20 Things You Didn't Know About The Man With The Golden Gun (1974)

12. A New Slant

The Man With The Golden Gun Ending
MGM/UA

MI6 increasingly followed Double-0 Seven into the field during Roger Moore's era, setting up shop in distinctive landmarks.

The British Secret Service's field office in Hong Kong is on board the wreck of the RMS Queen Elizabeth; the liner caught fire in 1972 whilst being refitted and subsequently capsized. This gave Peter Murton a fantastic opportunity to create bizarre slanted sets representing the vessel.

Sadly, whilst the first scenes for the film had been shot aboard the actual half-sunken ocean liner in November 1973, the vessel was already being scrapped by the time of the film's release as she was a hazard to shipping, meaning that the idea was already outdated.

Almost half the ship is estimated to remain on the seabed in Hong Kong Harbour and was buried during land reclamation for Container Terminal 9. This is particularly sad as the RMS Queen Elizabeth had featured in the closing chapters of Ian Fleming's 1956 Bond novel, Diamonds Are Forever.

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I started writing for WhatCulture in July 2020. I have always enjoyed reading and writing. I have contributed to several short story competitions and I have occasionally been fortunate enough to have my work published. During the COVID-19 lockdown, I also started reviewing films on my Facebook page. Numerous friends and contacts suggested that I should start my own website for reviewing films, but I wanted something a bit more diverse - and so here I am! My interests focus on film and television mainly, but I also occasionally produce articles that venture into other areas as well. In particular, I am a fan of the under appreciated sequel (of which there are many), but I also like the classics and the mainstream too.