8 replies to this topic

[Triton]

In the "Inside Dr. No" documentary on the Dr. No Special Edition DVD, David Picker of United Artists suggested that he had the perfect project for Alfred Hitchcock-- James Bond. I understand that Hitchcock was interested, but the rights were unavailable at the time. (Don't know if this was the time in which Harry Saltzman owned them or earlier.)

When I heard this I began to wonder what an Alfred Hitchcock directed James Bond film would have been like. Would Hitchcock have been able to get Cary Grant to commit to the role? Would the Bernard Herrman have written the James Bond theme? Would one of Hitchcock's blonde ice princesses (Kim Novak or Tippi Hedren) played Honey Ryder?

Anyone care to speculate what an Alfred Hitchcock directed James Bond film would have been like?

[Qwerty]

I love his films, love them completely!

I feel a James Bond film would be like a Hitchcock film like Suspicion perhaps, but without all the mystery and suspense. A cool and slightly cocky main character -Bond, and then the Bond girl who eventually falls for him.

I'd be very interested to see what he could have done.

[Simon Bermuda]

An interesting topic for speculation.

In Hitchcock's 1946 film Notorious Cary Grant did play a character who was to some extent a kind of proto-Bond (I'd love to know if Ian Fleming ever saw this film).

But if memory serves, Hitchcock is quoted somewhere as expressing a preference for stories about ordinary people - rather than larger-than-life heroes like 007 - caught up in extraordinary situations, for tales of nail-biting suspense rather than action-adventures. Thus North By Northwest is more like a forerunner of the UNCLE series (complete with the Leo G. Carroll 'Waverley' figure.)

And when Hitchcock did jump on the '60s spy bandwagon with films like Torn Curtain and Topaz, they weren't among his best. (Having said that, there's a great, grotesque scene in Torn Curtain where the Paul Newman character and his female accomplice struggle clumsily to bump off a Soviet spy who proves as hard to do away with as Rasputin. You could imagine Fleming writing a scene like this, although it's hard to visualize it in an Eon film.)

However, Marnie, which Sean Connery made between FRWL and GF, does suggest a strong Hitchcockian affinity with the sex-and-sadism of Fleming, and always leads me to wonder what Hitchock would have done with 007. I think, though, that it might have made for a disappintingly unfaithful adaptation of Fleming, as Hitchcock would probably have continued his usual practice of having the script endlessly rewritten to accommodate certain key shots and images which obsessed him.

All in all, I'd say that perhaps the closest thing we have to a Hitchcock Bond film, in style and atmosphere, is FRWL.

[Qwerty]

Extremely well said Simon. Those are the films I think of when I imagine a Bond film for Hitchcock, Notorious and Suspicion. Marnie was interesting in that Connery was the actual star, although I believe Hitchcock once said he didn't feel he was right for the part, but I wonder if it would have worked if it was a Bond movie with Hitch directing.

Cary Grant seems to be the one who would hit it off best with Hitch directing a Bond film, his first two films with Hitchcock easily prove that I think.

[Sensualist]

His visual style would have been different. His DPs had a voyeur style. Terence Young's DP Ted Moore gave the viewer the impression of being involved.

Dr No was revolutionary. The way it began was probably for the best. Hitchcock is good for certain types of films (well, his 'own' type, actually) but not necessarily for action-adventure of the mid 60s.

Torn Curtain is his effort to be Bondian in a way. It, though enjoyable, is relatively padestrian vis-a-vis ALL of the 1960s James Bond adventures.

[Turn]

The FRWL DVD documentary also talks about its Hitchcock influence. This is a quality the modern films could sorely use. But I agree with Sensualist that the way things happened was for the best.

[DLibrasnow]

I've heard it argued beforte that the Bond films owed a lot to Hitchcock's "North by Northwest" far more extansive than the very obvious helicopter bit at the end of FRWL.

[Sensualist]

North by Northwest is a terrific film. It, however, pales in comparison to EVERY James Bond film of the 1960s. So, it's safe to say, the Maestro's work was bettered by the Eon "team", thanks in large parts, to the talents of the likes of Peter Hunt, John Barry and Ken Adam. Credit goes to the two partners as well as Terence Young for choosing the team.

[Qwerty]

North by Northwest does have the 'Bondish' like themes in it...except for the huge change that the main character by Cary Grant is your average day man, whereas Bond is not. Some interesting comparisons between the two though...most certainly the cropdusting plane...a standout scene.