26 Sept 2016

Chasing Fatima Blush - Menton


 In Never Say Never Again, Bond chases Fatima Blush through the French Riviera after discovering that she has killed agent 326, his ally Nicole at their villa in Villefranche-sur-mer. Bond is driving his Q-bike down Les rampes Saint-Michel and follows Fatima Blush down the street called Rue Longe in the city of Menton.

Rue Logettes to the left and Place du Cap seen to the right 

Rue Longe comes out through an archway in a building onto Rue des Logettes, the street that Fatima Blush is seen coming down on in the top picture. She then turns left on the the square called Place du Cap and continues along the beach road. The action on the motorbike was filmed in the city of Menton, a very picturesque village located close to the Italian border on the French Riviera. Several part of the motorbike chase were filmed in and around Menton and Villefranche-sur-mer, which is located further west, between Nice and Monaco.



Standing on Place du Cap - the beach vaguely visible in the background 

The arch from which Rue Longe intersects with Rue des Logettes
Fatima Blush has a few henchmen waiting for her and Bond in two cars at Place du Cap. When they spot Bond they start pursue him along the beach, where he already is pursuing Fatima Blush.

Bond drives across the small square as the two cars start chasing him
A similar marquis with the text Specialiteés, as seen through the windscreen of one of the cars can still be found on location at the restaurant La Coquille d'Or. Menton is a beautiful village on the Riviera and this location is well worth a visit, primarily because you can find so many parts of the motorbike chase within walking distance. A lunch at one of the nearby squares is highly recommended.




Blush calls on her henchmen in the two cars and orders them to stay away from Bond since he is her to catch. They do not appear to follow orders however, as they both start pursuing Bond. Blush of course knows that there are Spectre agents waiting in the tunnel ahead, ready to catch Bond as she lures him into the tunnel.

The view from inside one of the bad guy's cars as they start pursuing Bond 


After driving across the square Blush continues along the beach road and ultimately ends up inside the Tunnel Pascal Molinari where they try to capture Bond. The tunnel will be covered later.

The beach road leading up to Square Victoria and the tunnel

18 Sept 2016

Tracy's death - Arrábida Natural Park, part 1

For the final scene in On Her Majesty's Secret Service, the director Peter Hunt searched Portugal for the perfect location to shoot Tracy's inevitable and tragic death. It is not an understatement to say that he found it. The road where Bond pulls over to remove the wedding flowers from the car, after a short drive from Draco's estate, is undoubtedly one of the most beautiful Bond locations I have visited.



Through the windscreen of the Aston, a view point is visible to the left. This view point is still there and is a perfect place to stop the car and have a picnic lunch. You should really take your time at this location. There is not very much traffic on these roads, at least not in early May which was the time of our visit, although you have a few people stopping occasionally for photos. But if you stay long enough you will spend some time all alone at this location. 



Bond and Tracy are driving along the mountainside roads that lead from Setúbal through the Parque Natural da Arrábida (Arrábida natural park). This location is located in the Setúbal municipality approximately an hour drive south of Lisbon. This is a beautiful area and both the coastal road and the mountain roads are well worth a drive.




The easiest way to get to Setúbal is to drive across the bridge Ponte 25 de Abril and continue down the A2 highway out of Lisbon. In Setúbal, you should follow the N10-4 road going west. The spot where Bond pulls over is located along the road N379-1, a few kilometers from where the road intersects with N10-4. 



Bond and Tracy are overtaken by an Oldsmobile with some youngsters, right before stopping at the spot where Tracy will meet her faith. The road is quite narrow and stopping your car at the exact spot as Bond did in the film is not recommended and really not possible, especially as there is right right-hand traffic in Portugal, since 1928. Bond himself is driving as if it was left-hand traffic in 1969.

Say it with flowers! 




As Bond removes the flowers from the car, a Mercedes 600 Grosser approaches in the distance...


13 Sept 2016

Joalharia Ferreira Marques, Lisbon - Bond's jewelry store

Bond and Tracy are walking around central Lisbon during the love scenes in On Her Majesty's Secret Service. They walk past a jewelry store in Lisbon where Tracy spots a ring in the window. Bond later purchases that ring and give it to Tracy on their wedding day.


The Joalharia Ferreira Marques, Filhos jewelry store is located in downtown Rossio in Lisbon, namely on Praça Dom Pedro IV,  No. 7-9. The Art Noveau facade of the shop has remained unchanged since Bond was in 1969 although the street in front of the shop has been widened and the pavement has been slightly altered. 



The jewelry store was founded in 1926 by Adriano Ferreira Marques, the great-grandfather to the current co-owner José Filipe Marques. The Ferreira Marques family, originally from Porto, are linked to the manufacturing of jewelry from the late nineteenth century. When decorative silver fell into disuse, the store began to focus on brand watches and designer jewelry. Until 1974, Joalharia Ferreira Marques also kept a shop in Porto, before it began to focus the activity in the Rossio store in Lisbon.




The ring Tracy receives shortly before her death
The display in 2016 - the ring with flower motif recalls the flower theme in OHMSS
The shop is naturally a must visit when in Lisbon. Most of the jewelry is expensive, but for instance there are rings that cost less than €100, which definitely is worth getting for a lady that does not settle for a tulip.

8 Sept 2016

Bond meets Dr. Goodhead


Bond follows Dr Goodhead through the streets of Venice in Moonraker, after spotting her at the Venini Glass factory. She is herself spying on Drax for the Americans and Bond eventually catches up with her on Fondamenta Misericordia, where he states that the building she's looking at is 14th century.


Dr Goodhead! 


Bond walks with Dr Goodhead along the Fondamenta Misericordia, up to the Scuola Grande Della Misericordia which is located on the little square where the canals intersect. The canal that they walk along is called Rio della Misericordia.


After declining Bond's invitation to dinner, Dr Goodhead walks away and Bond calls his gondolier Franco, who conveniently has been waiting for Bond by the steps of Rio della Misericordia.




Like most locations in Venice, this has not changed notably since 1979.






The building that Dr Goodhead is looking at is apparently called Mestiere Cinema and it is located right next to the Scuola Grande Della Misericordia, which also was built in the 14th century, as Bond remarks.

Mestiere Cinema