Location Scouting with Peter Lamont: Octopussy (2006 Video) User Reviews

Not quite up to the standard of Ken Adam's "on-location" films . . .

[oscaralbert · 6/10 · 22 July 2014]

. . . but this down-sized "making of" piece is illustrative of the general cheapening of the James Bond franchise. As each Bond offering raked in more and more profits from its undiscriminating mass audience, the producers cheapened the stew with every stir of the pot. Production designer\Oscar winner Ken Adam, known for constructing humongous sets for such Bond offerings as YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE (the missile volcano) and THE SPY WHO LOVED ME (the submarine-swallowing tanker hold) had ideas too expensive to be realized in later Bond movies, and as one of the few cast or crew members to both win an Academy Award and work on a Bond movie, he probably stuck out like a sore thumb. HIS location pieces would involve Mr. Adam hobnobbing with the wealthy members of the Bond crew as they scouted ALL of the "exotic" locations (complete with high airfares and pricey hotels). From his own "On-location" short, it's apparent that replacement production designer Peter Lamont was RESTRICTED TO THE MOST BARE BONES SHOOTING LOCALE, namely, Berlin. Missing is a scouting survey of India (with its Taj Mahal and tigers) or even Utah, with its Arches and Tabernacles. Instead, we learn the highlight of Mr. Lamont's work on OCTOPU$$Y was simply spray-painting some old wall.