Menton motorcycle chase - the tunnel

In Never Say Never Again, the motorcycle chase through Menton comes to a brief halt in a tunnel, as Bond is lured into the tunnel by Fatima Blush and her henchmen. Bond is captured but manages to escape and continues the chase of Blush.

Bond escapes from the tunnel

A large part of the motorcycle chase, which has been covered earlier, was filmed in Menton on the French Riviera. Menton is the last village before the Italian border. The tunnel seen in the film is called the Pascal Molinari Tunnel and is located right next to Square Victoria, which contains a monument dedicated to Queen Victoria. 

Bond chased into the tunnel along Quai Bonaparte

Menton in October 2015

Bond is captured inside the tunnel but manages to escape, using the tailgate lift of a lorry as a ramp to jump over the henchmens' cars with the motorbike.

Bond then continues to pursue Fatima Blush along the beach road, Quai Bonaparte, in Menton, before arriving in Villefranche-sur-mer where the chase ends at Port de la Darse, in an old warehouse. The building along Quai Bonaparte with its red and yellow wall, seen in the picture below, can still be found on location.  

Quai Bonaparte along the beach in Menton in October 2015. 

Bond and Small-Fawcett in Nassau

In Never Say Never Again, Bond goes to the Bahamas to track down the villain of the film, Maximilian Largo. In Nassau harbour, Bond meets with Nigel Small-Fawcett from the British Embassy, portrayed by Rowan Atkinson.

"Your going to jeopardise the tourist trade if you start going around killing people!"

"And take full advantage of the natural cover!

Bond and Small-Fawcett walk down a row of pillars in downtown Nassau as Small-Fawcett informs Bond about Largo. These columns can be found right by Prince George Wharf (the cruise terminal) and just north of Parliament Square in the very central part of Nassau.

Nassau in October 2017

"- Do I look like the sort of man who would make trouble?
- Well, yes frankly!" 

The entire film itself is, like Rowan Atkinson's character,  a joke and it is, should it be compared with the rest of the films in the official series, one of the worst Bond films made. The entire production was troubled with constant changes to the script, lack of funds and with Connery having to act as producer. The entire Bahamas section is uninspiring with boring and poor cinematography. 

Several of the lead roles were suggested by Connery himself, like Felix Leiter and the villain, Klaus Maria Brandauer, a renowned actor but probably one of the worst Bond villains in the series and completely wrong for the role of Largo. 

Due to the constant changes to the script, the reason for Bond's visit to the Bahamas is unclear and never really explained in the film. Bond does not do anything of relevance for the film there either, besides bedding two women and diving. Small-Fawcet informs him that Largo's boat has left for the south of France and Bond then takes the next British Caledonian Airways flight out of Nassau. 

Just as stupid as the film itself, is the performance of Klaus Maria Brandauer as Largo. I hope this video will convince you. Enjoy!

Water skiing in Nassau Harbour - Never Say Never Again

In Never Say Never Again Bond travels to the Bahamas to find Maximilian Largo, who Bond believes have stolen the nuclear missiles from NATO. Bond is having a Vodka Martini in the beach bar at his hotel when he notices Fatima Blush who is water-skiing in the harbour.

The bar was located at the same hotel where Bond also is staying in the film - the British Colonial Hotel - near Nassau Harbour. The bar used in the film was part of the British Colonial Hotel until 1999 when it supposedly was destroyed in a hurricane. The hotel is located on the only private beach in Nassau, on the site of the Old Fort of Nassau. The present hotel building was built in 1924 on the location of the former Old Fort of Nassau which had been built to protect the western entrance to Nassau Harbour.

Seen in the background are the cruise ships in Nassau Harbour

Cruise ships still arrive daily in Nassau harbour as seen in the film

"-How reckless of me, I've made you all wet!
         -Yes, but my Martini is still dry... "

The pier where the bar was located can still be found on location. According to some sources, the pier and the bar was built for the film and was then kept by the hotel. I have not yet found confirmation for this information.

A very brief glimpse of part of the British Colonial Hotel, its garden and the beach can be seen behind Bond through the bar

The long house which is seen through the bar, behind Bond in the picture above, is still part of the hotel and can be found on location today. 

The footage in Never is uninspiring and not even Nassau looks exotic or colorful in the film. The film itself is a rush job and one of the few favourable things about the film is the casting of Barbara Carrera as Fatima Blush, the Spectre agent number 12. Blush is water-skiing in Nassau Harbour and then skis up on a ramp into the arms of Bond.

Across the water is Paradise Island visible

The British Colonial Hotel - today known as the British Colonial Hilton Hotel has sadly lost its former glory and is not something that Bond would stay at today. Of course we know that he rather chooses The One and Only Ocean Club when in the Bahamas. However, the hotel has a long history and has been an important institution in Nassau described as "the most elegant and most expensive hotel in town".

The location of the original bar before being destroyed and Paradise Island seen in the background.

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

Various airlines

In addition to the posts in the travel section on this blog, where some of the airlines from the films are described in more detail, a few other airlines with considerably less screen time (than for instance Pan Am or British Airways) will be covered here briefly.

Royal Air Maroc

In The Living Daylights, two Boeing aircraft, a 727 and a 767 from the Moroccan airline 'Royal Air Maroc' (RAM) are seen in the background at the airport in Tangier. This scene was actually filmed at the airport in Ouarzazate, in the south western part of Morocco and not Tangier. I do not know if RAM had a promotional collaboration with the film production, but it is likely since the two RAM airplanes are featured rather prominently in the film.

Royal Air Maroc - Boeing 727

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Air France

A brand new Eurocopter EC 135 (worth £1.6 million at the time) had been flown in from France

When Q delivers the BMW to Bond at the airport in Hamburg, Bond takes it for a test drive in an adjacent hangar. A BAe 146 airplane from Air France Express, belonging to 'CityJet' or 'Jersey European Airways', is seen in the background. CityJet is a regional (Irish) airline that operated on the Paris - London route on behalf of Air France at the time of filming Tomorrow Never Dies. The airline is still in operation today and Air France was its main owner between 2002 and 2014 when it was sold to Intro Aviation. Jersey European Airways, today known as 'Flybe', is the largest independent regional airline in Europe, based in Exeter, that also had a code share agreement with Air France at the time of filming.

The British Aerospace 146 (BAe 146) is a short-haul airliner that was manufactured in the United Kingdom by British Aerospace from 1983 until 2002. Another BAe 146 airplane belonging to 'Titan Airways', which receives maintenance work, is also seen behind Bond and Q in the hangar.

An advertising poster for Air France is also visible at the entrance of Hotel Oriental, which is Bond's hotel in Bangkok in The Man With the Golden Gun. The text on the poster is promoting Air France's new airplanes and reads: "Europe and Far East - 5 Super B747's, 2 Boeing 707".

In Dr. No, a small flag with the winged seahorse, which is the logo of Air France, is visible on the reception desk at Bond's hotel in Jamaica, along with a few other props including Air India and Alitalia.







A Concorde from Air France also featured rather prominently in Moonraker as Bond lands in Rio de Janeiro.

                                                       KLM and Scandinavian Airlines 

West Berlin - The KLM office seen in the background

In Octopussy, Bond, posing as Charles Morton, and M are travelling down Kurfürstendamm in West Berlin. The headquarters or a travel agent belonging to KLM - Royal Dutch Airlines - is seen very briefly behind Bond and M through the rear window. This KLM travel agent was located at the intersection of Joachimsthaler Strasse 39-40 and Kurfürstendamm at the time of filming in 1983. Today the Azimut Hotel is housed in that building. 

The KLM logo would also feature in Never Say Never Again, as seen below.

KLM in front of Nicole and Bond - The SAS logotype is seen on the wall to the right

Produced in the same year as Octopussy, the logotype of KLM was visible above a travel desk at Nice airport in Never Say Never Again, where Bond meets with agent 326, after arriving from the Bahamas. In the same scene, a travel desk belonging to SAS - Scandinavian Airlines System - with the old Viking logo on the wall can be seen in the background.

KLM and SAS