Goldfinger (novel) Goldfinger (novel) Goldfinger is the seventh novel in Ian Fleming's James Bond series, first published in the UK by Jonathan Cape on 23 March 1959. "Goldfinger" originally bore the title "The Richest Man in the World" and was written in January and February 1958. The story centres on the investigation by MI6 operative James Bond into the gold smuggling activities of Auric Goldfinger, who is also suspected by MI6 of being connected to SMERSH, the Soviet counter-intelligence organisation. As well as establishing the background to the smuggling operation, Bond uncovers a much larger plot, with Goldfinger planning to steal the
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