It must have been. So many of its features show up in later James Bond films:
- villain who carries a white cat
- desperate evasion in a sand pit
- use of high-powered equipment to prevent an escape
- double-sided mirrors that become a doorway
- delayed revelation of the identity of the real villain commanding the supposed ones
- two leads ending on a vehicle with sexual double entendre
To be fair, those themes could be found in other movies too. It's a stretch to say this must have been Fleming's favorite movie because of some similarities. For all we know, he never saw this movie or maybe he did see it and loved it but his favorite? That's quite an assumption.
Woman, man! That's the way it should be Tarzan. [Tarzan and his mate]
Agatha Christie must also have seen this film. Her 1957 novel, 4:50 From Paddington (What Mrs. McGillicudy Saw), utilizes the plot device of someone seeing a murder being committed from a train.
shareI immediately noticed the similarity between the two. Agatha Christie seemed to have borrowed a lot of her novel plots from movies as I have noted on the boards for other films.
shareSand pit? It was a grain silo.
High-powered equipment? Huh?