JAMES BOND
NEWS

The new documentary From Roger Moore With Love is an entertaining delight with significant emotional impact to boot, writes 007 MAGAZINE’s LUKE G. WILLIAMS…

Whatever you think of Roger Moore’s interpretation of James Bond, the Stockwell-born charmer’s influence on the 007 canon is undeniable. One might go so far as to theorise that without Moore's worldwide popularity and evergreen charm, EON’s James Bond production line might not have endured beyond the 1970s, let alone still been a significant commercial concern well into the 21st century.

Despite his success, however, Moore has often endured a rocky ride from critics and fans alike. During and since his tenure as Bond – which ended with 1985’s A View To A Kill – Moore has often been dismissed as a figure of fun or ironic mockery.

It’s therefore a relief to report that the new BBC documentary From Roger Moore With Love – in selected cinemas from 15-18 December and screening on BBC2 on Christmas Day – provides the third big-screen 007 with an appropriately tender and thoughtful epitaph.

Above all, director Jack Cocker’s skilfully constructed film succeeds in showcasing Moore’s fine qualities as both a personality and a man without straying too far into the realms of hagiography.

Using the initially distracting but ultimately rewarding and entertaining technique of having Moore’s voice (recreated by Steve Coogan) narrating his own life story, the film is illuminated by thought-provoking interviews with – among others – Pierce Brosnan, Christopher Walken, Joan Collins, Barbara Broccoli, Michael G. Wilson, Jane Seymour, Gloria Hendry, and John Glen, as well as by some truly stunning home video footage from the Moore family archive and moving contributions from his children Geoffrey, Christian, and Deborah.

Brosnan and Walken prove particularly illuminating when examining the way that Moore – who hailed from a humble south London background – somehow managed to reinvent himself as the very image of the quintessential upper-class English gent, a transmogrification every bit as remarkable and astonishing – as well as eerily similar to – the way that Archibald Leach overcame an impoverished childhood in Bristol to ‘become’ Cary Grant.

In Brosnan’s canny estimation, Moore “created his own look, his own life, his own image… and once Roger found Roger in life, Roger became Roger and embellished Roger.” Walken advances a similar theory – commenting incisively that: “To some degree or not we all invent ourselves. We decide somewhere – probably very young – who we’d like to be, who we imagine ourselves as... We became the hero of our own story.”

The remarkable reinvention process that saw the son of a south London policeman reach the heady heights of film superstardom was something that Moore himself often credited to his second wife Dorothy Squires, remarking that it was only after meeting her that he was able to become “somebody called Roger Moore”.

The influence of Squires on Moore, as well as the bitter fall-out from the break-up of their relationship after he met and fell in love with Luisa Mattioli, is dealt with in this film with admirable candour. No attempt is made by the filmmakers to ignore Moore’s flaws as a husband or penchant for moving on to a new woman while still married to someone else – a pattern that began with his first marriage to Doorn van Steyn and repeated itself three times across his four marriages.

The film’s determination to give us the full story of Moore’s life and marriages, without resorting to sanitisation or euphemistic shorthand, is refreshing, resulting in a viewing experience that is both emotionally rich and resonant.

Towards the conclusion of the film, Brosnan comments that “a man becomes what he dreams… He [Roger] dreamt well.”

A wonderful epitaph for the wonderful Roger Moore, and for a wonderful film.

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