Villain's Lair - then and now(?)

timmer

JR_747 wrote:

RogueAgent wrote:

i'm in the UK so not too bad. Could make it a part of a tour? But would take some planning! But i appreciate all the info you have given me! Thank you.

Pleasure!
When you arrive in Lauterbrunnen down in the valley make sure to visit the train station: it's where Bond arrived. Still the same building, with the same newsstand where Campbell observed from behind a newspaper.
As probably no Irma Bunt will be awaiting you with her sledge, take the gondola opposite the street. It will take you just up on the edge of the cliffy valley Lauterbrunnen is located in. There you change on a train that takes you along the edge of the valley to Mürren, a car-free village in the middle of the skiing district.
From there take the gondola up to the "Birg" middle station. Get on the restaurant's terrace from where you can get a first glance at Piz Gloria up ahead. Just like Campbell did.
When you have finally arrived at Piz Gloria, enjoy!

And if you do ski, make your "escape" Bond style, of course!

thanks for the info. I would like to take the trip. I could ski well enough to get down the hill, but that's about it.
I know friends that have visited Piz Gloria and were impressed, but only us Bond aficionados can really savour the Bond atmosphere and identify the movie reference points. You'd probably never get me out of the restaurant. :\">

JR_747

That's the point: you can go there with you partner/friends even if they are not that much into Bond and they would still be impressed.

If your skiing is not that good, you could also try a cello - this would be very Bond style as well! ;)

Btw: I have learnt that the very cello (case) is also featured at the "Bond in motion" exhibition - this seems to be a very comprehensive collection of Bond's vehicles, in deed!

Emilio

any liar created by Ken Adam

00Beast

One thing I always love about a villain's lair is if they have a big control room where the major plan is being conducted, like in YOLT, DAF, TSWLM, MR, GE, and TND. It's always fun to watch Bond storm this vital room and succeed in accomplishing the mission!

timmer

The Thunderbirds movie (2004), island complex is very Bond worthy.



The new Bond films, might want to take a look at this film, for inspiration. There is some good stuff in films inspired by Bond.

Hank_Scorpio

JR_747 wrote:

timmer wrote:

JR_747 wrote:

The more expensive part will be getting up there! If you have a ski pass for the Mürren area it's included, but if you just want to get up and down again as a pedestrian it's 95 CHF!

Are the Bond movie-set reference points still apparent? Can we walk about and experience some of the movie spots?

Sure! Of course much of the place looks different now. E.g. the main foyer where you arrive by gondola with Blofelds family emblem is now where all the racks are to put your ski. But you can still find Blofelds emblem, but they moved it to a different hallway.

That's the fun part to walk about the place and figure out which are the places from the film and recognise details that still look the same - or If not, what they look now. E.g. the outside stairs leading from the heli pad to the lower parts of the building are gone, but you will find that the 60s style decorations at the stairs leading up to the revolving restaurant are still the same, etc. etc...

This is kind of how I felt when I toured Willard Whyte's Summer home in Palm Springs (The Elrod House). The interior has been updated since 1971, but it certainly still has a Bond feel!

Whitaker1987

Has anyone ever been to see Whitaker's villa in Tangiers?

Better known as Palais Mendoub it was owned by Michael Forbes and is one of Tangiers top museums.

I would love to see it someday but I would also do Gibraltar & Tangier in one trip.

Current photo

http://i1.trekearth.com/photos/88188/palace_du_mendoub.jpg

JR_747

As we were talking about visiting Piz Gloria and someone came up with having been to Willard Whyte's Summer home and someone else asking about Whitaker's villa in Tangiers, I thought this could be an interesting thread of it's own:
"What Bond locations have you been to?"
http://www.mi6community.com/index.php?p=/discussion/2479/what-bond-locations-have-you-been-to

Char35t

come on people what could be a modern day lair....I said an old disused missile silo complex but what else?

Kennon

I would like to have the villain in some significant high building or structure or on a hill, towering over a small village that entirely belongs to him and is peopled by loyal and trusted members of his gang. Bond gets there and figures out how to penetrate the estate unaware he's already in the midst of the enemy camp.

00Beast

Char35t wrote:

come on people what could be a modern day lair....I said an old disused missile silo complex but what else?

Yeah, I've thought about that for a villain lair as well. My idea was for it to be in Cuba, with missiles left over from the Cuban Missile Crisis, and the Cuban government left the missiles in the silo for several years, until someone has found the abandoned silo and has re-activated them. Sure we've already been to Cuba before but Venice has already been used three times, so I think it's safe.

Quantum07

I was very happy with Silva's island lair in Skyfall. I thought it was a great compromise for a fantastical, year realistic evil lair. Hopefully they can make another great villain's lair in Bond 24 or 25.

Ludovico

I think a lot of lairs would not work today. I mean the most OTT/sci fi ones.Others, like Piz Gloria or Crab Key, would work beautifully. I think Silva's island is an heir to these classic Bond villains hideouts.

And am I the only one who really liked La Perla de la Duna, or whatever the name of Greene's last hiding place in QOS?

RC7

Ludovico wrote:

I think a lot of lairs would not work today. I mean the most OTT/sci fi ones.Others, like Piz Gloria or Crab Key, would work beautifully. I think Silva's island is an heir to these classic Bond villains hideouts.

And am I the only one who really liked La Perla de la Duna, or whatever the name of Greene's last hiding place in QOS?

No, I too thought it was great. Just underused. The reason I think it worked is because it's real. There's a lot of beautiful brutalist architecture out there that they could use for a lair. It makes me wish they'd pulled out all the stops to actually shoot at Hashima island for SF. There's something minutely dissatisfying about the fact it's on the backlot and has to use visual effects to fill in the gaps. It would have benefitted greatly from people believing/knowing it was a real place. As it is, it comes across as something designed and constructed specifically for the film.