Rpushed back several times due to pandemic, the last James Bond, Die can wait, the longest of the saga (2:43), will be released on French screens on October 6. The spy born from the imagination of the English novelist Ian Fleming logically appears for the first time in the 23 March 1963 edition of the evening daily, on the occasion of the release of James Bond 007 vs. Dr No, by Terence Young, the inaugural installment of the Secret Agent Adventures. Ian Fleming had until then remained a confidential author in France. In 1957, his first novel translated in France, Diamonds are forever, at Gallimard, had gone unnoticed, at least by journalists from the World.
In 1963, another story was written, both for Fleming and for his hero, due to the extraordinary success of Dr No. The film was released in October 1962 in Great Britain, generating an unusual craze. It will ultimately bring in $ 59 million worldwide, for a budget of $ 1 million.
“From the moment we get rid of any critical sense (…) to find the appropriate mental age (ten years at most), it is never boring. »Jean de Baroncelli, in 1963
Released at the end of January 1963 on French screens, Dr No is about to end his career with more than 4 million entries. But the already famous James Bond is viewed with a distance by The world, in an article published two months after the film’s release in French theaters. The critic Jean de Baroncelli looks at Dr No with obvious condescension, doubting that the feature film and its title character will be remembered.
“It’s both childish and delusional, notes Jean de Baroncelli. But, from the moment when we have got rid of all critical sense and when we have achieved a certain “accommodation” in order to find the appropriate mental age (ten years at most), it is not is never boring. “ And the journalist from World to conclude : “If you happen to read Tintin on the sly, if the most incredible science fiction soap operas don’t scare you, if you want to get to know a very pretty young woman named Ursula, if you have a two-hour ‘hole’ in your job. time you can go see James Bond 007 vs. Dr No. I think you will have fun. You won’t get a migraine anyway. ”
Jean de Baroncelli is so little enthusiastic about the James Bond phenomenon that the second part of the secret agent’s tribulations, Good kisses from Russia, by Terence Young, is not even listed. In the unanimous opinion, however, it is not only one of the most brilliant episodes of the series, but it is also one where the context of the Cold War, very present, would have been likely to be of interest. The world.
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