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"Ah, Mr. Pearl - you persist in trying to provoke me - into writing interesting blogs just like yours. However, I don't need to because you do it for me." Yup, it's time again for Bashful Barry to write another guest post for this blog. However, the minute I see him walking up the pathway to Castle Crivens, holding his suitcases, I'm heading for the hills. Over to the bashful one.
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The name's Pearl... Barry Pearl, and I'm a James Bond fan, books and movies. I suspect that when the next Bond arrives, we'll get a box set of the 25 films that Eon Productions have made released in 4K. Currently there is a Blu-ray set that leaves out three productions that weren't made by them. I thought it would be fun to list all 27 and see how they are represented in comparison to the books.
The Bond movies are all photographed well, but in the current individual discs and the box set, the picture quality varies a bit, but is mostly very good. Some of the Roger Moore movies look a bit faded.
A note on Surround Sound! On home DVDs, there has been two kinds of surround sound: 1: The James Bond Surround and 2: The George Lucas surround (THX).
1. The James Bond surround realizes that you are in a movie theatre and what you are watching is in front of you. Therefore, unless a 'plane goes overhead or there's an explosion off-screen, most of the surround is left and right in front of you.
2. The George Lucas surround sound places you in the middle of the action, so the surround is all around you, not mostly in front. The later Bond movies go this way too.
The first production of a James Bond novel was Casino Royale, which appeared on CBS TV in 1954. (Also available on Blu-ray.) It was a live, one hour broadcast that starred Barry Nelson as American agent “Jimmy Bond”. Great to watch for what we know is coming, but it was badly done. Ian Fleming, now a husband and father, wanted Bond to be bought by the movies, or be a TV series (which were new then) to make some money. CBS said it was too violent and too sexy. This is exactly what made it a hit a half a century later. In the Moonraker novel, they mention that secret agents should be 35-45 years old and then retire. This won't be true of the actors who take on the role! Verdict: ** out of four stars, just because it is a curiosity to watch.
When Eon productions' Albert Broccoli and Harry Saltzman began their franchise, Casino Royale, Bond’s debut novel, was not available, so they started with Dr No, the sixth book. This 1962 movie was low budget and appeared mostly in drive-in movie theatres in the U.S. It followed the book closely, but instead of fighting the Russians, Dr. No worked for SPECTRE, which wasn’t introduced in the books until Thunderball, Fleming's ninth. Fleming was a snob and a racist and many racist elements appear here. Director Terrance Young, who does not get enough credit, changed the snobbishness to sophistication and worked so well, especially with Sean Connery. In Bond’s opening scene with M (Bond’s boss), they discuss an assassination attempt on Bond that occurs in the next movie, but in the previous book! Verdict: *** ½ stars out of four.
Three Bond Formulas are introduced:
Three Bond Formulas are introduced:
1. A beautiful girl is introduced and spends the last half of the move being rescued by Bond.
2. Bond is captured and the villain simply must tell him every detail of his plan.
3. The movie ends with Bond and the girl together, usually on water or some other secluded place.
From Russia With Love, 1963. Simply one of the best Bond movies, with a great cast and great villains. More serious than most, it also uses SPECTRE, which hadn't yet appeared in the bond books. Verdict: **** stars out of four
Goldfinger, 1964. Again, one of the best and most entertaining movies, even the John Barry music is famous. It closely follows the book, substituting a laser in place of a mechanical circular saw. Here they show that a movie can be better than a book. That is, in the book Goldfinger attempts to rob Fort Knox, a long process. In the movie he tries to detonate an atomic bomb to radioactively contaminate the reserves of gold, thereby rendering them worthless. Verdict: **** stars out of four.
Formulas introduced:
1. The film begins with a “mini-movie” that has nothing really to do with the main plot.
2. Bond meets a beautiful girl at the beginning of the movie and she doesn't live to see her name in the end credits. They are often very pretty and cannot act.
3. Villain has an interesting henchman.
Casino Royale, 1967. Colgems (Columbia Pictures) bought the rights to Casino Royale from CBS and produced one of the worst movies ever made. Allegedly a satire, it ain’t funny. The music, however is great, and the song The Look of Love comes from this movie. More on this picture later! Verdict: Zero stars out of four.
You Only Live Twice, 1967. This is the first Bond movie that has nothing to do with the book, except the location and the names of some characters. In the books, On Her Majesty’s Secret Service came first, where James Bond's wife is murdered by Blofeld. In the book of YOLT, Bond goes after his wife’s killer. Shot out of sequence, this does not touch on that plot at all. Instead it has a plot about stealing rockets. Verdict: A watchable ** ½ stars out of four.
On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, 1969. One of the Best Bond movies, even with the worst James Bond, here played by George Lazenby. The movie follows the book closely and former Avengers girl Diana Rigg is beautiful and perfect. But!!!! The movie was supposed to end with the marriage of Bond and Tracy (Rigg), and the next movie was to begin with Blofeld killing Tracy. However, Lazenby, after one movie, thought that he was too big a star to do a second movie and quit. So they tacked on the sad scene to the end of the movie. The movie is still great and ends like the book, but the sad ending really hurt at the box office. Verdict: **** stars out of four.
Diamonds are Forever, 1971, doesn’t work well. After the disappointing box office of the previous movie, United Artists (not the producers) wanted Connery back. He was now a bit too old and too heavy. The movie pays little notice to OHMSS, and, as with YOLT, takes the location and characters from the book and nothing else. Two important points:
1. This is the first Bond movie where Bond is portrayed more like a super-hero than a spy. The humour, which overwhelms the Roger Moore movies, actually starts here. The plots are more silly than threatening.
2. Remember McClory? He claims the legal rights to Blofeld and SPECTRE. They will not be used in a Bond movie for over forty years! This was a ** ½ stars out of four movie for me.
Live and Let Die, 1973. Roger Moore takes over and, frankly, these are the worst of the Bond movies. He doesn't have the presence or sophistication of Connery, but after Lazenby, the producers wanted an experienced actor. However, he plays the part like a comic strip character, not a secret agent, and the humor goes overboard. Again, this doesn’t follow the book closely, but uses the locations and characters. Sadly, the book is filled with racist comments and the movie includes a lot of them. It is painful to watch, but Jane Seymour is a sight for sore eyes. Verdict: * star out of four.
The Man with the Golden Gun, 1974, continues the worst portrayal and writing in a Bond movie, which looks rushed. Christopher Lee is such a great actor and a relative of Ian Fleming, but he can't overcome a bad script. Again, this has little to do with book except setting and character names. Verdict: Another * star out of four movie.
The Spy Who Loved Me, 1977. The actual book was really a long 'short' story where Bond has a cameo. Here the girl is a Russian Spy, which has nothing to do with the book. It steals a lot from Thunderball. The highlight is the incredible beginning and the introduction of the villain, Jaws. Verdict: ** ½ stars out of four.
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| Bob Simmons opening |
Moonraker, 1979. The book was a story about a villain named Hugo Drax, who wants to launch a missile with a bomb on it, directed at the heart of London. However, the relatively recent Star Wars movie was such a big hit, that the producers wanted to make this a space, sci-fi movie. The beginning, where Bond is thrown from an airplane without a parachute is fantastic. And then it gets really silly. This is the first Bond movie to feature the return of a villain, with Richard Kiel reprising his role as Jaws. Verdict: ** stars out of four.
For Your Eyes Only, 1981, was originally a book containing five short stories. Three of them are written into the script here. It is the best and most serious of the Roger Moore films. For that reason, Moore wrote, it is his least favourite, but it's my favourite. It lifts scenes from the book of Live and Let Die too. Verdict: *** stars out of four.
Octopussy, 1983. This was a short story that is quickly mentioned in the movie, which has nothing to do with the story. It steals from Goldfinger. Just silly, but with really pretty women and silly scenes. Verdict: * ½ stars out of four.
Never Say Never Again, 1983. Remember McClory? Well, he owned the Thunderball script and was legally able to make a remake of the original without the aid of EON Productions. He hired Sean Connery, now 53, who now hated the original producers, and they produced a boring movie. I had seen it all before. Everything seemed wrong and out of step for me. (Except for Kim Bassinger.) This came out the same year as Octopussy and didn't do as well. Verdict: ** stars out of four.
A View to a Kill, 1985. Moore’s last picture. Just bad. It has nothing to do with the short story that the title came from. Verdict: Zero stars out of four. Broccolli, the producer, doesn't want to embarrass Moore by “firing” him, so instead asks Moore to announce his retirement.
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| Timothy Dalton opening |
The Living Daylights, 1987. United Artists, the movie studio, is in financial trouble and is sold to MGM, which is also in financial trouble. This causes severe problems in budgeting and money for advertising. So the next two Bond films don't do well and the blame is placed on their new Bond, Timothy Dalton. (Pierce Bronson was originally slated to do Bond, but his contract with NBC could not be broken.)
This movie is sort of a generic Bond, with every cliché and formula being used. It borrows a bit from the short story it's named after. Timothy Dalton, at this point, is the closest to the serious Bond in the books, but is the audience ready for him? (I liked his performance very much.) This movie moves back into the politics of the Cold War, where Bond should be. But as serious as Dalton is, the movie gets frivolous. Verdict: ** ½ stars out of four.
License to Kill, 1989. The most controversial and violent Bond film to date, it was rated PG 13. The story, about drugs, takes very violent scenes from the movie Live and Let Die. Some bad casting, Wayne Newton and Talisa Soto. I liked that it wasn't following the Bond formulas too closely. Dalton, blamed for the lack of success of this and the previous movie, is asked to announce that he's leaving. Verdict: *** stars out of four.
Goldeneye, 1977. The financial problems of MGM cause a six year gap in the Bond films. Pierce Bronson, a fine actor, finally gets his chance as Bond. For me, he was not quite suited for the role. He was too slight and not fearsome enough. He replaced Sean Connery rather than played James Bond. With the Cold War over, they “jiggered” his part to make him seem more like an anachronism. Judy Dench as M is just wonderful. Again, this is a formula movie. (Goldeneye was the name of Ian Fleming’s home in Jamaica.)
Tomorrow Never Dies, 1997. An interesting idea, that a media mogul (obviously Rupert Murdoch) would manufacture news to supply his media outlets and sell papers. Too much formula, but Teri Hatcher, someone who could act, is the girl who will die in the second reel. Verdict: ** ½ stars out of four.
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| Airfix model kit from the '60s |
The World Is Not Enough, 1999. This was a more interesting film, primarily due to the casting of Sophie Marceau and the expansion of Judy Dench’s M. Here, M finally gets to see Bond in action and what he has to go through both physically and emotionally. This changes her impression of Bond a great deal from what she thought of him in Goldeneye. Denise Richards, the pretty girl who can’t act, survives to the end. Many wished she hadn’t. Verdict: *** stars out of four.
Die Another Day, 2002. The first hour of the movie was terrific - 3 stars. It broke from formula and showed the acting chops of Bronson as he is captured by the enemy. It then becomes pure formula, complete with an invisible car and very below par. Rosamund Pike’s first film and she and Halle Berry are top notch! Verdict: I guess **** stars. (three for the first hour, one for the second)
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| Daniel Craig opening |
Casino Royale, 2006. Sony had partnered with McClory and owned the movie rights to Casino Royale when it bought Columbia Pictures. But Sony didn't have the right to make another movie of it, so they traded their rights to CR to MGM for their rights to Spider-Man. So Sony made Spider-Man and MGM made this. Bronson was set to do another movie, but Casino Royale gave them a chance to start over, so Daniel Craig was hired. The opening of this film was still a Bond mini-movie, but the movie mostly followed the book, except they played Baccarat (something like Blackjack) in the book, Poker in the movie. Daniel Craig is definitely the James Bond Ian Fleming had in mind. Verdict: **** stars out of four.
Quantum of Solace, 2008, had nothing to do with the short story on which it is based. (That was about a marriage gone wrong.) It connects to the first movie, but this, for me, was horrible and made no sense. The producers are hoping and preparing for a big reveal to come soon.
Skyfall, 2012: A great movie, particularly because Judy Dench as M is fully in it. The movie borrows a lot form the books, especially James Bond's biography from OHMSS. There's little formula here, it's a brand new plot and what happens to Judy Dench is unexpected. (Not when you knew her contract was up, Barry.) Bond movies are also usually as good as the villains, and Javier Bardem is cold, ruthless and perfect. Verdict: *** ½ stars out of four.
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| Roger Moore opening |
Spectre, 2015. McClory died in 2006 and on 15 November 2013, MGM acquired all the rights and interests of McClory's estate, bringing "amicable conclusion to the legal and business disputes that have arisen periodically for over 50 years.” So this movie links all the Craig movies together using SPECTRE, which they couldn't use since Diamonds are Forever. MGM also acquired the rights to Never Say Never Again. Scenes are taken from Thunderball in particular, and a few other books. I was surprised I did not like this movie more. They “pretended” that the identity of Blofeld would be a big reveal, but every Bond fan knew who he was so a lot of the suspense was gone. Verdict: *** stars out of four.
So that's my personal evaluation of all the Bond movies so far. Hope you're not too shaken or stirred if your personal favourite doesn't measure up in my eyes. Why not let me know why you disagree in the comments section. And if you do agree, then let me know about that too.
And below is a couple of photos of Barry's Bond Collection.
So that's my personal evaluation of all the Bond movies so far. Hope you're not too shaken or stirred if your personal favourite doesn't measure up in my eyes. Why not let me know why you disagree in the comments section. And if you do agree, then let me know about that too.
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