General Kwang was the main villain of the unmade 15th James Bond film. He was created by writer Richard Maibaum (who had written most of the EON-produced James Bond films) and producer Michael G. Wilson, in the scripts devised following the release of 1985 "A View to a Kill", Roger Moore's last James Bond movie, with most of them dated somewhere from fall to November of the same year.
In the scripts, General Kwang is a South Asian warlord who operates a opium trade in exchange for other warlords' and foreign clients weaponry and military hardware. James Bond and Bart Trevor (the current 007/Bond's mentor), attempt to infiltrate his operation by posing as mercenary smugglers in hopes of kidnapping or killing him.
Kwang's ultimate plan is to steal treasure - "the Manchu hoard" - from a Chinese temple, with him and his men posing as Chinese authorities to mislead the locals. He will give the great amounts of gold coins to his communist collaborators and take all the non-gold coin treasure for himself. He intends the gold coins to fund his communist collaborators to take over the countries of the "Golden Triangle" and turn them into communist regimes, dependent on Kwang's support.
The story was meant to be a reboot of the cinematic James Bond and a fresh start for the new actor. Although Maibaum and Wilson were greatly pleased with the story, it was ultimately veto'ed by Albert R. Broccoli. Broccoli did like the script, but was wary that audience may have not cared about a young James Bond fumbling his way through his early spy career. Instead, the Bond 15 would end up becoming the "The Living Daylights", released 1987 and starring Timothy Dalton.
Biography[]
NOTE: The following plot summary is based on the 35-page script dated November 8th, 1985.
Map of the major heroin-producing countries in the world (colored in red), the Golden Triangle is where General Kwang's operations are based at.
Singapore[]
Before he is met in person, he is mentioned by Bart Trevor, the current 007. He explains to James Bond, who has been drafted to a MI6 mission in South Asia, now talking to him at a bar in Singapore, that as part of their cover as "Universal Exports" is to fly machine parts to General Kwang, the "top dog warlord" in the Golden Triangle area.
After having defeated two henchmen belonging to Kwang's rival, Bond and Trevor head to Raffles Hotel to rest. There, Bond spots a woman named Betje Bedwell (Eurasian, dressed in a "chic" Chinese-influenced attire) and her bodyguard Kow Tow, whom Bond describes a "enormous Chinese eunuch". Although Bond is wary of her, he is still curious and follows her. She finds her shopping at a apothecary, where she buys a rhinoceros horn, which General Kwang has asked her to.
Bond approaches Betje and two hit it off at Singapore, while tailed by Kow Tow. The next day, it turns out Betje is the client of Bond and Trevor, who is to be transported to Kwang's fortress along with the machine parts.
Kwang's Fortress[]
Bond and Trevor fly Betje and Kow Tow in a Douglas DC3 over Gulf of Siam, where they are attempted to be shot down by unknown attackers, possibly Royal Thai Army or Kwang's unidentified rival. During the flight, Bond discovers that the "machine part" crates actually contain Chinese Red Army-marked firearms.
Bond and co. land at a small, hillside village, around the Golden Triangle region, where they are greeted by a man called La Font -- a French veteran of Indo-China war and Kwang's "consigliere". La Font takes Bond and co., as well as the crates, to Kwang's fortress along a jungle path.
Arriving to the fortress, General Kwang is occupied painting a picture of "ruined tomb-like structure with three pagoda-like rock formations behind them". Bond and co. are introduced to him, with Betje, who is Kwang's concubine, presents the rhino horn to him - with Trevor whispering to Bond that a rhino horn in considered a aphrodisiac in Traditional Chinese medicine.
La Font takes Bond and Trevor to the quest-quarters, with La Font telling them to wait. As the two British spies check the room out for bugging devices, commotion starts about somebody entering the compound.
Another warlord, Kim Feng, is welcomed to the fortress, accompanied by three escorts. Kwang greets them, and as Kim Feng and co. get further inside the compound, Bond notices that one of the escorts is fiddling with something and rushes to stop him. Bond's hunch is right, as the escort had pulled a pin off a grenade, with Bond getting the grenade and throwing it away, saving Kwang's life. In retaliation, La Font guns down the two remaining escorts.
General Kwang tells Bond and Trevor that tomorrow he needs to test his new weapons, "on live targets". Trevor suggests Kwang that they fly to Kim Feng's camp and extract revenge there, with Kwang agreeing.
In private, Trevor berates Bond for making a colossal mistake, with the former telling that his mission was to locate and get close to Kwang in order to either capture or kill him. Bond is in disbelief and Trevor is forced to reveal that he is a "agent of the 00 Section", and has the licence to kill. Bond then asks why Trevor didn't tell of this sooner, with the latter telling that he didn't trust Bond and is now unsure if he can after Bond's mistake.
When Bond asks him if Kwang is wanted for drug trafficking, Trevor tells him that the CIA and MI6 are after him for another reason: he made a deal with the Communists, particularly Pathet Lao, to turn the Golden Triangle into a base serving to launch raids against Thailand, Malaysia and the rest of Burma. While Bond realizes his error, Trevor notes that because Kwang now owes Bond his life, it might give them a chance to kindap him in their next flight.
Betje, Kim Feng[]
While they are fixing the plane, Bond sports Kwang's group of concubines going into the jungle. Bond decides to follow, and eventually finds Betje, thanks to the golden orchid he brought in Singapore. They make love in the reeds, with Betje telling of her past afterwards. That her father was an English lumberjack and her mother was Asian (the mother is German in a older script). The parents were killed by insurgents and Kwang found her after the raid, when she was 6 years old. He made her go through school, and when Betje reached her teens, made her his favorite concubine.
Because Kwang has started to lose his sexual prowess, he made her to go to Singapore to acquire a rhino horn. She tells that Kwang fears that if his men would discover of his sexual impotence, his imago would be sullied and he would lose his followers.
At the airstrip, the Douglas DC3 is boarded by Bond, Trevor, La Font and some of Kwang's soldiers, including a pilot named Song. Bond and Trevor realize that they are unmanned and have to comply with La Font's plan and game another time to abduct General Kwang. Bond flies them to Feng's camp, where Kwang's men abduct Feng.
Feng is brought to Kwang, with latter lamenting that he never considered Feng his enemy, and wants to know why Feng would want him dead. Feng tells that Kwang's plan will be the end of all the other warlords in the area.
Kwang's party, Bond captured[]
Kwang hosts a celebration at his fortress in the evening, with Bond and Trevor as quests. Trevor notices that Kwang is wearing robes that bear the seal of the Manchu Dynasty. Trevor tells Bond about the "Manchu Hoard", a lost cache of jewels, coins, weapons and other valuables plundered by the Manchu people over six centuries.
Kwang comes to them and offers them $100,000 to fly him to a secret location. Seeing this as a chance to abduct Kwang, Bond and Trevor agree. While on his own, Betje hands a note to Bond, telling to meet her privately at night-time. Bond plays it casual and checks the table he is close to, lifting a dish which contains the severed head of Feng.
Bond goes to the concubines quarters to find Betje. There, she tells that Kwang wants to retire to South America and that she doesn't want to spend her remaining days with Kwang, pleads Bond to help her somehow. She then tells that Kwang likely wants Bond to fly to China and find the Manchu Hoard, which Kwang intends to split with the members of Pathet Lao. Betje then tells Bond that she would want to spend the rest of her life with Bond.
However, Kow Tow has been eavesdropping the two, and hearing of Betje's betrayal, barges in. He rushes at Bond, with the latter taking the Rhino's Horn and causing Kow Tow to ram into it. The horn perforates his eye and lodges inside his brain, killing Kow Tow in near instantly.
Bond realizes that they are in trouble and the two try to escape, only to run into La Font and some soldiers. The two are taken to Kwang's cellar, where Kwang announces that Bond and Betje will be executed. Trevor, in a gambit to better the odds of saving Bond's life - instead suggests Bond might not be a mere mercenary, but even a spy. Therefore, it would be sensible to torture him for information before killing him, to which Kwang agrees.
Escape from Kwang's Fortress[]
James is taken to a torture chamber, where he is violently beaten with bamboo sticks by La Mont's henchman. However, Trevor rescues him, and Bond makes Trevor to go rescue Betje as well.
They get out of the compound and head into the jungles. They then hear horses approaching, realizing they have been found. Bond, who has been weakened from the prior torture, tells Trevor to take Betje and leave without him. In a desperate gambit, Trevor chooses sacrifices himself to mislead the soldiers of Bond and Betje's location. Trevor asks Bond to give the Q-gun, and tells Bond "just remember the rules."
Trevor starts shooting at the guards, covering for Bond and Betje's escape. He does well until Kwang and La Font appear horseback, with them gunning down Trevor. They realize they will likely not find Bond and Betje, so they return back to camp.
The next morning, Betje and Bond spend time recovering, and deem that they need to destroy Kwang's plan. They arrive at the airstrip, they see Kwang's men wearing Chinese Red Army uniforms, including Song. Also, the DC3 that Trevor and Bond brought to Kwang now sports Chinese markings. Bond realizes what Kwang's plan is; Kwang and his men is going to the place where the "Manchu Hoard" is, posing as a Chinese government official(s), loading all the treasure and then departing.
The DC3 takes off with Kwang aboard before Bond and Betje are able to board. Bond takes the opportunity to knock out a airstrip guard and grabs his weapon. He gets into a small two-seater plane and invites Betje to join him.
Following Kwang[]
Statue of a mystical Chinese guardian lion in old Beijing, China. At the Manchu hoard, these sort of statues are filled with coins. Bond kills Kwang by breaking open one of these, causing the flow of coins to bury Kwang and kill him.
Once in the air, Bond sets off in pursuit of Kwang's DC3. Betje asks Bond of his plan, with Bond responding than its "a case pending". They lose the DC3 in a thick cloud layer. Soon, he spots a an area filled with ruined tombs and pagoda-like rock that looks like the painting Kwang was making when he first met him, and upon looking more, finds the DC3.
Meanwhile, on the ground, Kwang is meeting some members of Pathet Lao, who too are in Chinese Red Army uniforms. (In a earlier script Kwang poses as "Chinese Minister of Antiquities" to bunch of local villagers, and that he is there to transport the artifacts to the museums of Beijing, Guangzhou and Hangzhou.) Kwang and La Font enter the catacombs and eventually find the hoard, which is guarded by a 30-foot statues of Chinese Demon Dogs.
The hoard contains treasure chests with gems and jewelry, while the Demon Dog statues are filled with gold coins. Kwang tells his men to take the chests, but to leave the gold coins from the Demon Dogs for Pathet Lao.
Battle at the Tombs[]
Bond and Betje arrive to the area and spot Song, who is at the DC3 overseeing the transfer of the hoard aboard. Bond and Betje subdue Song and use the plane's short-range navigation equipment to inform Felix Leiter of their present location and what Kwang is planning. Betje suggests stealing the plane and all the treasure, but Bond destroys the plane's controls. Betje berates him, but steeled Bond is determined to do what's right.
Bond and Betje make their way to nearby burial grounds to get another route to access the catacombs. Betje is scared of the place and asks Bond if they could leave. However, Bond spots Kwang and draws his gun, going after him. Bond and Betje separate, with Betje exploring the "tomb of the Empress", while Bond goes to kill Kwang.
Bond gets a clear line of fire to take down Kwang, but is spotted by La Font and his men. The echo of their shots reverberates throughout the burial chamber. Bond and Kwang's men engage in a shoot out at the catacombs. Once Bond runs out of ammo, he snatches a battle ax from one of the statues as Kwang walks towards him. Bond realizes that the Demon Dog statues are filled with gold coins, as the other henchmen approach.
Betje then emerges from the tomb of the Empress, dressed in a gold dress and a funerary mask. The sudden appearance, intensified by the reflections of the torches, frightens La Font's men, who flee and leave him alone. Kwang is little startled by it and moves up towards stairs, right next to the dog statues. Bond smashes open one of the statues and the flow of coins pour over Kwang, with the mounting flow of the coins burying Kwang and killing him.
Personality and appearance[]
Kwang is in his early 50s. Despite embracing his reputation as a cruel warlord, Kwang is observed to look more like a "artistic spirit" than a grizzled merchant of death. Indeed, it is shown that Kwang enjoys painting at the premises of his own fortress.
Influence on later Bond stories[]
The villain Kwang has a labyrinthine influence on later Bond films.
- He/reworked version of him was initially planned to be the main villain of Licence to Kill, an Asian drug baron, before being rewritten into South American drug baron Franz Sanchez. Additionally, in the finished version of the aforementioned movie, there is a Hong Kong Narcotics agent named Kwang.
- Kwang is responsible for the death of Bond's mentor, Bart/Burton Trevor. This would make him somewhat similar to General Ourumov, who (seemingly) kills Alec Trevelyan at the beginning of GoldenEye. Only difference is that Trevor is killed for real, where as Trevelyan faked his death and is revealed to be the true villain.
- While also a unmade Bond film, in the original unmade Bond 17 scripts by Michael G. Wilson and Alfonse Ruggiero, the villain Sir Henry Lee Ching's father is revealed to have been a Asian opium-smuggling warlord, much like what Kwang is in the unmade Bond 15.
- Opium ultimately plays part in the final version of Bond 15, The Living Daylights, as the villains are engaged in a triangle deal, with arms dealer Brad Whitaker paying diamonds for a large shipment of opium from the Afghan Mujahideen, which would turn a profit within days of distribution in the streets of the US, and so continue supplying the Soviets with arms.
- Additionally, Brad Whitaker is defeated with a use of a statue, much like General Kwang is in the unmade Bond 15.
Sources[]
- "The Making of the Living Daylights" by Charles Helfenstein, ISBN: 978-0984412624
- "The Lost Adventures of James Bond" by Mark Edlitz, ISBN: 9781735461625