Vintage Pulp

January 21 2020

JUST CAN’T TAKE A CHOKE

Famed author Ian Fleming arrested after strangulation rampage at his publishing company.

We talked about how Ian Fleming feuded with his publisher Perma Books over name changes to his James Bond novels. This is another one of the offending paperbacks, 1957’s Too Hot To Handle. Not only had this book already been successfully published as Moonraker by the British hardback imprint Jonathan Cape, but the Lou Marchetti cover art Perma used doesn’t fit the Bond brand at all. Signet Books did infinitely better when it got the rights in 1960. As far as Fleming trying to strangle everyone at Perma, we can’t confirm that as fact. But we bet he thought about it.

Perma Books, Jonathan Cape, Moonraker, Ian Fleming, James Bond, Lou Marchetti, cover art, literature

Vintage Pulp

May 8 2019

WELL SUITED FOR THE ROLE

Garzanti cover for Bond collection is absolutely favoloso.

Here’s a little something to add to the Ian Fleming bin. This is Il favoloso 007 di Fleming, published in Italy in 1973 by the Milan based company Garzanti. It’s a compendium of the four James Bond novels CasinoÌ€ Royal, Vivi e lascia morire, Il grande slam della morte, and Una cascata di diamanti, better known as Casino Royale, Live and Let Die, Moonraker, and Diamonds Are Forever. The cover for this is great, we think, and as a bonus the interior also contains some black and white photos.

But really, we were drawn to this because of the model and her fishnet bodysuit. Or is that lace? Doesn’t matter. She’s none other than Claudine Auger, aka Domino from 1965’s Thunderball. Sean Connery gets a corner of the cover as well, and the rear is interesting too, with its shark and cards from To Live and Let Die. Technically, those cards should be tarots, but whatever, nice art anyway. And speaking of nice, we also located the photo used to make the cover, and you see that below too. Really cool collector’s item, which we’d buy if we read Italian. But alas, that isn’t one of our languages, so this one still languishes at auction.

Italy, Milan, Garzanti, Thunderball, Casino Royale, Live and Let Die, Moonraker, Diamonds Are Forever, Ian Fleming, Claudine Auger, Sean Connery, James Bond, cover art, literature

Vintage Pulp

June 25 2018

LUNAR EVENT

The sky's the limit in third Bond thriller.

Ian Fleming’s Moonraker is James Bond’s third literary outing and it sees him trying to prevent the detonation of a loose nuke. If you’ve never read a Bond book, you may want to know that in addition to being thrillers they’re hardcore car and food porn. Fleming takes pains to describe engines, exhausts, gearing; then he’ll turn toward flavors, ingredients, and vintages. In Moonraker a chapter long car chase is a tour de force. A meal in a private club is almost as exciting. The rarefied world of three digit speed and three star dinners drew us in almost as much as the plot. But the main takeaway from this book for us is that it was absolutely murdered by United Artists when adapted for the screen. They left nothing but the title and the name of the villain. It’s worth reading just to experience Fleming’s original vision. This 1960 Signet edition has Barye Phillips cover art, and it’s a bit different for him but very nice.

Signet Books, Moonraker, Ian Fleming, Barye Phillips, James Bond, cover art, literature

Vintage Pulp

May 31 2015

LOW-YIELD BOND

Italian thriller offers viewers an entertaining world of trouble.

It’s probably fair to say Duello dans le monde, aka Ring Around the World has been pretty much forgotten in filmdom, but maybe it shouldn’t be. With a good premise, groovy-jazzy soundtrack, and location shooting in global hotspots like Bangkok, London, Hong Kong, and Rio de Janeiro, this was better than we had any right to expect. Richard Harrison investigates a series of seemingly natural deaths only to find that they were murders—in reality an assassin has shot the victims with pellets made of a frozen concoction that induces heart attacks. The pellets of course then melt and leave no trace behind.

We were drawn to this film by the excellent French language promo poster above painted by Giuliano Nistri, but were surprised to find a semi-competent thriller in the vein of James Bond. Interestingly, there’s a skydiving stunt here that predated the famous Moonraker opening sequence by more than a decade. The stunt isn’t exactly the same, but the idea is close, done low budget. The movie is probably too goofy and cheap to be called good, but on the whole it’s worth a look, and as a bonus it co-stars the wonderful Dominique Boschero. Originally released in Italy in 1966 and called Duello nel mondo, it opened in France as Duel dans le monde today in 1967.

France, Italy, Duel dans le monde, Duello nel mondo, Ring Around the World, Moonraker, Richard Harrison, Hélène Chanel, Giacomo Rossi, Dominique Boschero, Giuliano Nistri, poster art, cinema, movie review

Vintage Pulp

April 29 2015

PERMA IS TEMPORARY

Change is inevitable—especially if you're dealing with Ian Fleming.

Ian Fleming was not an author to be trifled with. We talked about how he shifted the rights for Casino Royale from Popular Library to Signet. Well, here we go again. The above 1957 Perma paperback of Diamonds Are Forever with excellent William Rose cover art is rare because Fleming shifted the publishing to Signet after Perma changed the title of Moonraker to Too Hot to Handle. Since this happened after the Casino Royale fiasco you’d think the editors would have known better.

Perma: Ian, Moonraker is a terrible title. It sounds like a sci-fi novel.

Fleming: You listen here, you sniveling little pup—

Perma: This is my job, okay. I’m telling you a bad title hurts your whole brand.

Fleming: Well, I have an idea for a book called Goldfinger. I suppose you think that’s a bad title too?

Perma: Well, yeah…

Fleming: Why you annoying insect. And Octopussy? You don’t like that either?

Perma: Sounds pornographic. It’s ludicrous.

Fleming: You have two tin fucking ears is what’s ludicrous! And Chitty-Chitty-Bang-Bang?

Perma: The worst of the bunch, and pornographic. I’m sorry, Ian—

Fleming: Chitty-Chitty-Bang-Bang? Pornographic? That’s the last goddamned straw, you pimply little Yank!

Signet Books, Perma Books, Diamonds Are Forever, Moonraker, Too Hot To Handle, Octopussy, Ian Fleming, William Rose, James Bond, cover art, lierature

Vintage Pulp

November 2 2009

RIDING DIRTY

Oh, stop being so melodramatic. What's the harm in picking up one hitchhiker?

Above are two rare Japanese posters for the 1977 Italian sexploitation thriller Autostop rosso sangue, aka Hitch-Hike. The woman with the rifle is Corinne Clery, who made her name starring in the softcore classic Histoire d’O, but is perhaps better known to American audiences for playing Corinne Dufour in the Bond film Moonraker. Basically, Autostop is the story of two embittered spouses who make the mistake of picking up a hitchhiker who happens to be a vicious bank robber. Vicious criminals always take a shine to unhappy wives, and so we know where this one is headed, but there’s oh so much more to the plot. Violent, gripping, and thoroughly sexual, we recommend this one for genre fans only. All others, maybe give it a pass the same way Clery and her husband should have passed by the hitchhiker.

Italy, Japan, Autostop rosso sangue, Hitch-Hike, Histoire d’ O, Moonraker, Franco Nero, Corinne Clery, David Hess, nudity, sexploitation, poster art, cinema, movie review

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HISTORY REWIND

The headlines that mattered yesteryear.

October 10

1971—London Bridge Goes Up

After being sold, dismantled and moved to the United States, London Bridge reopens in the resort town of Lake Havasu City, Arizona.

October 10

1975—Burton and Taylor Marry Again

British actor Richard Burton and American screen star Elizabeth Taylor secretly remarry sixteen months after their divorce, then jet away to a second honeymoon in Chobe Game Park in Botswana.

October 9

1967—ChÃ© Executed in Bolivia

A day after being captured, Marxist revolutionary Ernesto “Che” Guevara is executed in Bolivia. In an attempt to make it appear as though he had been killed resisting Bolivian troops, the executioner shoots Guevara with a machine gun, wounding him nine times in the legs, arm, shoulder, throat, and chest.

October 8

1918—Sgt. York Becomes a Hero

During World War I, in the Argonne Forest in France, America Corporal Alvin C. York leads an attack on a German machine gun nest that kills 25 and captures 132. He is a corporal during the event, but is promoted to sergeant as a result. He also earns Medal of Honor from the U.S., the Croix de Guerre from the French Republic, and the Croce di Guerra from Italy and Montenegro. Stateside, he is celebrated as a hero, and Hollywood even makes a movie entitled Sergeant York, starring Gary Cooper.

October 8

1956—Larsen Pitches Perfect Game

The New York Yankees’ Don Larsen pitches a perfect game in the World Series against hated rivals the Brooklyn Dodgers. It is the only perfect game in World Series history, as well as the only no-hitter.

October 7

1959—Dark Side of Moon Revealed

The Soviet space probe Luna 3 transmits the first photographs of the far side of the moon. The photos generate great interest, and scientists are surprised to see mountainous terrain, very different from the near side, and only two seas, which the Soviets name Mare Moscovrae (Sea of Moscow) and Mare Desiderii (Sea of Desire).