World domination. The same old dream.

Dr No's reactor room. Note the reddish brown.

There are subtle tricks you can play in composition to give a desired impression of an imbalance, and one of these is to have a crooked second frame within the frame of a picture. Note that any given picture forms a natural frame by its own edge, in the case of cinema, this is the edge of the screen. In early James Bond movies, the set design often displays this desire to create an impression of an imbalance, to lend an air of danger to the evil antagonist. Early Bond villains have a tendency to live in secret bases, whose ceilings are crooked, thus framing them in a sense of danger. They are usually furnished with polished steel, rock, concrete and some minimalist wooden panelling to further the cold blooded effect. If there is any leather, its usually the same tone of reddish brown as the wooden panels. It all works quite well though, your not in any doubt as to the kind of man your dealing with. No matter where you put the camera, the audience see's the effect, even if they are not aware of it.

Dr No's reception chamber. Note the shadow furthering the effect of the ceiling, and lending a visual que to the tarantula which will shortly be making an appearance. The Bond films were not the only ones to use this kind of composition. Hitchcock, amongst others, was very fond of it, and used it to even greater effect. I'm not sure what the big hole in the ceiling is meant to do, except perhaps to give a sense of claustrophobia

Goldfinger. Fatter, jovial and more inclined towards wooden panelling, so a lot more reddish browns, but the ceiling is still crooked, with slanting support struts to complete the crooked second frame effect.

Another big hole in the ceiling. Is it a symbolic eye, or are we trapped at the bottom of a pit?

Thunderball. Most of this film takes place underwater or on ships, but theres just enough room to slip in a crooked ceiling.

You only live twice. Now the good guys also have crooked ceilings in their secret bases, and naturally they also favour the cold concrete and metallic look.

Greens were not popular with the villains of the 1960's.

Diamonds are forever. Blofelds crib demonstrating what a cold hearted fruit cake he really is.

Live and let die. A new Bond and a new era. As the 1970's get going and anti establishment sentiments begin to filter into the script writing, the crooked ceilings get relagated to the corridors, and later disapear entirely from the villains hide away. The cold rock and concrete colour scheme remains though.

The Man with the Golden Gun lives in a 'normal' polished steel, rock and concrete hide away, that is to say he has no crooked ceiling at all (only a few slanting support struts in his personal power station). Instead its the British themselves who have become suspect for here the crooked framing has gone beserk, but the secret base in question is an MI6 outpost, concealed inside a ship wreck in Hong Kong harbour. Is it just a coincidence, or was some one making a statement about Britain's crown colony?




Britain continues to be suspect in The Spy who Loved me. Here is a room meant to be in Faslane submarine base, compete with crooked ceiling, polished steel, concrete and some reddish brown furnishings. Its interesting to note that during this period, Bond himself got progressively sillier.

In Moonraker, the crooked ceilings return with a vengence. The evil antagonist of this film, one Hugo Drax is nothing short of a Hitleresque businessman megalomaniac, and the set design pulls out all the stops to make sure the audience gets the vibe. Drax's headquarters has a hundred or so screens set above the room in such a manner as to give all his minions a crick in the neck. With screens come colours, but green is still avoided.

No potted plants in this corridor!

Drax's steel and stone conference room which, naturally as he is deranged, doubles as a rocket exhaust chamber. Note the mysterious big hole in the ceiling motif has also made a come back.

The last gasp for the crooked ceiling came with Goldeneye. The Bond franchise tried to recapture something it had lost; Tina Turner provided the big sound theme song, Pierce Brosnan provided a more confident and popular Bond, and the set designer brought back the crooked ceiling in the villain's secret lair.

It might have worked too. Goldeneye is often quoted as one of the best Bond films, along side Dr No, Goldfinger and Thunderball.