A Few Words About A few words about...™ Goldfinger -- in Blu-ray (1 Viewer)

[Robert Harris]

Goldfinger, the third Bond production from UA, and the final in spherical (1.66:1) form, was also the last to be produced on a moderate budget of approximate 3.5 million dollars. This was triple that of Dr. No, and budgets would triple once again for Thunderball.

I attended the NY premiere of Goldfinger and can recall how beautiful it was in a new dye transfer Technicolor print. I've also been watching the image degrade for the past 40 years, most noticeably in dupes such as the binocular shots of Gert Frobe playing cards.

Thanks to Lowry Digital -- they're the company that degrains while not negatively affecting resolution -- Goldfinger looks very similar to what it did in 1964, albeit a bit sharper and with less grain -- and without its original UA logo.

Goldfinger is vintage Bond, and with Lowry's help it is firmly in place to entertain generations of new aficionados of this very special spy genre.

With both its original mono, as well as a nicely balanced 5.1 mix, Goldfinger from MGM is Highly Recommended.

RAH

 

[Nelson Au]

Thanks for the post and the background information about Goldfinger and your recollections of how it looked when you first saw it.

I think I have way too many copies of this film! Criterion's LD, MGM's LD and all 3 DVD versions. The BD is fantastic looking! What a trip it was when I pulled out the Criterion LD the other day for a quick look. So much print damage and dirt on that disc compared to the fantastic disc from Lowry!

 

[Bill McCamy]

Wouldn't you know I'd get the Ultimate Bond DVD collection before switching to Blu-ray? (Maybe that's why it's the Ultimate DVD collection.) How much of an improvement is the BD disc over the last DVD?

Goldfinger was my first "date movie" shortly after its premiere. Time flies...

 

[Robert Harris]

Let's make it simple. Think six times the resolution of your current version in addition to far superior color, blacks and shadow detail. Unless you're only seeking Goldfinger, it may be best to take a small second mortgage and pick up the 10 pack of BD Bonds at Costco for $160.

 

[John Hodson]

I went to a screening of the Lowry restoration of Goldfinger last year; all I can say is 'wow'.

 

[Osato]

I watched the blu Ray again tonight. Magnificent picture and sound.
I also watched the making of feature. I had forgotten that john cork had remastered some extras in HD for blu Ray. On the later releases MGM wouldn't pay for them.

Great extras on the early bond films. The pierce and Craig ones not so much.

I also noticed during the car crush scene that the engine has been removed from the car!

 

[youworkmen]

I watched the blu Ray again tonight. Magnificent picture and sound.
I also watched the making of feature. I had forgotten that john cork had remastered some extras in HD for blu Ray. On the later releases MGM wouldn't pay for them.

Great extras on the early bond films. The pierce and Craig ones not so much.

I also noticed during the car crush scene that the engine has been removed from the car!

The "Inside" documentaries are at least 15 years old now with Goldfinger and Thunderball docs created for the LD sets now 20 years old but they are still great viewing and sadly some of the participants have died since they were made.


The biggest disappointment of the boxset was that all the movies that were new to Blu for the boxset had not had elements of the documentaries upped to HD like all the earlier releases which had the film clips and many of the stills all remastered to HD ( not possible for most of the interviews sadly) and it leaves a bit of gap in the collection as the "all SD" ones now look a bit more dated than the HD ones.

 

[davidmatychuk]

The James Bond film series is a pop cultural achievement like no other. As I posted on a different Home Theatre Forum James Bond thread, I even like the James Bond movies I don't like.

 

[Osato]

The "Inside" documentaries are at least 15 years old now with Goldfinger and Thunderball docs created for the LD sets now 20 years old but they are still great viewing and sadly some of the participants have died since they were made.

The biggest disappointment of the boxset was that all the movies that were new to Blu for the boxset had not had elements of the documentaries upped to HD like all the earlier releases which had the film clips and many of the stills all remastered to HD ( not possible for most of the interviews sadly) and it leaves a bit of gap in the collection as the "all SD" ones now look a bit more dated than the HD ones.

Agreed!

 

[AnthonyClarke]

I like just about all the Bond movies except the latest crop featuring some sort of thick-necked muscle-bound oaf with no sense of humour.

My favourites are Sean of course, and Brosnan and Dalton.

 

[JohnMor]

I like just about all the Bond movies except the latest crop featuring some sort of thick-necked muscle-bound oaf with no sense of humour.

Craig always looks like he's pouting.

 

[john a hunter]

Craig always looks like he's pouting.

Pouting or what ever. He 's the best thing to happen to the Bond series for years( ie since Connery)

 

[Oblivion138]

Great extras on the early bond films. The pierce and Craig ones not so much.

The 2-disc Collector's Edition of Casino Royale has pretty solid extras. As I recall, about four hours of featurettes, deleted scenes, etc., in addition to the picture-in-picture commentary.

 

[Reed Grele]

In the summer of 1965, when I was 9, I saw Goldfinger in my local theater. Totally blew me away!


Watched the edited ABC TV premiere on September 17, 1972.


In the summer of 1980, watched it (and taped it with my new VHS recorder) on HBO. The first time since 1965 that I saw the uncut version (albeit from a rather dark 16mm print).


Early eighties (the dawn of home video) bought the VHS, and a year or so later the first laserdisc incarnation.


Purchased every subsequent laserdisc release (including the recalled Criterion CAV w/commentary).


Skipped RCA's CED system. 'Nuff said.


In 1987, saw a beautiful 35mm print at the Museum of Modern Art in NYC.


Own every DVD release.


And finally, the Blu-ray.


I've watched Goldfinger more times than any other movie. I think that the current Blu-ray nails it as far as picture, sound quality, and extras are concerned.


If anything will induce me to upgrade from 1080p to 4K, it will probably be Goldfinger.

 

[Sam Favate]

The James Bond blu-rays, especially Goldfinger and the other early Bond movies, are among the very best blu-rays I have ever seen. As I have said before, even if you saw these movies in the theater in 1963-64, they have never looked this good to anyone, unless you have better than 20/20 vision and were present when they filmed them.

 

[Lord Dalek]

Found the single of this at Big Lots! for 5 bucks the other day. AV is definitely way better than any release of Goldfinger I've seen (various tv broadcasts, the SE dvd from 1999 which was a recycled transfer from 1996, etc.)


Oh and its generally assumed that Bond pictures didn't have opening logos until You Only Live Twice so nothing's been edited (except maybe the original announcement of the next film being On Her Majesties' Secret Service).

 

[Worth]

I may be in the minority on this one, but I find all the Bond's look overly scrubbed on blu-ray. I'd love to see new, more natural, more film-like transfers from 4K scans.

 

[Dave H]

I am not a fan of Lowry's earlier work. Too overly processed looking. The original Star Wars movies another example.


Their newer stuff looks great (Alien, Aliens, the Terminator).

 

[Osato]

A view to a kill, spy who loved me and goldeneye had new transfers for blu Ray.
I wonder what MGM and fox will do for uhd blu Ray.

I love the consistency of the older 007 film extras in that they all have an inside documentary narrated by Patrick macnee.

 

[Oblivion138]

I may be in the minority on this one, but I find all the Bond's look overly scrubbed on blu-ray. I'd love to see new, more natural, more film-like transfers from 4K scans.

I'm right there with you. Well, not ALL of them, but definitely the ones sourced from - as Dave H said - Lowry's earlier work. There's far too much in the way of frozen grain and general scrubbing. They could certainly look much more natural than they do. That said, it could be worse. They could all look like GoldenEye.