By Dave Worrall
Photos by Mark Mawston (Copyright 2011, all rights reserved)
The
highlight of yesterday's Bondstars Christmas party at Pinewood Studios was an
on-stage talk by Alan Church, who worked with Maurice Binder on many of the
James Bond film title sequences. Alan showed the 120+ audience a DVD of behind
the scenes footage of Binder filming the titles for Licence To KIll, detailing how he filmed a scantily-clad model
dancing around and firing a gun. It was fascinating to see Binder directing
every move with attention to detail, using a wind machine, filming with
slow-motion cameras, and even painting out skin blemish's on the model's body!
Prior
to this, organizer Gareth Owen interviewed past crew members on stage,
including stunt arranger and second unit director Vic Armstrong and producer
Anthony Waye. Guests in attendance included Margaret Nolan, Shane Rimmer, Britt Ekland, John Moreno, Tom
Chadbon, Keith Hampshire, Peter Lamont, Pavel Douglas, Doug Robinson, Tom So
(who auctioned off on stage a Casino
Royale crew jacket he donated for charity), and Beatrice Libert, who played
one of Drax's girls in Moonraker, to
name but a few.
Earlier
in the afternoon Michael Chance performed a portion of his one-man show; 'The
Man With The Golden Pen', and On Her Majesty's Secret Service actress Jenny Hanley hosted the Bondstars
Mastermind Quiz, which was very entertaining, especially when 2nd unit
production manager Terry Bamber took to the stage (unaware it was a set-up by
the organizers), who had to answer ten questions whereby the sometimes embarrassing answers were inevitably about himself! As usual, Terry was a great sport and went with the flow with everyone clapping and
roaring with laughter, which pretty much summed up the mood of the entire day - a load of fun.
Bond fans from France, Germany, Belgium, Sweden,
The Netherlands, Switzerland, Belgium, America and Canada attanded.The
weather was like a summer day, albeit a tad colder, which was ideal for the two
tours of the studio hosted by Gareth Owen and myself, showing the fans where
past James Bond films had been shot in and around the studio and gardens,
taking in the 'OO7 Stage', water tank and inside the Underwater Stage - the
largest in Europe.
Held
in the mansion 'Pool Room', itself used in A
View to a Kill, and the large ballroom next door (used in Who Dares Wins, Batman, and countless other films), refreshments were served
throughout the day, including a lavish buffet lunch and afternoon tea and
sandwiches. The historic bar was open for fans to enjoy a drink and mingle with
the guests, and everyone received a 'goody bag' of gifts.
All
in all, another terrific event organized by Gareth Owen and Andy Boyle of
Bondstars. Here's looking forward to the '50th Anniversary' event!
(Gareth Owen, who organized the event with Andy Boyle, writes the Pinewood Past column in every issue of Cinema Retro. For more about Bondstars.com click here)