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) Court, producers Albert R. Broccoli and Harry Saltzman turned to "Goldfinger" as the third Bond film. "Goldfinger" had what was then considered a large budget of $3 million (US$ million in dollars), the equivalent of the budgets of "Dr. No" and "From Russia with Love" combined, and was the first Bond film classified as a box-office blockbuster. "Goldfinger" was chosen with the American cinema market in mind, as the previous films had concentrated on the Caribbean and Europe. Terence Young, who directed the previous two films, chose to film "The Amorous Adventures of Moll Flanders" instead, after a pay dispute