Tango at the Casino

In Never Say Never Again, Largo hosts a charity ball at the casino in Monte Carlo. Bond attends uninvited and after winning over Largo at a rather stupid video game called "Domination", Bond settles for one dance with Domino instead of the 267,000 dollars he won. Largo observes the dancing couple from the second floor above as Fatima Blush comes up leaning against the balustrade.

                     "-They move well together don't they?"
        -Today you have anothzer chance. Zhis time, you'd better not fail..." 
                                  - Blush and Largo -

Largo and Blush are standing right above the entrance to the gambling hall, located to the left as you enter the main casino building. The pattern on the floor is very recognisable.

The famous tango scene were filmed in the main entrance hall, just beneath where Largo is watching. Bond and Domino are dancing as the guests are sitting around small tables next to the dance floor.

The large wall painting behind the opposite balustrade (opposite from where Largo is standing) is different from the wall painting behind Largo, it is thus possible to establish that Largo were standing above the entrance to the casino hall, that is to the left from the main entrance.

The wall painting seen in the picture below is the painting seen behind Largo.

Casino de Monte Carlo - Salle Médecin

Ever since Dr. No, Bond has been synonymous with gambling, casinos and luxury, and there is probably no other place that is more associated with casinos than Monaco. Nevertheless, it would take over 30 years before Bond visited the famous Casino de Monte Carlo in the official series. Connery had actually visited Casino de Monte Carlo in the unofficial Never Say Never Again already in 1983, but in that film the casino was called "Casino Royale in Monte Carlo", but more on that below.

Thus, GoldenEye was the first real Bond film that took Bond to Monaco. After racing around the roads of Alpes-Maritimes with Xenia in her Ferrari, seducing Caroline above Monaco, that location covered earlier, Bond arrives at the casino later that evening, dressed in black tie. He notices Xenia's Ferrari 355 parked in front of the casino as he walks in.

In a brief scene, Brosnan is walking through the lavish gambling halls, which was filmed on location inside the Casino. For regular visitors, photography is otherwise prohibited.

Bond is coming in from the doors on the above left picture, walks across the room and through the doors on the above right picture. The large wall painting in the left picture above is easily recognised from the film. The room Bond i walking through is called la Salle Touzet Nord, one of two similar rooms that lie parallel to each other, in the eastern wing of the casino.

After walking through la Salle Touzet Nord, Bond is entering an even bigger gambling room, that appears to be the room where he will find his Baccarat table. This gambling hall is perhaps the most luxurious in the casino and it is located at the end of the building in the most eastern part.

This iconic private room of the Casino de Monte-Carlo is called the Salle Médecin and was built in 1910 by Monacan architect François Médecin. The large notable mirrors makes this location easily recognisable. It also has a panoramic veranda-lounge facing the Bay of Roquebrune-Cap-Martin and a bar. At certain times of the year, there is a pop-up restaurant in the neighbouring room. This room is not open off season.

As the gambling halls that Bond walks through are located in the "salon privé" and high stakes area of the casino, you need to pay an extra fee of €10 (on top of the standard entrance fee of €10) to gain access. Please be properly dressed, although black tie is not necessary. The rest of the casino scenes were however filmed in studio, nonetheless brilliantly created by production designer Peter Lamont as seen in the picture below.

Part of the scenes filmed in studio and not on location in Monaco

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Never Say Never Again

This brings us back to the unofficial Bond film Never Say Never Again, Connery's comeback as 007 twelve years after his last film, Diamonds Are Forever. Produced by Kevin McClory in 1983, whose legal actions against Ian Fleming might very well have contributed to his heart attack and untimely demise in 1964, Never brought 007 to the South of France and Casino de Monte Carlo for the first time. It is somewhat strange that the official Bond series had not taken Bond to Monaco before Never. 

Connery enters in 1983

But, interestingly enough, the gambling hall that Bond enters in Never is the same hall, Salle Médecin, as Brosnan enters in GoldenEye. This is apparent both from the large mirrors and windows on the far wall, but also from the big wooden column seen to the right.

Brosnan walks past in 1995

Connery and Brosnan are actually passing the same spot in the casino in their respective film, although Connery is coming in from a door on the left and Brosnan is entering from the Salle Touzet Nord as mentioned above.

It is easy to understand why this hall was used in both films, since it is located in the farthest section of the casino that can easily be closed for visitors during filming, allowing for the rest of the casino to stay open without the regular tourists knowing. Naturally, Casino de Monte Carlo is a must visit for everyone, not only for Bond fans, and a very personal favourite of mine.

Celebrating my birthday in October 2015

Corfu Casino - Achilleion Palace

In For Your Eyes Only 1981 Bond visits the Corfu Casino to meet up with Kristatos and to play a game of "Chemmy". Before dinner while waiting for Kristatos to arrive, Bond is playing Baccarat against Bunky, who is experiencing an unfriendly shoe...

These interior scenes were filmed on location at the Achilleion Palace in Corfu. The following restaurant scene was also filmed on location, at the back of the palace. The casino room is on the top floor of the palace, in the part facing the patio at the back.

The bar was located beneath the large painting on the far wall.

A few details can still be recognized in the palace where the scenes were filmed, for instance the distinctive lamps that still hang between the windows. Strangely enough, it also appears that the curtains have not been changed since 1981 even though the walls have been given new paint.

Bond's Baccarat table was presumably located fairly close to the bar that was located along the far wall in the back of the room. Melina's Roulette table was located in the middle of the room.

"If you play the odds..."

Behind the croupier, you can recognize the large glass doors that lead to the patio at the back of the palace.

Following Bond's game of Chemin-de-fer, Bond and Kristatos have dinner on the patio, right outside the casino salon. You can still recognize the black and white tiles and not much else has been changed since Sir Roger's visit.

Casino Royale

After loosing his first ten million dollars to Le Chiffre, Bond is contemplating on the balcony/terrace of the Salon Privé. The exterior of the casino and the balcony were recreated in studio but were very true to the original building. Therefore you can recognize the balustrade and the pillars from the real building. The only thing that gives away this as a studio set are the terrace doors in the background.

"-Looks like I'm gonna need the other five million to buy back in..."
                                     -Bond to Vesper- 

Even the original pattern on the doors to the real building have been reused on the windows of the casino doors in the studio. In the original circle it says Louis XIV, this has been changed to CR naturally. Lamont did, as always, a splendid job with both the exterior and interior production design. Despite the fact that a large part of the second half of the film takes place in and around the casino, the exterior of the building only features a few times on screen. However, the entrance featured prominently in two of the movie posters. One of the posters features Vesper standing on the steps in front of the entrance to Casino Royale. In one of the trailers, we saw a brief glimpse of the entrance, but that scene was cut from the finished film. The only full view we get of the casino is the first time when Bond arrives to the poker game.

Surroundings of Royale

After preparing for the poker game in his hotel suite, Bond is walking down the short path from the Hotel Splendide over to the casino. The majestic casino building is in reality a former spa that has been closed for several years. Known as Lazne 1, the former Kaiserbad Spa is definitely one of the most beautiful buildings in Karlovy Vary. It is located only a few minutes from Bond's hotel, both in the film and in reality. The building is in fact in rather poor condition but was beautifully redone for the film.

Bond walking up to the casino.

Everything is filmed on location and the path leading up to the casino can be found in the park right in front of the casino building. Grandhotel Pupp is visible in the background. On the other side of the park you can find several luxury hotels and beautiful apartment buildings.

The path leading up to Casino Royale. Hotel Splendide in the background. 

In order to reach the path leading up to the casino, Bond would have to cross the river using the bridge in the left picture. In the background is the most southern part of Grandhotell Pupp and the Pupp Casino. It is from one of these balconies overlooking the car park, that Bond and Mathis observe the Montenegro police when they find Obanno in the trunk.

"There are dinner jackets and dinner jackets... This is the latter."
                               -Vesper to Bond-

Beautifully situated by the Teplá river.