Goldfinger (Novel)

In February of this year I discovered that I could watch some of the early James Bond movies, starring Sean Connery, on OK.RU. I found the first five films - Dr, No - From Russia With Love - Goldfinger - Thunderball and You Only Live Twice. Unfortunately, the last one is dubbed into Russian and I haven't found an English version available.

Not long after that, I learned that the entire Ian Fleming catalogue of Bond novels were in the pubic domain in Canada and available for download at fadedpage.com..

At the time, I had planned on reading all 15 in the series, but stopped after reading #5 - Dr. No.

I didn't mention it in either of my blogs at the time, but in April, Honor Blackman , who played Pussy Galore in the film version of Goldfinger passed away. Of course we all remember the passing of Sean Connery in November.

With the passing of those two stars, I wanted to pick up where I left off with my reading of Ian Fleming, with the novel, Goldfinger.

One thing struck me as odd was that in the novel (which was written in 1958) the Goldfinger character feels the need to explain to Bond (and the readers of the novel) what Karate is. I had no idea that that particular form of martial arts was so new to the West. I was only six in 1958 and would not have been aware of that fact.

There are a number of differences between the novel and the film. It seemed to me that the characters of Jill Masterson and her sister Tilly were more prominent in the novel compared to their roles in the film and the character Pussy Galore, who was a major part of the film, seem superfluous to me in the novel. It was also a puzzle to me why Fleming should have her character be lesbian in the novel. Her only purpose seemed to be as a way of showing Bond to be the ultimate lady-killer by his seducing a lesbian.

Some may wish to read the novel, so I won't give spoilers, but to me, the ending of the film holds together much better the the ending in the novel.