Kundura Sinema will screen a restored print of the 1971 Bond classic “Diamonds Are Forever”. Here are 10 things to know about it.

1 – INSPIRED BY GOLDFINGER

Ian Fleming‘s 1956 novel of the same name was adapted into “Diamonds Are Forever”, for which the producers drew inspiration from the 1964 Bond film “Goldfinger”; as in that film, Guy Hamilton directed, and the opening featured a Shirley Bassey song.

2 – CONNERY AGAIN, SEAN CONNERY

 George Lazenby did not want to play Bond a second time after “On Her Majesty’s Secret Service” (1969), so the search for a new actor began. Burt Reynolds, John Gavin and Michael Gambon were among the names on the list, but when it failed to generate enough excitement, the producers came knocking on Sean Connery’s door, and the actor agreed to return as James Bond for the sixth time for a salary of $1.25 million, a figure unheard of at the time.

3 – THE FIRST AMERICAN ‘BOND GIRL’

Actresses considered for the ‘Bond Girl’ Tiffany Case included Raquel Welch, Jane Fonda and Faye Dunaway. Considered for the role of Plenty O’Toole, Jill St. John, during screen tests, impressed director Guy Hamilton so much that the part went to her, and so, for the first time, a ‘Bond Girl’ was played by an American actress.

4 – BOND LANDS ON THE MOON

The ‘Moon landing’ scene on Bond’s film set is a nod to the ‘we never really went to the Moon’ conspiracy theories popular at the time. The scene was shot in Nevada, at a gypsum plant just outside Las Vegas. The famous Moon buggy was found rotting in a farmer’s field in the early 1990s and was restored by the James Bond International Fan Club in 1993. In 2004 it was put up for auction at Christie’s and bought by Planet Hollywood Las Vegas for $44,000.

5 – 1971 MUSTANG MACH 1

Since the Las Vegas car chase would involve many crashes, the producers struck a deal with Ford Motor Company, one of the leaders of the automotive industry, to use its vehicles. Ford’s only request was that Sean Connery drive the 1971 Mustang Mach 1 belonging to the ‘Bond Girl.’

6 – THE VILLAIN: BLOFELD

It was the first Bond film not to use the villain from the novel. While the film presents Blofeld as the villain, in the novel it was actually the Spang Brothers. We had already seen Charles Gray, who created one of the most iconic Blofelds of the series, in the 1967 Bond film “You Only Live Twice”, in the role of Henderson.

7 – A PEARL OF WISDOM FROM BLOFELD

Blofeld’s famous line, “Humility is the worst form of conceit,” is a quotation from the 17th-century French writer François de La Rochefoucauld.

8 – SHIRLEY BASSEY FOR THE SECOND TIME

The original score was composed, for the sixth time, by John Barry. Shirley Bassey, who lent her voice to one of the most beloved Bond songs, “Diamonds Are Forever”, also sang “Goldfinger” (1964) and “Moonraker” (1979), and remains the only singer to have performed more than one Bond song.

9 – ONE OF 1971’S BOX OFFICE CHAMPIONS

Made on a budget of $7.2 million, “Diamonds Are Forever” was released in December 1971 and grossed a total of $24,568,915 worldwide. It was number one in the United States for seven weeks in a row, and in the United Kingdom it became the second highest-grossing film of 1971 after “On the Buses.”

10 – AN OSCAR NOMINATION FOR SOUND

Named Best Film at the Golden Secreen Awards in 1973, “Diamonds are Forever” was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Sound.