Alec Mills and how Bond films used to work

A scene from The Living Daylights (1987), photographed by Alec Mills

Alec Mills, who worked on several James Bond films as a camera operator and director of photography, has died at 91, according to various Bond fan sites, including From Sweden With Love.

His passing is a reminder of how Eon Productions, which produces James Bond films, used to work.

Eon was known for a long time for promoting from within.

Peter Hunt edited the first five Bond films. He was promoted to director for the sixth, On Her Majesty’s Secret Service.

Peter Lamont’s 007 career began as a draftsman on Goldfinger, helping to make Ken Adam’s set designs practical. He moved up to set decorator and art director before succeeding Adam as production designer.

John Glen, after three Bond films as editor and second unit director, was promoted to director. He directed all five Eon-produced Bond films in the 1980s.

In the case of Mills, he was a camera operator on various 007 movies: On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, The Spy Who Loved Me, Moonraker, For Your Eyes Only, and Octopussy. When the director of photography position was vacant for 1987’s The Living Daylights, Mills was named to fill it.

One of the most memorable shots of The Living Daylights occurs after Bond (Timothy Dalton) has escaped Russian captivity and joins up with a group of Mujahideen. Bond and his new allies arise early in the day. Mills provided a striking image (see above), enhanced by John Barry’s final Bond film score. Mills would also fill the director of photography spot for 1989’s Licence to Kill.

Mills also was among those interviewed for home video extras produced in the late 1990s for some Bond films.

In the 21st century, Bond films don’t come out very often. As a result, you don’t have the same kind of crew continuity as the Eon-made 20th century Bond movies.

UPDATE: Reader Delmo Walters Jr. informs me that Alec Mills was also camera operator on 20 episodes of The Saint.

Website says 007 cinematography of Craig era improved

Apparently pre-Craig era 007 cinematography, like this Alec Mills shot from The Living Daylights, was the work of hacks.

The Film School Rejects website, in a post last month, said the cinematography of James Bond films during the Daniel Craig era was noticeably better than its predecessors.

An excerpt:

All the earlier efforts were, with due respect, vehicles for action sequences, there was little to nothing dynamic about their cinematography otherwise, and even the action sequences were more dazzling for their production design than for the way they were shot.

But with Casino Royale, directed by Martin Campbell and shot by Phil Mehuex, the cinematography of the franchise leapt forward, becoming every bit as slick, stark, daring, and as fluidly brutal as the character whose adventures it captured. It was a pattern that continued through Quantum of Solace (dir. Marc Forster, DP Roberto Schaefer), Skyfall (dir. Sam Mendes, DP Roger Deakins), and Spectre (dir. Mendes, DP Hoyte Van Hoytema) and as a result the Craig-Bond-era has been uniquely successful for the historic franchise. (emphasis added)

A few things:

— Mehuex also photographed 1995’s GoldenEye (which was also directed by Campbell). Was Meheux a hack during GoldenEye who became an artist 11 years later? Was his photography in Casino Royale that much better than his work in GoldenEye?

–Pre-Craig 007 directors of photography weren’t exactly slouches. Ted Moore, the original DOP, won an Oscar for 1966’s A Man For All Seasons. Freddie Young, who photographed 1967’s You Only Live Twice, won three Oscars and was described by director Lewis Gilbert as one of the great artists of British cinema.

Oswald Morris, co-DOP of The Man With The Golden Gun, won an Oscar and had two nominations. (With Golden Gun, he took over for Ted Moore, who fell ill, and photographed interior sequences. Both Moore and Oswald shared the DOP credit.) Claude Renior, who photographed The Spy Who Loved Me, was highly regarded.

–Other 007 DOPs had their moments. Alec Mills, who had been promoted up the ranks until photographing 1987’s The Living Daylights, had a striking shot during that movie’s Afghanistan sequence.

The Film School Rejects’ post includes a video with a sort of “best of” video of shots from the Craig era. See for yourself.