Posted 18 February 2010 - 11:32 AM
I had the pleasure of interviewing Mr Murton a few years ago. I found him to be very realistic and modest about his achievements (always citing collaboration), incredibly patient as well as being extremely loyal to the filmmakers with whom he collaborated with over the years. He was also very encouraging, supportive, generous and a very well spoken gentleman.
I think Mr Murton had a beautiful sense of taste that he lent the films he designed, creatively resourceful (from his extensive art director training) but always with the bigger picture in mind. The Man With The Golden Gun is obviously pertinent to CBN, but outside of that, look at Lester's Superman where he oversaw Houston Idaho built on Chobham Common or managed to round up both Smallville and Metropolis locations within shouting distance of Calgary on SUPERMAN III. Look at the very Bond worthy villain's lair he created for SUPERMAN III (far moreso to my mind than anything in Octopussy), complete with map room floor and deco colour schemes. The 007ish whomp room from Spies Like Us too. Look at King Kong Lives, where he was involved in making Wilmington Arboretum look like Borneo. Dracula and Death on the Nile too for authentic and elaborate period recreation. The list is endless.
While I also love the slanted ship interior of MWTGG, I also love all of the light, neutral coloured wood panelling and silk upholstery interior decor from the film. It's very tasteful and classical and in my opinion has aged beautifully without any 70s hangovers. Scaramanga's kitchen, the hotel rooms, the Bedroom in the Junk ship, too. It's a pretty unique look, not really seen elsewhere in the series, but also beauitifully upholding the Ken Adam tradition.
I was very sad to hear of Mr Murton's passing and my thoughts are with his family and friends.
