The Golden TypewriterThe Bond books and the films compared
Only a few Bond films follow Fleming's books closely, notably Dr. No, From Russia with Love and On Her Majesty's Secret Service. Others, like Moonraker, keep little more than the title.
| Book | Film | How close? |
|---|---|---|
| Casino Royale | Casino Royale (2006), Daniel Craig | Keeps the card-game core. Earlier: 1954 TV play (Barry Nelson) and a 1967 comedy (David Niven). |
| Live and Let Die | Live and Let Die (1973), Roger Moore | Borrows characters and set pieces; a different story. |
| Moonraker | Moonraker (1979), Roger Moore | Keeps the title and Drax; goes into space. The book stays in England. |
| Diamonds Are Forever | Diamonds Are Forever (1971), Sean Connery | Keeps the smuggling set-up and names; major plot changes. |
| From Russia with Love | From Russia with Love (1963), Sean Connery | Follows the central characters and train journey, with changes. |
| Dr. No | Dr. No (1962), Sean Connery | The main source for the first Eon film. |
| Goldfinger | Goldfinger (1964), Sean Connery | Keeps the characters; changes the scheme significantly. |
| For Your Eyes Only | For Your Eyes Only (1981), A View to a Kill (1985), Licence to Kill (1989) | Each borrows a title or selected scenes from individual stories. |
| Thunderball | Thunderball (1965) and Never Say Never Again (1983), Sean Connery | The 1965 film keeps the broad plot; the 1983 film retells it outside the main series. |
| The Spy Who Loved Me | The Spy Who Loved Me (1977), Roger Moore | Uses the title only. |
| On Her Majesty's Secret Service | On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969), George Lazenby | Closer to its novel than most. |
| You Only Live Twice | You Only Live Twice (1967), Sean Connery | Shares the setting and names; the plot runs differently. |
| The Man with the Golden Gun | The Man with the Golden Gun (1974), Roger Moore | Keeps Scaramanga; expands and changes the plot. |
| Octopussy and The Living Daylights | Octopussy (1983), Roger Moore; The Living Daylights (1987), Timothy Dalton | Titles and some scenes from the stories. |
| Chitty Chitty Bang Bang | Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (1968), Dick Van Dyke | Keeps the flying car; changes many characters and events. |
Films that follow the books most closely
In our view, Dr. No, From Russia with Love and On Her Majesty's Secret Service are the three where the films track the novels most closely. Casino Royale (2006) keeps the heart of the first novel.
Films that keep only the title
The Spy Who Loved Me and Moonraker are the clearest cases: the books tell completely different stories from the films. Several later films simply borrowed titles from Fleming's short stories.
Fleming and the films
Fleming lived to see Dr. No reach cinemas in 1962. Thunderball is a special case: the novel grew out of an earlier, contested screenplay project involving Kevin McClory and others.
Who owns the film rights?
Ian Fleming Publications says the film rights and film merchandise sit with Amazon MGM Studios, while it looks after the literary rights.
Sources
- Ian Fleming Publications: books to filmsConfirmed
- 007.com: the filmsConfirmed
- Ian Fleming Publications: rights and licensingConfirmed