official <ir %ilfred Eady !ho devised it+3 !hich had been established in ():7. The Eady Levy !as an in- centive for film production !hich returned a percentage of box-office receipts to producers and distributors: the more successful the film the greater the amount of the subsidy. To ualify for the levy3 a film had to be produced by a British-re- gistered company and shot in a studio in Britain or the British 1ommon!ealth !ith seventy-five per cent of the labour costs paid to British personnel '=arper and @orter 67753 ((C+. $ccording to Bond producer Albert D. "1ubby# Broccoli3 the Eady Levy "!as the carrot that induced American producers to come here# '"Broccoli/s Bond# ()4;3 C4+. In the ():7s Broccoli !as a partner !ith Irving Allen in %ar!ick 9ilm @roductions, !hich made a cycle of films in Britain for 2 International Journal of James Bond Studies · Vol. I, Issue 1 · Spring 2017 1olumbia @ictures, specialising in action-adventure subjects such as The Red Beret '():5+3 Hell Below Zero '():C+3 The Black Knight '():C+3 Cockleshell Heroes '()::+3 Safari '():;+3 Zarak '():*+3 Tank orce '():4+ and Killers of Kili!anjaro '():)+. Amer- ican investment in the British production sector increased during the ();7s, !hen -nited Artists led the !ay in backing successful films including To! #ones '();5+3 the Beatles films $ Hard %ay&s 'ight '();C+ and Help( '();:+3 and the James Bond movies. Ian 9leming had tried3 !ithout success, to interest film and television producers in his Bond books during the ():7s F Sir $lexander Gorda read the galleys of Live and Let Die and the Dank ,rganiHation briefly held an option on Moon) raker 'Aycett ()):3 6:7+ F but the only Bond adaptation to date !as a live studio dramatisation of Casino Royale by the American 1B< television net!ork in ():C. By the late ():7s, ho!ever, the public visibility of James Bond !as increasing due to the publication of the books in paperback and the publication of a strip car- toon in the %aily *+press. It !as around this time that Broccoli3 according to script!riter Dichard Maibaum, first expressed his interest in filming the Bond books: In ():; or ():*3 !hen I !as in >ngland !riting for 1ubby and Irving $llen3 1ubby gave me t!o of the James Bond books to read. I read them and liked them enormously. 1ubby !as very excited3 too, but Irving Allen didn/t share his enthusiasm. <o 1ubby put them aside. It/s my personal opinion no! that that !as a !ise thing to do, because !ith the censorship of pictures that ex- isted then3 you couldn/t have even the minimal sex and violence that !e put into the pictures '?cGilligan ()4;, 64C+. Around five years later3 follo!ing the end of his partnership !ith Allen3 Broccoli rene!ed his interest in the Bond books, only to discover that 9leming had sold an option to 1anadian producer =arry SaltHman. SaltHman had been a partner in %oodfall 9ilms, !hich he set up !ith play!right John ,sborne and director Tony Dichardson and !as responsible for several early British "ne! !ave# films including Look Back in $nger '():4+3 The *ntertainer '():)+ and Sat,rday 'ight and S,nday Morning '();7+. Broccoli and <altHman !ent into partnership3 setting up Eon @roductions to make the films and turning to -nited Artists !hen 1olumbia balked at the proposed K( million budget for the first film, Dr- 'o '();6+. >vidence that a series of films !as envisaged from the outset can be found in the an- nouncement in the trade press that Broccoli and SaltHman "have clinched a deal J. Chapman · Spectre, the James Bond Films, and Genre 3 !ith -nited Artists for (77 per cent financial backing and distribution of seven stories, !hich !ill be filmed here and on foreign locations# 'Kine!atograph Weekly ();(, (*+. $nother context for the Bond films !as the process that -< film historians Gristin Thompson and 8avid Bord!ell have described as "genre upscaling” '())C3 5)(-5+. This process began in the ():7s in response to the decline of cinema-going and the reduction in output by the studios !hich focused on re- leasing fe!er but bigger films !ith high production values and employing colour and !idescreen processes. Jenres such as the %estern, the historical epic and the musical !ere at the forefront of =olly!ood/s obsession !ith blockbusters during the ():7s and ();7s, though another conse uence of this process !as that genres !hich had previously been regarded as lo!-budget fare, including horror3 science fiction and thrillers, also benefited from lavishing "$#-feature production values on "B#-movie subjects: The effect of amplifying B-film material !as perhaps most visible in the rise of the big-budget espionage film. =itchcock/s elegant 'orth .y 'orthwest '():)+ featured an innocent bystander caught up in a spy ring, but the cata- lyst for genre upscaling !as Ian 9leming’s fictional British agent James Bond. $&er t!o screen adaptations of the novels, 77* became a proven commodity !ith the phenomenally profitable /old0nger '();C+. The Bond films had erotically laced intrigues, semicomic chases and fight scenes, out- landish !eaponry3 !ry humour3 and dazHling production design 'Thompson and Bord!ell 5)C+. Terence Moung, !ho directed the first Bond picture, Dr- 'o3 similarly made the point that the Bond stories !ere the sort of subject matter generally associated !ith =olly!ood/s @overty Do! studios: "%ell3 !hen you analyse it3 and this is no disrespect to Ian3 they !ere very sophisticated .B/-picture plots...If someone tells you3 .$ James Bond film/3 you/d say3 .?y Jod3 that/s for ?onogram/3 or Depublic, !ho used to be around in those days.

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