Tag: Danish connections

2023.04.14

“Octopussy” (1983): From Denmark with Love

● In the 1983 James Bond 007 film "Octopussy", Denmark is represented in graphic form on the animated map over Europe which adorns the wall of the Soviet Ministry of Defence. Our small kingdom fills up with red on the screen to illustrate the renegade general Orlov's (Steven Berkoff) dream of Communist supremacy over the continent, Scandinavia included.
Time code (Blu-ray): 00:18:03-00:18:17

● The German diesel engine which in the film's climax pulls Octopussy International Circus Train towards the US air base in Berlin is actually a Danish locomotive. DSB Litra S 740 was built by A/S Frichs Maskinfabrik og Kedelsmedje in Aarhus, Jutland, in 1928 commissioned by DSB, the Danish State Railways. The S engine was in service on the branch lines on Sealand until DSB phased out their diesel locomotives during the 1960s. S 740 was subsequently used as an excursion train and eventually was handed off to DBS's railway museum in 1976.

Englishman Mike Bradley bought the discarded tender in the southern Danish town of Gedser in 1979 and had it transported to Wansford near Peterborough, England, where the S 740 was renovated for use on the preserved railway line Nene Valley Railway. This is where S 740 got a starring role in the production of "Octopussy" as all train scenes in the film were shot on this English piece of track in late 1982. The train has been painted with German signage and given the number 62 015. Shortly after the end of production, S 740 was taken out of active service. In the 1990s Northsealand Vintage Trains (Nordsjællandsk Veterantog) bought the locomotive with a view to restoring it. According to the club's web paghe S 740 is currently in Rungsted north of Copenhagen.

Additional trivia: In 2017 the Tikøb Foundry produced a DSB Litra S steam engine as a model train.
Tidskoder (Blu-ray): 01:34:24; 01:35:40

2023.01.27

“The Spy Who Loved Me” (1977): From Denmark with Love

For "The Spy Who Loved Me" (EON 1977), the German-born production designer Ken Adam once more let his interest in Danish furniture design rub off on the film's villain, Karl Stromberg (as played by another German, Curd Jürgens).

The famous designer Verner Panton (b. 1926, d. 1998) is represented for the third time in the EON Bond series. His Pantonova furniture system from 1971 features prominently in the underwater lair Atlantis where Stromberg as well as Anya Amasova (Barbara Bach) are seen reclining on the brown-cushioned steel sofa.

The sculptural Pantonova system, originally created by Panton for the restaurant Varna in Aarhus in Jutland, consists of three modules – one linear, one concave, and one convex – which can be used separately or combined in various organic shapes such as a cirkel, an S or a wave. The company Montana Furniture, based on Funen, relaunched Pantonova in 2019. As of January 2023 a module will cost you somewhere between 1.300 and 1.800 €.
Time code (Blu-ray): from 01:06:05

● The Pantonova system at Montana Furniture (external link)

2022.06.10

“On Her Majesty’s Secret Service” (1969): From Denmark with Love

For "On Her Majesty's Secret Service" (EON 1969) production designer Syd Cain once again furnished the arch villain Ernst Stavro Blofeld's hideout with Danish Modern.

Disguised as the herald Sir Hilary Bray James Bond (George Lazenby) checks in at the Swiss mountain resort Piz Gloria. His room features two pendant lamps created in 1964 by the famous Danish designer Verner Panton (1926-1998). Each of the Fun 0DM lamps (DM is short for the German term "Decken-Montage" meaning ceiling-mounted) consists of a four-ring chrome-plated metal frame with natural sea shells discs. The lamps are clearly visible around the film's 56-minute mark (Blu-ray) as Bond is checking the lamp for hidden microphones. Early versions of the Fun 0DM lamp were manufactured in Switzerland which is also the film's primary location.

● Link to the Fun 0DM lamp at verpan.com

In the same sequence (time code 56:20) Syd Cain reused the iconic Bodil Kjær Office Desk from 1959 as part of the furniture in Bond's room. The free-standing table previously featured in "From Russia with Love" (EON 1963) and "You Only Live Twice" (EON 1967).

Around the two-hour mark Tracy di Vicenzo (Diana Rigg) is seen fiddling with another Verner Panton-designed lamp, the Fun 5DM, in Blofeld's office. Fun 5DM is an extra-large ceiling mounted lamp with two clusters of shells hanging from stainless steel rings.

2022.02.11

“You Only Live Twice” (1967): From Denmark with Love

● Danish Modern design by Bodil Kjær(born 1932) made its first Bond appearence in "From Russia With Love" (EON 1963) in several sequences showing Ernst Stavro Blofeld sitting behind Kjær's iconic Office Desk from 1959.

In "You Only Live Twice" (EON 1967) Bodil Kjær's free-standing wood and aluminum table reappears several times. In the film's teaser sequence, delegates from the three superpowers USA, USSR and United Kingdom are each seated behind Office Desks.
Time code (Blu-ray): 03:56-05:02

2021.12.03

“Goldfinger” (1964): From Denmark with Love

In this blog series James Bond•O•Rama.dk will attempt to cover every connection to Denmark seen on-screen in the James Bond 007 film series. If you spot a detail that we have missed, please fill us in!

● Shortly before Oddjob (Harold Sakata) knocks out James Bond (Sean Connery) with a karate chop, Bond opens the fridge at Hotel Fontainebleau to get a suitably chilled bottle of Dom Perignon '53 for himself and Jill Masterson (Shirley Eaton). The fridge also contains four golden cans of Danish Carlsberg beer as well as a green can placed upside down.
Time code (Blu-ray): 15 minutes 56 seconds.

● As James Bond is saying goodbye to Tilly Masterson (Tania Mallet) at a Swiss gas station, the Danish flag is waving in the wind on the opposite side of the road. Thanks to flag spotter extraordinaire Rikart Købke for noticing this detail.
Time code (Blu-ray): 40 minutes.

● Danish connections in "Dr. No" (1962)
● Danish connections in "From Russia with Love" (1963)

2021.10.15

“From Russia with Love” (1963): From Denmark with Love

In this new blog series James Bond•O•Rama.dk will attempt to cover every connection to Denmark seen on-screen in the James Bond 007 film series. If you spot a detail that we have missed, please fill us in!

● When Rosa Klebb (Lotte Lenya) and Kronsteen (Vladek Sheybal) are reporting to their leader Ernst Stavro Blofeld (Eric Pohlmann) on a SPECTRE boat, he is sitting at a desk created by Danish furniture designer Bodil Kjær (born 1932).
Cabinetmakers E. Pedersen & Søn produced the free-standing working table from Pao Ferro wood on a chromium-plated steel frame. Kjær originally designed the desk in 1959 as part of the "Office Units" collection for the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. This very fotogenic example of Danish Modern later found its way onto the silver screen in "You Only Live Twice" (EON 1967) and "On Her Majesty's Secret Service" (EON 1969). Allegedly, both Sean Connery and Michael Caine privately owned Bodil Kjær desks. Today a company called Karakter Copenhagen is still manufacturing the Office Desk albeit in oak or walnut with an aluminum frame.

Bodil Kjær's Office Desk at Karakter Copenhagen (external site)

2021.10.08

“Dr. No” (1962): From Denmark with Love

● In this scene from "Dr. No", the receptionist at the Jamaican hotel where James Bond (Sean Connery) is staying hands him a telegramme and a car key. On the wall behind the receptionist (Malou Pantera) you can clearly see the Danish flag known as the Dannebrog. It's the second flag from the left with a white cross on a red backing.
Time code (Blu-ray): 00:41:22

● A year before Marguerite LeWars appeared as the villainous "freelance" press photographer in "Dr. No", the young actress was crowned Miss Cherry Heering in a Jamaican beauty contest. The title was named after a internationally successful Danish brand of cherry liqueur which at the time was produced in the Copenhagen neighbourhood of Christianshavn.

Thanks to flag spotter Rikart Købke.