5 replies to this topic

[Qwerty]

Which of the two do you prefer and why? The original 1964 novel by Ian Fleming; often cited to be one of the best in the series? Or is it the 1967 Sean Connery film?

I'll be adding my own reply soon.

[Loomis]

The novel. I love the film version (in fact, I consider it one of the very best Bond flicks ever), but the novel is simply the greatest (the only?) work of art associated with James Bond. I've raved about it at tremendous length on several occasions here on CBn, so I won't go into it all again here. But, yes, the novel, definitely the novel.

[K1Bond007]

Personally, the movie. I'm not a huge fan of the movie (when speaking in comparison of the others), but I'm even less of a fan of the novel. I don't see what is so great about it. In my opinion, the novel is slow and not at all what I would expect Bond to do after the events of OHMSS. Ultimately Bond gets revenge, but the revenge is just.. too coincidental for my liking. I think Gardner got this right in Scorpius when Bond got his revenge there - and everything about that situation wasn't even legit.

Then theres the ending, which is just... weird.

[Genrewriter]

I like both about equally. The book is very good and while the film does have some pacing issues it's still a fun piece of entertainment.

[BondReader 007]

While the movie was good, I have the side with the written word. The novel was great. In my opinion, not Flemmings' best but still one heck of a book. Congrats to anyone reading it for the first time.

[Lazenby880]

The novel, by far.

The movie YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE sort of falls apart after an exhilirating opening, to the point where it is one of the few Bond films during which I look at the DVD player to see when it is going to end.

YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE the novel is another story entirely. Certainly the best of Fleming's novels, it rises above its pulp origins to become a true work of literary art. Lyrical prose, superb and well-drawn supporting characters and a weird and wonderful plot deliver a novel that registers a deeper impact and has far greater resonance than any of Fleming's previous novels (or THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN GUN). Above all it is a fascinating study into James Bond's character, whose slow but steady decay from CASINO ROYALE reaches its nadir in YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE. With a melancholy dreamlike atmosphere that pervades the pages, many of the ideas within are indeed bizarre, but these bizarre ideas are presented by Fleming in such a way that they never stretch beyond belief and ensure that the novel is one of the most memorable.

A truly great and captivating work.