Montenegro train station / Mill Colonnade, Karlovy Vary

After a night on the train to Montenegro, Bond and Vesper arrive at the train station and picked up by a limousine from the Hotel Splendide. Most of the Montenegro scenes were filmed in and around the spa town of Karlovy Vary, in the Czech Republic.

One of the most beautiful buildings in the city is the Mill Colonnade. This is not a train station at all but instead it houses five of the town's hot springs that made Karlovy Vary famous. For centuries people have been coming to Karlovy for the medicinal salt, many spa resorts and the healing power of thermal spring water.

The Mill Colonnade is situated in the centre of the town and is only a few minutes away from both 'the Hotel Splendide' and 'Casino Royale'. Built between 1871 and 1881 it was designed by Josef Zítek, who also designed the national theater in Prague. It was originally intended to be a two storey building but lack of funds restricted it to one. Five of Karlovy's 13 most famous hot springs can be found inside the Colonnade. Each source emits water at a temperature between 53-65 degrees Celsius. Horse carriages, like the one seen on the bridge in the film, can still be found all around town.

Mill Colonnade and the beautiful surrounding city

-Do government agents pay tax?
          -It's unfair, isn't it..

One scene, where Bond and Vesper are seen arriving at the train station, was cut from the finished film. This was filmed inside the colonnade, where you get the feeling of a busy train station. They have a short conversation about government funds when walking to the limousine. The deleted scene is available on Blu-ray and the extended DVD.

London calling - British Airways

British Airways Boeing 747-400 to London

When flying to or from London you shouldn't fly anything but British Airways, Britain's flag carrier since 1974. This is the only right choice for a true Englishman. Nevertheless it has only been Bond's choice of airline for two films during the Brosnan era. Aside from that, the logo has also featured in Moonraker.

     -Your drink sir!
           -Lucky I asked for it shaken...

British Airways first class

In Die another day, British Airways was the appropriate choice for Bond when flying home from Cuba.
Bond is flying on a Boeing 747-400. The tail number is G-BNLB and this aircraft was delivered to British Airways on 31 july 1989. Bond is flying first class and is served a vodka martini by the air hostess, played by no one other than Deborah Moore, Sir Roger Moore's daughter. Brosnan comments that it was lucky he asked for it shakend. Either referring to the fact that Deborah is shaking with her tray or that they've had a bumpy ride (even in first class). High Life is British Airways in-flight magazine and the one with Gustav Graves on the cover that Bond is reading was the november issue in 2002. Sadly this aircraft, G-BNLB, was retired and scrapped in 2011 and is no longer possible to fly with.

The British Airways scene is one of the highlights in the movie and The Clash's London calling is ideal when landing in London.

"-X-ray document scanner!"

British Airways Boeing 757 to S:t Petersburg

In GoldenEye Bond flew British Airways for the first time and this was only the second time in the series to feature the BA logo. The airplane is a Boeing 757 with the old BA livery. The tail number on Bond's plane is not visible but the flight number mentioned by Q is 878 to S:t Petersburg. British Airways last Boeing 757 in service was retired in 2010 and sold to FedEx. The airplane livery was changed into the design seen in Die another day, between 1997-2003. 

In Moonraker, a British Airways billboard was used as a joke when Bond disposes of one of the guards from the Rio ambulance. The British Airways stewardess featured on the billboard swallows the guard when he is coming down the mountain on a stretcher. Moore looks satisfied when he is taken care of by the British Airways friendly staff.

Moonraker is probably the film with the most obvious product placements in the series. Products and brands used in the movie include for instance Marlboro cigarettes, Christian Dior, Bollinger, 7up and no less than three airlines including Air France, British Airways and Varig airlines.

The tagline "We'll take more care of you" was used by British Airways as well as "the world's favourite airline" and "fly the flag". Two of the newest slogans include "upgrade to British Airways" and "to fly, to serve".

No head for heights - The old fortress, Corfu part 3

Loque finally meets the end after Bond has chased him from the "Albanian warehouse". Bond comes out from a stone gate and takes a well-aimed shot at Loque's shoulder. The car crashes against a stone wall and stops just before going over. Bond avenges Ferrara by throwing in Loque's dove pin and kicks the car over the cliff.

This scene was filmed at the very eastern part of the old fortress in Corfu, covered earlier in part 1 and part 2. The area is closed nowadays due to the bad condition so you have to climb a fence to gain entry. But when you get there it is well worth your trouble. This is definitely one of the best Bond locations in Corfu and since the area is off limits for tourists, you are there all by yourself. This is truly a beautiful location with a view over both the Greek mainland and Albania.

                                                  You left this with Ferrara I believe...  

Sir Roger was reluctant to shoot the scene where he kicks the car over the cliff since he thought it wasn't something that his Bond would do. He thought it would be enough to toss the pin in the car and that the extra weight would make it fall over. But the director John Glen insisted on having Bond kick the car over and it would prove to be one of the strongest scenes in the film. The scene would be important because it was necessary to bring Bond back to earth after the comedy-like Moonraker.

Loque's Mercedes is coming at high speed and Moore takes aim. This area is not connected with the tunnels and steps that was used previously in the chase. The Mercedes is coming from a dead end from this angle and the cliff where Bond kicks the car over is actually behind the stone gate. Another example of excellent cutting by the filmmakers. Neither me or my friend could figure out how they even got the Mercedes up there.

For your eyes only remains one of the best films in the series and is definitely in the top five list. Sir Roger is very good in the film, it has beautiful locations and the classic spy story has influences from the cold war. Bill Conti composed a good soundtrack and the title song, established as a timeless classic, is probably the best song in the series.

Air France Concorde to Rio

It's time again for another post in the travel section. When Bond takes "two weeks leave of abcence" on M's orders, he unofficially stays on the Drax assignment and travels to Rio. Bond arrives on the Air France Concorde at Galeão International Airport.

How do you kill five hours in Rio? If, you don´t samba...

The tail number on Bond's Concorde is F-BVFA and this was the first Concorde delivered to Air France in 1975. This plane made its scheduled maiden-flight, and the very first commercial passenger flight with Air France, on 21 January 1976. An interesting fact is that the maiden-flight was made from Paris Charles de Gaulle, via Dakar, to Rio. The very same route that Bond is traveling in the film. Air France had two weekly flights from Paris to Rio until 1982.

Welcome to Rio Mr. Bond.

An airplane from Varig, the leading Brazilian airline at the time, is visible in the background

A chauffeur driven Rolls Royce silver shadow picks up Bond at the airport and drives him to his hotel. Apparently the luggage was gone ahead... It becomes apparent that Dr. Goodhead is also flying with Air France to Rio when Bond finds her plane ticket when snooping around her hotel suite in Venice. If the CIA could afford the Concorde for their agent as well as Mi6 is unknown. (Jaws is flying with British airways to Rio as his flight number is called out to be "BA128 to Rio de Janeiro" at the airport when Jaws is walking through the metal detector.)

Sir Roger's Concorde, F-BVFA that was used in the film, made its final flight from Charles de Gaulle to Washington Dulles airport and the Smithsonian Air and Space museum on the 12th of June 2003, where it still can be seen today, retired.  The most beautiful aircraft ever built, and regarded by many as an aviation icon, made its final commercial flight (with British Airways) on 24 October from JFK to Heathrow. It touched down for the very last time on 26 November 2003.



*Concorde was the result of an Anglo-French government cooperation that started in the 60's. Combining the manufacturing efforts of Aérospatiale and The British Aircraft Cooperation it entered service in 1976 and continued commercial flights for 27 years. It was a supersonic turbojet-powered passenger airliner that flew transatlantic flights in less than half the time of other airliners. Sadly, due to low passenger numbers after the only crash on 25 July 2000, the decrease in air travel after 11 September 2001 and rising maintenance costs, both British Airways and Air France ended their Concorde flights in 2003.*

The Concorde will be greatly missed

From Sweden
with love...

Grattis N!

*wikipedia*

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.

Fort Antoine - Monaco part 2

The pleasure I'm sure was all mine...

In GoldenEye, after Bond leaves the casino he follows Xenia and the admiral to the Monaco Yatch club where he observes them board the speed boat heading for Yacht Manticore. Bond is watching them from 'Fort Antoine', an open air theatre originally built as a fort at the beginning of the 18th century. From here you have the same view as Bond when he observed Xenia.

Occasionally during the summer season there are performances at the theatre, but it's normally open for visits, so just take your time and enjoy this location with the beautiful view over Monte Carlo harbour. The Avenue de la Quarantaine leads up to the fort from the Avenue du port in the area called La Condamine.

S:t Petersburg square / Somerset House, London

Hand me that wrench Jimmy!

Tomorrow never dies was actually the second time Brosnan visited Somerset House during his Bond career. The first time was in GoldenEye when Jack Wade's car broke down in the middle of a square in S:t Petersburg. This scene was also filmed in the courtyard of Somerset House covered in the last post. The filmmakers very cleverly used the couryard and some Russian cars to create the feeling of a busy Russian roundabout.

A lot of the locations that doubled for Russia can be found in and around London, such as the church "Our lady of Smolensk", "Grand hotel Europe" (covered earlier), The interior of "Lady of Smolensk", "S:t Petersburg airport", the 'meeting room' with the defence council and minister Mishkin and "S:t Petersburg train station". All these locations will be covered later.

The Ministry of Defence - Admiralty / Somerset house, London

-Don't ask.
-Don't tell...

In Tomorrow Never Dies Bond has to kiss off his danish lesson at Oxford and drive down to the Ministry of Defence in central London. A British frigate has been sunk in the South China sea and Admiral Roebuck wants to send the British fleet to China rather than letting have M investigate the situation. Bond is rushed in and arrives on the road Strand.

To the left in the picture is S:t Mary le Strand church, briefly visible in the film. The present church was built at this location between 1714-1717 after the original church (further to the south) had been pulled down to make way for Somerset House in 1549. It is today the official church of the Women's Royal Naval Service. It has a book of remembrance for members who have died in service (possibly a clever reference to the fact that Bond is on his way to the Ministry and the Admiral).

The exterior and courtyard of the Ministry was filmed at Somerset House and the entrance where Bond drives in, is in fact the actual entrance from Strand. Bond is arriving from the north side and in the courtyard you can see M's Daimler parked, along with the police escort.

In 1964 the Admiralty was subsumed into the Ministry of Defence so it is not the Admiralty that Bond is driving to. That is the reason why Moneypenny says on the phone that they've "got a situation here at the Ministry of Defence". Later on though, at the end one of the sailors tells the Admiral onboard the HMS Bedford: "I have a message from the Admiralty", which in this case refers to the Ministry. Why the real Ministry of Defence building, covered in the For Your Eyes Only section, wasn't used is unknown.

Somerset House has a long and complex history that dates back to the 16th century and it would be impossible to do a sum up. For the entire history you can look here: http://www.somersethouse.org.uk/history

But the most interesting fact is that when the Admiralty moved in to new premises in Whitehall in 1725, it was decided that the Navy Board*, over whom the Admiralty had responsibility, should move to offices in Somerset House. By 1789 the final move was completed and, for nearly a century, more than a third of Somerset House was home to the various branches of the Navy Board. The old history and references to the navy is maybe one of the reasons that they chose to shoot the scenes of Bond arriving to the Ministry of Defence here.

*From 1546 to 1832 the civil administration of the Navy was controlled by the Navy Board. The board was abolished in 1832. Its functions were transferred to principal officers of the Navy and their activities placed under the supervision of the Admiralty Board.