A Child's Guide to Blowing Up a Motor Car (1965 TV Short) User Reviews

What could be more fun than blowing up . . .

[pixrox1 · 6/10 · 10 June 2014]

. . . Uncle Dennis? "Chris," alternately the godson or the nephew of "Uncle Dennis," wants to play James Bond, Jr. James Bond, a.k.a. Agent 007, is most famous for careening around public highways putting thousands in danger while looking for excuses to play Demolition Man. Planes, helicopters, volcanoes, entire islands, you name it--the bigger the object, the more Bond is hell-bent on destroying it. Any parent or guardian who would expose an impressionable child to James Bond is a Menace to Society, as A CHILD'S GUIDE TO BLOWING UP A MOTOR CAR from Ford Motors Corporation proves beyond the shadow of a doubt. Ford is most famous for patrolling its assembly lines with gun-toting goons under the direction of Harry "Mad Dog" Bennett (to prevent ANY communication between workers on the line) when its namesake founder was alive (and not hobnobbing with Hitler), and subsequently for exploding Firestone tires (old Mr. Firestone being BFFs with Henry Sr., back in the day, going so far as to cross-breed the clans). Certainly these are James' kind of folks, so who better to use James as a role model for the wee ones than Ford Motors?

wonderful curio for OO7 fans

[insect-09018 · 10/10 · 23 May 2022]

I have the Thunderball DVD but don't remember this entertaining and informative curio being included in the bonus features - but then, I've found the Bond DVDs to be very user-unfriendly to navigate. Anyway, it should definitely be included on a future bluray or similar. Comedian and TV personality Denis Norden accompanies a young boy to a racetrack (haven't identified which, I missed the very start), where the chase sequence involving the '57 Ford Fairlane pursuing OO7 and subsequently being destroyed by Fiona Volpe's rocket-firing motorbike is being filmed. The footage is silent and Norden provides a humorous narration and there is much jokey mischief, but in addition there is plenty of priceless behind the scenes footage. Terence Young, riding in a camera car, and Cubby Broccoli are present for numerous takes. A fire engine and crew is on standby as the boot of the car is loaded with a plastic bag filled with petrol soaked rags, to be detonated by the stunt driver via a dashboard-mounted switch. Numerous car boots are in evidence, since one is destroyed with each take. Sean Connery is not in attendance, but a deck chair is shown sporting his name, and a lifesize stand-in dummy of the star - very lifelike, but to me resembled Kenneth Moore - was a bit of recycling going on? Having observed these events, the finished sequence is played back - then in a coda, Norden is seemingly blown up by a car bomb. The schoolboy duly doffs his OO7 merchandise hat in solemn tribute - but it's OK, Denis is shown recovering in a hospital bed with nothing worse than an arm in a sling, his nose pressed into an Ian Fleming, a signed photo of the delectable Claudine Auger at his bedside.

All in all, a joy - not simply an essential piece of Bond behnd the scenes trivia, but an artifact that exemplifies the thrill of filmmaking. I am extremely grateful to the Talking Pictures TV channel, and to the hosts of the superb Footage Detectives show, Mike Reid and Noel Cronin, for broadcasting this gem.