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.

Hôtel de Paris - Monte Carlo

GoldenEye

In Goldeneye during Bond's visit to Casino Monte Carlo, the magnificent Hôtel de Paris is visible in the background as Bond drives up to the casino. The hotel was also briefly visible in Never Say Never Again twelve years earlier as Connery walks into what is called "Casino Royale" in the film. Bond has however never actually stayed in that hotel. The Hôtel de Paris is located in the heart of Monte Carlo, right next to the casino at the convenient address Place du Casino.

Hôtel de Paris was opened in 1863 but is today undergoing a total renovation that is scheduled to continue until 2018. During this renovation, the entire south section of the hotel (the round part of the building as seen in Goldeneye) has been demolished, which is apparent in the picture above.

The Persuaders! 

Although Bond himself has never stayed at the Hôtel de Paris, it was nevertheless the destination for Lord Brett Sinclair and Danny Wilde in the first episode of The Persuaders!. After the iconic car chase from Nice airport where Brett and Danny are speeding along the coastal road, they end up in front of the Hôtel de Paris, just like the invitation from Judge Fulton had stated.

"Please be my guest it's going to be a ball!!!"

Only one actual scene was shot inside the hotel, and that was Roger Moore's entrance when he walks through the lobby. Everything else, sadly, appear to have been shot in studio. The hotel lobby is amazingly beautiful and well worth a visit even if you are not staying in the hotel. Anyway, Le Bar American and the restaurant Le Louis XVI located inside the hotel on each side of the lobby, are probably two of the best establishments in Monaco. A drink in the bar is simply a must.

Roger Moore as Lord Sinclair makes an entrance. 

Monte Carlo Harbour - Port Hercule

The warship is located along Quai des Etas-Unis in Port Hercule

In GoldenEye, James Bond goes to Monte Carlo for the first time in the official series. Bond had actually visited Monaco and the French Riviera already in 1983 in the unofficial Never Say Never Again, more on that visit here. The Yacht Manticore is anchored close to the pier of what was then the Monte Carlo Yacht Club, YCM. The warship with the Tiger Helicopter is moored along Quai des Etas-Unis on the other side of the harbour.

In the film, Bond is following Xenia from the casino and finds out that she is spending the night at the yacht Manticore which is anchored in Monte Carlo Harbour called Port Hercule. Bond is watching the yacht from Fort Antoine in the evening and in the morning after, we get a nice panoramic view over the entire harbour. It becomes obvious that there were considerably less boats in Port Hercule in 1995 when you compare it to the harbour 20 years later (see the two pictures above).

You have the best view, and the same view as in the film from the Rampe de la Major, a walking path that leads up to the Prince's Palace which is the home of the Grimaldi family. Originally built as a fortification, the Palace is located on the big rock in the middle of Monaco which offers stunning views from three sides over the principality.

Notice that the right pier in Port Hercule has been expanded since 1995 in order to accommodate larger cruise ships. This construction and the large expansion of the port took place in 2001. As of 2014, the Monaco Yacht Club is no longer located in the old location on the south side of the harbour along Quai Antoine 1er. Instead the new Yacht Club has been relocated across the harbour to the north side. Thus, the original location where Xenia parks the Ferrari does not belong to the Yacht Club anymore.

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

Yacht Club de Monaco

Yacht Manticore is anchored in the middle of Monte Carlo harbor. 

In GoldenEye, Bond follows Xenia and the Admiral from the casino to the Monte Carlo Yacht Club, where they park the Ferrari. Bond watches them from the open air theater Fort Antoine where he takes a few snapshots of Xenia and the boat that belongs to the yacht Manticore. He later returns to his car in the parking lot above the yacht club.

Xenia parks along the Quai Antoine and a boat is waiting for her and the Admiral at one of the small piers. The letters Y.C.M indicates that Manticore belongs to Yacht Club de Monaco.

Bond returns to the Aston and receives a message from Moneypenny through his CD-player with information about Xenia and the yacht. The small parking lot is located right above the yacht club, along Avenue de la Quarantaine, but it appears to be a residential parking today so you might not be able to park here, even with an Aston...

          "Goodnight James, I trust you stay, on-a-top of things..."

The parking lot is visible from Fort Antoine (to the bottom left). 

Located at 16 Quai Antoine, the yacht club will move to a new venue on Quai Louis II, where currently a new clubhouse is being built. The building works will be completed at the end of 2013 so this summer is the last chance to visit the yacht club at its present location.

Fort Antoine is visible above the club

Founded in 1953 by Prince Rainier III of Monaco, Y.C.M. is probably one of the most prestigious yacht clubs in the world and many of the worlds most luxurious yachts belong to the club. HSH Prince Albert II of Monaco, the reigning monarch of Monaco, is the president of the club since 1984.

Arriving in Côte d'Azur

In Never say never again, Bond travels to the south of France in pursuit of Largo and his yacht. He arrives with British Caledonian airways to the tones of Sophie Della's ''Une chanson d'amour'' and the camera pans over Monaco and port Hercule to show Bond's arrival to the Riviera (followed by the stupid and badly written 'Felix Leiter scene' at the airport). 

In the next scene we see Bond's plane land at the airport in Nice Côte d'Azur. That makes this view contradictory since Bond's plane would not fly over Monaco coming from London. But perhaps director Kershner wanted to picture a classic, beautiful view over the Riviera and Monte Carlo is a convenient site and definitively well recognizable. 

Monaco has changed a little since 1983 but almost all the buildings on the 'front row' are still recognizable. The biggest change of course being the expanded pier, a construction that took place in 2001 in order to accommodate lager cruise ships. 

Not much more needs to be said about this fabulous location. Monte Carlo is definitively one of the most beautiful Bond locations in the world and a personal favorite of mine...

Sophie Della's song of love is the perfect soundtrack for flying into Nice. It is truly a remarkable approach when you're flying alongside the coast and finally lands, with this music in your ipod.

Happy landings! 

Tango to the death - Casino de Monte Carlo

Connery returned 12 years after Diamonds to do the unofficial Never say never again. The film is a bad remake of Thunderball, produced by Kevin McClory and Jack Schwartzman in 1983. McClory had retained the rights to the Thunderball story in the 60's, and was allowed to remake the film after ten years had elapsed from 1965.

                                              " -I'll settle for one dance with Domino!

                                    -So, do you lose as gracefully as you win?

                                               - I don't know, I've never lost..."

In the film, Bond follows Largo to the south of France. After meeting Domino at "la centre de la santé" in Villefranche-sur-mer he learns that Largo is having a charity ball at the casino and Bond crashes the party. For some of the scenes the real Casino de Monte Carlo was used. Most notable is the excellent tango scene with Bond and Domino. This scene was actually filmed in the big entrance hall after the lobby. Photography is not allowed so getting some pictures is hard, hence the rather poor quality. The hall is accesible for non-gamblers as well but it is truly a fantastic location that should be enjoyed before a game of Roulette or Baccarat in the most famous casino in the world.

Never was actually the first time Bond went to Monaco, but Brosnan would later bring the secret agent back to the casino in 1995 for GoldenEye. Unfortunately the Franc has been replaced by the Euro and smoking is no longer allowed inside the Casino...

"-Your brother is dead. Keep dancing!"

Bond is entering the casino from the right side (facing southwest), observed by Fatima Blush. This is actually  the entrance to the Opéra de Monte-Carlo, which is located in the same building as the casino. It houses La Salle Garnier, an exact replica in miniature of the Paris Opera House, designed by Charles Garnier. It is here Bond knocks out the guard and fools him with his cigarett "bomb" case to keep him in the closet.  

They make no reference to the fact that they are at Casino de Monte Carlo in the film. In fact, a sign in the entrance says that the charity ball is held at "Casino Royale in Monte Carlo". This is probably why they didn't use the very recognizable main entrance of the casino.

 Entrance to the Opéra. Hotel de Paris visible to the left. 

Never say never again should not be compared with the rest of the films in the series, but if it did, it would end up at the bottom. Brandauer is a poor choice for Largo and terrible in comparison with Adolfo Celi in Thunderball. Leiter is cliché, the dialogue is badly written and Kim Basinger's acting is bad. Practically all the actors are poorly chosen for their respective roles. Rowan Atkinson is funny, but doesn't belong in a Bond film. However, they did a few things right. Connery and Carerra is very good in the film and so is the music by Michael Le Grand. To sum up: it is a bad comedy but Connery, Carrera and LeGrand, combined with the locations in the Bahamas and at the Riviera makes it worth watching. Another interesting fact is that Bond is drinking Absolut Vodka for the first, and last time. So far...

 The Connery steps and the Casino/Opéra seen from the back, facing the Mediterranean.