M's Office

24

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  • QBranchQBranch Always have an escape plan. Mine is watching James Bond films.
    edited December 2017 Posts: 14,585
    QBranch wrote: »
    What I can tell you off the top of my head about M's office is that we can see his matchbox on his desk in a lot of the films. They are Bryant & May 'Swan Vesta' matches, and the designs change throughout the films. You can spot them in every Bond film from the 60's, TMWTGG, MR and TLD. (Perhaps there are more to be seen?)

    In DN, the box is light brown without a price on the cover. For the films FRWL/GF/TB/YOLT/OHMSS/TMWTGG, we see the more common box which is yellow. Additionally, Sir Hilary Bray can be seen with a box of these during his meeting with Bond.
    That's an awesome item, I want to add it to the Birding Bond discussion, @QBranch, with credit to you.
    You can pick them up cheap on ebay, I have half a dozen of these boxes including the MR one. One box even has some matches left inside.]
    I actually will, thanks. To be displayed with random items from the films like casino chips, a Parker pen, GoldenEye key, a dove pin, Penfold hearts golf ball, etc.
    That's great! I'm glad I've inspired you to buy a vintage Bond prop. Would love to see pics of your collection sometime. I bought one of those matchboxes for about 4-5 bucks, then soon after, picked up 6 of them in one sale for the same price. Score! And the best thing was they all had slight variations.

    Regarding the bird connection, I have a list of other bird references I haven't seen mentioned in your ornithology thread, I will post it up there soon.
  • RichardTheBruceRichardTheBruce I'm motivated by my Duty.
    Posts: 13,807
    I'm intrigued by the pictures on the walls, too, @PropertyOfALady.

    I got my matches, @QBranch -- the Swan type you mentioned, plus I went for the Player's Sailor match boxes in the style of the cigarette pack referenced in that Thunderball letter. Thanks for opening up these ideas.

    swan.388.jpgs-l225.jpg
  • DoubleOGeaussDoubleOGeauss Netherlands
    Posts: 4
    To begin with, I loved the original office and the Brosnan office. I don't really like it how they use the Brosnan office for the first movie, and then they just randomly have some other locations in the other Craig films. I don't mind it that they brought back the traditional office, I loved that in fact. I would've preffered it it they kept the same office trough the Craig films, I like continuity.

    Great to see I'm not the only one ''obsessed'' with those small differences. I made a video about it to compare the Moneypenny offices, it later changed to something a little bit bigger. I always loved it how you can walk in the office in the From Russia With Love game. A funny, but very small thing is the difference in the hall to the office. In OHMSS we can see a glimpse of a stairs, while in Spectre you can see that there is some sort of straight path with a door to that hallway, on to Moneypenny's office. You can see it better when you take the trailer next to the movie.

    There are just a lot of small differences in every movie.


  • PropertyOfALadyPropertyOfALady Colders Federation CEO
    Posts: 3,675
    @QBranch, I know you're interested. Would there be anybody else here interested in doing a complete 3D model of M's office, if you have experience with that, please contact either me or @DoubleOGeauss.
  • MakeshiftPythonMakeshiftPython “Baja?!”
    Posts: 8,188
    I'm surprised nobody brought up the sudden location shift of the padded door in GF. Funnily, TB restored the original layout from DN/FRWL and it had remained that way since, with a few refinements. Looking at all the films from DN to LTK, they always seemed to tinker with the sets in various ways. Different lampshades, paintings, M's desk shifting from sitting on the corner of the office to in front of the fireplace whenever it fancied him. The boss could never settle!

    Whereas if you look at the office in SF and SP, it practically had no changes between films. Every little prop in SP is exactly where SF left it, with the exceptions of the SIS building painting and a few books.

    https://screenmusings.org/movie/blu-ray/Skyfall/pages/Skyfall-1874.htm

    https://screenmusings.org/movie/blu-ray/Spectre/pages/Spectre-0228.htm
  • Posts: 11,425
    the old office returning at the end of SF was the best thing about that film
  • Posts: 4,409
    How do we feel about Hoyte's cinematography of the office in SP? Personally, I'm a tad sad we didn't see more of M's office in SP. It was such a neat touch to bring it back and it was shot a little flatly in my opinion.

    I suppose that was the intent - they wanted to portray it as a little gloomy, dank and oppressive. Especially when compared to the more vibrant and visual locations throughout the film.

    Spectre_Screenshot_0519.jpg
    Spectre_Screenshot_0522.jpg
    Spectre_Screenshot_0538.jpg
    Spectre_Screenshot_0551.jpg

    I hope Boyle brings out the best in the set.
  • Posts: 19,339
    The office was too dull cinematography-wise to me.
    I'm sure Boyle will brighten things up.
  • PropertyOfALadyPropertyOfALady Colders Federation CEO
    Posts: 3,675

    I suppose that was the intent - they wanted to portray it as a little gloomy, dank and oppressive. Especially when compared to the more vibrant and visual locations throughout the film.

    I feel the majority of the London scenes had that look to them. We also never got to see Bond walking through the corridors of MI6, they must've deleted those scenes in the trailer.
  • Samuel001Samuel001 Moderator
    edited June 2018 Posts: 13,355
    You compare it to the Connery Bonds and Majesty's and we got short changed. It always irritates me when I watch that scene.
  • PropertyOfALadyPropertyOfALady Colders Federation CEO
    Posts: 3,675
    Which scene?
  • thedovethedove hiding in the Greek underworld
    Posts: 5,433
    Should be a new game. Guess the person and the artist. Course someone would have to know the answer. LOL

    I like how the desk shifted from off center of the fireplace to in front of the fireplace. I guess the lighting from movie to movie makes the room feel different. I'm so glad Mendes and team brought back the "old" style office...something they got right!
  • PropertyOfALadyPropertyOfALady Colders Federation CEO
    Posts: 3,675
    Question is now: Will it stay for 25?
  • Posts: 17,757
    Question is now: Will it stay for 25?

    I hope it does. There is something that feels like a past era about it - as if in a ever changing world, this is a constant, sort of. Think that suits both Bond and M, really.
  • PropertyOfALadyPropertyOfALady Colders Federation CEO
    Posts: 3,675
    Is it just me or did the door change between SF and SP?
  • Posts: 16,169
    Is it just me or did the door change between SF and SP?

    I think so. I think it was brown in SF then burgundy in SP.
    I believe LTK is the film in which the leather door is dark blue.
  • ThunderfingerThunderfinger Das Boot Hill
    Posts: 45,489
    The leather door should always be red.
  • Posts: 16,169
    The leather door should always be red.

    Indeed. I do like the dark brown from TSWLM thru TLD, but red is the classic M door color.
  • PropertyOfALadyPropertyOfALady Colders Federation CEO
    Posts: 3,675
    I am so happy this thread seems to be back alive. Although, I still haven't found anyone to work with on a 3D model.
  • Posts: 1,296
    "There were sailor paintings adn a big red phone and a pipe..." . That's all I got right now.
  • Posts: 19,339
    The door should indeed be red,but I can handle a mahogany brown.
    I don't think they will change the room much for B25 - they better not,the scenes in M's office are one of the special highlights for me in the Bond films.
  • ggl007ggl007 www.archivo007.com Spain, España
    Posts: 2,541
    I am so happy this thread seems to be back alive. Although, I still haven't found anyone to work with on a 3D model.

    From a friend in Archivo 007:

    DSC02089v_zpstwjrpnsa.jpg

    DSC02093b_zpskdavfpdb.jpg

    DSC01593_zpstatbkose.jpg
  • QBranchQBranch Always have an escape plan. Mine is watching James Bond films.
    Posts: 14,585
    Wow. That is seriously impressive. Can I spot the Swan Vestas in the last pic?
  • Posts: 19,339
    excellent work,the attention to detail is brilliant to see.
  • edited June 2018 Posts: 2,918
    For anyone interested, here are all the mentions of M's office in the books. As you will see, Fleming didn't spend much time describing it, aside from a few recurring features:

    Casino Royale:

    The Chief of Staff crossed his office and went through the double doors leading into M's room. In a moment he came out and over the entrance a small blue light burned the warning that M was not to be disturbed.

    Live and Let Die:

    The desirable Miss Moneypenny, M's all-powerful private secretary, gave him an encouraging smile and he walked through the double doors. At once the green light came on, high on the wall in the room he had left. M was not to be disturbed as long as it burned.

    ...A reading lamp with a green glass shade made a pool of light across the red leather top of the broad desk. The rest of the room was darkened by the fog outside the windows.

    Moonraker:

    He turned to the door beside Miss Moneypenny, walked through and shut it after him. Above it, a green light went on...

    When Bond came through the door, M. was sitting at his broad desk, lighting a pipe...M. glanced at him sharply through the smoke and then threw the box of matches on to the empty expanse of red leather in front of him.

    ...Through the open windows came the distant roar of London's traffic. A pigeon landed on one of the window-sills with a clatter of wings and quickly took off again.

    ...There was a soft burr from the intercom, on M.'s desk and a ruby light winked on and off. M. picked up the single earphone and leant towards it. 'Yes?' he said. There was a pause. 'I'll take it on the Cabinet line.' He picked up the white receiver from the bank of four telephones.

    Diamonds Are Forever:

    Although it was late July and the room was bright with sunshine, M had switched on his desk light and tilted it so that it shone straight at Bond.

    From Russia With Love:

    'Send him in,' said the metallic voice, and the red light of privacy went on above the door.

    ...The room was cool, or perhaps it was the Venetian blinds that gave an impression of coolness. They threw bars of light and shadow across the dark green carpet up to the edge of the big central desk. There the sunshine stopped so that the quiet figure behind the desk sat in a pool of suffused greenish shade. In the ceiling directly above the desk, a big twin-bladed tropical fan, a recent addition to M's room, slowly revolved, shifting the thundery August air...

    M gestured to the chair opposite him across the red leather desk.

    ...M picked his pipe out of the big copper ashtray and began to fill it, thoughtfully watching his fingers at work with the tobacco.

    Doctor No:

    M went up in the lift to the eighth floor and along the thick-carpeted corridor to his office. He shut the door behind him, took off his overcoat and scarf and hung them behind the door...He went over to his desk and sat down and bent towards the intercom.

    ...A yellow light winked on the intercom. M picked up the black telephone from the row of four.

    ...he tossed the pile into his Out basket and reached for his pipe and the tobacco jar made out of the base of a fourteen-pounder shell.

    ...In the background the fingernails of the sleet slashed against the two broad windows.

    ...M threw the box of matches down on the red leather desk.

    ...M reached over and switched on the green-shaded desklight. The centre of the room became a warm yellow pool in which the leather top of the desk glowed blood-red.

    "For Your Eyes Only":

    In London, October had begun with a week of brilliant Indian summer, and the noise of the mowers came up from Regent's Park and in through the wide open windows of M's office.

    ...M swivelled his chair round square with the desk and flung the box of matches down so that it skidded across the red leather top towards Bond.

    "Risico":

    'What do you mean, only paper-work?' M jerked his pipe towards his loaded in-tray. 'Who hasn't got paper-work?'

    M gave Bond a hard, sour look. He swivelled his chair sideways so that he could watch the high, scudding October clouds through the broad window.

    Thunderball:

    The red light went on above M.’s door. Bond walked through.

    Here it was entirely peaceful. M. sat relaxed, sideways to his desk, looking out of the broad window at the distant glittering fretwork of London’s skyline...He picked up his pipe and began to fill it, absent-minded fingers dipping into the shell-base tobacco jar at his elbow.

    "The Living Daylights":

    When, at around two thirty that afternoon, James Bond had gone in through the double-padded doors and had sat down opposite the turned-away profile on the other side of the big desk, he had sensed trouble.

    "Property if a Lady":

    M. reached for the ashtray made out of a twelve-inch shell base and rapped out his pipe with the air of a man who has done a good afternoon’s work.

    He swivelled his chair round and gazed out of the big window towards the jagged skyline of London.

    On Her Majesty's Secret Service:

    M's face was just outside the pool of yellow light cast by the green-shaded reading lamp on his desk.

    You Only Live Twice:

    Bond squared his shoulders and looked at the padded door behind which he had so often heard his fate pronounced.

    ...M., his shoulders hunched inside the square-cut blue suit, was standing by the big window looking out across the park.

    ...M. came over and sat heavily down in the chair and looked across at Bond. There was nothing to read in the lined sailor's face. It was as impassive as the polished blue leather of the empty chair-back had been.

    The Man With the Golden Gun:

    M., with equal casualness, shifted his chair back from his desk. His left hand felt for the button under the arm of the chair.
    ...the great sheet of Armourplate glass hurtled down from the baffled slit in the ceiling and, with a last sigh of hydraulics, braked to the floor.

    ...Instead of using his key to the private entrance at the end of the corridor M. turned right through Miss Moneypenny’s door.
  • edited June 2018 Posts: 17,757
    I've always liked how effective Fleming could be in his descriptions of places and people. In these extracts from the books, for example, you don't feel like there's anything missing (or to add) - in contrast to many other writers, who just can't get to the point.
  • PropertyOfALadyPropertyOfALady Colders Federation CEO
    Posts: 3,675
    @Revelator, wonderful job my friend. How long did it take you to sort those out?
  • Posts: 2,918
    @Revelator, wonderful job my friend. How long did it take you to sort those out?

    Thanks! Not too long--most of Fleming's books have been posted to Project Gutenberg Canada, so this was primarily a matter of copy and pasting.
  • PropertyOfALadyPropertyOfALady Colders Federation CEO
    Posts: 3,675
    For those of you who have read Forever and a Day, does the office feature at all?
  • Posts: 2,918
    For those of you who have read Forever and a Day, does the office feature at all?

    There is a scene in M's office, but I don't remember if the furnishings are described. I'll take a look after I get home.
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