Spymaker: The Secret Life of Ian Fleming * (1990, Jason Connery, Kristin Scott Thomas, Joss Ackland, Patricia Hodge, David Warner, Colin Welland, Fiona Fullerton, Richard Johnson) – Classic Movie Review 11,549

Director Ferdinand Fairfax’s 1990 biographical film Spymaker: The Secret Life of Ian Fleming narrates the myth-making fictional exploits of the James Bond creator Ian Fleming as a young playboy, a bad boy expelled from several colleges, a Reuters reporter and a British navy intelligence officer during World War Two.

It is written by Robert J Avrech, and stars Jason Connery as Ian Fleming, Kristin Scott Thomas, Joss Ackland, Patricia Hodge, David Warner, Colin Welland, Fiona Fullerton, and Richard Johnson.

Unfortunately, Spymaker is a feeble Boys’ Own adventure with jokey 007 allusions (Jason Connery’s father is of course Sean Connery; Fiona Fullerton, who starred as a Bond girl in A View To A Kill, appears as Lady Caroline Hornsby) and femmes fatales vamping with dodgy foreign accents. Connery lacks authority as Ian Fleming, Kristin Scott Thomas seems unconnected and slightly embarrassed as his co-worker Leda St Gabriel, and some of the dialogue is very sticky indeed.

Spymaker is a good idea that doesn’t come off. Shake your own Martini and watch the 1989 Fleming biopic Goldeneye instead.

The cast are Jason Connery as Ian Fleming, Kristin Scott Thomas as Leda St Gabriel, Joss Ackland as German SS Generaloberst Hielstien, Patricia Hodge as Lady Evelyn Fleming, David Warner as Admiral Godfrey, S.O.E. Military Intelligence, Colin Welland as Reuters World News Editor, Fiona Fullerton as Lady Caroline Hornsby, Richard Johnson as General Hornsby, Julian Firth as Quincy, Marsha Fitzalan as Miss Delaney, Ingrid Held as Countess De Turbinville, Hugo Bower as German SS Major, Clive Mantle as Marine Sergeant Ellis, Leo Fenn as young Ian Fleming, Tara McGowran as Daphne, Edita Brychta as Maya, Octavia Verdin as Colette, Brendon Nolan as S.O.E. Agent, Kate Humble [Lauren Heston] as The Red-Head, and Robert Longden as Professor Whitman.

In 2016, Jason Connery directed Tommy’s Honour, a film celebrating the lives of golf pioneers.

Derek Winnert 2021 Classic Movie Review 11,549

Link to Derek Winnert’s home page for more reviews: http://derekwinnert.com/

Ian Fleming’s Jamaica home Goldeneye.

Jason Connery as Robin Hood.