The Deep by Peter Benchley

(pb; 1976)

From the back cover

"On a perfect day in Bermuda a honeymooning couple dives into the offshore reefs. They are looking for the wreck of a sunken ship. What they find is surprising. It lures them into a mysterious and increasingly dangerous encounter, a relentless struggle for survival."


Review

Fun, informative, mysterious, blast-through-it-at-the-beach suspense novel. Some of the scenes are brutal, but if you read Jaws and didn't flinch, you're probably okay reading The Deep.

This is a consummate guilty pleasure. Check it out.

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The film version was released stateside on June 17, 1977.

Nick Nolte played David Sanders. Jacqueline Bisset played Gail Burke. Robert Shaw played Romer Treece. Eli Wallach played Adam Coffin. Lou Gossett Jr., billed as Lou Gossett, played Henri Cloche. Robert Tessier played Kevin.

Peter Yates directed the film, from a script by book author Peter Benchley and Tracy Keenan Wynn.

Strangers on a Train by Patricia Highsmith

(pb; 1950)

From the back cover:

“Here we encounter Guy Haines and Charles Anthony Bruno, passengers on the same train. But while Guy is a successful architect in the midst of a divorce, Bruno turns out to be a sadistic psychopath who manipulates Guy into swapping murders with him. ‘Some people are better off dead,’ Bruno remarks, ‘like your wife and my father, for instance.’ As Bruno carries out his twisted plan, Guy is trapped in Highsmith’s perilous world, where, under the right circumstances, anybody is capable of murder...”


Review:

Strangers is a promising and flawed novel from a master noir author who would later give the world the excellent Ripley series.

It is flawed because the characters are too flawed. Charles Anthony Bruno, a “loathsome” sycophantic rich Mama’s boy, gets too much time to ruminate about his murderous obsession. Guy Haines is a spineless lying protagonist who waffles about moral issues when he should be putting Bruno in jail – again, like Bruno’s morbid ruminations, Haines’s waffling goes on for far too long to read realistically. The economic prose that would later make up Highsmith’s finer novels is seen here and there in Strangers, but much of the novel is unnecessary, rambling.

Despite these major flaws, it is easy to see why readers were taken by Highsmith’s debut novel. Highsmith’s coolly analytical tone, a trademark of her writing, and the alternating killer(s)-panic-then-gloat structure that framed The Talented Mr. Ripley is evidenced here, wedged between the lengthier passages. Also, her clever wordplay and dark humor regularly spice up the action.

Ultimately, it’s worth reading, if you can get past Highsmith’s chattering tone and largely unlikeable characters.

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Three films resulted from this novel.

The first film version was released stateside on June 30, 1951. Alfred Hitchcock directed it, from a screenplay by Raymond Chandler, Czenzi Ormonde and an uncredited Ben Hecht. (Whitfield Cook provided the adaptation for the film.)

Farley Granger played Guy Haines. Robert Walker played Bruno Anthony. Ruth Roman played Anne Morton. Leo G. Caroll played Sen. Morton. Patricia Hitchcock, daughter of Alfred and Alma Reville, played Barbara Morton.

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The second version, titled Once You Kiss A Stranger, was released stateside on November 12, 1969. Highsmith's novel is the uncredited source, but is widely -- unofficially -- acknowledged as such.

It was directed by Robert Sparr, from a screenplay by Norman Katkov and Frank Tarloff.

Paul Burke played Frank. Carol Lynley played Diana. Martha Hyer played Lee. Whit Bissell played Dr. Haggis

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The third version, Once You Meet A Stranger, is a television film. It aired stateside on September 25, 1996. Tommy Lee Wallace directed it, from the screenplay of the original film.

Jacqueline Bisset played Sheila Gaines. Nick Mancusco played Aaron. Theresa Russell played Margo Anthony.

Casino Royale, by Ian Fleming

(pb; 1953: first book in the original 007/James Bond series)


Review:

The first James Bond novel finds British Secret Service agent James Bond matching wits with Le Chiffre, a SMERSH* financial associate/agent in Royale-les-Eaux. Bond’s mission is to break Le Chiffre, who’s in financial – and possibly fatal – trouble. Bond has helpers: Felix Leiter, a CIA agent (later a recurring character in the series); Mathis (a French agent); and Vesper Lynd, a fellow Secret Service agent.

However, things go awry when Lynd gets kidnapped by Le Chiffre -- and that's just the start of Bond and his fellow agents' problems.

The tone of this novel is abrasive, occasionally violent and taciturn, much like Bond himself. This is not the suave Bond seen in the films: he’s a lady killer, but his view of women (particularly fellow agents) is much darker and misogynistic.

Since Casino is the first novel of a series, there is a lot of set-up. The action sequences are sparse, but when they happen -- later in the book -- it is especially nasty. The ending, especially the last line, is a brutal and effective set-up for the Bond novels that follow.

Casino is an initially awkward, but ultimately raw and worthwhile read.

(*SMERSH is Fleming’s fictional Russian equivalent of the British Secret Service. The acronym SMERSH is “a conjunction of two Russian words: ‘Smyert Shpionam,’ meaning roughly: ‘Death to Spies.’”).

Followed by Live And Let Die.

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The first version of Casino Royale was filmed for television – a disappointing effort, from what I’ve read.

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The comedic second version, "suggested" by the source novel, was released stateside in movie theaters on April 28, 1967.

David Niven played Sir James Bond. Charles Boyer played Le Grand. William Holden played Ransome. Kurt Kasznar played Smernov. John Huston played "McTarry aka M". Deborah Kerr played "Agent Mimi aka Lady Fiona". (John Huston also directed the "scenes at James Bond's house" and the "castle at Scotland scenes.")

Woody Allen played "Jimmy Bond - Dr. Noah". Barbara Bouchet played Moneypenny. Terence Cooper played "Cooper, James Bond - 007". Daliah Lavi played "The Detainer - 007".

Peter Sellers played "Evelyn Tremble, James Bond - 007". Ursula Andress played "Vesper Lynd - 007". Jacqueline Bisset played Miss Goodthighs. Orson Welles played Le Chiffre.

Joanna Pettet played Mata Bond. George Raft played himself. Jean-Paul Belmondo played "French Legionnaire". Geoffrey Bayldon played Q.

An uncredited Peter O'Toole played Piper. An uncredited Burt Kwouk played "Chinese General". An uncredited Caroline Munro played "Guard Girl". An uncredited David Prowse played Frankenstein's Creature.

Val Guest directed "scenes with Woody Allen and additional scenes with David Niven." Ken Hughes directed the "Berlin scenes." Joseph McGrath directed "scenes with Peter Sellers, Orson Welles and Ursula Andress." Robert Parrish directed "scenes with Peter Sellers and Orson Welles." An uncredited Richard Talmadge directed the "Casino Royale finale."

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A third version is scheduled for stateside release on November 17, 2006.

Daniel Craig played James Bond. Judi Dench reprised her role of M. Eva Green played Vesper Lynd. Mads Mikkelsen played Le Chiffre. Jeffrey Wright played Felix Leiter. Giancarlo Giannini played René Mathis. Vlastina Svátková played a "Waitress".
 

Martin Campbell, who directed GoldenEye, is set to direct.