John Glen Research

JOHN GLEN

John Glen was born 15th May 1932 and is a British film director, editor and author. 

He has worked on a range of Television programs, Film and even Television commercials spanning the years of 1945 to 2001. He first started working in the film industry as a messenger boy during the mid-1940s. He then started to work on editing in sound at Shepperton Studios. his is where he contributed to such films as 'The Third Man' by Alexander Korda in 1949.

However, Glen didn't have his own directorial debut until 1968 where he directed on episode of ' Man in a Suitcase' titled 'Somebody Loses, Somebody...Wins?' 

Also in the 1960s, Glen became both sound unit director and film editor for films such as 'On Her Majesty's Secret Service' in 1969. Glen would return to the James Bond series again in 1977 in the same role for 'The Spy Who Loved Me' and in 1979 with 'Moonraker'. Other examples of films that he contributed to in this form at the time were 'Superman' and 'The Wild Geese' in 1978.

After the 1970s, John Glen took over as the role of director for the James Bond series throughout the 1980s. After 'Moonraker' was met with mixed reception for being extremely over-the-top, Glen was brought in to ground the next few films in reality, allowing audiences to believe that the titular character possessed some vulnerability. Thus his first Bond film, 'For Your Eyes Only' released in 1981 starring Roger Moore, followed this idea and was met with mostly positive responses. After two more films with Roger Moore in the role of Bond, 'Octopussy' (1983) and 'A View To A Kill' (1985) which strayed into more spoof-like themes were not as well received, Glen decided to take the vulnerable route again with a new actor in the role.

Glen directed 'The Living Daylights' (1987) which starred Timothy Dalton as Bond. This film explore the vulnerability and realistic themes further and Glen was able to blend the serious themes while adding in small parts of humour perfectly. The film was generally well received. Glen next and final directed Bond film was 'Licence To Kill' (1989). Glen created a harsher, more adult-themed Bond film which brought in fresh ideas for both the protagonist, villain and the overall plot, allowing the film to feel completely different to the rest of the series. However, due to competition from other various high-profile films in he year of 1989, 'Licence to Kill' did not get the recognition it needed and was deemed a commercial failure. Despite this, Glen has stated that 'Licence To Kill' was the best film that he has directed.

After finishing with the Bond series, John Glen's directorial efforts were mostly commercial failure, including 'Checkered Flag' (1990), 'Aces: Iron Eagles III' and 'Christopher Columbus: The Discovery' (1992) and 'The Point Men' (2001). This would suggest that without a good production company or studio allowing Glen the funds to create direct his films to a good standard, Glen was unable to produce the necessary quality in filmmaking to achieve any commercial success.

Filmography:

- Baby Love (1968)

-The Italian Job (1969)

-On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969)

-Murphy's War (1971)

-Catlow (1971)

-Pulp (1972)

-Sitting Target (1972)

-A Doll's House (1973)

-Gold (1974)

-dead Cert (1974)

-Conduct Unbecoming (1975)

-Shout at the Devil (1976)

-The Spy Who Loved Me (1977)

-Seven Nights in Japan (1977)

-The Wild Geese (1978)

-Superman (1978)

-Moonraker (1979)

-The Sea Wolves (1980)

-For Your Eyes Only (1981)

-Octopussy (1983)

-A View To A Kill (1985)

-The Living Daylights (1987)

-Licence to Kill (1989)

-Checkered Flag (1990)

-Aces: Iron Eagle III (1992)

-Christopher Columbus: The Discovery (1992)

-The Point Men (2001)