Lewis Gilbert Book Due In Late February

Lewis Gilbert, who helmed three major Bond movies (‘You Only Live Twice’, ‘The Spy Who Loved Me’, and ‘Moonraker’), will be telling the fascinating story of his life and film career in a new autobiography due out in late February in the UK.

Entitled ‘Flashbacks: The Autobiography of Lewis Gilbert’ (Reynolds and Hearn, 2010), the book promises much for both Bond fans and fans of Gilbert’s general film career. And he certainly played a major role in the evolution of British film-making during the post-war period. Gilbert’s first film as director was ‘Sailors Do Care’ in 1944, followed a year later by ‘The Ten Year Plan’ and three more movies in the late 1940s. As the publisher’s blurb to the book puts it, Gilbert then shot to prominence in the 1950s by directing a series of highly successful and popular British films, such as ‘Albert R.N.’, ‘The Sea Shall Not Have Them’, ‘Carve Her Name With Pride’, ‘Sink the Bismarck’, and ‘H.M.S. Defiant’, all movies which seemed to capture the essence of British heroism.

But Gilbert also showed his wide range of directorial talents with a beautiful love story in ‘The Greengage Summer’ (1961), and seemed comfortable with both major features and low-budget films, instilling love and respect in his actors and crew. In fact, in the 1960s, Gilbert successfully turned his attention to an even more challenging but still low-budget film, directing ‘Alfie’, starring a young Michael Caine. This film contained notably gritty domestic comment and arguably had a big impact on British public opinion, portraying another, less well-known, side to the ‘Swinging Sixties’. After helming the three big-budget Bond films, in the 1980s he turned his talents once again to directing small-scale dramas, notably ‘Educating Rita’ (1983) and ‘Shirley Valentine’ (1989), both smash-hits at the UK box office. In 2001, he was awarded the Fellowship of the British Film Institute.

Although he was reluctant to become involved in the Bond films at first, Albert Broccoli and Harry Saltzman talked Gilbert into directing the Sean Connery epic ‘You Only Live Twice’ in 1967, and he proved to be a very safe pair of hands on a movie with massive sets and complex logistics. It was thus no surprise that he was invited back to direct Roger Moore in two of his most successful Bond films in the 1970s, movies that in many ways equalled the epic scale of ‘You Only Live Twice’ and, once again, needed the firm but calm manner of Lewis Gilbert.

When ‘The Spy Who Loved Me’ was re-released in Britain recently, Gilbert made a rare guest appearance at a special screening of the movie one Sunday afternoon in a cinema in Leicester Square, in London. He spoke proudly about his association with the Bond films, and said he had a special affection for Roger Moore’s third outing as Bond. He also spoke about the numerous practical jokes that he and Roger Moore played on each other. Gilbert also showed the audience that, despite his age, he was still very up to date with all the latest developments in film and media technology and he commented that, despite predictions about the ‘death of the cinema’, he believed there will always be a role for feature films and good story-telling.

‘Flashbacks: The Autobiography of Lewis Gilbert’ will be published by Reynolds and Hearn in hardback on 28th February, 2010. ISBN: 1 904674-24-5