UHD Review A Few Words About A few words about...™ - Sean Connery - 6-Film Collection -- in 4k UHD (14 Viewers)

[Robert Harris]

Oh lord. I would seriously hope they aren't a downmix. That would be on a level with Warner's Rocky set mishap. Seem's that most on here have acknologed they are different enough in there own right not to be but I think the gold standard to compare against are the LD's. Everything since and inexplicably, even the blu-rays have been rock bottom bitrates.


Yh, I guess no one was going to lose sleep over it and worry about finding another source. We must be talking about no more than 3 frames, maybe even 1. Hard to tell if there is a jump in the music track due to SFX. It's not obvious unlike Bond's fight with the chauffeur in Dr No.

The simple fact may be that the first three Bonds were possibly shot on Nitrate, with no archival back-up. Once decomp sets in…

 

[brioni]

They are not downmixes.

Yep, got my hands and ears on the set now. Been looking at Goldfinger...great picture. If all the Atmos tracks are like this, i'll be avoiding... its just very suppressed. As someone else said, you really need all the elements to work with, and even then opportunities to make use of 7.1 or beyond are few and far between. There's some base response, but there are issues like the Mi Casa efforts... eg. you still don't hear the door slam before the main titles. The hits in the fight its self only has about 50% impact now. The birds in the background during the golf scene are barely auditable.
The oscar winning sound effects no longer feel as exaggerated or as reality-heightened as the visuals. The original mix has everything you need.


Feeling this guys pain! I mean, I was never as fussed as many on packaging, but now with the importance of keeping physical media alive... its taken a new perspective, especially with this limited run of 15,200.

 

[compson]

Feeling this guys pain! I mean, I was never as fussed as many on packaging, but now with the importance of keeping physical media alive... its taken a new perspective, especially with this limited run of 15,200.

I understand the disappointment, but as long as the loose disc wasn’t damaged, this is the nature of the product. It’s not going to change. If you’re expecting to receive orders in perfect condition, you’re going to experience frequent disappointment.

The guy appears to have a third hand, which could be helpful.

 

[brioni]

I do like how they used the 60's style 007 logo on that tin set.

The picture is pretty fantastic. I think it illustrates the Lowry was overly sharp (that restoration documentary was always a curious one, when they discussed about removing the hair in the gate for Dr No but left a ton of damage in Thunderball).
I'm pleased they reverted to a 1.75:1 presentation and we now have lossless DTS-HD for the mono.

I love these films. For me there is nothing better than Connery in a white tuxedo, lighting up exactly when the bomb detonates, then moments later... using a woman as a shield

 

[Bryan Tuck]

You're asking about two different things. I said they "are not downmixes" and they're not. This is obvious because the music error in Dr. No on the "remastered" Atmos track is not on the mono. And the end of Thunderball on both mono mixes has the sound of the wire snapping against the windshield which is missing from both Atmos tracks. If the mono tracks were downmixes these issues would be carried over.

The mono tracks are indeed not downmixes, but I think the ones for Thunderball might be "recreations" of a sort, at least in part. During the opening gunbarrel sequence, the gunshot ringout is cut off in both mono tracks like it was on the Blu-ray's mono. However, in previous releases of "Mix A" / "Alt," the ringout was loud and clear (and I don't doubt that it's supposed to be there in "Mix B," too).

Also, the end titles music for Goldfinger has a couple of odd hiccups in the editing (slightly different from the odd editing hiccups in previous releases ). But at least the song does play out to the end (which it didn't on the Blu-ray's mono).

If you had the discs, and I know you don't, you'd see that the menu calls the Atmos tracks "remastered" while it doesn't use that term on the mono mixes.

I think that's WB's standard labeling of late for UHDs with multiple tracks. The newest one is labeled "remastered," while the older one is labeled "Original Theatrical."

 

[Bryan Tuck]

Double-post. Sorry

 

[dpippel]

I love these films. For me there is nothing better than Connery in a white tuxedo, lighting up exactly when the bomb detonates, then moments later... using a woman as a shield

Shocking. Positively shocking.

 

[DigniT@DigniT!]

I hope there is an UHD 4K release of ON HER MAJESTY'S SECRET SERVICE! It's an odd duck of the Bond series, but Diana Rigg, Telly Savalas, and that Louis Armstrong theme song have made it a favorite of mine. I recall seeing many of the Bond films, including OHMSS, on its first run at the Denver Theatre, an old-fashioned movie palace in Downtown Denver. I believe GOLD FINGER, THUNDERBALL, and YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE all played there as well. DIAOMONDS ARE FOREVER was the 5th or 6th grade Birthday Party excursion for one of my good friends... that was at the Mayan theatre—one of the only historic theatres left in Denver.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

It’s extremely unlikely that MGM wouldn’t remaster the entire series. I think the only thing up in the air is what the product configuration will be.

For the Blu-rays, they initially released several titles in three movie sets, and then later released single disc versions of those individual titles. Then, they put out a set with what was then all of the films, which became the only way to get a bunch of them for a long while. Eventually, they put out those titles exclusive to the big box set as individual releases, but it took a while.

It’s very plausible given the release history of this series that those individuals wanting every film in the series may get stuck rebuying a few titles in semi-redundant collections to make that happen.

 

[Sultanofcinema]

More Diamonds Behind the scenes .....View attachment 254413View attachment 254414View attachment 254415

Double-post. Sorry

Its OK, its about Double O Seven.

 

[Sultanofcinema]

I hope there is an UHD 4K release of ON HER MAJESTY'S SECRET SERVICE! It's an odd duck of the Bond series, but Diana Rigg, Telly Savalas, and that Louis Armstrong theme song have made it a favorite of mine. I recall seeing many of the Bond films, including OHMSS, on its first run at the Denver Theatre, an old-fashioned movie palace in Downtown Denver. I believe GOLD FINGER, THUNDERBALL, and YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE all played there as well. DIAOMONDS ARE FOREVER was the 5th or 6th grade Birthday Party excursion for one of my good friends... that was at the Mayan theatre—one of the only historic theatres left in Denver.

There has to be a UHD of On Her Majesty's Secret Service to correct, the effects, pump the music back to where it should be (much of it now on the blu ray is buried) and the outstanding colors this film has.

 

[JoshZ]

On second glance, I’m not quite as impressed with these. I still feel like they’ve been messed with in ways that I can’t quite put my finger on, though far less than their Lowry equivalents. They don’t look quite as natural as the newer scans for The Man with the Golden Gun or The Spy Who Loved Me on digital, but they are still much better than anything else we’ve had so far.

For what it's worth, I feel similarly. My review of Dr. No went up this morning.

 

[Neil S. Bulk]

For what it's worth, I feel similarly. My review of Dr. No went up this morning.

"Some of that work premiered first on VOD streaming platforms, in 4K resolution but only Standard Dynamic Range."

That's not correct. These new 2024 remasters debuted on this disc. All streaming versions are derived from the previous Lowry restorations.

 

[Robert Crawford]

Most people will be happy with these 4K/UHD releases but there will always be some people that might not feel the same way or have a lesser opinion of them. It’s just the way it is when it comes to home video products. Frankly, you can say that about any product. People have different levels of opinions, it’s okay.

 

[mskaye]

For what it's worth, I feel similarly. My review of Dr. No went up this morning.

Nice review and analysis! I liked this line especially - "Sean Connery elevated the character and the material beyond even what the author had envisioned of them, and made James Bond a legend."

 

[JoshZ]

"Some of that work premiered first on VOD streaming platforms, in 4K resolution but only Standard Dynamic Range."

That's not correct. These new 2024 remasters debuted on this disc. All streaming versions are derived from the previous Lowry restorations.

I didn't purchase any of the 4K streaming copies, but my understanding was that at least some of the Bond titles (notably GoldenEye) were new masters different from the Blu-rays.

I will edit that sentence for clarity if that isn't the case for the Connery titles.

 

[Worth]

I didn't purchase any of the 4K streaming copies, but my understanding was that at least some of the Bond titles (notably GoldenEye) were new masters different from the Blu-rays.

I will edit that sentence for clarity if that isn't the case for the Connery titles.

The 4K digitals of the Connerys, Lazenby, plus Live and Let Die and Moonraker are all derived from the Lowry masters, Everything else comes from newer scans.

 

[JoshZ]

The 4K digitals of the Connerys, Lazenby, plus Live and Let Die and Moonraker are all derived from the Lowry masters, Everything else comes from newer scans.

Okay, I've reworded that paragraph for clarity. Hopefully this reads better:


Along those lines, under its new corporate ownership by Amazon, MGM started efforts a few years ago to remaster all the James Bond films yet again. In June of 2025, the first 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray editions arrived, in the form of a Sean Connery 6-Film Collection containing: Dr. No (1962), From Russia with Love (1963), Goldfinger (1964), Thunderball (1965), You Only Live Twice (1967), and Diamonds Are Forever (1971). Observant fans will note that the set skips over the George Lazenby entry On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969), which will hopefully be included in another package somewhere down the road. [For clarity, I have been informed that previously-released streaming copies of all the Connery titles were taken from the older Lowry Digital masters, in 4K resolution but only Standard Dynamic Range. These physical media editions with HDR come from all-new video masters.]

 

[Osato]

Nice review and analysis! I liked this line especially - "Sean Connery elevated the character and the material beyond even what the author had envisioned of them, and made James Bond a legend."

Correct he made the character better than the book character. At least for me and imo.

Without the 007 films I would have no interest in the 007 books. Even now I’m much more of a 007 film fan than 007 Fleming book fan.

 

[Osato]

For what it's worth, I feel similarly. My review of Dr. No went up this morning.

Josh I thought you reviewed for HTF? Confused as your review is in another site.