61 replies to this topic

[Orion]

Anyone know where to find a copy of the version of Dr No they did. I listened to it when it aired and really enjoyed it, but would like to hear it again so any help finding it would be great.

Here's the link to download it -

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=15NCIW58

Thanks. This is what i love about CBN, the posters here are always helpful and obliging. I ask for help in finding something and before long i have about six copies of it because of the helfullness of the people on this forum.

[Major Tallon]

Any of us Yanks who want to listen this (and who doesn't?) can do so tomorrow morning, April 3, on the BBC's web site (bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00rq1w3). The broadcast should play at 9:30 EDT.

[Jim]

Very enjoyable so far.

[David Schofield]

Very enjoyable so far.

No, mate, this is car-crash stuff. Addictively bad.

CBNERS, watch the miserable Scotsman again with a new admiration. Cubby/Harry/Maibaum/Diehn

This is yuk.

Just read Fleming.

[Nicolas Suszczyk]

Anybody heard the Goldfinger adaptation yet?
I'd like to get it of you would, since DN's was great!

[Major Tallon]

I enjoyed it, though Ian McKellan's performance was a bit too understated and didn't make much of an impression on me. I though the script was quite good. I had to laugh out loud a couple of times, however, at the delivery by the American gangsters. These guys were straight out of Damon Runyon; obviously thought they were playing in "Guys and Dolls." And, as in "Doctor No" a couple of years ago, the script made an unexplained alteration in the text. Last time out, they unaccountably changed the name of M's chauffeur. This time, rather more noticeably, they changed Felix Leiter's war cry from "Santiago" to "Geronimo." Why, I wonder?

[Guy Haines]

I enjoyed it, probably more than I did last year's adaptation of Dr. No. I thought Ian McKellan did a very good job of the title role. The Goldfinger of the book was "understated" - Bond described him as "relaxed". Toby Stephens did another good performance as 007 and it was amusing to hear Rosamund Pike, the ice maiden of Die Another Day, playing Pussy Galore with a southern drawl.

The gangsters did indeed sound as if they had stepped out of a Damon Runyon story, but that is how Fleming wrote them back in the 1950s. Reading his US based stories, I always felt that he never quite got the hang of portraying contemporary American gangsters.

But on the whole I enjoyed listening to this adaptation - even though it reminded one that, as Bond books went, "Goldfinger" had a plot that didn't bear too close an inspection. It is based too much on convenient coincidences, and the idea that 100 criminals using a train and a nuclear bomb (!) could blast their way into Fort Knox and lift all the gold and get away with it without attracting attention - would be a bit far fetched even in this day and age.

[Nicolas Suszczyk]

A download link would be deeply appreciated. PM it if you can't post it here.

[Major Tallon]

Nicolas and anyone else who'd like to hear this production, you can find it archived on the BBC radio website:

http://www.bbc.co.uk...lay_Goldfinger/

[Nicolas Suszczyk]

It's only available for the UK
Can somebody megaupload it??

[Major Tallon]

Hmmm. The link works for me, and I'm in the USA.

[Nicolas Suszczyk]

Not in Argentina and with my iPod Touch

[hope]

It's only available for the UK
Can somebody megaupload it??

Hope this link works ok for you -

http://www.mediafire.com/?uvovdmgmn1q

[Mr Twilight]

Excellent! thanks for the link. Gotta listen to this!

[Nicolas Suszczyk]

Thanks!!

[Qwerty]

Radio 4 production of Goldfinger now online

Listen now to the adaptation of Ian Fleming's seventh James Bond adventure

[zencat]

Glad to see something's happening Bond-wise in 2010.

[deth]

well it was a bit cheesy in parts... but all in all... good fun!

Although I'm not sure why they needed Pike to play an American...

[Major Tallon]

well it was a bit cheesy in parts... but all in all... good fun!

Although I'm not sure why they needed Pike to play an American...

It's because Pussy Galore was American in Fleming's novel. "I come from the South," she tells Bond. That explains Pike's accent.

[Jeff007]

A lot of fun and great to listen too! I hope they keep going and do Live and Let Die next year.

[Kent]

It's only available for the UK
Can somebody megaupload it??

Hope this link works ok for you -

http://www.mediafire.com/?uvovdmgmn1q

Awesome! Thanks mate! Will listen on the walk to/from work tomorrow!!!

[Jackanaples]

I enjoyed DR. NO more. The radio play of GOLDFINGER only served to emphasize how much better the movie was over the book. Wish they'd adapt MOONRAKER or FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE, both much stronger novels. Or perhaps FOR YOUR EYES ONLY as a short series of half hour programs.

[quantumofsolace]

I enjoyed this but it is one of Flemings weaker Bond books and this adaptation had many of the same problems as the novel. Still good though.
Moonraker would be ideal(as jackanaples said) or The Spy Who Loved Me. We've never seen these adapted properly before. Is it possible these could be done or is there a problem with the rights?

[danslittlefinger]

Sir Ian McKellen returns to the Melbourne stage with Waiting for Godot
Simon Plant From:Herald Sun April 09, 2010 1:32PM

LAST time we saw him on a Melbourne stage, he ruled a kingdom.

Next month, he's back on the boards as a tramp.

But whether he's playing King Lear or Estragon in Waiting for Godot, Sir Ian McKellen is mesmerising.

The 71-year-old British theatre knight draws on stagecraft acquired over half a century so "the part inhabits you and you inhabit it. A very mysterious process".

On the eve of an Australian tour of Samuel Beckett's Waiting for Godot, McKellen talks about ghosts, Lord of the Rings and ... James Bond.



Q:Is is true you have just read the title role in a radio version of Ian Fleming's Goldfinger?

Yes. I've always wanted to be a Bond villain. Don't think I was good as the original (played by Gert Frobe), I'm afraid.

Q:Perhaps we will see you one day plotting the demise of Daniel Craig's 007 ...

Be nice, wouldn't it. I know (Bond movie producer) Barbara Broccoli quite well and I'm always dropping hints.



Rest of interview here:
http://www.heraldsun...from=public_rss

[marktmurphy]

I've been in Australia for a few weeks so I missed this (and the new Sherlock too!): I'll have a download and a listen- can't wait to hear it. Was it fun?

[JLaidlaw]

Finally got to listen to Dr No, as well as Goldfinger, so I thought I'd contribute some loose thoughts.

There are definite moments throughout each which really capture the authenticity of Bond's character, too numerous to name- but it was enjoyable that even with limits of ninety minutes the production team didn't just limit themselves to telling the story- the ten-thousand pound gift to Tilly Masterton in Goldfinger and M's disapproval, the noted but harmless rebuff to the Colonial Secretary who invites him to dinner in Dr No, brief but important moments.

As to whether Bond works on the radio. I have to agree with what people have said upthread, without a Dr Watson figure some of the monologing is a bit strained. I'm not usually a fan of narrated audios, but I feel Jarvis does a great job of narrating Fleming's prose, so I'd have appreciated more of Bond's thoughts coming from 'Fleming' than from Bond himself.

For scene setting the sound design and dialogue tended to be well chosen. As to action. I didn't like some of the action sequences, particularly the grand set pieces at Fort Knox. However, I don't think these sort of set pieces are impossible on radio; I feel it's largely down to Jarvis and Ayres productions choice to focus on dialogue and perhaps their inexperience at recreating primarily visual scenes on audio. That said, easily the most memorable moments from each were those that conveyed smaller action; the Centipede in Dr. No, the Circular Saw in Goldfinger.

As to the cast- altogether great apart from the mafia bosses - who you could argue added a sort of nostalgic fantasy element. Stephens acts as a great Bond, although I feel he was picked for his overall acting prowess; the tone of his voice lacks the charisma that I usually expect from big name radio leads- and that almost all of the screen Bonds have captured; but he makes up for that just by being a very good actor. In Goldfinger McKellen absolutely steals the show as a pitch perfect villain.

The major problem I see with these two adaptations is that their basic plots reflect the films to such an extent that you are constantly comparing them to each other; even the marketing and press coverage has been somewhat catered to reminding us of the films. I'd far prefer to have them move out of the films shadow by hearing Live and Let Die, Moonraker or even Diamonds Are Forever. That said, obviously I live in hope that we haven't heard the last of Stephens as Bond and these will become more regular- I tend to enjoy reading and watching Bond more as a series than as individual books/movies; so I think my appreciation of the radio series will grow as it does.

[Major Tallon]

While, as I've said previously, McKellan's performance struck me as a bit too understated, his delivery of his final line ("You fool, you could have had a million. [Beat] In gold") was wonderful.

Edited by Major Tallon, 15 April 2010 - 10:13 PM.

[Guy Haines]

Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but is Toby Stephens the only actor to have portrayed both James Bond and a Bond adversary? Different mediums for each part I know, but it just occurred to me.


Would be an answer to a pub quiz question, if nothing else. Speaking as a pub quiz competitor (yes, I know, I ought to find something better to do with my spare time! )

Edited by Guy Haines, 15 April 2010 - 11:09 PM.

[JLaidlaw]

Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but is Toby Stephens the only actor to have portrayed both James Bond and a Bond adversary?

I suppose no-one's counting Woody Allen?

[Guy Haines]

Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but is Toby Stephens the only actor to have portrayed both James Bond and a Bond adversary?

I suppose no-one's counting Woody Allen?

I certainly didn't, but then didn't he play Sir James Bond's nephew "Little Jimmy" Bond, as well as Dr. Noah, rather than 007 himself? Then again, in CR 1967, it seems as if every other character in the movie is going around around claiming to be James Bond!

Anyway,I don't really count CR 1967 as a proper Bond film, but that's just my personal view.