MGM To Re-Release Bond Titles 10/22 (1 Viewer)

[JohnJB]

You guy's who are after OOP bond's, this company www.cd-wow.com (who I've used a couple of times and seem pretty good) offer them all cheaply i.e. < $15 with free delivery worldwide, they appear to be the NTSC & Region 3 (does Hong Kong just say that but in reality make them region all, just a hunch based on my knowledge of Hong Kong) but anamorphic with extras, so I'm guessing identical to Region 1 versions, hope this helps.

 

[JasenP]

I hope they don't make them even cooler or I'll have to buy them all over again. It wouldn't be so bad for me as I only collected the "Connery" titles.

Damned upgradeitis!!

 

[MarkBurton]

Duplicate post....

 

[MarkBurton]

From DVDFile:
"Is there anything new in this collection? Actually, no. Whether that's good news or bad news is up to the fans, but tech specs and features are all exactly the same as the previous Bond releases, right down to the same ugly packaging"

 

[Sam Owens]

The versions at CD-Wow are definitely R3 only (I got Tomorrow Never Dies recently to replace my censored R4 copy). Having said that, they're only $14 shipped.

 

[John H Ross]

Ok, I only want to know one thing. Will the defects on Licence To Kill, OHMSS, etc be fixed. As I recall, the original list of faults was as follows:

1. Four minutes of footage have been accidentally removed from “Never Say Never Again” including the very last time Sean Connery says the line “Bond, James Bond” (not strictly listed as a special edition but still a travesty!)

2. Two short scenes (about 30 seconds total) have been cut from “On Her Majesty’s Secret Service”, one from the cable car sequence and one from the car race (supposedly this was so that a better master could be used, never mind the integrity of the film eh?).

3. Two lines of dialogue during the climax of “Licence To Kill” are badly synched on the 5.1 audio track (Pam says “Well, what are you waiting for? Get In!”, Bond replies “Yes Sir!”).

4. The burned-in film captions (not to be confused with closed-captions for the hard of hearing) have been removed from “The Living Daylights” (“Bratislava, Czechoslovakia”, “What kind of girl do you think I am?”, “Tangier”) and “Octopussy” (“Kremlin Art Repository”, “Get off my bed”) thereby altering the movies from their original theatrical presentation. Rumoured replacements will contain cheap-looking player-generated rubbish.

5. The burned-in film captions have been removed from “Tomorrow Never Dies” and replaced with cheap-looking player-generated rubbish (they had three chances to get this one right and still blew it!)

6. The film captions (albeit player-generated ones) which appeared during the early Russian dialogue scenes in “From Russia With Love” on MGM’s previous DVD release do not appear on the new special edition version.

7. The music video for "A View To A Kill" omits the full introduction with Bond watching the butterfly show.

8. Two documentaries on “Thunderball” have been switched. Selecting the first documentary from the menu takes you to the second and vice versa.

9. Two trailers on “The Living Daylights” have been switched. Selecting the US teaser from the menu takes you to the final theatrical trailer and vice versa.

10. The “pause screen” on “Octopussy” incorrectly features an image of Sean Connery and identifies the film as “Diamonds Are Forever”.

11. A picture on the back of “The Man With The Golden Gun” is from “Live And Let Die”. A picture on the back of “For Your Eyes Only” is from “The Spy Who Loved Me”. The cover of “Licence To Kill” features a publicity photo from “The Living Daylights”.

12. The “You Only Live Twice” booklet includes a picture of Sean Connery from “Never Say Never Again” (which wasn’t even made by MGM!). “The Living Daylights” booklet includes a picture of Timothy Dalton from “Licence To Kill”.

13. Several of the covers display the wrong audio format (5.1 instead of 2.0 etc).

14. Many people have experienced problems playing the second layer of “The Man With The Golden Gun” on a DVD-ROM drive. Various players are refusing to play many of the discs in set 3.

Some of these problems have been fixed already, many haven't. I hope MGM have made SOME effort to fix these things. Any news of repairs?

John

 

[David Lambert]

Wow, that's an extremely thorough list! THANK YOU!

 

[Lyle_JP]

Let's take these one by one:
#1: Was fixed already by MGM/UA. Look for cases with *** before and after the title on the security sticker. Also, since this film isn't part of the Bond series, it won't be a part of any of the upcoming box sets. I'm not even sure if it was ever put on moratorium with the rest of them.
#2: They need to fix this! Incidentally, there was more cut than that. One of Telly Savalas's lines is cut short just before the helicopter attack on Piz Gloria.
#3: They need to fix this! I would like to take some time out to toot my own horn and point out that I was the first person to report this defect on alt.video.dvd (long before even the HTF caught wind of it).
#4: The replacements for these are no rumor. They exist, and I have both. Look for cases with *** before and after the title on the security sticker. Yes, they are ugly player-generated subs (like on Tomorrow Never Dies), but it's better than nothing.
#5: One thing you forgot to mention was that not only did they replace the burned in subs with player generated crap, but they actually missed one! Toward the end, when we get our first glimpse of the British vessel that eventually sinks the stealth boat, we are given the ship's name. This isn't anywhere on all three TND DVDs.
#6: This is NOT a defect! In fact, I'll go so far as to say that the subs which appeared on the first disc of FRWL (the THX disc) were in fact the defect, since they appear on no film print or laserdisc in the history of this movie and couldn't even be shut off. If these are included again, it will be a step backwards.
#7: It'd be nice if they fixed this, but hardly a priority.
#8: A navigational snafu, but hardly worth fretting over. Both docs are easily accessable, you just have to know they've been switched.
#9: See number 8.
#10: I can count on one hand the number of players that even support this feature.
#11: I really think that complaing about problems in the booklets will be more of a distraction to the cause of getting Bond "right" on DVD than a benefit.
#12: See number 11 (and I think points 11 and 12 can probably be combined for the sake of convenience).
#13: Now that IS a goof that should be addressed. But you have it backwards I think. Some of the cases say 2.0 when the disc is really 5.1. I think the larger issue is that there is no excuse for Octopussy being 2.0 only! There were discrete 4.1 mixes on the 70mm prints for this film, we should at least get that on DVD!
#14: The Man With the Golden Gun discs were fixed. Look for cases with *** before and after the title on the security sticker.
-Lyle J.P.

 

[MarkBurton]

Just as an FYI, I was asked earlier offline if the titles in this Updated Box One were the same titles as in the Previous Box One. Well, they are not. I broke it down below for those who are interested...
PREVIOUS BOX ONE
For Your Eyes Only
Goldeneye
Goldfinger
Licence To Kill
Live And Let Die
Thunderball
Tomorrow Never Dies
PREVIOUS BOX TWO
Dr. No
Man With The Golden Gun, The
Moonraker
On Her Majesty's Secret Service
Spy Who Loved Me, The
World Is Not Enough, The (sold separately)
PREVIOUS BOX THREE
Diamonds Are Forever
From Russia With Love
Living Daylights, The
Octopussy
View To A Kill, A
You Only Live Twice
UPDATED BOX ONE
Dr. No
Goldeneye
Goldfinger
Licence To Kill
Man With The Golden Gun, The
Spy Who Loved Me, The
Tomorrow Never Dies
UPDATED BOX TWO
View To A Kill, A
Die Another Day
Moonraker
Octopussy
On Her Majesty's Secret Service
Living Daylights, The
World Is Not Enough, The
UPDATED BOX THREE
Diamonds Are Forever
For Your Eyes Only
From Russia With Love
Live And Let Die
Thunderball
You Only Live Twice

 

[Britton]

I wonder if MGM will allow people to order the new boxes sans the DVDs since I'm sure one of the upcoming boxed sets will include an extra space for Die Another Day, much like they did with The World Is Not Enough in the previous box #2. A&E shipped Mega Boxes to people who email them. It would be great if MGM followed A&E's lead, and I wouldn't even mind a small fee for such a service.

#6: This is NOT a defect! In fact, I'll go so far as to say that the subs which appeared on the first disc of FRWL (the THX disc) were in fact the defect, since they appear on no film print or laserdisc in the history of this movie and couldn't even be shut off. If these are included again, it will be a step backwards.

I can also confirm that the subs on the first disc were a defect because the ABC broadbast (which featured restored transfers that SHOULD be used for these new DVDs) of FRWL about a week ago did NOT have the Russian dialogue subtitles.

 

[David Lawrence]

I was led to believe that the License to Kill DVD was also cut - is this not the case?

 

[Brian W]

I had both Goldfinger DVD releases and have always been really disappointed with the presentation of the Shirley Bassey soundtrack at the opening. Sound is very compressed, fades in and out. Here its the definitive theme song and it has the worst sound mastering than any other portion of the disc (though none of the audio is great). The stereo soundtrack master exists and runs in synch with the movie soundtrack. At the very least, couldn't they have dubbed the stereo sountrack in? As I'm saying it is the identical take and would fit like a glove!

 

[Lyle_JP]

They actually did that on the THX CAV laserdisc of Goldfinger. The title sequence was in stereo (and sounded great) and the rest of the film was in some very dynamic and cleaned-up mono. The sound on that laserdisc was much fuller than the DD 2.0 track on the current DVDs.

-Lyle J.P.

 

[David Lambert]

[c] [/c]
Well, this morning DVDFile says that the other half of my "dream" is coming true!

Finally, on 10/15 comes the only Bond never-before-released on DVD, the spoof Casino Royale. Presented in 2.35:1 anamorphic widescreen with a new 5.1 Dolby Digital remix, extras include the original 1954 TV movie, a featurette, trailers and a collectible booklet. Retail is $19.95.

Note that one of the extra features on the MGM disc is "the original 1954 TV movie". Well, I love that they are including that, but I will still purchase separately the item from Spy Guise that was linked to above which features just the TV Movie. I have talked to those guys, and they are putting together a sweet special edition, and have even recorded supplements with BARRY NELSON (the original Bond!) to include on their DVD. MGM's version won't have THAT! Here is *their* cover art:
[c] [/c]
So, before October is over, I'll definately have both versions of Casino Royale..completing my 007 set! Yay!
EDIT: Oh, I forbid everyone to make fun of the "collectible booklet"! :wink: It's better than no insert, and I like the ones they put with the Bond discs...

 

[Ben Motley]

Dude! That cover is crap! :frowning: How can they black out the super mod freak out body-paint??? -sigh- Oh well, this'll be fun nonetheless.

 

[Dmitry]

Dude! That cover is crap!

I hope that Zinema is going to step in once again and take care of the cover art. He's done a tremendous job so far, don't see him stopping now

 

[Osato]

Here's a link to the MGM announcement of Casino. Note it contains the Barry Nelson version as well. Very cool!!
http://www.dvdfile.com/software/dvd-...002/07_02.html

 

[Cees Alons]

Great news about Casino Royal. I can finally lose my VHS-tapes of that film.

Cees

 

[John H Ross]

I've just heard a slightly troubling rumour. It would appear that the Bond films are being re-issued in three sets (which we knew already) but get this... the first set is being released Autumn 2002, the next Autumn 2003 and the third Austumn 2004. Is this true?

Oh my gawd... does this mean we're gonna have to wait 2-3 years to find out if OHMSS is gonna be corrected?!?

At least Licence To Kill is in the first batch, I just hope they correct that naff dialogue synch mistake at the end.

John

 

[Greg Black]

Found this at the Mi Casa Studios (DVD audio mastering company) web page:

Micasa in Bond-age! The Micasa crew to restore and create new 5.1 soundtracks for MGM Home Entertainment classic James Bond titles: You Only Live Twice, Diamonds are Forever, Live and Let Die, Majesty's Secret Service, Dr. No, From Russia with Love, Thunderball and Goldfinger.

http://www.robertmargouleff.com/micasa/default.htm
Hmmm... seems as if we'll get some decent 5.1 remixes on the new discs, considering Mi Casa's work on other DVD's has been exceptional. Here's a list of DVD's they have mastered the audio for:
http://www.micasamm.com/micasa/filmography.htm