Post by John P. Drake on Sept 10, 2013 12:51:19 GMT -5
Overview:
I know most of you are not familiar with the secret agent codenamed OSS 117 created by Jean Bruce, with the first novel being published in 1949, three years prior to 007's debut in the literary media, which also served as inspiration for the latter. OSS 117 is an American secret agent of French descent, achieved the Colonel rank in military during WWII, named Hubert Bonisseur de la Bath. Once he worked for Office of Strategic Services, until it was defunct, so the operative was transferred to the CIA, and later the NSA. After Bruce's death, his widow continued writing hundreds of novels in the franchise and that was later taken over by their children, with the last novel being published in 1992. Very few of them were translated to English, as they're originally written in French.
Films:
Several film adaptations were produced starting from 1958, with the first movie (one-off) being OSS 117 Is Not Dead, told in the way of classic noir story, starring Ivan Desny as the titular character. In the 1960s, with the success of the tremendous James Bond movies, the Eurospy genre was born, and beneath them was OSS 117 film series, only four canonical entries were produced. The first movie was simply titled OSS 117 starring Kerwin Matthews. However, with the next entry, Matthews was replaced with Frederick Stafford, who has become the image of the superspy and played the role in the mould of Sean Connery's James Bond, but with a bit more silly characteristics, yet with very serious behaviours in OSS 117: Mission For A Killer, which was also the actor's very first movie, his debut in his acting career. Terence Young was called in to write a script which was not based on any of the novels in the franchise, titled OSS 117: Terror In Tokyo (aka From Tokyo With Love), which is considered as the best entry in the series, also inspiring the later Bond movies You Only Live Twice and The Spy Who Loved Me. Frederick Stafford reprises his role as the good old Hubert Bonisseur de la Bath. For the next entry in the series, as Stafford was committed to other projects, such as Alfred Hitchcock's Topaz, John Gavin replaces him as the titular character starring alongside a future Bond villain Curd Jurgens, who played Stromberg in The Spy Who Loved Me, which also had the same characteristics as the Bond villain had. That was the last entry in the canonical series. In 1970, another production team decided to produce their own OSS 117 movie with Luc Merenda as the superspy in OSS 117 Takes A Vacation, which didn't seem to be pleasantly received by both the audience and the critics.
Parodies:
To revive the Eurospy Classics, in 2006 and 2009, two parody movies featuring OSS 117 were produced with the Academy Award winner Jean Dujardin (The Artist) starring in the role. In here, the agent was portrayed as politically incorrect, dim-witted and self-important oaf.
Well, if any of you really would like to enjoy those series, you can try and watch them as they have the feel of the early 1960s James Bond movies.
Frederick Stafford
I know most of you are not familiar with the secret agent codenamed OSS 117 created by Jean Bruce, with the first novel being published in 1949, three years prior to 007's debut in the literary media, which also served as inspiration for the latter. OSS 117 is an American secret agent of French descent, achieved the Colonel rank in military during WWII, named Hubert Bonisseur de la Bath. Once he worked for Office of Strategic Services, until it was defunct, so the operative was transferred to the CIA, and later the NSA. After Bruce's death, his widow continued writing hundreds of novels in the franchise and that was later taken over by their children, with the last novel being published in 1992. Very few of them were translated to English, as they're originally written in French.
Films:
Several film adaptations were produced starting from 1958, with the first movie (one-off) being OSS 117 Is Not Dead, told in the way of classic noir story, starring Ivan Desny as the titular character. In the 1960s, with the success of the tremendous James Bond movies, the Eurospy genre was born, and beneath them was OSS 117 film series, only four canonical entries were produced. The first movie was simply titled OSS 117 starring Kerwin Matthews. However, with the next entry, Matthews was replaced with Frederick Stafford, who has become the image of the superspy and played the role in the mould of Sean Connery's James Bond, but with a bit more silly characteristics, yet with very serious behaviours in OSS 117: Mission For A Killer, which was also the actor's very first movie, his debut in his acting career. Terence Young was called in to write a script which was not based on any of the novels in the franchise, titled OSS 117: Terror In Tokyo (aka From Tokyo With Love), which is considered as the best entry in the series, also inspiring the later Bond movies You Only Live Twice and The Spy Who Loved Me. Frederick Stafford reprises his role as the good old Hubert Bonisseur de la Bath. For the next entry in the series, as Stafford was committed to other projects, such as Alfred Hitchcock's Topaz, John Gavin replaces him as the titular character starring alongside a future Bond villain Curd Jurgens, who played Stromberg in The Spy Who Loved Me, which also had the same characteristics as the Bond villain had. That was the last entry in the canonical series. In 1970, another production team decided to produce their own OSS 117 movie with Luc Merenda as the superspy in OSS 117 Takes A Vacation, which didn't seem to be pleasantly received by both the audience and the critics.
Parodies:
To revive the Eurospy Classics, in 2006 and 2009, two parody movies featuring OSS 117 were produced with the Academy Award winner Jean Dujardin (The Artist) starring in the role. In here, the agent was portrayed as politically incorrect, dim-witted and self-important oaf.
Well, if any of you really would like to enjoy those series, you can try and watch them as they have the feel of the early 1960s James Bond movies.
Frederick Stafford
