Across the bridge again - Pont Alexandre III

Dôme des invalides in the background.

After picking up Bond from the Paris police station, where Bond undoubtedly has spent the night for violating most of the Napolenic code, M, Bond and Sir Godfrey are driven across the bridge Alexandre III in M's limousine. This is the same bridge where Bond jumped down to the party boat, chasing May Day earlier.

In the background, briefly visible behind M, is the north front of the complex known as L'Hôtel national des Invalides. The complex contains museums, a hospital and retirement home for war veterans as well as the tomb of Napoleon Bonaparte. Both behind M and Sir Godfrey are the massive columns visible, with the golden Pegasuses on top.

"May I remind you that this operation was to be conducted discreatly!"

The limousine is driving down Quai d'Orsay and turning right on Alexandre III bridge and continuing down on Avenue Winston Churchill on the other side of the Seine. The big building, visible behind Sir Godfrey, is the Palais de la Découverte, a science museum located in the Grand Palais. After the briefing in the limousine, Bond assumes the identity of St. John Smythe and goes to Chantilly with Sir Godfrey.

Pont Alexandre III, Paris

The car chase through Paris in A View to a Kill ends at a bridge crossing the Seine when May Day lands with her parachute on a boat cruising down the river. Bond, driving his two-wheeled Renault taxi, arrives at the bridge and jumps down to the boat crashing a wedding party.





The Bridge is actually one of the most famous bridges in Paris, namely Pont Alexandre III. It is one of the historic monuments of France and regarded as on of the most extravagant bridges in the city and has featured in numerous films, including Ronin with Robert de Niro.

Bond's arrival attracts a huge crowd on the bridge, probably to the filmmakers annoyance. There is also a big crowd visible at the end of the bridge, but since the scene where Remy Julienne drives across the bridge lasts for less than a second the filmmakers probably chose to ignore this.

The bridge was constructed between 1896 and 1900 and is named after Tsar Alexandre III who had concluded the Franco-Russian Alliance 1892. The Nymph reliefs, the ornament from where Bond jumps, are also a memorial over this Alliance. It has been given a good clean since 1985 and the bridge railing has been painted. The four massive columns, on either side of the bridge, are crowned by "gold" statues in bronze of Pegasus.

May Day jumps ship. Pont Alexandre III is visible in the background.

After crashing the wedding party and destroying the cake, Bond is captured by some outraged chefs onboard and consequently taken to the prefect of police in Paris.

Gibraltar - The Moorish outpost

Dalton's first mission as 007 starts off in the British Overseas Territory of Gibraltar. What is supposed to be an exercise, arranged by Mi6 and the S.A.S., becomes deadly serious when 004, one of the agents participating in the exercise, gets killed by an unknown assassin on the rock.

Observing the fall of 004 when his climbing rope is cut off, Bond starts pursuing the assassin and is seen running down some steps. Seen in the background is the moorish outpost. Situated at the southern part of the rock.

"Your objective, is to infiltrate the radar installations of Gibraltar..."
                                          - M -

The steps start at St Michael road and is the first part of something called Douglas Path. The path continue up on the southern part of the rock for a few hundred meters past the Moorish outpost. The view from almost every part of the rock is magnificent. Even though the most action actually took place around the northern top, this location, on the southern part is well worth visiting, especially thanks to the Douglas Path.

Renault taxi chase - Paris

In  A View to a Kill, after the assassination of Monsieur Aubergine at the Eiffel Tower, Bond heads after the assassin and "borrows" a taxi just below the tower. May Day has jumped from the tower with a parachute and Bond is chasing her down the Seine. The taxi is parked on Quai Branly.

After throwing out the taxi driver, who is having his lunch and a glass of wine (the French!), Bond drives down the stairs and ends up at the Port de la Bourdonnais, the street that runs along the Seine.

Bond is obviously trying to avoid the Paris traffic and decides to take the low road by the Seine when he follows May Day. Bond would later jump over a bus, transform the car into a convertible with two wheels before the car chase ends at the Pont Alexandre III. These locations will be covered later.

Bond takes the low road instead of trying to get through the Paris traffic

This location has not changed a lot since 1985 and Sir Roger's visit. There are still bus loads of tourists naturally, but the taxis do not line up by the Eiffel Tower as they did in the film. Today, Bond would most likely have gotten into a bycycle rickshaw - numerous can be found on location. It is strange however, that the tower does not feature more extensively during the car chase, considering the nice angles and the fact that it is visible from almost everywhere. When watching the car chase I have a feeling that it is just a little too short. Director Glen could probably have gotten more out of Paris as a Bond location.

The taxi stunt sequence was arranged by the famous stunt driver Remy Julienne, who of course is known for having arranged the Citroën car chase in For Your Eyes Only among several other car chases. Unfortunately Julienne's presence behind the wheel instead of Sir Roger is obvious in more than one scene... Julienne would continue to arrange car stunts for the Bond series even during the Brosnan era.

The location is visible from the bridge Pont d'lena, that runs across the Seine in front of the Eiffel Tower.

A View to a Kill - Paris

The most obvious Bond location in the world is probably the Eiffel Tower in Paris. Despite the fact that it is the most popular tourist attraction in the world, it took Bond until A View to a Kill (14 films and 23 years) to visit Paris. Even though Moonraker was largely shot in studios in France and one scene, from the Moonraker factory, was filmed inside the Centre Pompidou (doubling for California), Bond himself had never actually visited Paris before A View to a Kill. For the establishing shot over the Eiffel Tower, the camera was placed at Avenue Gustave V de Suède, just below the famous view point at Place du Trocadéro.

Mi6 is investigating Max Zorin's Anglo-French combine, and Bond goes to Paris in order to meet with the French detective, Achille Aubergine who is hired by the French jockey club to investigate Zorin's winning streak in horse racing.

Bond is having dinner with Achille Aubergine at the Eiffel Tower. Evidently, Zorin does not care for Monsieur Aubergine's investigation since he sends May Day to Kill Aubergine at the restaurant. This scene was shot in studio, on a set constructed by the brilliant production designer Peter Lamont. The restaurant however, is based on Alain Ducasse's restaurant 'Le Jules Verne' that is located on the 2nd floor at the Eiffel Tower, the same floor as Bond's restaurant in the film.

Bollinger, seventy-five. A bottle of Perrier is also visible on the table.

                                    "-Qu'est-ce qu'il y à Monsieur?! 

                                                 -There's a fly in his soup!"

Needless to say, the Eiffel Tower is a spectacular landmark as well as a beautiful building, and a must see when in Paris. More accurately, it is impossible to miss during a visit in Paris, since it is visible from almost everywhere. You have the classic view from Place du Trocadéro, but a good way to enjoy the Eiffel Tower is to have a pic-nic on the big field Champ de Mars, on the other side of the tower. A field that used to be the training ground for the French army. From here you have an undisturbed view and less tourists.

Bond's visit to Paris in the film is a nod to the original Ian Fleming short story From a View to a Kill. In the beginning of the story, Bond is spending an afternoon in Paris, debating with himself about where to go and what to drink before dinner. Bond ultimately ends up at Fouquet's at Champs-Elysée, drinking Americano. Bond stipulates that he wants his Americano made with Perrier because "a good mineral water is the best way to improve a poor drink". A reference to this is probably the bottles of Perrier that can be seen on all the tables in the restaurant.

Spectre's Thunderball Headquarters - Paris

Thunderball starts off in Paris after the pre-title sequence. The Eiffel Tower is visible from an ordinary street in Paris when Emilio Largo parks his Ford Thunderbird. Largo is attending a meeting at the Spectre headquarters, well disguised behind a regular building close to the Eiffel Tower. When Largo parks in the taxi zone a French police officer shouts "No parking here!" only to apologise immediately when he recognises Monsieur Largo. Largo is well known and evidently feared, even in the police force. 

The Spectre headquarters are located at No. 35 Avenue d'Eylau in the fashionable 16th arrondissement of Paris. The street runs just behind Place du Trocadéro and is aligned with the Eiffel Tower, resulting in the "perfect view" over the famous landmark (Largo however seems less than impressed).

"Hey, no parking here! Åh, pardon Monsieur Largo."

The splendid Adolfo Celi as one of the best villains in the series.

The sign on the building, visible when Largo enters, reads: 'Centre International d'Assistance aux Personnes Déplacées' or 'The International Brotherhood for the Assistance of Stateless Persons' as an administrator declares in the office. Thus, Spectre's legitimate front organiasation is a centre for internationally displaced persons, i.e. refugees. An internationally displaced person is someone who is forced to flee his or her home but still remains within his or her country's borders. How many displaced persons there are in France is a little unclear.

The filmmakers' idea for placing the Spectre headquarters in Paris comes from the original  Thunderball  novel. In the novel, Fleming locates the Spectre headquarters at Boulevard Haussmann in Paris. At the time of my visit, one of the apartments in the building was available for lease. So, if you are thinking about starting an upscale terrorist organisation aiming for world domination, this is the place to rent.

Interesting trivia about the location: the taxi zone where Largo parks in the film is still a taxi zone today, even though the sign has been replaced with a new one, and (for obvious reason) is turned the other way. A very nice restaurant called Di Vino is located on the other side of the street. It is highly recommended to stop here for coffee or a lunch. The terrace extends well into Avenue d'Eylau and from here you have a nice view over this spectacular location. The fact that the street looks much the same as it did in 1965 and that the taxi zone has been kept makes this a very enjoyable Bond location.

Brushing up a little Danish... - Oxford, England

"You always were a cunning linguist James..."

In Tomorrow Never Dies, Bond goes to Oxford for a little Danish lesson. When there is a situation at the Ministry of Defense Bond, in bed with the Danish teacher prof. Inga Bergstrom, is immediately called in by Moneypenny. The establishing shot over Oxford shows 'Brasenose College' on Radcliffe Sq. The language faculty however is located in another building, shown in the next scene.

Bond's Aston Martin is seen parked just outside the main front entrance of 'New College Oxford'. Despite the name, New College is one of the oldest of the Oxford colleges, founded in 1379 by William of Wykeham, Bishop of Winchester. The original name was "The College of St Mary of Winchester in Oxford". 

"Det er en fornojelse at lære sig at hantere et nyt tunge, professor..."
                          -Bond speaks Danish with prof. Bergstrom-

The College of Arms entrance hall

"The real Bleauchamps are without earlobes."

Interesting to find the old South African apartheid flag on the wall...

In On Her Majesty's Secret Service, Bond meets with Sir Hilary Bray Baronet at the College of Arms in London. Sir Hilary is the Sable Basilisk of the College and he has been contacted by the Gebrüder Gumbold in Bern who is Blofeld's solicitor in Switzerland, in order for him to establish Blofeld's claim to the title "Count de Bleauchamp". Bond arranges to take Sir Hilary's place and act as the College's representative in Switzerland.

The exterior of the College features rather prominently in the film, when Bond parks his Aston outside, covered in an earlier post. One interior scene however, was probably also filmed on location, namely the entrance hall on the first floor. Bond walks past the railing and a big throne can be seen in the background. The entrance hall in the films is so detailed that it must have been filmed on location. The rest of the interior scenes were probably filmed in studio where Sir Hilary's office and the hallway was recreated by Production Designer Syd Cain, who I must say did a magnificent job in the film.

Sir Hilary shows the coat of arms of Sir Thomas Bond, with the famous family motto - "The world is not enough".