The Goldfinger Files: The Making of the Iconic Alpine Sequence in the James Bond Movie Goldfinger

by Steffen Appel, Peter Walty, Franck Hamilton (Foreword)

Unseen images and documents from the ultimate Bond film Perhaps the classic James Bond film, Goldfinger (1964) undoubtedly marked the beginning of 1960s Bondmania. Incorporating much unpublished material, including photographs and the original typed screenplay, The Goldfinger Files is an illustrated history of the film’s iconic scenes shot in Switzerland’s Urseren Valley, crowned by the car chase with Bond’s gadget-laden Aston Martin.

To maximize publicity for the film, its makers took the unorthodox step of inviting journalists and photographers onto the set, resulting in a wealth of photos, including those by Hans Gerber, Josef Ritler and Erich Kocian. These give us an insider’s view of the famous sequence―Goldfinger’s Rolls-Royce on the dusty mountain road, Tilly Masterson’s failed assassination attempt on him, the chase between her Mustang and Bond’s Aston Martin and finally Goldfinger’s smelting factory. Dozens of private pictures revealing candid, behind-the-scenes moments complete this documentary flipbook of golden-age James Bond culture.

Genres: Nonfiction

192 pages, Hardcover

Published October 6, 2020

Reviews

[Bill · Rating 5 out of 5]

This huge coffee table size book is an absolute treat. The authors have put together an excellent piece of work, covering a week in July 1964 when the classic alpine sequences for the film Goldfinger were filmed in Switzerland.
Goldfinger director Guy Hamilton gave one of the authors an original Goldfinger screenplay & they were allowed access to photographs taken by journalists as well as private photographs from employees at the Swiss hotel where the cast & crew were staying. Back in 1964 James Bond wasn't well known in Switzerland, which leads to some amusing stories about how the crew had to sort out hotels, catering & other issues as they went along.
There are some lovely off set photographs of Sean Connery & Tania Mallet (who played Tilly Masterson) on location. They are lying on the grass (as no tables & chairs were available) eating chicken legs & salad from paper plates with plastic cutlery. The luxury life of a film star!
Despite only covering seven days of filming The Goldfinger Files is one of the best books I've read on a James Bond film. Incredibly informative text & a wealth of rare photographs make this a solid gold read.

[Joe Meyers · Rating 5 out of 5]

James Bond fans will be thrilled by this unique oversized book that covers just one location in the filming of ‘Goldfinger.’ Back in those days Bond hadn’t yet taken off into the pop culture stratosphere so the Swiss locations were wide open to reporters and photographers. 1960s Bond mania wouldn’t start until later that year when ‘Goldfinger’ opened around the world.
The book takes us day by day through the work Sean Connery did on just one piece of the story - Tilly Masterson’s failed attempt to avenge the murder of her sister Jill by Goldfinger (the villain painted Jill’s body gold from head to toe).
The book puts us into the schedule of a major film on location from the shooting of small bits of the story each day to socializing after hours in the small hotel taken over by the cast and crew.
It’s a wonderful vicarious experience working on a movie that was about to change global pop culture forever.
007 fans will eat this up with a spoon. A new angle on an old favorite.

[Ellison · Rating 5 out of 5]

this is a day-by-day account of the events to film the six minute scene in the film 'goldfinger'. daily call sheets appear and behind the scenes pictures and stories are shared.at one point they all eat lucnc, sitting on the ground.

concludes with then and now images of what the areas looked like during filming and how they looked when the book was written.

[Joe Emery · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent.