Two extraordinary consignments made this an extra special catalogue of Bond material. Never seen before photos of filming onset for the 1964 film Goldfinger. Both the 1961 contract of the writer brought in to rescue Dr No, as well as his later draft screenplay for Goldfinger.
Taken by the Station Photographer at RAF Northolt during location filming, the ten photos presented in an album. Featuring Sean Connery, Honor Blackman, who played Pussy Galore, and Harold Sakata, who played Goldfinger’s manservant and bodyguard Oddjob.
Estimated at £500 to 800, the photographs sold for £1,430 including premium.
When the original screenplay writing partnership broke down for Dr No, the first film in the franchise, thriller writer Berkely Mather (1909-96) was given two weeks and £1,000 to save the day.
The revelation came in a contract drawn up between Eon productions and Mather with an estimate of £800 to £1,200. The sale also featured Mather’s second draft screenplay typescript for the opening sequence of the 1964 film Goldfinger, co-written with original Dr No writer Richard Maibum.
The contract showed just how tight the scheduling was. Dated November 28th 1961 – just ten months before the film’s eventual release. It set out terms of engagement, agreeing to pay Mather half of his £1,000 fee on establishing the agreement and the other half on delivery of the screenplay, in which his chief role was to revise the dialogue. The contract sold for £715.
The script was significantly different from the version that made the final cut. For example, the opening sequence followed the eventual narrative closely but was not the same. However, key moments and dialogue included here, survived. Notably, 007’s casual aside after electrocuting his would-be assassin in the bath: “Shocking – positively shocking.”
It was Bond author Ian Fleming who recommended Weston-Davies to producers Cubby Broccoli and Harry Saltzman, as the only person gifted enough to complete the screenplay for Dr No.
It is interesting to note that the title-page credits both Richard Maibaum and Berkely Mather as the authors of the screenplay for Fleming’s Goldfinger, whereas the film’s final credits list Richard Maibaum and Paul Dehn.
Mather’s son thinks that his father may have asked for his name to be removed from the film’s credits at his own request. As he was generally averse to having his name on anything for which he was not the original author. His son recalls that his father spent a lot of time on the set of Goldfinger as he frequently accompanied him. Estimated at £800 to £1,200, the script sold for £1,430.
Other documents relating to Mather’s Bond work are also on offer. Other highlights include a 1963 British Quad poster for From Russia With Love, sold for £9,100, and a first edition, first state binding, of the 1965 Fleming novel The Man With The Golden Gun, sold for £5,850.