|
|
Location Guide - On Her Majesty's Secret Service
|
|
Lisbon, Portugal
Hot on the tail of Blofeld after
the "You Only Live Twice" mission, Bond is
sent to assasinate the arch villain before the he can
launch the next diabolical plan. 007 (in the guise
of George Lazenby) gets somewhat sidetracked in Lisbon
by the fiery Tracy di
Vicenzo, determined to end her own life. Mob-boss
and father to Tracy, Marc
Ange Draco operates out of an aparently deserted
warehouse in the backstreets of Lisbon and provides
the next link in the hunt for Blofeld. While in Portugal,
007 stays at the famous Palacio Estoril Hotel.
|
|
|
|
|
London, UK
Back in England, Bond reports to M at
his house in Marlow, Buckinghamshire, before paying
a visit to the College of Arms on Queen Victoria
Street, London, where he makes arrangements to travel
to Switzerland under the pretense of one of their
genealogists.
|
|
|
|
|
Bern, Switzerland
In Switzerland 007 travels to Bern, where the offices
of shady solicitor Gumpold reside. With help from
a local operative, Bond retrieves some condemning
evidence on Blofeld's
claim to the title "Comte Balthazar de Bleuchamp".
|
|
|
|
|
Piz Gloria, Switzerland
On the top of the world in the Swiss Alps, Blofeld has
constructed his stunning HQ. A vast and heavily guarded
estate with laboratories, guest rooms and fine dining,
the villain's new clinic is
accessible only by private helicopter or cable car.
Bond stays as Blofeld's guest, under the guise
of genealogist Sir
Hillary Bray - that is until he is unmasked
as British agent 007. |
|
|
|
|
Murren, Switzerland
After a furious downhill pursuit, 007 escapes Blofeld's
goons and rendezvous with Tracy
at the Murren ice-rink. With haste a necessity, Bond
and Tracy make an escape from the Christmas Eve skaters
with Blofeld following close behind. 007 attempts to
report to headquarters at a phone booth in Kanton Bern
and - with the goons closing in - makes an unscheduled
stop at a snow-covered barn in Winteregg.
|
|
|
|
Shooting
On Her Majesty's Secret Service
The production did almost as much travel time as 007 himself
for this picture. The shoot began in Kanton Bern, Switzerland
in October 1968, where they shot the scenes at the Christmas
ice-rink party, Bond's escape from the phone box
and where the second unit would remain long after pricipal
photography to can the stock car chase sequence. The
first unit then moved to Grindelwald to capture some
of Bond's
on-foot chase through the Christmas Eve celebrations.
Right: "On Her
Majesty's Secret Service" casts the spotlight on
Western Europe... |
|
|
After shooting the ground work, the Bond production
team headed for the alps and the grandly converted Piz Gloria
- which cost the production over 60,000 pounds to interior decorate
and install a helipad. The second unit shot some of Bond's escape
from Piz Gloria and Bond and Tracy's escape from
Blofeld on the slopes of Lauterbrunnen.
After the first unit wrapped in Switzerland,
they returned to shoot interiors at Pinewood, Buckinghamshire,
UK, as well as M's stately home, Thames Lawn in Marlow near
the studios. Some sequences were shot in and around England's
famous College of Arms, located in Queen Victoria Street, EC4,
London.
Above: Lisbon to London;
London to Bern; back again and on to Piz Gloria; Piz
Gloria to Murren and Kanton Bern; to London
and back to Piz Gloria; return to Lisbon once more... |
Finally, the production turned to Estroril and
Lisbon in Portugal to shoot many of the early scenes in OHMSS.
Draco's grand estate where large portions of his birthday
and Bond's wedding were canned is in Abril Bridge, just
outside of Lisbon. The final scene that sees the death of
Tracy Bond was captured at Arrabida National Park in Setubal.
Fan Facts
In a recent MI6 poll, fans voted the icy backdrop of Switzerland and Piz Gloria the number one Bond location, picking up 22% of the voters choice. The first of the Bond films to hit the slopes, "On Her Majesty's Secret Service" features death defying ski stunts and sweeping photography by legendary ski-stuntman Willy Bogner.
|
|
|