''The Incredible World of James Bond'' was a 1965

television special A television special (often TV special, or rarely television spectacular) is a standalone television show which may also temporarily interrupt episodic programming normally scheduled for a given time slot. Some specials provide a full range of ent ...

produced by

David L. Wolper David Lloyd Wolper (January 11, 1928 – August 10, 2010) was an American television and film producer, responsible for shows such as ''Roots'', '' The Thorn Birds'', and ''North and South'', and the theatrically-released films ''L.A. Confiden ...

for

United Artists Television United Artists Television (UATV) was an American television production/distribution studio of United Artists Corporation that was formed on New Year's Day (January 1), 1958. The company is remembered for producing series such as ''This Man Dawso ...

to showcase the

James Bond The ''James Bond'' series focuses on a fictional British Secret Service agent created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels and two short-story collections. Since Fleming's death in 1964, eight other authors have ...

film series A film series or movie series (also referred to as a film franchise or movie franchise) is a collection of related films in succession that share the same fictional universe, or are marketed as a series. This article explains what film series are ...

and promote the upcoming December 1965 release of the film '' Thunderball''. In the United States, the show replaced ''

The Man From U.N.C.L.E. ''The Man from U.N.C.L.E.'' is an American spy fiction television series produced by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Television and first broadcast on NBC. The series follows secret agents, played by Robert Vaughn and David McCallum, who work for a secret ...

'' on

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are l ...

on Friday, 26 November 1965; the day after American

Thanksgiving Thanksgiving is a national holiday celebrated on various dates in the United States, Canada, Grenada, Saint Lucia, Liberia, and unofficially in countries like Brazil and Philippines. It is also observed in the Netherlander town of Leiden ...

that unofficially begins the shopping frenzy for

Christmas Christmas is an annual festival commemorating the birth of Jesus Christ, observed primarily on December 25 as a religious and cultural celebration among billions of people around the world. A feast central to the Christian liturgical year ...

. It was the highest rated American television show for the week.

Plot and production

The show featured film scenes of the worldwide popularity of James Bond novels, films, and

tie-in A tie-in work is a work of fiction or other product based on a media property such as a film, video game, television series, board game, web site, role-playing game or literary property. Tie-ins are authorized by the owners of the original prop ...

merchandise, black and white scenes of Ian Fleming at his home

Goldeneye ''GoldenEye'' is a 1995 spy film, the seventeenth in the ''James Bond'' series produced by Eon Productions, and the first to star Pierce Brosnan as the fictional MI6 agent James Bond. Directed by Martin Campbell, it was the first in the se ...

Jamaica Jamaica (; ) is an island country situated in the Caribbean Sea. Spanning in area, it is the third-largest island of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean (after Cuba and Hispaniola). Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, and west of His ...

giving comments on his writing, a biography of

with footage of Glencoe, Eton,

Fettes College Fettes College () is a co-educational independent boarding and day school in Edinburgh, Scotland, with over two-thirds of its pupils in residence on campus. The school was originally a boarding school for boys only and became co-ed in 1983. In ...

, and

Royal Marine Commando The Corps of Royal Marines (RM), also known as the Royal Marines Commandos, are the UK's special operations capable commando force, amphibious light infantry and also one of the five fighting arms of the Royal Navy. The Corps of Royal Marine ...

s on exercise, home movie footage shot by

production designer In film and television, the production designer is the individual responsible for the overall aesthetic of the story. The production design gives the viewers a sense of the time period, the plot location, and character actions and feelings. Wo ...

Ken Adam Sir Kenneth Adam (born Klaus Hugo George Fritz Adam; 5 February 1921 – 10 March 2016) was a German-British movie production designer, best known for his set designs for the James Bond films of the 1960s and 1970s, as well as for ''Dr. Stran ...

the Bahamas The Bahamas (), officially the Commonwealth of The Bahamas, is an island country within the Lucayan Archipelago of the West Indies in the North Atlantic. It takes up 97% of the Lucayan Archipelago's land area and is home to 88% of the ar ...

during the production of ''Thunderball'', and scenes from four Bond films. Behind the scenes footage from the

making of In cinema, behind-the-scenes (BTS), also known as the making-of, the set, or on the set, is a type of documentary film that features the production of a film or television program. This is often referred to as the EPK (electronic press kit) vid ...

''Thunderball'' included scenes of the preparation and filming of a scene of a rocket firing motorcycle destroying

Count Lippe The following is a list of primary antagonists in the ''James Bond'' novels and film series. Novel villains by author Ian Fleming Kingsley Amis (writing as Robert Markham) Christopher Wood John Gardner Raymond Benson ...

's car, a choreographed fist fight in a studio mock up of the cabin of the ''Disco Volante'', a

photo shoot A photo shoot is the process taken by creatives and models that results in a visual objective being obtained. An example is a model posing for a photographer at a studio or an outdoor location. A photo shoot is a series of images that are taken ...

of the

Bond girls A Bond girl is a character who is a love interest or female companion of James Bond in a novel, film or video game. Bond girls occasionally have names that are double entendres or puns, such as Pussy Galore, Plenty O'Toole, Xenia Onatopp, or ...

on a beach in the Bahamas, and a scene of the

Aston Martin DB5 The Aston Martin DB5 is a British grand tourer (GT) produced by Aston Martin and designed by Italian coachbuilder Carrozzeria Touring Superleggera. Originally produced from 1963 to 1965, the DB5 was an evolution of the final series of DB4. Alth ...

driving away from the

Château d'Anet The Château d'Anet is a château near Dreux, in the Eure-et-Loir department in northern France, built by Philibert de l'Orme from 1547 to 1552 for Diane de Poitiers, the mistress of Henry II of France. It was built on the former château at the ...

that was not seen in the finished film. Director Terence Young, producers

Albert R. Broccoli Albert Romolo Broccoli ( ; April 5, 1909 – June 27, 1996), nicknamed "Cubby", was an American film producer who made more than 40 motion pictures throughout his career. Most of the films were made in the United Kingdom and often filmed at Pi ...

Harry Saltzman Herschel Saltzman (; – ), known as Harry Saltzman, was a Canadian theatre and film producer. He is best remembered for co-producing the first nine of the ''James Bond'' film series with Albert R. Broccoli. He lived most of his life in Den ...

Kevin McClory Kevin O'Donovan McClory (8 June 1924 – 20 November 2006) was an Irish screenwriter, film producer, and film director. McClory was best known for producing the James Bond film '' Thunderball'' and for his legal battles with the character's cre ...

, editor Peter R. Hunt and action director and stuntman Bob Simmons are shown during sequences. The "

James Bond Theme The "James Bond Theme" is the main signature theme music of the James Bond films and has featured in every Eon Productions Bond film since '' Dr. No'', released in 1962. Composed by Monty Norman (with arrangements for film provided by John Bar ...

" and other music from the Bond film soundtracks are heard with the

gun barrel A gun barrel is a crucial part of gun-type weapons such as small firearms, artillery pieces, and air guns. It is the straight shooting tube, usually made of rigid high-strength metal, through which a contained rapid expansion of high-pressu ...

titles and 007 logo from the ''Goldfinger''

film trailer A trailer (also known as a preview, coming attraction or attraction video) is a commercial advertisement, originally for a feature film that is going to be exhibited in the future at a movie theater/cinema. It is a product of creative and techni ...

appearing in the opening titles. The

narration Narration is the use of a written or spoken commentary to convey a story to an audience. Narration is conveyed by a narrator: a specific person, or unspecified literary voice, developed by the creator of the story to deliver information to the ...

was to have been originally given by Sean Connery. However, when Connery read the script and found out they were referring to

as an actual person he refused to do the show. Telephone calls from

Joan Crawford Joan Crawford (born Lucille Fay LeSueur; March 23, ncertain year from 1904 to 1908was an American actress. She started her career as a dancer in traveling theatrical companies before debuting on Broadway theatre, Broadway. Crawford was si ...

who was a major shareholder in

Pepsi Cola Pepsi is a carbonated soft drink manufactured by PepsiCo. Originally created and developed in 1893 by Caleb Bradham and introduced as Brad's Drink, it was renamed as Pepsi-Cola in 1898, and then shortened to Pepsi in 1961. History Pepsi was ...

, the sponsor of the show, failed to sway Connery and his narrating chores were taken by Alexander Scourby. Pepsi Cola used the special to unveil commercials for its latest products. The special is available as a

featurette In the American film industry, a featurette is a kind of film that is shorter than a full-length feature, but longer than a short film. The term may refer to either of two types of content: a shorter film or a companion film. Medium-length film ...

on the "James Bond Ultimate Edition" DVD of ''Thunderball''.

Record album

Pepsi Cola and

Frito Lay Frito-Lay is an American subsidiary of PepsiCo that manufactures, markets, and sells corn chips, potato chips, and other snack foods. The primary snack food brands produced under the Frito-Lay name include Fritos corn chips, Cheetos cheese-flavor ...

also sold promotional James Bond

toys and a record album titled ''The Incredible World of James Bond''. The album featured the original

soundtrack A soundtrack is recorded music accompanying and synchronised to the images of a motion picture, drama, book, television program, radio program, or video game; a commercially released soundtrack album of music as featured in the soundtrack ...

music and

cover version In popular music, a cover version, cover song, remake, revival, or simply cover, is a new performance or recording by a musician other than the original performer or composer of the song. Originally, it referred to a version of a song release ...

s of four of the themes from the first three Bond films played by

United Artists Records United Artists Records was an American record label founded by Max E. Youngstein of United Artists in 1957 to issue movie soundtracks. The label expanded into other genres, such as easy listening, jazz, pop, and R&B. History Genres In 1959, ...

house band The

Leroy Holmes Alvin LeRoy Holmes (September 22, 1913 – July 27, 1986) was an American songwriter, composer, arranger, orchestra conductor and record producer. Biography Holmes graduated from Hollywood High School, studied music at Northwestern Univer ...

Orchestra. The back of the album cover was full of photographic stills from the Bond films. The record was later reissued with an attractive Frank Gauna designed album cover on Unart Records in 1967 with two music tracks deleted to fit on the

budget album Budget albums (also known as unofficially by some collectors as either drugstore records or junk records) were low-priced vinyl LPs of popular and classical music released during the 1950s to 1970s consisting either of previously released material ...

.SoundtrackCollector: Soundtrack details: Incredible World Of James Bond, The
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References

External links

* * documentary credits http://www.davidlwolper.com/shows/details.cfm?showID=196 * Record album http://www.317x.com/albums/v/various/card.html {{DEFAULTSORT:Incredible World Of James Bond, The 1965 television specials 1965 documentary films 1960s American television specials American documentary television films Thunderball (film) NBC television specials James Bond Television shows directed by Jack Haley Jr. 1965 films 1960s American films 1960s British films

Plot and production

Record album

See also

References

External links