John Barry – James Bond Connections

1 JANUARY 2024

JBC rating: *****

James Bond Connections (6):

Producer Harry Saltzman (Bond Producer, 1962 – 1975).
Featuring actor Guy Doleman (Count Lippe in Thunderball) as Colonel Ross.
Production designer Ken Adam (Bond production designer, various, 1962 – 1979).
Composer John Barry (Bond composer, various, 1962 – 1987).
Editor Peter Hunt (Bond Editor / Director, 1962 – 1969).
Sound design Norman Wanstall (Sound designer, Goldfinger).

In October 1962, the same month Dr No was released in cinemas, English artist-turned author Len Deighton saw the publication of his debut thriller The IPCRESS File, an instant bestseller leading to a series following the adventures of a working-class English spy. Ironically, given Deighton’s creation provided a gritty tonic to the increasingly fantastical James Bond series, this and two further Deighton’s novels were brought to the screen from 1965 onwards by Bond co-producer Harry Saltzman (with IPCRESS losing its capitalisation along the way). Indeed, one of the reasons The Ipcress File remains such a terrific spy thriller is the presence of so many EON regulars involved in the production, including John Barry who provides one of his greatest-ever soundtracks. Additional interest for any James Bond fan is that despite being ostensibly an anti-Bond film with a focus on spy procedure, The Ipcress File includes themes found in Bond and other spy fantasy films of the 1960s such as brainwashing and mind control.

19 JUNE 2023

JBC rating: ***

James Bond Connections (5):

Soundtrack composed by John Barry (Bond composer, various, 1962 – 1987).
Song lyrics by Don Black (Bond lyricist, various 1964 – 1989).
Director of Photography Freddie Young (Cinematographer, You Only Live Twice)
Title sequence designed by Maurice Binder (Bond titles, various, 1962 – 1989)
Featuring actor Bryan Marshall (Commander Talbot in The Spy Who Loved Me) as security officer George MacLeod

The 1974 UK produced spy drama The Tamarind Seed features English star Julie Andrews as British Home Office official Judith Farrow, who unwittingly becomes involved in international intrigue after a holiday romance with Omar Sharif’s Soviet attache Major Feodor Sverdlov. In writer-director Blake Edwards’ intelligent adaptation of Evelyn Anthony’s 1971 novel, Sverdlov hopes Judith will help facilitate his defection to the West and in return he will expose the identity of ‘Blue’, a Soviet mole working at the highest levels of the British state. The east meets west plotline anticipates themes in The Spy Who Loved Me (1977) and both films provide a snapshot of contemporary thinking regarding the Soviet Union in the age of détente. The film can also be seen as a companion piece to Alfred Hitchcock’s underrated Torn Curtain (1966), another spy thriller featuring Julie Andrews unwittingly involved in a defection plot. However, in contrast to these two films, the quietly satisfying spy drama The Tamarind Seed largely eschews large-scale action or suspense sequences in favour of characterisation and acting fireworks.

Tag: John Barry

The Ipcress File (1965): hypnotic working-class Bond

The Tamarind Seed (1974): the spy who loved Julie Andrews