Book Review of Speaking of Writing by Richard Maibaum (2019)

Speaking of Writing. Richard Maibaum. Compiled and Edited by Sylvia Kamion Maibaum. New York, NY: Page Publishing, Inc., 2019. 205 pages.


By Patrick Charsky

In Speaking of Writing, Richard Maibaum dispenses writing advice and stories from a sixty year career as a Writer/Producer. The advice offers good guidance to aspiring dramatic writers and plenty of juicy, behind the scenes anecdotes for fans of the James Bond film franchise. Richard Maibaum’s Hollywood career started in 1935 when he was hired as a contract writer to MGM. Maibaum wrote many films that are, sadly, forgotten. It is his long association with the James Bond franchise that he is remembered. Maibaum wrote or co-wrote thirteen Bond films; the first being Dr. No (1962), the last License to Kill (1989).

Speaking of Writing is rather informal. Maibaum talks about his early days, his work with Alan Ladd on the first sound production of The Great Gatsby, and the fortuitous circumstances of his being involved with Albert R. “Cubby” Broccoli and the Bond films. Maibaum’s book is full of good advice. Maibaum says the hardest parts of writing screenplays is to find a story, knowing dramatic structure, and being flexible with the writing process.

In countless examples throughout the book, Maibaum talks about the difficulty of finding stories for the Bond Films. After the production team had run out of stories to adapt from Ian Fleming’s novels they had to invent stories themselves. Maibaum relates that each Bond film presented unique difficulties. Specifically, Goldfinger (1964), Maibaum was confronted with the problem of how to write the ending. In the end, the villain, Goldfinger, is going to rob Fort Knox of all it’s gold. What Ian Fleming hadn’t thought of was how long and how much manpower would have been needed to move all the gold. Maibaum changed the story to Goldfinger radiating the gold which would render it untouchable and drive up the value of Goldfinger’s personal stash of gold bullion. Finding solutions to story problems takes time and effort. According to Maibaum, “The scripts are usually complex. The most difficult problem is preserving a swift, more or less coherent story progression while working into it the special hijinks eagerly anticipated by the fans.”

Knowing dramatic structure, according to Maibaum, is important. Too many writers these days know little of dramatic structure. Maibaum cites the Ancient Greeks and other plays that have the basic elements of dramatic structure in them. He says dramatic works can be classified into thirty-six dramatic situations; no more, no less. Maibaum says George Politi’s book, The 36 Dramatic Situations, is the secret text of the playwriting profession. At the end of the Chapter, “On the New Drama, The New Play,” he offers one-hundred thousand dollars to anyone who can find the thirty seventh dramatic situation. According to Maibaum, “That elusive thirty-seventh situation is the Holy Grail, the Alchemist’s stone, for which we all continue to search.”

One of Maibaum’s earliest setbacks was being taken off of The Pride of the Yankees which is about Lou Gehrig, his baseball career, and eventual decline and death from ALS. Maibaum was partnered with Joseph Mankiewicz who was a terrible drunkard. In a story Maibaum tells, Mankiewicz was kept on the picture despite not having done anything. Maibaum didn’t get any credits for his work on the picture.

The book is most interesting when Maibaum talks about his involvement with the Bond films. In an interview conducted for the Writer’s Guild of America in 1987, Maibaum gives what is his longest interview on what he is famous for, James Bond. He talks about Bond as a character, the problems he encountered in getting the first film of the series produced, and his thoughts on why the Bond franchise is so successful. It is here where Speaking of Writing will be of most interest to fans of Bond. Maibaum talks about the lawsuit that stopped production on Thunderball and caused Dr. No to be the first Bond film produced. Maibaum speaks about the character of James Bond candidly. He admits that Bond is a “spoof” and an ideal for audiences looking for escapism and vicarious experiences lived through James Bond’s adventures. Maibaum is the sage of the Bond franchise. He knows so much about each film he did; which ones he thought were good; From Russia With Love, Goldfinger, and which ones he thought were subpar; the movies he didn’t write. In his interviews he is generous to audiences who want to know all there is to know about the Bond films he wrote.

Speaking of Writing would most appeal to screenwriters, filmmakers, and Film Studies students. There is a liveliness to the book which would entice writers of the dramatic arts to enjoy reading and learning from the passages in Speaking of Writing. In a broader sense the book would appeal greatly to fans of the James Bond film franchise. The last interview, “On Writing the Bonds,” is replete with information and stories sure to please the rabid fans of James Bond.

The book succeeds in its brevity and information about the Bond films Maibaum wrote. Readers will be disappointed that there is no longer treatment of Maibaum’s early work in Hollywood. I would recommend this book to anyone with an interest in dramatic writing, Mr. Maibaum’s career as a dramatic writer, and, without reservation, anyone interested in how the Bond film franchise evolved from its early stages to a World-wide box office smash.