31 July 2010 (released)
07 August 2010
Last Saturday the prestigious BAFTA played host to a special event to celebrate the work of acclaimed film director Guy Hamilton who, to a wider audience, is best known for having directed four Bond movies.
Guy Hamilton became an assistant director in the UK after WW2, in particular for directors like John Huston (The African Queen) and Carol Reed (The Third Man). He began directing himself in the early 50’s, with films like The Colditz Story and A Touch Of Larcency, for which he was nominated for a BAFTA Award for Best British Screenplay.
Hamilton is furthermore known for having directed the Agatha Christie adaptations The Mirror Crack’d and Evil Under the Sun, as well as the espionage thriller Funeral In Berlin and the all-star-cast epic Battle Of Britain.
However, he really made a name for himself with his first James Bond film Goldfinger (1964) – one of the most popular Bond movies ever. Other 007 adventures were Diamonds Are Forever from 1971 (once again starring Sean Connery) and Live And Let Die (1973) and The Man With The Golden Gun (1974) both starring Roger Moore.
Author and broadcaster Iain Johnstone was the host of the evening and welcomed Guy Hamilton onto stage to chat with him about his career. Hamilton, despite 88-years of age, displayed a remarkable memory and entertained the audience (and Mr. Johnstone) with anecdotes from his days as a film director. Later on, the audience was encouraged to ask questions, too.
Patient and good-humoured, he answered all the questions but went slightly irritated when Iain Jonstone wanted to know whether Guy preferred Sean Connery or Roger Moore to work with. “I don’t wish to be rude”, replied Hamilton, “but journalists all over the world have asked me the same question again and again since 40 years. To begin with, Connery and Moore are two completely different human beings. Connery is a very good runner, whereas Moore is hopeless at it and freely admits it. But to make up for it, he is an excellent swimmer!” (Laughter from the audience).
He proceeded to tell an anecdote that brought the house down, namely when he directed Live And Let Die. “Originally, the scene in which Roger Moore steps over the crocodile heads was supposed to be 30 sec long and then suddenly, in the script it mounted up to over nine minutes. Anyway, the crocodiles’ jaws were tied together and we let Roger step over their heads. Of course, this being Roger Moore, he insisted on wearing shoes made of crocodile leather during that scene! When he stepped on the last croc, he slipped and fell. His head was inches away from the crocodile’s head! But the final edit looks impressive on screen!”
When asked why he turned down to direct the first ever Bond movie Dr. No (directed by Terence Young in 1962) he gave a very opinionated reply. “I had personal reasons, but also upon having seen the film, audiences were laughing during the scene in which the tarantula crawls up on Connery’s bed. The producers realized that Bond was represented too over the top. As for the Bond films that I directed, I had various ideas, one of them was to put Sean Connery and Brigitte Bardot together in Diamonds Are Forever. BB was a big star and I thought it would be interesting and a clever thing to do. Unfortunately, the film studio didn’t share my enthusiasm. In those days, all of the budget went into props and location, so they disencouraged me from getting big stars like BB on board because of the fee she would have demanded. If we spend money on BB now, then the next film requires us to employ an even bigger and more expensive star like Faye Dunaway, and so it will go on. No! So that was the film studio’s argument and the end of my suggestion of getting BB into a Bond film.”
In between Q & A and anecdotes, film clips from Hamilton’s various movies were shown on screen, including a rare and little known b/w film from 1963 called The Party’s Over starring Oliver Reed. The film is about a group of Chelsea beatniks, but a dispute with British censors prevented the film from opening in London until 1965, albeit in a cut version. Guy Hamilton was so displeased with the censorship situation that he lobbied to have his name removed from the credits.
Before the evening came to an end, Iain Johnstone mentioned the Battle Of Britain remake. “Good luck to them!” remarked Guy Hamilton dryly.
(Photo of Guy Hamilton © courtesy of Bafta)
