James Bond – 007 films near Ford
The tranquil, sylvan calm of Mid Argyll – the hunting ground for archaeologists and historians alike – will be shattered during the filming on location, which starts today and will continue for two weeks, of From Russia With Love, the latest Ian Fleming thriller starring Sean Connery as James Bond, the suave British Secret Service agent.
Location shooting, which originally ought to have gone on in Turkey but was abandoned owing to the weather there, will be centred mainly in the Loch Leathan area midway on the old road between Kilmichael-Glassary and Ford.
The disclosure of the film company programme of location shooting in Mid Argyll squashed earlier reports that it was to have gone ahead in the Oban area.
The bulk of the film party – director Terence Young, camera crews, technicians and other staff – arrived in Mid Argyll over the weekend, but the main interest was, of course, centred on lovely Daniela Bianchi, Sean Connery’s 21-year-old Italian leading lady who plays his Russian girl friend in the film.
Miss Bianchi arrived on Sunday lass and is staying at the Victoria Hotel, Lochgilphead.
Connery, whose parents live in Edinburgh, visited then over the weekend and then motored to Lochgilphead on Monday.
Befitting one whose life so often depends on his Beretta pistol, Bond figures in several dangerous sequences on location; involving the shooting down of a helicopter in the Loch Leathan area and a speed boat chase near Lochgilphead, the spot for which has not yet been chosen.
Bond, as would be expected of a British Secret Service agent whom foreign agents are anxious to eliminate, figures in a dramatic fight for his life.
Fleeing from his pursuers in a lorry, Bond soon finds his enemies are anything but orthodox – for they next attack him from the air, a fusillade of grenades and other equally lethal ammunition whistling down from a helicopter.
Bond, a film spokesman said yesterday, will leave the lorry and take to the heather, where from behind a rock he uses his high-powered rifle to good effect, shooting the pilot, which of course brings the helicopter and passengers crashing to an ignominious end.
Later, and not quite safe, Bond has to take to the water in a high speed launch in an effort to escape. Nothing short of violent death stops his pursuers who, in a small armada of similar high speed launches, give chase only to earn a quick demise when the hero hurls a few bombs in their direction.
Connery has achieved considerable success in Britain, the Continent and abroad with his first James Bond film Dr No.
Helicopter drama at Crinan film chiefs rescued from the sea
Mr Terence Young, the director of the latest James Bond thriller From Russia with Love, which is at present being filmed on location in Mid Argyll, and his assistant art director, Mr Michael White, were at the weekend involved in an incident as dramatic as any in the picture when their helicopter crashed into the sea after taking off from the jetty at Crinan.
Mr Young and Mr White were on their way to look for fresh location sites when the accident occurred.
Two members of the unit, John Stears, special effects man, and Manny Michael, a stunt man, dived in and rescued the occupants of the helicopter.
Said Mr Young afterwards: ‘We are lucky to be alive. If the cabin of the helicopter had not shattered when we hit the water we would probably have been trapped and drowned. A camera mounting prevented me opening the door on my side.
‘We rose off the jetty and swung out over the sea. Moments later we were in the water. I had a job unfastening my safety belt.’
The pilot, Cyril Sweetman, escaped after being trapped in the helicopter which sank in 20 feet of water.
Mr Stears said: ‘The pilot could not swim and was in poor shape when he finally surfaced.’
Sean Connery, the star of the film who was on the jetty with his leading lady, Miss Daniela Bianchi, said: ‘There was an explosion as the helicopter hit the sea. It went straight under. Those inside were rescued so fast I never had time to get my tie off.’
Film star injured in car crash
Has Mid Argyll a jinx on film-makers? That is what local people have been asking themselves after the latest chapter of serious accidents attending the filming on location in the Kilmichael Glen, Crinan and Craignish districts of From Russia With Love.
For, on Friday, Miss Daniela Bianchi, the young Italian who plays James Bond’s girlfriend in the film version of Ian Fleming’s spy thriller, narrowly escaped serious injury when her car plunged off the road at the entrance to Kilmichael Glen.
Miss Bianchi, who had been staying in Lochgilphead, was being driven to location in the early afternoon when her chauffeur-driven saloon struck the wall of Torbhlaren Bridge and knocked down 16 feet of masonry before dropping off the road and landing upright.
Miss Bianchi, who was badly shaken and bruised, returned to her hotel. Before leaving for London on Saturday night Miss Bianchi sported a real ‘keeker’, an unpleasant souvenir of her stay in Mid Argyll. Location shooting in the district has now finished.
The film unit is hoping for better fortune when they complete the indoor shooting at Iver, Buckinghamshire, for during their sojourn in Mid Argyll, the director Terence Young was almost drowned when the helicopter from which he was directing filming plunged into the water, and several days prior to that, what was supposed to have been a relief helicopter, was damaged on landing.
And the unit came to Scotland after bad luck dogged it on location shooting in Turkey when a ferry carrying valuable film cameras and sound recording equipment sunk without trace.