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'The Battle For Bond: The Genesis of Cinema's Greatest Hero'


219 replies to this topic

#211 MarcAngeDraco

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Posted 03 May 2008 - 02:09 PM

So, what does this latest development, the lawsuit being settled, mean for the 2nd edition?


I rather confused by this latest news because a) I don't believe there ever actually was a lawsuit (only the threat of one if Tomahawk didn't pull the book) and b) because I don't understand any details about what this supposed 'settlement' is.

Has there been some agreement on what can/can't be published in the second edition?...

#212 K1Bond007

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Posted 03 May 2008 - 06:17 PM

So, what does this latest development, the lawsuit being settled, mean for the 2nd edition?


I rather confused by this latest news because a) I don't believe there ever actually was a lawsuit (only the threat of one if Tomahawk didn't pull the book) and :tup: because I don't understand any details about what this supposed 'settlement' is.

Has there been some agreement on what can/can't be published in the second edition?...


There was never a lawsuit. The Fleming estate has money, Tomahawk does not. That's just how it is. So when the Fleming estate objects and threatens a lawsuit, Tomahawk complied because it's not in their financial interest to fight it.

Only Fleming's personal correspondence will be removed in the 2nd edition. Images of them really, and although interesting they aren't really necessary. Most of them (if pertinent to the case) are quoted in the text, which probably fall under fair use or fair deal or whatever they call it over there.

#213 MarcAngeDraco

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Posted 04 May 2008 - 12:44 AM

So, what does this latest development, the lawsuit being settled, mean for the 2nd edition?


I rather confused by this latest news because a) I don't believe there ever actually was a lawsuit (only the threat of one if Tomahawk didn't pull the book) and :tup: because I don't understand any details about what this supposed 'settlement' is.

Has there been some agreement on what can/can't be published in the second edition?...


There was never a lawsuit. The Fleming estate has money, Tomahawk does not. That's just how it is. So when the Fleming estate objects and threatens a lawsuit, Tomahawk complied because it's not in their financial interest to fight it.

Only Fleming's personal correspondence will be removed in the 2nd edition. Images of them really, and although interesting they aren't really necessary. Most of them (if pertinent to the case) are quoted in the text, which probably fall under fair use or fair deal or whatever they call it over there.


But that doesn't appear to be any sort of new settlement, but rather what we've heard all along... :tup:

#214 K1Bond007

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Posted 04 May 2008 - 02:34 AM

But that doesn't appear to be any sort of new settlement, but rather what we've heard all along... :tup:


Where was the talk of a new settlement? Are you talking about the article in the paper the other day highlighting a lawyer who settled the matter? I saw that. Seemed pretty outdated.

#215 Qwerty

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Posted 25 May 2008 - 10:00 PM

Len Deighton launches attack on Ian Fleming's heirs


As centenary of James Bond's creator approaches, a new book detailing his 1963 plagiarism case is itself the subject of a legal dispute

The author Len Deighton has condemned the family of James Bond author Ian Fleming, accusing them of censorship and "bad taste".

The Fleming family, one of the richest in Britain thanks to its merchant banking history, is gearing up for the centenary of Fleming's birth on Wednesday with the publication of Devil May Care, the much-anticipated new Bond novel by Sebastian Faulks.

Three weeks later, however, family members will be bracing themselves for the publication of the new edition of The Battle for Bond, a book about the now infamous 1963 plagiarism trial over the authorship of Thunderball.

The book was scheduled for publication last year, but the Fleming family forced publishers to pulp the first edition. In the foreword to the reprinted book, seen by The Independent on Sunday, Deighton delivers a damning verdict on the beneficiaries of the James Bond author's estate.

Deighton, most famous for The Ipcress File, writes: "How Ian Fleming would have hated to know that this book had been censored ... As a gentleman he would have felt that harassing a fellow author to be the ultimate demonstration of bad taste."

The Battle for Bond, published by the small imprint Tomahawk, tells the story of how, in 1959, Fleming worked with two screenwriters called Kevin McClory and Jack Whittingham on an original film script based on the Bond character.

When the plan came to nothing, Fleming took the scripts they had worked on and used them as the basis for his Bond novel Thunderball in 1961. McClory and Whittingham sued successfully and won the film rights for the novel.

Since then, James Bond films have been a separate enterprise to the novels, and Ian Fleming Publications, run by the surviving members of Fleming's family, has no control over or copyright of the movies.

Fleming died shortly after the Thunderball trial, in August 1964. He was famously unhappy with the Bond character in the films, which are considered the creation of Whittingham, and go against the ruthless spy portrayed in the books.

The first copies of The Battle for Bond contained reprinted court documents, which the Fleming Family Will Trust said infringed their copyright. Tomahawk claimed they were public documents but was forced to pulp the book.

Family members are on the board of Ian Fleming Publications, which looks after the Fleming literary estate and licenses Bond books, such as Charlie Higson's Young Bond series and The Moneypenny Diaries by Samantha Weinberg.

According to the Sunday Times Rich List, the Fleming family is worth around

#216 Mr. Blofeld

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Posted 26 May 2008 - 01:59 AM

Glad to see old Len is defending the book that republicized his Warhead script... :tup:

#217 Qwerty

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Posted 26 May 2008 - 02:12 AM


'The Book They Tried To Ban'


#218 K1Bond007

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Posted 26 May 2008 - 02:26 AM

Always thought the "banning" was a bad move. Seems worse now when another famed British novelist has defended the book in question.

#219 Mr. Blofeld

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Posted 20 July 2011 - 10:39 PM

Well, it's been... oh, let's see, four years since this controversial hellraiser of a book was published; how did everyone like it? :)

#220 Guy Haines

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Posted 21 July 2011 - 05:34 AM

I enjoyed reading it. I bought the first edition. (With the 44 extra pages!) Quite a lot about the script development, all the way back to the late 1950s. They had some "interesting" ideas - most unusual being having ex-US President Harry S. Truman appear at the start warning about the dangers of atomic bombs. I suppose the idea was that since he authorized their use in anger, he would be able to speak from experience.

The "images" - a lot, as you would expect, of Messrs Fleming, Bryce, McClory and Whittingham, as well as scenes from TB and NSNA. Quite a few, for some reason, of Jack Whittingham's daughter Sylvan, both in her career as a would be pop star and then as a photographer. I got the impression that the author relied on her knowledge of the legal dispute, given that her family friend, the solicitor Peter Carter-Ruck, had acted for the McClory/Whittingham side in the 1963 court case and bequeathed certain archives about it to her.

As I say, a good and interesting read, particularly to see how the story developed from a "screen treatment" to a novel, to a film, another film, and several films that never were!