UHD Review A Few Words About A few words about...™ - Sean Connery - 6-Film Collection -- in 4k UHD (7 Viewers)

[JoshZ]

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

I used to write for High-Def Digest, until the heartless corporate owners there slashed the budget a few years back and shut down my entire section of the site with about half a week's notice that they had no intention of paying me anymore. I later started my own blog.

I have never written for HTF. Nothing against it, of course. I just decided that if I was going to continue writing, I wanted to have full ownership over my own work.

 

[Worth]

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

Maybe you're getting your Joshes mixed up.

 

[RICK BOND]

From Russia With Love Review http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film12/blu-ray_review_170/from_russia_with_love_4K_UHD.htm

 

[Josh Steinberg]

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

I’m the HTF Josh reviewer

And yes, one day all of the Joshes will review each other. Stay tuned for that podcast!

 

[Osato]

I’m the HTF Josh reviewer

And yes, one day all of the Joshes will review each other. Stay tuned for that podcast!

So embarrassed! I had my joshes confused for sure. I’ll blame turning 50 in a few days. Or in reality reading and posting too fast….

 

[Josh Steinberg]

No worries, we are legion. We are Josh.

 

[JoshZ]

And yes, one day all of the Joshes will review each other. Stay tuned for that podcast!

 

[Worth]

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

“Oily texture” is a good way of putting it. I recently watched the Kino disc of The Amorous Adventures of Moll Flanders, taken from a new 4K scan, seemingly with minimal additional clean up. Not an apples-to-apples comparison, I know, but it was made just before Thunderball, with the same director, same cinematographer, same camera equipment, same film stock and same lab, yet it has a more natural filmic texture than the new Thunderball disc does.

 

[dpippel]

View attachment 254487

 

[JoshZ]

“Oily texture” is a good way of putting it. I recently watched the Kino disc of The Amorous Adventures of Moll Flanders, taken from a new 4K scan, seemingly with minimal additional clean up. Not an apples-to-apples comparison, I know, but it was made just before Thunderball, with the same director, same cinematographer, same camera equipment, same film stock and same lab, yet it has a more natural filmic texture than the new Thunderball disc does.

I haven't gotten as far as Thunderball yet. Dr. No, to me, reminds me in certain respects of the Lowry master that everyone else seems to feel it's a huge improvement over. A lot of scenes look like they've been de-grained, had digital clean-up performed, and then had new artificial grain laid down over them again. It's just the the artificial grain looks slightly better now than Lowry's did.

 

[Robert Harris]

I haven't gotten as far as Thunderball yet. Dr. No, to me, reminds me in certain respects of the Lowry master that everyone else seems to feel it's a huge improvement over. A lot of scenes look like they've been de-grained, had digital clean-up performed, and then had new artificial grain laid down over them again. It's just the the artificial grain looks slightly better now than Lowry's did.

Artificial Grain comes in a number of different variants, all linked to Eastman Color negative emulsions, ie 5247, 48, 50, 51, 54, 47 et al.

It comes in the same Smart Paks as used back in the early ‘90s by the same entity that marketed a brand of african violet strata, sold as silver, gold and platinum.

The strata was a blend of high-grade potting soil and enriched bat guano. 8 and 16 ounce containers were then priced in the mid-teens to thirties, based upon the grade of the guano. I knew one of the principals behind the brand, which while a quality product, was mostly marketing sizzle.

Similar guanos are now available for far less cost on Amazon.

As readers may have surmised, the Artificial Grain product is responsible for the occasional oily texture of some 4k releases.

I’m unable to go too deeply into this situation, as there are both patents as well as NDAs involved, but it’s a situation that may erupt in the next few days, especially now that some viewers of the Bond films may be putting the pieces together, ie 5250 and 51, the Lowry situation, those Smart Paks and oily images on discs, many of which have fallen free of their spindles.

Word is that one of the Josh’s may be involved. Or possibly not.

 

[Worth]

...The strata was a blend of high-grade potting soil and enriched bat guano. 8 and 16 ounce containers were then priced in the mid-teens to thirties, based upon the grade of the guano...

Didn't Dr. No perish via guano in the novel?

 

[Sultanofcinema]

Didn't Dr. No perish via guano in the novel?

Yes.

 

[KML10]

I've gone through five of the films (I have to in the interests of continuity watch OHMSS before I watch DAF). Transfers are great (loved toggling back and forth on the "Thunderball" tracks to hear the different end credits music and have that option at last). I am getting a reminder though of some of the weaknesses of the films as films and how some of these weaknesses I think tend to get obscured simply because of the longstanding preference for the Connery era overall.

1-"From Russia With Love" has a very confused and muddled plotline that I blame on the decision of the producers to introduce SPECTRE into the plot with this "play both sides against each other" game that was their way of trying to avoid tying Bond to waging the Cold War fight. Frankly this causes the film to avoid getting to the point for far too long and creates too much confusion. This would have worked far better with the original, simpler dynamic of Bond vs. Russians. The SPECTRE element was far less obtrusive in "Dr. No" and I have no problem with it there. (And "Dr. No" is IMO a superior film). The set pieces of the film in terms of the location photography, the great supporting performances and the memorable train fight scene I think tends to obscure the fact the script has some weaknesses.

2-"Thunderball". Starts out great (notwithstanding IMO the distasteful Pat Fearing scenes) and then drags in its finale with the tedious underwater fight scenes. This is also my chance to rebuke the Fleming purists who always insisted that Rik Van Nutter was the best Felix Leiter. They said this only because of Van Nutter's physical resemblance to the literary Leiter (and even then Raymond Benson, the worst of the purists was mad that Leiter wasn't being shown with a steel hook and wooden leg because of his maiming in the "Live And Let Die" novel as if we were supposed to think that was important!) and overlooked the fact that Van Nutter has the personality of a block of wood and just serves the role of a yes-man for Bond whereas Jack Lord (unfairly ripped by Benson in his book) was playing a Leiter who you could believe was just as good an agent as Bond (and Lord later proved he was capable of some Bondian style adventures on "Hawaii Five-O"!) IMO, David Hedison was the only other Leiter who belonged in Lord's class but Van Nutter IMO is the worst of them (Cec Linder and Norman Burton were miscast IMO but at least they have personalities).

3-"You Only Live Twice". This is the film I think you could easily skip if you were watching everything from the beginning to DAF (including OHMSS). It's not so much the fact that reversing the literary order with OHMSS necessitated a different plot, I think the real problem is that this is the first Bond film Richard Maibaum didn't contribute to and his touch was IMO needed to try and craft a new story from a few book elements. Roald Dahl I think churned out a very formulaic script that shows too many signs of copycatting previous films. Connery's boredom with the part by this point doesn't help either and after the mysterious build-up with the unseen Blofeld in FRWL and Thunderball, Donald Pleasence is an absolute bust coming off as the cartoon like figure parodied later in the Austin Powers films. (Telly Savalas is IMO the only credible Blofeld of those we saw on-screen because he at least could present a physical challenge to Bond). At any rate, I think YOLT is a lot easier for me to pass over compared to the Moore films (save for "A View To A Kill") in the future.

BTW, one little bit of interesting YOLT trivia. The uncredited actor playing the US President is Alexander Knox who in 1944 was the star of the big-budget Fox movie "Wilson" that failed miserably at the box office. When you first see him there is even a photograph of Wilson on the wall behind him in what I can't believe was a mere coincidence.

Thanks for clarifying that all of this is “IMO”

 

[Jack P]

People have expressed their POV about the various movies along the way and the entire series. I think its fair game to offer new thoughts on the movies while going through these new releases especially since I've realized that a lot of time has elapsed since I actually watched any of them and that its overdue to look at them as individual films rather than just fall back on the generic arguments of "Connery era best" etc.

 

[JoshZ]

2-"Thunderball". Starts out great (notwithstanding IMO the distasteful Pat Fearing scenes) and then drags in its finale with the tedious underwater fight scenes. This is also my chance to rebuke the Fleming purists who always insisted that Rik Van Nutter was the best Felix Leiter. They said this only because of Van Nutter's physical resemblance to the literary Leiter (and even then Raymond Benson, the worst of the purists was mad that Leiter wasn't being shown with a steel hook and wooden leg because of his maiming in the "Live And Let Die" novel as if we were supposed to think that was important!) and overlooked the fact that Van Nutter has the personality of a block of wood and just serves the role of a yes-man for Bond whereas Jack Lord (unfairly ripped by Benson in his book) was playing a Leiter who you could believe was just as good an agent as Bond (and Lord later proved he was capable of some Bondian style adventures on "Hawaii Five-O"!) IMO, David Hedison was the only other Leiter who belonged in Lord's class but Van Nutter IMO is the worst of them (Cec Linder and Norman Burton were miscast IMO but at least they have personalities).

Thunderball is my favorite Bond movie, but I do agree with you that the actor playing Felix is the worst of anyone in the series to have played that role. Saying he "has the personality of a block of wood" is insulting to wood. I've never personally heard fans defend him, but then I tend to tune out Fleming purists in general.

Bond raping the masseuse at the beginning... yeah, I acknowledge that's very problematic. I try to overlook it as being a product of the times, but that part of the movie has definitely aged terribly. On the other hand, compared to some of the vile misogyny in the Fleming books, that scene seems almost tame.

I like the scuba climax, personally. I get that the pacing is a little sluggish compared to modern action movies, but I find it a unique and fascinating sequence.

I consider Thunderball the zenith of Connery's run in the franchise. His next two Bond movies (three if you count Never Say Never Again) veer too sharply into silliness and camp.

 

[Osato]

Thunderball is my favorite Bond movie, but I do agree with you that the actor playing Felix is the worst of anyone in the series to have played that role. Saying he "has the personality of a block of wood" is insulting to wood. I've never personally heard fans defend him, but then I tend to tune out Fleming purists in general.

Bond raping the masseuse at the beginning... yeah, I acknowledge that's very problematic. I try to overlook it as being a product of the times, but that part of the movie has definitely aged terribly. On the other hand, compared to some of the vile misogyny in the Fleming books, that scene seems almost tame.

I like the scuba climax, personally. I get that the pacing is a little sluggish compared to modern action movies, but I find it a unique and fascinating sequence.

I consider Thunderball the zenith of Connery's run in the franchise. His next two Bond movies (three if you count Never Say Never Again) veer too sharply into silliness and camp.

Thunderball and diamonds are my most watched Connery bond films. The lighter touch with diamonds doesn’t bother me. I agree Thunderball is slow in places but I still love it as it is.

 

[Dave H]

I've watched the first five films so far. I might watch Diamonds Are Forever tonight. I think Dr. No and Godfinger are the only two I've ever seen before and that was a while ago, so I am not a huge Bond fan but they had my interest. But my favorite ranking order is: 1) Goldfinger, 2) From Russia with Love, 3) Dr. No, 4) You Only Live Twice, and 5) Thunderball. I was disappointed with Thunderball on multiple levels and it almost felt like a Bond "jump the shark". You Only Live Twice felt more on-track for a Bond to me, but I think the first three are well above the last two. I'm keeping my expectations in check for 'Diamonds. I'm a bit disappointed in the series, overall. I guess I was expecting something more...something better. But I know that's an individual preference thing.

 

[Robert Harris]

Thunderball is my favorite Bond movie, but I do agree with you that the actor playing Felix is the worst of anyone in the series to have played that role. Saying he "has the personality of a block of wood" is insulting to wood. I've never personally heard fans defend him, but then I tend to tune out Fleming purists in general.

Bond raping the masseuse at the beginning... yeah, I acknowledge that's very problematic. I try to overlook it as being a product of the times, but that part of the movie has definitely aged terribly. On the other hand, compared to some of the vile misogyny in the Fleming books, that scene seems almost tame.

I like the scuba climax, personally. I get that the pacing is a little sluggish compared to modern action movies, but I find it a unique and fascinating sequence.

I consider Thunderball the zenith of Connery's run in the franchise. His next two Bond movies (three if you count Never Say Never Again) veer too sharply into silliness and camp.

I believe that most readers are aware that the Fleming Bond novels have been “cleansed” in recent itinerations.

 

[Richard Kaufman]

One vote for David Hedison, and wasn't he the only actor to play Leiter twice?