Ian Fleming's original James Bond stories have been adapted to the screen with varying degrees of fidelity over the past 50 years. With the reintroduction of Blofeld and Spectre in Daniel Craig's 007 movies, Fleming's source material returned to the franchise. Fleming originally published 14 James Bond books, and while each has been adapted for cinema, some versions have been more faithful than others.
While some James Bond movies have followed Fleming's stories precisely, many have not. In fact, several lifted only their titles, leaving much of Ian Fleming's James Bond behind. Here's a look at how each previous James Bond movie handled Ian Fleming's source material.
Dr. No
Dr. No changed only a few things from Ian Fleming's novel. Dr. No is not a member of SPECTRE, which Fleming had not created yet, and he loses his hands to hitmen (rather than radiation), replacing them with pincers (not mechanical hands). Dr. No is crushed beneath an avalanche of guano, which he quarries instead of the movie's bauxite. He also forces Bond through an ability-testing, lethal assault course, which culminates in Bond battling a giant squid.
Other minor changes include: Bond faced a poisoned centipede, not a tarantula; Honey Rider first appears naked, not in a bikini; and Honey is staked out for crabs to eat, rather than left to drown and rescued by Sean Connery's James Bond. Other aspects were changed slightly to reorient the novel as the franchise's first movie: Bond had previously met both Strangeways and Quarrel, and while Felix Leiter did exist in Fleming's novels, he did not appear in Dr. No.
From Russia With Love
The biggest change from Fleming's novel (From Russia, With Love) is the real-life Soviet agency SMERSH. SMERSH permeates Fleming's books, but the movies replaced it with SPECTRE, which Fleming creates later. Subsequently, the decoder, Spektor, was renamed Lektor. Donald "Red" Grant is originally called Donovan and is an amalgam of three characters. His weapon of choice is a gun concealed in a book, not the garotte. In the novel, one of James Bond's best villains, Rosa Klebb, manages to stab Bond with her dagger shoes before being arrested. The movie also created Q, who would subsequently appear in every movie but never in Fleming's work.
Goldfinger
Fleming's 7th novel Goldfinger was adapted somewhat faithfully, with changes primarily made to facilitate filming. The plot was altered slightly, originally centering on a heist of Fort Nox's gold supply rather than the movie's plot to irradiate the vault. Goldfinger himself is only about five feet tall in Fleming's novel, but actor Gert Fröbe was six foot and one inch. The novel also featured a buzzsaw instead of the famous laser beam. The movie Goldfinger introduced James Bond's iconic Aston Martin, though the novel featured an earlier model modified with fewer gadgets.
Thunderball
Originally intended to be the first Bond movie, Thunderball was very faithfully adapted. This was largely due to the involvement of screenwriters in the novel's writing (which led to infamous legal problems and, in turn, the rival but equally faithful Bond movie, Never Say Never Again). The SPECTOR agent electrocuted by Blofeld was executed for sexually assaulting a kidnap victim, not embezzlement as depicted in the movie. Fiona Volpe (Luciana Paluzzi) and the doppelganger pilot plot were not in Fleming's original novel -- which incidentally featured SPECTOR's first appearance.
On Her Majesty's Secret Service
Ian Flemming's 1963 novel On Her Majesty's Secret Service, starring George Lazenby, is essentially identical to the movie which followed. As the movie, however, was adopted out of order, the filmmakers made certain changes to maintain the established timeline. Despite this, there were still some plot holes in the movie, such as Blofeld not recognizing James Bond despite meeting him already in You Only Live Twice. Blofeld's appearance maintains the cinematic incarnation rather than the novel's. The film also made some minor name changes.
Diamonds Are Forever
Diamonds Are Forever only loosely adapted Ian Fleming's novel of the same name. The main difference is that the villain is Blofeld, rather than the original novel's Jack and Seraffimo Sprang, brothers who are involved in a diamond smuggling plot. Several characters from the novel are adapted to the screen, but mostly in name only. These include Tiffany Case, who is blonde in the book, not a redhead. The characters of Bambi and Thumper, however, were created only for Sean Connery's last James Bond appearance in the classic canon.
Live And Let Die
Generally, the characters, locations, and sequence of events in Live And Let Die are accurately recreated on screen. The biggest difference is Mr. Big. Mr. Big's real name is Buonaparte Ignace Gallia, not Dr Kanaga. Also in the novel, Baron Samedi is a Voodoo myth that Mr. Big claims to embody. Mr. Big is an agent of SMERSH, attempting to flood the gold market with a pirate horde. Quarrel is changed to Quarrel Jr. for the movie, to for his death in Dr. No being. Mr. Big's gang has more in the novel, which were distilled into just Tee-Hee and Whisper for Roger Moore's James Bond debut.
The Man With The Golden Gun
Ian Fleming's novel, The Man With The Golden Gun, was set in Jamaica, not China. Due to the popularity at the time, martial arts were added along with the characters Nick-Nack, Andrea Anders, and Hai Fat. The movie also added the Solex Agitator, to root the plot in the real-life 1973 energy crisis as Bond’s motivation to hunt Scaramanga. In the novel, Scaramanga is just an assassin. The film excluded the novel's opening, in which Bond attempts to assassinate M, and also an appearance from Felix Leiter.
For Your Eyes Only
For Your Eyes Only is a combination of two Fleming short stories, "For Your Eyes Only" and "Risico." The filmmakers perused the Greek setting of the latter and made some minor name and location changes to accommodate this. The keelhauling scene actually appears in Fleming's Live And Let Die, while some other plot elements are from Fleming's Goldfinger.
The Living Daylights
The entire opening act of The Living Daylights is a near-perfect adaptation of Ian Fleming's short story of the same name - with the location updated for the 1980s audience. Kara Milovy (the cello-playing assassin) is called Trigger in the short story, which ends when Bond disarms. The remainder of the movie is wholly original.
