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Review
A brilliant page-turner with all the qualities of a thriller, this is easily the best film book of the year. Film Review --Film Review
Robert Sellers dedication and thorough investigation into this Bond story results in a book that is a must for any serious fan of the franchise. Cinema Retro Magazine --Cinema Retro Magazine
The most important book ever published about the evolution of Ian Fleming s James Bond... a must read! Graham Rye - 007 Magazine --Graham Rye - 007 Magazine
Robert Sellers dedication and thorough investigation into this Bond story results in a book that is a must for any serious fan of the franchise. Cinema Retro Magazine --Cinema Retro Magazine
The most important book ever published about the evolution of Ian Fleming s James Bond... a must read! Graham Rye - 007 Magazine --Graham Rye - 007 Magazine
Product Description
In 1963, Ian Fleming, the creator of the 20th century s greatest fictional character was in court, accused of plagiarism. The screen version of James Bond was not Fleming s creation. It was the creation of Jack Whittingham, who was employed by maverick producer Kevin McClory to adapt the character to the big screen. Had this screen character never been developed, James Bond might have been just another minor fictional spy character. The Battle for Bond is a tale of bitter recriminations, betrayal, multi-million dollar lawsuits and even death. It is the fabled story of Kevin McClory s 40 year legal battle over the rights to the screen version of James Bond, which he and Whittingham had created. The first edition of this book was banned by the Ian Fleming Will Trust. But the truth never dies! This second edition features a new foreword by Len Deighton.
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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
Kevin McClory, who died last year, was one of the more controversial characters associated with the 007 legend. His ongoing feud with Eon Productions spanned four decades, during which time he made numerous attempts to create a rival Bond movie franchise. The problem for him was he only owned the rights to one Ian Fleming book: 'Thunderball'.
It began in the late '50's when Fleming wrote his ninth Bond novel, and McClory was astonished to find that it contained no credit either to himself or Jack Whittingham, all of whom had collaborated on an unmade screenplay called 'Longitude 78 West' a.k.a. 'James Bond Of The Secret Service'. He sued, and after a lengthy court case, triumphed.
In 1965, he teamed up with Albert R.Broccoli and Harry Saltzman to make 'Thunderball' the fourth Bond movie. It was a gigantic success, arguably the most profitable Bond film of them all.
Ten years later, McClory announced a new version of the story, to be called 'Warhead', written not only by McClory, but also Len Deighton and, surprisingly, Sean Connery.
The full incredible story is here, told in fascinating detail. Author Robert Sellers had access to the papers of the late Jack Whittingham, provided by his daughter Sylvan. The way the story evolved from draft to draft provides a welcome insight into the minds of its creators. You have to remember that there had never been a Bond movie before, so no-one was really sure how to go about it.
It was only McClory's lack of a track record at the box office which stopped him from making his film. Cubby and Harry both had these, and they got Bond on the big screen first. You cannot help but feel sorry for McClory, no matter how appallingly he may have behaved to others, such as Whittingham's family ( he never remunerated them for 'Never Say Never Again' ). There's also a bizarre chapter in which he got a friend to travel to Nassau to sell a property he owned there. Read it and be amazed.
Full of never-before published photographs and revealing new information, this is indeed a must for the shelf of any true Bond fan, and should take away the unpleasant taste left by Simon Winder's 'The Man Who Saved Britain'.
It began in the late '50's when Fleming wrote his ninth Bond novel, and McClory was astonished to find that it contained no credit either to himself or Jack Whittingham, all of whom had collaborated on an unmade screenplay called 'Longitude 78 West' a.k.a. 'James Bond Of The Secret Service'. He sued, and after a lengthy court case, triumphed.
In 1965, he teamed up with Albert R.Broccoli and Harry Saltzman to make 'Thunderball' the fourth Bond movie. It was a gigantic success, arguably the most profitable Bond film of them all.
Ten years later, McClory announced a new version of the story, to be called 'Warhead', written not only by McClory, but also Len Deighton and, surprisingly, Sean Connery.
The full incredible story is here, told in fascinating detail. Author Robert Sellers had access to the papers of the late Jack Whittingham, provided by his daughter Sylvan. The way the story evolved from draft to draft provides a welcome insight into the minds of its creators. You have to remember that there had never been a Bond movie before, so no-one was really sure how to go about it.
It was only McClory's lack of a track record at the box office which stopped him from making his film. Cubby and Harry both had these, and they got Bond on the big screen first. You cannot help but feel sorry for McClory, no matter how appallingly he may have behaved to others, such as Whittingham's family ( he never remunerated them for 'Never Say Never Again' ). There's also a bizarre chapter in which he got a friend to travel to Nassau to sell a property he owned there. Read it and be amazed.
Full of never-before published photographs and revealing new information, this is indeed a must for the shelf of any true Bond fan, and should take away the unpleasant taste left by Simon Winder's 'The Man Who Saved Britain'.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This book has been in the development stage for many years; it used to be on the publisher's list that I used to work for. In a word this book is excellent. Robert Sellers has done a brilliant job and made full use of all the new materials at his disposal. There are so many James Bond books out there, many repeating the same old stuff and the same old pictures, it's overkill. But this one is different.
Sellers has brought all the elements of the Thunderball case and woven them together to create the definitive Thunderball scripts story. 007 magazine tried to do this a few years back, but they only managed to repeat what we already know and combine it with Graham Rye's opinions and speculation. It's certainly not the case with this book, which should find its way onto any 007 fan's book shelf.
Having read the original book, and followed the subsequent pulping because of passages that offended the Ian Fleming Trust, frankly I can't see what they're getting worried about. The creator of 007 wasn't blameless in this case and, although I don't think he acted with malice, he was certainly naive and misguided. Basically, if you buy the second edition you're not missing out because the book is far bigger and so informative that its dispute with the Fleming estate cannot diminish what is a really good book.
Sellers has brought all the elements of the Thunderball case and woven them together to create the definitive Thunderball scripts story. 007 magazine tried to do this a few years back, but they only managed to repeat what we already know and combine it with Graham Rye's opinions and speculation. It's certainly not the case with this book, which should find its way onto any 007 fan's book shelf.
Having read the original book, and followed the subsequent pulping because of passages that offended the Ian Fleming Trust, frankly I can't see what they're getting worried about. The creator of 007 wasn't blameless in this case and, although I don't think he acted with malice, he was certainly naive and misguided. Basically, if you buy the second edition you're not missing out because the book is far bigger and so informative that its dispute with the Fleming estate cannot diminish what is a really good book.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
In the late 1950s, Ian Fleming was eager to capitalise on the literary success of his James Bond books and began a series of fateful attempts to develop the character for either television or the cinema. Eventually he was introduced to the larger-than-life character that was the young film maker Kevin McClory and shortly afterwards there began an almost fifty year story of litigation, acrimony and early death.
Over the course of nearly 250 (rather too) tightly-packed pages, Robert Sellers tells us first about the fateful confluence of Ian Fleming and Kevin McClory and the subsequent plagiarism court case that seems to have played a large part in Fleming's decline. This is the most complicated part of the story and very interesting if a little dry, presumably because of the fact that it is about a court case and not about the later shenanigans of the movie business. Then he moves on to tell the quite entertaining story of the filming of both THUNDERBALL and NEVER SAY NEVER AGAIN, the 2 films that eventually resulted from all this legal jiggery pokery, before finishing the book with the fascinating ongoing saga of legal and financial battles that took up much of the later part of Kevin McClory's life as he fought to gain the recognition he believed he deserved from the mighty machine that the Bond franchise became.
Neither Ian Fleming nor Kevin McClory come across as the most pleasant of men on the page, but with Fleming's death relatively early on in the story, it is the colourful descriptions of McClory's life and times that become the most memorable (and sometimes quite astounding) parts of the book as other lesser or better known characters cross his path. Writer for hire Jack Whittingham was hired by McClory to produce early drafts of the screenplay and it is his story that eventually comes across as being the very soul of the book and ultimately it is with him and his family that your sympathies lie.
The synopses of five screen treatments make up the appendices to the book based on a memo by Ernest Cuneo, two screenplays by Ian Fleming and two by Jack Whittingham and intriguingly show the script development process unfurling and all of which played a large part in the claims and counterclaims made over the years.
We'll never know how different the cinematic world of James Bond might have been if the first film had been made in the austere 1950s instead of the swinging sixties, but this makes for a quite fascinating read.
Over the course of nearly 250 (rather too) tightly-packed pages, Robert Sellers tells us first about the fateful confluence of Ian Fleming and Kevin McClory and the subsequent plagiarism court case that seems to have played a large part in Fleming's decline. This is the most complicated part of the story and very interesting if a little dry, presumably because of the fact that it is about a court case and not about the later shenanigans of the movie business. Then he moves on to tell the quite entertaining story of the filming of both THUNDERBALL and NEVER SAY NEVER AGAIN, the 2 films that eventually resulted from all this legal jiggery pokery, before finishing the book with the fascinating ongoing saga of legal and financial battles that took up much of the later part of Kevin McClory's life as he fought to gain the recognition he believed he deserved from the mighty machine that the Bond franchise became.
Neither Ian Fleming nor Kevin McClory come across as the most pleasant of men on the page, but with Fleming's death relatively early on in the story, it is the colourful descriptions of McClory's life and times that become the most memorable (and sometimes quite astounding) parts of the book as other lesser or better known characters cross his path. Writer for hire Jack Whittingham was hired by McClory to produce early drafts of the screenplay and it is his story that eventually comes across as being the very soul of the book and ultimately it is with him and his family that your sympathies lie.
The synopses of five screen treatments make up the appendices to the book based on a memo by Ernest Cuneo, two screenplays by Ian Fleming and two by Jack Whittingham and intriguingly show the script development process unfurling and all of which played a large part in the claims and counterclaims made over the years.
We'll never know how different the cinematic world of James Bond might have been if the first film had been made in the austere 1950s instead of the swinging sixties, but this makes for a quite fascinating read.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Fascinating tale.
It reads like a thriller,with twists and turns in the story.A book all bond fans should read.
Published 21 months ago by pete d
Bond in the dock
Most Bond fans would be familiar with some of the backstory to the book and subsequent film THUNDERBALL and it's court approved re-make NEVER SAY NEVER AGAIN. Read more
Published on 18 May 2010 by George Henderson
Bond's bloodiest - and longest - battle
Robert Sellers' very impressive The Battle for Bond isn't a perfect book, but this incredibly well researched account of the long running feud between independent producer Kevin... Read more
Published on 26 April 2009 by Trevor Willsmer
"The Book that Lives twice"
Thank goodness the banning of this book that resulted in the pulping of the 1st edition has been overturned. Read more
Published on 12 Aug 2008 by Bob Marlowe
Excellently researched and written
Robert Sellers book, The Battle for Bond, is a must have for fans of James Bond and film buffs. For years, I have had an interest in events leading up to Thunderball which included... Read more
Published on 26 Jun 2007 by John E. Griswold
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