Slumber Inc. - Garden of remembrance, Las Vegas

In Diamonds are Forever Bond travels to LAX and on to Las Vegas with the dead Peter Franks in a coffin. Bond ends up at Slumber Inc., a mortuary and chapel supposedly located outside of Las Vegas.

After cremating Peter Franks, Bond receives the urn with the diamonds and is told by Mr Slumber that a private niche is reserved in their garden of remembrance. The location has remained more or less untouched since 1971 and the garden of remembrance is open to the public.

The scenes were filmed at the 'Palm downtown cemetery' at 1325 North Main Street in Las Vegas. It is located in downtown Las Vegas, quite off the Strip, approximately 1 km north of the Golden Nugget and the Freemont Street which is the classic part of downtown Vegas.

Mr Wint and Mr Kidd are arranging flowers at a nearby niche when Bond walks past. Wint and Kidd have been sent out to kill Bond, believing that he is Peter Franks.

After collecting his $50,000 from the niche with the chartreuse curtains Bond is struck down by Wint and Kidd and ends up in a coffin. Afterwards, Shady Tree collects the fake diamonds from the niche where Bond has left them in exchange for the money.

The exterior of Slumber's funeral parlor was not filmed on the same location as the garden of remembrance but at the Palm Henderson Mortuary in Henderson just outside of Las Vegas. The exterior has been covered here earlier.

Slumber Inc.

The exterior of the Slumber Inc. funeral parlor in Las Vegas, seen in Diamonds are Forever, was filmed at the Palm Henderson Mortuary and Cemetery in Henderson just outside of Las Vegas, Nevada. Palm Henderson is located only a short drive outside of the city and while on location, even the interior of the chapel is well worth a visit since it is very similar to the interior of the chapel seen in the film.

The chapel from Palm Henderson in 2016

It is hard to tell whether the interior shots of the chapel were filmed on a studio set since the chapel from the film looks very much like the real chapel found on location today. It is obvious that Ken Adam, the production designer, was inspired by the real chapel from his visit on location.

In the film, the body of Peter Franks is cremated in the chapel and Bond delivers the diamonds to a private niche in the garden of remembrance (actually filmed at another cemetery). Ultimately, Bond himself ends up in a coffin after being struck down by Wint and Kidd, ready to be cremated. In the last second he is pulled out by Mr Slumber and Shady Tree when they have discovered that the diamonds are phonies.

Palm Henderson Mortuary & Cemetery is located on 800 South Boulder Highway in Henderson.

"Now don't tell me. You're St Peter?"

Slumber Inc. - Palm Henderson Mortuary & Cemetery

In Diamonds are forever, Bond smuggles the diamonds into the United States hidden inside the body of the late smuggler Peter Franks. Bond is greeted at the airport in Los Angeles by a hearse ready to bring the body to a funeral parlor outside Las Vegas named Slumber Inc. run by a Morton Slumber.

The Slumber funeral parlor is located in the Las Vegas suburb named Henderson, a couple of kilometers southeast of the Strip. The chapel is the 'Palm Henderson Mortuary & Cemetery' and is located on 800 South Boulder Highway.

As Bond arrives in the hearse to the mortuary, a small part of the cemetery is seen in the background. That cemetery is still there and looks just like the garden of remembrance where Bond later drops off the fake diamonds and is knocked down by Mr Wint and Mr Kidd. However, that scene was filmed at another cemetery, namely the Palm Downtown Cemetery located on 1325 North Main Street. That garden of remembrance will be covered later.

It is evident in the film that the outskirts of Vegas was just a desert in the early 1970's and practically nothing of the city of Henderson appear to have existed, apart from our famous mortuary. The road that the hearse is driving down when approaching Slumber Inc. is a small country road today, located alongside the highway leading into Las Vegas. Why anyone would go to Vegas from Los Angeles to cremate a body is beyond understanding, as is almost everything else in Diamonds are Forever.

The people working at the Palm Henderson Mortuary are very friendly and happy to show you the interior of the chapel if you ask. The gentleman showing me the interior was well aware of the establishment's prominence in the film.

Bond in Las Vegas - The Strip

The Union 76 gas station is now a Circle K

In Diamonds are Forever, Bond rents a car in Las Vegas and waits for Tiffany Case to meet him with the diamonds. Bond is waiting at the Hertz' car rental agency which is located along the famous Strip in Las Vegas. This location is possible to identify thanks to a few signs seen in the background as Felix Leiter's car arrives. The sausage shaped "Holiday sign" can still be found on location, today with the wording "Fun City".

A large sign that says Bagdad Inn can also be seen in the background as Felix arrives. Bagdad Inn was a motel dating from the 1950's that was located on 2211 South Las Vegas Blvd. That motel is now called Holiday House, seen in the picture to the left. However, it is the buildings and the chapel next to Bagdad Inn that can be seen in the film. Those are the green buildings with yellow and red doors across the street. Next to the green buildings is a small chapel located, called Chapel of the Bells.

In the film, the Hertz car rental agency was located next to a Union 76 gas station. That gas station can still be found at this location, although it has changed name to Circle K.  

The Union 76 gas station has changed name to Circle K

This location is very close to one of the landmark buildings in Las Vegas, the Stratosphere. The parking lot where Bond is waiting can be found on 2310 South Las Vegas Boulevard next to the Circle K gas station. Whether Hertz actually has an office at this location is unknown.

Hotel Tropicana

"I hear the hotel Tropicana is quite comfortable. My condolences gentlemen..." 

Bond checks in to the Hotel Tropicana in Las Vegas after escaping Mr Slumber's cremation chamber in Diamonds are Forever. Bond only spends one night in his hotel room, before the diamond chase through Vegas starts. We find Bond in the bathtub, talking to Felix Leiter, telling him to bring in the real diamonds in order to stir up some new leads. He has mixed himself a Vodka Martini. Visible on the tray on the side of the tub is a bottle of Smirnoff red label and a bottle of Martini extra dry. The Smirnoff bottle is only distinguishable in blu-ray.

Bond brings Plenty O'Toole back to his suite at the Tropicana after the craps game at the Whyte House. Unfortunately for Bond, Plenty is thrown out the window, but he gets some compensation when he finds Tiffany Case in bed. Bond later moves into the bridal suite at the Whyte House with Tiffany. The full exterior of the Tropicana is never seen in the film.

The interior scenes however, were not filmed at the Tropicana, but at the Hotel Riviera which was transformed into the fictional "Whyte House". For the exterior shots of the Whyte House, the Las Vegas Hilton was used. Indeed noting in these hotels can be recognised from the film. Even the Hilton building has been expanded in two directions although the original structure still can be distinguished. The Riviera receives an acknowledgement in the end credits, as do the Tropicana and the Hilton. Apparently the cast and crew stayed at the Riviera during filming.

Below are two interesting interviews with Connery, shot on location of Diamonds between takes. Connery gives his rather honest point of view on the role and the future.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F83fagXZ4pA

Las Vegas car chase - Downtown Vegas

Las Vegas in 1971

In Diamonds are forever Bond finds himself driving a Mustang along with Tiffany Case in Las Vegas. The car is wanted by the sheriff's department and when the sheriff spots the car in downtown Las Vegas they get pulled over, right in front of the Golden Nugget Casino. Hotel Fremont and the Pioneer Club are visible in the background. Bond is coming in from N Main Street and turns left into Fremont Street, where they get spotted by the Sheriff.

The Fremont as well as the Golden Nugget are still up and running in Vegas, but the Pioneer Club ceased to operate in 1995 and is now a souvenir store. But the vintage Pioneer cowboy sign, called Vegas Vic, still exists on the exterior of the building.

Bond drives off from the Sheriff and a classic American car chase with screaming tires and sirens begins. But, despite a nice location in downtown Vegas, the chase lacks music and is remarkably unexciting. It ends up with Bond just driving around and, as always, a bunch of police cars getting smashed. The highlight of the chase is of course the ending where Bond drives into a dead end and in order to escape has to do a two-wheel stunt through the alley. This could have been a magnificent finale, but it is ruined by one of the biggest bloopers in the Bond history, where the car goes into the alley on two wheels, only to come out on the other two... This was due to the fact that the scene where the Mustang comes out was filmed at a much later date than the entry and with a different crew. Another less conspicuous blooper is the fact that Bond and Tiffany drive by the Golden Nugget Casino from different directions several times during the chase.

Fremont Street, almost 40 years after Connery

Today this part of Vegas has been transformed to "The Fremont Experience", a pedestrian mall and attraction that occupies the westernmost five blocks of Fremont Street. The attraction is an overhead roof where different light shows take place. The Fremont Experience was finished in 1995 and the section was closed for car traffic for good, so it is no longer possible to drive the same way as Connery.

The Golden Gate sign, with its turning letters, is also visible in the film. The sign is located at the very beginning of Fremont Street, at the intersection of South and North Main Street. This sign along with Vegas Vic are the only two still existing signs that are recognizable in this area and even though Golden Nugget is located in the same place, the exterior has been changed quite a lot since 1971.


        "-Relax I've got a friend named Felix who can fix anything.
               -Is he married?"
                                -Bond and Tiffany in the Mustang-

The film itself is another story, but I'll make you no secret that I hold it in much less regard than its illustrious predecessors and successors.