If you remember the pre-credits opening sequence when OSS agents Jack Jefferson & Hubert Beauniseau de la Bath recover the V2 documents on the Nazi plane going to South America, the title card does say BERLIN 1945, so the Neo-Nazi agent Moeller was correct in saying that it been 10 years since 0SS 117 recovered the V2 plans and killed Moeller's German Friend, so it is the year 1955. Also Nasser took Egyptien power over King Farouk by overthrowing the King's government in 1953, so it's correct that Princess Al Tarouk tells to OSS 117 that it has been 2 years since Nasser put King Farouk into exile in the Rome sequence that also takes place in 1955. And it was in 1955 that there was an explosion in Cairo that caused a great international crisis in Nasser's Egypt as depicted in the OSS 117 film but in a humourous tone of course! But it's obvious that the makers of OSS 117 Cairo Nest Of spies were going for the early 1960's spy films look in the movie, especially DR. NO & FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE. Just look at the sequence when OSS 117 arrives at Cairo Airport in the film and it is completely remenisicnt of the sequences of James Bond(Sean Connery) arriving at Jamaica Airport in DR.NO and at Istambul Airport especially in FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE. But in all honesty, DR. NO looks and fells like a 50's film than a 60's film in it's production value, music(except for the James Bond Theme) and cinematography and so does FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE to a certain extent. It isn't until GOLDFINGER that the Bond Films really looked and feeled like 60's films in my opinion as a Spy movie fan.
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claudecat
16 years ago
definitely the early 60's were very related to the 50's, so I see what you mean, but IMHO there's a huge difference between the look of 1955 movies and "Dr. No." The new film's makers must have made a deliberate decision to set the story and the design in different periods. To me this is odd: there were so many details of the production design that obviously didn't fit the year that I found it distracting. But since the OSS 117 books were started in the late 40's, maybe they decided to stick to the timeline from the novel, as opposed to the adapters of "The Grifters" who changed the plot in keeping with the production design. Your info about the real-life Cairo explosion and the Farouk govt. was very educational for me; thanks. I also liked your comparison of some of the sequences to "Dr. No".
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alanbobet
16 years ago
Thanks for your incisive reply,claudecat. By the way, did you know that OSS 117:Cairo Nest Of Spies was nominated for various CESAR awards(the French equivalent of our OSCARS) for the year 2006 when it was released and that the only CESAR award the film got was for it's production design, although the film, script, director and star Jean Dumajin were also nominated? The biggest surprise for the CESAR awards was that OSS 117 star Jean Dumajin was nominated for Best Actor for his comedic lead performance, which normally the CESARS only acknowledge performances in dramatic films( just like it happens here with the OSCARS!)
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