Tags
007, BBC, Bond, Casino Royale, Fleming, Ian Fleming, James Bond, Netflix, TV
BBC America’s Ian Fleming four-part biopic Fleming: The Man Who Would Be Bond was released last week on Netflix. It originally premiered in February on BBC America. The series tells the story of Fleming’s experiences during World War II as a naval intelligence officer.
As the title suggest, Fleming is illustrated to be as Bond would have been during the war. Although, the Bond novels all take place after the war and never reveal what Bond did during it, the series does a great deal by suggesting that Fleming’s experiences are the source of many of Bond’s exploits. This is far reaching as the real Fleming was admittedly a desk-jockey during the war.
The bitch is dead now.
The series opens with an older Ian Fleming, portrayed by Dominic Cooper, honeymooning with his wife at Fleming’s Jamaican home, Goldeneye. Fleming is seen pounding away on his typewriter, “The bitch is dead now.” These are the final words of Casino Royale, the first Bond novel. Casino Royale appears to be the template for many of Fleming’s experiences in this program. The series immediately flashes back to Fleming’s early years as a would be playboy in London before the war. He is seen gallivanting with his brother Peter in Europe, a travel writer in his own right, and later stumbling as he flirts with women. He even tries to order the traditional Bond martini, as revealed in Casino Royale, but the bartender refuses to make it — a not so Bond experience.
The series moves on quickly and introduces Admiral John Godfrey, portrayed by Samuel West. Fleming is recruited to naval intelligence under Godfrey. And this is where the series takes off, Fleming is characterized as a rebel who bends the rules to Godfreys dismay, but gets the job done — a reoccurring joke in the Bond films. But true to the Fleming experience, Admiral Godfrey is the man would be ‘M’. Fleming has admitted that Godfrey is the inspiration for Bond’s spymaster. The series also presents Godfrey’s personal secretary Miss Monday as the inspiration for ‘M’s personal secretary Miss Moneypenny. Although the series takes artist liberty with the characters, these Fleming experiences and influences are wildly reported. Even Fleming’s military title is the same as his creation — Commander Bond.
Episode two begins two years later in 1940 with the war escalating in Europe, and the series returns to Casino Royale as a guide. Fleming and Miss Monday are in Lebanon and Fleming gets into a high-stakes game of Baccarat against a Nazi officer. Fleming attempts to disarm the Nazi of his money but ultimately fails. This is more-or-less the plot of Casino Royale. The series suggests that these events are the source material for the novel.
The series quickly veers back to Fleming’s experiences during the war. Fleming goes to France, which is quickly falling to the invading Nazis, to dispose of British documents before it is overran. He further attempts to persuade a French Admiral to turnover their ships to the British; opposed to surrendering the navy to the Germans. Fleming is way out of his jurisdiction and is bluffing. This illuminates Fleming’s skill and foresight to counter the Germans. Although reprimanded upon his return to England Fleming presents a new project to Admiral Godfrey: intelligence commandos — solider-spies that go in ahead of the front lines.
The program is essential a dramatized version of Fleming’s life that turns to the Bond novels for biographical context, which makes the series charming and fun to watch. The only downside of the series is that this same levity creates unbelievable characters and makes the show feel less like a biopic and more like a would be Bond film.
"Those whom the Gods wish to destroy, they first make bored" 