Ken Adam

Ken Adam is probably best known as the production designer of seven James Bond films. Dr. No is probably the most important of that series as it created a unique futuristic look that would become a hallmark of the Bond film.

"The Bond films cannot be seen as examples of normal film-making. When I started on each of them I started with the book and not a script. In You Only Live Twice I went off to Japan and found an extinct volcano and thought it would be fantastic to have the villans inside and this idea was the written into the script." 4

The subject matter of the Bond film allows the production designer to experiment. The mixture of futuristic technology and international espionage creates fantasy which is established through the set design. The most expressive part of the Bond film is always the "villans lair".

Fig.2.1 The villian's lair in Dr. No

Dr. No, as illustrated in the picture, mixes decandence with technology. An example is the way Adam mixes glass, marble, steel, and wood in the one room. The elaboration of the "villans lair" not only suggests wealth but also a mental unstability as the spectator questions the villian's choice of interior design. However, the use of materials such as glass, steel and marble suggest an efficiency and clinical atmosphere within Dr. No's underground apartment.

"Dr. No's underground apartment stimulated alot of thought and ideas from everybody. Someone came up with the idea of the Goya painting of the Duke of Wellington, which ahd been stolen from the National Gallery. Literally within forty eight hours, I had to reproduce the stolen Goya painting. I think that started the tongue-in-cheek concept of the Bond pictures, and it became more and more important as we made these films." 5

The boldness of Ken Adam's work is apparent throughtout and maybe it is the boldness of the subject matter that allows him to create this expansive visual style.