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Dom Robinson reviews
Special EditionDistributed by
MGM
- Cert:
- Cat.no: 16205 DVD
- Running time: 125 minutes
- Year: 1983
- Pressing: 2001
- Region(s): 2 (UK PAL)
- Chapters: 32 plus extras
- Sound: Dolby Digital 2.0 (Dolby Pro Logic)
- Languages: English
- Subtitles: 12 languages available
- Widescreen: 2.35:1 (Panavision)
- 16:9-enhanced: Yes
- Macrovision: No
- Disc Format: DVD 9
- Price: £19.99
- Extras: Featurette: Inside Octopussy, Featurette: Designing Bond – PeterLamont, Storyboard sequences, Music Video, Four Trailers, Audio Commentary.
Director:
- John Glen
(Aces: Iron Eagle III, Checkered Flag, Christopher Columbus: The Discovery, For Your Eyes Only, Licence to Kill, The Living Daylights,Octopussy, The Point Men, Space Precinct (TV), A View to A Kill)
Producers:
- Albert R. Broccoli
Screenplay:
- George MacDonald Fraser, Richard Maibaum and Michael G. Wilson
Music:
- John Barry
Cast:
- James Bond: Roger Moore
Octopussy: Maud Adams
Kamal Khan: Louis Jourdan
Magda: Kristina Wayborn
Gobinda: Kabir Bedi
General Orlov: Steven Berkoff
Q: Desmond Llewelyn
M: Robert Brown
Octopussy(Maud Adams) is the name of the girl who links three men:James Bond (Roger Moore), the exceedingly wealthy Indian Prince,Kamal Khan (Louis Jourdan) and the mad-as-a-fish Russian GeneralmOrlov (Steven Berkoff).
Together, the latter two plan to replicate famous Russian art treasures,including the Faberge egg which kicks it all off as it finds its way into thehands of the British embassy when soon-to-be-dead agent 009 literallycrashes into a party. To top things off, Khan and Orlov are all set todetonate a nuclear device at an American Air Force base. Bond begins toput a stop to their plans by travelling to India.
Stunts in this film include a 3-wheeler taxi chase, Bond escaping in a plane,Magda (Kristina Wayborn) ‘abseiling’ off her balcony window and Bondlaunching himself down the staircase bannister, machine gun in hand.
Bond Trivia #1: In the same year as this film, Sean Connery returnedfor one last adventure in a ‘rival’ Bond film, Never Say Never Again,which to date has only been available for UK home viewing on a fullscreenvideo and an old analogue PAL laserdisc, but has still to make an appearancein widescreen and/or on DVD.
Bond Trivia #2: Maud Adams, who played the titular role ofOctopussy also played Andrea Anders in The Man with the Golden Gunand had an uncredited cameo as an extra in a San Francisco street carinA View to a Kill
The picture is mostly very good most of the time, with just a few pictureflecks and a slightly soft look to it to mar your viewing. The film ispresented in the original 2.35:1 widescreen ratio and is anamorphic.The average bitrate is a medicore 4.42Mb/s, often hovering around that markbut once peaking over 8Mb/s.
The sound is in Dolby Pro Logic, which has its moments, but these are onlywhen the stunts kick in. The rest of the time it remains fairly quiet withlittle to excite the speakers.
Extras : Chapters :The usual 32 chapters for an MGM, which is an excellent amount. If only some other DVDcompanies could take a lesson from this one. Languages & Subtitles :English is the only language on the disc – in Dolby Surround – and there are subtitlesin 12 languages: English (and hard of hearing), Dutch, Swedish, Finnish,Norwegian, Danish, Portuguese, Polish, Greek, Hebrew, Hungarian and Turkish. And there’s more… :There’s not as many extras this time round as with some of the earlierdiscs in the series.
- Featurette: Inside Octopussy (33 mins): Anotherdocumentary narrated by Patrick MacNee, with chat from manystars and crew members such as co-screenwriter Michael G. Wilson,director John Glen, production designer Peter Lamont andits stars, Maud Adams, Vijay Armitraj and Roger Moore.It was doubtful at first whether Moore would return to the role for this film,so screentests were shot for potential alternatives such as MichaelBillington and James Brolin.
- Featurette: Designing Bond – Peter Lamont (21 mins): A look at the production designer and his work in this film, with chatfrom many of the same people as above plus friends and relatives.
- Storyboard sequences (7 mins): Two available for the taxi chase andwhere Bond rescues Octopussy.
- Music Video (3 mins): Rita Coolidge singing All Time High,written by Tim Rice.
- Four Trailers (8 mins): In order, presented in: non-anamorphic16:9, non-anamorphic 2.35:1, a 4:3 picture ‘squashed’ down to a 16:9 ratio andanamorphic 16:9. They look a bit iffy, but are worth a look nonetheless.
- Audio Commentary: from director John Glen.
Some of the content, particularly the TV spots, isn’t exactly first-ratein terms of picture quality and sound, but it adds to the nostalgic qualityand all the interviews are clear enough. Menu :An animated and scored main menu, plus similar treatment given to the swipesbetween menus, as we’ve come to expect from these Bond releases, this DVDhaving a lush blue look to it.The initial screen offers you the choice to start the film, select a scene,choose a language or watch the extras.
I don’t actually remember this film in the series being as lacklustre as itturned out to be, compared to some of Moore’s other Bond performances and italso appears that as the series proceeds, so does the number of extras dwindle.
PICTURE QUALITY
SOUND QUALITY
EXTRAS
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Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.