JAMES BOND ULTIMATE COLLECTION (1 Viewer)

[Osato]

That's an amazing deal for an amazing set of films!

I am so happy with the top notch picture and 5.1 DTS audio quality on the new sets. You won't be disappointed!

I just watched Thunderball over the weekend. Fantastic.

Hopefully the HD versions are coming in 2008 with Bond 22!!

 

[Hank]

I just received Vol. 1 & 2 from Circuit City.com This was an amazing price for these, now my collection is complete along with my Casino Royale Blu-ray Disc next to my 4 box sets.

 

[PaulP]

All four of mine arrived last night. Sweet.

 

[Osato]

Paul - Are you happy with the new discs?

 

[DVDvision]

Regarding the colors I upscaled all my Pal discs on my HD-DVD player and made a quick compare.
Though the first three (Dr No, Russia, Goldfinger) more or less accurately reflect the original color timings (apart from some shots being washed out), both Thunderball and You Only Live Twice are totally washed out, greeny tinted destructions of the original director's of photography work, that look totally unlike these movie ever looked. All the color and mood is gone, with Connery now looking like a tarted up old man with apparent make up lines, where he originally was sun-tanned from head to toe. Short of adding wires into flying planes, they could not have destroyed the movies better.

This "let's color time with the skin tones being accurate" thing should stop. These movies were never intended to look natural, they should look like you are seeing a window to another world.

 

[Kevin Harper]

I couldn't agree more. This backs up my original comments that the people working on the remastering/colour timing of these films clearly have no idea of how the films looked back in the cinema (and in other home video incarnations to a large degree). It would appear that they have been retimed so as to look more 'modern' for want of a better word. This is perhaps why so many people keep commenting on the fact they look like they were made yesterday! They weren't...

Thunderball was made in 1965 with a lush Technicolor pallette but it now looks very flat and washed out, not at all like the 60s holiday brochure feel it used to have. Similarly You Only Live Twice now has a greenish tint and a filtered look about it which destroys the work of one of the industy's most accomplished cinematographers. Let's not even start on OHMSS...

Admittedly there are some films which are vastly improved - The Man With The Golden Gun for instance, but on the whole the Ultimate Editions do not present the films to their best advantage.

 

[PaulP]

What's not to be happy about? They're excellent all around! And I have the advantage of never really seeing any of these films, especially the older ones. I'm having a blast watching them in chronological order.

 

[Osato]

Awesome.

I was very happy with them as well.

 

[Osato]

Comparisons on Special Edition and Ultimate Edition dvd's of Dr. No, OHMSS, Live and let Die:

YouTube - Dr. No ULTIMATE EDITION comparison - How to get it right!

YouTube - How not to remaster a DVD!

YouTube - How not to remaster a DVD!...part 2

Assuming that the Special Editions color was correct?

 

[Kevin Harper]

I have seen these films in many incarnations over the past 30 years or so and the SE editions are more accurate the how the films looked in cinemas (i.e. dirty, scratched and 'film-like' !!!).

I think the OHMSS clip shows the day and night difference in the colour timing.

 

[Southpaw]

Anyone have opinions on which movies have the best commentary tracks? Specifically, I'm wondering if some Roger Moore tracks are better than others. Also, how they compare to the director tracks.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

While they're not my favorite of the Bond films, I've enjoyed Tom Mankewicz's commentaries since I heard him on "Superman: The Movie" - he has a solo track on Live And Let Die, and his comments are also part of the group commentary for Diamonds Are Forever and The Man With The Golden Gun. I haven't given the Roger Moore tracks a full listen, I'd also be curious to know if anyone has a recommendation or favorite.

 

[JoshuaB.]

I found Roger Moore's commentaries to be very pleasing: warm, congratulatory (he always has something appreciative to say about his co-stars and the film crew--he remembers a lot of events from his pre-Bond days too!), self-deprecating (especially his comments about his age as Bond in Octopussy and A View to a Kill) and he points out that his commentaries are not technical in any way, merely musings of things past--he sounds like he's pleased that so many people enjoy his Bond films after so many years, but he's also quick to point out things that didn't work. He's an entertaining, genial retired actor with a lot of memories of his time as 007.

 

[rich_d]

Someone was kind enough to post the Criterion Laserdisc audio commentaries for Dr. No, FRWL and Goldfinger over at the MI6 Forum.

These weren't carried over to the DVDs and were pulled after initial release by Criterion when (supposedly) the Bond Producers were unhappy about their content.

It is against the rules to post the link but if you go to the MI6 website I'm sure you can figure where they are. I certainly don't want anyone to be banned (hint, hint).

General link to the forum.

MI6 Forums :: View Forum - Films (Dr No -> The World Is Not Enough)

 

[Jay Pennington]

^ thanks for the tip! Unfortunately, none of the mp3 links work anymore. :frowning:

 

[brioni]

look in the last couple of pages for the megaupload links, they still work however megaupload itself doesn't work in every country.

i'm the one that posted them BTW.

 

[Southpaw]

Just finished Roger Moore's and John Glen's commentary on Octopussy. I must say I was very impressed with Glen's. Wonderful information and very candid. I can't wait to her his other tracks on the other Bond movies he was involved with.

 

[Jay Pennington]

Thank you!

 

[Grady Reid]

I did a thread search I didn't see anything about this- Does anyone know what the hold-up is with releasing the single disc versions of "On Her Majesty's Secret Service" and "Die Another Day"? OHMSS is one of my favorites.

BTW, I love the single disc versions- for a reasonable price you get a good movie with DTS and DD 5.1 and (for most of them) the original mono/stereo mix. The commentaries aren't bad either!

 

[DaveRU]

I gave up waiting and got the single disc version of OHMSS from Japan, it has the original mono track, unlike other terrorities...