Unlike the previous outing "
On
Her Majesty's Secret Service" which had overshot by two months, principal
photography on "
Diamonds
Are Forever" wrapped
on Friday 13th August, smack on time. The prompt completion
was no doubt motivated in part by
Sean
Connery's contract
clause which heaped an additional $145,000 on top of his
record-breaking salary of $1.25m for every week the production
over-ran.
"Diamonds Are Forever" opened in the States
ahead of its British premiere, on 17th December 1971 at
the DeMille
theater in New York. It was an immediate hit - the return
of Connery to the fold rejuvenating a series that was hardly
ailing but which had certainly not been doing as well of
late as EON might have hoped.
The film opened at the Leicester Square Odeon in London
on 30th December for its Royal European Premiere and was
again greeted with enthusiasm by Bond fans. Reports said
some 700 fans lined the Square to welcome Bond back, and
he broke records again at the Odeon, taking £35,000
in its first week (£13,500 more than the previous
record).