Live and Let Die: Special Edition (1973) |
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Live and Let Die: Special Edition (1973) |
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| General | Extras | ||
| Category | Bond |
Audio Commentary-Guy Hamilton (Director) et al Featurette-Inside Live And Let Die Featurette-Behind-The-Scenes Theatrical Trailer TV Spots Radio Spots Gallery-Photo Booklet |
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| Rating |
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| Year Of Production | 1973 | ||
| Running Time | 116:19 | ||
| RSDL / Flipper | RSDL (68:24) | Cast & Crew | |
| Start Up | Menu | ||
| Region Coding | 4 | Directed By | Guy Hamilton |
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Studio
Distributor |
 Twentieth Century Fox |
Starring |
Roger Moore Yaphet Kotto Jane Seymour |
| Case | Amaray-Transparent | ||
| RPI | $34.95 | Music | George Martin |
| Video | Audio | ||
| Pan & Scan/Full Frame | None |
English Dolby Digital 2.0 mono (224Kb/s) English Audio Commentary Dolby Digital 2.0 mono (224Kb/s) English Audio Commentary Dolby Digital 2.0 mono (224Kb/s) |
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| Widescreen Aspect Ratio | 1.78:1 | ||
| 16x9 Enhancement |
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| Video Format | 576i (PAL) | ||
| Original Aspect Ratio | 1.85:1 | Miscellaneous | |
| Jacket Pictures | No | ||
| Subtitles |
English English for the Hearing Impaired |
Smoking | Yes |
| Annoying Product Placement | No | ||
| Action In or After Credits | No | ||
In this instalment, our favourite, suave and yet lethal secret agent is sent by M (Bernard Lee) to investigate the deaths of three agents all killed in a 24 hour period. He despatches Bond to New York to investigate a possible link between the killings and the Prime Minister of the small island nation of San Monique. Bond is immediately on the trail of Dr. Kananga (Yaphet Kotto) and does indeed smell a rat. This investigation of course leads to murder, mayhem, seduction and destruction in exotic locations such as the Caribbean.
This film features some of the best stunt work ever to grace a Bond movie. How about the boat chase through the meandering bayous of Louisiana or the related car chase? What about the light aircraft driving around the airport being chased by Kananga's henchmen? Yes, this is a top effort and Roger Moore is very good as Bond in this film. It's also d*** good fun!
This transfer is pretty sharp, especially in the closer shots, such as between 11:49 and 11:51. Shots that take in a wider vista lack a little detail but nothing that should concern as this film is, after all, over 27 years of age. Edge enhancement has been used and is noticeable at times. A couple of examples of this are at 22:29-22:53 and at 24:52-24:59. The black level in this film is excellent and scenes set at night or in shaded areas show a good level of detail.
Colour saturation is also very good with skin tones that are quite accurate with only a slight brown appearance. The relative accuracy of the skins tones can be seen at 02:30-2:52. The level of saturation does vary ever so slightly but the effect is very subtle and likely to be missed on normal viewing.
MPEG artefacts were not a problem in this transfer but film grain is almost always noticeable. How obvious it is varies from scene to scene but it is always there. Some of the more severe examples of visible film grain can be seen at 11:52-12:25, 13:38-13:46 and 40:18-40:26.
I found only minor occurrences of film-to-video artefacts. Aliasing is almost non-existent, with only minor occurrences on cars. See 20:33-20:34, 20:44-20:46 and 20:58-21:01 for the most obvious examples I could find. I also noted some minor moiré effects, one at 15:13-15:26 and another at 43:47-43:49. There is also some telecine or camera wobble. I noted two occurrences, one at 76:18-76:25 and the other at 88:01-88:03. Film artefacts were quite common and at times quite obvious. The opening sequence, 00:15-00:37, is quite badly affected and other obvious examples can be seen at 11:52-12:25, 40:16-40:19, 40:48-41:09 and 59:47-59:50. The final example is particularly obvious - it is a long yellowish line, emulsion damage perhaps?
This is an RSDL disc with the layer change occurring at 68:24. It is placed right when Bond's arms are clamped to the arms of a chair in Mr. Big's lair. It is quite obvious as there is a loss of audio and a noticeable pause. I didn't find the change overly disruptive but it isn't the best place to have a layer change.
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| Film-To-Video Artefacts | |
| Film Artefacts | |
| Overall |  |
There are three audio tracks present on this disc. All are Dolby Digital 2.0 mono tracks encoded at 224 Kb/s. One is the main English track and the others are English Audio Commentaries. I listened to the main English mono track as well as the audio commentaries.
Dialogue was always clear and audio sync was never a problem. In the quieter moments some minor hiss can be heard but it is low enough to be ignored. There were no pops, clicks or drop-outs noted.
The score on this film is a slight departure from the earlier movies in that it is credited to George Martin who worked with the Beatles in the later part of their careers. The Beatles connection continues with the theme song which was written by Paul and Linda McCartney and performed by Paul McCartney and Wings. It is a very good score which makes use of the traditional Bond theme as well as the title song Live and Let Die. As with all Bond scores, it matches the on-screen action well but wouldn't make a great isolated track.
Despite there being no surround activity this mono soundtrack is quite functional.
The subwoofer slumbered through the entire film as it had nothing at all to do.
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| Overall | |
The release trailer is 16x9 enhanced with an aspect ratio of 1.85:1. The audio is Dolby Digital 2.0 mono. There are quite a few film artefacts, the colour is a little faded and the film grain is quite obvious, but nevertheless the quality is acceptable. The trailer has a run-time of 2:46.
The teaser trailer is a full-frame presentation which is matted down to an aspect ratio of 1.66:1 and is not 16x9 enhanced. The audio is again Dolby Digital 2.0 mono. Quality-wise, it isn't the best and I continue to wonder why studios will compromise the quality of the main presentation with these worthless inclusions. The main trailer is fine, leave it at that please. Its run-time is 1:42.
The first is entitled Richard Dix's Number One Fan and features Roger Moore talking about the CIA agent who is stabbed in New Orleans during the opening sequence to the film. It turns out that the actor who is stabbed is Bob Dix, the son of Richard Dix, an actor who was greatly admired by Roger Moore's mother. This feature includes footage from the film as well as black and white footage from behind the scenes. The main black and white footage is quite grainy with lots of film artefacts. It is presented full-frame and is not 16x9 enhanced. The audio is Dolby Digital 2.0 mono.
The second feature is entitled Hang Gliding Lessons and features Aussie hang gliding pioneer Bill Bennett talking about what was at that time a new sport. It also features a short section in which Bill Bennett is instructing Roger Moore on how to fly a hang glider. Film footage featuring the hang glider is also included. The video has faded colour, is grainy and is covered in film artefacts.
NOTE: To view non-R4 releases, your equipment needs to be multi-zone compatible and usually also NTSC compatible.
| Video | |
| Audio | |
| Extras | |
| Plot | |
| Overall | |
| Review Equipment | |
| DVD | Loewe Xemix 5006DD, using RGB output |
| Display | Grundig MW82-50/8. Calibrated with Video Essentials. |
| Audio Decoder | Built in to amplifier/receiver. Calibrated with Video Essentials. |
| Amplification | Sherwood 8090R |
| Speakers | Mains and Rears: Tannoy Mercury M1. Centre: Tannoy Mercury MC. Subwoofer: Polk Audio PSW-120 |