So what’s good, what’s bad, what’s ugly, what’s new, what’s missing?
KEVIN HARPER runs his expert eyes and ears over the new BOND 50 Blu-ray
sets from both sides of the Atlantic to give 007 MAGAZINE readers the most
comprehensive review available.
The UK Blu-ray set is a
mixed bag containing most of what has already been released with a mere
15 minutes of completely new material added. As a Bond fan who has
purchased the films in every format from VHS video, through laserdisc, DVD
and now Blu-ray, I am now resigned to the fact that I have to double,
treble and quadruple dip to get my favourites in the best available
format. The previous Ultimate Edition DVD versions (from where the
Lowry Digital Images restored video masters for all but the two most
recent
films in the BOND 50 set originate) were far from perfect, or indeed
ultimate. The original UK release in August 2006 highlighted some
unfortunate errors which have for the most part been corrected in the new
Blu-ray releases. The Bond films started being released in the new high
definition format from 2008. 11 titles have so far been released
individually on Blu-ray with two of those (The Man With The Golden Gun
and Licence To Kill) only being available in the US and certain
European countries. With the bankruptcy of MGM the series was put on hold,
so Bond fans had an incomplete series of films. The new BOND 50 box set
uses exactly the same discs for the titles already released rather than
re-authoring titles to match the new ones being added to this
collection. Casino Royale and Quantum of Solace were also
previously released individually on Blu-ray, with Daniel Craig’s first
outing as 007 being subsequently reissued in a Deluxe Edition with new
extra features. The version of Casino Royale included in the UK
BOND 50 set is now completely uncut and adds most of the extra content
from the Deluxe Edition (this was not originally advertised as being
included on BOND 50 and appears to have been an afterthought). However, in
order to fit all of this material on one disc, the Martin Campbell/Michael
G. Wilson picture-in-picture video commentary has been dropped, and the
extras downgraded to standard definition. So hang on to your Deluxe
Edition if you want these features or to see John Cork’s superbly produced
documentaries in high definition. The Quantum of Solace disc in the
UK BOND 50 set is identical to the original release so features a
different menu to the other films in the series. Consequently this disc is
coded Region B only, so any US purchasers wanting the uncut Casino
Royale (the film is still re-edited on the US version of BOND 50) will
be unable to play Quantum of Solace without a multi-region player.
All discs with the exception of Quantum of Solace are region free.
There is another caveat with the UK/European edition of BOND 50 – not all
the films have their original soundtrack available as an option. Dr. No
to The Man With The Golden Gun all originally had mono soundtracks,
whilst The Spy Who Loved Me to Licence To Kill were issued
in Dolby Surround. Since the release of the Ultimate Edition DVDs in 2006
it has been impossible to hear the James Bond films as they were
originally mixed and released in cinemas if you bought the UK/European
discs. For some reason (presumably space issues) the original mono/stereo
tracks were dropped in favour of more international dubs and subtitles.
The US discs had the choice of a DTS 5.1 remix or the original mono or
Dolby Surround soundtrack but were coded Region 1, so a multi-region
player was needed to view them. This practice was also followed with the
UK releases of the Blu-rays, so this is what we still get for the 9 titles
included in BOND 50, which are straight duplicates of those already
available individually. If you buy the UK BOND 50 set you cannot hear the
original soundtracks for Dr. No, From Russia With Love, Goldfinger,
Thunderball, Live And Let Die, The Man With The Golden Gun, Moonraker, For
Your Eyes Only and Licence To Kill. The titles new to Blu-ray
in the BOND 50 set do have the option to choose between a fake DTS 5.1
remix or the original soundtrack as released theatrically. In the case of
some of the films this is a major deal-breaker as the 5.1 soundtracks have
not been sympathetically remixed and include all manner of new or changed
sound effects/music. This practice is of course nothing new, as You
Only Live Twice had a six-track stereo soundtrack when released in a
blown-up 70mm version in Japan in 1967. On Her Majesty’s Secret Service
had its final reel mixed in stereo for its original 1969/1970 ODEON Leicester Square
engagement, and Octopussy was also treated to a 70mm six-track
stereo release in London in 1983. However, these remixes were from
original sound stems, not new ones as is often the case on some of the
Blu-ray soundtracks. They did not have new effects added; the sound was
merely spread across the tracks to give a more immersive experience.
The US edition of BOND 50 includes an option to listen to the original
soundtrack for the film in all cases. So, overall, the BOND 50 set is not
the definitive collection it should have been. If you choose to import the
US set you get the same content as the UK but Casino Royale is a
cut version. Additionally, and most importantly, you can hear the early
films as they were originally released. However, as the US set also
replicates the eleven titles already released, these discs will be Region
A coded, so a multi-region player is required.
If you buy the UK BOND 50 set you will benefit from an uncut version of
Casino Royale but a mish-mash of discs where some have the original
mono soundtrack, and others have a bastardized version with a new 5.1
remix. In the case of Goldfinger this is particularly
troubling as you are denied the chance to hear Norman Wanstall’s
Oscar-winning sound mix in favour of one that is re-engineered for a
modern home cinema environment, by someone not even connected to the original
film!
If one is going to remix the soundtrack of an older film so that it fills
the sound-space, and has loud whizz-bang sound effects during the action
sequences, then at least we should be able to listen to the original as an
option. It is not like it doesn’t exist anymore! This is sadly the
situation if you buy the UK set, and just because MGM (or whoever is
behind the release of this set) didn’t bother to use the US masters
and create a set that is uniform worldwide. It is frankly an insult to the
creative talents of many of the behind-the-scenes technicians who made the
Bond films stand out in the 60s and who won awards for doing so. The
titles new to Blu-ray now all have the option to watch and hear the film
with its original soundtrack if desired, but it is unfortunate that these
tracks are not encoded as the same quality as their DTS Master Audio
counterparts. This is a criminal oversight as the original tracks could
sound so much better if given a higher bit-rate. As they are, the mono tracks sound a bit thin compared to the DTS remix when they
could sound as punchy and well-rounded as they did on their original
release. With a decent sound system the mono tracks can sound very good;
but would have benefited from a lossless audio option. Some titles fare better than others but on the whole they lack
the bass response and sound a little flat compared to the remix. Probably
constrained by space issues on the disc, the original mono/stereo tracks are
there for purists only as a sort of bonus, when in fact they should be the defacto option instead of the faux remix which now becomes the default
setting for all the films.
As the Bond series is a
world-wide phenomenon, many different tracks and subtitle options are
required, and the disc producers are obliged to provide a multitude of
options for each market, but doing so on a budget and within the
constraints of the available space on the discs. This is not a release
from a niche label such as TheCriterion Collection,
who care deeply about how classic films are presented for the home cinema
audience. This is a mass-market cash cow where the original intent of the
filmmakers is overlooked in favour of a state-of-the-art presentation
which somehow falls short of replicating the film as originally released.
The home cinema revolution has made armchair experts out of millions of
viewers who think they know better than the filmmakers. Internet forums
are filled with these so-called experts denouncing the latest releases of
their favourite films if the image has been tinkered with, but many are
apparently oblivious to the fact they are being forced to watch a film
without the original sound mix. I suspect most viewers simply insert a
disc and listen to whatever sound comes out of their speakers, not knowing
(or possibly not caring) that it isn’t authentic in most cases.
Audio
comparisons
Dr. No James Bond Theme fadeout
Diamonds Are Forever
Opening
Credits
Thunderball Largo enters
SPECTRE HQ *For amusement only - the remixed track does not appear
on the BOND 50 version.
The remixed 5.1
soundtracks were created by Mi Casa Multimedia and some of
their choices defy logic. The opening titles of Goldfinger for
instance should begin with a loud slam as Bond closes the door of
Bonita’s dressing room on his way out, which segues seamlessly into
John Barry’s main title. The remixed soundtrack omits the door slam
effect and now simply uses a stereo version of Shirley Bassey’s iconic
opening song. This is not how the film sounded on its 1964
record-breaking cinema release or in any subsequent re-release, TV
showing, video release or DVD up until 2007. And this is not the
version Norman Wanstall mixed, nor the version the Academy of Motion
Picture Arts and Sciences deemed worthy of an Oscar in 1965.
It should be noted that Mi Casa’s horrendous remix on
Thunderball, heard on the Ultimate Edition DVD, has been consigned
to the rubbish heap of history and the BOND 50 version (and earlier
Blu-ray release) uses the more sympathetic 5.1 mix created for the
1995 laserdisc. Thunderously stupid sound effects were added to the
opening of the secret door when Largo enters SPECTRE’S Parisian HQ early
in the film. Obviously Norman Wanstall’s original sound effects (such
as the sinister sound of Largo's footfall as he walks confidently
across the deep pile carpet) were deemed not good enough for modern
audiences, robbing them of many of the wonderfully creative uses of
sound he spent exhaustive hours achieving at Pinewood Studios in the
Sixties. Worse still, one of John Barry’s most effective uses of music
is all but lost from On Her Majesty’s Secret Service when
whoever remixed the safe-cracking scene has dialled down the music
level so low that it is overpowered by the new sound effects and
clock-chiming which have been added to the soundtrack. Thankfully, the
original mono mix is now available for this film. Numerous other
changes have been made to the 5.1 mixes on the early films such as the
completely new machinegun effects added to the end of OHMSS,
just so the engineer can get the sound to ricochet around someone’s
lounge. Birds now chirp after the murder of Tracy – surely the sound
of machinegun fire would have made them fly away! A strange noise is
heard in the background as Bond walks across the lawn towards Tanaka’s
house in You Only Live Twice. Is it a bird, a coyote, a
werewolf?!? Who knows? It wasn’t in the original mix.
Presumably this same sound engineer thought it was also a good idea to
add a ‘whoosh’ sound effect to the end of the gun barrel as it opens
out onto the US spaceship in the same film. Why? No other film had or
has ever had this sound effect. The opening credits of Diamonds Are
Forever now have a completely different sounding cat meow in the
remixed version, while the original mono track preserves the sound
originally dubbed for the film. Right idea....but wrong pussy!
In summary, the image and
soundtracks (where original released sound is available) are excellent.
The films benefit from the upgrade to high definition and exhibit a
wonderful depth and detail previously lost from the rather flat standard
definition transfers. Do they look like film? Not really… on the whole the
60s films look a little too digitally scrubbed... they look clean and
glossy, and frankly, like a new film that has been set in the period. A
lot of the original grain has been removed and they don’t have the organic
feel of a projected 35mm print. Some films, such as On Her Majesty’s
Secret Service, The Spy Who Loved Me and Octopussy, are a huge
upgrade from the standard definition version and look superb. Others don’t
fare as well with the digital tinkering removing a lot of detail that
would look a lot better without digital noise reduction (DNR) being
liberally applied. None of the films ever looked this good in the cinema
unless you were lucky to see one projected from a print struck from the
original negative. I am all in favour of cleaning up
films and presenting them in their best light, but not at the expense of a
lot of digital revisionism that changes them from what they once were
intended to be, into the default version that now perpetually exist in
subsequent screenings and home cinema releases.
Viewers will be pleased to hear that nearly all the faults inherent in the
original Ultimate Edition DVD releases have been corrected. The red blood
wash which fills the screen after the death of Quist in the shark pool in
Thunderball is now present, and the overall colour palette of the
film is closer to Ted Moore’s original lush Technicolor cinematography
seen in release prints. You Only Live Twice also features a
slightly altered colour palette but falls short of replicating Freddie
Young’s saturated hues and looks a little more flat (read modern) for my
taste. On Her Majesty’s Secret Service has also been tweaked to
tone down the blue-hued dawn beach sequence, which looked nothing like it
should on the Ultimate Edition DVD version. This change, whilst not
perfect, is a step in the right direction. OHMSS also retains its
‘window-boxed’ and horizontally squeezed main titles (as do Thunderball,
Moonraker, The Spy Who Loved Me and The World Is Not Enough), whereas its successor
doesn’t (although it did on the UE DVD!). Diamonds Are Forever has also
been tweaked and its colour scheme slightly altered from how it has looked
in the past. The results are a little constrasty but nothing that would
stop the most pedantic of viewers from enjoying the film. The Spy Who
Loved Me (sporting a new 4K master different from that used on the
Ultimate Edition DVD) and Octopussy are huge upgrades from their standard
definition predecessors - with the latter looking far better than it ever
did in the cinema. The rather washed-out soft look of cinema prints is
replaced with an eye-popping colour palette and pin-sharp images, which I
suspect are the result of digital trickery rather than something that was
ingrained in the original negative.
Another notable change is the remastering of GoldenEye, which is
now correctly framed in its original 2:35:1 ratio instead of the TV
version previously released, which zoomed-in on the image and cropped out
a large proportion of cinematographer Phil Meheux’s compositions.
Unfortunately the transfer has been subjected to an egregious amount of
digital noise reduction (DNR) which removes a lot of fine detail from the
image. DNR is used to smooth out the grain inherent in the film stock to
maintain a more balanced image from shot-to-shot. Once again, a studio
more sympathetic to the actual authentic look of the film, rather than its
commercial value, would have addressed these issues instead of releasing a
version that subtracts instead of adding to the high definition
experience.
Unfortunately the only error not corrected is the camera-shake inserted to
simulate an earth tremor in A View To A Kill. This has been
mistakenly stabilised by Lowry’s software which interpreted it as
an error in the film! Incidentally Duran Duran’s music video has also now been
corrected. The Ultimate Edition DVD version cropped out the cameras
overlaid on the image so they disappeared into the black background of the
widescreen matted but full frame image!
I expect that most purchasers will be very happy with BOND 50, being
oblivious (or apathetic) to how the films should look or sound in their
original release form. I think they do look very good, as most Blu-rays
do, I just wish a little more care had been taken in making the set
uniform across all territories and including a little more in the way of
new material; a complete ‘Whicker’s World’ would have been nice, or the
ability to see the text-less credit titles for all of the films (this
option was available on the Ultimate Edition DVDs).
In terms of extras, the vast majority of the
material previously released on the Ultimate Edition DVDs has been carried
over, and in some cases upgraded. The 11 films already released have John
Cork’s definitive ‘Inside…[substitute film title]’ making-of
documentaries upgraded to high definition. This means that the film clips are
now taken from the HD master, stills were re-scanned for higher quality,
and interview footage is now window-boxed in the middle of the screen with
a suitable background to fill the width. Overall they do look much better
and belie their age. The films new to Blu-ray, which now sport a new high
definition transfer, have the making-of documentaries as they were
originally presented on the Special Edition DVDs from 2000. Consequently,
these now look exactly what they are: 13 year old standard definition 4:3
video features with un-restored film clips and all manner of digital
artefacts. The section called Mission Control which consists of a
series of very short themed film clips have now been dropped on the films
new to Blu-ray, but remain on the other 11 titles so all the discs are
not consistent in their menu structure. This section gave the viewer the
ability to watch the credit titles without text and in high definition – a
nice idea, now sadly only available on selected films. Other documentaries
such as Welcome To Japan Mr. Bond (on the You Only Live Twice
disc) and Swiss Movement on OHMSS, are presented in HD, which
is a nice bonus, as it gives viewers the chance to see how the 1960s films
looked in period before being digitally remastered. An interesting curio,
but welcome nonetheless. Some trailers now appear in HD, with others
looking decidedly rough. The curious absence of many teasers/trailers
makes the set less than definitive. For instance, where is the original UK
trailer for On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, or Maurice Binder’s
very amusing original Moonraker teaser?
So, if you are a purist and want the definitive BOND 50 set, with original
soundtracks as an option and uncut versions of all films, you’ll have to
make your own. This will of course depend on your Blu-ray player's capabilities as
many discs remain region locked and a good deal of research is needed
before purchasing. This means buying the UK set and then adding individual
discs of the films you want original soundtracks for (these are currently available
individually in the US through selected retailers), or buy the US set and
add the uncut Casino Royale separately... all in all a very
expensive undertaking. Or you could wait until 2022 when the '60th
Anniversary ultra-even-higher-definition 4D mega set' is released with the
exclusive bonus disc featuring a
CGI Sean Connery in OHMSS...
Cynical? Moi? At the end of the day it is all about money. They want it…
will you part with it? Of course you will… but how many times?
The 22 official James Bond titles come in two book-style disc holders
housed in a sturdy box containing the films 1962-1981 in one book, and
1983-2012 in the second. The interior book design is typical of the
airbrushed photo-montages used on most film advertising nowadays...
generic, uninspired and dull. Where is the superb 1960s and 1970s poster
artwork? Why have the Bond actors been airbrushed to within an inch of
their lives? The discs themselves are housed in card slots
which, depending on your patience or length of your fingernails, are
either easy or impossible to remove.
Perhaps a free pair of plastic tweezers is the answer!
Also included are two free coasters.
One of the coasters in the set is made of card and resides in the space
reserved for Skyfall, so you can slot that film in when it is
released on Blu-ray in March 2013. Nice idea but what are we supposed to do with
the case that Skyfall comes in…throw it away? What if Skyfall
is a 2-disc set?
The other coaster is a so-called ‘exclusive bonus Blu-ray disc’. It
contains:
World of Bond: Title
Sequences (1080p, 1:02:32): The ability to watch all 22 titles
sequences as standalone items or as a continuous one-hour feature. Why?
If these had been the text-less versions included on 9 of the earlier
releases this would have been a nice addition. As it stands probably
something you will watch once… if at all!
World of Bond:
Gadgets (1080p, 3:03): A nicely edited montage of themed clips from
the films.
World of Bond:
Villains (1080p, 2:22): Another nicely edited montage of themed
clips from the films.
World of Bond: Bond
Girls (1080p, 1:24): Surprise, surprise... yet another nicely edited
montage of themed clips from the films.
World of Bond:
Locations (1080p, 1:40): Guess what? Another nicely edited montage
of themed clips from the films.
World of Bond: Bond
in Motion (1080p, 1:43): Cars and boats and planes… in a nicely
edited montage of themed clips from the films…
Skyfall
Videoblogs (1080p, 10:51): All the videoblogs for the upcoming
Skyfall which have already been released on-line. Includes
Skyfall: Behind the Scenes, Sam Mendes, Naomie Harris, Bérénice
Marlohe, Production Update from Shanghai, Dennis Gassner Takes Us Inside
the Look of Skyfall, and Jany Temime on Dressing 007 for Action.
Designing 007: Fifty
Years of Bond Style (1080p, 4:01): Curator Bronwyn Cosgrave guides
us through Designing 007, a retrospective exhibition held
recently at The Barbican in London looking at all 23 Bond films from a
design perspective. Also includes interviews with a few Bond alumni and
more film clips.
Being Bond (1080p,
3:08): All six James Bond actors comment on their time in the role.
Sourced from vintage interviews all available elsewhere in the special
features on respective films.
With the exception of the
text-less main title sequences on the 9 new to Blu-ray discs, and the
several features on Casino Royale, all extras from previous
editions have been carried over – with some now in HD or corrected from
earlier versions. Die Another Day is still missing much of the
supplemental material available only on the original 2-disc DVD edition.
Personally I would rather have watched this than the film itself!
BOND 50 should have been the definitive box set containing all previously
released material – high quality original soundtrack options and some
tantalising exclusive new features. As it is, BOND 50 is a compromised set
of films – some looking wonderful, some less so, and a collection of old
documentaries not upgraded to high definition. It is not uniform across
all titles so therefore falls way short of being a ‘must buy’. I suppose
in the final outcome it all depends on how much of a Bond fan you are, and
how much you are willing to spend.
Exclusive comments from Oscar-Winning
sound editor Norman Wanstall
I guess it was
inevitable that I would read Kevin Harper’s article with a mixture of
interest and disillusionment, although I admit to previously being
contacted by a dedicated Bond fan who complained that the
sound-effects on one of my early Bonds had been conspicuously tampered
with. I assumed at the time that it was an isolated incident rather
than an indication of future developments, but I was more than
impressed that a Bond aficionado would be perceptive enough to detect
any deviation from the original soundtrack. Quite by chance a recent
opportunity to view the BOND 50 version of Goldfinger revealed
to me the reality of the practise Kevin has described. I was even more
shocked by a scene in Thunderball where the refined sound of
the door opening to reveal SPECTRE’s conference room had been replaced
by a heavy rumbling noise that was totally inappropriate for the scene
in question, although I understand this has now thankfully been
replaced with the original sound-effects on the BOND 50 Blu-ray sets.
When one considers the dedication and creative team-work involved in
producing a movie soundtrack it seems inconceivable that anonymous
bit-players can re-vamp at will, regardless of whether the result is
retrograde. Apart from the concerns of those who created the original
tracks one can imagine the reaction of the dedicated Bond fans who
have memorised every aspect of their beloved movies by heart. Even
though one can be treated to the additional original soundtrack by
acquiring the US BOND 50 set, it seems inevitable that countless
viewers will settle for the re-vamped version, which is not good news
for those who were originally at the helm. It’s a sign of the times.
What more can one say?
