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

Hildebrand Prints and Rarities - The Mi6 Safe House in Spectre

When realising that C, a.k.a. Max Denbigh has gone rogue in Spectre, M, Q and Moneypenny retreat to an Mi6 safe house in central London to regroup. Quite unexpectedly, they find Bond in the safe house, confirming to M: "it's safe". The safe house is located on the roof of a building located right by Trafalgar Square.

In the film, is the entrance to the safe house hidden in an old shop named Hildebrand, selling prints and rarities. The sign to the shop at the entrance reads:

                            Hildebrand
                       Prints and rarities
                 Established 1953, London

The name on the shop is one of the many references to previous Bond films and Ian Fleming that can be found in Spectre. The shop is named Hildebrand, which of course is a reference to Ian Fleming and one of the short stories he wrote named "The Hildebrand Rarity". This short story is included in Fleming's book "For Your Eyes Only" which is a collection of five short stories called: "From a View to a Kill", "For Your Eyes Only", "Quantum of Solace", "Risico" and "The Hildebrand Rarity". The year 1953 is of course a reference to the year when Fleming wrote Casino Royale.

The film License to Kill is based very loosely on a few elements in Fleming's short story "The Hildebrand Rarity". Inter alia the character Milton Krest and the whip used by Sanchez in the film both feature in the book. So far are "Risico" and "The Hildebrand Rarity" two of the original Ian Fleming titles that have not yet been used as a name for a Bond film.

The safe house is located on the roof of the building at No. 35 Spring Gardens, overlooking Trafalgar Square.    

Sackler Room at the National Gallery - Skyfall paintings

In Skyfall, Bond meets with Q at the National Gallery at Trafalgar Square to get his equipment and ticket to Shanghai. Bond is waiting in Room 34 in the British gallery, where paintings of British painters between 1750 and 1850 are displayed.

Bond is looking at the famous oil painting by William Turner called "The Fighting Temeraire tugged to her last berth to be broken up, 1838".

It pictures the HMS Temeraire, which had played a distinguished role in the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805, being towed away on the Thames to be broken up for scrap, after less than 40 years in service. In the film, the painting came to symbolise Bond's age and the claim that he may have had his day.

The painting has been voted Britain's favourite painting in a poll organised by BBC Radio in 2005.

One of the paintings on the opposite wall, seen behind Bond, is Thomas Gainsborough's painting of "Mr and Mrs William Hallett (The morning walk)" from 1785. This painting can still be found hanging on the same wall as in the film.

It becomes obvious that some of the paintings have been rearranged since 2012, even though Thomas Gainsborough's painting of Mr and Mrs William Hallett appears to hang in the same place. In the film, to the left of Gainsborough (behind Q) is Joseph Wright of Derby's famous painting "An Experiment on a Bird in the Air Pump" from 1768. This painting had been moved at the time of my last visit in October 2015, and been replaced with another William Turner painting, namely "The parting of Hero and Leander" seen in the picture below.

"Report to the new Quartermaster for your documentation. He hasn't set up shop yet but Tanner will put you two together."
      - M to Bond - 

The meeting takes place in the Sackler Room, room No. 34, at the National Gallery located at Trafalgar Square. Room 34 contains artwork from British painters, painted between 1750 and 1850.

The Sackler Room is named after Dr. Mortimer Sackler, who was an American physician and entrepreneur. He gave millions of pounds to numerous educational, scientific and cultural institutions and enabled the restoration of the principal British gallery at the National Gallery.

Just as Timothy Dalton's line "farewell to arms" in License to Kill was a reference to Earnest Hemingway's novel, which house Bond and M was meeting in, Bond's line in Skyfall: "Brave new world" is a reference to another author. 'Brave new world' was a novel written by the British author Aldous Huxley.

"-A gun, and a radio... Not exactly Christmas is it?
-What did you expect, an exploding pen? We don't really go in for that anymore."
                          - Bond and Q -

Perhaps the line "brave new world" also is reference to the line "farewell to arms" in License to Kill, since Bond is not getting very much equipment from Q. Just a gun and a radio...
Bond is obviously not too happy with the equipment or the new Quartermaster.

Room 34 at the National Gallery

M's restaurant in Spectre - Rules' Restaurant

Finally, our long awaited Spectre, Craig's forth installment and the 24th film in series, premiered in London on 26 October earlier this week. Naturally, a trip to London for the premiere was inevitable. It had been reported earlier this year that the film team had shot a few scenes with M, Q and Moneypenny in Covent Garden, namely at Rules Restaurant. We therefore took the opportunity to make reservations for a late night dinner.

In the film, M is having dinner in the restaurant, drinking red wine when Q and Moneypenny come in. A short dialogue follows after which M leaves the table and walks out.

As we had yet to see how Rules would feature in the film, we had made reservations for a late night dinner following the premiere on Monday. Walking into the restaurant after the premiere that evening was very special. M's table could be spotted easily as the big painting hanging over the table (the above picture) could be recognised from the film.

Quite unexpectedly the head waiter told us, as we looked around the restaurant: "don't worry, I've given you the table", and showed us straight to M's.

The dinner was excellent, with sterling service from the staff. Since the last order for food is 23.00 (at least on Mondays) the restaurant was fairly empty during our visit. We ordered hare, lamb and whole duck, all excellently prepared. The English sparkling water Hildon can also be seen in the restaurant in the film. The restaurant was established in 1798, which makes it the oldest restaurant in London. It is located at Maiden Lane in Covent Garden and serves traditional British food, specializing in game birds, small game, oysters, pies and pudding etc.

Filming at Rules took place on and around 22 May this year. One of the waiters told us that filming took three days during which time the restaurant was closed and the staff were put on leave with pay. Only a few of the staff was needed during filming.

M picks up his umbrella from the umbrella stand and leaves as Q and Moneypenny are standing in the restaurant foyer. The exterior is only briefly seen in the film.

              "He's on his own..."
                         - M -

Corfu Casino - Achilleion Palace

In For Your Eyes Only 1981 Bond visits the Corfu Casino to meet up with Kristatos and to play a game of "Chemmy". Before dinner while waiting for Kristatos to arrive, Bond is playing Baccarat against Bunky, who is experiencing an unfriendly shoe...

These interior scenes were filmed on location at the Achilleion Palace in Corfu. The following restaurant scene was also filmed on location, at the back of the palace. The casino room is on the top floor of the palace, in the part facing the patio at the back.

The bar was located beneath the large painting on the far wall.

A few details can still be recognized in the palace where the scenes were filmed, for instance the distinctive lamps that still hang between the windows. Strangely enough, it also appears that the curtains have not been changed since 1981 even though the walls have been given new paint.

Bond's Baccarat table was presumably located fairly close to the bar that was located along the far wall in the back of the room. Melina's Roulette table was located in the middle of the room.

"If you play the odds..."

Behind the croupier, you can recognize the large glass doors that lead to the patio at the back of the palace.

Following Bond's game of Chemin-de-fer, Bond and Kristatos have dinner on the patio, right outside the casino salon. You can still recognize the black and white tiles and not much else has been changed since Sir Roger's visit.