Thunderball

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Dom Robinson reviews


Special EditionDistributed by

MGM

    Cover

  • Cert:
  • Cat.no: 16228 DVD
  • Running time: 125 minutes
  • Year: 1965
  • Pressing: 2000
  • Region(s): 2 (UK PAL)
  • Chapters: 32 plus extras
  • Sound: Dolby Digital 5.1
  • Languages: English
  • Subtitles: English (and hard of hearing)
  • Widescreen: 2.35:1 (Panavision)
  • 16:9-enhanced: Yes
  • Macrovision: No
  • Disc Format: DVD 9
  • Price: £19.99
  • Extras : Scene index, Booklet, Documentaries: “The Making of Goldfinger” & “The Goldfinger Phenomenon”,Trailer, Publicity Featurette, 3 TV Spots, Radio Spots, Original RadioInterviews with Sean Connery, The Goldfinger Gallery, 2 Audio Commentaries:director Guy Hamilton and Cast & Crew

    Director:

      Terence Young

    (Cold Sweat, Dr. No, From Russia With Love, The Jigsaw Man, Thunderball)

Producer:

    Kevin McClory

Screenplay:

    Richard Maibaum and John Hopkins

Music:

    John Barry

Cast:

    James Bond: Sean Connery (The Anderson Tapes, The Avengers, Diamonds Are Forever, Dr. No, Dragonheart, Entrapment, First Knight, From Russia With Love, Goldfinger, Highlander 1 & 2, The Hunt For Red October,Indiana Jones And The Last Crusade, Just Cause, The Longest Day, The Man with the Deadly Lens, Marnie, Murder on the Orient Express, The Name of the Rose, The Presidio, Ransom, Rising Sun, The Rock, The Russia House, Thunderball,Time Bandits, The Untouchables, You Only Live Twice)
    Domino Derval: Claudine Auger (Thunderball)
    Emilio Largo: Adolfo Celi (The Agony and the Ecstasy, Thunderball)
    Fiona Volpe: Luciana Paluzzi (Thunderball)
    M: Bernard Lee (The Battle of the River Plate, The Blue Lamp, Dr. No, From Russia With Love, Goldfinger, Live and Let Die, The Man Upstairs, Moonraker, On Her Majesty’s Secret Service,The Spy Who Loved Me, Thunderball, Whistle Down the Wind, You Only Live Twice)

Thunderballwas the first film to be shot in 2.35:1 Panavision, marked a return for original Bond directorTerence Young, features a theme tune sung by Tom Jones and went on to becomethe biggest Bond film of the Sixties.

As I watch this series of films progress, many of themones I have never seen before including this one, it brings home two particular things: firstlythe amount of plaigarism (sorry, “paying homage to”) by theAustin Powers film spoofs and,secondly, how much of a bastard Bond really is. He’s not a ladies man at all, as shown onthe dance floor during the film, for example. When he’s being shot at, he moves his dancingpartner in the way of the bullet. I’m sorry, but that’s really not the most romantic thingto do.

S.P.E.C.T.R.E. is up to its old tricks again and out to avenge the death of Colonel JacquesBouvar, at the hands of ‘Monsieur Bond’ (Sean Connery). The plan this time is to demanda ransom from the North Atlantic Treaty powers of $280 million (£100 million, at the time)Agent Count Lippe (Guy Doleman) has been dispatched to the South of England to do thebusiness.

The best way to make a threat is by stealing a Vulcan plane from NATO containing a coupleof atomic bombs and say you’ll destroy a major city within seven days if payment is notmade. The plan to stop S.P.E.C.T.R.E. No.2 Emilio Largo (Adolfo Celi) is codenamed”Thunderball”.

The cast also includes two Bond girls – one good, Domino Derval (Claudine Auger)and one bad – Fiona Volpe (Luciana Paluzzi), the latter being No.2’s other half -and yet another actor playing the role of Felix Leiter (Rik Van Nutter).

An anamorphic 2.35:1 widescreen ratio, with a number of flecks on the print at times,although moreso during the opening scene, but it still looks damn good for a 35-year-oldfilm. Surprisingly, the opening credits are slightly windowboxed.The average bitrate is a good 5.81Mb/s, often peaking over 7Mb/s.

The sound comes across in remastered Dolby Digital 5.1, bringing life to all the actionsequences from the jetpack, through “the rack” spine-stretching scene to the underwaterspectacle. Oh and not to mention the opening ‘gunshot’ in the traditional Bond walk-on.

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 remastered Dolby Digital 5.1 – and there are subtitlesfor English (and hard of hearing). And there’s more… :MGM seem to be pulling out all the stops for their Bond collection and starting with thefirst Bond film made we have a great amount for you to sink your teeth into.

  • Featurette: Inside Thunderball (4 mins): A brief notefrom Patrick MacNee about how different versions of the film havefeatured different dialogue dubbed over, some with missing music.

  • Featurette: The Thunderball Phenomenon (30 mins): A look atthe most successful Bond film of the sixties, again narrated by MacNee andfeaturing clips from the film and chat from actresses Lois Maxwell, MollyPeters, Luciana Paluzzi, Michael Van Blaricum, President of theIan Fleming Foundation and Q (the late Desmond Llewelyn).

  • Featurette: The Making of Thunderball (27 mins): Not had enoughfeaturettes yet? This one follows in the same vein, again narrated by MacNeeand including chat from Sean Connery and director Terence Young.

  • 4 Trailers (8 mins): It only states three, but there are four,the last one being a combination of Thunderball and You Only LiveTwice, the fifth Bond film. The first two are in anamorphic 2.35:1, whilethe last two are letterboxed at approx 1.66:1.

  • TV spots (3½ mins): Five altogether. Two for this filmalone in 4:3-cropped black and white, plus three in colour offering a”Bond Sale” double-bill of Thunderball and From Russia With Love.

  • Radio spots (5 mins): 10 radio adverts from United Artiststo promote the film in the USA.

  • The Thunderball Gallery: Over 600 still images from several differentpoints in the film

  • 2 Audio Commentaries: one featuring director Terence Youngand “others”, with the second featuring Peter Hunt, John Hopkins and”others”.

Some of the content, particularly the TV spots, aren’t exactly first-ratein terms of picture quality and sound, but it adds to the nostalgic qualityand all the interviews are clear and easy to hear. Menu :An underwater theme, naturally, with the Bond theme smashing through thespeakers in surround sound, topped off with a Dolby Digital 5.1 roar from theMGM lion.The initial screen offers you the choice to start the film, select a scene,choose a language or watch the extras.

This is fourth Bond film to feature Connery and another one I haven’t seenbefore. There’s some good action set pieces, but also a handful of slow scenesand Adolfo Celi isn’t the most deadly of Bond villains.However, when things do calm down a bit, more action isn’t too far away and it’sweird to see land-based physics applied to the underwater climax.The disc is also stacked with extras again, so this DVD comes well-recommended.

FILM CONTENT
PICTURE QUALITY
SOUND QUALITY
EXTRAS


OVERALL
Review copyright © Dominic Robinson, 2000.

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