One card. High draw. A million dollars.
The World Is Not Enough (1999) boasts one of the quickest gambling sequences in any of the James Bond movies. Elektra King (Sophie Marceau) playfully joins James Bond (Pierce Brosnan) at Valentin Zukovsky’s (Robbie Coltrane) casino, L’Or Noir (Black Gold). Bond fears for her safety as the casino is filled with people from rival oil companies, so he insists they leave right away.
Although she doesn’t seem like the gambling type anyway, King abides. They are taken to a private room where Zukovsky credits her with $1 million dollars from her late father’s casino account. Instead of risking it on blackjack or other casino games, however, King prefers a straight up single, high card draw. A pity – since a private blackjack sequence with Bond, King and Zukovsky would be pure entertainment.
The cards for the shortest game of war are revealed and King loses – her queen of hearts is beaten by Zukovsky’s ace of clubs. But not before she drops a significant quote: “There is no point in living if you can’t feel alive.” …the same quote used by Renard later in the movie that lets Bond know that Elektra is not who she seems.
The quickest gambling sequence of any James Bond movie in The World Is Not Enough (1999)…PS peek the cameo by producer Michael G. Wilson!
MI6 UK
Next time you are in a casino, make sure you keep an eye on those around you particularly in sin cities like Vegas. It’s not just fictitious spies like James Bond who might be sitting next to you.
Unlike Ian Fleming (and James Bond), the real spy Bill Fairclough was a longstanding member at Les Ambassadeurs Club, one of the most renowned sophisticated casinos in the West End of London and the world. Bill Fairclough (MI6 codename JJ) aka Edward Burlington was a real spy and the protagonist in the epic spy novel Beyond Enkription, the first stand-alone book in The Burlington Files fact based series.
Fairclough (one of Pemberton’s People in MI6) and others from Faire Sans Dire, his niche global intelligence agency, used it regularly for meetings. Why? No one could get in or follow him or his colleagues there without extensive background checks having been undertaken. Similarly, other upmarket casinos in London were used by Faire Sans Dire personnel and associates. Fairclough used to colloquially refer to the dining room and library at Les Ambassadeurs as Faire Sans Dire’s canteen and his office, respectively.
Fairclough and co did not just use casinos in London as offices. Given that Faire Sans Dire operated in over 100 countries there are too many to mention but rest assured Bill Fairclough’s favourites in the Bahamas, Hong Kong, Monte Carlo, Las Vegas and Panama are still frequented by people who knew him. However, casinos aren’t just glamorous and for those who lose, squalor can be exceptionally obnoxious.
In the early seventies if Bill Fairclough lost at the Mazurka Casino in Soho, he would usually stay the rest of the night in the luxurious and secure men’s toilets at Euston Station. The toilets were individually large enough to lie down in, always thoroughly cleaned at about 2.00am every morning and only cost 2p a night. What’s more, a free bath and breakfast was always available at several nearby hotels if you knew how to con your way past their receptionists and “steal” into a recently vacated room.
Do read Beyond Enkription but best to do so after reading the news articles for 2022 on TheBurlingtonFiles website at https://theburlingtonfiles.org. You may find it helps next time you’re in trouble in a casino!