A few words about...™ Thunderball - in Blu-ray

Thunderball, the fourth offering in the bond series, and the first in Panavision is a good looking Blu-ray. Although grain-reduced, much like its earlier counterparts, the Panavision lensing reduces the apparent sharpness so that the resultant image is not as affected by the reduction as the spherical releases.

I've noted the discussion of the pillar-boxing of the main title sequence, and while I don't have any real problem with it, I find it unnecessary. I would also have preferred that it regained its full width a bit more delicately than on a cut.

All in all a high quality Blu-ray release. Also, while it's nice for those seeing the films for the first time to get a sampling of different Bonds, I would have preferred that they be released in chronological order. I especially miss Goldfinger, one of the best of the early Bonds. It seems odd to see the DB-5 without (for those new to the series) an intro to the vehicle. All comes down to marketing decisions, with neither way being correct or incorrect.

Hopefully the entire series of 21 will be released over a relatively short period of time.

Recommended.

RAH

Re: A few words about...™ Thunderball - in Blu-ray

As always, it's good to read your comments Mr. Harris. I'll be picking up five of the six releases tomorrow (I'm normally a completist, but can't bring myself to buy "Die Another Day").

I grew up watching most of the Bond movies on TV. ("The Spy Who Loved Me" was the first one I saw in a theater.) I fondly remember ABC frequently airing them on Sunday nights, and my parents would let me stay up late to watch them. I'm eager to see them in widescreen, without an interminable number of commercials.

Re: A few words about...™ Thunderball - in Blu-ray

I too was first exposed to Bond on Sunday nights on ABC (watching a Bond film with my dad was, for years, a (sorry for the bad pun, but it is the most appropriate term) bonding experience for us).

I will be getting the box sets as they appear (well, these first two will be on my Christmas list, so it may be a few months before I get to watch them)--I'm glad I held off getting the most recent SD box sets (I've been borrowing them from my friend to tide me over) as I anticipated the Bond series would be on HDM fairly early on.

Re: A few words about...™ Thunderball - in Blu-ray

I couldn't agree with you more Robert. In my mind Goldfinger is hands-down the best of the Connery Bond films, and I'm very disappointed that it wasn't included in the initial wave of Blu-ray releases. Hopefully this egregious situation will soon be rectified. 8)

Re: A few words about...™ Thunderball - in Blu-ray

I'm guessing we'll see another wave of releases when "Quantum of Solace" is released on home video this spring.

Re: A few words about...™ Thunderball - in Blu-ray

I have this on my Christmas wish list along with DR NO, Russia and Eyes only. (I never liked Live n Let Die or Another Day.)

Nice to hear they did a good jopb with one of my fav Bond flicks!

Re: A few words about...™ Thunderball - in Blu-ray

One of my favorites of the Connery's.

Thanks for the post about the film Robert!

Re: A few words about...™ Thunderball - in Blu-ray

I finally watched this, and the PQ is good. Maybe very good. I must confess that I was a little disappointed in the PQ of the blu-ray of From Russia With Love. I feel that it's a little lacking in detail. I wasn't disappointed in Thunderball. Essentially, Fox missed some "low hanging fruit" on From Russia, but didn't on Thunderball. I know the two films were shot differently (flat vs scope), and thus many differences are to be expected in PQ, but I thought I'd mention what I saw.

I must also mention that I love the job Fox (or whoever) did with bringing the old documentaries into the High Def age. They are still the same docs - word for word, but they look so much better due to incorporation of high def film clips and scans of stills (and a few other tricks).

Looking forward to Goldfinger this spring.

-R