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The James Bond Collection on DVDVolume One The James Bond DVD Collection brings together all of the feature-packed “special edition” DVDs previously released in different configurations. It's in three volumes, the latter two of which are now available. The first volume contains arguably the best of the Bonds (Goldfinger) along with arguably one of the worst (Licence to Kill), with a mixed batch in between. We’re treated to performances by all the Bond movie actors except George Lazenby (who made only one appearance, in “On Her Majesty’s Secret Service,” which is in volume 3), and as such it’s a great way to judge the various Bonds on their own merits. Each movie is presented in anamorphic widescreen, 16x9 TV compatible, though the video quality is all over the map, and each is chock full of interesting extras that’ll keep Bond fans happy for many an extra hour. We’ll break them down at the bottom of the review. The set kicks off with the series opener, 1962’s Sean Connery star-making vehicle Dr. No. Possibly the most faithful to the book of any Bond film, this film created the James Bond mold and most of the formula that’s been used so successfully (financially, if not artistically) ever since. Connery’s Bond is a tough and charming cold war spy who can be witty and urbane, but who has steely sudden death just below the surface. The first Bond girl was Ursula Andress as Honey Ryder, and she also sets the tone for the ones who follow - though it takes Bond longer to get her into bed than many of the later BG’s. Bond’s nemesis is renegade supervillain Dr. No, who’s trying to destroy the fledgling American space program. Who'd have known that all he'd have to do is wait and the Americans would emasculate it on their own... Goldfinger (also reviewed here) was the third Bond movie and the one that really set the formula into stone - or at least celluloid. It brought us the opening scene with little or no relationship to the main plot, the focus on gadgetry thanks to the famous, ejector seat-equipped Aston Martin DB5, and probably the best villain of all time, Auric Goldfinger (superbly played by Gert Frobe who, according to the documentary accompanying the DVD, had all his lines dubbed because he spoke no English! We never guessed.). Connery's performance is wonderful as his character goes from cold blooded professional to tongue-in-cheek wag. The Bond girl is Honor Blackman as Pussy Galore, whose part is sanitized from the book to the movie. The set then jumps forward about six flicks to the best of the Roger Moore outings, The Man With The Golden Gun. This was Moore’s second kick at the can; during his tenure he took the steel out of the character and replaced it with a suave, smug assurance that at times bordered on buffoonery in later films such as Moonraker. In 1974’s The Man with the Golden Gun, Bond is sent after million-dollar-per-hit assassin Scaramanga (Christopher Lee), another one of Bond's best bad guys. There turns out to be more than mere murder on Scaramanga’s mind, however, as Bond uncovers a plot involving a solar energy converter that’s much prized by competing forces. Moore’s Bond movies got increasingly hard to swallow until Moonraker, but this one only has a couple of really silly moments, and that’s a good thing. Bond Girls this time were Maud Adams and Britt Ekland. Next comes 1977’s The Spy Who Loved Me, which followed “Gun” in series order. It’s big and sprawling, and basically empty-headed - though still quite enjoyable. It’s this one that introduced Richard Kiel as the steel-toothed Jaws to the series, a character he repeated, unfortunately, in “Moonraker.” The story teams Bond with Russian counterpart Barbara Bach as they track down missing nuclear submarines, a path that leads them to yet another megalomaniac villain (Curt Jurgens) bent on nothing good. Timothy Dalton, alas, only made two movies as Bond and this boxed set gives us his final and worst appearance, 1989’s Licence to Kill. Dalton brought the steel back to the character, and also some human warmth that worked surprisingly well in “The Living Daylights.” Unfortunately, while Licence to Kill was daring in that it portrayed Bond as a renegade working on his own, it’s also one of the least enjoyable of the series. The bad guy in this one is the head of an international drug cartel who’s responsible for a brutal attack on Bond’s old CIA friend Felix Leiter - making the unofficial mission a personal vendetta for 007. The series took a few years off before Pierce Brosnan was brought in to pick up the 007 mantle. He tries to be more of a Connery-type Bond than a Moore, which is good, though Connery is still the Bond gold standard. GoldenEye, released in 1995, was his first outing and other than a couple of silly scenes it’s a good renewal of the franchise. GoldenEye is a post Cold War adventure that sees Bond cleaning up the mess left by both the Soviet Union and Great Britain, in an unfortunate chapter of history. The bad guy is deliciously played by Sean Bean, who would have made a good Bond himself. Also noteworthy is Judi Dench as the new “M,” more of a bureaucrat than the mentor of secret agents, and GoldenEye has her best “M” performance so far (though she's also pretty good in Die Another Day). Tomorrow Never Dies (1997) really rubbed me the wrong way when I first saw it, but seeing it again this time was more enjoyable. The plot involves a Ted Turner-like media baron (Jonathan Pryce) who wants to start World War III so he can give it exclusive coverage while opening new markets for his propaganda machine at the same time. This makes Tomorrow Never Dies the only Bond movie to be a documentary. Okay, I'm kidding, sort of. Bond girls include Teri Hatcher, as a former love interest who once again falls for him, and Michelle Yeoh as Bond’s Chinese opposite number. Hatcher is decorative but fun, Yeoh is terrific. Perhaps best of all, there's some devastatingly accurate (though I bet the filmmakers didn't realize it) commentary on the rot that has taken over the mainstream media. Each DVD is presented in its original anamorphic widescreen aspect ratio and it’s interesting to see the use of different aspect ratios in different files, from 1.85:1 in Dr. No to 2.35:1 in The Spy Who Loved Me (this relates to Volume One - the wider aspect ratio was used earlier as witnessed by films in volumes 2 and 3). As mentioned, picture quality varies and we’d love to see each of these films given a loving restoration. Audio ranges from Dolby Digital mono to 5.1 surround and the overall quality also varies with the films and the technology. Licence to Kill is one of the best looking and sounding (unfortunately, since it’s the worst movie in the set), with Dr. No not surprisingly being the worst. As mentioned above, each DVD comes with an abundance of extras, most of which are not presented in anamorphic widescreen. Here’s a breakdown disc by disc: • Dr. No: commentary by director Terence Young, the cast and crew; 2 documentaries;
featurette The seven disc Volume Two features some dandy Connery flicks, plus a couple of Moores (including his worst), Timothy Dalton's best, and arguably Brosnan's worst. That makes it a pretty fair cross section of the series. Again, we wish MGM would restore these movies; the picture quality is all over the map, from good "old" movies like Thunderball to grainy "old" movies such as "You Only Live Twice." As with volumes one and three, all the titles are presented in anamorphic widescreen, 16x9 TV compatible, with audio varying from Dolby Digital mono to 5.1 surround. First up in the set is From Russia With Love, the second Bond movie and the one many (though not this particular reviewer) think is the best. Connery is at his best, though, and his main nemesis is Robert Shaw as a Russian agent who's also a one man killing machine. Bond is sent to recover a coding machine from a Russian agent who's supposedly defecting because she fell in love with a picture of 007. Everyone smells a rat, but the chance to get the device is too good to pass up. This is one of the grainier transfers, alas, though the overall picture quality is quite sharp and with excellent color. The aspect ratio is 1.85:1, which completely fills the 16x9 TV screen. Audio is Dolby Digital mono and it's about as one would expect. You Only Live Twice was Connery's last outing, or so was his plan, apparently. He was hired back for "Diamonds are Forever" and, much later, for "Never Say Never Again" - a remake of Thunderball that isn't part of the "official" Bond collection. YOLT sees 007 killed off at the beginning of the movie, to get his enemies off his back and give him some elbow room. Then he's sent to Japan to get to the bottom of a mystery organization (which, of course, turns out to be SPECTRE) that's snagging space ships out of orbit. Some great Japanese scenery and gadgets (including a classic Toyota 2000GT sports car and the autogyro "Little Nellie") highlight what's arguably a screenplay that begins Bond's long slide into silliness. Roald Dahl wrote it, and though it's more than a tad over the top for its sci-fi plot, it's still a very enjoyable episode in the series. YOLT is presented in 2.35:1 anamorphic widescreen, with Dolby Digital mono audio, and it's quite grainy in places. It features good color, but the audio is also a tad dirty and muddy: overall, the movie could stand a good restoration. Diamond Are Forever saw Connery lured back after Lazenby's sole outing. It's also the first Bond movie to be set mostly in the United States. In this one, a "face changing" Blofeld (Charles Gray - the best Blofeld) is collecting diamonds to use in a giant space-based laser that can zap SPECTRE's (or their customers') enemies. Bond tracks him to Las Vegas, a city that looks quite quaint compared to how it is today. The main Bond girl this time is Jill St. John, as Tiffany Case, a bad girl turned good - kind of. The aspect ratio is 2.35:1, and overall the picture quality is fine. There are some grainy parts, but it isn't nearly as bad as the worst of "YOLT" or "Russia." Audio is Dolby Digital mono, and it's okay. Moonraker was perhaps the worst Bond movie if only because of its ridiculous plot where Bond (Moore, this time) must go into space and stop a megalomaniac (Michael Lonsdale) from killing all human life on Earth so he could repopulate it with his own "master race." This movie pushes far beyond the limits of credulity. The opening "big stunt" is a great one where Bond is thrown out of an airplane without a parachute and must fight another skydiver for his. But as so often happens in the later Bond movies the producers don't know when to stop and end up ruining a great opening by beating us over the head with it. On the other hand, there are some gorgeous locations and some really neat special effects. Picture quality is very good; the aspect ratio is 2.35:1 and the colors are wonderful. There's some grain, but overall it isn't too bad. Audio is Dolby Digital stereo surround and it's pretty good, too; this is one of the first Bond movies that'll give your audio system any kind of workout. After the excesses of Moonraker, the series took a welcome "back to basics" tack with For Your Eyes Only. Moore is back as Bond, unfortunately, but this time he's part of a much more believeable (and "down to earth") plot in which Bond races against the bad guys to recover a nuclear arms control device from a sunken ship. There's a neat homage to Bond's wife, and to Blofeld, at the film's opening, and this time instead of beating us over the head with the opening "big stunt" it's far more believable. For Your Eyes Only is presented in an aspect ratio of 2.35:1, and the picture quality is generally very good. This is the first Bond to be in Dolby Digital 5.1 surround, and you can really hear the difference; all the channels, with the possible exception of the subwoofer, are used very well and the action surrounds you in just the way it should. There's some distortion, but overall it's a treat. Alas, we missed the great John Barry doing the score. Conti's is fine, but to us Barry is as synonymous with Bond movies as was Connery - or Maurice Binder title sequences. The Living Daylights is a dandy! It's Timothy Dalton's first kick at the Bond can and he brought a much needed intensity to the role after Roger Moore turned the character into a caricature. Alas, he was only in this one and the much inferior "Licence to Kill" (See volume one) before the series took several years off and came back with Pierce Brosnan - who's okay but is no Dalton, let alone a Connery. The story sees Bond as less a womanizer and much more responsible, but within limits. He's chasing down an international arms dealer (Joe Don Baker) and his main squeeze is a Czech cellist (Maryam D'abo) drawn into the fray thanks to her love for the wrong man. Bond doesn't rush her into bed but spends most of the movie being kind of a big brother to her before the inevitable romantic interlude happens. Video quality is very good. There's some grain, but for the most part it's a pretty sharp and clear image, with good color. Audio is Dolby Digital 5.1 surround and it's pretty good. The theme song makes good use of the subwoofer, better than most of the movie unfortunately, and you get a pretty neat stereo effect when the pipeline pig goes by - and when the bridge blows up and the Hercules crashes near the end there's some nice low frequency sound. And not only is John Barry back, we get a nice song by Chrissie Hynde and the Pretenders! The last disc in the set is The World is Not Enough, which we've reviewed here. Each disc features that damn "Activation" step when you first put it in, which we hate, and there are plenty of extras, enough to please the most die hard Bond fan. Here's a rundown of the discs: • From Russia with Love (commentary by director Terrence Young and members
of the cast and crew; "Inside From Russian with Love" and "Harry Saltzman: Showman"
documentaries) The final volume is a six disc set that includes one of the better Bond outings (Thunderball) and concludes with Die Another Day, the best Bond film since The Living Daylights. In between is a mixed bag including George Lazenby's lone appearance as 007 in On Her Majesty's Secret Service and three Roger Moore efforts of varying quality. As with the other films, each is presented in anamorphic widescreen, 16x9 TV compatible, with varying degrees of picture quality and a variety of aduio incarnations from Dolby Digital mono to Dolby Digital EX and dts ES Surround. The set kicks off with Thunderball, the watery followup to Goldfinger. It's a classic Connery outing - remade with him much later as "Never Say Never Again" (a Warner, release, alas, so not part of this definitive Bond collection) in which SPECTRE is going after NATO countries to extort a huge ransom for a couple of nuclear bombs stolen from a hijacked Vulcan bomber. This is the last "pure" Bond, one could say, because after that the stories started getting increasingly unbelievable (as in You Only Live Twice and its spaceship hijackings) or silly (a trend begun somewhat with Diamonds are Forever and never really done away with completely). In Thunderball we briefly get to see the classic Aston Martin from Goldfinger, and there are plenty more gadgets on hand, particularly a kind of underwater spy kit that takes the place of the Aston. Picture quality is okay; there's quite a bit of grain in many places, though on the other hand it looks terrific in other sections. But the colors are good overall. Aspect ratio is 2.35:1. Audio has been remixed to Dolby Digital 5.1 surround (which you first notice when that bullet heads toward you in the opening "gunsight" shot) and they've actually done a pretty good job of it. On Her Majesty's Secret Service was the first "real" Bond flick (Casino Royale doesn't count) to be made without Sean Connery. It's also the only one with George Lazenby in the starring role. He was a virtual unknown who had the impossible and thankless task of filling the shoes of the definitive Bond actor - and he actually does a pretty good job. We'd rate him only the second worst Bond - ahead of Roger Moore. We also get treated to Diana Rigg as the Bond girl, but she's far more than that. With her grace and class, it isn't hard to see why she's the one who actually got the womanizing Bond to the altar. The story surrounds SPECTRE's germ warfare scheme. Blofeld this time is played by Telly Savalas, and there are some beautiful Alpine locations as well as the usual Bond action and stunts. The picture quality is above average. The 2.35:1 aspect ratio image is nearly grain free compared with other episodes, and this is very welcome. The colors really come through well, too, and the image is nice and sharp. Audio is Dolby Digital mono and it's unremarkable. Live and Let Die was Roger Moore's first kick and the can and it's not too bad, if you ignore the scenes involving J. W. Coop, the "ugly Amercan" sheriff. This one has no Blofeld to kick around this time, instead being a story about a drug lord (Yaphet Kotto) with delusions of world conquest. Jane Seymour is the Bond girl here, a Tarot card-reading person of hench to the bad guy. The story takes a back seat to the action, alas, and we found the ultimate demise of the bad guy a tad contrived. The aspect ratio shrinks to 1.85:1 again, which fills the 16x9 TV screen completely. Alas, the picture quality is good not great, with plenty of grain (though, to be fair, the image is good and sharp for the most part, especially where there are closeups). Audio is Dolby Digital mono, and it's about the same as the rest of the non-multi-channel audio Bonds. We missed John Barry here, too; the soundtrack is by George Martin, most famous for being the Beatles' producer, and the title song is by Paul and Linda McCartney and Wings. Octopussy is one of the better Moore Bonds, and brings Maud Adams back from the dead. She was one of the Bond girls in "Man With the Golden Gun" but now she's a main character and possibly even the major villain (we don't know for sure which side she's on for quite a bit of the movie). We know for sure that Louis Jordan's up to no good, however! Much of the movie is set in India, which gives a chance for some more exotic locals. Roger Moore, who was fortunately nearing the end of his Bond tenure with Octopussy, is looking a tad long in the tooth here. The movie has a good pace, however, and even gives old Q a chance to do something other than just complain about Bond. And there are a couple of neat airplane scenes: one at the beginning with a tiny jet (remember the Coors Light Silver Bullet?) and one near the end as Bond fights on the outside of a classic Beech 18. This time, Bond is not only on a mission, he's also out for revenge after a fellow agent is killed. This film actually had Bond competition when it was released, because it came out closely with Never Say Never Again. The picture is 2.35:1, and it's very good. There's nice sharpness and very good color, making this one of the better "older" Bond movies so far as image quality is concerned. Audio is Dolby Digital stereo surround and it's pretty good as well. And John Barry's on hand! A View to a Kill was Moore's last assault on the Bond franchise and it's one of the worst of the movies as well. The film feels as tired as Moore looks - though on the upside we get Patrick MacNee (John Steed himself) along for the ride and the always good Christopher Walken as the bad guy. Walken's an evil capitalist (aren't they all?) who wants to corner the world microchip market. And when the chips are down - you call in 007! There are some good stunts and action scenes (though we could have done without "California Girls" playing over 007's snowboarding before the opening titles), but overall this is one of the most forgettable Bond movies despite the presence of Tanya Roberts as chief Bond girl. The picture is presented in the aspect ratio of 2.35:1, and it's very good for the most part. There's little grain, and the sharp image is complemented by great color. Audio is Dolby Digital 5.1 surround and it's pretty good, with nice use of all three front channels and quite a bit of surround as well, right from the moment Bond fires at the gun barrel that opens the film. Your subwoofer won't get a good workout other than during the title song, but we've heard a lot worse. The last flick in this final volume is Die Another Day, the most recent Bond film as of this writing and, as mentioned, the best Bond film in many years. We have a full reivew of it here. MGM has included the original DVD release here, a fully featured two disc set that they didn't bother repacking to make it consistent with the other 19 discs. Die Another Day was good enough that we hope they do another Bond film, and that's a 180 degree turnaround from our opinion after the film before, "The World is not Enough." And it's nice to see the producers staying state-of-the-art: Die Another Day not only offers a dts-ES soundtrack, it has a wonderfully crafted full range of sound that'll give your home theater a good workout. And the picture ain't no slouch either. Naturally all six of these titles come bundled with a plethora of extras of varying interest and quality, but it's stuff Bond aficionados will love having. Here's the rundown: • Thunderball (commentary by director Terence Young; commentary by the
cast and crew; "The Thunderball Phenomenon" and "The Making of Thunderball"
documentary; "Inside Thunderball" featurette; still gallery) We're tickled pink that all 20 Bond movies, warts and all, are now available together. Overall, while we whine about the need for resmastering of many of the titles, and we hope MGM will do this, in the meantime, this is the definitive Bond collection and we like it a lot.
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Volume 3
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