Ian Fleming
, the writer who created the fictional character
James Bond
, lived to see the success of his novels depicted on screen before he died. All fourteen books in the series created by Fleming went on to be huge successes on screen.
[1]
Goldfinger
, one of the most epic stories in the James Bond saga, became a fan favourite with
Shirley Bassey
singing the iconic song,
"Goldfinger"
, that was played for the fiftieth anniversary of the Bond series at the
Oscars
in 2012. Bond was played by
Sean Connery
and
George Lazenby
in the films shot throughout the 1960s. The Bond movies were filmed all across the world and by different directors each time, with some of the old directors collaborating with the new ones. The success of each Bond film lead to bigger budget prices for the following films adapted to the big screen. Each film recovered its budget and won critically acclaimed awards the years that they came out. Of all the Bond films in cinema today,
Thunderball
is the most successful with the whole Bond series being the third highest grossing of all time in
Hollywood
cinema.
Dr. No
[
edit
]
Dr. No
is set in London, Jamaica, and Crab Key, a fictional island off Jamaica.
Filming began on location at
Palisaodes Airport
in
Kingston, Jamaica
, on 16 January 1962.
[3]
The primary scenes there were the exterior shots of Crab Key and Kingston, where an uncredited
Syd Cain
acted as
art director
and also designed the Dragon Tank.
Shooting took place a few yards from Fleming's
Goldeneye
estate, and the author regularly visited the filming with friends.
[5]
Location filming was largely in
Oracabessa
, with additional scenes on the
Palisadoes
strip and
Port Royal
in
St Andrew
.
[6]
On 21 February, production left Jamaica with footage still unfilmed due to a change of weather.
[7]
Five days later, filming began at
Pinewood Studios
,
Buckinghamshire
,
England
, with sets
designed
by
Ken Adam
, which included Dr. No's base, the ventilation duct and the interior of the British Secret Service headquarters. The studio was used on the majority of later Bond films.
[8]
Adam's initial budget for the entire film was just £14,500 (£390,728 in 2023
[9]
), but the producers were convinced to give him an extra £6,000 out of their own finances.
After 58 days of filming, principal photography was completed on 30 March 1962.
Filmmaker
Brian Trenchard-Smith
, who visited Pinewood with his
Wellington College
film society during the shooting of the film, noted that Bond's awakening and first sighting of Honey was a
pick-up shot
filmed in a ten-foot-long space on an otherwise empty soundstage, and that Adam's set for the nuclear reactor was "a lot smaller than it looks on the screen. That opened my eyes to the power of lenses when I saw the finished movie a year later."
[11]
Costume designer Tessa Prendergast designed Honey's bikini from a
British Army
webbing belt.
[3]
The scene where a tarantula walks over Bond was initially shot by pinning a bed to the wall and placing Sean Connery over it, with a protective glass between him and the spider. Director Young did not like the final results, so the scenes were interlaced with new footage featuring the tarantula over stuntman
Bob Simmons
.
[7]
Simmons, who was uncredited for the film, described the scene as the most frightening stunt he had ever performed.
In line with the book, a scene was to feature Honey tied to the ground and left to be attacked by crabs, but since the crabs were sent frozen from the Caribbean, they moved little during filming, so the scene was altered to have Honey slowly drowning.
[8]
Simmons also served as the film's fight choreographer, employing a rough fighting style. The noted violence of
Dr. No
, which also included Bond shooting Dent in cold blood, caused producers to make adaptations to get an
"A" rating
? allowing minors to enter accompanied by an adult ? from the
British Board of Film Classification
.
[13]
When Bond is about to have dinner with Dr. No, he is amazed to see
Goya
's
Portrait of the Duke of Wellington
. The painting had been stolen from the
National Gallery
by a 60-year-old amateur thief in London just before filming began.
[14]
Ken Adam had contacted the National Gallery in London to obtain a slide of the picture, painting the copy over the course of the weekend, prior to filming commencing on the following Monday.
[15]
Editor
Peter R. Hunt
used an innovative editing technique, with extensive use of quick cuts, and employing
fast motion
and exaggerated sound effects on the action scenes.
[16]
Hunt said his intention was to "move fast and push it along the whole time, while giving it a certain style",
[17]
and added that the fast pacing would help audiences not notice any writing problems.
[7]
As title artist
Maurice Binder
was creating the credits, he had an idea for the introduction that appeared in all subsequent Bond films, the James Bond
gun barrel sequence
. It was filmed in
sepia
by putting a
pinhole camera
inside an .38 calibre gun barrel, with Bob Simmons playing Bond.
[8]
Binder also designed a highly stylised main title sequence, a theme that has been repeated in the subsequent Eon-produced Bond films.
Binder's budget for the title sequence was £2,000 (£53,894 in 2023
[9]
).
[19]
From Russia with Love
[
edit
]
Filming began on April 1, 1963, at
Pinewood Studios
.
[20]
[3]
[21]
Armendariz's scenes were shot first after he was diagnosed with terminal cancer, with Terence Young serving as a stand-in for Kerim Bey for the last two months of the production.
[3]
Most of the film was set in Istanbul, Turkey. Locations included the
Basilica Cistern
, Hagia Sophia and the
Sirkeci railway station
, which also was used for the
Belgrade
and
Zagreb
railway stations. The MI6 office in London, SPECTRE Island, the Venice hotel and the interior scenes of the Orient Express were filmed at
Pinewood Studios
with some footage of the train. In the film, the train journey was set in Eastern Europe. The journey and the truck ride were shot in
Argyll
, Scotland and Switzerland. The end scenes for the film were shot in
Venice
.
[20]
However, to qualify for the British film funding of the time, at least 70 per cent of the film had to have been filmed in Great Britain or the Commonwealth.
[22]
The Gypsy camp was also to be filmed in an actual camp in
Topkapi
, but was actually shot in a replica of it in Pinewood.
The scene with rats (after the theft of the Lektor) was shot in Spain, as Britain did not allow filming with wild rats, and an attempt to film white rats painted in cocoa in Turkey did not work.
[24]
Principal photography wrapped on 23 August.
[25]
Ian Fleming spent a week in the Istanbul shoot, supervising production and touring the city with the producers.
[26]
[3]
Director Terence Young's eye for realism was evident throughout production. For the opening chess match, Kronsteen wins the game with a reenactment of
Boris Spassky
's victory over
David Bronstein
in 1960.
[27]
Production Designer Syd Cain built up the "chess pawn" motif in his $150,000 set for the brief sequence.
Cain also later added a promotion to another movie Eon was producing, making Krilencu's death happen inside a billboard for
Call Me Bwana
.
[3]
A noteworthy gadget featured was the
attache case
(briefcase) issued by Q Branch. It had a
tear gas bomb
that detonated if the case was improperly opened, a folding
AR-7
sniper rifle
with twenty rounds of ammunition, a throwing knife, and 50
gold sovereigns
. A boxer at
Cambridge
, Young choreographed the fight between Grant and Bond along with stunt coordinator Peter Perkins. The scene took three weeks to film and was violent enough to worry some on the production. Robert Shaw and Connery did most of the stunts themselves.
[28]
[20]
After the unexpected loss of Armendariz, production proceeded, experiencing complications from uncredited rewrites by
Berkely Mather
during filming. Editor
Peter Hunt
set about editing the film while key elements were still to be filmed, helping to restructure the opening scenes. Hunt and Young came up with the idea of moving the Red Grant training sequence to the beginning of the film (prior to the main title), a signature feature that has been an enduring hallmark of every Bond film since. The briefing with Blofeld was rewritten, and back projection was used to refilm Lotte Lenya's lines.
[20]
Behind schedule and over budget, the production crew struggled to complete production in time for the already-announced premiere date that October. On 6 July 1963, while scouting locations in Argyll, Scotland, for that day's filming of the climactic boat chase, Terence Young's helicopter crashed into the water with art director Michael White and a cameraman aboard. The craft sank into 40?50 feet (12?15 m) of water, but all escaped with minor injuries. Despite the calamity, Young was behind the camera for the full day's work. A few days later, Bianchi's driver fell asleep during the commute to a 6 am shoot and crashed the car. The actress's face was bruised and Bianchi's scenes had to be delayed for two weeks while the facial contusions healed.
[20]
The helicopter and boat chase scenes were not in the original novel but were added to create an action climax. The former was inspired by the crop-dusting scene in
Alfred Hitchcock
's
North by Northwest
and the latter by a previous Young/Broccoli/Maibaum collaboration,
The Red Beret
.
[29]
These two scenes would initially be shot in Istanbul but were moved to Scotland. The speedboats could not go fast enough due to the many waves in the sea,
[30]
and a rented boat filled with cameras ended up sinking in the Bosphorus.
A helicopter was also hard to obtain, and the special effects crew were nearly arrested trying to get one at a local airbase.
[30]
[31]
The helicopter chase was filmed with a
radio controlled
miniature helicopter.
The sounds of the boat chase were replaced in post-production since the boats were not loud enough,
[32]
and the explosion, shot in Pinewood, got out of control, burning
Walter Gotell
's eyelids
[30]
and seriously injuring three stuntmen.
[29]
Photographer
David Hurn
was commissioned by the producers of the James Bond films to shoot a series of stills with
Sean Connery
and the actresses of the film. When the
prop
Walther PPK
pistol did not arrive, Hurn volunteered the use of his own Walther LP-53
air pistol
.
[33]
Though the photographs of the "James Bond is Back" posters of the US release airbrushed out the long barrel of the pistol,
film poster
artist Renato Fratini used the long-barrelled pistol for his drawings of Connery on the British posters.
[34]
For the opening credits, Maurice Binder had disagreements with the producers and did not want to return.
[35]
Designer Robert Brownjohn stepped into his place, and projected the credits on female dancers, inspired by
constructivist
artist
Laszlo Moholy-Nagy
projecting light onto clouds in the 1920s.
[36]
Brownjohn's work started the tradition of scantily clad women in the Bond films' title sequences.
[37]
Goldfinger
[
edit
]
Principal photography
commenced on 20 January 1964 in
Miami Beach, Florida
, at the
Fontainebleau Hotel
; the crew was small, consisting only of Hamilton, Broccoli, Adam and cinematographer
Ted Moore
. Connery never travelled to Florida to film because he was shooting
Marnie
elsewhere in the United States. On the DVD
audio commentary
, director Hamilton states that other than Linder, who played Felix Leiter, none of the main actors in the Miami sequence were actually there. Connery, Frobe, Eaton, Nolan, who played Dink, and Willis, who played Goldfinger's card victim, all filmed their parts on a soundstage at
Pinewood Studios
when filming moved. Miami also served as location to the scenes involving Leiter's pursuit of Oddjob.
[38]
After five days in the US,
production returned to England. The primary location was
Pinewood Studios
, home to, among other sets, a recreation of the Fontainebleau, the
South American
city of the pre-title sequence and both Goldfinger's estate and factory.
[41]
Three places near the studio were used:
Black Park
for the car chase involving Bond's Aston Martin and Goldfinger's henchmen inside the factory complex,
RAF Northolt
for the American airports
[38]
and
Stoke Park Club
for the golf club scene.
[42]
The end of the chase, when Bond's Aston Martin crashes into a wall because of the mirror, as well as the chase immediately preceding it, were filmed on the road at the rear of Pinewood Studios Sound Stages A and E and the Prop Store. The road is now called Goldfinger Avenue.
[43]
Southend Airport
was used for the scene where Goldfinger flies to Switzerland.
[38]
Ian Fleming visited the set of
Goldfinger
in April 1964; he died a few months later in August 1964, shortly before the film's release.
[41]
The
second unit
filmed in Kentucky, and these shots were edited into scenes filmed at Pinewood.
Principal photography then moved to
Switzerland
, with the car chase being filmed at the small curved roads near
Realp
, the exterior of the
Pilatus Aircraft
factory in
Stans
serving as Goldfinger's factory, and Tilly Masterson's attempt to snipe Goldfinger being shot in the
Furka Pass
.
[38]
Filming wrapped on 11 July at
Andermatt
, after nineteen weeks of shooting.
[44]
Just three weeks prior to the film's release, Hamilton and a small team, which included Broccoli's stepson and future producer
Michael G. Wilson
as assistant director, went for last-minute shoots in Kentucky. Extra people were hired for post-production issues such as dubbing so the film could be finished in time.
[45]
Broccoli earned permission to film in the Fort Knox area with the help of his friend,
Lt. Colonel
Charles Russhon
.
[45]
To shoot Pussy Galore's Flying Circus gassing the soldiers, the pilots were only allowed to fly above 3,000 feet. Hamilton recalled this was "hopeless", so they flew at about 500 feet, and "the military went absolutely ape".
[46]
The scenes of people fainting involved the same set of soldiers moving to different locations.
[45]
For security reasons, filming and photography were not allowed near or inside the
United States Bullion Depository
. All sets for the interiors of the building were designed and built from scratch at Pinewood Studios.
[41]
The filmmakers had no clue as to what the interior of the depository looked like, so
Ken Adam
's imagination provided the idea of stacks of gold ingots behind iron bars. Adam later told
The Guardian
that "no one was allowed in Fort Knox but because [producer] Cubby Broccoli had some good connections and the Kennedys loved Ian Fleming's books I was allowed to fly over it once. It was quite frightening ? they had machine guns on the roof. I was also allowed to drive around the perimeter but if you got out of the car there was a loudspeaker warning you to keep away. There was not a chance of going in it, and I was delighted because I knew from going to the Bank of England vaults that gold isn't stacked very high and it's all underwhelming. It gave me the chance to show the biggest gold repository in the world as I imagined it, with gold going up to heaven. I came up with this cathedral-type design. I had a big job to persuade Cubby and the director Guy Hamilton at first."
[47]
Saltzman disliked the design's resemblance to a prison, but Hamilton liked it enough that it was built.
The
comptroller
of Fort Knox later sent a letter to Adam and the production team, complimenting them on their imaginative depiction of the vault.
[41]
United Artists even had irate letters from people wondering "how could a British film unit be allowed inside Fort Knox?"
Adam recalled, "In the end I was pleased that I wasn't allowed into Fort Knox, because it allowed me to do whatever I wanted."
[46]
In fact, the set was deemed so realistic that Pinewood Studios had to post a 24-hour guard to keep the gold bar props from being stolen. Another element which was original was the atomic device, for which Hamilton requested the special effects crew get inventive instead of realistic.
[45]
Technician Bert Luxford described the result as looking like an "engineering work", with a spinning engine, a
chronometer
and other decorative pieces.
[49]
Thunderball
[
edit
]
Guy Hamilton
was invited to direct, but considered himself worn out and "creatively drained" after the production of
Goldfinger
.
[50]
Terence Young
, director of the first two Bond films, returned to the series. Coincidentally, when Saltzman invited him to direct
Dr. No
, Young expressed interest in directing adaptations of
Dr. No
,
From Russia with Love
and
Thunderball
. Years later, Young said
Thunderball
was filmed "at the right time",
[51]
considering that if it was the first film in the series, the low budget (
Dr. No
cost only $1 million) would not have yielded good results.
[51]
Thunderball
was the final James Bond film directed by Young.
Filming commenced on 16 February 1965, with principal photography of the opening scene in Paris. Filming then moved to the
Chateau d'Anet
, near
Dreux
, France, for the fight in precredit sequence. Much of the film was shot in the Bahamas;
Thunderball
is widely known for its extensive underwater action scenes which are played out through much of the latter half of the film. The rest of the film was shot at
Pinewood Studios
, Buckinghamshire,
Silverstone racing circuit
for the chase involving Count Lippe,
Fiona Volpe
's RPG-armed BSA Lightning motorcycle and James Bond's Aston Martin DB5 before moving to
Nassau
, and
Paradise Island
in the Bahamas (where most of the footage was shot), and Miami.
[52]
Huntington Hartford
gave permission to shoot footage on his Paradise Island and is thanked at the end of the film.
On arriving in Nassau, McClory searched for locations to shoot many of the key sequences of the film and used the home of a local millionaire couple, the Sullivans, for Largo's estate, Palmyra.
[53]
Part of the SPECTRE underwater assault was also shot on the coastal grounds of another millionaire's home on the island.
[50]
Most of the underwater scenes had to be done at lower tides due to the sharks on the Bahamian coast.
[54]
After he read the script, Connery realised the risk of the sequence with the sharks in Largo's pool and insisted that production designer
Ken Adam
build a
Plexiglas
partition inside the pool. The barrier was not a fixed structure, so when one of the sharks managed to pass through it, Connery fled the pool, seconds away from attack.
[52]
Ken Adam later told UK daily newspaper
The Guardian
,
We had to use special effects, but unlike special effects today, they were real. The jet pack we used in
Thunderball
was real ? it was invented for the United States Army. Bloody dangerous, and it only lasted a couple of minutes. The ejector seat in the Aston Martin was real and Emilio Largo's boat, the
Disco Volante
, was real. You had power boats at that time, but there were no good-sized yachts that were able to travel at 40 to 50 knots, so it was quite a problem. But by combining a hydrofoil, which we bought in Puerto Rico for $10,000, and a catamaran, it at least looked like a big yacht. We combined the two hulls with a one-inch slip bolt and when they split it worked like a dream. We used lots of sharks for this movie. I'd rented a villa in the Bahamas with a saltwater pool which we filled with sharks and used for underwater filming. The smell was horrendous. This was where Sean Connery came close to being bitten. We had a plexiglass corridor to protect him, but I didn't have quite enough plexiglass and one of the sharks got through. He never got out of a pool faster in his life ? he was walking on water.
[55]
When special-effects coordinator
John Stears
provided a supposedly dead shark to be towed around the pool, the shark, which was still alive, revived at one point. Due to the dangers on the set, stuntman Bill Cummings demanded an extra fee of £250 to double for Largo's sidekick Quist as he was dropped into the pool of sharks.
[56]
The climactic underwater battle was shot at Clifton Pier and was choreographed by Hollywood expert
Ricou Browning
, who had worked on
Creature From the Black Lagoon
in 1954 and other films. He was responsible for the staging of the cave sequence and the battle scenes beneath
Disco Volante
and called in his specialist team of divers who posed as those engaged in the onslaught.
Voit
provided much of the underwater gear, including the
Aqua-Lungs
, in exchange for
product placement
and film
tie-in
merchandise. The ability to breathe underwater for extended periods of time was a new product that had previously been used by underwater explorer
Jacques Cousteau
and using it in a movie was a new approach. Lamar Boren, an underwater photographer, was hired to shoot all of the sequences.
[56]
Filming ceased in May 1965, and the final scene shot was the physical fight on the bridge of
Disco Volante
.
[50]
While in Nassau, during the final shooting days, special-effects supervisor John Stears was supplied experimental rocket fuel to use in exploding Largo's yacht. Ignoring the true power of the
volatile
liquid, Stears doused the entire yacht with it, took cover, and then detonated the boat. The resultant massive explosion shattered windows along Bay Street in Nassau roughly 30 miles away.
[50]
Stears went on to win an Academy Award for his work on
Thunderball
.
As the filming neared its conclusion, Connery had become increasingly agitated with press intrusion and was distracted with difficulties in his marriage of 32 months to actress
Diane Cilento
. Connery refused to speak to journalists and photographers who followed him in Nassau, stating his frustration with the harassment that came with the role: "I find that fame tends to turn one from an actor and a human being into a piece of merchandise, a public institution. Well, I don't intend to undergo that metamorphosis."
[57]
In the end, he gave only a single interview, to
Playboy
,
as filming was wrapped up, and even turned down a substantial fee to appear in a promotional TV special made by Wolper Productions for
NBC
,
The Incredible World of James Bond
.
[56]
According to editor
Peter R. Hunt
,
Thunderball'
s release was delayed for three months, from September until December 1965, after he met
David Picker
of United Artists, and convinced him it would be impossible to edit the film to a high enough standard without the extra time.
[58]
You Only Live Twice
[
edit
]
Filming of
You Only Live Twice
lasted from July 1966 to March 1967.
[28]
The film was shot primarily in Japan, and most of the locations are identifiable.
In summary:
- Tokyo: After arriving in Japan at Akime, Bond goes to Tokyo. The initial scenes are set in and around the
Ginza
area. The
Hotel New Otani Tokyo
served as the outside for Osato Chemicals, and the hotel's gardens were used for scenes of the
ninja
training. A car chase using the
Toyota 2000GT
and a
Toyota Crown
was largely filmed in the area around the
Olympic Stadium
used previously for the
1964 Summer Olympics
.
Tokyo Tower
and the centre of Tokyo can be briefly seen in a sequence where the villain's car is dropped in Tokyo Bay. Tanaka's private subway station was filmed at the
Tokyo Metro
's
Nakano-shimbashi Station
. A sumo wrestling match was filmed at Tokyo's sumo hall, the
Kuramae Kokugikan
; this has since been demolished.
- Kobe Docks
appears in a sequence when Bond investigates the ship
Ning-Po
, and is involved in a fight.
- Bond's wedding at a Shinto Shrine was filmed in
Nachi
.
- Himeji Castle
in
Hy?go Prefecture
was depicted as Tanaka's ninja training camp.
- The village of
Bonotsucho Akime
was where Bond and his Ama wife lived and where the Ama scenes were shot.
- The ryokan Shigetomi-so (now known as Shimazu Shigetomisoh Manor) was used as the exterior of Tanaka's house.
- Kagoshima Prefecture
was the location for various scenes depicting Little Nellie (see below).
- Mount
Shinmoe-dake
in
Ky?sh?
was used for the exteriors of SPECTRE's headquarters.
[59]
[60]
[61]
Most of the interiors were shot at Pinewood. The opening sequence in Hong Kong used some location footage of a street in
Kowloon
. Hong Kong's Victoria Harbour is also shown, but the at-sea burial of Bond and the retrieval of the corpse was filmed off Gibraltar and the Bahamas. The scenes with the light aircraft ferrying Bond to his supposed death were shot over very English-looking countryside in Buckinghamshire, whereas this was supposed to be Japan.
Large crowds were present in Japan to see the shooting. A Japanese fan began following Sean Connery with a camera, and police had to deal with fan incursions several times during shooting.
[59]
The heavily armed
WA-116
autogyro
"Little Nellie" was included after Ken Adam heard a radio interview with its inventor,
RAF
Wing Commander
Ken Wallis
. Little Nellie was named after music hall star
Nellie Wallace
, who has a similar surname to its inventor. Wallis piloted his invention, which was equipped with various mock-up armaments by
John Stears
' special effects team, during production.
[28]
"Nellie"'s battle with helicopters proved to be difficult to film. The scenes were initially shot in
Miyazaki
, first with takes of the gyrocopter, with more than 85 take-offs, five hours of flight and Wallis nearly crashing into the camera several times. A scene filming the helicopters from above created a major
downdraft
, and cameraman John Jordan's foot was severed by the craft's rotor. It was surgically reattached by surgeons visiting the country, and then amputated in London when the surgery was deemed to have been flawed.
[62]
Jordan would continue work for the Bond series with a prosthetic foot. The concluding shots involved explosions, which the Japanese government did not allow in a national park; hence, the crew moved to
Torremolinos
, Spain, which was found to resemble the Japanese landscape.
[59]
The shots of the volcano were filmed at
Shinmoedake
on
Kyushu
Island.
[63]
The sets of SPECTRE's volcano base, including operative heliport and monorail, were constructed at a lot inside
Pinewood Studios
, at a cost of $1 million.
[59]
[60]
The 45 m (148 ft) tall set could be seen from 5 kilometres (3 miles) away, and attracted many people from the region.
[64]
Locations outside Japan included using the
Royal Navy
frigate
HMS
Tenby
, then in
Gibraltar
, for the sea burial,
[65]
Hong Kong for the scene where Bond fakes his death, and Norway for the Soviet radar station.
[59]
[61]
[64]
Sean Connery's then-wife
Diane Cilento
performed the swimming scenes for at least five Japanese actresses, including Mie Hama.
[59]
Martial arts expert
Donn F. Draeger
provided martial arts training, and also doubled for Connery.
[66]
Lewis Gilbert's regular editor,
Thelma Connell
, was originally hired to edit the film. However, after her initial, almost three-hour cut received a terrible response from test audiences, Peter R. Hunt was asked to re-edit the film. Hunt's cut proved a much greater success, and he was awarded the director's chair on the next film as a result.
[67]
On Her Majesty's Secret Service
[
edit
]
Principal photography
began in the
Canton of Bern
, Switzerland, on 21 October 1968, with the first scene shot being an aerial view of Bond climbing the stairs of Blofeld's mountain retreat to meet the women.
[68]
The scenes were shot at the
revolving restaurant
Piz Gloria
, located atop the
Schilthorn
near the village of
Murren
. The location was found by production manager Hubert Frohlich after three weeks of
location scouting
in France and Switzerland.
[69]
The restaurant was still under construction, but the producers found the spectacular location visually interesting for film-making,
[7]
and had to finance the provision of electricity and the
aerial lift
to make filming there possible.
[68]
The first chase scene in the Alps was shot at the
Schilthorn
and the second one at
Saas-Fee
, while the Christmas celebrations were filmed in
Grindelwald
, and some scenes were shot on location in
Bern
.
[70]
Production was hampered by weak snowfall which was unfavourable to the skiing action scenes. The producers even considered moving to another location in Switzerland, but it was taken by the production of
Downhill Racer
.
[7]
The Swiss filming ended up running 56 days over schedule.
[69]
In March 1969, production moved to England, with London's
Pinewood Studios
being used for interior scenes, and M's house being shot in
Marlow, Buckinghamshire
. In April, the filmmakers went to Portugal, where principal photography wrapped in May.
[68]
[7]
The pre-credit coastal and hotel scenes were filmed at Hotel Estoril Palacio in
Estoril
and
Guincho Beach
,
Cascais
,
while
Lisbon
was used for the reunion of Bond and Tracy, and the ending employed a mountain road in the
Arrabida National Park
near
Setubal
.
[70]
Harry Saltzman wanted these scenes to be in France, but after searching there, Peter Hunt considered that not only were the locations not photogenic, but were already "overexposed".
[72]
While the first unit shot at Piz Gloria, the second unit, led by
John Glen
, started filming the ski chases.
The downhill skiing involved professional skiers, and various camera tricks. Some cameras were handheld, with the operators holding them as they were going downhill with the stuntmen, and others were aerial, with cameramen Johnny Jordan ? who had previously worked in the helicopter battle of
You Only Live Twice
? developing a system where he was dangled by an 18 feet (5.5 m) long parachute harness rig below a helicopter, allowing scenes to be shot on the move from any angle.
[68]
The bobsledding chase was also filmed with the help of Swiss Olympic athletes,
[7]
[74]
and was rewritten to incorporate the accidents the stuntmen suffered during shooting, such as the scene where Bond falls from the sled. Blofeld getting snared with a tree was performed at the studio by Savalas himself, after the attempt to do this by the stuntman on location came out wrong.
[68]
Heinz Lau and
Robert Zimmermann
served as the stunt doubles for Bond and Blofeld during the bobsleigh scene.
[3]
Glen was also the editor of the film, employing a style similar to the one used by Hunt in the previous Bond films, with
fast motion
in the action scenes and exaggerated sound effects.
[7]
The avalanche scenes were due to be filmed in co-operation with the Swiss army, which annually used explosions to prevent snow build-up by causing avalanches, but the area chosen naturally avalanched just before filming.
[72]
The final result was a combination of a man-made avalanche at an isolated Swiss location shot by the second unit,
[68]
stock footage, and images created by the special effects crew with salt.
[72]
The stuntmen were filmed later, added by optical effects.
[75]
For the scene where Bond and Tracy crash into a car race while being pursued, an ice rink was constructed over an unused aeroplane track,
[7]
with water and snow sprayed on it constantly. Lazenby and Rigg did most of the driving due to the high number of close-ups.
[68]
"One time, we were on location at an ice rink and Diana and Peter were drinking champagne inside. Of course I wasn't invited as Peter was there. I could see them through the window, but the crew were all outside stomping around on the ice trying to keep warm. So, when she got in the car, I went for her. She couldn't drive the car properly and I got in to her about her drinking and things like that. Then she jumped out and started shouting 'he's attacking me in the car!' I called her a so-and-so for not considering the crew who were freezing their butts off outside. And it wasn't that at all in the end, as she was sick that night, and I was at fault for getting in to her about it. I think everyone gets upset at one time."
George Lazenby
[69]
For the cinematography, Hunt aimed for a "simple, but glamorous style like the 1950s Hollywood films I grew up with",
[72]
as well as something realistic, "where the sets don't look like sets".
[72]
Cinematographer Michael Reed added he had difficulties with lighting, as every set built for the film had a ceiling, preventing spotlights from being hung from above.
[76]
While shooting, Hunt wanted "the most interesting framings possible", which would also look good after
being cropped for television
.
[72]
Lazenby said he experienced difficulties during shooting, not receiving any coaching despite his lack of acting experience, and with director Hunt never addressing him directly, only through his assistant. Lazenby claimed that Hunt also asked the rest of the crew to keep a distance from him, as "Peter thought the more I was alone, the better I would be as James Bond."
[69]
Allegedly, there also were personality conflicts with Rigg, who was already an established star. However, according to Hunt, these rumours are untrue and there were no such difficulties?or else they were minor?and may have started with Rigg joking to Lazenby before filming a love scene, "Hey George, I'm having garlic for lunch. I hope you are!"
Hunt also declared that he usually had long talks with Lazenby before and during shooting. For instance, to shoot Tracy's death scene, Hunt brought Lazenby to the set at 8 o'clock in the morning and made him rehearse all day long, "and I broke him down until he was absolutely exhausted, and by the time we shot it at five o'clock, he was exhausted, and that's how I got the performance."
[78]
Hunt said that if Lazenby had remained in the role, he would also have directed the successor film,
Diamonds Are Forever
, and that his original intention had been to conclude the film with Bond and Tracy driving off following their wedding, saving Tracy's murder for the pre-credit sequence of
Diamonds Are Forever
. The idea was discarded after Lazenby quit the role.
[68]
On Her Majesty's Secret Service
was the longest
Bond
film until
Casino Royale
was released in 2006.
Even so, two scenes were deleted from the final print: Irma Bunt spying on Bond as he buys a wedding ring for Tracy,
and a chase over London rooftops and into the
Royal Mail
underground rail system
after Bond's conversation with Sir Hilary Bray was overheard.
Critical response
[
edit
]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
"Ian Fleming"
. 26 February 2024.
- ^
a
b
c
d
e
f
g
Field, Matthew (2015).
Some kind of hero : 007 : the remarkable story of the James Bond films
. Ajay Chowdhury. Stroud, Gloucestershire.
ISBN
978-0-7509-6421-0
.
OCLC
930556527
.
{{
cite book
}}
: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (
link
)
- ^
Nathan, Ian (October 2008). "Unseen Bond".
Empire
: 97.
- ^
Campbell, Howard (17 June 2012).
"James Bond marathon begins with JA"
.
The Jamaica Observer
. Kingston.
Archived
from the original on 19 June 2012
. Retrieved
17 June
2012
.
- ^
a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
i
Cork, John
(1999). "Audio commentary".
Dr. No (Ultimate Edition, 2006)
(DVD).
MGM Home Entertainment
.
- ^
a
b
c
"Inside Dr. No Documentary".
Dr. No (Ultimate Edition, 2006)
(DVD).
MGM Home Entertainment
. 1999.
- ^
a
b
UK
Retail Price Index
inflation figures are based on data from
Clark, Gregory (2017).
"The Annual RPI and Average Earnings for Britain, 1209 to Present (New Series)"
.
MeasuringWorth
. Retrieved
7 May
2024
.
- ^
Trenchard-Smith, Brian (9 January 2014).
"Dr. No"
.
Trailers From Hell
.
Archived
from the original on 22 November 2020
. Retrieved
23 November
2020
.
- ^
"Dr. No rated A by the BBFC"
.
British Board of Film Classification
. Archived from
the original
on 19 August 2012
. Retrieved
9 June
2011
.
- ^
"Greatest heists in art history"
.
BBC News
. 23 August 2004.
Archived
from the original on 14 March 2007
. Retrieved
21 November
2007
.
- ^
Dee, Johnny (17 September 2005).
"Licensed to drill"
.
The Guardian
. London.
Archived
from the original on 10 March 2016
. Retrieved
11 December
2016
.
- ^
Hunt, Peter R.
(1999).
Goldfinger audio commentary
. MGM Home Entertainment.
Goldfinger (Ultimate Edition, 2006), Disk 1
- ^
"Interview with Peter R. Hunt"
. Retrovision. 1997. Archived from
the original
on 14 February 2009.
- ^
Kirkham, Pat (December 1995). "Dots and sickles".
Sight and Sound
.
5
(12). London: 10.
- ^
a
b
c
d
e
Martine Beswick, Daniela Bianchi, Dana Broccoli, Syd Cain, Sean Connery, Peter Hunt, John Stears, Norman Wanstall (2000).
Inside From Russia with Love
(DVD). MGM Home Entertainment Inc
. Retrieved
4 August
2007
.
- ^
Coincidentally, this was also the date of first publication of the Bond novel
On Her Majesty's Secret Service
- ^
Barnes, Alan; Hearn, Marcu (1997).
Kiss Kiss Bang! Bang!: the Unofficial James Bond Film Companion
.
Batsford Books
. p. 23.
ISBN
978-0-7134-8182-2
.
- ^
Syd Cain
.
From Russia with Love
audio commentary
. MGM Home Entertainment. Accessed 20 October 2008.
From Russia with Love
Ultimate Edition, Disc 1
- ^
Barnes, Alan; Hearn, Marcu (1997).
Kiss Kiss Bang! Bang!: the Unofficial James Bond Film Companion
.
Batsford Books
. p. 24.
ISBN
978-0-7134-8182-2
.
- ^
Lycett, Andrew
(1996).
Ian Fleming
. London: Phoenix. p. 418.
ISBN
978-1-85799-783-5
.
- ^
"The name is Spassky ? Boris Spassky"
. ChessBase.com. 2 September 2004. Archived from
the original
on 7 October 2012
. Retrieved
16 February
2008
.
- ^
a
b
c
You Only Live Twice Ultimate Edition DVD
(Media notes). 2006.
- ^
a
b
John Cork.
From Russia with Love
audio commentary
. MGM Home Entertainment. Accessed 20 October 2008.
From Russia with Love
Ultimate Edition, Disc 1
- ^
a
b
c
Walter Gotell
.
From Russia with Love
audio commentary
. MGM Home Entertainment. Accessed 17 October 2008.
From Russia with Love
Ultimate Edition, Disc 1
- ^
John Stears
.
From Russia with Love
audio commentary
. MGM Home Entertainment. Accessed 17 October 2008.
From Russia with Love
Ultimate Edition, Disc 1
- ^
Norman Wanstall.
From Russia with Love
audio commentary
. MGM Home Entertainment. Accessed 20 October 2008.
From Russia with Love
Ultimate Edition, Disc 1
- ^
"From Russia With Love, 1963"
.
Christie's
. 14 February 2001
. Retrieved
3 March
2024
.
- ^
"Poster Galore"
.
British Film Institute
. 10 January 2007. Archived from
the original
on 9 March 2012
. Retrieved
8 February
2011
.
- ^
Starlog
magazine Maurice Binder interview Part 1
- ^
"Robert Brownjohn / 15 October 2005 to 26 February 2006 : ? Design/Designer Information"
. Archived from
the original
on 23 June 2011
. Retrieved
2011-07-08
.
- ^
Jutting, Kerstin (2007).
"Grow Up, 007!" ? James Bond Over the Decades: Formula Vs. Innovation
. GRIN Verlag. p. 13.
ISBN
978-3-638-85372-9
.
- ^
a
b
c
d
Exotic Locations
. MGM Home Entertainment.
Goldfinger Ultimate Edition, Disk 2
- ^
a
b
c
d
Behind the Scenes with 'Goldfinger'
(DVD).
MGM
/
UA
Home Entertainment Inc. 2000.
- ^
"Movie History at Stoke Park"
. Stoke Park.
Archived
from the original on 24 April 2021
. Retrieved
22 March
2013
.
- ^
"Pinewood Studios Map | Pinewood ? Film studio facilities & services"
. Pinewoodgroup.com.
Archived
from the original on 4 May 2015
. Retrieved
9 May
2015
.
- ^
Barnes & Hearn 2001
, p. 39. "Nineteen weeks of principal photography ended with location shooting at Andermatt in Switzerland between 7 and 11 July"
- ^
a
b
c
d
Guy Hamilton.
Goldfinger audio commentary
. MGM Home Entertainment.
Goldfinger Ultimate Edition, Disk 1
- ^
a
b
"Bond: The Legend: 1962?2002".
Empire
. 2002. pp. 7?9.
- ^
Dee, Johnny (17 September 2005).
"Licensed to drill"
.
The Guardian
. London.
Archived
from the original on 10 March 2016
. Retrieved
10 March
2016
.
- ^
Joe Fitt, Bert Luxford.
Goldfinger audio commentary
. MGM Home Entertainment.
Goldfinger Ultimate Edition, Disk 1
- ^
a
b
c
d
The Making of Thunderball: Thunderball Ultimate Edition, Region 2, Disc 2
(DVD). MGM/UA Home Entertainment. 1995.
- ^
a
b
Young, Terence
.
Commentary 1: Thunderball Ultimate Edition DVD Region 4
(DVD). MGM/UA Home Entertainment.
- ^
a
b
The Thunderball Phenomenon
(DVD). MGM/UA Home Entertainment. 1995.
Thunderball Ultimate Edition DVD, Region 2, Disc 2
- ^
007 Mission Control: Exotic Locations
(DVD). MGM/UA Home Entertainment. 2006.
Thunderball Ultimate Edition DVD, Region 2, Disc 2
- ^
Commentary 1: Thunderball Ultimate Edition, Region 2
.
- ^
Dee, Johnny (17 September 2005).
"Licensed to drill"
.
The Guardian
. London.
Archived
from the original on 10 March 2016
. Retrieved
10 March
2016
.
- ^
a
b
c
Copyright 1998?2010.
"Production notes for Thunderball ?"
. Mi6.co.uk. Archived from
the original
on 18 December 2007
. Retrieved
1 May
2010
.
{{
cite web
}}
: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (
link
)
- ^
"Interview with Sean Connery"
.
Playboy
(November 1965).
HMH Publishing
.
ISSN
0032-1478
.
Archived
from the original on 25 March 2008
. Retrieved
15 January
2008
.
- ^
Hunt, Peter R.
Commentary 2: Thunderball Ultimate Edition DVD Region 2
(DVD). MGM/UA Home Entertainment.
- ^
a
b
c
d
e
f
Production Staff (2000).
Inside You Only Live Twice: An Original Documentary
(Television). MGM Home Entertainment Inc.
- ^
a
b
On Location With Ken Adam
. MGM Home Entertainment.
You Only Live Twice: Ultimate Edition DVD (Disc 2)
- ^
a
b
Exotic Locations
. MGM Home Entertainment.
You Only Live Twice: Ultimate Edition DVD (Disc 2)
- ^
Clarke, Roger (23 July 2009).
"Story of the Scene: You Only Live Twice (1967)"
.
The Independent
.
Archived
from the original on 28 December 2019
. Retrieved
28 December
2019
.
- ^
"Japan volcano Mount Shinmoedake, scene of Sean Connery 'You Only Live Twice' James Bond film, erupts"
.
New York Daily News
. 27 January 2011.
Archived
from the original on 4 April 2011
. Retrieved
19 August
2012
.
,
- ^
a
b
John Cork (2000).
You Only Live Twice Commentary track
. MGM Home Entertainment Inc.
- ^
HMS Tenby Association
Archived
4 March 2016 at the
Wayback Machine
. Jeffmays.talktalk.net. Retrieved 15 February 2011.
- ^
Corcoran, John (1988).
Martial Arts: Traditions, History, People
. W.H. Smith Publishers Inc. p.
320
.
ISBN
0-8317-5805-8
.
- ^
"You Only Live Twice"
.
Turner Classic Movies
. Retrieved
25 January
2011
.
- ^
a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
Inside On Her Majesty's Secret Service
(DVD).
OHMSS
Ultimate Edition DVD: MGM Home Entertainment Inc. 2000.
- ^
a
b
c
d
"De 'vergeten' 007"
.
Andere Tijden
. Amsterdam. 19 November 2002.
VPRO
.
Nederland 2
.
- ^
a
b
"Exotic Locations".
On Her Majesty's Secret Service
Ultimate Edition
. MGM Home Entertainment.
- ^
a
b
c
d
e
f
Peter R. Hunt
. "On Her Majesty's Secret Service
audio commentary
".
On Her Majesty's Secret Service
Ultimate Edition
. MGM Home Entertainment.
- ^
Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen;
Mallon, Bill
; et al.
"Robert Zimmermann Olympic Results"
.
Olympics at Sports-Reference.com
.
Sports Reference LLC
. Archived from
the original
on 18 April 2020
. Retrieved
7 April
2018
.
- ^
Glen, John (March 1970). "Filming the thrills, chills and spills of 007".
American Cinematographer
. Vol. 52, no. 3.
- ^
Michael Reed. "On Her Majesty's Secret Service
audio commentary
".
On Her Majesty's Secret Service
Ultimate Edition
. MGM Home Entertainment.
- ^
"Interview with Peter R. Hunt"
.
Retrovision
. No. 2. 1997. Archived from
the original
on 14 February 2009.
- ^
"Dr. No (1962)"
.
Rotten Tomatoes
. Retrieved
26 August
2019
.
- ^
"Dr. No Reviews"
.
Metacritic
. Retrieved
12 December
2017
.
- ^
"From Russia with Love (1963)"
.
Rotten Tomatoes
. Retrieved
26 August
2019
.
- ^
"From Russia with Love Reviews"
.
Metacritic
. Retrieved
12 December
2017
.
- ^
"Goldfinger (1964)"
.
Rotten Tomatoes
. Retrieved
26 August
2019
.
- ^
"Goldfinger Reviews"
.
Metacritic
. Retrieved
12 December
2017
.
- ^
"Thunderball (1965)"
.
Rotten Tomatoes
. Retrieved
26 August
2019
.
- ^
"Thunderball Reviews"
.
Metacritic
. Retrieved
12 December
2017
.
- ^
"You Only Live Twice (1967)"
.
Rotten Tomatoes
. Retrieved
26 August
2019
.
- ^
"You Only Live Twice Reviews"
.
Metacritic
. Retrieved
12 December
2017
.
- ^
"On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969)"
.
Rotten Tomatoes
. Retrieved
26 August
2019
.
- ^
"On Her Majesty's Secret Service Reviews"
.
Metacritic
. Retrieved
12 December
2017
.
Bibliography
[
edit
]
- Barnes, Alan; Hearn, Marcus (2001).
Kiss Kiss Bang! Bang!: The Unofficial James Bond Film Companion
.
Batsford Books
.
ISBN
978-0-7134-8182-2
.
- Benson, Raymond (1988).
The James Bond beside companion
. London: Boxtree Ltd.
ISBN
978-1-85283-234-6
.
- Bouzereau, Laurent (2006).
The art of Bond : from storyboard to screen : the creative process behind the James Bond phenomenon
. London: Macmillan Publishers.
ISBN
978-0-7522-1551-8
.
- Cain, Syd (2005).
Not Forgetting James Bond: The Autobiography of Syd Cain
. London: Reynolds & Hearn.
ISBN
978-1-905287-03-1
.
- Cork, John
; Scivally, Bruce (2002).
James Bond: The Legacy
. London: Boxtree.
ISBN
978-0-7522-6498-1
.
- Cork, John; Stutz, Collin (2007).
James Bond Encyclopedia
. London:
Dorling Kindersley
.
ISBN
978-1-4053-3427-3
.
- Smith, Jim (2002).
Bond Films
. London:
Virgin Books
.
ISBN
978-0-7535-0709-4
.
- Pfeiffer, Lee; Worrall, Dave (1998).
The Essential Bond
. London:
Boxtree Ltd
.
ISBN
978-0-7522-2477-0
.
- Rubin, Steven Jay (1981).
The James Bond Films: a Behind the Scenes History
. Arlington House Publishers.
ISBN
978-0-87000-523-7
.