gervase_fen | Film 2022 : As Good as My Bond

Starting in April, Amazon via their acquisition of MGM have been re-releasing the James Bond films in UK cinemas, one a week, screening on Saturdays (Vue) or Tuesdays (Odeon). Somehow Mrs Fen and myself have managed to see every film so far from Doctor No (1962) to Diamonds are Forever (1971). These are films that, if I have seen them, have, with one exception, been courtesy of ITV, so therefore pan and scanned, cut for content issues, etc. Here are some random thoughts.

Doctor No : Watching it all the way through for the first time I was struck by the product placement and the fiery death throes of Quarrel (quite unpleasant). Mrs Fen has seen it many times before so shut her eyes firmly during the spider scenes. Filming in Jamaica adds incredible production value on the big screen, with glorious sunshine, blue skies and blue seas. Bond is a global agent of ~~Empire~~ the Commonwealth, self reliant except when he needs help from the CIA in the guise of future Hawaii 5-0 star Jack Lord as Felix Leiter. Doctor No's secret laboratory has a 'computer at work' sound effect which I'm pretty sure I've heard somewhere in Doctor Who (WOTAN perhaps?) Ursula Andress' voice is dubbed.

From Russia with Love : Consensus has it that this is the best of the early Bonds, and consensus is right. The story begins from SPECTRE's point of view , with a cunning plan conceived by a chess grandmaster (Vladek Sheybal, always playing wrong 'uns - later in his career his plans of espionage will be foiled by Gary Russell and co in The Famous Five). Sean Connery clearly ups his acting when he faces off against Robert Shaw, a blonde hard bodied thug that seems to be the inspiration for the look of Daniel Craig in the franchise. Donald Grant stalks and haunts Bond throughout (there's a lovely shot of him boarding Bond's train like a revenant, a ghostly presence portending death.) Daniela Bianchi's voice is dubbed.

Goldfinger : Wikipedia tells me that I last saw this at the Odeon Maidenhead on the 27th of July in 2007 (!) Since then I've become more familiar with screenwriter Paul Dehn's Terry Nation-esque obsession with radiation (Seven Days to Noon, Beneath the Planet of the Apes).
The car chases work brilliantly on the big screen. Honor Blackman's voice isn't dubbed (why would you want to even do that). Gert Frobe's is.

Thunderball : (a note posted on Roobarb's forum):

"Busiest session yet at our local Vue on Saturday night, and Mrs Fen chatted to the family sat behind us when we ended up in the same lift going back to our respective cars. Mum and Dad more keen than the teenage offspring on the movie.

Mrs Fen doesn't do imdb cast lists so kudos to her for recognising Michael Culver underneath his flying gear on the Vulcan, and Sir John Gallagher from Justice as Spectre's man in Blighty.

This was disappointing and a bit dull from Terence Young after the excellence of From Russia With Love. The underwater scenes at the end seemed to have a 1965 Boris Johnson hairdo-alike which made them a little less tedious. A little.

The suicide of one of the agents was a bit out of the blue, especially as she was one of ours. Good to see Earl Cameron though.

I've not read up on these but I am curious as to why the producers need to dub the voices of villains, heroines and this week a masseuse. "

You Only Live Twice : (a note posted on Roobarb's forum):

"Enjoyed YOLT a lot this week, and nice to see another familiar face from Justice - John Stone, Margaret Lockwood's love interest, as the submarine commander.

Loved the overhead tracking shot of Bond on the roof at the docks surrounded and pursued on all sides. A bit disappointed that after the Ninja school montage the students were so easily dispatched in the underground lair. I was hoping block of ice headbutt guy would get to use his speciality.

Was it Alexander Knox's turn to have his voice overdubbed this week? "

(This was sumptuous on the big screen with John Barry's score and Ken Adam's sets. I was humming Nancy Sinatra's theme song for days afterwards. Scene possibly not on ITV screenings : Donald Pleasance struggling to hold a very freaked out cat.)

On Her Majesty's Secret Service : Mrs Fen's all time favourite I think, which delivers an ending I'm not sure Sean Connery could have done justice. There should have been more Bond girls in the mould of Angela Scoular's cheerful Northerner Ruby Bartlett, although Diana Rigg's Tracy is luminous in this movie. The filmmakers throw everything at the screen towards the end, with extended ski chases, a Christmas Eve stock car rally (a Swiss Christmas tradition I had no idea existed) and the bobsleigh run that John Barry again scores to perfection. George Lazenby's voice is dubbed (because he couldn't convincing impersonate George Baker.)

Diamonds are Forever : Hits the buffers as soon as Bond hits Vegas. Eon contracted production services out to Universal, and the cinematography is very much US TV circa 1971. Sean Connery's voice is dubbed (one scene only). Unlikely to revisit this - Never See Ever Again, I would say.