James Bond 007 Blog

I was pleased with the announcement this week that the 22nd Bond film will be entitled Quantum of Solace. The name comes from an Ian Fleming short story in the For Your Eyes Only collection.

In this story, Bond is merely present as a story is related to him. He is in between missions, attending a dinner party at the Government House in Nassau. (pictured) Bond is bored by the other guests, though he notes the chatty wife of the other guest. As the party winds down, Bond finds himself with the Governor, merely trying to make conversation to pass the time. He makes an offhand remark about how he always thought it would be nice to marry an air hostess. This sparks a story from the Governor which takes up most of the rest of the narrative.

(The following is from Wikipedia, and from my recollection an accurate account of the tale)

The Governor of The Bahamas tells 007 a sad tale about a relationship between a former civil servant he calls Philip Masters, stationed in Bermuda, and air hostess Rhoda Llewellyn. After meeting aboard a flight to London the two eventually married but after a time Rhoda became unhappy with her life as a housewife. She then began a long open affair with the eldest son of a rich Bermudan family. As a result Masters’ work deteriorated and he suffered a nervous breakdown. After recovering he was given a break from Bermuda by the governor and sent on an assignment to Washington to negotiate fishing rights with the US. At the same time the governor’s wife had a talk with Rhoda just as her affair ended. Masters returned a few months later and decided to end his marriage, although he and Rhoda continued to appear as a happy couple in public. Masters returned alone to the UK, leaving a penniless Rhoda stranded in Bermuda, an act which he’d been incapable of carrying out merely months earlier. But Masters never recovered emotionally, his vital spark never relit. The governor goes on to tell Bond how after a time Rhoda married a rich Canadian and seems to be happy. When Bond remarks that she hardly deserved her good fortune, the governor says that Masters had always been rather weak, and that perhaps Fate chose Rhoda as its instrument to teach him a lesson. Bond deduces that the dinner companions whom he found so boring were Rhoda and her new husband, and he tells the Governor she was much more interesting than he had thought.

It remains to see if any elements from this story, such as character names, or locations find their way into the movie, but since the name comes from an Ian Fleming story, I wholeheartedly endorse the choice. There aren’t many original Fleming names left to use. Risico and The Hildebrand Rarity are the two remaining unused story titles from For Your Eyes Only. From the Octopussy collection, only The Property of a Lady title remains unused. 007 in New York would be the only other Fleming Bond title available after that.