James Bond: The Ultimate Collection (1962-2012) + Volume Collections

[Man From Hammer]

Originally Posted by Lyle_JP

"Because it wasn't in this one documentary, it probably didn't happen."

Those DVD/blu documentaries are entertaining and informative, but not one of them is the final word on the production of any of these films. Particularly since they all had to be approved by EON Productions, which is notorious for suppressing anything they find "too candid". Case in point: the Criterion Collection audio commentaries they had removed from the marketplace.

They removed the commentaries so they are "notorious for suppression".

The commentaries were removed because they were libellous and are actually why discs now carry disclaimers regarding the opinions of commentators.

[Man From Hammer]

Originally Posted by scissorpuppy

The documentaries on the dvds and later blu-ray were originally produced in the mid to late 90’s. Starting with the 1995 Goldfinger and Thunderball laserdiscs and later completed up until LTK for the Special Edition dvds. The MGM/EON/Sony/McClory mess wasn’t cleared up until well after these documentaries were finished. Perhaps certain things were left out or not covered
due to ongoing legalities. About half the series docs were remastered for HD when the first appeared on blu-ray but that was mostly for updated graphics and images. I don’t think any additional interviews or voice over work was done to update previous content.

The Goldfinger and Thunderball documentaries were done for the Laserdisc boxsets although they did appear on VHS too in some 007 boxsets.

The INSIDE documentaries were all done for the SE dvd's with the most recent ones looking to be 2000.
The movies that got individual releases on Bluray all had their documentaries updated to HD. Even though this only included the graphics, the stills and the film footage it made a big difference as they were all converted to widescreen also. The interviews were pillarboxed SD.

All the films that appeared on Bluray for the first time in the Bond 50 set still have the INSIDE documentaries in 4:3 SD.
You are right that none of the content was updated.

[Man From Hammer]

Originally Posted by Verisimilitude1984

I was just reading up on the Fleming and McClory legal battle as I wasn't really aware of it. The impression I have so far is that Fleming took advantage of McClory and the latter deservedly got credit for the Thunderball story and Blofeld. However, it then seems that McClory wanted to almost keep remaking Thunderball and set up a competing franchise with 007. This may have been to keep the rights and make some money, but in my view the character would have suffered to some extent. Having said that, I really enjoyed Never Say Never Again and didn't think it was as much of a retread of Thunderball as the remake of Psycho was.

Fleming worked on the Thunderball story with McClory and Jack Whittingham so why he thought it was ok to publish it as a book and take full credit remains a mystery.

As the Psycho remake was an exact duplicate down to camera angles and the script it would be hard for any other film to be seen as a retread of the same kind

[koberulz]

Originally Posted by Verisimilitude1984

I really enjoyed Never Say Never Again and didn't think it was as much of a retread of Thunderball as the remake of Psycho was.

I didn't think the Psycho remake was a retread of Thunderball at all, personally.

[RCRochester]

Originally Posted by Man From Hammer

Fleming worked on the Thunderball story with McClory and Jack Whittingham so why he thought it was ok to publish it as a book and take full credit remains a mystery.

As the Psycho remake was an exact duplicate down to camera angles and the script it would be hard for any other film to be seen as a retread of the same kind

Prior to the aborted film project with McClory, there was a planned James Bond TV series that never got off the ground. Fleming had already sketched out several ideas for episodes at that point, so he wound up turning those into short stories. When the film project fell through, he simply did the same thing, not wanting to let a good story go to waste. I suspect there was more naivete than malice on Fleming's part in adapting the story into a novel and not crediting anyone else.

On the other hand, I've also read that the bulk of the plot of what became Thunderball was something that Fleming had already been working on and that McClory brought very little to the table. All Whittingham did was coalesce the ideas into a script. As has already become evident over the years, McClory was an opportunist.

[Verisimilitude1984]

Originally Posted by koberulz

I didn't think the Psycho remake was a retread of Thunderball at all, personally.

Typing while answering work emails from home and watching Thunderball, not a good idea!

[RCRochester]

Originally Posted by koberulz

I didn't think the Psycho remake was a retread of Thunderball at all, personally.

You're bordering on dad joke territory with that one.

[Lyle_JP]

Originally Posted by Man From Hammer

They removed the commentaries so they are "notorious for suppression".

The commentaries were removed because they were libellous [sic] and are actually why discs now carry disclaimers regarding the opinions of commentators.

Before, I wasn't quite sure if you were talking out of your ass or not. Now I know you are. I own the Criterion CAVs. I've listened to all three commentaries. There's nothing in them remotely libelous.

[Man From Hammer]

Originally Posted by Lyle_JP

Before, I wasn't quite sure if you were talking out of your ass or not. Now I know you are. I own the Criterion CAVs. I've listened to all three commentaries. There's nothing in them remotely libelous.

Read the Video Watchdog article which has transcripts of some of the commentaries and goes into the backgrounds of them. Maybe US libel laws are different to the UK but just a few quotes in the article are immediately potentially libellous.

Shortly after the discs were withdrawn Criterion began to distribute the commentaries on cassette tape but these too were withdrawn for the same reasons.
In addition to possible libel comments were seen as being generally offensive although being homophobic would likely not have been taken into consideration at the time.
Peter Hunt on the commentary about Sean Connery:

" Connery's sexual magnetism was such that he could "walk into a room and f*ck anybody." Being men of a certain age and time, the filmmakers also infrequently make homophobic and sexist comments. So its hardly surprising Eon were not too happy.
I'm not saying they were libellous but in the US where anyone can sue anyone for the most basic reason its not hard to see why Eon erred on the side of caution lest any of the comments be used against them
It was after this debacle that the disclaimers started appearing on discs.

But lets just agree to disagree over what is libellous and move on shall we?

[jonam]

Recently tried The Living Daylights and was not impressed with the image. Looks more like a remastered DVD with very dark shadow details. The grain is filtered and frozen. The trailer looks more like film with better grain retention.

[imsounoriginal]

Really? Always thought Living Daylights was one of the better transfers.

[jonam]

Originally Posted by imsounoriginal

Really? Always thought Living Daylights was one of the better transfers.

Have a look at the trailer and then replay the movie. There is hardly any grain on the movie. Have a look at this comparison shot between the DVD and the Blu ray.

http://caps-a-holic.com/c.php?go=1&a...=15216&i=2&l=0

Visually identical including the color palette.

[captainsolo]

The Criterion commentaries are more lively than the official ones but nothing is remotely scandalous overall. These were still new and novel things at the time so it was more of a surprised and perhaps this is a bit too informal reaction as far as I can gather.

McClory did indeed consistently say he would do another film once 1975 came around. There was a ten year period in the Thunderball deal where he could not exercise his option until that period was up. Thus his continual announcements of a Bond film project started and usually always under the moniker of Warhead.

Blofeld and SPECTRE were to have been the villains or initial villains in TSWLM. McClory objected so it was reworked into Stromberg with a very suspiciously SPECTRE-like organization and army. Richard Maibaum's original draft dealt with a more modernized SPECTRE. His script had SPECTRE invaded by a new terrorist like force at the opening who slew all the old guard and took over leaving only 007 to deal with a new and unstoppable force in place of the old SPECTRE. It was rejected as as being too political. In fact TSWLM had so many drafts and ideas and writers it was ridiculous.

TLD is indeed one of the lesser video masters that the Blu-ray result is merely a 1080p bump of the UE DVD. And it's really nothing like what the film should look like with a modern scan.

[Man From Hammer]

After Octopussy yesterday watched Never Say Never Again today. The accompanying documentary clarified one thing - not one person involved in the production was satisfied with it.
The writer was fired but retained a credit. The director disapproved of the dull underwater sequences, Connery had to ask for changes when they made adjustments which he believed made the film different to the one he signed up for.
And the producer spent most of his time in court fighting Eon.
As I said earlier, without Connery the film would not have even begun production , but the director says Connerys presence was the one thing that ensured the film actually got completed as it lost its way all through the production with writers, producers and directors all uncertain whether it should be an action film or a more traditional spy movie.

No wonder the end result is an uninspiring couple of hours

[dragon53]

Lois Maxwell's daughter, Melinda, is one of Drax's girls in MOONRAKER.
Has she ever been pointed out in the photos of Drax's girls?

[mar3o]

Originally Posted by jonam

Have a look at the trailer and then replay the movie. There is hardly any grain on the movie. Have a look at this comparison shot between the DVD and the Blu ray.

http://caps-a-holic.com/c.php?go=1&a...=15216&i=2&l=0

Visually identical including the color palette.

Sorry, but if you can't see an improvement in detail on the blu-ray screenshot in that comparison, you need glasses. They are absolutely not identical.

[Man From Hammer]

Even on my small laptop screen I can see that the Bluray is sharper.

[RCRochester]

Originally Posted by Man From Hammer

After Octopussy yesterday watched Never Say Never Again today. The accompanying documentary clarified one thing - not one person involved in the production was satisfied with it.
The writer was fired but retained a credit. The director disapproved of the dull underwater sequences, Connery had to ask for changes when they made adjustments which he believed made the film different to the one he signed up for.
And the producer spent most of his time in court fighting Eon.
As I said earlier, without Connery the film would not have even begun production , but the director says Connerys presence was the one thing that ensured the film actually got completed as it lost its way all through the production with writers, producers and directors all uncertain whether it should be an action film or a more traditional spy movie.

No wonder the end result is an uninspiring couple of hours

Most definitely it was not a largely positive experience for all involved. Connery has stated in interviews that it was basically him and one other crew member (an associate director or editor or something I can't remember) who ensured the film was completed. He referred to Jack Schwartzman (Jason's dad, the credited producer on the film) as the "idiot producer".

Even for all of its foibles and flaws though, I still like and appreciate the film (when I'm in the right mood).

Originally Posted by mar3o

Sorry, but if you can't see an improvement in detail on the blu-ray screenshot in that comparison, you need glasses. They are absolutely not identical.

Originally Posted by Man From Hammer

Even on my small laptop screen I can see that the Bluray is sharper.

The blu-ray is an improvement but not dramatically so, they were both prepared from the same Lowry remaster so the blu-ray just looks like a slightly sharper version of the DVD. I don't think though that the Living Daylights is any worse (or better) than most of the other Bond blu-rays though.

[BluProofie]

I thought most, if not all of them looked fantastic on blu, or at least as good as they could look. The only exceptions are the 90s ones. They need new masters, though they are still watchable.

[Man From Hammer]

Originally Posted by RCRochester

Most definitely it was not a largely positive experience for all involved. Connery has stated in interviews that it was basically him and one other crew member (an associate director or editor or something I can't remember) who ensured the film was completed. He referred to Jack Schwartzman (Jason's dad, the credited producer on the film) as the "idiot producer".

Even for all of its foibles and flaws though, I still like and appreciate the film (when I'm in the right mood).

.

According to the documentary Eon kept Schwartzman busy in the courts for most of the time. It was his first film as producer and his wife Talia Shire (Mrs Rocky Balboa) says that during production it did become overwhelming and he wished he had someone to get answers from rather than being the one everybody wanted answers from.
It does have its moments but for me the video game sequence is so out of date and it spoils the film somewhat as it takes up a bit too much time.

I'm sure it was very difficult to remake Thunderball but at the same time ensure that nothing from Thunderball the movie was included. They were restricted to using the content of the disputed screenplay only.

The underwater climax was even more dull than the one in Thunderball. Sounds like more underwater scenes were shot but the director removed them as he also found them dull