The Ultimate James Bond Collection

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     With the 21st Bond adventure, Casino Royale, just around the corner, what better time could there be to catch up on the past twenty films? In this Ultimate Collection, each film and its extras are spread over two discs, amounting to 40 discs altogether. The collection is available for a 'limited time' in two different packages; a standard box set (only 15,000 available) or a limited edition metal brief case (6000 available).

     So, what's new in these Ultimate Editions? Every frame has been restored using the Lowry process, amounting to 42 miles of film in total. All traces of film damage, dust and dirt have been removed, making these classics appear better than ever. This took over three years of processing at the Lowry labs and is the largest project they have encountered to date. In addition to the remastered image, the audio has been significantly improved and now includes a dts soundtrack option. A whole new array of extra features is available in addition to the extra material that was included on the old Special Editions.

     For now, it seems that the films will not be available separately in Region 4, so the only way to see these new editions is to buy the whole set.

     The films in this collection include:

1. Dr. No
2. From Russia With Love
3. Goldfinger
4. Thunderball
5. You Only Live Twice
6. On Her Majesty's Secret Service
7. Diamonds Are Forever
8. Live & Let Die
9. Man With The Golden Gun
10. The Spy Who Loved Me
11. Moonraker
12. For Your Eyes Only
13. Octopussy
14. A View To A Kill
15. The Living Daylights
16. Licence To Kill
17. GoldenEye
18. Tomorrow Never Dies
19. The World Is Not Enough
20. Die Another Day

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall

Dr. No: Ultimate Edition (1962)

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General		Extras
Category	Action	Main Menu Audio & Animation Audio Commentary-Director Terrence Young & members Of Cast And Crew Credits Film Factoids-007 License To Restore Film Factoids-The Guns Of James Bond Featurette-007,Women, Allies, Villians, Mission Combat Manual Featurette-Q Branch And Exotic Locations Featurette-Behind The Scenes-Inside Dr. No Biographies-Cast-Terence Young: Bond Vivant Featurette-Dr. No - 1963 Theatrical Trailer-Archive TV Spots-Broadcasts Radio Spots-Communications Gallery-Photo-Experience The World Of Dr. No in 1962
Rating	?
Year Of Production	1962
Running Time	105:13
RSDL / Flipper	RSDL (53:10) Dual Disc Set	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Ads Then Menu
Region Coding	2,4	Directed By	Terence Young
Studio Distributor	Sony Pictures Home Entertain	Starring	Sean Connery Ursula Andress Joseph Wiseman Jack Lord Bernard Lee Anthony Dawson Zena Marshall John Kitzmiller Eunice Gayson Lois Maxwell Peter Burton Yvonne Shima Michel Mok
Case	?
RPI	$19.95	Music	Monty Norman John Barry

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	English Dolby Digital 5.1 (448Kb/s) English dts 5.1 (768Kb/s) English Audio Commentary Dolby Digital 2.0 (224Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	1.66:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio	1.85:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	English English for the Hearing Impaired Dutch Swedish Finnish Danish Greek Hindi English Audio Commentary Dutch Audio Commentary	Smoking	Yes, just about every character smokes in every scene
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	No

    Dr. No was to introduce cinema audiences worldwide to the character of British super-spy James Bond. As such, Dr. No is fondly remembered as being the very first movie in what was to become one of cinema's most successful and longest running franchises. With the trailers for the new Bond film soon to start running in cinemas, in August 2006 Sony Pictures Home Entertainment will release all 20 official Bond films in two limited edition DVD collector's sets. Each film will feature Lowry-restored video and audio, and if that's not enough to whet your appetite, each film will also boast a whole new array of extras.

    "The name's Bond, James Bond".

    The character of super-spy James Bond was created by author Ian Fleming (1909-1964) who, like his fictional character, led a colourful life which included being a British Spy, and like Mr. Bond, a Commander in British Naval Intelligence. While Fleming's novels and the later movies often have a very tenuous relationship, one cannot easily discount the rich material that Fleming provided for the Bond universe. While the Bond film scripts were to differ greatly from Fleming's stories, the central characters, style, and swagger of the Bond films is all still Fleming.

    However, from the start, Producers Harry Saltzman and Albert Broccoli wanted their Bond movie series to appeal to a wider audience than just Fleming's readers. As a result, Bond became less of a cold-blooded killer (with a licence to kill provided by the UK Government), and a far more charming, suave, and witty gentleman. Indeed, Director Terence Young took matters even further and infused the character with a thoroughly debonair and dashing charm, also arming him with a fierce intelligence and an impeccable taste in clothes, wine, food and exotic women.

    There are now 21 official Bond films, and three unofficial ones - most notably the appalling Never Say Never Again (1983). If one counts newcomer Daniel Craig, then six actors have played Bond in the official films, including the former Aussie soldier from Goulburn, George Lazenby, and the unflappably dapper Roger Moore. Personally, I have always liked the rugged Sean Connery and the debonair Pierce Brosnan the most, and thoroughly disliked the sulky and uncharismatic Timothy Dalton for his contribution to what I find to be the most boring of the Bond canon.

    It's widely known that the then unknown Scottish actor Sean Connery was nowhere near to being the first choice to be Bond, but it was to be a piece of casting genius. When one thinks of Bond, even all these years later, it is Connery who still comes to mind first for most people. Then in his thirties, Connery was tall, cool, elegant, and ruggedly handsome. He walked with the swagger and self-assurance required to carry the role; And, unlike some of the other pretty-boy Bonds, he actually looked like he could handle himself in a fight.

    In Dr. No, the character of Bond is far from the indestructible superman armed with the fancy tongue-in-cheek gadgets that we see in the later films. As Bond, Connery frequently displays fear, panic, and disgust. We even see him dishevelled, bleeding, bruised, and sweating! He gets captured, beaten, and humiliated. It makes his triumphs and the film's climax all the more satisfying.

    As the first of the series, the relatively low-budget Dr No is a far more down-to-earth and realistic affair than the later Bond films. This Bond has to rely on his wits rather than gadgets and explosions to get the job done. For example, when Bond is being hunted down by dogs, it's his ingenuity, not gadgets or weaponry that save him.

    On the other hand, as a film, Dr. No is definitely a little rough around the edges. For example, consider the car-chase scene which relies on obvious rear-projection scenery, or the clumsy and simplistic fight choreography.

    In later Bond films there is a recognisable and well-loved formula: We have a pre-title action sequence that is distinct from the rest of the film. This is followed by the Bond-style title sequence (with theme song), and then Bond chatting to Moneypenny, M, and then Q. Finally, Bond heads off on his new mission armed with fancy gadgets, cool one-liners, and plenty of innuendo.

    In Dr. No, many of the recognisable elements of the Bond universe are present, albeit in their infancy. For example, the opening titles are provided by Maurice Binder (but sans the nude dancing silhouettes), and the very recognisable James Bond Theme is provided by Monty Norman and John Barry. We also get to see the famous gun-barrel opening (which features Connery's stunt double, Bob Simmons); and apart from Bond himself, we are also introduced to the recurring characters of M, Moneypenny, and Felix Leiter (Q was to make his debut in the next film).

    However, with Dr. No we don't yet get to experience the full Englishness of the Bond universe, which has been lost in recent years. From the next film onwards, Bond films were to become show-pieces for British culture - British music, art, manufacturing, and style, but in this movie Bond finds himself behind the wheel of a tiny four-cylinder Sunbeam Alpine. In later films he'd get to enjoy his English Bentleys, Aston Martins, and Lotuses (that is before the power of product placement marketing dollars put Bond into German BMWs).

    As for the plot. The story of Dr. No concerns . . . let's all say it together . . . a megalomaniac seeking world domination who can only be stopped by Secret Agent 007, James Bond . . .

    Dr. No opens in Jamaica where two British Secret Service agents have been brutally murdered. Their boss, M (Bernard Lee), sends special agent 007, James Bond (Sean Connery) to investigate. Bond survives numerous attempts on his life, and his investigation leads him to the mysterious and sinister Doctor No (Joseph Wiseman). After joining forces with CIA Agent Felix Leiter (Jack Lord), Bond enlists the help of local boat owner Quarrel (John Kitzmiller), and decides to pay a visit to the reclusive Doctor No on his secretive Crab Key island. It is here, in what was to become one of the most memorable Bond scenes, that we see the first bikini-clad Bond girl, Honey Ryder (Ursula Andress), emerging from the sea like Venus.

    For more about the Bond universe, check out the official sites at www.jamesbond.com and www.007.com.

Video

    Considering Dr. No has been released twice before on DVD, including as a Special Edition, why bother with an Ultimate Edition? The exciting aspect of these Bond Ultimate Editions is that the original camera negatives have been imaged and digitally restored in Lowry's labs, using the John Lowry process. This process took over three years to complete, and the results with Dr. No are truly remarkable.

    The film was originally screened theatrically in an aspect ratio of 1.85:1, but the DVD's transfer is presented in a European widescreen aspect ratio of 1.66:1, 16x9 enhanced.

    While there are some noticeably softer scenes, overall the sharpness of the image is very good. The black level is excellent, with true, deep blacks. The shadow detail, however, is a bit of a mixed bag. At times it was excellent, such as the interior of Bond's gaol cell at 90:15, but at other times it was lacking, such as during the scene in the swamp at 72:42.

    With the Lowry process, the entire film has been colour corrected. As a result, the movie has a very consistent approach to colour, and the transfer exhibits a very well saturated palette. At times, however, some of the colours looked a little rich. For example, reds seem to jump out off the screen. The skin tones are mostly accurate, but can appear a little too orange at times. Of course, this could also be related to the excessive makeup that seems to have been caked on all the actors. Very rarely, some backgrounds looked a little murky, such as the sky at 27:12.

    While some scenes can appear a little grainy at times, I assume this relates to the original film stock used. There are no problems with MPEG, Film-To-Video or Film Artefacts. Considering the age of the source material, this is an amazing achievement in DVD authoring.

    English, English for the Hearing Impaired, Dutch, Swedish, Finnish, Danish, Greek, Hindi, English Text Commentary, and Dutch Text Commentary subtitles are present, and the English ones are accurate.

    The feature is presented on a Dual Layer disc, with the layer change placed at 53:10. I did notice a slight pause, but the change is well placed. The feature is divided into 32 chapters.

Video Ratings Summary

Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

    Originally released theatrically with mono audio, I wasn't expecting much, but was pleasantly surprised.

    The DVD offers three audio options: English Dolby Digital 5.1 (448Kb/s), English dts 5.1 (768Kb/s), and English Audio Commentary Dolby Digital 2.0 (224Kb/s). I watched the feature with both the Dolby Digital 5.1 and dts 5.1 audio. While many films benefit from a dts soundtrack, this is not one of them. To be honest, I heard very little difference between the two options. I imagine it will be the later films, with more modern sound designs and recordings that will reap the benefits of dts audio.

    The dialogue quality and audio sync suffer on both the Dolby Digital 5.1 and dts 5.1 audio tracks. This is not a fault with the DVD authoring, but due to the source material. There is extensive use of ADR throughout this film, and some actors, such as Ursula Andress, had all their dialogue looped by voice artists (in her case by Nikki Van der Zyl). Also, some dialogue was changed or added in post-production, and this has been rather clumsily dubbed in. Most of these moments seem rather obvious, and it is distracting.

    Another problem with the dialogue is the inconsistent volume. A number of times I had to increase or decrease the volume during the film. For example, once Bond and Honey enter Dr. No's lair, the dialogue seems to become buried in the sound mix and it is hard to hear.

    The musical score is credited to Monty Norman and Oscar winning composer John Barry. Director Terence Young overuses the now famous Bond theme throughout the film, and it appears even when Bond does the most mundane things like light a cigarette, step off an airplane, or make a phone call. The film also has an overly melodramatic score, which dates it terribly.

    However, in keeping with its exotic location, Dr. No also calls upon seductive calypso beats and the characters, including Bond, often burst into song, singing catchy Caribbean tunes such as Jamaica Jump Up and Underneath the Mango Tree.

    For a mono film, the sound design was excellent for its time, but now appears very limited. Although there is a nice sense of space across the front three speakers, with this film the rear speakers are rarely called upon. Recorded in 1962, don't expect any fancy directional effects or panning between speakers. Interestingly, sometimes when the rears are used for effect it is actually distracting, rather than enveloping.

    This DVD's LFE track is very limited, and the subwoofer is only really noticed with the large explosion at the end of the film.

Audio Ratings Summary

Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

    Apart from the restored picture and sound, a whole new array of extras have been added to the Bond Ultimate Editions, in addition to the extras included on the Special Editions. Unless stated otherwise, all are presented in an aspect ratio of 1.78:1, 16x9 enhanced, with Dolby Digital stereo audio.

 Menus

    A series of animated menus with audio.

Disc One

Trailer

    A forced trailer for the Bond Ultimate Editions, presented in an aspect ratio of 1.33:1.

Audio Commentary - Director Terrence Young & members Of Cast And Crew

    Hosted by John Clark of the Ian Fleming Foundation, this commentary is very interesting, and packed with detailed information. Interviews with a number of the cast and crew have been edited to make it fairly screen specific, and each speaker is introduced by Clark. We hear from a range of people, such as Actors Ursula Andress, Lois Maxwell, Eunice Gayson, and Timothy Moxon; Editor Peter Hunt, Composer Monty Norman, Set Designer Ken Adams, former UA President David Picker, Art Director Syd Cain, and Sound Designer Norman Wanstall. Each person has something interesting to say, ranging from technical, behind-the-scenes information to anecdotes or recollections from shooting.

Disc Two

Top Level Access

• 007 License To Restore (11:25) - Featuring John Lowry and technicians from MGM and Lowry Digital Images, this is a behind-the-scenes look at the restoration process.

De-Classified: MI6 Vault

Presented in an aspect ratio of 1.33:1:

• The Guns Of James Bond (4:53) - Hosted by Sean Connery on the set of Goldfinger, this is an original 1960s featurette
• Premiere Bond (12:36) - Narrated by Producer Michael Wilson, this is a collection of photographic stills and archival and news footage of the Bond film premieres starting with Dr. No, and running right through to Die Another Day. While there is footage from London, New York, and Paris, the featurette focuses on those held at the Oden Theatre, Leicester Square, London.

007 Mission Control

    An interactive feature that allows the viewer to jump directly to a key scene in the film, or to a specific character, gadget, or Bond girl.

Mission Dossiers

    The three featurettes from the Dr. No Special Edition:

• Inside Dr No (42:07) - Presented in an aspect ratio of 1.33:1 and narrated by Patrick Macnee, this is a look at both Dr. No and the Bond franchise. Featuring plenty of archival stills and footage, there are also a number of interviews with key people involved in creating the Bond world.
• Terence Young: Bond Vivant (17:55) - Presented in an aspect ratio of 1.33:1, this is a look at the man who was to direct the first, second, and fourth Bond film, and in doing so set the style and the mould for all the later Bond films.
• 1963 Dr No (8:19) - Presented in black and white, this is an original marketing featurette.

Ministry Of Propaganda

    The trailers, TV and Radio Spots for each film.

Original Theatrical Trailers

• Trailer (3:12)
• Introducing Mr. Bond (3:07)

TV Broadcasts

• Miss Honey and Miss Galore have James Bond back for more (0:59)
• Miss Honey and Miss Galore (0:20)

Radio Communication

    Six radio spots

Interactive Image Database 

    Eight themed photographic stills galleries from 1962-3, presented as a slide show.

    As with the Bond Special Editions, I understand that the R1 and R4 Ultimate Editions should be identical, except for the NTSC/PAL difference.

    Dr. No is by no means the best Bond film, but it's certainly not the worst either. What it's best remembered for is for being the very first, and as such, creating the mould for all later Bond films.

    The video quality is very good, considering the age of the source material.

    The audio quality is reasonable, considering the limited mono source.

    The extras are thorough, genuine, and interesting.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall

From Russia with Love: Ultimate Edition (1963)

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General		Extras
Category	Action	Main Menu Audio & Animation Audio Commentary Credits Featurette-Ian Fleming & Raymond Chandler Interviews-Crew-Ian Fleming - The CBS Interview Featurette-Ian Fleming On Desert lsland Discs Storyboards-Animated Storyboard Sequence Featurette-Making Of Biographies-Crew-Harry Saltzman Teaser Trailer-Archive Gallery-Photo-Experience The World In 1963-Year From Russia Was Released Featurette-007, Women, Allies ,Villians, Mission Combat Manual Featurette-Q Branch And Exotic Locations
Rating
Year Of Production	1963
Running Time	110:16
RSDL / Flipper	Dual Layered Dual Disc Set	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Ads Then Menu
Region Coding	2,4	Directed By	Terence Young
Studio Distributor	Sony Pictures Home Entertain	Starring	Sean Connery Daniela Bianchi Pedro Armendáriz Lotte Lenya Robert Shaw Bernard Lee Eunice Gayson Walter Gotell Francis De Wolff George Pastell Nadja Regin Lois Maxwell Aliza Gur
Case	?
RPI	$19.95	Music	John Barry Lionel Bart

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	English Dolby Digital 5.1 (448Kb/s) English dts 5.1 (768Kb/s) English Audio Commentary Dolby Digital 2.0 (224Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	1.66:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio	1.66:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	English English for the Hearing Impaired Dutch Swedish Finnish Norwegian Danish Greek Hindi English Audio Commentary Dutch Audio Commentary	Smoking	Yes
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	No

    In 1961, Life Magazine published a list of President John F. Kennedy’s top ten favourite books. To the surprise of some, the Ian Fleming spy novel From Russia with Love was amongst the titles listed. When producers Albert R. Broccoli and Harry Saltzman were looking for the right book to do a follow up film to the successful Dr. No, From Russia with Love seemed like the obvious choice. While production was not without its problems, such as numerous script rewrites, car and helicopter crashes and even the death of a supporting actor from cancer during the shoot, the result is regarded by many as one of the greatest Bond films ever made, and with good reason too.

    From Russia with Love sees James Bond (Sean Connery) sent to Istanbul to acquire a cipher machine called the Lektor from defecting Russian Agent Tatiana Romanova (Daniela Bianachi). Tatiana thinks she is doing it for mother Russia but it is in fact the evil organisation S.P.E.C.T.R.E. that are pulling all the strings. S.P.E.C.T.R.E not only wants the cipher machine for themselves, but their ultimate goal is to kill James Bond. Along the way Bond must confront cold-blooded hit man ‘Red’ Grant (Robert Shaw) and ruthless mastermind Rosa Klebb (played to perfection by Lotte Lenya).

    Where later Bond films would embrace over the top action, gadgets and pure escapism, From Russia with Love remained more true to Ian Fleming’s novel as a great spy adventure. The James Bond we see here is not the indestructible super human of our modern day Bonds, which I think really adds to the tension of the film. In From Russia with Love, Bond often seems to be in genuine peril, and it is only through his cunning, ingenuity and gritty determination that he will be able to get through it alive.

    From Russia with Love is not only a great Bond film, it is a great Cold War spy thriller. It introduced Desmond Llewelyn as gadget man Q (although he is referred to simply as the equipment officer) and set the benchmark by which early Bond films were judged. I really enjoyed this film and I am sure most Bond fans will too.

Video

    Those who already own From Russia with Love on DVD are probably wondering if this new release is worth upgrading to. The short answer is a definite yes. In fact there is really no comparison. While the original release may have been considered quite good for a film of its age this new transfer is outstanding, regardless of age. Lowry, who have painstakingly restored this film and performed the DVD transfer, have done an absolutely stellar job in producing this truly outstanding transfer.

    The new transfer is presented at an aspect ratio of 1.66:1 and is 16x9 enhanced. This was the film's original aspect ratio for European exhibition. (It was shown in the slightly more matted aspect ratio of 1.85:1 in the US). Compared to the previous DVD release which was 1.78:1 this new release not only shows slightly more image top and bottom but also very slightly more on the sides as well.

    Image sharpness is extraordinarily impressive for a film of this age and the image detail really is amazing. For example, individual thread patterns on men’s suits are clearly discernable. Regardless of age this is one of the sharpest, most detailed images I have seen on DVD. Shadow detail is well above average for a film of this age and is certainly far superior to what I was expecting. The transfer is free of low level noise.

    The transfer is faithful to the 1960s colour palette of the film. Colours are all well saturated and accurate. Skin tones were generally accurate but with a slight tendency towards orange/brown tones which was typical of films from this era.

    The film is completely free of film artefacts. I looked but could find none. The image is very clean and free of any obvious MPEG artefacts. The only fault I could find was a very small amount of edge enhancement, such as around the outline of some minuets at 30:59 but it is fairly mild and unlikely to be noticed by most viewers.

    The English subtitles are white and easy to read. They match very well with the onscreen dialogue.

    The film is presented on a dual layered disc with RSDL encoding. The layer change occurs at 57:22 which is a cut between scenes - nicely placed.

Video Ratings Summary

Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

    Some film buffs will be disappointed to learn that the original mono soundtrack is not available on this DVD. Instead we get two 5.1 soundtracks provided in Dolby Digital and DTS. These new mixes do, however, remain faithful to the feel of the original soundtrack with the mix being very front oriented.

    The two main English soundtracks are a Dolby Digital 5.1 Soundtrack encoded at 448 Kb/s and a DTS Soundtrack encoded at 768 Kb/s. I listened to the soundtrack in its entirety in DTS and did a number of samplings of the Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack. While the DTS soundtrack was slightly louder than the Dolby Digital Soundtrack, once this was taken into account I was hard pressed to discern any real difference between the two. I think this is a case where the limitation is the original sound elements rather than the audio encoding.

    Dialogue was generally easy to understand although there were some issues with audio sync caused by ADR. This was most noticeable in a scene around the 12 minute mark where there is a running helicopter in the shot and the dubbing just doesn’t match well at all. There were, however, numerous other instances in the film but this was the one that really drew my attention. I do not think this is a fault of the DVD, just the ADR work done on the film at the time.

As mentioned before the soundtrack is very front-oriented with the surrounds being used modestly for atmosphere such as bird noises in a garden at 13:15. It is also used a bit for the music as well as some high action scenes such as an explosion at 61:49.

    The subwoofer was not used much except for some high action scenes such as another explosion at 32:20 where it adds nice weight to the soundtrack.

Audio Ratings Summary

Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

    This new Ultimate edition combines the extras of the previous Special Edition with new material taken from the archives. While some of these new extras are interesting the most significant features are still those carried over from the previous release.

Menu

    All menus are very nicely animated with familiar Bond music playing in the background.

Disc 1

Audio Commentary – Terence Young (director) and members of the cast and crew.

    This audio commentary was put together by the Ian Fleming Foundation and is hosted by John Corp. It edits together comments by various cast and crew involved in the film who are introduced by John Corp. Corp also provides a fair amount of interesting information as well. Despite the fact that I quite enjoy a good audio commentary I am not normally a fan of these edited together commentaries and this one is no exception. While it contains some interesting information I found it a bit dull and hard going.

Disc 2

    The extras are grouped under four main categories. ‘Declassified M16 Vault’ contains new material secured from the archives. ‘007 Mission Control’ contains links to a large number of scenes from the film categorised into a number of subcategories. ‘Mission Dossier’ consists of featurettes previously available on the original Special Editions. Finally, ‘Department of Propaganda’ contains a collection of trailers, TV spots, radio ads and an image gallery.

Declassified: M16 Vault:

Ian Fleming and Raymond Chandler 4x3 (4:58)

    These two authors discuss their creations. The discussion is audio only with animated photos of the two authors. It is interesting to hear Fleming discuss his original vision of the Bond character as well as the similarities between himself and Bond. Well worth a listen.

Ian Fleming: The CBC Interview 4x3 (7:23)

    This item was created by the CBC the week following Fleming’s death in 1964. It begins with a brief biography of Fleming and then continues with an interview where he discusses the books and some of their influences.

Ian Fleming on Desert Island Discs 4x3 (4:58)

    This is primarily a radio interview with a variety of still images of Fleming shown on screen. In this interview Fleming discusses some of his writing processes. This was recorded while From Russia with Love was being filmed. Fleming briefly discusses Dr. No and then his visit to the set of From Russia with Love in Istanbul.

Animated Story Board Sequences 4x3 (1:24)

    This shows animated storyboard sequences for the boat chase scene which was originally conceived as a night scene. The segment finishes with actual footage from the film.

007 Mission Control:

    This section allows you to directly access a number of short scenes from the movie sorted into the categories of 007, Women, Allies, Villains, Mission Combat Manual, Q Branch and Exotic Locations. I guess if you have certain favourite parts of the film you might find this useful but I personally think it is of little appeal.

Mission Dossier:

Inside From Russia with Love 4x3 (33:43)

    This interesting featurette narrated by Patrick Macnee charts the production of the film. It includes reminiscences from cast and crew. The shooting of the film was not entirely smooth and included numerous script rewrites, car crashes, helicopter crashes and even the death of actor Pedro Armendáriz from cancer during the film's production. One thing I found particularly interesting was some of the creative editing of Peter Hunt that contributed greatly to the structure of the film.

Harry Saltzman: Showman 4x3 (26:43)

    Harry Saltzman was one of the producers of the first nine James Bond films. In this featurette friends and colleagues discuss his work and life. This is quite an interesting look at one of the men instrumental in bringing James Bond to the big screen.

Ministry of Propaganda:

Theatrical Archive

    This is a collection of theatrical trailers.

• S.P.E.C.T.R.E. 16x9 (3:34)
• Bond: Back to Back 4x3 (1:56)
• The Biggest Bond Sale Ever! 4x3 (1:49)

TV Broadcasts

    This is a collection of short TV spots.

• Sean Connery is Bond 4x3 (0:11)
• Bond all over 4x3 (0:20)
• More thrills per minute 4x3 (0:58)

Radio Communication

    These are audio only commercials made for radio.

• Fantastic Bond Sale (0:52)
• Famous Named Villains, Fantastic! (0:27)
• Fantastic Bond Sale, Sean Connery is Ian Fleming’s... (0.09)

Image Database

    This is a collection of still galleries categorized by: The Filmmakers, Ian Fleming, Portraits, Pinewood, Dressed to Kill, Lovely...Lovely, Tatiana Meets Rosa Klebb, Istanbul, The Gypsy Camp, The Orient Express, Scotland, Rats!, Back Projection, Smoke on the Water, The Lost Scene and Around the World With 007.

I was unable to confirm specific details of the R1 ultimate edition but I would expect it to be same with the exception of the normal PAL/NTSC formatting differences.

    From Russia with Love is one of the most beloved of the early Bond films and with good reason. Not only is it a great Bond film, it is a fantastic Cold War spy thriller in its own right.

    The new video transfer is simply outstanding. The audio transfers are very good but a bit limited by the sources.

    The extras package is extensive although the most significant of them are those carried over from the previous Special Edition.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall

Goldfinger: Ultimate Edition (1964)

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General		Extras
Category	Action	Main Menu Audio & Animation Audio Commentary-Guy Hamilton (director) Audio Commentary-Cast and Crew Featurette-On Tour With The Aston Martin DB5 Interviews-Character-Honor Blackman:- Open-Ended Interview Interviews-Character-Sean Connery From The Set Of Goldfinger Featurette-Theodore Bikel and Vito Vandis ScreenTests Featurette-007, Women, Aliies, Villians, Mission Combat Manuel Featurette-Q Branch and Exotic Locations Featurette-Making Of Featurette-The Goldfinger Phenomenon Featurette-Original Publicity Theatrical Trailer-Archive TV Spots-Broadcasts Radio Spots-Communications Gallery-Photo-Experience The World Of Bond In 1964 DVD Credits
Rating	?
Year Of Production	1964
Running Time	105:27
RSDL / Flipper	RSDL (54:13) Dual Disc Set	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Ads Then Menu
Region Coding	2,4	Directed By	Guy Hamilton
Studio Distributor	Sony Pictures Home Entertain	Starring	Sean Connery Honor Blackman Gert Fröbe Shirley Eaton Tania Mallet Harold Sakata Bernard Lee Martin Benson Cec Linder Austin Willis Lois Maxwell Bill Nagy Michael Mellinger
Case	?
RPI	Box	Music	John Barry

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	English Dolby Digital 5.1 (448Kb/s) English dts 5.1 (768Kb/s) English Audio Commentary Dolby Digital 2.0 (224Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	1.66:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio	1.66:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	English English for the Hearing Impaired Dutch Swedish Finnish Norwegian Danish Greek Hindi English Audio Commentary Dutch Audio Commentary English Audio Commentary	Smoking	Yes
		Annoying Product Placement	Yes
		Action In or After Credits	No

    The third Bond film saw the series really take off with this clever and entertaining romp across two continents. Bond's assignment this time is to look into the affairs of Auric Goldfinger (Gert Fröbe), a gold bullion dealer whose origins are somewhat shady. In a Miami hotel 007 discovers that Goldfinger likes to win at all costs. Unfortunately for Jill Masterson (Shirley Eaton), Bond's investigations into her affairs and her work for Goldfinger leave her with a fatal gilding.

    Back in England Bond tries to worm his way into Goldfinger's confidence during a golf game, using some Nazi gold as bait. Goldfinger's caddy is his loquacious Korean driver Oddjob (Harold Sakata), who wears an unusual and deadly hat. Goldfinger plays along for a while, but he already suspects who Bond really is and does not fall into the agent's trap.

    Bond follows Goldfinger to Geneva, where he manages to become Goldfinger's prisoner and narrowly avoids being badly scorched in a place where scorching would be an issue. This scene has one of the best pieces of dialogue in the entire Bond oeuvre. Thinking that Bond knows more about his plans than he really does, Goldfinger chooses to take him to Kentucky where his master plan is finally revealed.

    People tend to look back on Goldfinger as one of the best of the Bond series, and it is easy to see why. Later in the series the concentration would be on gadgets, spectacle and beautiful women. All of these are here in abundance but the main focus of the film is on the story. The stunts are all believable and humanly possible, though I suspect Oddjob's lethal hat might not actually work.

    Richard Maibaum and Paul Dehn's script is full of witty one-liners and they are delivered with earnestness, or at least a wry smile, by an excellent cast. Sean Connery is a fine Bond, supremely confident in the role in his third assumption of it. Fröbe makes a wonderful villain, though the dubbing of his voice by Michael Collins is more obvious each time I see the film. Honor Blackman was a natural choice for the extraordinarily-named Pussy Galore, and was the first of three Avengers heroines to appear in a Bond outing. The supporting cast is as usual sturdy, my only reservation being the actors playing American gangsters (apart from Martin Benson) having unidiomatic accents. Bernard Lee is the definitive M though he only appears briefly in this episode. Richard Vernon effectively plays Colonel Smithers, a Whitehall type, in an amusing dinner sequence with the slightly befuddled M. Whenever I hear Vernon's voice I automatically associate it with Slartibartfast, something that would not have been an issue for audiences in 1964.

    Shirley Eaton had many more substantial roles but is doomed to be remembered for her brief appearance in this film. The same can be said of Margaret Nolan as Dink, who is only on screen for a minute or so. Desmond Llewellyn makes a lot of his short piece as the head of Q Branch, introducing not only the array of gadgets Bond will have at his disposal - including the now legendary Aston Martin DB5 - but also his disdain for the special agent. Familiar actors in British film and TV like Cec Linder and Burt Kwouk also appear in the cast.

    The budget for this film was much higher than that for the two previous entries in the series, and it shows. The special effects are extremely well done for a movie of this era, particularly a British one, and only a few seams show even after more than 40 years. Guy Hamilton took over the reins from Terence Young for the first of his four stints as Bond director, and his work here cannot really be faulted. Also of note are the opening titles by Robert Brownjohn which became the signature of the series. But by far the most impressive aspect of the technical side of the film is the set design by Ken Adam, which has been endlessly imitated over the years.

    This is an extremely enjoyable romp which the years have not dimmed. It earned its production costs back in 2 weeks of US release and 42 years later is still a cash cow. This is one case where the movie is worth more than the cost of the disc.

Video

    The film is presented in 1.67:1, very close to the original aspect ratio of 1.66:1, and is 16x9 enhanced.

    Viewers in 1964 would have seen this film on the big screen in all its glory. That would almost certainly have included flecks, dirt, scratches and reel change markings, so it would be fair to say that in its newest DVD incarnation the film has never looked better. It is not quite perfect, but until this film is available in a high-definition format it won't be.

    The transfer is very sharp and clean. Possibly too clean as the near absence of grain attests. There is plenty of detail visible. I'm not sure exactly what the Lowry process does but I can advise that it has not ruined the visuals. Backgrounds also have a good level of detail. If you find seeing the pores on the actors' faces as well as any skin blemishes they may have off-putting then you might not appreciate this clarity. The clarity does seem to have been achieved at the expense of some edge enhancement, which can be seen for example at 26:39. There seems to be an unrealistic digital edge to outlines as well.

    Colour is excellent. The Technicolor stock of the 1960s was not as bright and vibrant as it had been in the 1940s, but it was still very good. Flesh tones tend to be a little brown. Black levels are good with shadow detail that is not always ideal. Some of the dark suits have little in the way of detail.

    There are some film to video artefacts. There is posterisation on Bond's face in some scenes, an example being at 44:00. There is also digital noise in some backgrounds looking a lot like chroma noise.

    Optional subtitles are provided in a variety of languages. The English subtitles appear to be very well done in a sizeable white font.

    The film is on an RSDL-formatted disc. The layer break is noticeable but not disruptive to the flow of the film. It occurs at 54:13.

Video Ratings Summary

Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

    There are two formats for the soundtrack of the film, Dolby Digital 5.1 and DTS 5.1. The former is the default, but I listened to the latter and only sampled the former.

    Unfortunately the original mono presentation of the audio has been discarded in favour of these faux surround offerings. I would have liked the original sound mix as an option, and its omission is a serious mistake in my opinion. Anyway, the audio still comes up quite well, though the remix to surround tends to highlight some of the shortcomings of the original, being over 40 years old now. The opening song sounds overly reverberant for example. The surround mix also makes the mistake of trying to position voices in relation to the position of the speaker in the frame. This is most noticeable during the early stages of the film.

    Directional effects are placed in the rear channels but added little to the overall experience, and certainly were not as convincing or effective as, say, a recent film specifically mixed for surround presentation. The LFE channel was utilized more than I had expected, adding oomph to explosions and gunshots as well as one sequence with fire and flames.

    Dialogue comes across clearly and I had no trouble understanding any of it. There is a slight distortion at times but no sibilance or any serious issues. Audio sync is spot on, though of course Gert Fröbe is dubbed and there is some ADR work on the other actors at times.

    The music score was a big seller on LP in its day. From Shirley Bassey belting out the title song, which has lyrics by Leslie Bricusse and Anthony Newley, to the clever scoring in many sequences by John Barry, this is a fine bit of work. Barry not only weaves the title theme throughout the film, but also develops some other interesting bits, notable the music which accompanies the penetration of Fort Knox.

Audio Ratings Summary

Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

    A lot of extras, some of which will be familiar from the previous Region 4 DVD, or the laserdisc version if you had it in that format. All have subtitles, and unless stated otherwise all are 1.33:1.

Main Menu Introduction, Audio & Animation

    An 87 second skippable restoration promo precedes the menus. The menus are done in Bond credit sequence style, with images and music from the film.

Audio Commentary-Guy Hamilton (director)

    This audio commentary is actually by Lee Pfeiffer, who describes various aspects of the film, and includes a lot of interview material with the director as well as some of the actors and crew.

Audio Commentary-Cast and Crew

    A second commentary, similar to the first but hosted by John Cork and featuring audio clips from various cast and crew members, including Ken Adam, John Barry and several of the stunt and special effects people who are now dead. Like the previous commentary this was I think done for the laserdisc release.

Credits

    DVD credits.

Featurette-On Tour With The Aston Martin DB5 (11:13)

    Archival footage of the publicity tours of Bond's car in the mid-1960s, narrated by Mike Ashley who accompanied the car on Aston Martin's behalf.

Interviews-Character-Honor Blackman:- Open-Ended Interview (3:48)

    A series of filmed answers to set interview questions, which was distributed to TV stations so they could have their own reporters pretend to be interviewing Blackman for real.

Interviews-Character-Sean Connery From The Set Of Goldfinger (3:03)

    A BBC interviewer with Connery from the set of the film, with the questions centering around his early days in the business.

Featurette-Theodore Bikel and Tito Vandis Screen Tests (9:24)

    Screen tests in faded colour of two potential actors for the title role. Fortunately, on the basis of what we see here, neither were chosen. Both deliver expanded speeches which would have been in the laser sequence, and are quite different to the final script. Bikel tries  the character with different pairs of glasses while Vandis has a bad hair day and a lot of makeup in his second go at the character. All tests are in widescreen and are 16x9 enhanced.

Featurette-Mission Control: 007, Women, Allies, Villains, Mission Combat Manual, Q Branch and Exotic Locations 

    Categorised under the above headings are clips from the film, so you can see all of the footage related to a character or situation.

Featurette-Making Of (24:59)

    The featurette, narrated by Patrick Macnee, features information about the making of the film and has interviews with the director, crew and actors. I believe this and the next featurette were made for the laserdisc release of the film.

Featurette-The Goldfinger Phenomenon (28:02)

    Also narrated by Macnee, this one concentrates on the publicity for the film's release and the many merchandising tie-ins.

Featurette-Original Publicity (2:08)

    An original publicity piece concentrating on Oddjob and Pussy Galore.

Theatrical Trailer-Archive (2:59)

    An unrestored original trailer, which is 16x9 enhanced.

TV Spots-Broadcasts (2:09)

    Three TV advertisements, two of which are for the re-release double bill with Dr No.

Radio Spots-Communications (33:36)

    An almost interminable series of radio commercials.

Gallery-Photo-Experience The World Of Bond In 1964

    A very large number of publicity stills, behind the scenes photos, posters and images of merchandising. Pressing the Select button allows you to view text about some of the images.

    These new Ultimate Editions are getting released around the world. As far as I can tell the video quality of the new Region 4s is superior to the old Region 4 releases.

    The Bond Phenomenon hit top gear with this entertaining, tongue in cheek thriller. Along with Thunderball I think this is the best of the Bond series.

    The video quality is excellent despite some minor digital compression issues.

    The audio is very good, but the absence of the original mono is disappointing.

    More extras than you could look at in three sittings, though not all of them are golden.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall

Thunderball: Ultimate Edition (1965)

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General		Extras
Category	Action	Menu Animation & Audio Audio Commentary-Terrence Young (Director), et al Audio Commentary-Peter Hunt (Editor), John Hopkins (Screenwriter), et al Featurette-Bill Suitor: The Rocket Man Movies Featurette-A Child's Guide To Blowing Up A Motor Car Featurette-James Bond Commercials Featurette-Ken Adam's Production Film Featurette-The Incredible World Of James Bond Featurette-Behind The Scenes-Inside Thunderball, The Thunderball Phenomenon Featurette-Making Of Theatrical Trailer-Archive Gallery-Photo TV Spots-Broadcasts Radio Spots-Commercials Featurette-Exotic Locations Featurette-Scene Selections; Textless Opening Credits
Rating
Year Of Production	1965
Running Time	124:55
RSDL / Flipper	RSDL (60:53) Dual Disc Set	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Ads Then Menu
Region Coding	2,4	Directed By	Terence Young
Studio Distributor	Sony Pictures Home Entertain	Starring	Sean Connery Claudine Auger Adolfo Celi Luciana Paluzzi Rik Van Nutter Guy Doleman Molly Peters Martine Beswick Bernard Lee Desmond Llewelyn Lois Maxwell Roland Culver Earl Cameron
Case	?
RPI	$19.95	Music	John Barry

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	English Dolby Digital 5.1 (448Kb/s) English dts 5.1 (768Kb/s) English Audio Commentary Dolby Digital 2.0 (224Kb/s) English Audio Commentary Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	2.35:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio	2.35:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	English English for the Hearing Impaired Dutch Swedish Finnish Norwegian Finnish Danish Greek Hindi English Audio Commentary Dutch Audio Commentary English Audio Commentary Dutch Audio Commentary	Smoking	Yes
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	No

    The Star: Perennial favourite Sean Connery stars as James Bond. Produced in 1965 and Directed by Terrence Young, this was Connery's fourth film in the role of British Secret Agent 007. Interestingly, this was the first Bond film to actually use Connery in the film's opening gun barrel sequence. The first three had used a stunt double in his place.

    What's he up against?: International terror organisation SPECTRE has procured two nuclear weapons from a lost NATO flight and is using them to hold the entire northern hemisphere to ransom. One hundred million Pounds Sterling in uncut diamonds is their demand.

    The Girls: If there's one thing that can be said for Thunderball, there's no shortage of gorgeous women. Claudine Auger co-stars as the innocent and misguided Domino while Luciana Paluzzi contradicts this with a cool, ruthless performance as red-haired SPECTRE assassin Fiona Volpa. Martine Beswick serves as Paula Kaplan, bond's Nassau assistant. Molly Peters as Patricia Fearing gives Bond a good working over at a health retreat. A young Jane Asher can be seen next to Connery for most of the Casino scene, although she hardly qualifies as a Bond girl. Asher was engaged to Paul McCartney at this time, who later composed the theme for Live and Let Die.

    The Gadgets: This time around, the villains have most impressive toys! The Disco Volanté is an astonishingly versatile yacht that is capable of detaching its rear hull, converting into a hydrofoil. Perfect for that last minute getaway! Thanks to Q (Desmond Llewelyn), Bond is issued with a few interesting pieces, such as a wrist-watch that doubles as a Geiger counter and a pocket-size SCUBA device. The film's opening scene also sees Bond making his departure via an impressive rocket-pack.

    The Action: Thunderball boasts one of the most complex and expertly filmed underwater action scenes ever attempted. The underwater sequence was directed by Ricou Browning and employed an underwater production staff of over 60 divers.

    The Theme Song: Tom Jones performs the title theme, easily one of the best and most memorable of them all, however this was not the Producer's original intention. Both Shirley Bassey and Dionne Warwick recorded themes for the opening sequence, a tune titled Mr Kiss Kiss Bang Bang. Warwick's rendition can be heard in the second audio commentary, while a clip of Bassey's theme can be heard in the Thunderball Phenomenon featurette.

    The Locations: The film opens in Paris, the home of SPECTRE's headquarters. Much of the remainder of the film is set in Nassau (The Bahamas), where at this time The Beatles had recently wrapped shooting of their second film, Help!.

    Personal Thoughts: Thunderball wasn't the first Bond film I experienced, however it became my favourite as soon as I saw it. For me, it just seems to have the best of everything; the best girls, the best action, and it is certainly the peak of Connery's reign as 007.

Video

    Lowry have done an exceptional job with the restoration of these films. Originally issued on DVD in 2000, the old Special Edition of Thunderball was rife with visual flaws, ranging from scratches and dirt to colour inconsistencies and telecine wobble. I particularly noticed the composite effects shots, such as the close-ups of Connery in the rocket outfit, have been improved considerably in this Ultimate Edition by reducing grain and shimmering effects. I have no doubt that this is the best the film has ever looked on any medium to date.

    Thunderball has been transferred to DVD in its original theatrical aspect ratio of 2.35:1, complete with 16x9 enhancement. This was the first Bond film to be shot and screened in this aspect ratio.

    The overall image is sharp and clear, however I did notice a few inconsistencies in clarity between scenes. I would put these down to inaccurate focus pulling and I doubt these minor instances of softness would be a problem to the average viewer. Black levels are strong and deep when they need to be while shadow detail is similarly accurate. This film contains quite a few dimly lit underwater scenes that could easily become a nightmare, but they are transferred beautifully here. There was no low level noise evident in the transfer.

    The film's colouring is strong and consistent, with realistic skin tones. One facet of the old Special Edition transfer that annoyed me was the red hue that dominated the image and made the entire cast appear as though they suffered from high blood pressure. There are no such problems here.

    I'm very happy to report that the transfer is completely free of any MPEG compression artefacting, blocking or grain. Haloing and edge enhancement are also absent. Film artefacts such as hairs, dust and dirt have been removed completely, although a very slight film-like graininess remains in some scenes, hardly worth mentioning. I noted some minor aliasing on Venetian blinds in the background at 18:55, amounting to only a brief moment of edginess. As is common for films of this vintage, some slight shakiness arises at times during image pans, but this is due to camera instability and not telecine wobble. Similarly, post production techniques of the day are difficult to correct, such as the sped-up film during action sequences and the composite shots I mentioned above, and these are intact but greatly improved. All of the fades and dissolves between scenes are also intact but appear much less clunky after being restored.

    Four English subtitle streams are provided, two of which accompany the audio commentaries. I sampled both the standard English subtitles and the English for the Hearing Impaired stream and found them moderately accurate to the spoken word and easy to follow.

    Both discs are dual layered (DVD9 formatted). The layer transition of disc one has been placed during the feature at 60:53. This is a relatively quiet moment mid-scene that shouldn't prove too obtrusive to most viewers. The layer break was completely transparent on my system.

Video Ratings Summary

Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

    There are four soundtracks accompanying this film on DVD, all of which are English language. The default soundtrack is Dolby Digital 5.1 (448Kb/s), accompanied by a dts 5.1 (768Kb/s) equivalent that may be selected manually or on the fly. The remaining two audio options are the same audio commentaries that were included on the old Special Edition, featuring Director Terrence Young, Peter Hunt and John Hopkins. As with the video transfer, the audio has undergone significant restoration and sounds terrific, however the film's original mono soundtrack has not been included.

    The English dialogue is always distinct and easy to understand. The ADR sync does vary, with some lines more obvious than others. The scene with Luciana Paluzzi on the bed at 18:20 is a good example, as the mouth movements don't nearly match what is heard. I didn't notice any other dire audio sync issues.

    Given the age of the source material, I was pleasantly surprised at the surround usage in this mix. The score spills slightly to the rear channels, along with some atmospherics and street noise. At 7:40 a car can be heard passing on the right from rear to front. Voices are generally confined to the front centre channel and rarely stray.

    I found that there is little to separate the Dolby Digital and dts options in this case. The depth and consistency of these soundtracks is excellent, particularly when compared to the lacklustre audio of the old Special Edition, however the output level and overall quality of these soundtracks is practically identical. At a high volume level I noticed that the dts comes across slightly smoother, but that's it.

    The film's score is by John Barry, as is the theme sung by Tom Jones. I particularly love the haunting underwater theme, a musical thread that recurs throughout the film.

    The subwoofer accentuates the score a little, as well as the explosions. Again, given the age of the film I'm both surprised and content with the degree of LFE usage.

Audio Ratings Summary

Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

    There are some excellent new supplements to be found here, in addition to all of the extras from the old Special Edition.

Menus

Disc One

Audio Commentary- Terrence Young (Director) & Others

    Mediated by John Cork, a large cross-section of cast and crew contribute to this commentary, including designer Production Designer Ken Adam, underwater director Ricou Browning and actress Luciana Paluzzi. They all have interesting anecdotes to share and the flow of information is quite fast at times. Both commentaries include optional English and Dutch subtitles.

Audio Commentary- Peter Hunt (Editor), John Hopkins (Screenwriter) & Others

    This commentary follows an interview style, as Hunt discusses his career and introduction to the Bond franchise. There are a few other interesting tidbits to be found, such as Dionne Warwick's theme song (originally sung by Shirley Bassey), as well as some scenes presented in a variety of language dubs.

Credits

    A simple scrolling text, covering all those that contributed to this Ultimate Edition.

Disc Two

    The second disc is divided into five sections that separate the new extras from the old featurettes. All of the extra material is subtitled in an assortment of languages. I was very irritated to find my player completely locked for more than five minutes after playback of the The Incredible World Of James Bond featurette. Why do copyright notices in a myriad of languages need to be forced upon me? The only way of escaping this barrage of text is to eject the disc and start again, or return to the menu before the featurette ends. Incidentally, the Australian copyright warning is last of all the languages, so if by chance you did want to see the warning that pertained to Region 4, you'll have to sit through five minutes of other languages to get there.

Declassified: MI6 Vault

    This area contains featurettes that are unique to this Ultimate Edition. Some contain clips you'll recognise from the extras of the old Special Edition.

Featurette- Bill Suitor: The Rocket Man Movies (3:43)

    These are the home movies of Bill Suitor, taken while on location in France. Some narration is provided.

Featurette- A Child's Guide To Blowing Up A Motor Car (16:25)

    This tongue-in-cheek film was produced by the Ford motor company, who supplied many of the vehicles in the film. There is actually quite a bit of interesting footage captured on the set, giving an interesting glimpse at the production of the film. I can't help thinking that a film like this (mixing children and explosive devices) would probably be frowned upon nowadays, and for good reason.

Advertisements- James Bond Commercials (3)

• 007 Rain Coat (0:30) - Stay dry and attract the chicks! Apparently, it's bullet proof as well.
• 007 Slacks (0:31) - Action slacks, designed for Bond! Gives the wearer the ability to leap rolls of barbed wire in a single leap.
• 007 Action Pack Toys (0:57) - Assorted spy paraphernalia for kids. These are hilarious.

Featurette- Ken Adam's Production Films (12:33)

    Ken Adam talks us through some of his home movies that were taken while location scouting with Terence Young, Harry Saltzman and others. He also captured some footage during the production, which is interesting to see.

Featurette- Thunderball Boat Show Reel (2:48)

    This short edit of the underwater battle was thrown together for publicity purposes while the film was still in post production. It serves as an interesting alternate edit of the scene.

Featurette- The Incredible World Of James Bond (48:46)

    United Artists made an American television special that was screened a few weeks prior to the release of Thunderball. It's cheesy to the extreme, but is interesting viewing in an historical sense.

007 Mission Control (Scene Selections)

    I don't really understand the point of this feature, but anyway, here you can access an array of clips from the film. The clips are divided into categories. Some are repeated and most have a play all function. All are presented with 16x9 enhancement and Dolby Digital 5.1 (448Kb/s) audio.

007

• The Gun Barrel (0:19)
• Titles (5:43) - Includes an alternate textless version.
• Engaging The Enemy (2:51) - Three scenes; Spectre On Your Shoulder, Sharp Little Eyes and Can't Win Them All.

Women

• Patricia (2:12) - Five of Patricia's key scenes.
• Domino (3:45) - Six scenes, one of which is Sharp Little Eyes, already included above.

Allies

• M (1:25) - Two of M's scenes from the film.
• Miss Moneypenny (1:01) - Some dialogue with Bond and Moneypenny.
• Q (1:25) - The scene between Bond and Q in Nassau.
• Felix Leiter (1:02) - Three of Felix's key moments.
• Paula (0:36) - A single scene of Paula and Bond on the boat.

Villains

• Emilio Largo (3:20) - Five scenes for SPECTRE's number two, including the casino scene.
• Blofeld (0:35) - Now you can watch the poor dude in the chair get fried over and over again. Joy!
• Fiona Volpe (5:07) - Six scenes with the gorgeous Luciana Paluzzi.
• Count Lippe (1:02) - Two of Lippe's scenes; his introduction and subsequent death.
• Jacques Bouvar (0:56) - The fight scene between Bond and Bouvar.

Mission Combat Manual (Action Scenes) (3:11)

    Features five of the film's great action sequences, in particular the classic underwater battle.

Q Branch (4:33)

    There are seven scenes that feature Bond's gadgets, from his rocket pack to the underwater camera.

Exotic Locations (3:16)

    This part is a little different and features a voiceover that talks the viewer through the specific locations that were utilised during production, with clips from the film as reference. This piece has stereo audio.

Mission Dossier

    This section contains all the old featurettes from the Special Edition. None are 16x9 enhanced.

Featurette - Inside Thunderball (3:37)

    This short featurette discusses the various discrepancies that appear in different incarnations of the film.

Featurette - The Thunderball Phenomenon (29:48)

    Produced in 1995, this documentary takes a brief look at the film's creator and director, while examining the huge Bond following during the 60s. We're shown conceptual artwork and some of the marketing paraphernalia that accompanied the film. Cast and crew interviews are included.

Featurette - The Making Of Thunderball (26:23)

    This is a very interesting piece that, as the title suggests, explores the making of the film via interviews with cast and crew and footage captured on the set during production. There are some great anecdotes to be heard in this 1995 production.

Ministry Of Propaganda

    Here, you'll find a collection of trailers, TV spots and radio advertisements.

• Theatrical Archive (8:03) - Three theatrical trailers in total; two for Thunderball and one for a You Only Live Twice / Thunderball double feature.
• TV Broadcasts (5) - Two TV spots for Thunderball and three for a Thunderball / From Russia With Love double feature.
• Radio Communication (5:03) - An assortment of radio ads promoting the film.

Image Database (Stills Galleries)

    There is a large range of stills to view here, and each gallery has an optional page of explanatory text that can be accessed during the first still (usually about four seconds).

• Portraits (1:38)
• The Aston Martin (0:11)
• Chateau D'Anet (0:31)
• Pinder's Shop (0:19)
• Searching For The Vulcan (0:11)
• Romance Beneath The Waves (0:55)
• Underwater Action (1:39)
• The Final Fight (0:07)
• The Pinewood Tank (0:11)
• Thunderball Around The Globe (1:43)
• Merchandising (2:34)

    Incidentally, the Region 2 (PAL) UEs appear to be identical to ours and are available separately.

    The video transfer is fantastic.

    The audio transfer is great.

    The extras are extensive and relevant to the film.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall

You Only Live Twice: Ultimate Edition (1967)

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General		Extras
Category	Action	Main Menu Audio & Animation Audio Commentary Credits Featurette-Ken Adam's Production Films Featurette-Whickers World Featurette-Welcome To Japan Mr. Bond Featurette-007,Women, Allies, Mission Combat Manuel, Q Branch Featurette-Exotic Locations Featurette-Behind The Scenes-Inside The Making Of You Only Live Twice Featurette-Silhouettes: The James Bond Titles Storyboards-Plane Crash: Animated Storyboard Sequence Theatrical Trailer-Archive TV Spots-Broadcasts Radio Spots-Communications Gallery-Photo-1967 - The Year" You Only Live Twice "Was Released
Rating	?
Year Of Production	1967
Running Time	112:03
RSDL / Flipper	RSDL (56:32) Dual Disc Set	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Ads Then Menu
Region Coding	2,4	Directed By	Lewis Gilbert
Studio Distributor	Sony Pictures Home Entertain	Starring	Sean Connery Akiko Wakabayashi Mie Hama Tetsuro Tamba Teru Shimada Karin Dor Donald Pleasence Bernard Lee Lois Maxwell Desmond Llewelyn Charles Gray Tsai Chin Peter Fanene Maivia
Case	?
RPI	$19.95	Music	John Barry

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	English Dolby Digital 5.1 (448Kb/s) English dts 5.1 (768Kb/s) English Audio Commentary Dolby Digital 2.0 (224Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	2.35:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio	2.35:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	English Dutch for the Hearing Impaired Dutch Swedish Finnish Danish Greek Hindi English Audio Commentary Dutch Audio Commentary	Smoking	Yes
		Annoying Product Placement	Yes
		Action In or After Credits	No

    1967 saw the fifth Bond film, and this one takes him to the Orient. Japan, to be specific.

    The pre-credits sequence sees Bond being killed in bed by assassins in Hong Kong, aided by a willing local femme (played by Tsai Chin, Fu Manchu's evil daughter). But his death is just a smokescreen to allow him to investigate the source of the current international crisis. The Americans and the Russians have each lost a spacecraft, and each blame the other. War is imminent. But those trusty Brits have learned that the American spacecraft landed somewhere in the sea off the Japanese coast.

    In Tokyo Bond goes to see local British diplomat Dikko Henderson (Charles Gray), who is swiftly killed just as he is about to give some important information. Chasing the killer, Bond ends up in the offices of Osato Corporation, which is just a front for the importation of chemicals needed to produce rocket fuel. Bond also drops in on the head of the Japanese Secret Service, one "Tiger" Tanaka (Tetsuro Tamba). But of course Bond's interest is piqued more by agent Aki (Akiko Wakabayashi), and the luscious Osato operative Helga Brandt (the luscious Karin Dor). Can Bond discover the mystery behind the missing spaceships and prevent the outbreak of World War III?

    You Only Live Twice exhibits the problems which bedevilled most of the Bonds after the late 1960s, in that the sets, settings and gadgets begin to overwhelm the story, and as each episode tries to outdo the previous they become less and less believable. The script was written by Roald Dahl, and he reportedly said that he wrote it according to a formula - by the numbers, as it were. There are enormous plot holes and unbelievable situations in this film, though with Connery's good-natured charm and a reasonably fast pace this film is still very enjoyable, even if some of it is unintentionally funny - I could not help laughing out loud when Tanaka reveals his secret army of Ninjas even though I've seen this numerous times before. But then there are some good action sequences, like the fight in Osato's office when Bond is forced to use a sofa as a battering ram. There is also an excellent airborne fight when Bond in a gyrocopter takes on four helicopters. But then there is the terrible oriental makeup Connery is forced to wear, which would fool no-one.

   There are a few token Japanese actors in the film, most of whom appear to be dubbed, though co-star Tamba could speak English. Having heard some of his English in a later film called Silence, in which he is supposed to be a Dutchman with red hair and beard, I'm not surprised that they dubbed him here. At this time his star was in the ascendant in his home country, starring in the TV series Key Hunter which also made a star of Sonny Chiba, and he is still making appearances in films in his eighties. Teru Shimada, who plays Osato, was a long-term resident of California and had been in films there since the early 1930s. I think he provides his own voice.

    The English cast includes Bernard Lee and Lois Maxwell of course, and the chief villain Blofeld is played by a very familiar character actor who will be instantly recognisable by his voice, even though his face isn't seen until near the very end. Interestingly Charles Gray would play Blofeld in the next Connery film, Diamonds Are Forever. There are a number of actors who appear in other Bond films, some of whom were killed off in Goldfinger (Burt Kwouk and Anthony Chinn). There are unbilled appearances by Alexander Knox as the American President and William Sylvester and Robert Hutton as his advisers. Fans of UFO will recognise the late Ed Bishop as the red-shirted CapCom operator at the start of the movie.

   This was the first of three Bonds directed by Lewis Gilbert. But his influence is overshadowed by the sets of Ken Adam, which are impressive but tend to overwhelm the film. This isn't the best of the Connery series, but it is still quite enjoyable. Connery left the series after this film, but was back four years later for one last "official" outing as Britain's greatest secret agent.

Video

    The film is presented in the original aspect ratio of 2.35:1 and is 16x9 enhanced.

    This isn't the best presentation of a 2.35:1 film that I've seen. There is a slight lack of sharpness and detail. This despite some obvious manipulation which has resulted in a slight digital edge to outlines, as well as some edge enhancement. Despite the Lowry process being used here, backgrounds often look as if they should have more detail. This extends to foregrounds shown in long shot.

    Colour is very good but again it looks as if the red part of the spectrum has been boosted, making flesh tones a little too brown or ruddy for my liking. Black levels are also good. Shadow detail is sometimes lacking, but not to the extent that anything of importance is missed. Most of the actors wear light suits, in keeping with the sunny exoticism of the plot.

    I did not notice any film artefacts. There are mild examples of posterisation, but not to the same extent as in Goldfinger. There was some judder in horizontal pans, though there do not appear to be any interlacing artefacts. Some telecine wobble is evident at various points during the film.

    Optional subtitles are provided in a variety of languages. The English subtitles appear to be very well done in a sizeable white font.

    The film is on an RSDL-formatted disc. The layer break is noticeable but not disruptive to the flow of the film. It occurs at 56:32 at a cut following the helicopter battle.

Video Ratings Summary

Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

    The default audio is Dolby Digital 5.1, with the alternative being DTS 5.1. I listened to the latter in full and sampled the former. There is really no substantial difference between them that I could discern. The producers of this DVD have done the equivalent of pan-and-scan with the audio in not providing the original mono soundtrack.

    This soundtrack has less of the placing of voices in relation to their position on the screen than Goldfinger, which gets annoying when the audio goes from one speaker to the other to match the various camera angles in the same sequence. Dialogue is clear throughout, and there are no fluctuations in the level of the voices. Effects come across very well for a movie of this vintage. While much of the film has a frontal soundstage effects are often spread across the rear channels, though often they just draw attention to themselves rather than envelop the listener in believable sound. The LFE channel gets a considerable workout with explosions and some of the music.

    Audio sync is generally okay for the European and American actors, and not so good for the Japanese. Tetsuro Tamba's voice actor doesn't nearly match Tamba's lip movements, even though he is speaking his lines in English. Alexander Knox's voice may also have been dubbed, as it often doesn't sound like his voice.

    One of the delights of this movie is the splendid score by John Barry, perhaps his finest for the Bond series. He works Asian-sounding themes into the score, plus uses the original Bond music in the aerial dogfight. The title song, sung by Nancy Sinatra, is one of the best Bond songs, the opening of which provides a memorable theme which Barry returns to throughout the film. Unfortunately the new surround mix for the song makes the voice seem more subdued than on my CD of Bond themes.

Audio Ratings Summary

Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

    A lot of extras, some of which will be familiar from the previous Region 4 DVD, or the laserdisc version if you had it in that format. All have subtitles, and unless stated otherwise all are 1.33:1. All bar the audio commentary are on Disc Two of this two-disc set.

Main Menu Audio & Animation

    An 87 second skippable restoration promo precedes the menus. The menus are done in Bond credit sequence style, with images and music from the film.

Audio Commentary

    John Cork hosts this commentary which features the reminiscences of many of the crew, from Lewis Gilbert to Nancy Sinatra to Ken Adam. There is plenty of information about the technical aspects of the production, mainly stunts and sets.

Credits

    DVD credits.

Featurette-Ken Adam's Production Films (13:57)

    Ken Adam (now Sir Ken) made some colour 16mm home movie footage of the shoot, which he narrates.

Featurette-Whicker's World (5:20)

    For those of you who don't remember or are too young, Alan Whicker is an English journalist who hosted a TV series which ran for about 30 years in which he travelled all over the world, reporting from exotic locations, sort of a one-man 60 Minutes. His unique accent and delivery were hilariously parodied in an episode of Monty Python's Flying Circus. These are excerpts taken from a show in which he looked behind the filming of the latest Bond epic. There are other excerpts from this show in the making of documentary.

Featurette-Welcome To Japan Mr. Bond (50:03)

    This appears to be a made for TV promotional film, with excerpts from all of the Bond films to 1967 framed by a very silly, almost embarrassing story in which Miss Moneypenny frets over the rumour that Bond is about to be married. It features Lois Maxwell as Moneypenny of course and Desmond Llewellyn as Q, demonstrating some of the gadgets used in the latest film. Kate O'Mara appears unbilled.

Featurette-007,Women, Allies, Mission Combat Manuel, Q Branch, Exotic Locations

    Categorised under the above headings are clips from the film, so you can see selected footage related to a character or situation.

Featurette-Behind The Scenes-Inside The Making Of You Only Live Twice (30:22)

    This is an excellent documentary with interviews with many of the surviving crew, including the director, Ken Adam, Peter Hunt and others. Patricia Neal is on hand to represent her then husband Roald Dahl. It is narrated by Patrick Macnee and was made in 2000 for the first DVD release of the film.

Featurette-Silhouettes: The James Bond Titles (23:21)

    This is a biographical featurette about Maurice Binder, who did the opening titles for Dr No, then returned for every Bond film from Thunderball until his early death after Licence to Kill. Binder was responsible for the silhouetted nude girls that sparked the credit sequences. There are interviews with friends, colleagues, Sheena Easton (now with a broad Noo Yoik accent), Roger Moore and Pierce Brosnan. It was made in 2000 for the first DVD release of the film.

Storyboards-Plane Crash: Animated Storyboard Sequence (1:36)

    The sequence shows the storyboards for the plane crash sequence with music and effects.

Theatrical Trailer-Archive (8:35)

    Three trailers are included, being an international and a North American trailer and a trailer for a double-bill with Thunderball. The first two are widescreen and 16x9 enhanced.

TV Spots-Broadcasts (0:55)

    A television commercial for a Thunderball-You Only Live Twice double-bill.

Radio Spots-Communications (5:16)

    A series of radio commercials.

Gallery-Photo-1967 - The Year You Only Live Twice Was Released

    Lots of photos in various categories, including publicity stills, behind the scenes pictures and even some glamour stills of the female cast. The Select button allows you to view text about some of the pictures.

    These new Ultimate Editions are getting released around the world. As far as I can tell the video quality of the new Region 4s is superior to the old Region 4 releases.

    Not one of the best Bonds, but it still has much to offer.

    The video quality is very good.

    The audio quality is also very good.

    More extras than you can throw a set of star knives at.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall

On Her Majesty's Secret Service: Ultimate Edition (1969)

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General		Extras
Category	Action	Main Menu Audio & Animation Audio Commentary Credits Featurette-Behind The Scenes-Casting Interviews-Character-George Lazenby In His own Words Interviews-Cast & Crew-Press Day In Portugal Synopsis-Shot On Ice, Swiss Movement Featurette-007, Women, Aliies, Villians, Mission Combat Manuel Featurette-Q Branch and Exotic Locations Featurette-Making Of-Inside Her Majesty's Service Featurette-Behind The Scenes-Inside Q's Lab, Above It All Theatrical Trailer-Archive TV Spots-Broadcasts Radio Spots-Communications Gallery-Photo-Experience The World Of Bond In 1969, The Year Of Release
Rating	?
Year Of Production	1969
Running Time	136:20
RSDL / Flipper	Dual Layered Dual Disc Set	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Ads Then Menu
Region Coding	2,4	Directed By	Peter R. Hunt
Studio Distributor	Sony Pictures Home Entertain	Starring	George Lazenby Diana Rigg Telly Savalas Gabriele Ferzetti Ilse Steppat Lois Maxwell George Baker Bernard Lee Bernard Horsfall Desmond Llewelyn Yuri Borionko Virginia North Geoffrey Cheshire
Case	?
RPI	$19.95	Music	John Barry

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	English Dolby Digital 5.1 (448Kb/s) English dts 5.1 (768Kb/s) English Audio Commentary Dolby Digital 2.0 (224Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	2.35:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio	2.35:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	English English for the Hearing Impaired Dutch Swedish Finnish Norwegian Danish Greek Hindi English Audio Commentary Dutch Audio Commentary	Smoking	Yes
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	No

    The 6th film in the wildly successful United Artists 007 series, upon its theatrical release On Her Majesty's Secret Service was a box-office disappointment. It's also a film that sits uneasily with many Bond fans. To many it's a stain on the Bond name. Personally I like this film, but can understand why some don't. To a large extent, On Her Majesty's Secret Service breaks the mould of the earlier Saltzman/Broccoli produced 007 films.

    Firstly, Sean Connery opted for early retirement and chose not to participate in this film. To replace the bankable Connery was an incredibly difficult task for the producers. In George Lazenby's defence, Connery's shoes would be impossible to fill for any capable actor, let alone a nomadic male model who had little acting experience. (Yes, a male model no less!) At some points in the film, it's like the filmmakers are desperately trying to remind you this is a James Bond movie. The opening credits have flashback scenes from all the previous films, and when Bond is in his office at MI6 he goes through his drawers to find old mementoes from the previous films. Cue each film's soundtrack as he goes through the items (no really... they did cue the soundtracks.)

    Secondly, Q supplied gadgets do not appear at all in this film. Bond relies on his own contacts and resources to hunt down Blofeld. In fact, for a large portion of the film 007 is actually working outside of MI6, at and one stage even resigning (if not for the wisdom of Miss Moneypenny.) This conflicted Bond, tired of the system he was working in is a much truer Bond to Fleming's books than many of the other films.

    Finally, Bond falls in love, talks about having a family and actually gets married! One of my favourite parts of the film is the romantic montage set to Louis Armstrong's We Have All the Time in the World. Walks along the beach, romantic dinners, holding hands in the street, window shopping.... in a Bond movie? So out of place is this montage, it's almost like watching a scene from a Rock Hudson/Doris Day film. The movie ends on a downer, though, as Bond's new bride Tracy gets gunned down by Telly Savalas' Blofeld and Ilse Steppat's Irma Bunt.

    Interestingly enough,  the movie was originally planned to end with the wedding, and Tracy's murder was to be the opening scene of the next movie, Diamonds are Forever. For whatever reason (editorial or getting rid of Lazenby we'll never know) it was left at the end of the film for the most emotionally charged conclusion to any Bond film.

    Most of the film was shot in beautiful Switzerland, where SPECTRE's evil master Dr Evil (I mean Ernest Blofeld) has a laboratory working on spreading disease around the world. His plan is to hold the world to ransom for the antidote. Bond poses as Sir Hilary Bray, an expert in heraldry that Blofeld has hired to confirm his royal connection. Prior to this assignment Bond had rescued and fallen for one of my all-time favourite Bond girls, the delightfully snobbish Diana Rigg. As Bond's cover is blown a great ski chase ensues and Tracy comes to his rescue. Then operating outside of MI6, James gets his future father in law to use his henchmen to take down the Swiss fortress Blofeld inhabits.

    As far as screenplays go, On Her Majesty's Secret Service one of the better in the Bond universe. Unfortunately an unsure leading man distracts viewers as he attempts to make Bond his own. What if Connery had continued on for this one? How good would it have been? One can only wonder.

    If you haven't visited this episode in the Bond library for a while it's definitely worth a look as an interesting and ultimately enjoyable film. (Plus it's not every day you get to see an Aussie with a licence to kill.)

Video

    Lowry deserve every cent they got for the restoration of these films. Not only is this the best transfer for a movie of this age that I have seen, this is one of the best looking transfers I have ever seen, period.

    OHMSS has been magnificently transferred to DVD in its original theatrical aspect ratio of 2.35:1, complete with 16x9 enhancement.

    Overall the image was incredibly clear, however there were a few scenes that were noticeably softer. For a great example of how clear the picture is check out the wallpaper and surroundings at 20:45, the upholstery on the couch at 23:32 and the mural at 25:02. Seriously, I am amazed at the detail that seems to leap out of the screen in many shots. Other reviewers have said the same thing, but I doubt that this film has ever looked so good. Bring on the HD era.

    Black levels are good and shadow detail is accurate.

    Unlike some other reviews of these new editions that have mentioned reddish skin hues, thankfully this film's colouring is strong and consistent with realistic skin tones.

    There are no film artefacts present at all. This is one of the cleanest transfers I've seen. There is no grain either.

    Four English subtitle streams are available, two of which accompany the audio commentaries. They are quite accurate to the dialogue and easy to read.

    As an interesting aside, I did notice (actually my wife noticed and then told me) at 120:51-54 you can see a helicopter literally disappear from view as it goes to land in the assault scene! Airbrushed out? Has this appeared in previous versions?

Video Ratings Summary

Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

    The default audio track is Dolby Digital 5.1 (448kbs), with the alternative being DTS 5.1. I couldn't detect any substantial difference between them. Unfortunately the original mono soundtrack is not on the disc. That said however, the tracks are generally front heavy tracks and quite conservative in the surround mix.

    Dialogue was generally clear and easy to understand. Sync was correct, although it's an amusing film to watch with all the dialogue that was looped for the actors.

    The music was fantastic. John Barry's theme song sounded great and every time we heard We Have All the Time in the World  I dreaded the emotional ending that was to come.

    There were a few moments when the surrounds were utilised, especially in the aerial assault on Blofeld's mountain lair and the roar of the thundering helicopters.

    The subwoofer wasn't used much.

    There were no click or pop issues.

Audio Ratings Summary

Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

Main Menu Audio & Animation

    This set has some of the best menus I have seen.

Audio Commentary- Director Peter Hunt plus others

    A passable collection of anecdotes with some technical commentary. Not really a director's commentary, though. It's the same track as was found on the last edition. How great would it have been for a Lazenby/Rigg commentary as well! Maybe on the high definition release?

Featurette-Behind The Scenes Casting OHMSS (1:30)

    Extremely brief. This shows some old footage of Lazenby meeting the press for the first time. Interesting but not really informative.

Interviews-Character-George Lazenby In His Own Words (9:25)

    Interview footage of Lazenby at different stages of production and promotion. He comes across as pretty arrogant. He could have had the world at his feet and it seems like his arrogant manner cost him dearly. He even seems to acknowledge that in a recent interview.

Interviews-Cast & Crew-Press Day In Portugal (1:30)

    Footage from the wedding scene.

Shot On Ice (9:19)

    A very old but fun look at the filming of car chase scenes in Switzerland.

Swiss Movement (7:14)

    A fun but dated look at the making of the film.

Featurette-007, Women, Allies, Villians, Mission Combat Manual

    Redundant look at different chapters of the film based on characters, action and so on.

Featurette-Making Of-Inside Her Majesty's Service (41:40)

    A great look at the making of the film with some interesting quotes and footage. This is the same documentary as was present on the previous OHMSS release from a few years ago. Very enjoyable.

Featurette-Behind The Scenes-Inside Q's Lab (10:21)

    A lovely look at Desmond Llewelyn and Q's influence on the franchise. The same documentary as was found on the previous OHMSS release from a few years ago.

Featurette-Behind The Scenes -Above It All (5:27)

    A great, but old look at how the various aerial shots from the film were done. Pretty standard technique for now, but quite cutting edge for back then.

Theatrical Trailer-Archive TV Spots-Broadcasts

    Standard promo fare. Great to see how the industry has changed.

Radio Spots-Communications

    Very over the top radio ads - very cheesy compared to today's marketing efforts

Gallery-Photo-Experience The World Of  Bond In 1969, The Year Of Release

    Photo gallery.

    Given the superior PAL transfer and the fact that they get a worldwide release - go for R4.

    A controversial Bond film, but a lot of fun if you can overlook its deficiencies.

    The video is fantastic, but what happened to the helicopter?

    The audio was good, but where is the original mono?

    Lots of special features. I'd love a Lazenby and Rigg commentary, though.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall

Diamonds Are Forever: Ultimate Edition (1971)

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General		Extras
Category	Action	Main Menu Audio & Animation Audio Commentary Credits Featurette-Lesson # 007 - Close Quarter Combat Interviews-Cast-Sean Connery 1971 - The BBC Interview Featurette-Behind The Scenes-Alternative Angle Scenes, Satellite Test Reel Featurette-Behind The Scenes-Explosion Tests, Oil Rig Attack Featurette-007, Women, Aliies, Villians, Mission Combat Manuel Featurette-Q Branch and Exotic Locations Featurette-Behind The Scenes-Inside Diamonds Are Forever Biographies-Crew-Cubby Broccoli - The Man Behind Bond Deleted Scenes Theatrical Trailer-Archive TV Spots-Broadcasts Radio Spots-Comminications
Rating	?
Year Of Production	1971
Running Time	115:03
RSDL / Flipper	Dual Layered Dual Disc Set	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Ads Then Menu
Region Coding	2,4	Directed By	Guy Hamilton
Studio Distributor	Sony Pictures Home Entertain	Starring	Sean Connery Jill St. John Charles Gray Lana Wood Jimmy Dean Bruce Cabot Putter Smith Bruce Glover Norman Burton Joseph Fürst Bernard Lee Desmond Llewelyn Leonard Barr
Case	?
RPI	$19.95	Music	John Barry

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	English Dolby Digital 5.1 (448Kb/s) English dts 5.1 (768Kb/s) English Audio Commentary Dolby Digital 2.0 (224Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	2.35:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio	2.35:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	English English for the Hearing Impaired Dutch Swedish Finnish Norwegian Danish Greek Hindi English Audio Commentary Dutch Audio Commentary	Smoking	Yes
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	No

    Diamonds Are Forever marks the 7th film in the United Artists franchise and the last time that Sean Connery was issued with a licence to kill from Cubby Broccoli.

   After an exciting opening sequence in which Bond exacts revenge on Blofeld (or does he?), 007 traces diamond smugglers from London to Amsterdam to Las Vegas to an oil rig out in the middle of the ocean. But why is MI6 chasing diamond smugglers? Because it ultimately leads to a diabolical plot to uproot the world order by Blofeld of course! Apparently the producers wanted to step away from the darker issues in On Her Majesty's Secret Service and have the series return to the Goldfinger style of Bond, a Shirley Bassey theme, exciting car chases, beautiful women, some fantastic one-liners and a cracking fight scene in a elevator. What more could you want?

    The love interest this time around is the gorgeous Jill St John, playing diamond smuggling Tiffany Case. Bond impersonates a diamond smuggler and takes her to the US where they promptly arrive in Las Vegas to deliver their smuggled bounty. The typical Bond formula is to have the bad girl switch allegiances and swoon "Oh James" by the end of the movie. Miss Case is no different and is certainly a worthy Bond girl.

    Interesting additions to the villains are Mr Wint (Bruce Glover) and Mr Kidd (Putter Smith) as the homosexual double assassin act. Surely that was controversial in 1971? Anyway, they make for a fun and inventive pair that greatly up the body count in this film. Blofeld is played by Charles Gray. He does an admirable job but is not exactly the most intimidating nemesis for Bond to face.

    There's no doubting that as much fun as Diamonds Are Forever is, it's easily the weakest link in the Connery-Lazenby-Connery chain. Connery almost looks bored in some scenes, with a 'been there done that' look on his face. He simply doesn't have the energy in this film like he did in earlier incarnations.

    Nonetheless, it's still a lot of fun for a night in with 007, Tiffany Case, Bambi and Thumper, and how can you not like a movie with a girl called Plenty O'Toole?

Video

    Lowry deserve every cent they got for the restoration of these films. This is a great transfer for a film that is 35 years old. However, I wasn't as impressed with this transfer as I was with OHMSS. There are one or two problems that bothered me but it is still a very good transfer.

    Diamonds Are Forever has been transferred to DVD in its original theatrical aspect ratio of 2.35:1, complete with 16x9 enhancement.

    Overall the image was good, but it wasn't as clear as OHMSS. I wonder if the problem was with the original film stock. Don't get me wrong, it doesn't look bad, but Diamonds Are Forever is not as stand out impressive as the previous film in the series.

     The picture is still pretty clear - for examples of how clear it is check out the great scenery at 18:00, 38:24 and 40:11. As good as some scenes look, there are still many that look softer than they should be.

    Black levels are good and shadow detail is accurate.

    Some other reviews of these new editions have mentioned reddish skin hues, and unfortunately this film does have instances where the colouring is too strong and skin tones too reddish. Perhaps it was the Las Vegas heat, but I doubt it. Does HD restoration expose the unnatural caking of makeup that actors have to go through? I remember reading a year or so ago how makeup techniques are changing to incorporate HD.

    There are no film artefacts present at all. Thankfully there is no grain either.

    Four English subtitle streams are available, two of which accompany the audio commentaries. They are quite accurate to the dialogue and easy to read.

Video Ratings Summary

Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

    The default audio track is Dolby Digital 5.1 (448Kb/s), with the alternative being DTS 5.1. Like the previous review I did for the Ultimate Edition of OHMSS, I couldn't detect any substantial difference between them.

    Unfortunately the original mono soundtrack is not on the disc. That said however, the tracks are generally front heavy tracks and quite conservative in the surround mix.

    The dialogue was generally clear and easy to understand. Syncing was correct.

    The music was fantastic. John Barry's theme song sounded great and Shirley Bassey's title track is a beloved classic that'll get you into the mood for a Bond film as soon as you hear it..

    There were a few moments when the surrounds were utilised, especially in the car chase around Las Vegas.

    The subwoofer wasn't used much, but I didn't miss it.

    There were no click or pop issues.

Audio Ratings Summary

Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

Main Menu Audio & Animation

    Fantastic menus! Some of the most polished I have ever seen.

Audio Commentary

    Commentary with Guy Hamilton and other cast/crew. This is not technically a commentary because it consists of snippets of interviews and discussions from various sources. Surely Sean Connery and Jill St John could have been recruited for a commentary?

Featurette - Lesson 007:Close Quarter Combat (4:20)

    Old, brief feature on the fighting in the film featuring director Guy Hamilton. Quite interesting.

Interviews-Cast  Sean Connery BBC Interview (5:00)

    Very interesting. He describes OHMSS thusly: "the lack of success of the previous one meant I could come in now on a better wicket." Enjoyable interview, but way too brief. On that note - why was there no retrospective footage of Connery?

Featurette- Cubby Broccoli: The Man Behind Bond (41:20)

Featurette-Behind The Scenes (1:30)

    Satellite test scenes - the early days of fx.

Featurette Inside Diamonds Are Forever (30:37)

    Narrated by Patrick Macnee, this featurette shows the development and production of Diamonds Are Forever. Originally, Auric Goldfinger's evil twin was supposed to be the baddie, and an American actor was signed to play Bond - luckily, they got Connery back! The producers wanted a more American film, hence it was set primarily in Las Vegas. This was also on the previous release.

Featurette-Behind The Scenes (2:19)

    Oil rig attack sequence

Deleted Scenes

    The weirdest scene included Sammy Davis Jr in a bit part. Plenty O'Toole is featured in two scenes, one at dinner time and again after she is thrown from the window when she returns to the hotel room.

Theatrical Trailer

TV Spots

Radio Spots

    Get the R4 - it's PAL and the release looks to be identical across international markets.

    Overall, a weaker Bond but a fun one.

    The video is very good.

    The audio is good too.

    The special features are a lot of fun too. A Connery commentary would seal the deal.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall

Live and Let Die: Ultimate Edition (1973)

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General		Extras
Category	Action	Main Menu Audio & Animation Audio Commentary Credits Featurette-Bond 1973 : The lost Documentary Gallery-Poster-Conceptual Art Featurette-Rodger Moore As James Bond, Circa 1964 Featurette-007,Women, Allies, Mission Combat Manuel, Q Branch Featurette-Exotic Locations Featurette-Behind The Scenes-Inside Let And Let Die Featurette-Behind The Scenes-On Set With Rodger Moore: The Funeral Parade Featurette-Behind The Scenes-On Set With Rodger Moore:Hang Gliding Lessons Theatrical Trailer-Archive TV Spots-Broadcasts Radio Spots-Communications Gallery-Photo-The World Of James Bond in 1973-The Year Of Release
Rating	?
Year Of Production	1973
Running Time	116:34
RSDL / Flipper	RSDL (55:39) Dual Disc Set	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Ads Then Menu
Region Coding	2,4	Directed By	Guy Hamilton
Studio Distributor	Sony Pictures Home Entertain	Starring	Roger Moore Yaphet Kotto Jane Seymour Clifton James Julius Harris Geoffrey Holder David Hedison Gloria Hendry Bernard Lee Lois Maxwell Tommy Lane Earl Jolly Brown Roy Stewart
Case	?
RPI	$19.95	Music	George Martin Linda McCartney Paul McCartney

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	English Dolby Digital 5.1 (448Kb/s) English dts 5.1 (768Kb/s) English Audio Commentary Dolby Digital 2.0 (224Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	1.78:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio	1.85:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	English English for the Hearing Impaired Dutch Swedish Finnish Norwegian Danish Greek Hindi English Audio Commentary English Audio Commentary	Smoking	Yes
		Annoying Product Placement	Yes
		Action In or After Credits	No

    Live and Let Die is the funkiest jive-talking Bond film. Featuring big afros, long sideburns, huge collars, platform shoes, seedy Harlem bars, black drug lords, and white red-neck hillbilly cops, Live and Let Die drops 007 into a blaxploitation script straight out of Shaft. It's absolutely pimplicious!

    Six actors have played James Bond in the 21 official Bond films, including rugged Sean Connery, former Aussie soldier George Lazenby, dapper Roger Moore, sulky Timothy Dalton, debonair Pierce Brosnan, and newcomer Daniel Craig.

    Live and Let Die was to mark the arrival of Roger Moore as Bond, following Sean Connery's brief return for just one film, Diamonds Are Forever. According to some recollections, Moore was approached to be the first Bond, before the role was offered to Sean Connery, and then again before the role was offered to George Lazenby. Some would say "fortunately", both times Moore was too busy to accept. As a result, Connery, with the help of original Bond Director Terence Young, was to make the role his own.

    Despite being aged 45 when he took on the role, Moore was to appear in seven Bond films over a period of 12 years. Following Live and Let Die in 1973, he went on to star in The Man With The Golden Gun in 1974, The Spy Who Loved Me in 1977, Moonraker in 1979, For Your Eyes Only in 1981, Octupussy in 1983, and View To a Kill in 1985.

    When Producers Albert R. Broccoli and Harry Saltzman hired Moore, they consciously decided to make Bond even more suave, debonair and unflappable. He is no longer a cold-blooded killer, and doesn't even look like he can handle himself in a fight. For example, when in Live and Let Die he ends up in a bar in downtown Harlem, I don't think anyone in the audience expected him to get out alive. The tough aura of invincibility was replaced by a handsome pretty-boy who was to embrace the comic elements of the character. Indeed, as Desson Howe once observed: "His weapon of choice was the punchline."

    The producers also decided to drop some of the Bondisms made famous by Connery. For example, in Live and Let Die, Moore's Bond never orders a vodka martini, but rather drinks bourbon whiskey; and Bond now smokes cigars, not cigarettes. As time passed, and Moore was increasingly accepted by Bond fans, some of the old Bond character traits were to return and some of the new ones were dropped.

    With the Moore era, the Bond films were to become less adult-orientated and far more tongue-in-cheek and family friendly. As a result, Bond was to gain a wider appeal, and box office takings were to improve in an increasingly difficult market.

    While this was the only Bond film to have the character of Q absent since he was introduced in the second movie, both Bernard Lee and Lois Maxwell reprise their roles as M and Moneypenny respectively. Of note, the character of red-neck hillbilly Louisiana Sheriff J.W. Pepper (Clifton James) is introduced in Live and Let Die, and David Hedison makes his debut as Felix Leiter. Hedison returns as Leiter in Licence To Kill, becoming the only actor to play the role more than once.

    In true blaxploitation style, the plot of Live and Let Die is not about world domination or political intrigue - instead, it's about drug smuggling. The British and US Governments have been secretly monitoring the operations of Dr. Kanaga (Yaphet Kotto), a small-time dictator of a tiny Caribbean Island called San Monique.

    When the secret agents involved in the operation disappear, James Bond (Roger Moore) is urgently sent to New York City, where the last agent was killed, to investigate. It so happens that Kananga is also currently in NYC visiting the UN.

    Bond's investigation leads him to a heroin drug lord, Mr. Big, who owns and operates a chain of restaurants in North America known as Fillet Of Soul. Bond also meets Mr. Big's virginal tarot card reading assistant, the very beautiful Solitaire (Jane Seymour).

    For more about the Bond universe, check out the official sites at www.jamesbond.com and www.007.com

Video

    Live and Let Die has been released twice before on DVD, including as a Special Edition. However, with this Ultimate Edition the original camera negatives have been imaged and digitally restored in Lowry's labs, using the John Lowry process. This process took over three years to complete for all 20 films, and the results are truly remarkable.

    Live and Let Die's DVD transfer is presented in a widescreen aspect ratio of 1.78:1, 16x9 enhanced. This is close to the film's original theatrical ratio of 1.85:1.

    Overall, the sharpness of the image is very good, but I did notice that some of the mid to long shots looked a little soft. For example the shot in the airport at 12:37. I assume this is in the source material, and I wonder if this is the work of a second unit camera team with a different lens or film stock? The black level is excellent, with true, deep blacks. The shadow detail, however, is a bit of a mixed bag. At times it was excellent, such as the interior of Bond's flat at 7:29, but at other times it was lacking, such as during the scene in the dark alleyway at 25:29.

    With the Lowry process, the entire film has been colour corrected. As a result, the movie has a very consistent approach to colour, and the transfer usually exhibits a very well saturated palette. At times, however, some of the colours looked a little muted. The skin tones are accurate.

    While some scenes can appear a little grainy at times, I assume this is in the source material, and relates to the film stock used. I also assume some grainy stock footage has been inserted occasionally. There are no problems with MPEG, Film-To-Video or Film Artefacts. Considering the age of the source material, this is a great achievement in DVD authoring.

    English, English for the Hearing Impaired, Dutch, Swedish, Finnish, Norwegian, Danish, Greek, Hindi, English Text Commentary and Dutch Text Commentary subtitles are present. The English ones are accurate.

    The feature is presented on a Dual Layer disc, with the layer change is placed at 55:39. The feature is divided into 32 chapters.

Video Ratings Summary

Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

    Originally released theatrically in the 1970s, I wasn't expecting much, but was pleased with the results. The disappointing aspect of the DVD aurally is that the sound does seem dated, and even a little tinny at times. For example, the gun shots sound muffled in comparison to more recent films.

    The DVD offers three audio options: English Dolby Digital 5.1 (448Kb/s), English dts 5.1 (768Kb/s), and English Text Commentary Dolby Digital 2.0 (224Kb/s). I watched the feature with both the Dolby Digital 5.1 and dts 5.1 audio. While many films benefit from a dts soundtrack, this is not one of them. I heard very little difference between the two options. I imagine it will be the later films from the 1990s onwards with more modern sound designs and recordings that will reap the benefits of dts audio.

    Although there is a considerable amount of ADR, the dialogue quality and audio sync are good throughout.

    Taking a temporary break from scoring the Bond films, Oscar winning composer John Barry stepped aside to make way for Fifth Beatle George Martin. For the catchy theme song, Martin enlisted the help of former Beatle Paul McCartney.

    The dts and Dolby Digital surround mixes provide a nice separation across the front three speakers. The rear speakers are called upon to provide subtle ambience, such as during the hotel stage show at 27:47 or during the voodoo gathering at 96:22. The resulting mix sounds almost like a Dolby stereo surround mix, and there are no whiz-bang directional effects or panning between speakers.

    This DVD's LFE track is very limited, but the subwoofer does lend a hand at times, such as during the explosion at 102:17.

Audio Ratings Summary

Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

    Apart from the restored picture and sound, a whole new array of extras have been added to the Bond Ultimate Editions in addition to the extras included on the Special Editions. Unless stated otherwise, all are presented in an aspect ratio of 1.78:1, 16x9 enhanced, with Dolby Digital stereo.

 Menus

    A series of animated menus with audio.

Disc One

Trailer

    A forced trailer for the Bond Ultimate Editions, presented in an aspect ratio of 1.33:1.

Audio Commentary - Director Guy Hamilton & members Of Cast And Crew

    Hosted by John Clark of the Ian Fleming Foundation, this commentary is very interesting, and packed with a lot of information and anecdotes. Interviews with a number of the cast and crew have been edited to make the commentary fairly screen specific, and each speaker is introduced by Clark. We hear from a range of people, such as Actors, Jane Seymour, and Yaphet Kotto, Art Director Syd Cain, and SFX Supervisor David Meddings. Some of these interviews were recorded on location, so the audio quality suffers at times.

Audio Commentary - Screenwriter Tom Mankiewicz

Audio Commentary - Actor Roger Moore

    Last year, Roger Moore recorded screen specific audio commentaries for all seven of his Bond films. Although there are some lengthy gaps, Moore has a pleasant voice to listen to, and a fun, yet dry sense of humour. His commentary is quite personal and he discusses issues well beyond the film. For example, the film opens at the UN, and this allows him to discuss his 15 years working for the UN, as a UNICEF Good Will Ambassador. Of course there is also plenty of Bond-related anecdotes and memories, such as how he was originally approached and hired, to his recollections of cast, crew, and the film's many locations.

Disc Two

De-Classified: MI6 Vault

    Presented in an aspect ratio of 1.33:1:

• Featurette-Bond 1973 : The lost Documentary (20:46) - An original 1973 marketing featurette
• Gallery-Poster-Conceptual Art (1:38) - A collection of sketches from the archives, featuring early designs for the film's posters
• Roger Moore as James Bond, circa 1964 (7:44, black and white) - Taken from a television comedy show, this comic sketch captures Moore's first portrayal of James Bond in a short television spoof of the Connery character

007 Mission Control

    An interactive feature that allows the viewer to jump directly to a key scene in the film, or to a specific character, gadget, or Bond girl.

Mission Dossiers

    The featurettes from the Live And Let Die Special Edition:

• Featurette-Behind The Scenes-Inside Let And Let Die (29:47) - Presented in an aspect ratio of 1.33:1, and narrated by Patrick Macnee, this is a look behind the scenes at the new Bond, and new Bond film. Featuring plenty of archival stills and footage, there are also a number of interviews with key people involved, such as Director Guy Hamilton.
• Featurette-Behind The Scenes-On Set With Rodger Moore: The Funeral Parade (1:37) - On set, Moore introduces viewers to one of the opening scenes of the film, and actor Bob Dix, who plays the CIA agent.
• Featurette-Behind The Scenes-On Set With Rodger Moore: Hang Gliding Lessons (3:47) - Featuring hang-gliding pioneer Aussie Bill Bennett, this featurette focuses on an outrageous stunt that is now a commonplace hobby.

Ministry Of Propaganda

    Theatrical Trailers:

• Much More - Roger Moore (2:45)
• Everything you've ever loved in a Bond film (1:43)

    TV Trailers:

• UK Milk Board Commercial (0:58)
• It's a matter of life, it's a matter of death (0:57)
• It's a matter of life, it's life and death (0:29)

    Two Radio Spots

Interactive Image Database 

    Nine themed photographic stills galleries from 1973, presented as slide shows.

    As with the Bond Special Editions, I understand that the R1 and R4 Ultimate Editions should be identical, except for the NTSC/PAL differences and some differences with the subtitles.

    Live and Let Die was to mark an intentional and noticeable change in direction for the Bond movies. The films were to become far more commercial, and far less critically acclaimed. With Live and Let Die one can see the evolution toward the tongue-in-cheek high-camp action-comedies that were to be known simply as the Moore era.

    The video quality is very good, considering the age of the source material.

    The audio quality is good, considering the limited source material.

    The extras are thorough, genuine, and interesting.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall

Man with the Golden Gun, The: Ultimate Edition (1974)

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General		Extras
Category	Action	Main Menu Audio & Animation Audio Commentary Credits Interviews-Character-The Russell Harty Show 1974 Featurette-Behind The Scenes-On Location With The Man With The Golden Gun Featurette-Behind The Scenes-Girls Fighting Featurette-American Thrill Show - Stunt Film And Audio Commentary Featurette-007, Women, Allies, Villains, Mission Combat Manual Featurette-Exotic Locations Theatrical Trailer-Archive TV Spots-Broadcasts Radio Spots-Communications Gallery-Photo-Experience The World Of James Bond in 1974 Featurette-Making Of-The Road To Bond - Stunt Co-ordinator W.J Milligan Featurette-Making Of-Inside The Man With The Golden Gun Featurette-Behind The Scenes-Double -O Stuntmen A Look At The Greatest Stunts Featurette-Behind The Scenes-Stunt Performances In Bond Films
Rating	?
Year Of Production	1974
Running Time	119:57
RSDL / Flipper	RSDL (62:43) Dual Disc Set	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Ads Then Menu
Region Coding	2,4	Directed By	Guy Hamilton
Studio Distributor	Sony Pictures Home Entertain	Starring	Roger Moore Christopher Lee Britt Ekland Maud Adams Hervé Villechaize Clifton James Richard Loo Soon-Tek Oh Marc Lawrence Bernard Lee Lois Maxwell Marne Maitland Desmond Llewelyn
Case	?
RPI	$19.95	Music	John Barry

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	English Dolby Digital 5.1 (448Kb/s) English dts 5.1 (768Kb/s) English Audio Commentary Dolby Digital 2.0 (224Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	1.85:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio	1.85:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	English English for the Hearing Impaired Dutch Swedish Finnish Norwegian Danish Greek Hindi English Text Commentary Dutch Text Commentary	Smoking	Yes
		Annoying Product Placement	Yes, Large electronics manufacturer
		Action In or After Credits	No

    Roger Moore's second outing as Bond is a perfunctory adventure with little to really stamp the Bond mystique upon it. The opening sequence sees professional hitman Scaramanga (Christopher Lee) matching his wits against a dark-suited hood (Marc Lawrence) in a funhouse on Scaramanga's island. The action is observed by Scaramanga's diminutive and extremely irritating manservant Nick Nack (Hervé Villechaize). In the opening scenes Scaramanga reveals why the film could have been titled The Man With The Triple Nipples.

    Back in London M tells Bond that they have received a golden bullet - Scaramanga's trademark - with 007 engraved on it. An apparent indication that the mysterious hitman of whom there is no photograph or description, other than his mammary surplus, has Bond next on his list. Bond decides that the best form of offence is attack, and quickly proceeds to Pinewood Studios, umm, Beirut, to locate the golden bullet which killed 002. He has been forced to drop a case over a missing energy expert with a highly efficient solar energy converter, but as we see later this case is intertwined with the Scaramanga case.

    From Pinewood, sorry, Beirut he travels to Hong Kong where he catches up with Scaramanga's accomplice Andrea Anders (Maud Adams). With her assistance and that of local cop Hip (Soon Taik Oh) and resident agent Mary Goodnight (Britt Ekland) he discovers that Scaramanga had been hired by mob boss Hai Fat (Richard Loo). Pretty soon Bond is in Thailand and hot on the trail of the extra-glanded assassin.

    This film is a strange stew of various elements which don't quite mix. It is as if the screenwriters and director were just tired of the whole Bond thing and decided to go through the motions just for the sake of doing so, though the truth seems to be that the film was made in a hurry after the success of the previous outing. There are some terrible bits of innuendo (a nude girl in a swimming pool reveals her name is Chew Mee) strewn throughout the film, lacking the wit of the earlier Connery scripts. The rednecked Southern Sheriff Pepper character from Live and Let Die, played by Clifton James, mysteriously appears on holiday in Thailand, spouts embarrassing racial epithets at the natives and then disappears just as quickly and mysteriously as he appeared.

    There are a few good things in the film, with an okay car chase in the middle which is by turns exciting and poorly directed. The insertion during one stunt of a terrible sound effect tends to ruin the whole effect though. The scenery is often spectacular but there are several obvious studio sets. The one positive thing is the performance of Christopher Lee, who plays the self-confident super-bad guy role to the hilt, and he is one of the best villains in the whole series. Only Scaramanga's own hubris defeats him in the end. Interestingly Lee was, by marriage, Bond creator Ian Fleming's cousin, and Fleming reportedly wanted Lee to play the titular villain in the first of the screen adventures. However the producers had already signed Joseph Wiseman. The Scaramanga role was initially offered to Jack Palance, who turned it down. The previous year Palance had played Dracula in a TV movie!

    Unusually for the Moore series there is some of the sadism of the original books, with Bond tormenting a weapons maker (Marne Maitland) with one of his own weapons and then later being quite vigorous when he "interrogates" Andrea. Moore just doesn't look comfortable being anything but a saint. He was already 46 when he assumed the role but he managed to stick around longer than any other 007. Three years older than Connery, he aged more slowly than his predecessor and continued to play the role into his late fifties. The films in which he appeared, aside from the first and third, seemed to tire more quickly than he did.

    Even the sets are not as impressive as in the earlier films, apart from an indoor set on the capsized Queen Elizabeth where the furniture is set on an angle. In the scenes in this set you can quite clearly see the effects of Bernard Lee's drinking, with his puffy, pimply nose and rheumy eyes as well as an uncharacteristically tired performance. Lois Maxwell appears only briefly as Moneypenny, while Q returns after a hiatus but fails to produce any gadgets. This time he has a colleague played by James Cossins, and there is also an uncredited role for Michael Goodliffe in the initial scene in M's London office.

    For a film set mainly in Asia there are only two actors of Asian decent in major roles, both of whom made their careers in Hollywood. Richard Loo appeared in several Frank Capra films in the 1930s and had retired to his native Hawaii by the time he made this, his last feature film. Soon Taik Oh was Japanese-born and Korean-raised but his acting career has seen him playing entirely in Hollywood, mainly on TV.

    As to the Bond women, Britt Ekland plays perhaps the dumbest heroine in any of the twenty official films thus far, and this is in keeping with the inordinate amount of comedy in the movie. Maud Adams on the other hand plays a more tragic figure, which is not so much in keeping with the overall tone. She obviously impressed the producers as would be recalled to again play a Bond girl some years later.

    While this is probably not the worst Bond film (Moonraker anyone?) it is not very good at all. It's worth seeing for Christopher Lee's performance but not a great deal else.

Video

    The film is presented in what appears to be the original theatrical aspect ratio of 1.85:1 and is 16x9 enhanced. I do not have a copy of the previous Region 4 DVD release to hand to compare it with this one, but I understand that it was in 1.66:1. I seem to recall reading that some of the Bonds were shot in 1.37:1 and then matted to various aspect ratios to suit different markets, the wider ratio being the preferred American standard and the narrower ratio being used in Europe. In any case it does not look like we are missing any action through cropping, and everything seems to be well composed for this aspect ratio.

    If I was still reviewing this disc on a CRT device I would give it higher marks than I now feel inclined to do. On a CRT, which I used to review the commentaries, the image appears quite sharp and the overall video is clear with plenty of detail and stable colour. On the larger projected image it is somewhat less sharp, and there is some noticeable edge enhancement. There is lots of posterisation, and often dark splotches of brown in the shadowy parts of faces, which I found quite distracting. The posterisation is also noticeable on the CRT but only if you look carefully.

    Colour is quite good. Primary colours are clean and bright. There is a brownish look to the sequences in Thailand. I don't know whether it reflects the actors getting suntans, but their skin colour tends to fluctuate from scene to scene.

    The restorers have done an excellent job in removing all film artefacts. They also appear to have introduced some digital noise in the backgrounds of scenes.

    Optional subtitles are provided in the usual umpteen languages, including English hard of hearing. The subtitles are in a clear white font and cover all of the dialogue.

    The disc is RSDL-formatted and the layer change is noticeable at 62:43, but is not disruptive to the flow of the film.

Video Ratings Summary

Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

    The default audio is Dolby Digital 5.1, with the alternative being DTS 5.1. I listened to the latter in full and sampled the former. There is no substantial difference between them that I could discern. The producers of this DVD have done the equivalent of pan-and-scan with the audio in not providing the original mono soundtrack.

    Dialogue is clear throughout. The effects are well done, generally sounding quite believable. The use of the rear channels for directional sound effects is rare but well handled when it does occur. There is plenty of work for the LFE channel, giving emphasis to explosions and the sound of motors for example, while also being used to give the music some weight.

    Audio sync is good, with only some ADR work having noticeable sync issues. Some of the Hong Kong shooting was done in front of a large crowd at the Bottoms Up club, but you'd never know it, so that sequence must have had the soundtrack added in the studio.

    This is possibly John Barry's worst Bond score. The title song is belted out by Lulu, and it has some terrible lines ("He has a powerful weapon"). The score has little in the way of memorable music apart from the Bond theme, and sounds like it was done in a hurry like the rest of the movie. And Barry admits on the audio commentary that the use of a sound effect during the famous car stunt was a mistake on his part.

Audio Ratings Summary

Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

    A lot of extras, some of which will be familiar from the previous Region 4 DVD, or the laserdisc version if you had it in that format. All have subtitles, and unless stated otherwise all are 1.33:1. All bar the audio commentaries and credits are on Disc Two of this two-disc set.

Main Menu Audio & Animation

    An 87 second skippable restoration promo precedes the menus. The menus are done in Bond credit sequence style, with images and music from the film.

Audio Commentary - Director Guy Hamilton, cast and crew

    David Naylor hosts this commentary which features the reminiscences of many of the crew, including Guy Hamilton, John Barry, Maud Adams, Britt Ekland, Christopher Lee, Oswald Morris and many others.

Audio Commentary - Sir Roger Moore

    In a recently recorded commentary the star reminisces about the film, which he hasn't seen since the premiere, and the various actors and crew. There are some interesting stories and a few dead spots. Overall this was a better listen than I had expected, with Moore turning out not to have one of those Hollywood-sized egos and to have a good sense of humour.

Credits

    DVD credits.

Interviews-Character-The Russell Harty Show 1974 (2:51)

    Some choppy highlights from a chat show in 1974, with Moore and Villechaize promoting the film. This is really just a few grabs and is not all that worthwhile.

Featurette-Behind The Scenes-On Location With The Man With The Golden Gun (1:27)

    This is a short film that looks like it was a news story from Hong Kong, with some behind the scenes footage and interviews with a couple of cast members. It is narrated by Bond producer Michael Wilson.

Featurette-Behind The Scenes-Girls Fighting (3:29)

    The dailies of the scene of the two girls fighting a group of martial arts students, with music and voice-over introduction by Michael Wilson. This is widescreen and 16x9 enhanced.

Featurette-American Thrill Show - Stunt Film (5:03)

    The famous car stunt in the film was based on the pièce de résistance of a travelling auto stunt show. This film is the promotional film made by the stunt show, and is available as is and with a commentary by Jay Milligan, president of the company behind the stunt.

Featurette-007 Women, Allies, Villains, Mission Combat Manual, Q Branch, Exotic Locations

    Categorised under the above headings are clips from the film, so you can see selected footage related to a character or situation.

Featurette-Guy Hamilton: The Director Speaks (5:04)

    The director talks about the film and his career over animated still photographs.

Featurette-The Road to Bond: Stunt Co-ordinator W.J Milligan (8:01)

    Milligan discusses how his background, how he was approached by the producers and his work on the film. This is audio only, with a static graphic similar to the menus displayed on screen throughout.

Featurette-Inside The Man With the Golden Gun (30:57)

    An interesting documentary about the production, with interviews and behind the scenes footage. Made in 2000 for the initial DVD release and narrated by Patrick Macnee.

Featurette-Double-O Stuntmen: A look at the Greatest Stunts and Stunt Performers in the Bond Films (28:37)

    As the title suggests, this covers the best stunts over 40 years of Bond films and includes highlights of the stunts, interviews with the stunt men and tales of some of the injuries and close calls.

Theatrical Trailer-Archive (4:56)

    Two trailers, only the second of which is widescreen and 16x9 enhanced. Both show some degradation in the colour.

TV Spots-Broadcasts (1:54)

    Two television commercials.

Radio Spots-Communications (2:02)

    Three radio commercials.

Gallery-Photo-Experience The World Of James Bond in 1974

    Lots of photos in various categories, including publicity stills, behind the scenes pictures and some publicity stills of the cast. The Select button allows you to view text about some of the pictures.

    These new Ultimate Editions are getting released around the world. As far as I can tell the video quality of the new Region 4s is superior to the old Region 4 releases.

    One of the most disappointing films in the series, though not the worst.

    The video quality is very good but there are problems for viewers with large displays.

    The audio quality is also very good.

    A lot of extras and some are quite good.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall

Spy Who Loved Me, The: Ultimate Edition (1977)

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General		Extras
Category	Action	Main Menu Audio & Animation Audio Commentary Credits Featurette-Ken Adams Production Film Storyboards-Escape From Atlantis-Storybook Sequence Featurette-Behind The Scenes-007-Stage Dedication, 007-In Egypt Featurette-Rodger Moore-My Word Is Bond Featurette-007, Women, Aliies, Villians, Mission Combat Manuel Featurette-Q Branch and Exotic Locations Featurette-Behind The Scenes-Inside The Spy Who Loved Me Featurette-Ken Adams:Designing Bond Theatrical Trailer-Archive TV Spots-Broadcasts Radio Spots-Communications Gallery-Photo-Experience The World Of 1977, The Year Of Release
Rating
Year Of Production	1977
Running Time	120:27
RSDL / Flipper	RSDL (67:44) Dual Disc Set	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Ads Then Menu
Region Coding	2,4	Directed By	Lewis Gilbert
Studio Distributor	Sony Pictures Home Entertain	Starring	Roger Moore Barbara Bach Curd Jürgens Richard Kiel Caroline Munro Walter Gotell Geoffrey Keen Bernard Lee George Baker Michael Billington Olga Bisera Desmond Llewelyn Edward de Souza
Case	?
RPI	$19.95	Music	Marvin Hamlisch

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	English Dolby Digital 5.1 (448Kb/s) English dts 5.1 (768Kb/s) English Audio Commentary Dolby Digital 2.0 (224Kb/s) English Audio Commentary Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	2.35:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio	2.35:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	English English for the Hearing Impaired Dutch Swedish Finnish Norwegian Danish Greek Hindi English Text Commentary Dutch Text Commentary	Smoking	Yes
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	No

    For Bond's 10th big screen adventure the producers decided to use the Ian Fleming book title of The Spy Who Loved Me. Due to contract restrictions however, the filmmakers could not use any of the story elements from Fleming’s novel and so the producers had to come up with a unique storyline completely different from the original book. The resulting film is one that Roger Moore claims to be his favourite Bond film, and many fans will agree that The Spy Who Loved Me is the high point of Roger Moore’s time as Bond.

    As the film opens we learn that both the Russians and the British have lost a nuclear submarine each. The British assign their top spy, James Bond (Roger Moore) to the case while the Russians assign their top spy, female agent Major Anya Amasova (Barbara Bach), aka Agent XXX. On his way to headquarters, James Bond must race on skis from some pursuing KGB agents and must kill one to escape. The agent killed turns out to be the lover of agent XXX and she vows to avenge his death.

    When the Russians and British learn they have each lost a nuclear submarine they decide to join forces to solve the case. Bond and Anya must now work together to find out what has happened to the submarines and along the way they must stop criminal mastermind Karl Stromberg (Curt Jurgens). Stromberg wants to establish an underwater empire and plans to destroy life above the surface using the nuclear warheads from the submarines he has stolen. Can Bond and Anya stop Stromberg in time and will Bond survive when Anya learns that he was the one who killed her lover?

    Despite the fact that Anya is meant to be Russia's top secret agent she unfortunately is not a strong female figure. Maybe the film makers were worried about having a strong female lead. Instead Anya is often the damsel in distress reliant on James Bond to save her from danger. More impressive is memorable Bond villain Jaws played by Richard Kiel. Jaws was originally going to be killed off in this movie but such was the audience reaction to this character that the script was changed and Jaws survived to appear in the next film, Moonraker.

    The Spy Who Loved Me incorporated some of the most ambitious set pieces of the time, including the building of the world’s biggest soundstage for one of the impressive interiors. It also made extensive use of miniatures and most of the special effects still stand up very nicely. The film's special effects were unfortunately overshadowed by another film which set new standards for special effects that same year. That film was Star Wars and its popularity inspired the next Bond film, Moonraker. This was despite the fact that the end credits of The Spy Who Loved Me announced the next film as being For Your Eyes Only which meant it was actually promised twice.

    Along with great set pieces and cutting edge special effects, music has always been a key ingredient in any Bond film. In the case of The Spy Who Loved Me I felt it was overdone and somewhat spoilt the film for me. The best part of the music is the theme song Nobody Does it Better sung by Carly Simon. Its melody is used effectively as a recurring motif in the film. The rest of the original score by Marvin Hamlisch is less successful  and was, to be frank, rather clichéd and over done. Rather than support and reinforce the action on screen, it dominates and draws undue attention to itself. Also overdone was the use of music from other well known films. I could live with the use of Lara’s Theme from Dr. Zhivago playing from Anya’s music box, but when they used the theme from Laurence of Arabia while Bond and Anya trek through the desert after their van has broken down I felt the filmmakers had gone too far. Some may consider it an homage but I think it’s just plain tacky.

    Despite that however, The Spy Who Loved Me is still a thoroughly enjoyable adventure romp with some well executed comedy thrown in for good measure. This film can hold its own against the other films from the Bond franchise and for many it is considered one of the best films from Roger Moore’s time as James Bond and I tend to agree.

Video

    After reviewing my first Bond film from the ultimate collection, From Russia with Love which I was extremely impressed with, I was very keen to see if that high quality was going to extend to the other films. Sadly, however, in the case of The Spy Who Loved Me it hasn’t. This is not a bad transfer per se, just nowhere near as good as the previous film I reviewed. The biggest issue with this transfer is edge enhancement. The previous special edition release does not suffer quite as badly from edge enhancement but did suffer a bit from MPEG compression artefacting. This was due to the fact that it had to share the single disc with a generous range of extras that have been moved to their own disc in this new release. Colour balance is also improved on this new edition and on the whole I felt this new edition is superior to the previous release, although it was a close call. Had it not been for the excessive edge enhancement of this Ultimate Edition it would have been a slam-dunk for this new version.

    The film is presented at an aspect ratio of 2.35:1 which matches the original theatrical aspect ratio and is 16x9 enhanced.

    The image shows reasonable levels of sharpness but this seems to have been achieved through artificial sharpening which shows up with the excessive amount of edge enhancement in the transfer. Shadow detail is about average for a film of this age and the image is thankfully free of low level noise.

    Colours were well saturated and accurate although I did observe a slight tendency to oversaturate the reds at times, which occasionally gave skin tones a slight pinkish tone.

    As mentioned above the main artefact in this transfer is edge enhancement and it is prevalent throughout the entire film. It is noticeable from the very start of the film in the famous gun-barrel start where Bond's body is surrounded by a halo. Other notable instances include an interior scene at 12:05 where all the men’s suits have a halo around them and a night exterior shot at 23:34 where Bond's body is surrounded by a small halo. This edge enhancement is noticeable throughout and I found it very annoying although viewers with smaller displays may not find it quite as intrusive as I did. Apart from that, however, the transfer is completely free of film artefacts and MPEG compression artefacts.

    The English subtitles are white and easy to read and follow very closely the onscreen dialogue.

    This is a dual layered disc with RSDL encoding. The layer change occurs at 67:44 which is a cut between two shots. The positioning is not too bad but I did feel there were spots around the same time that may have been a bit less intrusive.

Video Ratings Summary

Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

    There are two main English soundtracks provided on this disc, a Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack encoded at 448 Kb/s and a DTS 5.1 soundtrack encoded at 768 Kb/s. In my review of From Russia with Love I found that there was little to no overall difference between the Dolby Digital and DTS soundtracks. In the case of The Spy who Loved Me, however, I felt that the DTS soundtrack provided a deeper soundstage and slightly superior dynamic range. That said, however, I was not terribly impressed with either soundtrack.

    Dialogue was generally easy to understand and audio sync was fairly good for the most part. I did, however, get the impression that some of the dialogue for Agent XXX and a few others was looped in later. For instance in a scene around the 32 minute mark her dialogue just seemed a bit off.

    As mentioned in the main review I felt the original music by Marvin Hamlisch was overdone on the soundtrack and was often clichéd and drew too much attention to itself. Watch the scene set around some ancient Egyptian columns around the 40 minute mark for a good example of this. It must be said however that music is obviously an integral part of Bond films and some may enjoy the prominence this music has in the soundtrack.

    The surrounds are used to add ambience to the scenes as well as carry the music. Sometimes they are bit overdone such as around 5:54 where the music in the surround channels really draws attention to itself. The surrounds are used effectively at times with sound effects such as at 53:52 where the sound of an approaching train pans from the front right to the rear left. These moments, however, are pretty rare and there were many instances where I felt they could have been used much better.

    The subwoofer channel was the most disappointing part of the soundtrack. There were numerous moments in the film where it could have been used to great effect and simply was not, such as during the numerous explosions during the movie.

Audio Ratings Summary

Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

    This new Ultimate edition combines the extras of the previous Special Edition with new material sourced from the archives. While some of these new extras are interesting, the most significant features are still those carried over from the previous release.

Menu

     All menus are 16x9 enhanced and are all very nicely animated with familiar Bond music playing in the background.

Disc One

Commentary – Lewis Gilbert (Director), Ken Adam (Production Designer), Christopher Wood (Co-writer) and Michael G. Wilson (Assistant to the Producer)

    The participants are sitting together and spend most of the commentary admiring each other's work and the work of the other people involved in the film. As the film progresses some of the gaps in the commentary become quite long. This commentary doesn’t really introduce much in the way of interesting information not covered by the other featurettes on Disc 2. To be quite frank I found this commentary extremely dull.

Commentary – Roger Moore (Actor)

    Roger Moore is relaxed, conversational and witty in this interesting commentary. He recalls as best as possible working on the film and tells a number of interesting little anecdotes about shooting the film. If you listen to only one commentary on this DVD then this is the one to choose.

Disc Two

    The extras are grouped under five main categories. Declassified M16 Vault contains new material sourced from the archives. 007 Mission Control contains links to a large number of scenes from the film categorised into a number of subcategories. Mission Dossier consists of featurettes previously available on the original Special Editions. Department of Propaganda contains a collection of trailers, TV spots, radio ads and finally we have Image Database which contains a collection of still image galleries.

Declassified MI6 Vault

Ken Adam’s Production Films 4x3 (5:41)

     Strangely this featurette begins with the full assortment of copyright and legal warnings that last almost as long as the featurette itself. (OK, that’s a slight exaggeration). It consists of footage shot by production designer Ken Adam. He discusses the footage and how he used the locations in the film. Interesting behind the scenes stuff.

Escape From Atlantis Storyboard Sequence 4x3 (2:14)

    This shows a storyboard sequence for the scene where they escape from the sinking Atlantis. It is subtitled with dialogue from an early version of the script. It is surprisingly close to the actual scene.

007 Stage Dedication 4x3 (1:07)

    This is a vintage featurette about the opening of the huge soundstage built for the film.

Roger Moore: My Word Is My Bond 16x9 (4:31)

     Oddly this featurette is 16x9 enhanced but the actual interview is entirely 4x3. (There are black bars on both sides). I set my player to 4x3 letterbox and found that the resulting image had black bars all round. I can’t image this was done on purpose and suspect this is an authoring error on the disc. This featurette shows Roger Moore answering questions from journalists. It doesn’t however show the questions being asked. Moore’s responses are typical press junket stuff.

007 in Egypt 16x9 (6:12)

    Again this featurette is 16x9 enhanced but the actual footage is entirely 4x3. Like the previous featurette, if you have your player set to 4x3 you’ll receive an image with black bars all around the image. This is 16mm behind the scenes footage shot in Egypt. It includes a narration by Michael Wilson who introduces himself as producer of the Bond films (but was actually credited as Special Assistant to Producer in this film). He discusses some of the footage as well as some of the challenges of shooting in Egypt.

007 Mission Control:

     This section allows you to directly access a number of short scenes from the movie sorted into the categories of 007, Women, Allies, Villains, Mission Combat Manual, Q Branch and Exotic Locations. I guess if you have certain favourite parts of the film you might find this useful but I personally found it of little appeal.

Mission Dossier:

Inside The Spy Who Loved Me 4x3 (40:40)

    This is quite an  interesting featurette. It delves into all the pre-production problems and takes us right through to the end of production. This is a really intriguing little featurette that illustrates the fact that often the behind the scene dramas are just as interesting as what gets shot in front of the camera.

Ken Adam: Designing Bond 4x3 (21:42)

     Ken Adam was the production designer for seven of the Bond films starting with Dr. No and ending with Moonraker. In this fascinating little featurette Ken Adam discusses his work and some of the influences on the designs. This really is a must watch for all Bond fans. There is no question that Ken Adam made a huge contribution to the look and feel of the Bond series.

Ministry of Propaganda:

Theatrical Archive

     This is a collection of theatrical trailers. These are all very similar to each other and probably give away a bit too much.

• New Heights of Adventure 4x3 (2:11)
• Looking For Some Thrills 4x3 (2:01)
• Bond and Beyond 16x9 (3:13)

TV Broadcasts

    This is a collection of short TV spots, which are all quite similar to each other.

• Since We First Met 4x3 (00:59)
• A Message From Bond 4x3 (00:59)
• New Heights of Excitement 4x3 (00:30)
• Most Deadly Enemies 4x3 (00:30) 
• Biggest and Best 4x3 (00:30)
• Bond Girls 4x3 (00:30)

Radio Communication

     These are audio only commercials made for radio. Some of these are quite creative and are worth a listen.

• My Name is Bond, James Bond (00:30)
• In the Shadow of the Great Pyramids (00:28)
• From Beneath the Waves (00:31)
• A Sleek Lotus (00:32)
• His Name is Stormberg (00:28)
• They Call Him James (00:28)
• Her Name is Anya Amasova (00:30)
• High Above the Austrian Alps (00:29)
• Her Name is Carly Simon (00:29)
• A Seven-Foot Killer (00:58)
• His Name is Bond, James Bond (00:57)
• It’s the Best, It’s Bond and Beyond (00:57)

Image Database

    This is a collection of still galleries categorized by The Filmmakers, Portraits, Pre-Credit Ski Action, Sardinia, Bahamas, Egypt, Pinewood, The 007 Stage and Around the World with 007.

    I was unable to confirm specific details of the R1 ultimate edition but I would expect it to be same with the exception of the normal PAL/NTSC formatting differences.

    The Spy Who Loved Me is considered one of the best Bond films from Roger Moore's time as Agent 007 and I tend to agree.

    Overall the new transfer is an improvement over the previous special edition but is let down by an excess of edge enhancement.

    Audio is provided by both Dolby Digital and DTS 5.1 soundtracks but I was not terribly impressed with either.

    The extras package is extensive although the most significant of them are those carried over from the previous Special Edition.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall

Moonraker: Ultimate Edition (1979)

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General		Extras
Category	Action	Main Menu Audio & Animation Audio Commentary Credits Featurette-Ken Adams Production Film Additional Footage-Circus Featurette-Bond '79 Storyboards-Sky Diving Storyboards Alternate Subtitles-Sky Diving Storyboards Featurette-007, Women, Allies, Villians, Mission Combat Manuel Featurette-Q Branch and Exotic Locations Featurette-Behind The Scenes-Inside Moonraker - An Original Documentary Featurette Theatrical Trailer-Release Trailer Gallery-Photo-Experience The World Of Bond In 1979 Storyboards-Cable Car Alternative Storyboard 1 & 2 Featurette-Behind The Scenes-007 In Rio
Rating	?
Year Of Production	1979
Running Time	121:09
RSDL / Flipper	RSDL (62:40) Dual Disc Set	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Ads Then Menu
Region Coding	2,4	Directed By	Lewis Gilbert
Studio Distributor	Sony Pictures Home Entertain	Starring	Roger Moore Lois Chiles Michael Lonsdale Richard Kiel Corinne Clery Bernard Lee Geoffrey Keen Desmond Llewelyn Lois Maxwell Toshirô Suga Emily Bolton Blanche Ravalec Irka Bochenko
Case	?
RPI	$19.95	Music	John Barry

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	English Dolby Digital 5.1 (448Kb/s) English dts 5.1 (768Kb/s) English Audio Commentary Dolby Digital 2.0 (224Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	2.35:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio	2.35:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	English English for the Hearing Impaired Dutch Swedish Finnish Norwegian Danish Greek Hindi English Text Commentary Dutch Text Commentary	Smoking	Yes
		Annoying Product Placement	Yes
		Action In or After Credits	No

    Moonraker is the eleventh official James Bond film, and the fourth to star Roger Moore as 007.

    When the end credits rolled for the previous Bond film, The Spy Who Loved Me, it promised: "James Bond will return in For Your Eyes Only". However, following the incredible box office success of Star Wars in 1977, the Bond producers decided to jump on the post-Star Wars Sci-Fi big-screen bandwagon and send Bond into outer-space instead.

    Although Ian Fleming's novel has no science fiction aspects, Moonraker was to join other post-Star Wars Sci-Fi films, such as Close Encounters and the first Star Trek motion picture, as being late 1970s box office winners. Indeed, Moonraker was to become the most successful Bond film until Goldeneye.

    Although all the marketing material for Moonraker focussed on the outer space sequences, most of the story actually takes place on Earth, in a variety of exotic locations such as in France, Brazil, and Italy.

    Moonraker opens with the hijacking of a Moonraker space shuttle, on loan from the United States to Great Britain, from the back of a British 747. The embarrassed British government wants to know what happened, so M (Bernard Lee in what would be his last appearance) sends James Bond (Roger Moore) to investigate its mysterious disappearance under the guise of paying reparations to the Moonraker's builders, Drax Industries in California.

    Once in California, Bond meets the head of Drax Industries, an obscenely wealthy industrialist, Hugo Drax (Michel Lonsdale). Drax lives in an enormous French chateau, which he had brought over, stone by stone, from France. Bond also meets Drax's surly bodyguard, Chang (Toshiro Suga), and Drax's gorgeous female assistant, Corinne Dufour (Corinne Clery).

    As Bond starts poking around (no pun intended), he becomes the victim of a series of murder attempts.

    These unpleasant incidents are somewhat balanced by his developing relationship with Drax Industries' beautiful scientist, Dr. Holly Goodhead (Lois Chiles), who surely has one of the best Bond girl names since Pussy Galore. Along the way, Bond is also reunited with one of the great Bond movie henchmen, Jaws (Richard Kiel).

    For more about the Bond universe, check out the official sites at www.jamesbond.com and www.007.com

Video

    Moonraker has been released twice before on DVD, including as a Special Edition. However, as with the other Ultimate Editions, Moonraker 's original camera negatives have been imaged and digitally restored in Lowry's labs, using the John Lowry process. This process took over three years to complete for the 20 official Bond films, and the results are remarkable.

    The transfer is presented in its original aspect ratio of 2.35:1, and it is 16x9 enhanced.

    Overall, the sharpness of the image is very good throughout. The black level is excellent, with true, deep blacks. The shadow detail is also much improved from the earlier Bond titles I reviewed. For example, consider the detail in the shot of the estate at night at 23:06, or of the Venice piazza in the evening at 43:52.

    With the Lowry process, the entire film has been colour corrected. As a result, the movie has a very consistent approach to colour, and the transfer usually exhibits a well saturated palette. At times, the colour in the image seems to have been intentionally muted, and at other times, such as in a jungle or in Rio, there is an explosion of colour. The skin tones are accurate.

    While some scenes can appear a little grainy at times, I assume this relates to the original film stock used. There are no problems with MPEG, Film-To-Video or Film Artefacts. Considering the age of the source material, this is a great achievement in DVD authoring.

    English, English for the Hearing Impaired, Dutch, Swedish, Finnish, Norwegian, Danish, Greek, Hindi, English Text Commentary and Dutch Text Commentary are present. The English ones are accurate.

    The feature is presented on a Dual Layer disc, with the layer change placed at 62:40. On my player, the change was a little clumsy and very noticeable. The feature is divided into 32 chapters.

Video Ratings Summary

Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

    The audio quality and surround mix is good for a film of this vintage.

    The DVD offers three audio options: English Dolby Digital 5.1 (448Kb/s), English dts 5.1 (768Kb/s), and English Audio Commentary Dolby Digital 2.0 (224Kb/s). I watched the feature with both the Dolby Digital 5.1 and dts 5.1 audio. As I noted in my earlier Bond reviews, while many films benefit from a dts soundtrack, I don't believe that the Bond films of this vintage are among them. Apart from volume, I heard very little difference between the two options. I imagine it will be the later films, from the 1990s onwards, with more modern sound designs and recordings that will reap the benefits of dts audio.

    The dialogue quality is good, but at times the audio sync suffers on both the Dolby Digital 5.1 and dts 5.1 audio tracks. This is not a fault with the DVD authoring, but due to the source material. There is extensive use of ADR throughout this film, and sometimes it is obvious such as at 12:06. Indeed, some actors, such as Corinne Clery, seem to have all their dialogue looped (or perhaps dubbed by someone else?).

    Moonraker's score was provided by the Oscar-winning John Barry. If one watches Out of Africa, you will notice a lot of recycling of the score. Speaking of which, apart from the traditional Bond theme by Monty Norman, Moonraker also reuses for the first time since Diamonds Are Forever the catchy 007 theme Barry composed for From Russia With Love.

    As part of the tongue-in-cheek humour, and nodding to the fact that the producers were jumping on the post-Star Wars Sci-Fi big-screen bandwagon, a number of familiar pieces of music associated with classic Sci-Fi films appear throughout, such as Richard Strauss' Also Sprach Zarathustra (used in 2001: A Space Odyssey), and the Greeting Theme from Close Encounters of the Third Kind.

    By modern standards the overall sound design of Moonraker is rather limited. The new mix remains quite front-heavy, and the rear speakers are rarely called upon. Again, it sounds more like a Dolby Stereo Surround mix, and many opportunities for ambience during the movie are missed. At times there are some subtle directional techniques, such as the sound of the helicopter at 11:12, or the tolling bells in Venice at 32:21.

    This DVD's LFE track is very limited, but the subwoofer was noticed with the loud explosions at 110:36 and 114:22.

Audio Ratings Summary

Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

    Apart from the restored picture and sound, a whole new array of extras have been added to the Bond Ultimate Editions in addition to the extras included on the Special Editions. Unless stated otherwise, all are presented in an aspect ratio of 1.78:1, 16x9 enhanced, with Dolby Digital stereo audio.

 Menus

    A series of animated menus with audio.

Disc One

Trailer

    A forced trailer for the Bond Ultimate Editions presented in an aspect ratio of 1.33:1.

Audio Commentary - Director Lewis Gilbert & members Of Cast And Crew

    This is a very chatty and conversational commentary featuring Director Lewis Gilbert, Producers Michael G Wilson and William P Cartlidge, and Screenwriter Christopher Wood. There is plenty of behind-the-scenes information, anecdotes, and reflections by those involved. Interestingly, a number of times they point out the rather obvious SFX, and some of the film's other dodgy moments.

Audio Commentary - Actor Roger Moore

    Last year, Roger Moore recorded screen specific audio commentaries for all seven of his Bond films. Although there are some lengthy gaps, Moore has a pleasant voice to listen to, and a fun, yet dry sense of humour. His commentary seems to cover everything from the UK's personal income tax rates to his recollections of the many cast and crew that worked on the film. For example, Moore recalls working with the film's 2nd Unit Director and Editor, John Glen, who went on to direct five Bond films himself. Moore also shares some funny anecdotes, such as the producers complaining that the opening title sequence cost more that Dr. No.

Disc Two

De-Classified: MI6 Vault

    Presented in an aspect ratio of 1.33:1:

• Featurette-Ken Adams Production Film (11:33) - A look at the film's location scouting, with a lot of behind-the-scenes footage.
• Additional Footage-Circus (1:15) - Narrated by Producer Michael G Wilson, this is a look at the unused circus footage that was to appear during the opening sky-diving sequence
• Featurette-Bond '79 (11:47) - Again narrated by Producer Michael G Wilson, this is a collection of interviews with cast and crew on location
• Storyboards-Sky Diving Storyboards (1:17) - a slide show of storyboards relating to the film's opening sequence
• Sky Diving Test Footage (3:55) - Again narrated by Producer Michael G Wilson, this is a very interesting look at the difficulties of shooting the film's exciting opening. Apparently, film cameras have to be mounted on a sky diver's head, and cannot be held, and thus it was thought to be impossible to put the weight of a 35mm camera on a helmet without killing the sky diver. When a smaller camera was found second-hand, test footage was shot with stand-ins to prove it was possible.

007 Mission Control

    An interactive feature that allows the viewer to jump directly to a key scene in the film, or to a specific character, gadget, or Bond girl.

Mission Dossiers

    The two featurettes from the Moonraker Special Edition:

• Featurette-Behind The Scenes-Inside Moonraker - An Original Documentary (42:03) - Presented in an aspect ratio of 1.33:1, and narrated by Patrick Macnee, this is a look how the financial successes of Hollywood's two most successful franchises, Star Wars and the Bond films, were to meet with Moonraker.
• Featurette-Behind The Scenes-The Men Behind the Mayhem (18:12) - Presented in an aspect ratio of 1.33:1, this is a look at the SFX and stunts of the Bond films. We are also treated to an all-too-short history of some of the most memorable moments in Bond movies.

Ministry Of Propaganda

Original Theatrical Trailer

    Release Trailer (3:47)

Interactive Image Database 

    14 themed photographic stills galleries from the production, presented as a slide show.

    As with the Bond Special Editions, I understand that the R1 and R4 Ultimate Editions should be identical, except for the NTSC/PAL differences and some differences in subtitles.

    Moonraker is a shameless, crowd-pleasing post-Star Wars Sci-Fi inspired Bond romp that provides some wonderful set pieces, great humour and exciting stunts.

    The video quality is very good, considering the age of the source material.

    The audio quality is good, considering the limited source material.

    The extras are thorough, genuine, and interesting.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall

For Your Eyes Only: Ultimate Edition (1981)

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General		Extras
Category	Action	Main Menu Audio & Animation Audio Commentary Credits Featurette-Behind The Scenes-Bond In Greece And Cortina Synopsis-Neptune Journey Scene Synopsis-John Glen's Intro - Death Of Locque Scene Synopsis-John Glen's Intro- Death Of Locque Multi-Angle Deleted Scenes-Joining Forces, Hockey 007 Style Featurette-Making Of-Death Of Locque - Expanded Angles Featurette-007, The Women, Allies, Villians,Mission Cobat Manual Featurette-Q Branch, Exotic Locations Featurette-Behind The Scenes-Inside Your Eyes Only Storyboards-Animated Sequences-Snowmobile Chase and Underwater Music Video-Sheena Easton Theatrical Trailer-Archive TV Spots-Broadcasts Radio Spots-Communications
Rating
Year Of Production	1981
Running Time	122:36
RSDL / Flipper	RSDL (62:01) Dual Disc Set	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Ads Then Menu
Region Coding	2,4	Directed By	John Glen
Studio Distributor	Sony Pictures Home Entertain	Starring	Roger Moore Carole Bouquet Topol Lynn-Holly Johnson Julian Glover Cassandra Harris Jill Bennett Michael Gothard John Wyman Jack Hedley Lois Maxwell Desmond Llewelyn Geoffrey Keen
Case	?
RPI	$19.95	Music	Bill Conti

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	English Dolby Digital 5.1 (448Kb/s) English dts 5.1 (768Kb/s) English Audio Commentary Dolby Digital 2.0 (224Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	2.35:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio	2.35:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	English English for the Hearing Impaired Dutch Swedish Finnish Norwegian Danish Greek Hindi English Text Commentary Dutch Text Commentary	Smoking	Yes
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	No

    The third last Roger Moore era James Bond film, For Your Eyes Only is an underrated classic, and certainly Moore’s finest. After the descent of the Bond franchise into the tongue-in-check self-mockery that was Live And Let Die, The Man With The Golden Gun and Moonraker, director John Glen brought us a fine film that attempted to bring the show back to its roots, while updating the story for a more serious espionage angle that better reflected the politics of the era and the various other “realistic” spy-thrillers released at that time.

    The plot of For Your Eyes Only is reasonably complex for a Bond movie. It opens with the sinking of a disguised British spy ship off the coast of Greece, and then takes Bond on the trail of a hired assassin in Spain, to Cortina for the middle of the Winter Olympics, down to the coast of Albania, and then back to the waters off the coast of Greece in the hunt for a stolen nuclear submarine locator that the Russians are keen to get their hands on.

    Paired up with one of the most stunning Bond women, Carole Bouquet as Melina Havelock, this film also includes some of the best underwater fighting scenes of its time, far superior to those of Thunderball, including a battle between mini-submarines that was not to be rivalled until James Cameron’s underwater epic The Abyss. The story also has a far less satirical tone than its predecessors, and a more likeable Bond who treats his women with a modicum more respect than the Connery incarnation did. More importantly, Ms Havelock is far from the defenceless, screaming, incompetent eye-candy that generally populate Bond films, and as such took the series in a more interesting direction, with several later Bond movies featuring tough female counterparts (Licence To Kill, Tomorrow Never Dies).

    As a semi-serious Bond venture, this is one of my favourites, and great viewing even twenty-five years later. Well worth it.

Video

    Presented in 2.35:1, 16x9 enhanced, mastered from a new high definition transfer from the source material, this is an excellent image, and the best we are likely to ever see this film until we get a proper HD transfer in one of the new formats. Upscaled to 1080i at 50Hz, this is truly stunning.

    The major difference is in the colour and light correction done by Lowry – the difference really is phenomenal. Much like the remastering done for the original Star Wars trilogy, this really does look like it was made yesterday, and the use of colour and shadow in this fashion really does enhance the viewing experience.

    Shadow detail is far more pronounced and less murky than it was for the original R4 release and the image is also sharper and more defined, with far more background detail than before.

    Film-to-video transfer artefacts are virtually non-existent, and I had to really scrutinise the picture before I was able to detect the faintest of background aliasing. Rare as it was, you can just see it in a couple of spots, mostly on metal grilles that travel at an angle to the camera. Nearly all dirt has been removed.

    There are subtitles available in a raft of options as enumerated above, including English and English for the Hearing Impaired. I watched the subtitles in English for the Hearing Impaired. They are quite accurate.

    The dual layer pause is at 62:01. It occurs during a scene change and is a little jarring, but not appalling.

Video Ratings Summary

Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

    Audio is available in English 5.1 DTS (768Kb/s), as well as English in Dolby Digital 5.1 (448Kb/s).

    The Dolby Digital track is acceptable. The DTS track is far superior.

    Dialogue is all but faultless, and any minor sync issues are almost certainly source faults that were not corrected in post-production ADR. Things like inflections and other voice-related sound effects (wheezing, sighing, heavy breathing) are also suddenly audible, like in the classic chase up the side of the Albanian coast. Brilliant.

    Surrounds are aggressive, and although the original remasters for this series added a whole new audio dimension, these remasters improve on that again. True theatre quality audio.

    The subwoofer is heavily utilised for a wide variety of sound effects.

Audio Ratings Summary

Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

Menus

    All menus are 1.78:1, 16x9 enhanced, and most have a 2.0 Dolby Surround audio track. Some of the submenus are static and silent. All menus are uniformly clear and well presented.

Disc 1

Audio Commentary – John Glen (Director) and Actors

    Presented 2.0 Dolby Surround, this is a pretty good commentary, and is in many respects a re-edit of the commentary from the original R1 DVD release and other retrospective documentary features from that release. Narrated like a documentary, I think this is a far better format for audio commentaries than the usual of letting the person drone on and on with no cues in the background.

Audio Commentary – Michael G. Wilson and Crew

    Presented 2.0 Dolby Surround, this is an interesting technical commentary.

Audio Commentary – Roger Moore

    Presented 2.0 Dolby Surround, Moore is definitely an amusing character. Well worth some time.

Scene Selections

    Presented 1.78:1, 16x9 enhanced, 2.0 Dolby Surround, each chapter has about a 10 second motion segment to choose from.

DVD Credits

Disc 2

Declassified: MI6 Vault

    Presented in 1.78:1, 16x9 enhanced (often with a 1.33:1 inset, so you get black bars at the sides), and 2.0 Dolby Digital Surround audio, this is a series of documentaries about the show:

• Bond in Greece (5:55)
• Bond In Cortina (4:16)
• Neptune’s Journey (3:31)
• John Glen Intro: Death Of Locque (1:05)
• Death Of Locque: Multi Angle (0:40)
• Deleted Scene: Joining Forces (1:00)
• Deleted Scene: Kockey 007 Style (1:57)
• Expanded Angles: Death Of Locque (0:40)

007 Mission Control

    Presented in 2.35:1, 16x9 enhanced, and 5.1 Dolby Digital Surround audio, this contains a series of snippets from the movie on each of the following topics:

• 007
• Women
• Allies
• Villains
• Mission Combat Manual
• Q Branch
• Exotic Locations

Mission Dossier

    Presented in 1.33:1, Full Frame, non-16x9 enhanced (often with a 2.35:1 inset, so you get black bars at the top and bottom), and 2.0 Dolby Digital Surround audio, this submenu contains the following:

• Featurette: Inside For Your Eyes Only (28:31)
• Animated Storyboard Sequence - Snowmobile Chase (1:10)
• Animated Storyboard Sequence - Underwater (1:41)
• Sheena Easton Music Video (2:37)

Ministry Of Propaganda

    Presented in 1.33:1, Full Frame, 2.0 Dolby Digital Surround audio, this is a collection of the marketing material for the movie:

• Theatrical Archive (3:32)
• TV Broadcasts - containing 2 TV trailers and a teaser trailer
• Radio Communication (1:08)

Image Database

    Presented in 1.78:1, 16x9 enhanced with the image inset within, these are a series of stills.

    We are told that these new Ultimate Editions will be released with identical content all over the world. The original R1 and R4 releases contained the same special features as are now in the menus for “Mission Dossier”, “Ministry of Propaganda” and “Image Database”. However, whereas the original R1 release had a fantastic picture (which still holds up, although the colour correction is an improvement) the original R4 release was marred by horrible aliasing and moire. The new Ultimate Edition corrects those faults.

    For Your Eyes Only is a quality serious Bond film, setting his reign as Bond up for a fine close. I have fond memories of this film, so I may be somewhat biased, but it is a quality show.

    This DVD transfer is excellent, and much better than the earlier releases.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall

Octopussy: Ultimate Edition (1983)

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