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MGM Press Release: BOND 50 (Blu-ray) - Page 5

post #121 of 298
1/20/12 at 4:56pm

Let's just say that the participants were quite candid about the production of those three movies, and the folks at EON were not pleased at the results.  They're entertaining to hear, but I don't think the producers found it as amusing as the public.  Think of it as an example of what would happen if Sylvia Anderson were to do commentaries for every episode of Space: 1999 Series One...

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Gear mentioned in this thread:

Bond 50: The Complete 22 Film Collection [Blu-ray]
post #122 of 298
1/20/12 at 7:19pm
I could sell my three Criterion laser discs (with rare commentaries) of Dr. No, Russia, and Goldfinger and buy a ... Bond 50 set?
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post #123 of 298
1/20/12 at 7:58pm

I wouldn't sell those laserdiscs if I were you.  Unless they really do port over those commentaries.

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post #124 of 298
1/20/12 at 8:34pm
But the problem is that if they do port over those commentaries, the laser discs will probably become worthless. Choose wisely! smile.gif
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post #125 of 298
1/20/12 at 9:50pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Kevin EK View Post

Of course, just to really kick up the dust here - they COULD throw in the great commentaries done for the Criterion laserdiscs of Dr. No, From Russia With Love and Goldfinger.  Who wants to lay odds on that idea happening?  50 to 1, anyone?

I think those commentaries are likely the property of Criterion. I doubt MGM own the rights to them.

Doug
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post #126 of 298
1/21/12 at 1:52am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Kevin EK View Post

Let's just say that the participants were quite candid about the production of those three movies, and the folks at EON were not pleased at the results.  They're entertaining to hear, but I don't think the producers found it as amusing as the public.  Think of it as an example of what would happen if Sylvia Anderson were to do commentaries for every episode of Space: 1999 Series One...

I have the lasers but never had time to listen to the commentaries. I remember hearing at the time that Broccoli was upset at Young and company for basically laying claim to the franchise's success. Is this part of what you're alluding to?

A very public war of words existed between Young and Broccoli over this. Young (rightly) boasted in later years that he helmed the first Bond with Dr. No, the best one with Russia, and the most successful with Thunderball, though, in a magnaminous moment, he attributed three reasons for the success of Bond: Sean Connery, Sean Connery, Sean Connery!" Not a bone for either of the men responsible for bringing the projects to fruition!
Broccoli answered this by describing the director's reaction to the news that he and Saltzman had chosen Connery for the part. Broccoli, pretending to be Young, puts his face in his hands and cries, "Oh, disaster, disaster, disaster!"
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post #127 of 298
1/21/12 at 7:07am

Doug, you're absolutely right that those commentaries belong to Criterion.  But I figure that if the famous Criterion Halloween commentary could be obtained for later DVDs and Blus, the Bond people could similarly purchase the these three lost commentaries and include them.  It would be a pretty cheeky move, but I'd applaud it.  Not particularly likely, in any case.  My 50 to 1 odds were a failed joke - the real odds are more like 50,000 to 1...

 

Andrew, you're on the money.  Young's comments at the beginning of Dr. No talk about how he had to talk them into getting a real secret agent theme into the movie since in his opinion, Broccoli and Saltzman wanted to stay with calypso music or use "Under the Yum Yum Tree" as the music for James Bond.  The commentary just gets better from there.

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post #128 of 298
1/21/12 at 9:43am
I still have those 3 laserdiscs safely tucked away! I haven't heard those commentaries in a long time, but I didn't think at the time they were that negative or made EON look bad. But I was a lot younger and naive then.

I've been meaning to pull those discs out and digitize them.
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post #129 of 298
1/21/12 at 4:30pm
It was reported that Cubby objected to a 180 odd comments across the 3 titles so I expect the EON estate will continue to up hold their stance on them. At one point Hamilton even uses the word “faggot”. Its a shame as there is an hilarious tale from Young about how he accidently dyed his hair green prior to auditioning Daniela Bianchi.
Quote:
Originally Posted by FoxyMulder View Post


I would have thought this boxset would be region free though since it is likely going to be identical as far as contents go worldwide.

I really really hope so, but it has not been the case so far. That’s why i’m waiting for more details to come out because being a UK customer, the US versions will probably appeal to me more, as did the UE DVDs. This is mainly because the original mono tracks were admitted for R2 and continue to be for the blu’s. The 5.1 remixes were not faithful enough for my ears and in some cases the SFX added were downright moronic. Take Thunderball: the discrete sliding door behind the bank frontage was replaced with sounds of large mechanical cogs?! Yeah cos no ones gonna hear there’s a secret door now? What makes people think they can do better than what the film makers done originally? Thankfully i think its been taken out of the Blu ray edition but there are problems everywhere – eg. you can no longer hear Connery slamming the door before Goldfinger’s titles start. Shocking, positively shocking.

Also captions were another issue on R2 DVD’s as they were horribly generated by the players, i don’t have all the current blu rays so I don’t if that’s still the case. The R1’s were burnt in- maintaining the directors vision.
On the plus side the image is pristine- all that dirt and debris has vanished and the resolution amped up but some of those random faint vertical lines still bother me. They were apparent on the YOLT UE and still noticeable on occasion in Thunderball’s blu.

I really hope they revisit Goldeneye, because as it was proven on these forums, somehow Lowry got hold of the incorrect print. Certainly the title sequence proved this as some of the text was repositioned nearer the centre of the screen- as it was for the P&S version. Ooops.

The last consideration will be getting the majority of films in their complete version. This is where i suspect the UK version will almost win out because presumably the US version of Casino Royale is still heavily cut? And presumably Die Another Day is still cut in the US? (Although only 7 seconds). Even then Casino is cut in the UK
for 13 seconds which makes things a real pain. I would feel i’d need to buy the box or Casino as a single from Australia to truly make the collection complete. I might be able to live without Jinx moaning!

However having said all this- if they are locked, that gives me another headache!
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post #130 of 298
1/22/12 at 1:10am
Quote:
Originally Posted by brioni View Post

It was reported that Cubby objected to a 180 odd comments across the 3 titles so I expect the EON estate will continue to up hold their stance on them. At one point Hamilton even uses the word “faggot”. Its a shame as there is an hilarious tale from Young about how he accidently dyed his hair green prior to auditioning Daniela Bianchi.
I really really hope so, but it has not been the case so far. That’s why i’m waiting for more details to come out because being a UK customer, the US versions will probably appeal to me more, as did the UE DVDs. This is mainly because the original mono tracks were admitted for R2 and continue to be for the blu’s. The 5.1 remixes were not faithful enough for my ears and in some cases the SFX added were downright moronic. Take Thunderball: the discrete sliding door behind the bank frontage was replaced with sounds of large mechanical cogs?! Yeah cos no ones gonna hear there’s a secret door now? What makes people think they can do better than what the film makers done originally? Thankfully i think its been taken out of the Blu ray edition but there are problems everywhere – eg. you can no longer hear Connery slamming the door before Goldfinger’s titles start. Shocking, positively shocking.
Also captions were another issue on R2 DVD’s as they were horribly generated by the players, i don’t have all the current blu rays so I don’t if that’s still the case. The R1’s were burnt in- maintaining the directors vision.
On the plus side the image is pristine- all that dirt and debris has vanished and the resolution amped up but some of those random faint vertical lines still bother me. They were apparent on the YOLT UE and still noticeable on occasion in Thunderball’s blu.
I really hope they revisit Goldeneye, because as it was proven on these forums, somehow Lowry got hold of the incorrect print. Certainly the title sequence proved this as some of the text was repositioned nearer the centre of the screen- as it was for the P&S version. Ooops.
The last consideration will be getting the majority of films in their complete version. This is where i suspect the UK version will almost win out because presumably the US version of Casino Royale is still heavily cut? And presumably Die Another Day is still cut in the US? (Although only 7 seconds). Even then Casino is cut in the UK
for 13 seconds which makes things a real pain. I would feel i’d need to buy the box or Casino as a single from Australia to truly make the collection complete. I might be able to live without Jinx moaning!
However having said all this- if they are locked, that gives me another headache!


The USA version of Die Another Day is now uncut on blu ray, as far as Casino Royale goes, do what i did and import the Australian version, thats fully uncut, i see you are thinking about that, it's worth it, you can just sell the boxset version and put that Australian version in the box.

 

I tend to agree with you regarding re-mixes, always include the original mix.

 

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post #131 of 298
1/22/12 at 12:21pm
Another thought on the bonus material: As well as more deleted scenes, I hope they can include some more screen tests such as Lazenby's, Brosnan's in 86, Craig's and Sam Neill's plus the various girls. Only stills have been shown so far and a tiny bit of Neill's on the Daylights making of.
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post #132 of 298
2/6/12 at 6:27am

Not sure if this has been mentioned here, but here's some sad news:

 

Bond DVD restoration expert, John D. Lowry, dies age 79

 

http://www.mi6-hq.com/news/index.php?itemid=9986&t=mi6&s=news

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post #133 of 298
2/6/12 at 6:30am
Thread Starter 

Oh my goodness!  This is awful news.  Very sad.

 

I met Mr. Lowry several years ago and found him to

be a very personable individual.

 

We did a live chat with John in 2002

 

Very sorry to learn of this passing.

 

shapeimage_35.png

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post #134 of 298
2/6/12 at 7:15am

There's a thread running about John Lowry's passing.  I was surprised to see it hadn't generated much attention, but I hope this may bring it to more people's attention.  Thanks for mentioning it here - it's certainly appropriate, given how much work he did on the Bond films in the last 10 years.

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post #135 of 298
2/8/12 at 1:46am
RIP John.

There's some more articles here on his work:

FILM; 600 Macs, 4,000 Lines, One Giant Leap for DVD's

Bond By Lowry Digital

Creating the Video Future

Restorer of the /Star Wars Trilogy/ and /THX 1138/: John Lowry
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post #136 of 298
2/8/12 at 6:35pm
I wasn't aware of the variations between the regional releases of the Bond films. Is there a good listing of the differences and which releases are preferable someplace?
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post #137 of 298
2/8/12 at 7:29pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Richard Kaufman View Post

I wasn't aware of the variations between the regional releases of the Bond films. Is there a good listing of the differences and which releases are preferable someplace?

Me neither. Calling Brian and Malcolm........smiley_wink.gif
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post #138 of 298
2/10/12 at 8:56am
The site I use before buying anything is dvdcompare.net:

Casino Royale 2006 Bluray
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post #139 of 298
2/13/12 at 11:55am
Makes me wonder if the Original Audio Tracks will receive a lossless version instead of only the remixes receiving the particular treatment. Guess this means I'll sell all of the OO7 EON Blu-rays I own barring Casino Royale (2006) as it's from Taiwan which is the R rated version. Will these be the same exact discs or will there be added content?
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post #140 of 298
2/15/12 at 6:52am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Nelson Au View Post

I still have those 3 laserdiscs safely tucked away! I haven't heard those commentaries in a long time, but I didn't think at the time they were that negative or made EON look bad. But I was a lot younger and naive then.
I've been meaning to pull those discs out and digitize them.

It's been a while (1-2 years) but I was able to find the Criterion laserdisc commentaries online. I downloaded them and then was able to sync them up with the blu ray of the film. The timing between the blu ray and the laserdiscs was a bit off, but it worked pretty good.

I think the site that I downloaded them from is no longer there. However they may be out there somewhere...

Looking forward to more information on the Bond 50 blu ray set. I preordered it from Amazon right away. So glad that all of the Bond films are finally going to be on blu ray!!
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post #141 of 298
2/15/12 at 9:42am
I just did a very quick search and found a Bond site that has the commentaries. But they stream only as far as I can tell and one is streaming through my iPad now! But I'll still do my own.
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post #142 of 298
2/21/12 at 11:59am
Another feature that should be included on the Bond 50 set is The Open University's documentary about the making of The Spy Who Loved Me.

Hopefully it is added to the set.
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post #143 of 298
3/3/12 at 7:53pm
Anything further on the Bond 50 blu ray set details and extras? Too soon I'm sure, but I would like to know! Really looking forward to the set!!
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post #144 of 298
3/4/12 at 8:48am

Nothing more has been said yet.  I doubt we'll hear anything new until Comicon, at which point they'll be pushing the new movie but should also throw something to the fans about the new set....

 

Somewhere in here will be the release of the Collectors' Edition of Quantum of Solace...

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post #145 of 298
3/6/12 at 8:17am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Kevin EK View Post

Nothing more has been said yet.  I doubt we'll hear anything new until Comicon, at which point they'll be pushing the new movie but should also throw something to the fans about the new set....

Somewhere in here will be the release of the Collectors' Edition of Quantum of Solace...

I know there is a new film being done about the complete film series history. Michael Wilson mentioned this in the Skyfall press conference.
I wonder if this new doc will be included in the set?

I am thinking that the Collector's Edition of Quantum of Solace will also be in the Bond 50 set. The work on it was done several years ago.

I hope the old docs and features are all included in addition to the new material for the new set. I know that the rest of the Making Of docs are not being remastered in HD. This is for the 9 titles that are not currently on blu ray.

Hopefully the trailers, radio spots and tv spots are expanded for all of the films.

It will be great to hear what is on the set and also who has been working on the set as well.

Really looking forward to the Bond 50 blu ray set!
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post #146 of 298
3/6/12 at 9:06am
Yes, the new documentary is included. There are 23 discs and 22 films. I'm hoping we'll get the Casino Royale collectors edition features as well as a new Quantum of Solace deluxe edition. What I'd really like to see is a newly re-edited QoS. There's a better film hiding in there among the flash cut editing.
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post #147 of 298
3/6/12 at 1:13pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by mikeyhitchfan View Post

Yes, the new documentary is included. There are 23 discs and 22 films. I'm hoping we'll get the Casino Royale collectors edition features as well as a new Quantum of Solace deluxe edition. What I'd really like to see is a newly re-edited QoS. There's a better film hiding in there among the flash cut editing.

I would think both Collector's Editions of Casino Royale and Quantum of Solace will be included in the the new Bond 50 set.
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post #148 of 298
3/7/12 at 3:19pm
Watched a bit of The Spy Who Loved Me UE DVD today. Really looking forward to the blu ray version. The video Edge Enhancement is pretty bad on that one for some reason. Wonder if this one would've been a better candidate for 4K?
Love that one though.
I was able to see a theatrical screening of the film last year and it was hosted by Richard Kiel! Very cool.
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post #149 of 298
3/7/12 at 8:24pm
Apart from seeing every Bond film on day one since The Spy Who Loved Me (which I actually sat through twice!), my best Bond viewing was For Your Eyes Only. I won tickets on the radio and got to see it at MGM studios. Great screening theater, comfy seats with ashtrays on the backs of the seats!

Back on topic - I hope the new box set has 2-3 nice multi amary blu-ray cases inside so I can put that huge box away. Maybe the U.K. version will have that packaging since the box sets of Kubrick, Alien, Planet of the Apes and Star Wars all have the plastic cases instead of a book type format which can scratch the discs.
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post #150 of 298
3/8/12 at 10:36am
Quote:
Originally Posted by mikeyhitchfan View Post

Apart from seeing every Bond film on day one since The Spy Who Loved Me (which I actually sat through twice!), my best Bond viewing was For Your Eyes Only. I won tickets on the radio and got to see it at MGM studios. Great screening theater, comfy seats with ashtrays on the backs of the seats!
Back on topic - I hope the new box set has 2-3 nice multi amary blu-ray cases inside so I can put that huge box away. Maybe the U.K. version will have that packaging since the box sets of Kubrick, Alien, Planet of the Apes and Star Wars all have the plastic cases instead of a book type format which can scratch the discs.

Very cool! For Your Eyes Only is another great one! I think it's one of Roger Moore's best Bonds for sure. I'm a biased Roger Moore fan though. Octopussy was the first one that I saw in the theater. I missed A View To A Kill, but have seen the rest of them faithfully in the theater since then. In fact, aside from The World Is Not Enough I have attempted to see all of them on the first day they are out. I saw Casino Royale twice on it's first day! : )

I agree with you on the packaging. Hopefully the discs are well secured. I liked the SW packaging, but I agree that the discs could scratch.

I'm really curious to hear what the extras will be for the sets. Specifically what what extras are added for the individual films, the set bonus disc and ..... Quantum of Solace Collector's Edition included?

October is too far away! I just sold all of my Bond blu rays to make way for the new Bond 50 set.
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Bond 50: The Complete 22 Film Collection [Blu-ray]
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