DAVE NORRIS, Chief Projectionist at the Empire Leicester Square, reports on the special digital screening of the 1977 Bond blockbuster on Sunday April 20, 2008.

PHOTOGRAPHS/JULIE EDWARDS

After the stunning success of screening a digital version of Goldfinger across the UK last year it was decided to transfer another Bond film to the digital format. As ‘Spy’ remains a firm fan favourite it was no surprise that 200 plus people gave up their Sunday afternoon to attend this special screening.

The ‘Print’ arrived earlier in the week on a hard drive, taken from the master of the Lowry Digital restoration for the Ultimate Edition DVDs and was then loaded on the cinema’s Dolby DSP100 Show Player for rehearsal. Even 30-year-old digital films are encrypted to prevent piracy and unauthorised showings and a special key was required to unlock the film. The image was projected by the brand new state of the art Barco DP300 (maximum of 6500 watts of light, compared to the average projector available on the high street) on to the 18.27 x 7.68m ‘scope screen; accompanied by the 56000 watt THX sound system, the experience was bound to be memorable.

What particularly pleased me about the screening was that ‘Spy’s’ Director Lewis Gilbert and Camera Operator Alec Mills (another Bond veteran) were attending to see how the film shaped up after all this time. After the doors were opened, Nick Varley the managing director of Park Circus (who had travelled further than any of us to be there) kindly introduced me to Lewis Gilbert who after signing some DVD covers for my family told me “not to cock this one up” much to my partner Julie’s amusement. I then left Mr Gilbert to reminisce with Alec Mills while I got the show ready. Just after 2pm, Nick Varley went to the stage and introduced ‘‘not only the director of 3 James Bond films but many other classics such as Carve Her Name With Pride, Reach For The Sky, Alfie and Educating Rita, Mr Lewis Gilbert.” Slightly frail now at 86, Lewis gave an amusing speech confessing that not only was he looking forward to seeing how well the film had stood the test of time but admitted to never having seen a film before where “no film will actually pass through the projector.” He also mused about the wonders of digital projection and if the audience’s grandchildren would be asking them one day “What’s a cinema?” before cracking a joke at my expense by saying that he had spoken to ‘the projectionist’s wife’ and told her he she is to give him a hard time when they get home if he mucks it up today’, a comment which almost made Julie drop her camera.

Then to the strains of Marvin Hamlisch’s ‘Ride to Atlantis’, Lewis took his seat and as I started the show with the MGM Lion making everybody jump as he roared through the Empire’s sound system and we were off and running. The picture looked absolutely superb (even if I do say so myself) and the new sound mix, although showing slight hiss in places (these are still 30 year-old tracks we are talking about), was fantastic. The audience applauded Rick Sylvester’s ski jump just as they had when I first saw the film in 1977 at the ODEON Leicester Square and laughed in all the right places, however corny the lines seem now. Before we knew it Roger was ‘keeping the British end up’ and with the promise that ‘James Bond Will Return in For Your Eyes Only’, a lovely memory of when my friends and I would return home from the cinema taunting our parents that ‘we know the name of the next Bond film’, even though EON Productions eventually decided to feed off the success of Star Wars and make the next film Moonraker!

The show ended and the audience departed happy. I didn’t have time to see Lewis Gilbert at the end of the show to see if I had done okay but a pleased and enthusiastic Nick Varley told me, “I am sure with the support we got for this screening there is every possibility that further showings of The Spy Who Loved Me will take place around the UK.” This most recent theatrical outing for Bond proves that there still is a continued market for classic 007 on the big screen.

So I’m hopeful that with companies such as Park Circus and Empire Cinemas seeing the merits of showings, and of course, the fans support, that ‘James Bond will Return’ in this form to the big screen very soon.

Park Circus have announced that they also plan to make other classic Bonds available, but this will now be after the release of Quantum of Solace in November 2008.