Why So Blu?

The Sean Connery 007 James Bond Collection (4K UHD Blu-ray Review)

It seems that 4K physical collectors have been salivating for classic James Bond films since the format’s infancy.  Since 2016, there have been blogs, rumors and requests for 007 to make the big leap to 4K.  We did receive the newest Bond films in the format in a box set and individually some years back, but nothing until the release of the Sean Connery 007 James Bond Collection, now available from Warner Bros. and Amazon/MGM Studios.  Given a new 4K restoration makeover and some new audio mixes, this new set is sure to please die-hard fans of the iconic franchise and maybe even entice some newcomers to check out the origins of the incredible Bond, James Bond.

My lifelong love of James Bond began as a little kid.  One summer in the mid-90’s, I spent time with my dad watching heavily interrupted broadcasts of Bond films on TNT.  These coincided with the upcoming release of a little film in the franchise called Goldeneye.  That same little film brought about several handsome VHS box sets that brought the famed british agent home for collectors just in time to catch the newest 007 at the time, Pierce Brosnan, kick some butt in the theaters.

I fondly remember those broadcasts.  Cozied up with my pops, watching those movies was a rare moment for me growing up.  My dad and I have an excellent relationship now, and when I was small, it was also great.  Between around 10 and 25 though, our relationship was this awkward thing. We didn’t get along, for whatever reason.  My adolescence maybe, or perhaps his world view in thinking my generation couldn’t hack it… it doesn’t really matter now – but we always had James Bond.

Come to think of it now, I don’t remember my father liking too many movies as much as he did Goldfinger.  And I can tell you too, he passed that love right down to me.  Even now, 30 years removed from my first viewing, at age 8, Goldfinger remains my all-time favorite James Bond adventure.  I know this is not an uncommon favorite, and for good reason.  So, now that I’ve given you my personal history with James Bond, let’s get into the films themselves, just in case you don’t know about them.

Dr. No

Film

The very first and highly influential James Bond film. This first film follows our favorite agent to Jamaica on a mission to investigate the disappearance of a fellow agent. This leads Bond to Dr. No, who is hell-bent on disrupting an American space launch at Cape Canaveral with a radio wave-type weapon.  This is also the first appearance of the crime organization SPECTRE that is inherent to the whole series, and you’ll hear about no matter which era of Bond you begin in.

This first James Bond film is the equivalent of what superhero films would call an origin story.  You see the suave Bond in his element.  White tuxedo, signature cocktail of choice, romancing women, fighting off bad guys hand to hand. It’s all here, with a slow-burn pacing that didn’t last beyond the first couple of installments of the franchise.  Dr. No was a huge success for 1962 and of course lent itself to worldwide phenomenon for movie fans.

From Russia With Love

Film  

Following the events of Dr. No, this Bond adventure takes our valiant agent to Turkey to assist a Russian consulate clerk who plans to defect.  That is, if SPECTRE doesn’t kill Bond first.  The film has the distinct notoriety of being the first Bond film to have a female villain in Rosa Klebb, a haggard woman who fights like a man and has poisonous blades on the tips of her sensible shoes. From Russia With Love also has an exceptional sequence aboard the Orient Express.

This film also establishes Bond as a man who does truly enjoy the company of women, as he is seen enjoying not one but many women through the course of the nearly 2-hour runtime, including the defecting Soviet consulate clerk.  The film was greenlit following the success of Dr. No, and despite going over-budget and rushing the ending, was even better received than the first film.

Goldfinger

Film  

Now, this is the Bond to end all Bonds. After a pre-credits sequence where Bond has a nasty fight with a would-be assassin, using his woman of the evening as a shield and leaving her knocked out on the floor before delivering a quip about how he killed his supposed killer, we get James in Florida spying on one Auric Goldfinger, an English yet somehow German-sounding baddie who plans to rob the gold depository at Ft. Knox. But not before Bond decides to meddle with his gold obsessed mind.  First with his card cheating schemes, and then with a witty game of golf.  This is not remotely entertaining for Goldfinger or his manservant/bodyguard OddJob, who can kill anyone with his lethal hat.

This film packs on the locations, the lush set pieces, and the action.  The pacing in this film is breakneck compared to its predecessors and contains one of the dirtiest Bond Girl names in all the franchise in Pussy Galore.  The film is iconic for its direction and its mix of action, comedy and thrills.  The Aston-Martin DB5 is no slouch either.  This is also the first Bond film that emphasized the vocal theme, with Shirley Bassey singing down the title song.

Thunderball

Film 

 

Perhaps one of the more ridiculous entries in the Sean Connery era of Bond films, Thunderball is certainly unique.  This time, Bond finds himself searching for 2 atomic bombs stolen by SPECTRE. Not only have they stolen the bombs, but they’re also holding the world hostage for a ransom of diamonds.  If SPECTRE doesn’t get what they want, they’ll destroy Miami.  The film takes its time establishing its story and characters, with this being the longest of the Connery Bond films.  This is also a film rooted in the ocean, with much of the action taking place underwater.

This was a massive hit when it was released in 1965.  The exotic nature of the underwater sequences paired with a slightly goofy storyline made for an interesting diversion from the previous series entries.  Tom Jones’ swaggering theme wasn’t as big as Bassey’s was for Goldfinger but it’s similarly bombastic.  The film was later curiously remade in the 80’s with Sean Connery returning much older for screenwriter Kevin McGlory, this time under the title Never Say Never Again, and made for Warner Bros. and not United Artists.

You Only Live Twice

Film

Perhaps my second favorite Bond film ever, You Only Live Twice trades the exotic ocean locales of Thunderball for Japan. Here, Bond must once again deal with SPECTRE agents, this time bringing him face to face with head SPECTRE goon Blofeld. We don’t see Blofeld for a long time, but he’s menacingly stroking a cat for much of the film.  Japan is an interesting place for Bond to get lost in, finding his liking for women going exotic and his liking of Vodka going disappointing due to it all coming from Siam. The action is fast and fun, with a mini-helicopter sequence being the most exciting moment in the film.

This was a big step for James Bond, who takes the time to train as a ninja mid-way through the film.  This is also a film where James Bond must go into a yellowface impression to pass as Japanese.  Of course, this tidbit hasn’t aged well, but it’s not as awful as it seems written here. The big McGuffin here is the Space Race and disappearing spacecraft.  Before an all-out Cold War can break out, Bond must find out what’s happening to the ships, and who’s doing what to whom. The film’s main plot device does however take a backseat to action beats, but those sequences are so fun, you can forgive the dirge.  The Nancy Sinatra title theme is beautiful to this very day!

Diamonds Are Forever

Film  

When Sean Connery stepped down from the role of James Bond following You Only Live Twice, George Lazenby briefly filled the shoes of 007.  His film, On Her Majesty’s Secret Service either is a favorite of yours or your least favorite.  If you’re asking me, it’s the one entry in the series I could most do without.  I digress… Diamonds Are Forever put Connery back into the black tuxedo and reissued his license to kill.  The film centers on Bond posing as a diamond smuggler to infiltrate a ring of smugglers to get to old nemesis Blofeld.  Blofeld is using diamonds to build a laser weapon that can shoot a beam from space that he plans to shoot at and destroy Washington D.C.

This film was a test case for Bond to get himself into space and it mostly works, with a semi-convoluted plot that features somewhat heavily in parody form in Austin Powers films.  Another interesting spin, at least for me, is that Blofeld has two henchmen in the film that are lovers, seen holding hands in one scene. This is definitely the least interesting of all of Connery’s Bond entries, but by no means does that mean it’s a bad film.  The bombastic theme comes courtest of John Barry and the triumphant Shirley Bassey returns to sing the theme, famously repurposed for the Kanye West (pre-insanity) hit Diamonds.

Final Thoughts

Sean Connery set the stage for the world of James Bond.  Between his embodiment of the iconic character from Ian Fleming’s novels to the direction by Terence Young, Guy Hamilton and Lewis Gilbert there is an immediate connection made with the audience.  Paired with exceptional set design, deliberate pacing and exposition and still dazzling action, you have 6 timeless films that have aged like fine wine for the most part.

Revisiting these films in 4K, I was immediately transported to my childhood in front of our giant tube TV with my dad.  Curled up on the couch, my little kid eyes fixated on a cool guy being suave and kicking ass, I was transported.  Now, nearing 40, I am still transfixed but this time my vision has been turned towards how striking those images are.  I love how these 6 films just work.  You don’t question for a moment a single piece of information or any scene.  You just go with the flow.  The action is there.  The one-liners.  For those who are looking for it, the Bond girls are there too.  Besides that, the visuals truly sing.

After 1971, Roger Moore stepped into the role of James Bond for over 10 years, eventually aging out of the role in 1985. While the legacy of Bond continues to roll on, and we wait endlessly for the next 007 to come down the pike, we now have incredible new restorations of the original classics to savor. This for me, as a Bond fan is more than enough for the time being.

Video

Encoding: HEVC / H.265

Resolution: 2160p

Aspect Ratio: 1.75:1 (Dr. No, From Russia With Love, Goldfinger), 2.35:1 (Thunderball) 2.39:1 (You Only Live Twice, Diamonds Are Forever)

HDR: Dolby Vision

Layers: BD-100 [Per Disc]

Clarity/Detail: The Sean Connery 007 James Bond Collection brings the 6 official Connery James Bond films to 4K with brand-new scans featuring Dolby Vision! These new scans get rid of the more problematic cleanup that was done on the earlier scans from the previously released Blu-rays.  Gone are the overly clean edges, and now present are the flecks of grain and the correct color timing.  Nothing here looks tampered with and thankfully so.  What fans can expect is a breathtakingly accurate, sometimes soft (especially any transitional or process shot), and always filmic image from these new transfers.

Depth: Depth of field is lovingly reproduced for most of each film.  There are occasional optical issues but those are burned into the camera negatives and mostly due to filming processes of the time.  Movement is stable and focus is always intentionally sound, unless of course there are some time-induced imperfections being that these films are almost all 60’s era films.

Black Levels: Black levels are as good as expected for films of this vintage.  Dark scenes go to the edge of the spectrum, while clothing and hair have a natural look overall.

Color Reproduction: Color grading is near perfect here.  Gone are the hotter tones of the 2008 Blu-rays, and here we have natural looking colors, with vintage hues more suitable for the material. From costuming to opulent sets to outdoor scenery, the colors in each film are perfection.

Skin Tones: Flesh tones have a natural look to them unless a heavy hand was dealt with makeup, which now is more apparent with the added resolution (I’m looking at the Japanese version of Bond…)

Noise/Artifacts: Grain is resolved well throughout, with only a few instances of frozen grain, likely due to the age of the negative or the repair process that happened during the remastering.

Audio

Audio Format(s): English Dolby Atmos, English DTS-HD MA 2.0 Mono (Original Theatrical Mono), French Dolby Digital Mono, Spanish Dolby Digital Mono

Subtitles: English SDH, French, Spanish

Dynamics: A huge surprise compliment to the new 4K masters of this 6-film collection, are the 6 brand new Dolby Atmos mixes that come with each film. Built from the ground up with plenty of attention to detail, each of the next mixes is subtle but complimentary, fleshing out the original mono tracks to deliver a full-bodied experience without taking anything away from the classic feel of the films.  The mono mixes are just that – a 2-channel split mono mix, sounding perfectly rendered as intended.  Curiously, there is an alternate Atmos mix for Thunderball which rather notoriously had many audio mixes. Dynamically speaking, the new mixes get more interesting with Thunderball, but that’s to be expected with the advent of Stereo recording processes for films around that time.

Height: Height channels provide subtle activity for most of the films. For example – Explosions in Goldfinger, particularly the henchmen car wreck come from overhead.  The same can be said for the helicopter scene in You Only Live Twice. More subtle uses of the height speakers come in From Russia with Love and Dr. No. Thunderball has the most apparent usage of Atmos height channels with its underwater scenes.

Low Frequency Extension: Bass is also of a subtle nature with the new Atmos mixes. Music has some hefty weight, and occasional sound effects with explosions or vehicles come and go with purpose. Subtleties aside, the bass response here is perfect for these films, and the usage without bombast is appreciated.

Surround Sound Presentation: Surrounds bring further depth to outdoor ambience and echo, with attention paid to action moments involving gunshots, explosions, vehicle chases, underwater excursions and other sound effects that zoom to the left and right of you.

Dialogue: Dialogue is always intelligible, sounding like it comes from the 60’s and early 70’s as normal.

Extras

The Sean Connery 007 James Bond Collection comes to 4K UHD Blu-ray in 2 versions – One standard edition, reviewed here, that comes with a matte slipcover mostly highlighting the foreign artwork campaign for Goldfinger. I rather grumpily questioned this choice until my much smarter colleague said “well, it’s the most popular film….” And I had to agree.  It’s fine for what it is, but it could be better.  Amazon, currently the rights holders for the Bond franchise have a website exclusive 4K Steelbook set that feature excellent still images from each film gracing the cover.  For those that like their cover art, these may be the way to go for now.  I also wanted to point out the menus on the discs – They all look the same.  One wishes there had been an image from each film instead of using the same Dr. No era image for each one. But small gripes are just that.

Extras for each film are on the same disc as the film, and they include much of what was included in the old Blu-rays.  A few incidental casualties have come but nothing you’ll miss.  No standard Blu-rays are included, and a digital code comes in the case too.

Bonus Materials:

DISC 1: DR. NO

• Audio Commentary – director Terence Young and members of the cast and crew.
• Declassified: MI6 Vault (2 clips, 18:15 total) – “The Guns of James Bond” and “Premiere Bond: Opening Nights”.
• Exotic Locations (2:36) – An appropriately titled peak at the locations used in the film.
• Mission Dossier (68:45 total) – “Inside Dr. No”, “Terence Young: Bond Vivant”, “Dr. No 1963 Featurette”.
• Ministry of Propaganda – trailers, TV spots, and radio ads.

DISC 2: FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE

• Audio Commentary Director Terence Young and members of the cast and crew.
• Declassified: MI6 Vault (19:35 total) – “Ian Fleming: The CBC Interview”, “Ian Fleming & Raymond Chandler”, “Ian Fleming on Desert Island Discs”, and an animated storyboard sequence.
• Exotic Locations (3:14) – All about the locations used in the film.
• Mission Dossier (60:28 total) – “Inside From Russia With Love” and “Harry Saltzman: Showman”.
• Ministry of Propaganda – trailers, TV spots, and radio ads.

DISC 3: GOLDFINGER

• Audio Commentary #1 – With director Guy Hamilton.
• Audio Commentary #2 – With members of the cast and crew.
• Declassified: MI6 Vault (28:44 total) “Sean Connery from the Set of Goldfinger”, “Theodore Bikel Screen Test”, “Tito Vandis Screen Test”, “On Tour with the Aston Martin DB5”, and “Honor Blackman Open-Ended Interview”.
• Exotic Locations (3:15) – A shorty about the locations in the film.
• Mission Dossier (55:19 total) VHS Era features – “The Making of Goldfinger” and “The Goldfinger Phenomenon”.
• Ministry of Propaganda – trailers, TV spots, and radio ads?

 

DISC 4: THUNDERBALL

• Audio Commentary #1 – Director Terence Young.
• Audio Commentary #2 – Editor Peter Hunt, screenwriter John Hopkins, and more.
• Declassified: MI6 Vault (88:02 total) – “The Incredible World of James Bond – Original 1965 NBC Television Special”, “A Child’s Guide to Blowing Up a Motor Car – 1965 Ford Promotional Film”, “On Location with Ken Adam”, “Bill Suitor: The Rocket Man Movies” and “Thunderball Boat Show Reel”.
• Selling Bonds (2:09 total) – Black-and-white TV commercials for Bond Merch!
• Exotic Locations (3:18) – Location featurette.
• Mission Dossier (62:27 total) – “The Making of Thunderball”, “The Thunderball Phenomenon” and “The Secret History of Thunderball”.
• Ministry of Propaganda – Trailers, TV spots, and radio ads.

DISC 5: YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE

• Audio Commentary – with director Lewis Gilbert and members of cast and crew.
• Declassified: MI6 Vault (3 clips, 61:41 total) – “Welcome to Japan Mr. Bond”, “Whicker’s World – Highlights from 1967 BBC Documentary”, and “On Location with Ken Adam”.
• Mission Dossier (60:28 total) – “Inside You Only Live Twice”, “Silhouettes: The James Bond Titles”, “Plane Crash: Animated Storyboard Sequence”, and “Exotic Locations”.
• Ministry of Propaganda – trailers, TV spots, and radio ads.

DISC 6: DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER

• Audio Commentary – director Terence Young and members of the cast and crew.
• Declassified: MI6 Vault (19:35 total) – including “Ian Fleming: The CBC Interview”, “Ian Fleming & Raymond Chandler”, “Ian Fleming on Desert Island Discs”, and an animated storyboard sequence.
• Alternate and Expanded Angles (5 clips, 33:24 total) – Different versions of five scenes from the film.
• Deleted Scenes (7:40 total)
• Mission Dossier (66:28 total) – “Inside Diamonds are Forever”, “Cubby Broccoli: The Man Behind Bond”, and “Exotic Locations”.
• Ministry of Propaganda – TV spots and radio ads.

Summary

For some James Bond fans the Sean Connery films are the best of the series. With grit, action, and a suave manliness that set a standard for all Bonds to follow, it’s very hard to deny why these films remain icons in the Bond canon.  Now in deluxe, definitive form, these films are preserved forever.  While I wouldn’t say this release is perfect, I would say the transfers and new audio mixes are nearly there. Don’t hesitate to make your purchase if you’re a James Bond fan like I am.  Seeing these new remasters for me was like revisiting an old friend.  I felt the comfort of my childhood, but through a new lens.  Bond, James Bond, Forever.

Buy The Sean Connery James Bond Collection HERE

Buy the Amazon Exclusive Steelbook Set HERE