Movie locations weblog

James Bond returns to Portugal and Switzerland

Tue, 30 Apr 2019 13:03:36 GMT

OHMSS50 celebrates 50 years of ON HER MAJESTY'S SECRET SERVICE

George Lazenby, who played British super spy James Bond in the 1969 EON Productions film ON HER MAJESTY’S SECRET SERVICE, will return this spring to the places where filming took place fifty years ago. Lazenby, who will turn 80 later this year, is joined by many cast and crew members. Their appearance is part of a 9 day international fan event that will take place in Estoril, Portugal (25‐26 May) and Mürren, Switzerland (1‐2 June). The fan event is organised by ON THE TRACKS OF 007. COM

The nine day international event will bring hundreds of James Bond fans from all over the world to the two countries where their favourite Bond film was made: Portugal and Switzerland. ON HER MAJESTY’S SECRET SERVICE was released in 1969 and is nowadays often mentioned as ‘the best James Bond film ever’. From May 25 to June 2 this year, a selection of cast and crew will return to the iconic filming locations to join the celebration. GEORGE LAZENBY (79), the former Australian model who replaced Sean Connery as James Bond, is among them and he is looking very much forward to his return.

OHMSS50 is a non‐profit event, organised by fans for fans. The organisation is in the hands of ONTHETRACKSOF007.COM , the longest running James Bond related website on the internet (online since 1995). The event is sponsored and co‐organised by SCHILTHORNBAHN AG in Mürren, Switzerland and the PALÁCIO HOTEL & SPA in Estoril, Portugal, and is supported by the French, Swiss and German James Bond fan clubs.

From May 24 to May 31, Lazenby and Mountain visit Estoril and will, among other things, re‐enact their classic fight at Guincho Beach and will be part of an on stage Q&A at the Palácio Hotel on Saturday evening. It is the first time both men will reappear at the iconic filming locations in Portugal. There are still some tickets available for the Dinner Event on Saturday at www.onthetracksof007.com/OHMSS50/portugal

Highlight of the event is a mountain top party on June 1st, at the Piz Gloria restaurant on top of the Schilthorn. The restaurant played an important part in the film and was still under construction when location scouts came looking for suitable locations in 1968. They quickly struck a deal and cofinanced the completion of the structure in return for usage as a major location. Cast and crew members in attendance that evening are George Lazenby (James Bond), Terence Mountain (Raphael), John Glen (2nd unit director, editor, director of 5 Bond films), Sylvana Henriques (Jamaican girl), Jenny Hanley (Irish girl), Catherine Schell (Nancy), Helena Ronee (Australian girl), Zaheera (Indian girl), Vic Armstrong (stuntman, 2nd unit director), Wendy Leech (stunt woman, daughter of George Leech, Lazenby's stunt double), Erich Glavitza (stock car race co‐ordinator and driver), Eddie Stacey (stuntman), Peter Lamont (set decorator / Oscar winning production designer), Terry Ackland‐Snow
(draftsman/art department), Steven Saltzman (son of producer Harry Saltzman).

ABOUT THE 1969 FILM ‘ON HER MAJESTY’S SECRET SERVICE’

ON HER MAJESTY’S SECRET SERVICE got mixed reviews on its initial release, but has become a firm fan favourite over the last two decades. After Sean Connery’s departure in 1967, production company EON PRODUCTIONS found a capable successor in Australian model George Lazenby. Peter Hunt, editor and second unit director on the previous Bond films, helmed the film, which featured a marvellous cast: Dame Diana Rigg as Tracy, ex‐Kojak Telly Savalas as 007’s arch enemy Blofeld and Italian Gabriele Ferzetti as mobster Marc Ange Draco. The film combines a true love story between 007 (Lazenby) and Tracy (Rigg) with action scenes around Ernst Stavro Blofeld’s (Savalas) hideout in the Swiss Alps, where the latter runs an allergy institute as a cover for brainwashing beautiful girls into serving as his angels of death. While most of the first part of the film was filmed in Estoril and Lisbon (Portugal), the second half took mostly place around the then‐newly built revolving restaurant Piz Gloria, on top of the Schilthorn mountain in Switzerland. ON HER MAJESTY’S SECRET SERVICE shocked audiences by featuring Bond’s marriage to Tracy, and the latter’s death by the hands of Blofeld in the final minutes of the film.

ABOUT THE FILMING LOCATIONS

All of the film’s iconic locations still exist today, in both countries. In Portugal Guincho Beach, the Palácio Hotel in Estoril, a Lisbon jeweller, the garden of the Palacio dos Marqueses de Fronteira, the Arrábida National Park and the private estate Herdade do Zambujal are all frequently visited by 007 fans from around the globe. This also applies to the the Swiss locations: Bern, Heiligenschwendi, Lauterbrunnen, Grindelwald and Mürren. High above Mürren, on the top of the Schilthorn, Piz Gloria is the ultimate Bond spot, welcoming fans of the franchise to their Bond World exhibition and Walk of Fame, where cast and crew members left their handprints.

ADDITIONAL INFO

For questions regarding the overall OHMSS50 event please contact me at info@onthetracksof007.com

Media inquiries regarding George Lazenby, please contact Anders Frejdh at anders@frejdh.se

George Lazenby's official Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/georgelazenbyofficial/

George Lazenby's official Instagram page https://www.instagram.com/georgelazenbyofficial/

George Lazenby's official website at https://georgelazenbyofficial.com/

Protecting movie locations

arcadiacreativesolutions@kpnmail.nl (Martijn Mulder) — Tue, 09 Oct 2018 21:24:04 GMT

Should iconic filming locations be made UNESCO Cultural Heritage?

Filming locations around the world attract thousands of visitors each year. Often these locations are simply part of a city, a street corner, a house. Nothing fancy. People visit them, because they are there anyway and it makes a nice side step from the other cultural visits they undertake. This article focuses on the landscape locations, where the natural environment played an important part in films. Think for instance about - what is now widely known as - James Bond Island in Thailand. The island is officially known as Khao Phing Kan and is located in Phang Nga Bay. The natural rock formation became world famous in the James Bond film The Man With The Golden Gun and attracts hundreds of visitors EACH DAY, only because of its cinematic connection. The steady stream of visitors has almost made the tiny island unrecognizable and one could wonder how much the environment suffers from these tourist visits.

Fifty kilometers away, the island of Koh Phi Phi Leh suffered a similar fate. Made famous by the Danny Boyle film The Beach , starring Leonardo di Caprio, the island has been a magnet for tourists all wanting to spend time in Maya Bay, one of the islands beautiful beaches. However, this summer Maya Bay was closed to tourists, as authorities are attempting to reverse decades of damage done to the region’s marine environment. Originally planned to reopen this September, the island has now been closed indefinitely , leaving tourists and local tour operators empty handed.

Sad Hill unearthed

In contrast to the destructiveness of tourism, another major filming location has recently been reinvented (or reborn) by the hands of fans. In Spain, between Madrid and Burgos, the rugged landscape looked so much like the Old West, that it inspired Sergio Leone to film the finale of his masterpiece The Good, The Bad And The Ugly* there. Between the towns of Contreras and Santo Domingo de Silos, the director and his set designer Carlo Simi found a valley that suited their needs perfectly. Assistant art director Carlo Leva made the drawing of a theatre like setting: A circular centre stage, encircled by civil war graves: Sad Hill Cemetery. The Spanish military helped dig the 'graves'.

* The original Italian title is ' Il buono, il brutto, il cattivo ', while the Spanish title is ' El bueno, el feo y el malo '. We will abbreviate the title here to GBU.

Leone directed the dramatic Sad Hill showdown at Mirandilla Valley in July 1966. Italian cinematographer Tonino Delli Colli was behind the camera, capturing the action from every possible angle. These high demands from Leone would eventually drive Clint Eastwood nuts. The star would never work with the director again, refusing to take on the role of Harmonica in Leone's Once Upon a Time in the West . In retrospect, Leone's vision of GBU's climax can only be admired. The long shots, the running around of Tuco, the extreme close-ups before the shootout, in combination with Ennio Morricone's haunting theme Ecstasy of Gold is a lesson in film making. It's often regarded as one of the most influential scenes in movie history.

After the filming in the remote valley was over, the site was not cleared. It was simply abandoned, most likely for budgetary reasons. (Leone would later repeat this action by leaving Once Upon a Time in the West's iconic brick arch behind at Monument Valley, after filming there.) The GBU set slowly became overgrown and eventually blended in with the natural scenery. It was largely forgotten and known only to the locals, who couldn't care less. No one could have known, cinema tourism (or set jetting ) would at some point become a hobby for people. In the 90s however, a local folder was made, pointing visitors towards various GBU-locations. It also displayed the dirt roads leading to the cemetery valley, where a small wooden sign roughly marked the area where Clint Eastwood, Eli Wallach and Lee van Cleef filmed their famous showdown in the 60s.

In 2005, a road trip from Madrid to Barcelona brought me close enough to this iconic spot to persuade my travel partner to make a stop at the tiny town of Covarrubias. There we stayed at the Hotel Nuevo Arlanza , which had been home to cast and crew back in 1966. A local store owner provided me with the last copy of the before mentioned folder, enabling me to find all the used GBU locations in the area. We even went horse back riding in the mountains, an amazing experience I will never forget. We eventually used the rental car to get to the valley and I vividly remember several moments of thinking 'Where is this dirt road leading to?' It is so remote, it makes you wonder how on earth the location was found in the first place. The mountain road around the valley gives you an amazing view of the site and I still laugh when I think of the moment I stopped on this elevated road to enjoy the birds eye view of what remained of Sad Hill Cemetery. A group of around 15 hikers showed up and one of their guides was explaining them about the area. At some point I overheard the guide mention me and the fact that I was holding screen shots from the GBU filming. I enthusiastically walked towards the group, offering them a look at my screen shots. It went quiet for a brief moment. Then the guide came up to me, whispering "They're all blind"..

In Spain, in 2014, serious plans were made to celebrate GBU's 50th anniversary (2016). Several people from the surrounding area came together with the intention of 'creating a collective, that vindicates the touristic and cultural value of the places around Burgos, used by Sergio Leone for GBU'. The main objective of the Asociación Cultural Sad Hill was to recover the used locations, especially the fictional cemetery of Sad Hill. Together with fans from all over Europe, the group took up the shovels and started working on this one-of-a-kind project. And to their great surprise this immediately paid off. After carefully removing three inches of top soil, the original stone floor of the set's circular center revealed itself. Strengthened by this success, the group starting accepting donations, in order to rebuild the surrounding grave markers as well. They even approached the rock band Metallica, in an attempt to persuade them to come and perform at the site during the 50th anniversary celebrations. Metallica is known for performing Ecstasy of Gold during their tours. The band liked the idea, but did not accept the invitation.

Now, two years after the successful celebrations, the restoration project is still going strong. About 60% of the grave markers have been re-placed, all thanks to the generosity of the film's many fans. And it is actually still possible to help out. For only 15 euros you can have your own grave marker. It will be constructed from wood and will be provided with your name (if desired) and placed on the site. It's a fantastic opportunity for fans to be part of the legacy of this classic film and I can only encourage you to follow my example and claim your marker. For more information on how to sponsor, you can visit the association's website .

This weekend (Oct. 6-7, 2018), Sad Hill Unearthed premiered at the Sitges Film Festival. It's a full length documentary , filmed in 4K, about the amazing story behind one of the most important locations in film history. The Spanish documentary 'explores the dreams and motivations behind the fans, but also the transformation of art, music and film into a substitute for religion.' Surviving crew members, as well as Metallica's James Hetfield, were interviewed for the documentary, which received a three minute standing ovation after its premiere. It's a very good example of how fans can embrace a filming location and preserve it for future generations.

Cultural Heritage

The survival of iconic locations has been a concern of mine for decades and I know many film fans share this concern. I have been visiting the James Bond filming locations since 1995, and I have personally witnessed the degradation, demolition and/or disappearance of filming locations around the globe. Several iconic locations are under threat of being demolished, simply because they're old and need to make room for redevelopment. One of those iconic locations is Dragon Garden in Hong Kong. Used as Hai Fat's Estate in The Man With the Golden Gun , this property has been under threat from developers since the new millennium. If it wasn't for Cynthia Lee, daughter of the founder of this remarkable estate, the beautiful landscape garden and house would have been long gone. Another location of concern, is Thunderball 's breakwater on Paradise Island, Bahamas. Part of the Atlantis Hotel, the concrete breakwater has seen better days and is clearly waiting to be either demolished or to simply fall apart. It's a sad sight and one can only hope that at some point something or someone will intervene.

The concern for the well being of filming locations in general is shared by others, like Gerben Hartgerink. The TOPOS student in Landscape Architecture visited Sad Hill Cemetery in 2016 and posted his adventures on his university's blog . He suggests setting up a special category for UNESCO Cultural Heritage, something like 'Cinematic Heritage'. When given a protected status, iconic cinematic landscapes or landmarks should be free from development threats. Perhaps owners could even benefit from special subsidies or grants. It's definitely something to consider and if anyone ever wants to put serious effort into promoting this at UNESCO, he or she can count on my support.

Additional information:

Book a room at the Hotel Nuevo Arlanza in Covarrubias and find yourself back in the Old West
Download the 2016 folder detailing the filming locations in the Covarrubias area (in Spanish)
Asociación Cultural Sad Hill website
UNESCO website

How it all began..

arcadiacreativesolutions@kpnmail.nl (Martijn Mulder) — Mon, 10 Sep 2018 22:36:04 GMT

An in-depth look at the history of On The Tracks Of 007

Ten years ago I published the travel guide 'On the tracks of 007'. Obviously this didn't just fell out of the sky one day. It was compiled from a hobby that started in the early 80's. Here's the story behind it all..

My love for James Bond started when I was about 9 years old. My dad - for reasons I still don't know - was able to buy the inventory of a closed down illegal video store. He returned home one day with two huge card board boxes filled with VHS video cassettes. No official rental cassettes with nice looking covers.. no, just illegal copies. My youthful life was suddenly enlarged with 60s and 70s titles like 'Bonny and Clyde', 'Once upon a time in the West' and 'The Enforcer'. Our family VCR was on 24/7 and I loved it all. There was one film though that I watched over and over: Moonraker , strangely enough the only James Bond film in the inventory. I found the whole VCR era fascinating and soon got the hang of how it all worked, technically. We started renting the other Bond films, together with what was then known as a Moviebox : A VCR that wasn't able to record, only play. I connected the player to our own recorder and managed to duplicate the whole series in a few weeks time. Everybody I ever took home, from school friends to (later) girlfriends, just had to watch the Bond films. Over and over.

My interest for behind-the-scenes stuff came about when I got Steven Jay Rubin's book, The James Bond Films . It became my bible and even though it didn't contain any interesting behind-the-scenes photos, it was filled with anecdotes and other interesting tidbits. It also contained info on the filming locations, although not always very accurate. In 1984 I read a small article in the newspaper about filming for the new James Bond film had started, just outside of Paris. They were filming A View To A Kill in the tiny town of Chantilly, and we were just about to embark on a long weekend trip to the French capital.. I begged my parents to stop at Chantilly, but unfortunately they ignored my pleas . I vividly remember seeing the Chantilly-sign pass by when we were nearing Paris. It wasn't to be..

By 1995, I had started to compile a list of all the places where James Bond filming had once taken place. I got the info from the books and magazines I by then owned. A few years before someone figured out how to connect computers and the internet had been born. The first ten years it surely wasn't the source of information it is today. So it wasn't a way to gather useful info yet, but it was a way to publish the info. I got some free webspace on a German server and published my first website that year: The James Bond Locations Page . It was basically nothing more than one page. One long list of locations, just text, nothing fancy. But it was there, long before EON or MGM even though about web presence.

The next year another important thing happened: I saw an advertisement for the Jamaica James Bond Festival. I wasn't in the position to attend the event, but it must have triggered the realization that traveling to these filming locations was certainly possible. Around the same time my web page started generating correspondence: E-mails started coming in, in response to my locations list. Some with additional information, others simply thanking me for the list. (And I also noticed that people were starting to copy my list, almost in the same way I had copied the VHS cassettes earlier. I should have known.. Early mistakes in my list would resurface for years and sometimes still surface!)

One of the e-mails I received was from the German Dirk Kloosterboer. It was 1998 and I had finally managed to plan a holiday to Jamaica. I had done my research, but there was a lot of essential info missing. Dirk reached out, because he had just visited the island and had useful info. For instance on how to access the beach where Honey emerges from the water. After my holiday, Dirk and I became good friends and passionately talked about our mutual hobby on the phone or by e-mail. We immediately realized that the location info could easily make it into a book some day and from that moment getting it published was out main goal. The website had changed into something more visual by then and I offered the visitor pictures of my trips. Dirk added his photos and we started to travel around, trying to add info to the site all the time. We traveled individually or sometimes together. That way we could cover a lot of places in a short time. And the way we had to work, will probably blow the younger Bond fan's brains. We played a Bond film on a VCR and freeze framed it every now so we could take a photograph. An old fashioned photograph, which had to be developed. Armed with our screen shots, we started our journey. Once on our destination, we would start talking to people, cab drivers, hotel personnel, and showed them our photos. Every now and then we got lucky and people recognized a location. We then went there and tried to photograph it, matching it up as good as possible with the screen shot we had. It was a lot of fun, but a lot of work when you compare it with how it would work nowadays.

In 2000 the James Bond Locations Page became Onthetracksof007.com , a name Dirk had come up with. So far we had been unsuccessful finding a interested publisher for our travel stories, so we decided to make use of the latest technology: the CD-R . We started to publish the location info on CDROMs, the first edition to come out in 2001. We offered online subscriptions to the members area of our website and every year we updated the CDROM. As far as we were concerned, it was a success and many of today's friends from the Bond fan community were early buyers of the CDROMs. The years following went up and down for Dirk. He started to develop mental issues and even though our adventures got bigger and bigger, he never fully recovered from it. In March 2004 I got the news that Dirk had taken his own life

Unsure what to do with Dirk's legacy, the project was reborn after talks with Dirk's widow Ulrike and after gaining much support from the Bond fan community. Loads of people offered their help and so the idea was born to finish what we started and to honor Dirk by publishing his writings after all. Additional trips were made and missing stories were added. In September 2008 - this month exactly TEN YEARS AGO - we did what nobody at the time was doing: In an age where most publishers were transferring printed work to digital format, we turned our website into a printed travel guide. " On the tracks of 007 - A field guide to the exotic James Bond filming locations around the world " featured a foreword by Guy Hamilton and was published in two editions: the Full Colour Limited Edition (limited to 500 copies of which there are still some left) and a cheaper B/W edition, widely available in online stores. The book received plenty of media coverage and the customer reviews were positive. It inspired many to start traveling the world and search for that long lost elegant lifestyle that's so much part of the early Bond films. Our Facebook group where people share their location photos is a joy to look at and I'm just very pleased that the travel guide triggered this all.

2015 marked the website's 20th anniversary, making it the longest running James Bond related website on the internet. I celebrated by giving the website a huge makeover and by hosting a SPECTRE pre-premiere party at the Pinewood Hotel, just around the corner from the world famous Pinewood Studios. One hundred Bond fans and friends attended and enjoyed a fantastic live performance by Q The Music - the world's leading James Bond tribute band. Additionally I announced the YOLT50 Tour of Japan, to be taking place in 2017, celebrating the 50th anniversary of You Only Live Twice. 40 people joined me on this amazing tour to the land of the rising sun and were treated to a trip they will never forget.

So what does the future have in store?

In 2019 we will celebrate the 50th anniversary of On Her Majesty's Secret Service. This event will take place on two consecutive weekends, in two different countries. The last weekend of May we will celebrate in Estoril, Portugal. Here the Hotel Palácio was the home of the cast and crew during the filming and it even features in the film itself. So obviously the Hotel Palácio will be our venue for the celebration in Portugal. The weekend after that we will be at the revolving mountain top restaurant of Piz Gloria in Switzerland. This amazing place was partly financed by EON Productions especially for this film. It became Blofeld's research lab and still looks a lot like it did in the 1969 film. People who would like to attend this event can visit www.ohmss50.com to get tickets. I urge you to do it while you still can!

2020 will mark our 25th anniversary. There will most definitely be another tour event. Ideas are already shaping up. And wouldn't it be a great moment for an updated travel guide? ;-) If you don't want to miss all this, please sign up for our newsletter .

Cheers,
M.

On the tracks of 007 in Japan

arcadiacreativesolutions@kpnmail.nl (Martijn Mulder) — Fri, 07 Jul 2017 23:02:50 GMT

Exclusive group celebrates YOLT's 50th anniversary in style

Immediately after I announced the 2017 Tour of Japan, around the SPECTRE premiere back in 2015, people started sharing their interest in this unique once-in-a-lifetime trip. Japan, one of the most interesting countries to visit, yet also one of the least visited by Bond fans! Confident to reach the minimum required number of participants, I soon reached the maximum - 40 people - within just a few weeks after completing the tour brochure in April 2016. One year later , friends and fans from 7 different countries (USA, UK, Germany, Sweden, Switzerland, Netherlands and Canada) traveled to Japan in order to participate in a Tour of Japan that would bring us from Tokyo to Kagoshima in just 14 days.

We first met on April 7 in our first hotel, the Tokyo New Otani, which doubled for Osato Chemicals headquarters. The hotel - which was originally built for the '64 Tokyo Summer Olympics - still looks exactly like it did when cast and crew arrived here in 1966 to shoot various scenes for the Bond film You Only Live Twice (YOLT). Scenes were filmed at the parking lot (Bond visits Osato) and in the hotel's famous landscape garden (fight with Henderson's killer / Ninja training assault).

You could spend weeks in Tokyo, but we had to move on and took the Shinkansen bullet train to Wakayama and Kyoto. From Wakayama we did a bus tour to Nachisan, one of the most remote Bond locations in the world. This temple complex served as the backdrop for Bond's (fake) marriage to island girl Kissy Suzuki. After visiting the annual Ninja Festival in the city of Iga, we got to our third stop, Kyoto. One of the top cities to visit in the Far East, Kyoto offers everything: From untouched temple complexes to a still functioning Geisha district. A must-see, surely..

Part of the Kyoto stopover where excursions to the Toyota Automobile Museum (where the Toyota 2000GT from the film was on special display for us) and the beautiful Himeji Castle, where Bond's ninja training had been filmed, 50 years earlier. The beautiful weather and abundance of cherry blossom made this a very special day. After three days it was time to move on again, so it was back on the train and on to Nagasaki.

Nagasaki has, of course, an interesting history so it was a great city to visit. After an early morning visit to the Atomic Bomb Museum we went to Nagasaki Port to board a ship that would bring us to Hashima, better known as Battleship Island (Gunkanjima). The abandoned island was used for the CGI shots of Silva's hideout in Skyfall. Escorted by our Japanese Bond friends, we came, saw and conquered the island! The next morning we left our hotel to take the train to Kagoshima, our final stop.

Lots of filming had taken place around Kagoshima in 1966, so we made the Hotel Shiroyama (where cast and crew had stayed) our base for the next three nights. The next morning we made a bus excursion to Kirishima National Park. Here you can find Blofeld's volcano, or at least the exterior. The mountain erupted in 2011, so unfortunately we could no longer hike to the top to see the green crater lake. None the less, the park is wonderful and there are plenty of other volcano tops to hike to, as some did.. When we returned to the city, we made a brief stop at the street used in the scene where Little Nellie takes off the first time. As you can imagine, this urban area changed an awful lot, so it was difficult to recognize anything from the screen shots we brought. Our final day was spent in Akime, the tiny fishing village where Bond lived with Aki. We were greeted by the mayor and the people from the village, who were extremely happy with our visit. We enjoyed an amazing Japanese lunch and explored the area for a while. Time stood still in this remote part of Japan.

After leaving Akime, we made one final stop: Shigetomi-so, the former inn now French restaurant that doubled for Tanaka's house. We spent some time in the beautiful garden and then had coffee and tea with sweets at the restaurant. A wonderful way to end the day, overlooking the mighty Sakurajima volcano in Kagoshima bay.

If you are interested in seeing the Japanese Bond locations with your own eyes, please click here or the above image. From April 6 -19, we will host a second Tour of Japan, following the tracks of 007. Only 40 people can join, so I can only urge you to make up your mind fast!

If you already have plans for next year, or you want to visit Japan on another occasion, all by yourself: Now available, the YOLT50 Guide to Japan !! A 170 page field guide to the Japanese Bond locations. With over 250 stills, location photos and maps, this is the ultimate companion for your trip to Japan. Includes a large chapter on 'The making of You Only Live Twice' and an introduction by Oscar® winning sound editor Norman Wanstall. Click here or the image below to see what this book is all about and how to order your copy!

Non-Bond: TARZAN ON LOCATION

arcadiacreativesolutions@kpnmail.nl (Martijn Mulder) — Thu, 01 Sep 2016 20:58:50 GMT

An amazing story about the discovery of unique video footage

Although I love lots of movies and genres, there are some series that I do not know much about. 'Tarzan' is one of them. I can tell you Johnny Weissmüller played the role ages ago, but that's about it. Still, this story is so special that it just has to be shared. So even if you're totally not into Tarzan, like me, just sit back, relax and read this story. It's a good one..

A few years ago, an older friend of mine gave me a VHS cassette and asked me if I could make a digital copy and duplicate it for a few of his friends. They are all into old British cars, Austins to be exact, and my friend owns and restored a couple of them and happily takes the oldtimers on holiday to Scotland and Scandinavia, year after year. I agreed to help him out and took the cassette home where I put it in my VCR, curious to see what was on it.

The film itself was fascinating! It was made in the 1950s by a friend of my friend, who was working at the Austin factory in Kampala, Uganda, at the time. This man and his father (who came to visit him) took two 8mm cameras and two Austin A30s, and went on a road trip through Africa. They filmed the whole journey and since they both had cameras, they could film eachother drive by (as the photo above shows), making it quite a professional looking film. Especially for that time!

It was a lengthy film, showing lots of wildlife, elephants, crocodiles, hippos.. But it never got boring, simply because it is mind boggling to think about doing a road trip through Africa in the 50s. What an unbelievable adventure this must have been! At that time there was of course not much to worry about, making the contrast with today's situation even bigger. Anyway, the trip went through Uganda and before going through Kenia and Tanzania, the father and son would make a stop at Murchison Falls, which had already been a National Park since 1952.

So they got there and watched the gorge where the White Nile is being squeezed through, relaxed a bit and waited for other visitors to leave. They then set up their tents and had the whole place to themselves. At that point in the film, my jaw dropped..

The next chapter in the home video, textually inserted in post-production, was called "A film company is making a Tarzan film" and the camera panned to a group of people carrying equipment down to the river. The voice-over (my friend's friend) explained that RKO Pictures from Hollywood had arrived to shoot scenes for a Tarzan movie, starring Gordon Scott as Tarzan. And for the next five minutes, the home movie showed unique behind-the- scenes footage of the crew preparing and shooting scenes for this film. Gordon Scott walked by combing his hair and doing push-ups in front of the camera, all incredible stuff! It doesn't require much explanation that behind-the-scenes footage of 50s movies, shot on location, is extremely rare. And what are the odds that you run into a working Hollywood film crew, while on a road trip through Uganda??

At first, according to the voice-over, the RKO crew objected against the father and son filming them at work, but in the end they accepted their presence without much trouble.

RKO Radio Pictures was an American film production company established in 1928. They distributed the early Disney feature films ( Fantasia , Bambi ) and had success with the Fred Astaire/Ginger Rogers musicals and King Kong (1933), making them one of the five most important studios in Hollywood for a while. Just before the Second World War they signed Orson Welles, producing his classic Citizen Kane (1941), and Alfred Hithcock.

So what film where they making? The final Tarzan film made by RKO was brought out in 1955 and was called Tarzan's Hidden Jungle , so that's what was being filmed in Uganda in 1954. It's a classic tale about the Lord of the Jungle fighting hunters and poachers. Tarzan saves a doctor and his beautiful assistant from a local tribe and they all live happily ever after.

Tarzan's Hidden Jungle was in fact the last Tarzan film to be shot in B/W, which is funny, because the home video footage is in colour! Apart from Scott, the film also featured Vera Miles, whom he would later marry. The couple divorced four years later, when Miles found out she wasn't in fact Scott's first wife, as she had always thought.

The producer, present on location in Uganda, was Sol Lesser, who had acquired the rights to make Tarzan movies back in 1933. After MGM had them for a while, Lesser got them back in 1943, after which he made the last six Tarzan films with Johnny Weissmüller for RKO. When Weissmüller retired from the part, Lesser found Lex Barker after an extensive nation-wide search for the new Tarzan. But when Barker quit after playing the role five times between 1949 and 1953, the search was on again.

Gordon Scott (born Gordon Werschkul) was discovered while working as a lifeguard at the pool of the Sahara Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas. Werschkul, who was tall and muscular, was introduced to Sol Lesser, who instantly offered him a 7 year contract to play Tarzan. Because Werschkul sounded a bit similar to Weissmüller, Lesser advised the new Tarzan to change his name, and so he became Gordon Scott.

Scott would make a total of five Tarzan films, of which the final two are among the best of the series, according to fans. With a new producer, Sy Weintraub, the role was reinvented. Tarzan would no longer live in a tree house with Jane, but be more like his creator Edgar Rice Burroughs had originally written it: An intelligent and nice man, who carried himself well.

Scott would make Tarzan's Greatest Adventure (1959 - with Sean Connery as villain) and Tarzan the Magnificent (1960). When his contract expired, Scott feared he would be typecast, so he went to Italy where he made a small fortune in various gladiator films.

But does the story about the coicidental find end here? No.. there's an encore !

When I had copied the film and returned it to my friend (I had obviously kept a copy for myself), I wondered what to do with it. I figured any Tarzan - or more specifically any Gordon Scott - fan could go nuts about this footage, so I searched the Internet and found a Gordon Scott fan page. There weren't very many, but this guy - Roger Thomas from Baltimore, Maryland - was a HUGE fan. I decided to write him an e-mail.

After a few days he replied and what he wrote me was even more jaw dropping.

It turned out that I had certainly written the right guy, because Thomas and Scott knew eachother pretty well. After befriending the by now retired actor at conventions, Thomas and his wife had looked him up in Hollywood and at some point invited him for a visit to their home in Baltimore. To their big surprise, in 2002 Gordon Scott, who at that point was estranged from almost everyone, showed up at their home and never left. The couple gave Scott a spare room in their rowhouse, where he spend the last five years of his life, almost like a recluse.

So you can imagine Roger Thomas was hugely excited that I contacted him and was amazed by the footage I sent him. Unfortunately, Gordon Scott himself had passed away, just a few months before I sent my e-mail. "Oh, he would have loved to see this!", Thomas wrote to me.

It wasn't to be. In 2007, at the age of 80, Gordon Scott had moved out of Thomas' house into a nursing home, where he died of complications from multiple heart surgeries which he had earlier that year.

So, if you're still here: Here's the footage, with the original Dutch voice-over. I did add English subtitles, so it all makes a bit more sense.

Missing Utah location finally found!

arcadiacreativesolutions@kpnmail.nl (Martijn Mulder) — Tue, 07 Jun 2016 22:13:47 GMT

Octopussy gas station location totally changed..

One of the locations that had always puzzled us, is the gas station location, where 007 drives his Acrostar BedeJet to and quips "Fill 'er up, please". We posted the above photo on our website's WANTED page , hoping some fellow location hunter would be able to solve this puzzle. And this is exactly what happened..

From the colour of the mountain ridge it was quite obvious this was filmed in Utah. Plus, all other sequences with the flying Acrostar jet were known to have been filmed in Utah, so it made sense that this scene was shot there as well. We did know, however, that the close-up shot of Roger Moore at the gas station was filmed at Pinewood, where they recreated this set. Roger Moore never went to Utah for this.

So, how did we tackle this..? First, On The Tracks friend Uwe Brosamle from California and I discussed the possible location of this road a lot. We both individually looked at online maps, to see if we could find anything that resembled this spot in any way (low mountain ridge in the back, road turning to the left, parking lot on the left of the image, etc). We did have a list of places that were officially mentioned as Octopussy filming locations by the Utah film commission, but none of these towns had recognizable areas that could possibly fit the above photo.

In the meantime, Utah resident Nathan Sears and I discussed it as well, and Nate decided to check things out on the spot. One of our options was a little town called Santa Clara and, as it later turned out, Nate did drive along the road we were looking for, but didn't recognize it at the time. As we will will see, the area changed a lot and where once stood all these trees, there is now none of them left!

Then, a couple of things happened roughly at the same time: Uwe found online information about the former Gates Motel, which lead him to believe he was definitely on the right track. At the same time, Nate decided to write the Historical Society of Santa Clara and came up with a similar solution, individually: " That was the old Gates Motel ,gas station and cafe on the west end of Santa Clara Dr where Swiss Village town homes are now", were the words they wrote him back.

Nate was sent some photos as well, which confirmed the scene was shot there in the early 80s. But then it was Uwe's turn, who reached the area a few weeks later, while on a road trip with his daughter. There were road works going on, but even without that, one could have easily missed this spot, as, like I said before, the area had totally changed. There had been a flood in 2005, that washed away all the trees visible in the film. The building that was used was the Gates Motel gas station and all these structures were torn down quite a while ago, after the flood.

The exact location is Santa Clara Drive (Old US Highway 91) in Santa Clara, Utah. The coordinates are 37°08'08.9"N 113°39'47.9"W

All in all a fantastic group effort and amazing detective work! One down, a few more to go!

The Hong Kong Connection

arcadiacreativesolutions@kpnmail.nl (Martijn Mulder) — Sat, 02 Apr 2016 23:08:54 GMT

Or: When Ian Fleming's James Bond meets Bruce Lee's Hong Kong.

History

The island of Hong Kong was occupied by the British Empire in 1842. In 1856 Britain acquired the Kowloon peninsula on the Chinese mainland. The Crown Colony of Hong Kong was completed by the lease of the New Territories from China in 1898. This lease was supposed to last for 99 years. In 1984 the governments of Great Britain and the People’s Republic of China made an agreement that the British rule over Hong Kong would expire on June 30, 1997. Since July 1, 1997 it has been a ‘Special Administrative Region of China’. For the normal visitor and tourist very little, if anything at all, has 'really' changed since then. The British Governor was replaced by a Chinese appointed head of administration, but capitalism still rules and the cars still drive on the left hand side of the street. Only you will get some different stamps in your passport. The urban beehive of Hong Kong is a bonanza of fascinating sights and experiences and only few destinations yield their treasures so readily like this unique place at the verge of the Middle Kingdom.

Highlights of a visit to Hong Kong would be for example an ascent of Victoria Peak (by funicular railway) from where you have a spectacular view of the whole area, or a meal in the ‘Floating Restaurants’ at Aberdeen (Pierce Brosnan in the TV-series ‘Noble House’) or a trip to the outlying island of Lantau with the world’s largest outdoor Buddha-statue. The most popular novel dealing with Hong Kong is definitely ‘The World of Suzie Wong’ by Richard Mason. Although the action takes place in the Wanchai District, most parts of the film (1960), starring William Holden and Nancy Kwan, were shot in the area around the Man Mo Temple at the crossing of Ladder Street and Hollywood Road in the Sheung Wan District.

Fleming's journey

When Ian Fleming embarked on a commisioned tour around the world in 1959 to write stories for his Thrilling Cities book, his first stop was Hong Kong & Macao. After being toured around for three days by his friend Richard Hughes, who was the Australian correspondent for The Sunday Times, Fleming moved on to Tokyo, adding yet another story to his epic adventure. He described Hong Kong as the most vivid and exciting city he had ever experienced.

In Ian Fleming's novels, James Bond never visited Hong Kong, but in the films he visited the city three times. The first time was in 1967 in You Only Live Twice 's pre-title sequence, where we witness Bond (Sean Connery) being killed in a fold-up bed. While this exciting scene was obviously filmed at Pinewood Studios, the arrival of the police cars in the busy Hong Kong Streets was filmed on location. It was filmed at Shan Tung Street, around the point where it crosses Nathan Road in Kowloon, which is the main land part of Hong Kong. It will probably not come as a surprise when I tell you that 50 years of urban planning has made this location totally unusable for old-new comparison shots..

In Causeway Bay on Hong Kong Island, you can find the Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club. From the club’s terrace the brief scene in which an enemy agent watches Bond’s funeral at sea was filmed. The footage of the sea funeral itself was in fact filmed on board HMS Tenby off coast Gibraltar.

The 70's kung fu era

But there are other connections as well. When George Lazenby stepped away from the James Bond role, after making On Her Majesty's Secret Service in 1969, he had a very hard time finding an acting job. This was mostly due to everyone around him proclaiming he was 'difficult to work with'. So, like Fleming, he travelled around the world for a while and eventually ended up in Hong Kong, the heart of the Asian kung fu industry. Here Lazenby was recognised as James Bond, while no one seemed to know about the negative air that hung around him in Europe and the USA. Lazenby got the feeling he should be able to find work here, so he tried to get in touch with the biggest star in this part of the world at the time.. Bruce Lee.

After having reached megastar-status with his first two films, The Big Boss and Fist of Fury , both for Golden Harvest Studios, Lee had teamed up with GH producer Raymond Chow to form Concorde , a production company that would set new standards in Asian cinema. Carefully watching how films were made in Hollywood and impressed by the Bond films, Lee filmed his next blockbuster Way of the Dragon partially in a, for Asians, very exotic setting, Europe. The Rome Coliseum fight between Lee and six times karate world champion Chuck Norris (actually filmed in a hot studio in Hong Kong) is a feast for the eye and still stands today as the best choreographed fight ever captured on film.

When Hollywood noticed Lee's Asian success, they interrupted his work on his latest project Game of Death by offering him a chance to become a worldwide star. Warner Brothers produced Enter the Dragon , a James Bond-like film tailored to fit Lee, shot completely in Hong Kong, in which Lee stars alongside American stars like John Saxon and Jim Kelly. When Enter the Dragon was still in post-production, Raymond Chow heard the news that ex-James Bond star George Lazenby was in town and tried to set up a meeting.

In an interview Lazenby gave in 2000 to HK Cinema expert Bey Logan, he explains: " I was so flat broke at the time, I had to take the bus from the Hyatt Hotel to Golden Harvest Studios. It took me about three hours! When I finally got there, I met Raymond, and Raymond called Bruce, who was in the editing rooms, and Raymond said “Look, I’ve got George Lazenby here. Come and meet him”. And Bruce was like I’m not interested… "

Lazenby continues: "The first time I really met Bruce (..) we were going to have lunch. His car pulled up and in the back seat were Bruce and the reigning Mr Hong Kong (Bolo Yeung), and in the front were Bruce's wife Linda and his secretary. Bruce said “ Get in the car ,” I say “ But there’s no room ”, so the secretary gets out, and I get in. I think she’s going to get into Raymond Chow’s car behind us, but she gets back in on my lap!. Then off we go (.. )

When we were in the car, Bruce was talking away about his Philosophy, and so on, and he talked about the fact that there would never be peace in the world until we got rid of different religions, because different religions caused chaos, and I said “ That’s not you, that’s Krishnmurti ”. He was surprised I knew Krishnmurti and even more impressed that I'd actually been to visit Krishmurti in India. After that we were like brothers."

"We hadn’t booked at the restaurant, so they had to wheel out this big round table, so we could have lunch. Now, Bruce could tell that I was broke, so he turns to Raymond Chow and says “ Give George (U.S) $10,000" and Raymond goes “ What! Why? ”. Bruce goes “ We’re going to make a film with him, ” and Raymond goes “ What film? ”. Bruce goes " never mind what film. Just write the cheque. " I later found that Raymond Chow had a 49.9 percent share in the (Concord) company, and Bruce had a 51.1 percent share, so Bruce was calling the shots. Raymond wrote the cheque. After lunch, the typhoon warning had been taken down, and Bruce took me to the HK Shanghai Bank to cash the cheque, then took me to his tailor and had they fit me for a suit, which they made the same day.."

Side note: At this point, it might be smart to inform those of you who are not familiair with George and his story telling, that his stories are usually rather exaggerated and often composed of different versions he'd been telling people over the years. His true closeness to Lee can not be easily confirmed nor denied, simply because everyone involved is no longer alive, except for the storyteller himself.. The 49.9 / 51.1 share devision George mentions here for instance also seems highly unlikely. Most other sources state a normal 50/50 partnership between Lee and Chow.

"I was going to be in Game Of Death , and then, the way he talked about it, we were going to be in a whole string of pictures together. He told me that id be playing good guys, and that He’d never kill me off in his films. He’d call me at three in the morning, and say “ What about this idea? ”, and id be half asleep going “ What…?! ”. In the morning I couldn't remember a word he’d said!. He told me not to worry that I'd never studied martial arts, he’d teach me."

Then, on July 20, 1973, the unimaginable happened. Bruce Lee died, before any of their great plans could materialise. While Lazenby and Chow were waiting for Lee at the Miramar Hotel restaurant in Kowloon, the latter had been given a pill against the headache that had bugged him all day. He lay down for a while, but never woke up, leaving Hong Kong and the rest of Asia in deep mourning. The official autopsy report stated "death by misadventure": An allergic reaction to a combination of pain killers had caused Lee's Brain to swell, causing his death.

For Lazenby, timing couldn't have been worse as his collaboration with Lee almost certainly would have made him a huge star in Asia. Lazenby: "After Bruce died, I thought 'that was that'. Then I got a call from Raymond Chow saying “ Look, you’ve got $10,000 of my money" (paid as a deposit for Lazenby's participation in Game Of Death , remember?). He wanted me to make three films for Golden Harvest. I said: " I don’t know any of this Kung Fu ", but he told me it wasn’t a problem.. ". And thus started Lazenby's active involvement with the Hong Kong film industry.

Stoner (1974) was the first film he made with Golden Harvest, from an idea that was developed during the making of Enter the Dragon. It was meant to be a (sort of) sequel to Enter the Dragon , only bigger, with a bigger budget and bigger stars. The original title was The Shrine of Ultimate Bliss , and the movie was supposed to star both Bruce Lee and Japanese star Sonny Chiba. Expectations were literally sky high. Enter the Dragon had grossed over $100 million worldwide and Shrine (Stoner) was expected to double or even triple this result. Warner Bros would co-produce and give the film a world wide release and a $10 million marketing budget.

After Lee's death, Warner Bros dropped out and so did Sonny Chiba, because he thought it didn’t make sense to make the movie without Lee. Lazenby was brought onto the project by Golden Harvest and Angela Mao Ying and Sammo Hung were now presented as co-stars. The film nevertheless did quite well on the local market and turned Lazenby (who played the main character Joseph Stoner) into a minor star within the genre, even though it was barely released outside Hong Kong.

in 1975 Lazenby co-starred with Shanghai-born actor Jimmy Wang Yu in The Man From Hong Kong. This exciting, action packed film about drugs smuggling was known in the U.S. as The Dragon Flies and was partly filmed on location in Australia. While obviously below the Hollywood level of film making, the Golden Harvest productions were in fact top notch in Asia. In the genre, these films were very well received. Financially The Man From Hong Kong did pretty good as well. US rights were sold for $200,000 and at Cannes the film sold around the world for a minimum of $500,000 , putting it in profit even before it had been released.

The last film Lazenby made for Golden Harvest was A Queen's Ransom (1976), known as The International Assassin in the rest of the world. In short, the film revolves around IRA man George (played by Lazenby) who plans to assassinate Queen Elisabeth II when she visits Hong Kong. Eventhough the film features a very good fight between Lazenby and his co-star Angela Mao, A Queen's ransom is clearly the weakest of Lazenby's Golden Harvest films and it left all parties involved a little disillusioned. Shortly after, Lazenby went back to Australia, without becoming the "great white hope" of the martial arts genre Raymond Chow apparently envisioned him to be.

Financially, the deal with Golden Harvest had been pretty good for the former James Bond. Lazenby had been paid $10,000 US per week for his acting, plus $1,000 US per week for expenses for a total of $11,000 US per week for each of his three Golden Harvest films. Each film covered about 20 weeks worth of work, so by the time he returned to Oz, Lazenby had earned $220,000 US per film. Only Bruce Lee had commanded more in Hong Kong, earning $12,500 per week. In the three years following Lee's death, Lazenby had been the highest paid actor in Hong Kong.

Three nipples and a Golden Gun

The second time James Bond fans could see their hero visit Hong Kong in the cinemas was in 1974, when it was still an undoubted outpost of the British Crown in East Asia. In The Man With The Golden Gun 007 first goes to Macau, which belonged to Portugal from 1557 till 1999. Since then it has been, like its bigger brother Hong Kong, a ‘Special Administrative Region of China’. He arrives at the Casino de Macau or the ‘Floating Casino’, which is located on a permanently moored floating barge in the Inner Harbour. 007’s spectacular means of transportation to Hong Kong is a hydrofoil (or jetfoil). It needs about an hour for the ride and it is a thrilling vehicle for an outing to Macau. On its way it passes the wreck of the cruise liner Queen Elizabeth, which mysteriously caught fire and rolled over in Hong Kong harbour in 1972. In the meantime since 1974, this weird Bond location has been removed. The hydrofoil reaches Hong Kong at the Macau Ferry Pier in the Sheung Wan District.

All the way from Macau, Bond follows the beautiful Andrea Anders, who is picked up at the pier by a Rolls Royce. 007’s Hong Kong-liaison Mary Goodnight informs him that this car belongs to the fleet of road cruisers of the luxurious Peninsula Hotel. The ‘Peninsula’, one of Hong Kong’s oldest and finest hotels is situated at Salisbury Road, in the very heart of Kowloon ’s shopping, business and entertainment district. Its guests can hire a chauffeur-driven Rolls Royce - one of them a vintage car from 1934 - for a sight seeing tour.

Only a few hundred yards to the north, at Hankow Road 14, is the former location of the Bottoms-Up-nightclub, where Bond witnesses the assassination of the solar energy expert Gibson. Being Hong Kong’s first topless bar (established in 1971) it was popular with women as well as men. Four circular bars with individual music were connected by mirrors and topless barmaids used to sit in the centre of these round bars on very large swivel stools (and they revealed a bit more than in the film). Furnished with a plush decor the atmosphere was very cosy to say the least. For years, the billboards at the entrance referred to the fact that the club had been a film location in The Man with the Golden Gun . In 2004 the club moved permanently to Fenwick Street in Wan Chai on the Hong Kong Island side, where it reopened as a sports bar. Unfortunately the club closed its doors for good in July 2009.

One of the best Bond locations, in my opinion, is Dragon Garden, which served as Hi Fat's estate. While the beautiful walled estate is Thai in the film, it's actually situated along Castle Peak Road, in the western part of Tsuen Wan , in the New Territories. This former barren hillside was turned into a classical Chinese garden by Hong Kong businessman Lee Iu Cheung, in the 60's. He called his garden Lung-Po , or Dragon Garden .

Designed by renowned Chinese architect Chu Pin, who was involved in the restoration of the Forbidden City in Beijing, the garden is covered with hundreds of species of trees and flowers, as well as ponds, footpaths, bridges and architecture of the Song, Ming and Ching dynasties. Mid 2006, the garden was saved at the eleventh hour from being sold to a developer, mainly thanks to the efforts of Cynthia Lee, Grand Daughter of Lee Iu Cheung, who managed to convince her family and the Hong Kong Government of the historical importance of this cultural heritage. Cynthia even established the Dragon Garden Charitable Trust in July 2006 for the purpose of saving cultural heritage in Hong Kong.

John Barry's Game of Death

In a funny twist of faith, composer John Barry enters the story in 1978. After having completed his score for The Man With The Golden Gun , in a time when Brittish tax laws made many high grossing artists leave the country for good, to avoid having to pay up to 99% income tax, Barry moved to California. He eventually got officially accused of tax evasion and couldn't return to (or work in) the UK for years because of this. It also was the reason Marvin Hamlish scored the follow up Bond film and Barry had a hard time finding interesting projects to work on.

In the meantime in Hong Kong, plans had materialised to complete the film Bruce Lee had been working on after Way of the Dragon . It was originally supposed to be Lee's way of showing the world his ideas, his vision and his unique self-developed fighting style, Jeet Kune Do. The film's plot originally revolved around a lone fighter who ends up at a pagoda, where he has to fight his way to the top, battling different styles of fighters on each floor. The original concept was very good and by the time he died in 1973, Lee had already filmed three of the planned five floors (or fights) at Golden Harvest Studios. The 100 minutes of raw footage had been shelved since his death and by 1978 Golden Harvest had made a serious attempt to finish the film.

Unfortunately for all involved, the only thing that came out of this idea was an artistic disaster. Only 11 minutes of Lee's original footage was incorporated in a totally new plot, which dealt with Chinese actor Billy Lo, who has trouble with local mobsters. He fakes his own death, so he can deal with the gang. The film was completed without any of the original actors, mostly because they all refused. The main character (Lee's role) was played by two different look-a-like actors and old footage from Lee's earlier films was inserted to match the new actors with Lee's footage of the pagoda floor fights. The most dreadful scene is one in Billy Lo's dressing room, about five minutes into the film. We see one of the stand-in actors filmed from behind while he faces a mirror. It then cuts to a cardboard image of Bruce's face in the mirror. While I write this, I suddenly realise how funny it is that they seriously thought they could get away with that sort of cheap crap..

The end result was a shameful attempt to cash in on the Bruce Lee craze, five years after his death. Even Chuck Norris was credited as starring in the film, eventhough his involvement was nothing more than a minute of footage from his coliseum fight with Lee from Way of the Dragon . The film did well at the box office, but it left many very disappointed. There was a lot of criticism about the way the film makers handled Lee's legacy and people were furious about the incorporation of footage of Lee's actual funeral. It was tasteless expoitation by Golden Harvest and very well described by an IMDB reviewer: " Game of Death is the equivalent of having your dog swallow a gold ring - you've got to sift through the crap to find the polished stuff. "

The film does indeed have some polished stuff . Of course there is 11 minutes of footage of Bruce Lee's originally filmed fights with Ji Han-jae (as 4th floor guardian), his student and long time friend Dan Inosanto (3rd floor guardian) and basketball star and student Kareem Abdul-Jabbar as the top floor guardian ( The remaining fight footage was only rediscovered in the Golden Harvest vaults in 1999!). Another highlight is the stunning opening title credits by John Christopher Strong the Third. Clearly inspired by Maurice Binder's work on the Bond films, its a visual spectacle of gambling sequences combined with scenes from Lee's earlier films. It gives the film a very classy feel from the start.

For the soundtrack, Bond veteran John Barry was approached. As said, Barry hadn't been able to find many interesting projects while outside the UK, and this wasn't really his cup of tea either. In an attempt to politely get away from the project he demanded an unusual, over the top fee. To his great surprise, Golden Harvest agreed and Barry had a job. The soundtrack he delivered for the film is the last highlight I can mention for this film. The haunting instrumental themesong definitely has that James Bond - Barry quality we all know so well and it brings back memories of the instrumental theme he composed for Lazenby's On Her Majesty's Secret Service . It features a very recognizable combination of notes, that made me realise that it is highly likely that Barry already had this piece of music shelved for future Bond use. I don't think it was written specifically for Game of Death . Now, he suddenly had this project that he really didn't care too much for and decided to use that piece of music he had written in (let's say) 1975. Of course there's no way to tell for sure, but this theme has Bond written all over it.

Anyway, give it a listen and be your own judge..

Conclusion and reflection

Does the Hong Kong connection end there? No, actually not. Hong Kong nearly made it as the main subject of a Bond film, when a script was developed about the British colony being handed back to China in July 1997. In the end the subject was dropped and that film became Tomorrow Never Dies . The plot did however make it into Raymond Benson's James Bond novel Zero minus ten . And it was not the first time Hong Kong featured in a continuation novel. About one third of John Gardner's No deals, Mr Bond takes place in Hong Kong.

In 2002 EON tried to spice up the Bond films with exotic locations again. One of them was a ‘return to Hong Kong’ in Die Another Day . Without actually spending a second there, director Lee Tamahori fools us with a background projection of the colourfully lit skyline of Hong Kong Island, in front of which we can see James Bond (Pierce Brosnan) emerge from Victoria Harbour just to visit his usual hotel, this time dressed in rags..

Hong Kong still is a very interesting place to visit. It was already like that in the late 50's when Fleming arrived and it was even more fun in the 70's when vitually every caucasian looking visitor was approached for parts in kung fu flicks. Some of Bruce Lee's toughest looking opponents in Way of the Dragon turned out to be backpackers, who just happened to be around town. So I can only encourage you to visit Hong Kong.
Who knows in which film you'll end up..

To end with a funny note, let me share with you the translation of the official titles given to the James Bond films on their release in Hong Kong:

Dr. No - James Bond Bravely Destroyed the Mysterious Island
From Russia with Love - James Bond Bravely Destroyed the Web of Spy
Goldfinger - James Bond Versus Goldfinger
Thunderball - James Bond Bravely Versus SPECTRE
You Only Live Twice - James Bond Bravely Destroyed the Rocket Hill
On Her Majesty's Secret Service - James Bond Bravely Destroyed the Snow Mountain Castle
Diamonds are Forever - James Bond Bravely Destroyed the Diamond Gang
Live and Let Die - James Bond Bravely Destroyed the Black Evil Gang
The Man with the Golden Gun - James Bond Versus the Golden Gunner
The Spy Who Loved Me - James Bond Bravely Destroyed the Underwater City
Moonraker - James Bond Bravely Destroyed the Space City
For Your Eyes Only - James Bond Bravely Destroyed the Sea Dragon Gang
Octopussy - James Bond Bravely Destroyed the Bomb Gang
A View to a Kill - James Bond Bravely Versus the Mad Man
The Living Daylights - James Bond Versus the Dragon of Spy
Licence to Kill - James Bond Bravely Versus the Mad Killer
Goldeneye - New James Bond and Goldeneye
Tomorrow Never Dies - New James Bond and the Empire of Tomorrow
The World is Not Enough - New James Bond and the Black Day Crisis
Die Another Day - New James Bond and the Coming Killing
Casino Royale - New James Bond Wisely Defeated the Royal Casino
Quantum of Solace - New James Bond and the Killing of Quantum
Skyfall - New James Bond: Wisely Defeated the Ominous Sky City
SPECTRE - 007: the Empire of the Ghost Shadow

Source and additional material: Martijn Mulder for On The Tracks of 007
For more info on traveling to Hong Kong, visit our dedicated page on the website
For more info on staying at the mentioned Peninsula Hotel, please visit the hotel's page on our website

10 Reasons to visit Venice

arcadiacreativesolutions@kpnmail.nl (Martijn Mulder) — Mon, 11 Jan 2016 19:27:36 GMT

‘Venice! A magnificent city! A city with an irresistible appeal to the educated, because of its history as well as its present charms.’ Though it is a bit of an elitist point of view from which Thomas Mann praises the north-Italian city in his novel ‘Death in Venice’ in 1912, he hits the nail right on the head. Also for the tourist of the 21st century Venice has lost nothing of its fascination. Bond visited this unique city at the northern tip of the Adriatic Sea three times, first in 1963 in From Russia With Love. But at that time only some few snapshots of it were used as a background. No real action took place there. This was totally different in 1979. In Moonraker many of Venice’s beauty spots, the world-famous ones and the hidden ones, were featured excellently. In 2006, EON returned to the beautiful city to film the spectacular finale of their reboot entry Casino Royale. Apart from the Bond-sites you will find a multitude of cultural treasures and pieces of evidence of the city’s glorious past. So take your time to appreciate it properly.

In Venice there are about 15,000 buildings, among them 900 palaces and 105 churches. They are all built upon millions of tree-trunks (10 - 30 feet long), which are driven through the soft material into the solid ground of the lagoon. These buildings spread over more than 120 islands. Some 400 bridges span the 177 canals that separate these islands. The 2-mile-long (3 km) Canal Grande, shaped like a huge question mark, divides the city into two parts of almost equal size. Venice is one of the most important tourist destinations in the world for its celebrated art and architecture. The city has an average of 50,000 tourists a day and in 2006, it was the world's 28th most internationally visited city, with 2.927 million international arrivals that year. It is regarded as one of the world's most beautiful cities.

Because we think Venice is a migical city that deserves to be on everybody's bucket list, we present you with ten, randomly ordered, very good reasons to visit Venice. I'm sure there are plenty of more reasons, but you gotta start somewhere.. so, here goes:

1. The canals

Venice has lots of narrow alleys and walkways for pedestrians, but lacks wider streets, so cars are a rarity in the city. Venice, contrary to most cities, relies almost solely on boat transportation through the many canals. Even the postal service delivers the mail by boat.

2. The movie locations

Venice looks like a huge filmset. Around every coner, film buffs might have deja-vu’s, as many films were shot in this city. James Bond’s first ‘visit’ was in 1963, when back projection was used for the final scenes of From Russia With Love. In 1979, Bond returned and took full advantage of the city and its canals in Moonraker. The final visit was in 2006, when Bond sailed into the city together with Vesper, in Casino Royale’s tragic epilogue.

3. More movie locations!

Other movies shot in Venice are 1971’s Death in Venice, the original 1969’s version of The Italian Job and, one of my personal favorites, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. Visit the Campo de San Barnaba and wait for Indy to climb out of the sewer!

4. Double take pigeons!

Piazza San Marco, or St. Mark’s Square, is the principal public square of Venice. Famous for its many (double taking?) pigeons, the square is a tourist favourite, mostly because it is enclosed by famous Venetian landmarks, such as St. Mark’s Basilica and the tall Campanile tower. On the smaller Piazetta extension, you can find the beautiful Doge Palace. The square can be seen in the 1979 Bond film Moonraker , when Bond shows that his gondola has wheels and makes his escape over land.

5. Famous bridges

The enclosed Bridge of Sighs ( Ponte dei Sospiri ), constructed in 1600, passes over the Rio di Palazzo and connects the New Prison ( Prigioni Nuove ) to the interrogation rooms in the Doge's Palace. Its name comes from the suggestion that prisoners would sigh at their final view of beautiful Venice through the window before being taken down to their cells. The famous bridge can be seen as a background projection in the final seconds of From Russia With Love .

6. More famous bridges

The famous Rialto Bridge ( Ponte di Rialto) crossing the Canal Grande was originally a timber bridge, also with shops on both sides. After it collapsed twice (in 1444 and 1524) the present covered stone bridge was designed and construction was completed in 1591.

7. It beats the look-a-like casino

The Venetian Resort & Casino in Las Vegas, with 4049 rooms and 3068 suites the second largest hotel in the world, uses uses Venice as its design inspiration. The resort features architectural replicas of various Venetian landmarks, including the Palazzo Ducale, Piazza San Marco, Piazzetta di San Marco, the Lion of Venice Column and the Column of Saint Theodore, St Mark's Campanile, and the Rialto Bridge. Though it comes amazingly close, it doesn’t beat the original though..

8. Glass blowing

Venetian glass is world-renowned for being colourful, elaborate, and skillfully made. It’s made in Venice, primarily on the island of Murano , 1,5 kilometres north of the main island. The Murano glass factories all have outlets on the main island, as can be seen in Moonraker. Bond visits Venini Glass, a real life store and museum, located adjacent to St. Mark’s Square.

9. Sinking city

Venice is a very fragile city. Its many houses, palazzos and cathedrals are built on wooden poles driven into the muddy ground of a lagoon. Careful studies showed the city of Venice is subsiding on average about 1 to 2 millimetres a year (0.04 to 0.08 inches per year). Add that to the global rising sea level and Houston, we have a problem. While a hundred years ago there were about 400 incidents of acqua alta, or high water, when the right mix of tides and winds drives the liquid streets up into homes and shops in the lowers parts of the city, by the 1990s, there were 2,400 incidents. So in other words, you better hurry up and visit the city while it’s still above sea level!

10. The carnival

The Carnival of Venice ( Carnevale di Venezia ) is an annual festival, world-famous for its elaborate masks. This year it’s held from January 23 to February 9 and should be on everyone’s bucket list. Approximately 3 million visitors come to Venice every year especially for the carnival and if you want to be one of them, you should visit www.carnevale.venezia.it/en/ for more info.

When to visit?

The best time to visit and enjoy Venice, is outside the tourist sigh seasons. During the busy summer season, tourists can outnumber the Venetians by 600 to 1, and this will most certainly influence your experience in a negative way. Try to visit the city in February or March, or later in the year in September or October. It will still be busy, but certainly not as much as during the peak season. Venice can be freezing in winter and hot during the summer, so anything in between should be preferable.

How to visit?

Venice is served by the Marco Polo International Airport ( Aeroporto di Venezia Marco Polo ), named in honor of its most famous citizen. The airport is on the mainland and was rebuilt away from the coast. Public transport from the airport takes you to the Piazzale Roma from where you can hop on to one of the many canal taxis to reach the city centre or your hotel.

Some airlines market Treviso Airport in Treviso as a Venice gateway, but this airport is in fact 30 kilometres (19 miles) from Venice.

Where to stay?

Venice has a whopping 2,000 hotels, so it shouldn’t be too difficult to find one. Obviously, the closer you want to stay to the centre, the more expensive it gets. Prices range from 17 euros to 1,000 euros per night, so there’s something for every budget.

LOW Budget recommendation:

My personal recommendation would be Hotel Do Pozzi, a romantic and comfortable 3 stars hotel located in the heart of the old town center. Few hotels in Venice can boast such an ideal location, just 5 minutes walking from St Mark's Square and 2 minutes walking from La Fenice Theater.

Thanks to its quiet and relaxing atmosphere, its ideal location, the romantic and quiet campiello just out of the hotel and itsVenetian style rooms, Hotel Do Pozzi in Venice is the ideal solution for a romantic or family holiday and for opera lovers. Close to the main fashion boutiques and designer stores of Venice, it is also perfect for a shopping weekend with your friends on the famous Via XXII Marzo.

The Hotel Do Pozzi has a 8.2 score on Booking.com, a 82% score on Trivago and a VERY GOOD 4,2/5 rating at Expedia. 99% of the visitors recommend this hotel to others. The prices start at 58 euros per night, making it a bargain for such a great location. And just take the somewhat unfortunate abbreviation, which the Hotel DP uses, for granted.. ;-)

HIGH Budget recommendation:

If you can afford it, you might want to consider booking the Danieli. For more info on this amazing hotel, you can check out our dedicated page for this hotel here . The hotel offers a strong Bond connection (Moonraker was filmed there), a wonderful location and amazing views.

Starting at 310 euros per night, Hotel Danieli is pure luxury in a fully restored palazzo. Overlooking Venice Lagoon, Hotel Danieli is a legendary hotel 200 m from St. Mark's Square. Each room is spacious and finely furnished. The staff provides an unmatchable service. This award-winning Luxury Collection Hotel is comprised of 3 separate buildings, dating back to the 14th, 19th, and 20th centuries, and connected by covered bridges. The nearest water-bus stop is just a 2-minute walk away.

Conclusion:

There are so many reasons you should visit Venice. Far more than I can mention here of course. I think you should experience it yourself and take your family or loved one to one of the most romantic cities on the planet. And catch an abundance of Bond locations while you’re there!

For a more detailed travel story, you can buy On the tracks of 007 – a field guide to the exotic James Bond locations around the world . It has a full chapter on all the Bond locations in Venice, called ‘Venetian Affair’.

Lucia's Roman villa

arcadiacreativesolutions@kpnmail.nl (Martijn Mulder) — Thu, 24 Dec 2015 18:40:59 GMT

When James Bond visits Marco Sciarra's funeral in the latest Bond film SPECTRE, we can see him talking to Sciarra's widow, Lucia. After the funeral, Lucia returns to her home, puts on some music and pours herself a drink. She slowly walks outside to the pool area, waiting for the inevitable..

Her bodyguards follow her behind her back and aim to execute her. Two dry clicks can be heard and we see her executioners fall to the ground. Bond appears and walks up to her. After looking around, he remarks "What a lovely view.."

What follows next is one of the best scenes in SPECTRE. Craig is wonderful here, as a 007 who is as confident as Connery was in the 60s. Pure excellence, and you get the beautiful Monica Bellucci as a bonus. Eventhough her screen presence is limited to exactly 6 minutes, Bellucci is a perfect match for Craig's 007 and the chemistry drips off the screen.

This amazing scene was filmed just outside Rome, at Via Appia Antica 400. The house is called Villa di Fiorano and can be rented for special occasions. Apparently, it's the ideal location to organize unique ceremonies, baptisms, communions, marriage parties, company meetings, art exhibitions, fashion shows, sets for movies, television or commercials, exclusive parties, elegant art shows, cultural evenings and concerts .

Villa di Fiorano is a historic residence, surrounded by 4 hectares of garden adjacent to the Appia Antica Archaeological Park. The villa was designed by the architect Buzzi and recently completely renovated. It has regained the charm and colors that Prince Boncompagni had chosen for this lovely residence where he spent most of his life. Eyecatcher outside is the large pool, which acts as a scenic setting to all those receptions that take place outside. The pool is connected to a fountain, and that is the view Craig is referring to after having assassinated Lucia's body guards.

The funny thing is, there actually IS a Villa Sciarra in Rome, which might even have served as the inspiration for the villain's name. Villa Sciarra is located between the neighborhoods of Trastevere, Gianicolo and Monteverde Vecchio in a park bearing the same name.

For more information about renting the original villa from SPECTRE for your exclusive party, check out the (italian) website of the villa at http://www.villadifiorano.it/

Non-Bond: American spaghetti

arcadiacreativesolutions@kpnmail.nl (Martijn Mulder) — Sun, 06 Dec 2015 20:12:18 GMT

Once upon a time.. the hanging

After finishing his 'Dollar' trilogy, Italian director Sergio Leone initially wanted to step away from the Western genre and start working on his next project, which ultimately would become 'Once Upon a Time in America'. When Paramount offered Leone a chance to work with his long time favorite actor, Henry Fonda (originally invited to play Eastwood's role in A Fistfull of Dollars and later asked to play Lee van Cleef's role in the sequel), Leone simply couldn't refuse.

He started working on a new western with Bernardo Bertolucci and Dario Argento and together they came up with an interesting story about two conflicts happening around the fictional town of Flagstone. For the main part, Harmonica, Leone turned once again to Clint Eastwood, who by that time, wanted to move on and declined. He then turned to the man who he initially asked to play the man with no name (who actually did have a name - three different names in three different films, but that's another story..), Charles Bronson.

Most of the film was shot in and around what is now known as Mini-Hollywood, an rugged area in the Almeria region of Spain. Here, Flagstone was built from scratch, only a few kilometers away from the western town-set built for the Dollars-trilogy. Both sites still exist and have become real tourist attractions, although most visitors do not realise that these sets were actually built for the Leone spaghetti westerns.

There are two scenes in the film, however, that were NOT filmed in Europe.. The first was the buggy ride from Flagstone station to Sweetwater, on the road in the picture below, and the second is the famous recurring flashback scene in which Harmonica is forced to play his brother's funeral music during the latter's hanging. And that site still exists today as well, surprisingly, all the way in Monument Valley..

While doing a road trip from Albuquerque to Las Vegas, back in 2009, I had the pleasure of visiting Monument Valley. It's an amazing National Park, which constantly rings bells. The mittens that seem to appear like huge mushrooms in a barren field are a constant reminder that you're walking in a real life movie set. They feature in so many Wild West publications and film productions, that the moment you seem them you start having deja-vu's.

The filming location isn't actually inside Monument Valley, but it's a few miles down the road (highway 163) towards Mexican Hat. It's on a somewhat elevated plateau and probably chosen because it offers a great view OF Monument Valley. When you travel northwards from Monument Valley, you will first pass that very famous straight stretch of road that's on the front of so many road maps and travel guides of Utah (and sometimes of the USA in general). Then, after a few hundred meters, you will find two seperate roads leading to the old airport, on the left of the road. Take either of these roads and drive to the most upper side of the landing strip. From there on, a small track leads to a strange looking structure that stands there in the middle of nothing, pretending to be some sort of old gate. The track leads conveniently around it, like a roundabout, leaving the stucture helplessly in the middle..

If you wouldn't know the information behind it, you would pass this site without paying attention, because most of the structure is gone. All that remains are the two base parts of what once was the original arch. It was constructed especially for this scene as a wooden structure, its beams clad with bricks. At some point in time, the whole thing collapsed, so what you see above, is what you will get when you visit this site. The concrete track, which can be seen in the bottom part of the above photo, was made so they could easily move the camera crane on the rugged terrain.

Most of today's visitors to one of the western sets in Mini Hollywood, Spain, are treated to what they probably think is the original arch, since a replica was built. Obviously, what would give it away is the absence of the Monument Valley back ground, but on the other hand, that could have been a matte plate as well..

Anyway, it's a mighty cool site to visit, so if you're ever visiting Monument Valley and you do like your classic westerns (why else would you visit John Ford country?), make sure you'll get there before it totally falls apart.

P.S.
In 2016, The Good, The Bad & The Ugly celebrates its 50th anniversary and to celebrate this, you will be offered a chance to join us on a tour of the Spanish filming locations used by Sergio Leone in the five films he made: A Fistful of Dollars , For A Few Dollars More , The Good The Bad & The Ugly , Once Upon a Time in the West and Duck, you Sucker! More information about this amazing tour will be announced on January 2nd.

Mr White's log cabin

arcadiacreativesolutions@kpnmail.nl (Martijn Mulder) — Sun, 08 Nov 2015 13:53:16 GMT

Visiting a hidden gem at Lake Altaussee

Now that the new Bond film SPECTRE has had its release in Europe and the USA, we can start looking at some of the locations used for this film. It must be said, that after the largely UK based production of Skyfall, the new film fortunately brings back memories of globe trotting adventures like Moonraker.

The travelogue style, absent for quite a while, is typically part of James Bond films. New discoveries lead to the next location and this way the story takes you all around the world. And that's what we like, don't we? SPECTRE starts off in Mexico City, with a spectacular pre-credit sequence. After the titles, Bond is in London and from there, the story takes us to Italy, Austria and Morocco, after which it returns to London.

While in Mexico City, a name comes up: The Pale King. For those of you who managed to stay completely spoiler-free (is it possible?), the return of Jesper Christiansen as Quantum operative Mr. White may have come as a complete surprise. For the majority of the viewers however, the might have just called him Mr White, as the link was quite obvious. Anyway, his search for the Pale King brings Bond to Austria. To Lake Altaussee to be exact.

When Altaussee was first mentioned as a filming location for SPECTRE, the area's Second World War link with fleeing Nazis, hidden Nazi gold and buried treasure immediately sprung to mind. During this time, the Ausseerland region was part of the so-called Alpine fortress . It is for this reason, that in the last year of the war it became a last refuge for Nazi party, government and army staffs. Ernst Kaltenbrunner, head of the SS-Reichssicherheitshauptamt, moved his headquarters from Berlin to the Villa Kerry in Altaussee in late April 1945. Other high ranking Nazi and SS officials like Adolf Eichmann and Franz Stangl, tried to go into hiding in the village, on the run from the approaching Western and Russian forces.

And then there were the Altaussee salt mines, pivotal to the story of the Monument's Men. During the Second World War, the vast complex of salt mines in the Altaussee area served as a huge repository for art stolen by the Nazis . It was here, that Michelangelo's Madonna of Bruges and Jan van Eyck’s Ghent Altarpiece were hidden and fortunately retrieved in one piece, after the war.

But wasn't there a Fleming story involving Nazi gold? In fact there is. It's the short story 'Octopussy', written in 1962 and published after Fleming's death. When it was announced that Christopher Waltz would play Oberhauser, the idea that the plot of SPECTRE would revolve around this Fleming short story became even stronger. And what an opportunity this was! To return to original, unused Fleming material, with a plot involving Bond's old ski teacher and hidden Nazi gold. Unfortunately, this story line isn't touched at all and I can only say the writers really missed a huge opportunity.

Which makes you wonder, why on earth did the production decide to film at Altaussee at all?

EON productions arrived in the area in January 2015 and used three locations: The winding road towards the lake (Harnischbhelstrasse, or 145 ) , the lake itself (we see 007 on a boat approaching the shore) and a log cabin on the shore.

The log cabin seems to be so remote, that 'back lot' are the first two words that come to mind. But for once, this isn't the case. The cabin actually exists and is situated in the north-eastern corner of Lake Altaussee. It even has a name: Jagdhaus Seewiese . And the good thing is, the owners would love you to visit the property as it is a local restaurant.

Filming took place on this location on January 5th and 6th and, apart from Daniel Craig, Sam Mendes was present as well. The interior shots for this scene were all filmed at Pinewood

Jagdhaus Seewiese can be reached on foot from the Church in Altaussee in 30 minutes, or from Hotel Seevilla in 60 minutes. There is a path on the northern shore of the lake. Alternatively, you could of course also rent a boat and approach the restaurant in a more classy, 007 style.

Because of its remote location, the Jagdhaus isn't open every day of the year, so before going there you better check with the owners first. Eva & Paul König can be reached at +43 (0) 6643387622 or info@jagdhaus-seewiese.com
The restaurant's website can be found at http://www.jagdhaus-seewiese.com/

Welcome!

arcadiacreativesolutions@kpnmail.nl (Martijn Mulder) — Thu, 23 Jul 2015 12:02:36 GMT

It’s official, we included a blog and know how to use it.

I decided to add this blog to the revamped 'On the tracks' website, to make it easier to share stories & photos to your world. The blog will not focus on 007 alone, but will also contain stuff that otherwise wouldn't fit into this website.

No, I will not share my daily routine with you, not will I post what I had for dinner tonight. I put that on Facebook.

Let's just see if there's enough creativity to fill these pages every now and then..

Cheers!