Spy Thrillers

In Licence to Thrill, James Chapman gives several reasons for the differences between Dr. No, the novel, and its filmic adaptation The producers wanted to update the story so that it would appeal to young post-war audiences, and thus referred to a number of recent misfires in America s space program. They also attempted to fill a gap in the prevaihng film culture by combining the tradition of the British spy thriller... 

In retrospect, it is interesting to see how The Man From U.N.C.L.E. and the cinematic Bond series followed the same stylistic trajectories. Both began as slick spy thrillers with some humor, then evolved more toward comedy, even camp, before returning to a more serious, even grim, tone with little humor and a stronger emphasis on violence and danger. U.N.C.L.E. s first and second seasons are comparable to the Connery period, its third silly season to the Roger Moore era, and its hyper-serious fourth season to the more recent no-nonsense Bonds of Timothy Dalton and Pierce Brosnan. 

Denning, Michael. 2003 [1987]. Licensed to Look James Bond and the Heroism of Consimqttiom in Christoph Lindner ed.. The James Bond Phenomenon A Critical Reader. Manchester Manchester University Press. 56-75. Reprinted from Cover Stories Narrative and Ideology in the British Spy Thriller. London Routledge. 

The secrecy surrounding Fleming s wartime intelligence activities has encouraged writers of spy thrillers to elaborate plots based upon speculative links between Fleming and the Duke of Windsor. See, for example, William Boyd s wy JTuwiaw Heart (2002) and Mitch Silver s 7n Secret Service (2008). 

Denning, Michael. 1987. Cover Stories Narrative and Ideology in the British Spy Thriller. London Routledge and Kegan Paul. 

Merry, Bmce. 1977. Anatomy of a Spy Thriller. EhibUn Gill and Macmillan. 

Though during a period of high cinema profits with DAD achieving the same level of commercial success, as well as the emergence of a veiy different genre of spy thriller gracing the screens, it would come as no surprise if EON simply ended the series on the 20 instalment. 007 had perhaps run his course. 

By the early 1950s, the various spy comics had begun to falter. Spy and Counterspy had folded in 1951, and Spy Cases, Spy Fighters, and Spy Hunters all expired by late 1953. Spy Thrillers survived only a year and a half longer. The reason for their demise was obvious. By this time, the atomic bomb, theft of which had become the backbone of the spy comics genre, had become an integral part of Soviet and American Ufe. In fact, it began to border on the commonplace. ... 

Its success in America and the popularity of British shows like I, Claudius and Upstairs, Downstairs suggested that the time was right for a first-rate thriller series. In the past, there had been several solid British spy shows, like Danger Man and its curious spin-off The Prisoner, as well as less serious programs like The Avengers, which had proved very popular in the United States. 

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