Riviera, which movies?

mishtabond

I was curious as to which of the movies are set largely on the Riviera? I haven't seen them all and wanted to start off tonight with watching one set somewhere beautiful. Thanks in advance
-Mishtabond

jimmybondi

First of them all: Never say never...
Some scenes from GE but there are some more...

thesecretagent

Golden Eye was set in Monaco, wasn't it? I suppose the setting is the same though.
Parts of On Her Majesty's Secret Service are set there for sure. As was NSNA, if you count that, which most should.

mishtabond

Thanks for your replies, I'm gonna check out OHMSS tonight, I've seen GE countless times, and NSNA is gonna be next up.

jimmybondi

Monaco is at the Riviera to me. I have been to the Cote d'Azur in the last two years and many times before.
If you are interested to visit some 007 locations, like from NSNA, I would be happy to help.







OHMSS? Wasn't that Portugal and Switzerland?

Napoleon Plural

OHMSS is a great Xmas film - but yeah, if I'm not mistaken it's certainly meant to be Portugal in the early scenes. I think the book might be more the Riviera.

That shot of Connery and Basinger isn't in the film is it? Makes you wonder again what was cut from the final print.

jimmybondi

That picture shows the Villa Ephrussi de Rothschild along the coast between Nice, Villefranche /s mer and Monaco
Some interior shots were used for Largos hideout "Palmyra" and the Fort Carré in Antibes doubled for the exteriors.

mishtabond

jimmybondi, those are some awesome shots. I would love to visit The Riviera a.s.a.p. but i'm still a college student in the US so i'm going to have to wait until that "dare to be employed" situation arises. For now though, I've got the movies.

thesecretagent

Sorry, I thought we were refering to the French Riviera. The population of the principality of monaco will be thrilled...

mishtabond

we are, arent we? I certainly was.

thesecretagent

When I was in Monaco, I got the impression they saw themselves very different to the French.

mishtabond

Even so, it's still referred to as the "French" Riviera, isn't it? -{ I'm only assuming.

thesecretagent

No it's not. I have never heard of Monaco refered to as the French Riviera. Monaco is Monaco.

mishtabond

I did a bit of reading to find out. The French Riviera is the stretch of coastline from Saint-Tropez to Menton which encompasses Nice, Cannes, and Monaco among others....So as I was referring to it, it's an (unofficial) geographic region, not a national identity. Unless, the region itself excludes the Principality of Monaco for some reason.

chrisno1

Napoleon Plural wrote:

OHMSS is a great Xmas film - but yeah, if I'm not mistaken it's certainly meant to be Portugal in the early scenes. I think the book might be more the Riviera.

That shot of Connery and Basinger isn't in the film is it? Makes you wonder again what was cut from the final print.

For some reason the early parts of OHMSS are indeed filmed in Portugal. There isn't any specific reference to Portugal in the movie, although Bond does call the concierge at his hotel 'Manuel' which doesn't strike me as being very French. I think it was simply a location or budget issue. Perhaps the Riviera didn't look particularly French.
The novel opens in Royale les Eaux, which is an imaginary town, but Fleming very clearly places it near Trouville, which is actually on the Normandy coastline.
As far as I'm aware the residents of Monaco do not consider their principality to be part of the Riviera per se, but mishtabond is spot on with his geographical description.
Perhaps jimmybondi can confirm my understanding that the French themselves do not refer to the coastline as 'The Riviera' but as the Cote D'Azur.
All a bit confusing.

Napoleon Plural

chrisno1 wrote:

For some reason the early parts of OHMSS are indeed filmed in Portugal. There isn't any specific reference to Portugal in the movie, although Bond does call the concierge at his hotel 'Manuel' which doesn't strike me as being very French.

Ah come on, Christ no1! Bond is in Lisbon for much of it. The hotel where he seduces Tracy is in Lisbon... as is the park they stroll thru during Louis Armstrong's song. The only question in my mind was were the pts scenes filmed in Portugal or elsewhere? It's a change of location from the book, no mention of Portugal there if I recall.

Is this board asleep?

chrisno1

Not a single character ever once mentions the location is in Portugal.
I'm afraid I've never been to Lisbon and so the references you make mean absolutely nothing to me.
Do they show us a sign, or an airport or anything? Does anyone say 'Welcome to Portugal, Mr Bond'?
I know it is filmed in Portugal, the credits tell me, but there is no dramatic reference to Portugal.
It's like filming New York exteriors in Toronto and that goes on all the time.
Let's remember, the Head of the Unione Corse would not be based in Lisbon, he'd be based in Marseilles.
Portugal was simply a nicer looking locale. If someone can explain why the early scenes are really meant to be and must be in Portugal, I'd be interested to hear it.
The early part of the book is based in France, but I don't believe Maibaum relocates the action at all. It's just a useful (cheap?) location.

Napoleon Plural

Hmm. Well what about in the pts where Q talks about Bond's whereabouts? Or do they not come up with anything? I can't remember.

I mean, the setting is Portugal. On that basis you might as well argue that it's in Spain, or even not in Europe at all! The bull fight places it in Spain if anywhere (do they do bull fights anywhere else? ?:) )

thesecretagent

They do fight bulls in Portugal as well, I'm not sure about France - which kind of takes the film onto a Portugese route rather than the Riviera...

thesecretagent

Hold that - a quick google and yes they do bull fight in the south of France.

chrisno1

Bullfights in France are called Courses Landaise. They take place in Languadoc and the Pyrennes. The bulls are smaller and never killed.
The bullfighting featured in OHMSS is such bullfights; the 'ecarteur' performs stunts (jumps and swerves) to avoid the bull's horns.
Moneypenny refers to Cairo, Amsterdam and Madrid in the PTS.
For me, the setting for the PTS is definately meant to be set in France, whether it was shot there or not. Even the casino Chef de Jeu speaks in French! "Un banco de vingt mille" Only the incongruity of the concierge, Manuel, points to anywhere other than France.

I am absolutely certain I read somewhere that Brocolli and Saltzman both wanted the early scenes to be in France, but Peter Hunt reckoned the Riviera wasn't photogenic enough. Can anyone back me up on this?

Silhouette Man

Interesting that there is a bull fight in the film version of OHMSS - did this perhaps inspire Raymond Benson to include bull fighting in his 2000 James Bond continuation novel Doubleshot, I wonder?