# James Bond's Europiccola



## slamm (Nov 26, 2016)

Got a bit bored with my old avatar so looking around for something Pavoni related I remembered this clip. Not sure if this has been posted here before and I expect lots of you have seen it but here it is in all it's 70's glory - the La Pavoni Europiccola as demonstrated by James Bond himself in the film Live and Let Die






The prop 'espresso' looks very odd and spot the unorthodox steaming technique - espresso in with the milk and the opv tube! These bloopers seem so obvious to us now but of course back then no one would have had a clue. To a British audience this was all new, this was a sophisticated and chic new Italian machine. We were just dazzled by the whole performance as Bond apparently skillfully shows us how those sophisticated Continentals make their espresso at home.. maybe some Italians would have had a chuckle though. And love M's response..









A smart bit of product placement by La Pavoni, I expect it would have had quite an impact on sales. Wonder why they added the aluminium plate on top and removed the rubber around the base. Seems odd, as if they were trying to disguise it a bit for some reason, but obviously not completely as they left the badge on. Perhaps it's to do with this being an older model than would have been on sale at the time of the films release, maybe at the time of filming the new design hadn't been finalised yet.

Espresso's looking a bit watery there James! ...

  

yes that's great James but what on Earth is that aluminium plate doing there? ...

  

and why the missing rubber base cover?

  

add a splash of milk to the cup..

  

and the coup de grace.. Bond's patented double barrelled *coffee* steaming technique..


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## MildredM (Feb 13, 2017)

Q's expression at the steaming technique


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## fatboyslim (Sep 29, 2011)

that is M...


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## slamm (Nov 26, 2016)

MildredM said:


> Q's expression at the steaming technique


He seems a bit bemused by the whole palava doesn't he, and of course he has more important things on his mind..

and yes its M.. M for Mildred







although that is definitely a Q type punchline he's borrowed there.


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## ashcroc (Oct 28, 2016)

If you're gonna have that as your avatar be sure to video yourself preparing a cap tjat way first. If you can include the odd way he uses the grinder then all the better!


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## slamm (Nov 26, 2016)

ashcroc said:


> If you're gonna have that as your avatar be sure to video yourself preparing a cap tjat way first. If you can include the odd way he uses the grinder then all the better!


I might just give that a miss.. tempting though it is







didnt spot anything with the grinder, about the only thing that looked about right to me but then I don't have an electric (yet..)


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## MildredM (Feb 13, 2017)

fatboyslim said:


> that is M...


Oops! I thought it was Desmond Llewelyn at first glance. Silly me!


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## Jacko112 (Oct 29, 2015)

I used to serve Desmond in my dads shop in Bexhill when I was a teenager- useless fact!


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## jimbojohn55 (Jan 15, 2016)

Ive pondered the alu plate as well - this is the model with the drip tray so why not use it! the plat itself is quite thin so would easily damage or bend with a bit of us - Ive never seen a plate as an accessory so it must have been to stop our ham fisted hero (licensed to kill espresso) either slide the cup in place or to stop reflections / lens flare from the holes in the base, why remove the rubber base - odd!


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## rob177palmer (Feb 14, 2017)

Surely we are looking at this clip through a modern "product placement" lens?

With a different drip tray cover, brand removed, etc., doesn't that suggest this isn't paid for advertisement - the producers decided bond should make a continental coffee, bought the mod con du jour, debranded it and, best bit, didn't read the instructions on how the hell to use the damned thing!

Looks like how someone familiar with a traditional English "kaff" would guess at how to steam milk - "why the hell wouldn't you mix the milk in the steam"!!???


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## slamm (Nov 26, 2016)

rob177palmer said:


> Surely we are looking at this clip through a modern "product placement" lens?
> 
> With a different drip tray cover, brand removed, etc., doesn't that suggest this isn't paid for advertisement -


You could well be right going by the multiple bloopers, maybe La Pavoni weren't involved directly or you would think they might have had some influence on how it was portrayed. On the other hand I think the Bond franchise has always been renowned for their product placement deals so I think it would be unlikely for there not to be some kind of deal (the badge was left on btw). If the arrangement was for it to be an arms length kind of deal so they weren't around to advise or on set getting in everyones way, which I suspect is what the producers would have pushed for and likely got, then there is plenty of room for such multiple cock ups. As you say from the films point of view all they want is for Bond to be seen with the latest gizmos of the day, the audience doesn't really know any better and its only a brief glimpse anyway so it doesn't really matter if forty five years later some coffee forumites pick holes in it.







Probably La Pavoni didn't really care too much either, just getting it in the film would have been the objective and if they didnt read the instructions well so what we're going to sell loads of them anyway!


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## slamm (Nov 26, 2016)

jimbojohn55 said:


> why remove the rubber base - odd!


Maybe some of these decisions were down to the set designer.. maybe they just liked the look of it better without it.


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## MildredM (Feb 13, 2017)

slamm said:


> Maybe some of these decisions were down to the set designer.. maybe they just liked the look of it better without it.


Maybe one of the runners swiped it for his restoration project


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## slamm (Nov 26, 2016)

MildredM said:


> Maybe one of the runners swiped it for his restoration project


lol







@jimbojohn55 - you haven't gone and built one of those time machine things in your bunker have you?


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## slamm (Nov 26, 2016)

A closer look at the full horror that is Bond's *cappuccino* steaming technique and I've just realised you can almost make out the serial number.. looks something like B1457 which would make it a v1.6, the current model for '72 when they were filming.. Imagine if it came up on eBay! second thoughts maybe just forget that serial number ok? Definitely probably wrong anyway.









Re the alu plate.. the v1.7 arrived with the films release in 1973 so this possible disguise could perhaps be explained if they were thinking about changing or adding something like the removable plastic drip tray, which instead eventually came two years later with the v2.0.


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## jimbojohn55 (Jan 15, 2016)

Ha ha ,channelling the ghost of old man Pavoni- the odd thing is that the drainpipe portafilter spout hadn't been fitted since 1968 also the issue with removing the base is that it would leave a load of glue round the edge of the machine, Mister Pavoni says he off now to haunt / supervise the entrants in the Latte art competition. In the mean time im going to put a 1974 model up for sale next weekend if anyone wants to recreate this scene with its correct operation.


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## Dylan (Dec 5, 2011)

The Alu plate is probably the set designers doing, unless product placement is paid for and stipulates no changes they will usually make little changes to everything to better suit the style of the scene.


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## Hasi (Dec 27, 2017)

ashcroc said:


> If you're gonna have that as your avatar be sure to video yourself preparing a cap tjat way first. If you can include the odd way he uses the grinder then all the better!


Been there, done that.

Like one of the first things I did when I got mine (although never reported I believe). Was intrigued especially because my LaPav being the same model year as the film.

It was a huge mess, I'm telling ya...

And it didn't produce meaningful foam.



slamm said:


> lol  @jimbojohn55 - you haven't gone and built one of those time machine things in your bunker have you?


He sure did, one of them being with me now


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## slamm (Nov 26, 2016)

jimbojohn55 said:


> - the odd thing is that the drainpipe portafilter spout hadn't been fitted since 1968.


I think the v1.5 had it until 1970 didn't it? Although it's not mentioned on Francesco's website I somehow suspect there could have been quite a bit of overlap of model & porta type production dates, I don't think it was all quite as cut and dried as we might think. For example my v2.3 two switch type is dated Sept 1996, a whole five years after the end date on the website. I expect if they still had a stock pile of parts they just kept going until parts ran out, perhaps selling at a reduced price. Same with the old style porta filter.. I think I've seen one on a v1.6 before on eBay. B1xx seems to suggest this is an early one so maybe it came with the older type, perhaps the newer ones were introduced gradually as stock of the older fluted type ran down. So that would beg the question why were they possibly using an older machine.. from the serial number it could have been up to 2 years old. If it was a well used machine it might explain why it lost the rubber base cover and perhaps the alu plate was hiding some damage.. or maybe not, who knows. The plot thickens.. will it ever end!


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## AndyDClements (Aug 29, 2016)

Dylan said:


> The Alu plate is probably the set designers doing, unless product placement is paid for and stipulates no changes they will usually make little changes to everything to better suit the style of the scene.


Quite possibly, or they found a problem with things like continuity / reflection/ repeatability of the process. For example, the S1 Esprit used, had its interior colour changed due to the standard orange trim causing the star's skin colour to look (even more) of a orange fake-tan.

So, that ali may have been to enable the star (Mr R Moore) to place the cup and saucer on the machine rather than have another 20 out-takes of it being placed partially on the machine and then failing to capture the coffee.


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## ashcroc (Oct 28, 2016)

AndyDClements said:


> Quite possibly, or they found a problem with things like continuity / reflection/ repeatability of the process. For example, the S1 Esprit used, had its interior colour changed due to the standard orange trim causing the star's skin colour to look (even more) of a orange fake-tan.
> 
> So, that ali may have been to enable the star (Mr R Moore) to place the cup and saucer on the machine rather than have another 20 out-takes of it being placed partially on the machine and then failing to capture the coffee.


Or the stainless grill showed the reflection of the stunt double.


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## Dylan (Dec 5, 2011)

Indeed, there could be myriad reasons why they put it on there, I would just be almost certain that it's there as an artistic choice rather than anything to do with La Pav


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## Hasi (Dec 27, 2017)

Space age... deffo looks more rocket-ish


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## slamm (Nov 26, 2016)

I think I'm coming around more to artistic reasons for the aluminium plate. Although there isn't a scene where Bond places the cup or takes it from under the group perhaps it was filmed and didn't make the cut. I can well see our Roger having some difficulty as it looks like there's only a few mm clearance, so maybe this fairly thin piece of aluminium was an attempt by the set handyman to make it easier somehow.

I can't see it making much difference if any, in fact the gap would have been tighter as the original alu drip tray cover was slightly recessed. But maybe the order went out to try to keep our star happy and so the handyman had to come up with something and this was it. Perhaps when the scene was reshot there were still problems, maybe it was worse, and so the scene was dropped. It's a theory anyway.. one more to add to the list!


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