Gold (1974, Peter Hunt)

[jah13]

Any word on the quality of this release? Specs / extras? One of Roger Moore's best non-Bond outings. I'd be interested to upgrade from my OOP DVD, if the Blu is up to snuff.

[James Luckard]

It's a very interesting, if flawed film. The Bond connections are striking. Much of the crew were Bond crew members, working between Bond films, including director Peter Hunt (who did the brilliant OHMSS). The Maurice Binder opening credits, with a funkadelic theme song playing as the word GOLD flashes over and over onscreen, are a hoot. The score by Elmer Bernstein (doing his best John Barry imitation) is beautiful.

And the whole finale was

[Show spoiler]clearly borrowed by the real Bond film series 11 years later for the plot of "A View to a Kill" - evil corporation plots to blow up and flood a mine, filled with workers, along with our star, thus destroying all the neighboring mines owned by competitors and driving up the value of their own product.

Definitely a film any Bond fan should check out, even if the romantic melodrama does get a bit tedious at times.

Also interesting to see a big-budget thriller shot in Apartheid-era South Africa, which tries to make some comments on the system there.

[mr young]

I have this and it is 2.35:1 and 2.0 LPCM Stereo, some prints in London were
3-Track Mag Stereo, it has a restored at Pinewood logo at the start and i had a quick look and it looks pretty good.

It has Trailers and a Roger Moore interview.

[jah13]

Originally Posted by mr young

I have this and it is 2.35:1 and 2.0 LPCM Stereo, some prints in London were
3-Track Mag Stereo, it has a restored at Pinewood logo at the start and i had a quick look and it looks pretty good.

It has Trailers and a Roger Moore interview.

Good to know. Thanks!

[jah13]

Yes, agreed on most points, particularly Bernstein's Barry-esque score. Looking for info on this new Blu-ray more than the film itself. Already quite familiar with the film and own an earlier DVD iteration of it.

Originally Posted by James Luckard

It's a very interesting, if flawed film. The Bond connections are striking. Much of the crew were Bond crew members, working between Bond films, including director Peter Hunt (who did the brilliant OHMSS). The Maurice Binder opening credits, with a funkadelic theme song playing as the word GOLD flashes over and over onscreen, are a hoot. The score by Elmer Bernstein (doing his best John Barry imitation) is beautiful.

And the whole finale was

[Show spoiler]clearly borrowed by the real Bond film series 11 years later for the plot of "A View to a Kill" - evil corporation plots to blow up and flood a mine, filled with workers, along with our star, thus destroying all the neighboring mines owned by competitors and driving up the value of their own product.

Definitely a film any Bond fan should check out, even if the romantic melodrama does get a bit tedious at times.

Also interesting to see a big-budget thriller shot in Apartheid-era South Africa, which tries to make some comments on the system there.

[Dvd Aficionado]

Does anyone know if "Gold" blu-ray is region free or B-locked?

Thanks for your info

[mr young]

says ABC on the back so Region Free.

[Dvd Aficionado]

Originally Posted by mr young

says ABC on the back so Region Free.

Thanks Mr. Young. My hunch was right. This is an Odeon blu-ray which has previously released WITCHFINDER GENERAL blu as region free too.

I'm adding this to my collection

[malcy30]

Originally Posted by mr young

I have this and it is 2.35:1 and 2.0 LPCM Stereo, some prints in London were
3-Track Mag Stereo, it has a restored at Pinewood logo at the start and i had a quick look and it looks pretty good.

It has Trailers and a Roger Moore interview.

Is more than an interview. Is Roger Moore A Matter of Class produced by A&E in 1995 shown in 4:3 SD. Is a biography of his life story with an interview with Roger and others including Michael Caine and some good film clips including Bond ones. Much better than your normal short the film was great interview.

There is a 4 minute trailer with Roger's VoiceOver in HD as well.

[Indiana Jonezzz...]

I got this over Xmas and after having a quick look through it, the picture quality seems quite good. Annoyingly though, I noticed that the whole 2.35:1 image appears to be stretched slightly vertically, making everything appear taller and thinner that it should .

I noticed it in a few scenes but I wasn't sure if it was due to the camera lenses distorting the image or something along those lines. I found a scene that has a car going passed the camera side on and rightly so, the wheel is vertically oval instead of circular.

I'm hoping this won't annoy me too much when I finally watch it but I have a feeling it will distract me a lot. It's a shame as this could easily have been fixed by just lowering the vertical image resolution a little.

[Indiana Jonezzz...]

FINALLY watched this after owning it for over a year! Really enjoyed it, a fairly interesting story with some nice location work and a lot of 70's charm. Luckily, I didn't find the vertical stretching particularly distracting once I got into it .

[Lea74]

Wondering if the SignalOne edition is delayed?
on their site it says Pre-Order ending in 154 days, around September???
Amazon and HMV still have release date as 22nd May.

Maybe they fixing the stretching issue?

[John Earls Umbrella]

Originally Posted by Lea74

Wondering if the SignalOne edition is delayed?
on their site it says Pre-Order ending in 154 days, around September???
Amazon and HMV still have release date as 22nd May.

Maybe they fixing the stretching issue?

Amazon have now changed the date to September.

[John Earls Umbrella]

Amazon don’t have this up for pre-order. Wouldn’t surprise me if the release date gets put back again. Hopefully this is a good sign that they are fixing the AR issues.

[Saber Rider]

Originally Posted by John Earls Umbrella

Amazon don’t have this up for pre-order. Wouldn’t surprise me if the release date gets put back again. Hopefully this is a good sign that they are fixing the AR issues.

From the Signal One Thread:

Originally Posted by CelestialAgent

Signal One have announced on Facebook that Gold is cancelled.

[John Earls Umbrella]

Wow I wasn’t expecting that. I wonder why?

[Withnail74]

In my memory, I saw this on telly when I was very young and I seem to remember the leg amputation scene showing a bloody stump - but all the rips on YouTube cut away just as the sawing starts. Am I going mad misremembering this?

[The Hornets]

Originally Posted by John Earls Umbrella

Wow I wasn’t expecting that. I wonder why?

Seems it is now coming from 88 Films in February 2024.


Available to preorder at Amazon.

[Hammerlover]

What's the story on the transfer? Is this a new restoration?

[The Hornets]

Originally Posted by Hammerlover

What's the story on the transfer? Is this a new restoration?

You could ask 88. They tend to be quite helpful.