Spymaker: The Secret Life of Ian Fleming

Originally broadcast more than twenty years ago during the long gap between Bond films Licence To Kill and Goldeneye, Spymaker: The Secret Life Of Ian Fleming has only recently been released on DVD as part of the Warner Archive Collection after having long been out of print on VHS. Claiming to be based on Fleming's life and exploits which inspired the creation of Bond, this TV movie also cast Jason Connery (the actor son of Sean Connery) in the role of Fleming. So is Spymaker a good Fleming biopic or a even a good movie?As a movie, Spymaker fares decently While Jason Connery's stunt casting is both obvious and far from original, he nevertheless does a fair job as Fleming. Despite both a complete lack of physical similarity to the real Fleming and coming across as wooden in a couple of occasions, Connery does a better than expected turn covering the Bond creator from his school days through the Second World War. The result, while still more of a stunt than anything else, doesn't do the movie any harm either.More successful is the supporting cast. The biggest highlight of which is undoubtedly a young Kristen Scott Thomas who comes across well as Leda St Gabriel, a character intended to be the Bond girl prototype. The cast also includes former Bond girl Fionna Fullerton who appears for a couple of minutes very early on while Julian Firth and Marsha Fitzalan do well as characters clearly inspired by the Q and Moneypenny of the Bond films. The supporting cast is nicely rounded out by David Warner as Admiral Godfrey, Patrica Hodge as Fleming's mother and Joss Ackland as General Hellstein.The production values are perhaps better than average for a TV movie, especially one doing a period setting. The sets and costumes call up much of the movie's period flavor from the wonderful evening gowns in the casino scenes to the weapons and uniforms seen during the film's second half. Veteran TV director Ferdinand Fairfax does a superb job of directing the movie and making what must have been a fairly small budget to good use. The only place where the limited budget becomes obvious in a couple of moments involving special effects shots that don't quite work but the results are good overall.Despite its subtitle, viewers thinking they're going to get an accurate depiction of Fleming's life must instead take what Spymaker presents with a grain of salt for it can at best be called heavily fictionalized. While it certainly contains many kernels of truth, the script by veteran TV movie writer Robert J. Avrech often takes them and crafts them into bigger events. Examples include the section featuring Fleming covering the Moscow show trial of British engineers accused of sabotaging Soviet factories and a sequence later on where Fleming plays Baccarat against German General Hellstein in Lisbon, an incident based on a real event where Fleming played against a German agent but in both cases are significantly altered.Indeed, Spymaker draws far more on the cinematic Bond than the literary Bond or Fleming's life. Examples include the entirely fictional characters of gadget master Quincy (played by Julian Firth) , secretary Miss Delaney (Marsha Fitzalan) and the almost Blofeld like German General Hellstein played by Joss Ackland. Fleming also spends a good deal of screen time in a tuxedo, visiting a couple of casinos and a couple of martinis shaken not stirred are ordered all in Bond film tradition. Last but not least, the climactic (and entirely fictional) castle assault calls to mind similar sequences in numerous Bond films but perhaps none more so than that of You Only Live Twice. There are also moments where the score by Carl Davis evokes some of the John Barry style of Bond music as well.In other places, Spymaker is closer to life. Kristen Scott Thomas' Leda St Gabriel shares characteristics with some of the woman in Fleming's life around the time the movie is set while a scene where Fleming presents a rather unorthodox plan to his boss Admiral Godfrey which leads Fleming to ask if he got his memo and Godfrey's response that “You send me a hundred memos a week!” calls to mind some of Fleming's more outlandish wartime plans. Also, while the aforementioned castle assault is entirely fictional, it does echo some of commando operations carried out by the 30 Assault Unit that Fleming helped to organize (and which itself was the subject of the heavily fictionalized film Age Of Heroes). All in all, readers of Fleming biographies or even those who have seen the Fleming biography extra on the various DVD and Bluray releases of the Bond film The Living Daylights will likely be able to spot a lot of Spymaker's often considerable fictionalizations.Spymaker then is far heavier on fiction than fact. On one hand, it perhaps tries too hard at times to make connections with the world of Bond films with its mix of fact and fiction coming across at times as forced. What it is perhaps better as is an attempt to do a psuedo-Bond film in a period setting and it's indeed interesting to contemplate that, with a few changes, Spymaker could almost as easily be the origin story of Bond as it is a biopic of his creator. For its faults as a Fleming biopic then, Spymaker could easily be the closest things fans are likely to get to a period Bond film and for that reason alone is worth seeking out.

seen this movie a long time ago, still is great

Having just concluded watching a BBC America mini-series called "Fleming: The Man Who Would Be Bond" staring Dominic Cooper as Ian Fleming, I thought it would be fun to dig out this similarly themed film. It was originally made for cable TV, but did show up in a few movie theaters as well. Interestingly enough Fleming here is played by Jason Connery, the son of, you guessed it, Sean and actress Diane Cilento. Like the TV series, "Spymaker" provides a broad outline of Fleming's early adult life as a well-educated aristocrat with a domineering mother.At the onset of WWII, Fleming enters the Royal Navy as a commander, and according to the film has an instrumental role in creating espionage units to uncover Nazi plans. If you are a fan of the Bond films like me, you should have a fun time seeing some of Flemings early encounters with women, playing Baccarat, creating gadgets (with help from his nerdy friend Quincy) and confounding his bosses. The film also features a 20-something Kristin Scott Thomas as Leda St Gabriel, one of the few women Fleming actually falls for.The film has several scenes of "sexy-time" as Fleming gives the fictitious Bond a run for his money in the bedroom. There is also enough action to keep it all interesting. The real question is only how much of Fleming's escapades are actually true. This is a fun ride and a worthwhile look at the creator of one of the great fictional characters in history. Alas the film is only available on VHS tape and DVD. No Blu ray.

Pretty close to factual account of how James Bond and 007 was conceived from almost actual events by real life spy Ian Fleming

Muy difícil de conseguir y está a excelente precio

Always been interested in Fleming's life, at least his pre Bond years. The 2013 " The Man who would be Bond" version is of a higher quality. Don't know how true either one is.

I first saw this on TV and taped it. I later transferred it to DVD, but, of course, the picture was VHS quality. Now finally I have it on DVD and it looks great. One note: the puritans of America have altered the front cover and deleted the sexy lady that you see on the UK version. The good news is that the restored the very small flash of skin that was not allowed on American TV.This is the story of Ian Fleming and you see many hints to what he would use later in his Bond books. It is well done and stars Sean Connery's son. It is a very enjoyable movie.

If you like James Bond you'll like this. I thought the movie was a lot of fun. It's about Ian Flemming the man that wrote the James Bond series. It shows how he came up with James Bond, Money Penney, Q, and M. James Bond is played by Jason Connery, Sean Connerys real life son (which I thought was a nice touch). The only complaint I have is that the Post Office just can't seem to compete with FedEx or UPS.

I have always loved this film. Though not in the "A" list of films, it has some good actors and actresses - Jason Connery, Joss Ackland, Patricia Hodge to name only a few - and boasts gorgeous sets, costuming, hairdressing and makeup. The plot could be a little more indulgent, as at times moves a little too fast, but is nonetheless a delightful adventure. It is a complete work of fiction, of course, but highly enjoyable to watch, having all the elements that make a good film, including a gem of a soundtrack.I am giving this product only four stars because the quality is poor and there is no DVD menu to speak of, just "play film" - not even scene selection.

Not a Masterpiece, but I happen to enjoy it, and so the perhaps a little too generous rating. It is a pleasure to watch the engaging Jason Connery, both wonderfully goodlooking and pleasantly non Macho in contrast to his famous father, and the beautiful as always Kristin Scott Thomas in This alternative as it were James Bond alias Ian Fleming.

a well dodgy film - which puts it on a par with a genuine BOND film in terms of story & plot [i.e. it doesn't really have one] but obviously made for a fraction of the cost. it has it's moments - including some sensational walk-on action by a radio operator.

Connery is a bit wooden. ..but enjoyable nonetheless

I've bought this believing that I'd get at least the real thing, but instead, it turned out that this is in fact a cheap pirated copy of this nice film, made with the lowest quality possible, most unfortunately.The media used is a single layered DVD-R, with only 4.5 gb, meaning that the material had to be compressed in order to fit into it, resulting in decreased quality, for both video and audio, besides, it lacks any menu, additional languages and subtitles, let alone extra features.In a nutshell, the investment is not worth it at all, with a poorest cost x benefit ratio, since they didn't even bother to do a decent transfer job there, at least, by using a higher quality media, double layered, 8.5 Gb DVD from some renowned supplier.Not recommended, unless you really want to watch the movie like me, since it seems that it can't be found nowhere else, at least for the time being. Note that my review concerns the fact that the product is sold as an original, however it is not, so, this is misleading, and by the quality presented, it should cost no more than 5 bucks. The film is well worth watching, though, I have nothing against it and love it.ATENÇÂO COMPRADOREsse produto não é original, é uma cópia pirata do filme, contida em mídia de baixa qualidade, de camada única, 4,5 GB, o que significa que tanto a imagem quanto o áudio sofreram processos de compressão, o que reduz drasticamente a qualidade.Além disso, o dvd não contém nenhum menu interativo, e nem outras opções de áudio e de legendas, ou seja, em suma, não vale de maneira nenhuma o preço, péssima relação custo x benefício.NÃO RECOMENDADO.