Mr Kiss Kiss Bang Bang
It’s 1965 and the Bond phenomenon is about to reach its high with the release of Thunderball. Sean Connery’s fourth outing as 007 was a blockbuster in all senses - the film was literally everywhere, not only in cinemas across the globe, but on board games, puzzles, records, magazine covers and much more. You could fly a Thunderball kite, go to the beach with a Thunderball towel and have your sandwiches in a Thunderball lunch box. Some of my favourite Bond related items were released to market Thunderball, here are just some of the items produced that are in my collection. So look up, look down, look out… here comes the biggest Bond of all!
Thunderball gum cards counter display box (Somportex, UK, 1965)
Thunderball gum cards wrapper (Somportex, UK, 1965)
James Bond 007 Thunderball gum cards - numbers 5, 6, 11, 14, 16, 26, 27, 30, 31, 33, 35, 38, 48, 50, 51, 55, 56, 57, 60 and 63 from the Thunderball set of 72 cards (Somportex, UK, 1965)
Thunderball gum card no.24. This is the rare original issue that was withdrawn as it appeared to show Bond hitting a lady, although obviously in the film it was actually a man! (Somportex, UK, 1965)
Part set of James Bond Secret Agent 007 gum cards - numbers 6, 9, 20, 50, 59 and 62 from the Thunderball set of 66 cards (Philadelphia Chewing Gum Corp., US, 1966)
Thunderball board game (Milton Bradley, US, 1965)
James Bond Secret Agent 007 No.9 Domino - she lives with danger and No.8 Largo - cruel one-eyed villain figures (Gilbert Toys, US, 1965)
James Bond Secret Agent 007 12" Action Figure (Gilbert Toys, US, 1965)
Limited edition Action Man figure of James Bond from Thunderball (Hasbro International Inc., US, 1998)
James Bond series no. 4 plastic water sled kit - kit no. 558 (Imai, Japan, 1965)
James Bond series no. 7 plastic frogman kit - kit no. 561 (Imai, Japan, 1965)
James Bond Secret Agent 007 Action Toy Set 1 featuring Bond in scuba gear, Domino and Largo figures and the Disco Volante (Gilbert Toys, US, 1965)
James Bond 007 H2O Snorkel-Blaster (Voit, US, 1965)
James Bond swimming fins produced at the time of Thunderball (Voit, US, 1965)
James Bond 007 aqualung set for the 12" Bond figure (Cecil, US, 1965)
James Bond 007 working model propelled frogman (Lonestar, UK, c.1965)
Kite featuring Thunderball inspired artwork in original packet (Pressman Corp. Ltd., US, 1966)
Kite featuring Thunderball inspired artwork (Mickgees, UK, 1966)
Small carded Aston Martin DB5 from Thunderball and Aston Martin DB5 from GoldenEye (Corgi, UK, 1999)
James Bond Aston Martin DB5 from Thunderball limited edition model produced by Spy Guise - model no. USS00011 (Corgi/Spy Guise, US, 2001)
Thunderball Aston Martin DB5 model and leather keyring giftset (Marks & Spencer, UK, 2005)
Thunderball "Bond's Battle" over 600 piece puzzle (Milton Bradley, US, c.1965) - one out of a set of four
Thunderball "Spectre's Surprise" over 600 piece puzzle (Milton Bradley, US, c.1965) - one out of a set of four
Thunderball double sided 1000 piece puzzle (Milton Bradley, US, 1965)
Thunderball jetpack inspired 375 piece puzzle (Arrow, UK, c.1965) - one out of a set of four
Thunderball underwater battle inspired 375 piece puzzle (Arrow, UK, c.1965) - two out of a set of four
007 Thunderball water Gun (Tada-Atom Toys, Japan, 1965)
Thunderball soundtrack LP (United Artists Records, UK, 1965)
Thunderball soundtrack LP 25th anniversary reissue (Liberty, UK, 1986)
Thunderball soundtrack LP (United Artists Records, US, 1965)
Thunderball (Operation Tonnerre) soundtrack LP (United Artists Records, France, 1965)
Thunderball reissue soundtrack LP (King Record Co. Ltd./United Artists Records, Japan, 1976)
Screen Pops Orchestra James Bond themes (Polydor, Japan, c.1965)
Theme from Thunderball with Richard Rome and His Orchestra (Gladwynne, US, c.1965). This item is signed by Claudine Auger who played Domino Derval, Luciana Paluzzi who played Fiona Volpe and Martine Beswick who played Paula Caplan in the film.
Music From Thunderball - The sounds of action, romance, violence!! (Budget Sound Company, US, c.1965)
The "Sleepwalk" Guitars of Dan & Dale play Thunderball (Diplomat Records, US, c.1965)
Thunderball and other thriller music by Ray Martin and his orchestra (RCA Camden, US, 1965)
Hard Boiled Screen Themes Thunderball by Hiroshi Okazaki (Teichiku Records, Japan, 1965)
Thunderball, The Man From U.N.C.L.E and other secret agent themes (Allegro Records, UK, 1966)
Operacion Trueno (Thunderball) by the Orquesta Festival de Hollywood (Certron, Mexico, c.1965)
Sounds Orchestral Meets James Bond (PYE Records, UK, 1965) - exactly the same record as the one shown above but in an alternative sleeve - perhaps to tie-in with the release of Thunderball in late 1965
Sounds Orchestral James Bond 007 (PYE Records, France, 1965) - exactly the same record as the ones shown above but in an alternative sleeve for the French market
Count Basie Goldfinger and Thunderball themes single (United Artists Records, Germany, 1973)
James Bond themes EP featuring four Bond theme tunes released on red flexidisk (Kodama Press Co, Japan, 1965)
Thunderball EP featuring four songs from the film soundtrack (United Artists Records, UK, 1965)
Tom Jones Thunderball theme single (Decca, Netherlands, 1965)
Tom Jones Thunderball theme single (Decca, Italy, 1965)
Tom Jones Thunderball theme single (Decca, Norway, 1965)
Tom Jones Thunderball theme single (Decca, Belgium, 1965)
Tom Jones Thunderball theme single (Decca, Germany, 1965)
Tom Jones Thunderball (Operation Tonnerre) theme single (Decca, France, 1965)
Tom Jones Thunderball theme single and The Movietones Mr Kiss Kiss Bang Bang theme (London Records, Japan, 1965)
Archiblad and Tim Thunderball (Operazione Tuono) theme single (Style, Italy, c.1965). Interestingly this single for Thunderball features an image from Dr No.
Santo & Johnny Thunderball theme single (Bluebell Records, Italy, c.1965)
Santo & Johnny Thunderball theme single (Bluebell Records, Italy, c.1965)
Thunderball (Feuerball) and Mr Kiss Kiss Bang Bang themes single sung in German by Alan Corb (Polydor, Germany, 1965)
Thunderball and Mr Kiss Kiss Bang Bang themes single (CDB Disco, Italy, c.1965)
Thunderball and Mr Kiss Kiss Bang Bang themes single (Fontana, Netherlands, 1965)
Rudy Ventura Thunderball (Operación Trueno) and Mr Kiss Kiss Bang Bang themes single (Vergara, Spain, 1965)
Thunderball and Mr Kiss Kiss Bang Bang themes single (Ariston Records, Italy, c.1965)
Billy Strange e la sua orchestra Thunderball (Operazione Tuono) theme single (Derby, Italy, c.1965)
Billy Strange Thunderball theme (GNP Gene Norman Presents, Denmark, 1965)
Billy Strange Thunderball theme (Vogue, Germany, 1966)
EP featuring four Bond themes including Thunderball, Mr Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, Goldfinger and From Russia With Love (King Record Co, Japan, 1966)
Roy Etzel Thunderball (Operacion Trueno) theme single (Belter, Spain, 1965)
Jimmy Sedlar his trumpet and orchestra Thunderball (Operazione Tuono) theme single (Kapp, Italy, 1965)
Jimmy Sedlar his trumpet and orchestra Thunderball theme single (Kapp, Denmark, 1965)
Fabrizio Ferretti Thunderball theme single (Pop, Italy, 1966). This is a mini record and is 6" rather than the usual 7".
Franck Pourcel Thunderball (Feuerball) theme single (Electoria/EMI, Germany, c.1965)
Al Caiola James Bond and Thunderball themes single (United Artists Records, Japan, 1966)
Sounds Orchestral/John Schroeder and his orchestra Thunderball theme single (Pye, Italy, c.1965)
Sounds Orchestral EP - featuring Thunderball, The James Bond Theme, Mr Kiss Kiss Bang Bang and Spectre (Pye, France, c.1965)
Sounds Orchestral Y James Bond - featuring Thunderball, Mr Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, Goldfinger and From Russia With Love (Hispa Vox, Spain, c.1965)
Sounds Orchestral plays the theme from Thunderball and Mr Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (Piccadilly/Pye, UK, c.1965)
Thunderball sheet music (United Artists Music Ltd., UK, 1965)
Thunderball Ultimate Edition 2-disc DVD set (Sony Pictures Home Entertainment Inc., UK, 2006)
Agente 007 Thunderball photobusta poster (United Artists, Italy, c.1965)
Set of three large posters printed on tin - featured are Operation Tonnerre (Thunderball), Moonraker and On Ne Vit Que Deux Vois (You Only Live Twice) (Maker and date unknown, France)
Agent 007 i Ilden (Thunderball) mini brochure (Denmark, 1965)
Thunderball souvenir brochure (Program Publishing Company, US, 1965)
Corgi Ian Fleming's James Bond 007 magazine special (Transworld Publishers Ltd., UK, 1965)
James Bond in Thunderball… Dr. No… From Russia With Love… Goldfinger… James Bond special magazine (Sackville Publishing Ltd., UK, 1965)
Esquire magazine with Thunderball cover and article (Eqsuire Inc., US, June 1965)
Photoplay magazine with Claudine Auger Thunderball cover and articles (The Argus Press Ltd., UK, July 1965)
ABC Film Review magazine with Thunderball cover and Sean Connery article (Associated British Cinemas Ltd., UK, July 1965)
Look magazine with Thunderball cover and article (Cowles Magazines and Broadcasting Inc., US, 13th July 1965)
Post magazine with Thunderball cover and article (The Curtis Publishing Company, US, 17th July 1965)
Musik Parade magazine with Thunderball cover and article (Musik Parade, Germany, Nr.43, 16th August 1965)
Honey magazine with Thunderball cover and article (Fleetway Publications Ltd., UK, No.66, September 1965)
Skin Diving International Triton magazine with Thunderball cover and article (British Sub-Aqua Club, UK, October 1965)
Naked Truth magazine with Thunderball cover and article (Natlus Inc., US, Vol.1 No.5, December 1965)
Popular Science magazine with Thunderball cover and article (Popular Science Publishing Co., US, Vol.15 No.1, January 1966)
Skin Diver magazine with Thunderball cover and article (Petersen Publishing Company, US, January 1966)
Life magazine with Thunderball cover and article (Time Inc., US, 7th January 1966)
Screen Stories magazine with Thunderball cover and article (Dell Publishing Company Inc., US, February 1966)
TV World magazine with Thunderball cover and Cubby Broccoli and Harry Saltzman interview (TV World, UK, Vol.3 No.6, 3rd February 1966)
Showtime magazine with Thunderball cover and article (Sackville Publishing Ltd., UK, March 1966)
Modern Man magazine with Molly Peters from Thunderball cover and article (Modern Man, US, May 1966)
Rare edition of the Thunderball film tie-in paperback that came with a promotional letter written by Domino to James Bond (Pan, UK, 1965)
US Thunderball film tie-in paperback edition (Signet, US, 1965)
Operazione Tuono (Thunderball) and Licenza Di Uccidere (Dr No) Italian paperback editions (Garzanti, Italy, 1965)
Thunderball Spanish film tie-in paperback (Ediciones Albon Medellin, Columbia, 1966)
The James Bond 007 Annual (World Distributors Ltd., UK, 1966)
Thunderball terry cloth beach towel (Cannon, US, c.1965)
Thunderball Thermos flask (Aladdin Industries, US, 1965)
Thunderball metal lunch box (Aladdin Industries, US, 1965)
James Bond metal sweet tin (Parrys Confectionery Ltd., India, c.1967)
Thunderball limited edition collectors plate (Franklin Mint, UK, 1995)
Counter display carton of 50 James Bond Bic lighters - there are 12 different lighters included - Dr No, Thunderball, You Only Live Twice, Diamonds Are Forever, Live And Let Die, The Man With The Golden Gun, Moonraker, A View To A Kill, Licence To Kill, GoldenEye, Tomorrow Never Dies and The World Is Not Enough (Bic, France, 1999)
Special edition collectors set of 12 Bic James Bond lighters in case (Bic, France, 1999)
Thunderball poster puzzle with approximately 250 uniquely shaped pieces, several of which are Bond inspired - limited to 100 sets worldwide (Event Merchandising Ltd./Wentworth Wooden Puzzles, UK, 2019)
Reproduction set of nine Thunderball lobby cards in 50th anniversary packaging (Pyramid International, UK, 2012)
Two versions of the '65 Ford Mustang Convertible from Thunderball - model no. HW Workshop 59/250 (Hotwheels/Mattel, US, 2018)
Thunderball Song Book featuring music from the first four films (Hansen Publications Inc., US, c.1965)
Thunderball 40 piece mini puzzle with five special shaped pieces (Event Merchandising Ltd./Wentworth Wooden Puzzles, UK, 2023)
1965 Ford Mustang from Thunderball in 60th anniversary packaging (Johnny Lightning, US, 2022)