Ian Fleming Inspired By 1951 Superman Episode?

Above, the edition of "The Spy Who Loved Me" in my collection.

A woman is terrorized by two mobster thugs at a tourist cabin resort near the Canadian border. She is going to be killed unless she is rescued. Eventually, she is rescued in the nick of time.

Sound familiar? Well, it should. It is the plot to a 1951 episode of the Adventures of Superman titled "Night of Terror" (photo below) starring George Reeves and Phyllis Coates. Lois Lane is terrorized by two mobster thugs at the Restwell Tourist Cabins until Superman comes to the rescue.



It is also the plot to Ian Fleming's James Bond novel, "The Spy Who Loved Me." The story is written through the eyes of "a passionate woman" named Vivienne Michel.

Nowhere in the novel are undersea cities, submarines, Soviet agents, Stromberg, Egypt or Jaws (as in the movie version). The novel's story takes place in the Adirondacks on a route from Canada through the United States. The thugs arrive at the tourist cabins to torch them for insurance money and terrorize clerk Michel. There's no Vivienne Michel in the movie version.

Following a completed assignment in Canada, James Bond arrives at the resort due to a flat tire and for a night's sleep.

It was an entertaining and fast read. Bond does not show up until about 2/3 of the way through.

I wonder if Fleming watched the Adventures of Superman and got his inspiration for this story from "Night of Terror"?

Next: "The Spy Who Loved Me"

Left, the first edition paperback of "You Only Live Twice" I finished reading last night.

Yes, I finished what I thought was the last Ian Fleming James Bond book I had in my collection, "You Only Live Twice." It is the first edition paperback as shown at left.

It turns out that I have one Fleming novel left (it was misplaced on my shelf) to read: "The Spy Who Loved Me." So I'll be reading it out of publishing order.

"You Only Live Twice" novel is vastly different than the movie version. The story takes place about nine months after Ernst Stavro Blofeld murdered Bond's wife Tracy. It does not involve spacecraft, but instead a mission to assassinate a Swiss doctor who set up a suicide "clinic" in a castle near Fukuoka, Japan.

Frankly, this story would've made a more interesting movie than the one Eon Productions put out in 1967 with Sean Connery.

On "The Spy Who Loved Me," we see 007 "through the eyes of a passionate woman." We'll see how it differs from the Roger Moore feature from 1977.