SMERSH (James Bond) Bond again squares off against SMERSH in "Goldfinger" after learning that Auric Goldfinger is the agency's treasurer. After "Goldfinger", SMERSH is mentioned only fleetingly, usually in reference to having been disbanded. In "Thunderball", three former members of SMERSH joined and became top members of the apolitical criminal organization, SPECTRE. In the continuation novels (and novelizations), however, SMERSH returns as an organisation essentially renamed and reorganised within Soviet intelligence. They are first mentioned again in the novelization of "The Spy Who Loved Me", although replaced by KGB in the film. In John Gardner's series of Bond novels, SMERSH is renamed Department
Goldfinger (film) though trying to balance action and comedy. "Goldfinger" has been described as perhaps "the most highly and consistently praised Bond picture of them all" and after "Goldfinger", Bond "became a true phenomenon." The success of the film led to the emergence of many other works in the espionage genre and parodies of James Bond, such as The Beatles film "Help!" in 1965 and a spoof of Ian Fleming's first Bond novel, "Casino Royale", in 1967. Indeed, it has been said that "Goldfinger" was the cause of the boom in espionage films in the 1960s, so much so that in "1966,