CNN style | How the ‘Goldfinger’ Alpine sequence gave rise to Bondmania

Sean Connery pictured alongside Tania Mallet’s stunt double, Phillys Cornell (left), and director Guy Hamilton’s wife, Miriam Charrière (right). Credit: EON Productions/Promotional shot by Arthur Evans

A supervillain, an assassin, a mountain car chase and an Aston Martin equipped with gadgetry — the Alpine scenes in 1964’s “Goldfinger” set a new benchmark for the archetypal James Bond sequence. And as well as being, arguably, the most iconic six minutes and 37 seconds in the franchise’s history, it is also one of the best documented.

In a then-unprecedented publicity move, journalists and photographers were invited to the Swiss Alps for the seven-day shoot, where they mingled with cast and crew members. The strategy appeared to work — “Goldfinger” became, at the time, one of the box office’s highest-ever grossing movies.  —read more—