On location in the Alps

On a trip to the Alps the mountains take the starring role - and the film world has taken note of their beauty and magnetism too. Here we look at places you can visit and put yourself in the frame for movie magic.

Lech am Arlberg, Austria - where Bridget Jones discovers she might be pregnant

Bridget Jones: the Edge of Reason

Renée Zellweger took her hapless character to Austria in the second instalment of the now four-movie series, for a skiing mini-break with Mark Darcy.

Even with limited ski experience she inadvertently managed to win a parallel slalom before careering off the slopes and into a local pharmacy to try to buy a pregnancy test to the bemusement of misunderstanding locals. Note this would never happen because it is 99% guaranteed that an Austrian pharmacist would have impeccable English skills.

The ski scenes were filmed in Lech am Arlberg, Austria - one of Austria's most upscale and snowiest resorts.

Mürren was one of the major locations for George Lazenby's one outing as Bond

James Bond is a keen skier as evidenced by the number of times he's enjoyed or endured winter sports either as a leisure pursuit or to escape from enraged henchmen. Like all true winter sports fans he also doesn't discriminate between skiing and snowboarding, being credited with advancing snowboarding in its early years while using a snowmobile ski as a makeshift board in 1985's A View to a Kill. Perhaps the finest example of his ski skills is in the one film to star Australian Bond, George Lazenby, On Her Majesty's Secret Service. Here Bond has to escape from the mountaintop lair of Blofeld, which is now the revolving restaurant at the top of Mürren's Schilthorn. This descent is raced each year by fearless amateurs in the Inferno Race, held in January. Those with a good standard of skiing can enter, and places are allocated by lottery and announced by early October. Stay in nearby Wengen so you have somewhere quiet to recover afterwards.

Mègeve - St. Gervais is an upscale ski area just a short distance from Chamonix

More recently, Chicago native Emily (of in Paris fame) was seen posing in various expensive looking ski outfits on the slopes of Mègeve - St. Gervais. This favorite spot of Parisian high society has extensive skiing and towns with historic centers. While Emily didn't enjoy being abandoned by her boyfriend, she was soon able to link turns with a dashing Italian who rescued her from the mountain - something that happens frequently in the Alps. From Chamonix this ski area is an easy day trip, and has one of the larger areas of linked slopes in the region.

Villa del Balbianello - otherwise known as the honeymoon hideaway of Padme Amidala and Anakin Skywalker

In the foothills of the Alps, Lake Como is where you'll find some of Italy's prettiest waterside properties - one of which caught the Star Wars location scouts' eyes. Villa del Balbianello was selected as the honeymoon hideaway of bad-boy Jedi, Anakin Skywalker and cougar politician, Padme Amidala. Here they were able to set out their distinct philosophies on how they would build a life together in a tranquil and beautiful environment. Easily combined with a trip to Cervinia, the location is even prettier in real life than in a galaxy far, far away.