The Goldfinger Files - The Alpine Sequence Book

Hi

         Here is a book I spotted while out shopping, which I thought would be of interest, although I did not actually buy it.

Books are becoming ever more specialised. Rather than trying to cover a large subject, such as movies, they will focus on just part of the subject. Instead of doing a general history of movies, they might look only at spy movies, or the James Bond series. Some cover the making of a single movie in great detail. 

Well, this one beats them all, as it covers the making of just one scene from the Bond movie Goldfinger.

The Goldfinger Files - The Making of the Iconic Alpine Sequence in the James Bond Movie "Goldfinger".

By Steffen Appel and Peter Waelty, Steidl, 2020.

Hardback, 192 pages.

The Alpine sequence was set in the Swiss Alps, and has Bond in his Aston Martin DB5 trailing Goldfinger and Odd Job in their vintage Rolls-Royce, and being pursued by Tilly Masterson in her Ford Mustang convertible. Bond takes out Tilly's Mustang using the tyre-slashers on his DB5.

The book is packed with behind the scenes photographs showing the making of the scene. Given the date, early 1960s, most of these are black and white, but there are also some colour photos. Text and reproductions of the screenplay are also included.

I have never before seen a book devoted entirely to the making of a single sequence from a film, and this is a large format, 192-page hardback. Wow.

Photograph of the cover from Worthpoint

Paul Adams from New Zealand