Bonds Away!

With the 24th and latest James Bond film, Spectre, scheduled to premiere this weekend in U.S. theaters, it’s no wonder my mind has been active with all things 007. Just this afternoon, I remembered that I had in my files the cover from the November 9, 1999, edition of The Sunday Times Magazine, a supplement to The Times of London. Illustrated by Robert McGinnis--who over the years had done the artwork for posters promoting a variety of Bond films, including the 1967 spoof version of Casino Royale, 1965’s Thunderball, 1967’s You Only Live Twice, and 1971’s Diamonds Are Forever--it was published to coincide with the release of The World Is Not Enough, the 19th Bond flick and the third to star Pierce Brosnan.

Click on the image below for an easier-to-study enlargement.



Edward Biddulph explains in his blog, James Bond Memes, that McGinnis’ complex picture for the Times Magazine was

Conceived to resemble an ornately framed painting, though also alluding to a certain extent [to] the heraldic-style artwork used alongside the main poster campaign for On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, the artwork is topped by a crown (representing Bond’s service to Queen and Country) flanked by near-naked and suggestively positioned women. The faces of the Bond actors are placed below the crown--naturally Sean Connery is at the centre--and below them is the main body of the artwork, which celebrates the best of Bond with representations of iconic moments from the film series, which are divided into themes of space, land, and sea. The panel is bordered by the faces of the most memorable villains of the series, and the whole artwork is framed by more scantily clad women.

Biddulph goes on to provide a more detailed examination of this magazine front here, noting that “Thunderball, Diamonds Are Forever, The Spy Who Loved Me, and Moonraker are Robert McGinnis’ principal reference points. Perhaps these are his personal favourites, but undoubtedly each have contributed more than their fair share of classic scenes and images.”