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Octopussy & The Living Daylights (1966)
Author: |
Ian Fleming |
Published: |
1966 |
MI6 Rating: |
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Capsule Synopsis
Bond is sent to arrest an ex-British Army Officer for murder;
It is up to Bond to identify the top Soviet spymaster in
London at the auction of a fabulous Fabergé egg;
A British agent is escaping from Russia, but a sniper awaits
him at the crossing-point in Berlin. Bond is ordered to
kill the assassin first; Bond must warn a former SIS agent
in New York that her partner is a Russian spy.
Official Blurb (Penguin 2002 Edition)
For James Bond, British secret agent 007, international
espionage can be a dirty business. Whether it is tracking
down a wayward Major who has taken a deadly secret with
him to the Caribbean; identifying a top Russian agent secretly
bidding for a Faberge egg in a Sotheby’s auction room;
or ruthlessly gunning down an unlikely assassin in sniper’s
alley between East and West Berlin, Bond always closes the
case – with extreme prejudice.
Official Blurb (Penguin USA 2004 Edition)
This new Penguin edition for the first time includes Fleming's
little known story "007 in New York", showcasing
Bond's taste for Manhattan's special pleasures from martinis
at the Plaza and dinner at Grand Central's Oyster Bar to
the perfect anonymity of the Central Park Zoo for a secret
rendezvous.
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Above: 1st edition Jonathan Cape hardback (UK). Artwork
by Richard Chopping. |
Contents
1 / Octopussy
2 / The Property
of a Lady
3 / The
Living Daylights
4 / 007 in New York
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"Octopussy & The Living Daylights" is
a collection of short stories. Data Stream information for
each individual story can be found below.
Extract
"M looked coldly across the desk. It was going
to be dirty work and Bond, because he belonged to the Double
O section, had been chosen for it. ‘You’ve got
to kill this sniper. And you’ve got to kill him before
he gets Agent 272. Is that understood?’
So, it was to be murder..."
Trivia
The original hardback only included "Octopussy"
and "The Living Daylights". The paperback edition
added "The Property of a Lady". The 2002 paperback
by Penguin added "007 in New York".
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Above: British Pan paperback 1st-4th editions (1962
onwards). |
Octopussy
Villains: |
Major Dexter Smythe |
Plot: |
Living off stolen Reichsbank gold |
Bond Girls: |
None |
Allies: |
None |
Locations: |
Jamaica; Kaiser mountains, Germany (flashback) |
Highlights: |
Flashback scene on mountain top |
Synopsis
Bond is sent to the Caribbean to investigate the murder
during the War of his former skiing instructor, Hans Oberhauser.
Major Dexter Smythe admits to carrying out the murder during
the German conquest and later returning to steal Oberhauser’s
gold. Bond leaves, and the disgraced Smythe considers killing
himself before he is arrested. Instead he goes swimming
and tries to feed the octopus he has been taming, only to
be poisoned by a deadly scorpion fish.
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The Property of
a Lady
Villains: |
Unidentified resident director of KGB in London, Maria
Freudenstein |
Plot: |
Pushing the bid at an auction as high as possible
to pay off a Russian agent |
Bond Girls: |
None |
Allies: |
Kenneth Snowman |
Locations: |
London, UK |
Highlights: |
Tense auction scene |
Synopsis
M realises that a known soviet agent within British Intelligence
is going to be paid off by the Russians at an auction when
they push up the price for a Faberge egg which she conveniently
‘inherited’. Bond points out that the bidder
will be the KGB’s resident director in London, because
only he knows about the agent. At the auction Bond spots
the bidder, and follows him to the Russian embassy. He is
declared a ‘persona non grata; and expelled from London.
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Above: Pan (Canadian edition); American
Signet paperback 2nd - 21st editions (1962 onwards);
British Pan paperback 6th-16th editions
(1963 onwards)
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The Living Daylights
Villains: |
"Trigger" |
Plot: |
Assassinating Western agent who is attempting to escape
from USSR to West Berlin |
Bond Girls: |
None |
Allies: |
Capt. Paul Sender |
Locations: |
London, UK; West Berlin, Germany |
Highlights: |
M/Bond scene; shooting of Trigger |
Synopsis
Bond is sent to Berlin to shoot a sniper trying to kill
a double agent coming to the West. On the third of the three
possible nights, the agent comes, but 007 sees that the
sniper is a beautiful Russian celloist whom he had his eyes
on. At the last minute, he shoots her gun instead of her
head, to the berating of the vexing local agent. Bond is
satisfied to have ‘scared the living daylights’
out of her. The double-agent made it safely.
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007 in New York
Villains: |
None |
Plot: |
Tip-off a former SIS operative that her partner is
a Russian spy |
Bond Girls: |
Solange |
Allies: |
None |
Locations: |
New York City, USA |
Highlights: |
Travelogue |
Synopsis
Bond goes to New York to warn a girl who used to work for
SIS that she is dating a Russian spy. Bond has arranged
to meet her in the Reptile House at Central Park Zoo. This
is basically a travelogue of Fleming (through Bond's mind)
writing about Bond's attitudes to New York. As ever, he
keeps an eye on the finer things of life, and looks forward
to sleeping with a girl called Solange. Bond concludes the
dominant part one by thinking 'New York has everything'.
But he soon realises it doesn't, because there is no reptile
house in Central Park Zoo. He eventually did meet the girl
though.
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Quotes
"The clear eyes remained cold as ice. But Bond knew
that they remained so only with an effort of will. M didn't
like sending any man to a killing. But, when it had to be
done, he always put on this fierce, cold act of command.
Bond knew why. It was to take some of the pressure, some
of the guilt, off the killer's shoulders."
"James Bond's choice of reading matter, prompted by
a spectacular jacket of a half-naked girl strapped to a
bed, turned out to have been a happy one for the occasion.
It was called Verderbt, Verdammt, Verraten. The
prefix 'ver' siginifed that the girl had not only been ruined,
damned and betrayed, but that she has suffered these misfortunes
most thoroughly. James Bond temporarily lost himself in
the tribulations of the heroine, Gräfin Liselotte Mutzenbacher..."
"James Bond looked Major Smythe squarely in the eyes.
'It just happened that Oberhauser was a friend of mine.
He taught me to ski before the war, when I was in my teens.
He was a wonderful man. He was something of a father to
me at a time when I happened to need one.'"
"The octopus explored his right hand with its buccal
orifice and took a first tentative bite at a finger with
its beak-like jaws."
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Above: Penguin USA paperback 1st edition
(2003) |
Above: British Coronet paperback 3rd edition (1988); British Penguin paperback edition
(2002); US Vintage paperback (2012).
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Reviews
"Ian Fleming traces the intricacies of counter-espionage
with all the efficient authority of 007's own secret reports."
- Sunday Times
"A must for all Bond buffs."
- Newsweek
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