18 May 2014

Hotel Tropicana

"I hear the hotel Tropicana is quite comfortable. My condolences gentlemen..." 
Bond checks in to the Hotel Tropicana in Las Vegas after escaping Mr Slumber's cremation chamber in Diamonds are Forever. Bond only spends one night in his hotel room, before the diamond chase through Vegas starts. We find Bond in the bathtub, talking to Felix Leiter, telling him to bring in the real diamonds in order to stir up some new leads. He has mixed himself a Vodka Martini. Visible on the tray on the side of the tub is a bottle of Smirnoff red label and a bottle of Martini extra dry. The Smirnoff bottle is only distinguishable in blu-ray.


Bond brings Plenty O'Toole back to his suite at the Tropicana after the craps game at the Whyte House. Unfortunately for Bond, Plenty is thrown out the window, but he gets some compensation when he finds Tiffany Case in bed. Bond later moves into the bridal suite at the Whyte House with Tiffany. The full exterior of the Tropicana is never seen in the film.


The interior scenes however, were not filmed at the Tropicana, but at the Hotel Riviera which was transformed into the fictional "Whyte House". For the exterior shots of the Whyte House, the Las Vegas Hilton was used. Indeed noting in these hotels can be recognised from the film. Even the Hilton building has been expanded in two directions although the original structure still can be distinguished. The Riviera receives an acknowledgement in the end credits, as do the Tropicana and the Hilton. Apparently the cast and crew stayed at the Riviera during filming.

Below are two interesting interviews with Connery, shot on location of Diamonds between takes. Connery gives his rather honest point of view on the role and the future.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F83fagXZ4pA


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