The Goldfinger Files

As one of popular culture's most charming and enduring characters, James Bond needs no introduction. Neither does Goldfinger (1964), perhaps the classic Bond film and undoubtedly the beginning of 1960s Bondmania. Incorporating much unpublished material including photographs and the original typed screenplay, The Goldfinger Files is an illustrated history of the film's iconic scenes shot in Switzerland's Urseren Valley, crowned by the car chase with Bond's gadget-laden Aston Martin. To maximize publicity for the film, its makers took the unorthodox step of inviting journalists and photographers onto the set, resulting in a wealth of photos including those by Hans Gerber, Josef Ritler and Erich Kocian. These give us an insider's view of the famous sequenceGoldfinger's Rolls-Royce on the dusty mountain road, Tilly Masterton's failed assassination attempt on him, the chase between her Mustang and Bond's Aston Martin, and finally Goldfinger's smelting factory. Dozens of private pictures revealing candid, behind-the-scenes moments complete this documentary flipbook of golden-age James Bond culture.

Auteur
Born in Aarau in 1965, Peter Waelty studied history and English at the University of Zurich. From 2000 he was editor-in-chief and digital director for various Swiss online news sites. He is the author of James Bond und die Schweiz (2008), and the editor of Blick war dabei Boulevardfotografie von 1959 bis 2019, published by Steidl in 2019.