Less Bondage

When I read that Sam Mendes was to direct the next Bond film, his second, my immediate reaction was 'yay'.  My mood darkened when I read, to secure his services, the 24th Bond film will be in 2015, three years after Skyfall.  Though the 50th anniversary movie had script deficiencies once you knew of all the surprises, Mendes' direction was stylish and innovative, hitting all the right notes.  But he was committed to his stage play of Charlies and the Chocolate Factory for at least a year.  This means that Daniel Craig, already having suffered a four-year hiatus between Quantum of Solace and Skyfall, might not make Bond 25, given his age - though a fifth time as 007 will mark him out only behind Sean Connery and Roger Moore in appearances.  It need not be this way as Martin Campbell made Goldeneye in 1995 and then returned in 2006 to make Casino Royale.  With this precedent, Mendes surely could have waited out one movie.
It's all a far cry when Connery made four spy adventures in four years and Moore racked up Live and Let Die in 1973 followed by The Man with the Golden Gun in 1974 (although made to wait three years for The Spy Who Loved Me to tie in with the 15th anniversary).  By contrast, in the days before the release of Bond 24, Craig will have appeared as Bond only once in seven years.  If he had been allowed to follow the example of these two exemplars, there could have been a very lucrative tie-in with the year 2007, but the opportunity was missed (and then incredibly the makers of Quantum of Solace in 2008 admitted they didn't do a very good job because they were short of time (!))The trend to let 007 loose every two years started with You Only Live Twice when Connery wanted to explore other acting avenues and Cubby Broccoli wanted his volcano.  I just hope that Barbara Broccoli doesn't follow the Star Wars franchise (as it was ill-advised to do with Moonraker) and make a release every three years.  Please Barbara, it's not the way to go.