In between scene plays and performances

GoldenEye85

In almost every James Bond movie when moving from one scene to another, the film makers like to showcase some street performances and the like to give some ambience of the town/city/country that they are filming in.

My question is in regard to the one in GoldenEye that Bond passes to take pictures of Xenia and the yacht boat....What is this performance and what are some of your favorites or that you just find interesting?

heartbroken_mr_drax

Not sure what the play is, but I really like the oddness and ambience the scene creates.

What's interesting is that not many of the other films take many breaks like this to set such a mood, even the ones that are similar like Tosca in QoS are still really plot related.

GoldenEye85

I am always confused by the Tosca opera in QoS. Especially when the sound goes off and the gun fight breaks out. Are the shooters on stage just part of the performance or are they disguised assassins?

walther p99

GoldenEye85 wrote:

I am always confused by the Tosca opera in QoS. Especially when the sound goes off and the gun fight breaks out. Are the shooters on stage just part of the performance or are they disguised assassins?

just part of the performance

superado

I always thought that particular scene in GE was a street mime performance with some ballet mixed in for the benefit of tourists. Though it looked interesting, I don't think it was meant to have any cultural significance with Monaco/Monte Carlo. However, now I'm intrigued enough to take mental inventory of the cultural performances for each movie! Some were more impactful than others, like YOLT which made it seem that the entire movie was a tourism showcase for Japan.

Firemass

GoldenEye85 wrote:

the film makers like to showcase some street performances and the like to give some ambience of the town/city/country that they are filming in.

Interesting. Can you name some others? I do like the one of Bond and Melina strolling around Corfu in FYEO.

Barbel

About 90 seconds in: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h1ZvliUa2eA

hehadlotsofguts

The whistling butterfly girl in AVTAK

Byron Lee And The Dragonnaires in Dr No

GoldenEye85

The parade(?) in Italy at the beginning of Quantum of Solace, while they were interrogating Mr. White below their feet.

Firemass

These "in between performances" seem to be an integral part of the Bond formula, yet don't get much notice from fans.

I've always liked the massive carnivals in Thunderball and Moonraker.

The pyramid presentation scene in TSWLM is also quite good.

LALD has that weird one with the dancer with his legs over his shoulders.

Not a fan of the Octopussy marketplace stuff because it's seemed like a cliched view of India..not the genuine article.

Charmed & Dangerous

GoldenEye85 wrote:

The parade(?) in Italy at the beginning of Quantum of Solace, while they were interrogating Mr. White below their feet.

That's a great one. It's the Palio, a famous horse-race which is held twice a year in Siena:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palio_di_Siena

My favourite is the Junkanoo in Thunderball as it's central to the plot - Bond escaping and the death of Fiona - rather than just a mini travelogue.

superado

walther p99 wrote:

GoldenEye85 wrote:

I am always confused by the Tosca opera in QoS. Especially when the sound goes off and the gun fight breaks out. Are the shooters on stage just part of the performance or are they disguised assassins?

just part of the performance

Yes, I agree. I also think it was made to seem like that just to give the sequence a surreal element and raise the paranoia level, like the bear mascot in OHMSS.

Gassy Man

Very few stand out as "real," though -- more like staged inserts to the film proper. The exceptions are mostly in the Connery era, such as the Junkanoo in TB and the wedding sequence in YOLT, where the "performances" not only are woven into the plot, but Bond is an active participant. In others, he's either an observer or not even present.