In James Bond Destinations, we’re taken to many of the places that feature in Bond’s jet-set itineraries. Each chapter is filled with insider insights and memorable scenes. Think Ursula Andress emerging from the Jamaican waves, Daniel Craig on a high-speed car chase through the streets of Rome, and Roger Moore battling his nemesis on a Sugarloaf cable car in Rio.
The plotlines may have drifted from Ian Fleming’s novels with outrageous feats of dramatic licence, but as spellbound cinemagoers were taken into the farthest-flung corners of the world, it hardly mattered. On the silver screen Bond prompted audiences to dream of glamorous vacations and became a walking advert for exotic travel. Barbara Broccoli, daughter of the original Bond co-producer Albert “Cubby” Broccoli, says her father ‘wanted to take people out of their lives and transport them on an adventure to something magical’.
In the 1960s overseas travel was comparatively rare, but as it became more widespread, the Bond experience stayed one step ahead. ‘You have to find places that haven’t been seen. Or you have to think of doing something spectacular in a well-known place.’ For Casino Royale, the Grand Canal in Venice was partly closed for the first time in 300 years, giving Bond – then played by Daniel Craig – the chance to sail a yacht up the canal without crowds of onlookers in the shot. Compellingly interesting and fantastic, this immaculately produced collection of photographs is a must-have for Bond aficionados everywhere.
James Bond Destinations by Daniel Pembrey (£100, Assouline)
Nick Smith is UK Bureau Chief of the Explorers Journal, the magazine of the Explorers Club in New York. Formerly editor of Geographical, the magazine of the Royal Geographical Society, he is also a contributing editor on Black + White Photography and Outdoor Photography magazines. His new book Travelling Light is published in Autumn 2023
