Focus Of The Week: Sylvia Trench

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“Willowy, exquisitely gowned with a classic, deceptively cold beauty.” This is how the Dr. No (1962) screenplay describes Sylvia Trench (Eunice Gayson). Elegant and intelligent, Sylvia became the first woman to catch the cinematic James Bond (Sean Connery)’s attention. She also sets up one of the most iconic lines in cinema history.

Sylvia first meets Bond at the exclusive Le Cercle casino at Les Ambassadeurs club in London. Battling over a game of Chemin de fer, she introduces herself as “Trench, Sylvia Trench” and he responds in his now trademark manner (“Bond, James Bond”), playfully mimicking Trench’s own delivery.

Sylvia loses the game but finds herself intrigued by Bond. When Bond receives a call from a secret service operative and leaves the table, she follows suit. Bond suggests dinner and golfing the next day. Taking his card, she informs she will let him know in the morning. However, when Bond returns to his apartment that evening, he is greeted with Sylvia practicing her putting into a bowler hat sporting his pyjama top. The couple spend a passionate night together before Bond heads to Jamaica.

Sylvia reappears in the next 007 adventure From Russia With Love (1963), sharing a lazy picnic with Bond by the river. A call from Moneypenny (Lois Maxwell), informing Bond to meet with M (Bernard Lee), interrupts their idyll sending him on a mission to retrieve a decoding machine from the Russians. It seems, when it comes to James Bond, Sylvia can never catch a break.

Focus Of The Week: Mollaka

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Highly acrobatic, Casino Royale (2006)’s Mollaka (Sébastien Foucan) is a bomb maker and freelance terrorist whose physical prowess and agility increases his threat.

Mollaka is engaged by Alex Dimitrios (Simon Abkarian), a middle man for terrorist banker Le Chiffre (Mads Mikkelsen), to destroy the Skyfleet S570, a prototype of the world’s largest airliner, at Miami International Airport. In Madagascar, Mollaka attends a cobra/mongoose fight unaware he is under surveillance from two MI6 agents to apprehend him, James Bond (Daniel Craig) and Carter (Joseph Millson).

Mollaka evades Carter, leaping through an empty swimming pool where the agent is bitten by the cobra and killed. With Bond in pursuit, Mollaka, heading for sanctuary in the Nambuto Embassy, charges headlong into a construction site. He sprints up the girders forming the skeleton of a building, assuming 007 will remain on the ground. Bond refuses to give up, pursuing the saboteur even when Mollaka scales a construction crane and then leaps down onto a rooftop.

Bond follows Mollaka into the Nambuto Embassy, determined not to let him get away. 007 captures Mollaka but is surrounded by the Embassy chief and guards. Held at gunpoint and ignoring orders to keep Mollaka alive, Bond shoots him in the head along with a nearby gas cylinder, the subsequent explosion allowing him to escape with Mollaka’s backpack and phone.

The explosion is captured on CCTV and becomes front page news in England. Yet Mollaka’s death does not neutralise the danger. Dimitrios hires a new bomber Carlos (Claudio Santamaria) calling 007 into a rendezvous with the Skyfleet S570.

Focus Of The Week: Thunderball’s Jet Pack

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During the pre-credit sequence for Thunderball (1965), James Bond attends the funeral of S.P.E.C.T.R.E. operative Jacques Boitier (Bob Simmons, Rose Alba), connected with the murder of two MI6 agents. 007 discovers Boitier is still alive, disguised as his grieving window. Tracking Boitier to his chateau, Bond fights and kills him, then looks to make his escape across a rooftop. Chased by S.P.E.C.T.R.E. gunmen and with no way down, Bond utilises a Bell-Textron Jet Pack, a low power rocket propulsion device, to fly to his Aston Martin DB5 to make his escape.

Thunderball director Terence Young wanted to ensure 007’s gadgetry did not become a series of gags so the production searched for existing equipment to fold into Bond’s technological arsenal (the Skyhook that whisks Bond and Domino to safety at the end of the film is also based on real life tech). In 1959, the US army issued a contract to Bell Aerospace to develop a Rocket Belt. Shortly after Bell unveiled the flying machine, the Army deemed it too dangerous for use. The filmmakers believed that Q Department might disagree, seeing a use for the technology to help agents escape from a tight corner.

“Charlie Russhon (Technical Advisor) contacted Bell-Textron and had them demonstrate it to us,” recalled Production Designer Ken Adam. “It actually worked, and was very dangerous because you could only fly for 20 seconds, Then, you ran out of fuel and you had nothing. You had better land it before you ran out of fuel.”

The scene was shot on February 19 1965 at Chateau d’Anet west of Paris. The flight sequence combined close-ups of Sean Connery shot against a rear projection screen with long shots of a stuntman piloting the Jet Pack. To help Bond appear more debonair, the scene was envisaged with 007 not wearing a helmet. However, when stuntman Bill Suitor refused to perform the stunt without safety headgear, shots of Connery sporting a helmet were inserted later.

A beloved piece of James Bond gadgetry the Jet Pack makes a cameo in Die Another Day (2002) in Q’s storeroom in an abandoned London Underground facility.

See the Bell-Textron Jet Pack at the Bond In Motion exhibition at the London Film Museum. For more details, head to http://londonfilmmuseum.com

 

Albert Finney (1936 – 2019)

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We are very sad to hear that the legendary Albert Finney has passed away at the age of 82. Albert, who was a five-time Oscar nominee, won two BAFTA awards and received the British Academy Fellowship in 2001, played gameskeeper Kincade in Skyfall (2012). Producers Michael G. Wilson and Barbara Broccoli said: “We are heartbroken at the loss of Albert Finney. It was a privilege to work with him and an honour to have had him as part of our Bond family.”

Focus Of The Week: Zao

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A North Korean assassin and terrorist, Die Another Day’s Zao (Rick Yune) is in league with Colonel Moon (Kenneth Tsang), trading conflict diamonds and illicit weapons. A skirmish with Bond radically alters his appearance but his sense of sadism and determination remain constant.

At Moon’s North Korean HQ, Zao takes a photo of Bond who is impersonating diamond trader Van Bierk and sends it to an MI6 double agent who quickly identifies Van Bierk as 007. With his cover blown, Bond sets off an explosion that embeds diamonds in Zao’s face. Bond kills Moon (or so it seems) before being taken prisoner.

14 months later, Bond is exchanged for Zao in a tense handover. “Your time will come,” Bond tells him. “Not as soon as yours,” replies Zao. M (Judi Dench) tells Bond that Zao was captured after trying to blow up a summit meeting between China and North Korea, killing three Chinese agents. The MI6 mole provided the North Koreans with the identity of the top US agent in North Korea’s High Command. The spy is executed, leading US and British Secret Services to believe Bond has cracked under torture and spilled the information. Zao’s release back to North Korea was unavoidable. Bond breaks ranks to track him and the double agent down.

Zao travels to a Cuban medical clinic for DNA replacement therapy, which will morph him into a Caucasian European. While Zao is unconscious, listening to tapes that will help him assume his new identity, Bond disturbs him with the intention to find out who is paying for his physical alterations believing it is the same person who set him up in North Korea. Zao manages to escape in a helicopter, his face still blemished with diamonds, his body chalk white from the failed transformation. Bond retains a phial from Zao’s neck that contains Sierra Leone blood diamonds — the engravings put him on the trail of diamond magnate Gustav Graves.

Zao arrives in Iceland and joins Graves, who turns out to be Colonel Moon transformed by the gene replacement therapy. Bond is captured and goads Zao into punching him in the stomach, allowing 007 to fall to the ground and utilise a special ring from Q department to cut through a glass panel and fall to a lower floor. Bond escapes in his Aston Martin Vanquish so Zao gives chase in a Jaguar XKR, the pair launching missiles at each other across a frozen lake. Inside Graves’ Ice Palace, Bond tricks Zao into crashing his car over the edge of a balcony. As Zao gets out of the car, 007 fires a single shot that severs a cable holding a giant ice chandelier which crashes down to impale and kill the terrorist.

Nick Finlayson

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We are very sad to learn that Nick Finlayson has passed away. The Special Effects Technician worked on 10 Bond films – A View To A Kill, The Living Daylights, Licence To Kill, GoldenEye, Tomorrow Never Dies, Th World Is Not Enough, Die Another Day, Casino Royale, Quantum Of Solace and Skyfall. Special Effects Supervisor John Richardson said, “He first worked with me on A View To A Kill and together we completed two more Bond films and at least seven other films, including Aliens and the last two of the Harry Potter series. A very clever and talented technician he was an important and valued member of my team. He deservedly earned himself the title of ‘The Real Q’ building many of the iconic Bond gadgets. He had a great sense of humour and he would often devote his time helping and mentoring younger members of the Effects department. He will be sorely missed by all those who knew him and worked with him.”
While Chris Corbould, who worked with Finlayson on all of his 10 Bond films, said: “The film industry has lost one of the true gentlemen in Nick Finlayson. His infectious laugh and beaming smile brightened everybody’s day no matter what else was going on. I worked alongside Nick over many, many years where his ingenuity and expertise created many of the greatest moments in Special Effects history whether it be James Bond, Batman or Lara Croft. I feel privileged to have known and worked with Nick but his legacy will live on through the many technicians he has mentored over the years.”
Our thoughts are with Nick’s friends and family. 

Focus Of The Week: Mr. White

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Mr. White (Jesper Christensen) is a key, influential figure in Quantum, a shadowy organisation connected to the highest centres of political, business and financial power around the world. Also a high-ranking member in crime syndicate Spectre, White is intelligent but quick to betray, undergoing a transformation from Bond’s antagonist to anti-hero.

In Casino Royale (2006), Mr. White brokers a deal between warlord Steven Obanno (Isaach De Bankolé) and Le Chiffre (Mads Mikkelsen), private banker to the world’s terrorists. Le Chiffre loses Obanno’s money and enters a high stakes poker game at Casino Royale in an attempt to regain the missing funds.

Although Le Chiffre loses the poker game to Bond, Quantum weave an elaborate plan involving Financial Task Force liaison officer Vesper Lynd (Eva Green) to guarantee the winnings end up in their hands. Kidnapped and tortured by Le Chiffre, Bond’s life is saved by White who shoots Le Chiffre just as he is about to execute 007. This is seemingly part of a deal with Lynd to save Bond’s life to secure the casino winnings: White appears to be Lynd’s key contact for Quantum, leading her to believe that her French-Algerian lover Yusef Kabira will be killed should she fail to co-operate.

In Venice, Bond thwarts the plan for Lynd to hand the money to another Quantum operative. Lynd drowns in a sinking Venetian house but not before she has left White’s mobile/cell phone number for Bond to find. 007 tracks White down to an idyllic Italian lakeside villa, calls his mobile and then shoots him in the leg — his introduction (“The name’s Bond. James Bond”) is a calling card to the entire Quantum organisation.

In Quantum Of Solace (2008) Bond drives Mr. White to an MI6 safe house in Siena. White threatens Bond and M that his organisation has people everywhere, including M’s bodyguard Mitchell (Glenn Foster). He escapes and later reappears at a secret Quantum meeting during a performance of Tosca at the opera house in Bregenz, Austria. When Bond makes his presence known, White’s fellow members leave the opera letting 007 take photographs to identify them. White stays in his seat and remains incognito.

Years later (Spectre, 2015), Bond discovers an older, frailer Mr. White during an investigation of SPECTRE — White is dying of thallium poisoning, with only a few weeks to live. On the hunt for a SPECTRE target known only as ‘The Pale King’, Bond identifies White as the designated victim. He tracks him down to Altaussee in the Austrian Alps, provocatively putting down a ring baring the SPECTRE insignia belonging to deceased assassin Marco Sciarra (Alessandro Cremona) who was due to kill White.

White reveals how he increasingly became disillusioned by SPECTRE’s methods and dropped out of the organisation. In retaliation, SPECTRE planted thalium poisoning on his phone, which White grew resistant to so Sciarra was dispatched to murder him. He admits to Bond that he has a daughter, Madeleine (Léa Seydoux), and agrees to give Bond crucial information in return for her safety. Understanding the dangers of going up against SPECTRE, he tells 007, “you’re a kite dancing in a hurricane, Mr. Bond” before shooting himself with 007’s Walther PPK.

Focus Of The Week: Natalya Simonova

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Resourceful and loyal, GoldenEye’s Natalya Simonova (Izabella Scorupco) is a tier 2 computer programmer for the Russian military in Siberia. Working at the Severnaya Space Weapons Research Centre — which the rest of the world believes is an abandoned radar station — her key role is programming the guidance system for satellites. She has an older sister-younger brother relationship with her colleague Boris Grishenko (Alan Cumming), whose childish behaviour consistently irritates her.

When the villainous General Ourumov (Gottfried John) and Xenia Onatopp (Famke Janssen) attack the Severnaya station in a stolen helicopter, Natalya manages to escape through a mixture of good luck and thriving on her wits. The only other survivor is Boris who slips away with Ourumov and Onatopp, all three in league with Alec Trevelyan (Sean Bean) who is plotting to set off the electromagnetic pulse space weapon GoldenEye to erase any record of a transfer of billions of pounds from the Bank of England.

Natalya travels to St. Petersburg determined to find out who is behind the massacre. As the last known survivor she is on the radar of both Russian Intelligence and Trevelyan’s crime syndicate Janus. Natalya meets Boris in a cathedral, believing him to be innocent but he turns her over to Ourumov.

MI6 dispatch James Bond (Pierce Brosnan) to find her. He saves her life on numerous occasions, first from being trapped in a stolen helicopter thenfrom an exploding armoured train. Using her considerable computer skills, Natalya traces Boris to Cuba, on the journey there the pair become lovers, Natalya pressing on Bond about his cold demeanour. “It’s what keeps me alive,” he says. “No it’s what keeps you alone,” she retorts.

Natalya infiltrates Janus’ secret command centre alongside Bond and reprograms the guidance of Mischa, the second GoldenEye satellite. Boris discovers her hacking and tries to crack the code of her password but to no avail. Mischa burns up the atmosphere, foiling Trevelyan’s plan. Not resting on her laurels, Natalya hijacks a helicopter and rescues Bond, who has killed Trevelyan. The couple land in a field, where they are picked up by marines.

Focus of the Week: Gobinda

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Commanding, extremely loyal and well versed in deadly antique weapons, Gobinda (Kabir Bedi) is a fearsome opponent for James Bond (Roger Moore) in Octopussy (1983). He is in the employment of amoral exiled prince Kamal Khan (Louis Jourdan), addressing his boss as “Your excellency”. Saying very little but with an intimidating presence, Gobinda is completely dedicated to eliminating any problem in Kamal Khan’s way.

Gobinda makes his mark on his first meeting with Bond by crushing the dice 007 uses to defeat Khan at backgammon with his bare hands. He subsequently tries to kill Bond on numerous occasions; by firing a blunderbuss at him from a tuk-tuk taxi, by shooting at him during a tiger hunt and attempting to cut him in half with a sword on top of Octopussy (Maud Adams)’s train.

Not to be deterred, Khan and Gobinda hire thugs, led by the nefarious Mufti (Tony Arjuna) to assassinate Bond. Under Gobinda’s directive, the hired hands kill Bond’s Indian contact Vijay (Vijay Amritraj) using a yo-yo saw. Later they employ snorkels disguised as lily pads to cross the lake surrounding Octopussy’s floating palace. Sneaking inside, they try to kill Bond in bed until he notices water dripping from the saw’s blade and evades the attack just in time. In the ensuing fist fight, Bond pulls the assassin over the balcony using the weapon’s cord. The brawl continues in the lake outside the palace until the killer is mauled by a crocodile.

In the final showdown with Kamal Khan on board a Beech 18 aircraft in mid-air, the prince sends Gobinda out of the plane to tackle Bond who is hanging onto the fuselage. During the struggle, 007 pulls back the antenna and whips it into Gobinda’s face. The sting forces the usually implacable henchman to lose his grip and plummet to his death.

Focus Of The Week: Jill Masterson

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Jill Masterson (Shirley Eaton) makes a brief but memorable appearance in Goldfinger (1964). Bored, adventurous and fun-loving, she begins as an employee of Auric Goldfinger (Gert Fröbe) but switches allegiances to 007 — much to her cost.

Bond meets Jill at the Fountainbleau Hotel in Miami. He is instructed by M (Bernard Lee), via Felix Leiter (Cec Linder), to investigate Goldfinger. Bond notices the crooked bullion dealer is having an incredible streak of luck during a game of gin rummy against Mr. Simmons (Austin Willis) and suspects cheating.

007 sneaks into Goldfinger’s suite to find Jill, lying on a sunbed, spying on Simmons’ hand with high-powered binoculars, relaying useful information about his cards to her boss through a radio and earpiece. Bond commandeers the radio and tells Goldfinger he will inform the Miami Beach police about his foul play unless he starts losing his ill-gotten winnings.

Impressed by Bond, Jill accepts 007’s invitation to dinner in his hotel suite, perhaps seeing a way out of her life with Goldfinger. Yet her feelings of optimism are tragically short lived. When Bond moves to the refrigerator to replenish the champagne (“(My dear girl, there are some things that are just not done, like drinking Dom Perignon ’53 above a temperature of 38 degrees Fahrenheit”), he is knocked unconscious by Goldfinger’s manservant Oddjob (Harold Sakata).

When he awakes he finds Jill dead in his bed, painted from head to toe in gold. Bond later learns that she has died from skin asphyxiation.

Focus Of The Week: On Her Majesty’s Secret Service

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On Her Majesty’s Secret Service (1969) was initially going to follow Goldfinger in the run of James Bond films until the team turned their attention to Thunderball (1965). At the start of filming You Only Live Twice, Sean Connery announced his retirement from the role, leaving the filmmakers the challenge of finding a new Bond. One idea considered was to have Bond undergo plastic surgery to fool his enemies but the notion was later discarded. Ultimately, the choice was narrowed down to a shortlist of five actors, who were presented to the public in Life magazine; Hans de Vries, Anthony Rogers, Robert Campbell, John Richardson and George Lazenby. After a lengthy screen testing process, Lazenby won the most coveted role in movies.

“I was actually being Bond in my own life, or trying to be in a similar sense,” recalled Lazenby. “I wasn’t a secret agent or anything but I was trying to be suave and smooth and cool and all that.”

The plot of On Her Majesty’s Secret Service sees Bond’s hunt for Blofeld interrupted by a relationship with Tracy di Vicenzo whom Bond saves from drowning. With the help of Tracy’s father Draco, head of the Unione Corse crime syndicate, Bond tracks down Blofeld to his mountain retreat in Piz Gloria in the Alps. Disguised as Hilary Bray of the College of Arms, Bond discovers Blofeld is brainwashing a group of women to act as his secret agents in biological warfare in order to blackmail world powers. When his secret identity is revealed, Bond escapes and meets Tracy who is later captured by Blofeld after being caught in an avalanche. Bond teams up with Draco and leads a rescue/attack on Piz Gloria. Bond battles Blofeld in a bobsleigh chase, seemingly killing him in the fight. Later, Bond and Tracy marry but Blofeld takes his revenge by killing Tracy in a hail of gunfire meant for Bond.

To play the crucial role of Tracy, the woman who becomes Bond’s wife, the filmmakers chose Diana Rigg, who could switch effortlessly between Shakespeare and action roles such as The Avengers. For Blofeld, director Peter Hunt wanted a more physically imposing actor than before. Telly Savalas, was cast.  Gabriele Ferzetti, an Italian actor who producer Harry Saltzman wanted to play Bond, became Draco. Rounding out the main cast, Ilse Steppat was brought into play Blofeld’s right-hand woman Irma Bunt. Production started in October 1968 but the complicated shoot — complex action sequences, difficult to reach locations and bad weather — saw the shooting schedule become the longest in Bond history. The overruns led to a foot chase across London rooftops being scrapped to save time.

Although the film was a success and time has been kind to On Her Majesty’s Secret Service. The stunning action sequences and emotional sucker-punch have seen the film become of the most loved 007 films with fans and critics alike.

Focus Of The Week: Ernst Stavro Blofeld (Telly Savalas)

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Ernst Stavro Blofeld (Telly Savalas) in On Her Majesty’s Secret Service (1969), is a more physically robust presence. Adding to his brilliant criminal mind, he confidently fights, skis and chases 007 down a bobsled track. This mixture of intellect and aggression makes him one of toughest tests Bond (George Lazenby) has ever faced.

Posing as foppish genealogist Sir Hilary Bray, Bond infiltrates Blofeld’s clinical institute at Piz Gloria, an Alp in Switzerland, under the guise of verifying Blofeld’s claim to the title ‘Comte Balthazar de Bleuchamp’ – de Bleuchamp being the French form of the Blofeld surname. On arrival, Bond is greeted by 12 beautiful young women from all over the world. They are patients of the institute’s clinic, superficially undergoing unorthodox psychological treatments for food allergies and phobias. In fact, Blofeld is brainwashing the women to unwittingly spread a biological agent to globally render livestock and crops infertile if his demands are not met— collectively they are Blofeld’s Angels Of Death.

Blofeld’s henchwoman Irma Bunt (Ilse Steppat) captures him on a visit to the bedroom of one of the ‘Angels’. Bond escapes imprisonment and is chased by Blofeld and his enforcers on skis. Bond, meeting up with his lover Tracy (Diana Rigg), evades his captors until the following morning when Blofeld creates an avalanche, sacrificing some of his own men and capturing Tracy. Bond is buried under the snow, but manages to escape.

Blofeld holds the world to ransom with the threat of destroying its agriculture via his deadly Virus Omega. His price is amnesty for all past crimes and recognition of his ‘Comte Balthazar de Bleuchamp’ title. While the Prime Minister deems an assault on Piz Gloria too dangerous, Bond realises a smaller scale attack on Piz Gloria’s radio complex will foil Blofeld’s plot. Bond contacts crime boss and future father-in-law Draco (Gabrielle Ferzetti) to arrange a raid by helicopter to destroy the facility and rescue Tracy.

As Piz Gloria is destroyed by Draco’s attack team, Blofeld escapes in a bobsled with Bond giving chase. Bond leaps onto Blofeld’s bobsled after his own vehicle is destroyed by a hand grenade. In the ensuing fist fight, Blofeld is snared by the neck in overhanging tree branches, ripping him out of the bobsled and seemingly killing him.

Yet it is not the last of Blofeld. Following Bond’s marriage to Tracy in Portugal, the happy couple stop to remove wedding decorations from their car. A silver Mercedes sedan driven by Blofeld, now in a neck brace, drives past; Irma Bunt leans out of a rear window with a machine gun and shoots Tracy, killing her instantly. Blofeld speeds off to fight another day.