The DVD Dissection: Thunderball (Blu-Ray)
Posted by Chad Webb on 11.09.2008
The underrated 4th Bond installment is enhanced with the Blu-Ray treatment.
Sean Connery: James Bond
Claudine Auger: Dominique "Domino" Derval
Adolfo Celi: Emilio Largo - SPECTRE #2
Luciana Paluzzi: Fiona Volpe
Rik Van Nutter: Felix Leiter
Guy Doleman: Count Lippe
Molly Peters: Patricia Fearing
Martine Beswick: Paula Caplan
Bernard Lee: M
Desmond Llewelyn: Q
Lois Maxwell: Miss Moneypenny
Earl Cameron: Pinder
Paul Stassino: Major Francois Derval
Rose Alba: Madame Boitier
Directed By: Terence Young
Written By: Richard Maibaum, John Hopkins, and Jack Whittingham
Theatrical Release Date: December 21, 1965
DVD Release Date: October 21, 2008
Running Time: 130 minutes
Rated PG for violence and sexual innuendo
The Film
Thunderball was the 4th James Bond adventure, and it would go on to become the most popular of the 1960’s. Producers Albert R. Broccoli and Harry Saltzman knew that the taut, low-key approach that flourished in From Russia with Love and Goldfinger could not stay fresh forever. This installment needed to be bigger and bolder. Though not unanimously regarded as one of the best, Thunderball is certainly one of the coolest Bond films, and I have always had a soft spot for its ambition.
If the production on From Russia with Love was met with countless disasters, the shooting of Thunderball was a breeze. I skipped Goldfinger since Guy Hamilton, not Terence Young directed that movie. With Young returning to the helm, the family would be together this one final time. Each member of the cast and crew understood one another and worked hand in hand so comfortably that the morale was consistently positive, and it shows. The Thunderball filming process went along so smoothly in fact that it was completed under schedule. The Bond recipe had been perfected, the characters were cozily in place, and Bond was the hottest thing in the world, second only to the Beatles.
The story begins with James Bond (Sean Connery) taking out one of SPECTRE’s villains as he tries to fool the agent with an artificial funeral. Head of SPECTRE, or #1, Ernst Blofeld enlists #2 Emilio Largo (Adolfo Celi) to seize two atomic bombs. The evil organization blackmails the United States and Great Britain. They must pay the hefty ransom or a major city will be targeted and destroyed. Following this threat, M calls all of the European “00” agents to a meeting, and plays the recorded demands. Each one is given a station and an assigned directive. 007 persuades M (Bernard Lee) to send him to Nassau where he meets CIA friend Felix Leiter (Rik Van Nutter), encounters Mr. Largo, his mistress Domino (Claudine Auger), and has a front row seat to SPECTRE’s ominous plans.
Sean Connery evoked Bond at his peak in Goldfinger and the successor Thunderball. He is visibly more relaxed, increasingly witty, and as graceful as could be in the iconic role. Connery had reached the top of the mountain, and the first three pictures acted as the staircase. Thunderball undoubtedly caused him to step into legend. His performance here is slick, cultivated, and spellbinding. Those who prefer the books know that Fleming’s version is not the same as the one cinema birthed, but on the big screen, Connery is numeral uno, and no one will dethrone him.
Of course his superior M, played with magnificent reliability by Bernard Lee, Lois Maxwell’s enticing Miss Moneypenny, and Desmond Llewelyn’s constantly entertaining Q are back and better than ever. The central villain and newest thug from Blofeld is Adolfo Celi’s Emilio Largo, complete with eye-patch and white suit. Largo is definitely second fiddle to Blofeld, but Celi deserves more credit for his portrayal. Largo is not cartoonish, and possesses a toned down iniquitous quality that suits the large scale Thunderball well. He is extremely cunning, but also manages to grow progressively wicked as he gets outclassed by our hero.
A trio of Bond women makes appearances for this tale which hops all over the globe. Claudine Auger is presented with the main position as the dark-haired Domino Derval, and Molly Peters is the minor fling as masseuse Patricia Fearing, but both are kept in the dust by Luciana Paluzzi’s steamy hot and voluptuous redhead Fiona Volpe. How she is not mentioned alongside the most unforgettable Bond girls is baffling. Her femme fatale character is clever, gorgeous, and treacherous. She almost upstages Adolfo Celi. Blofeld might have received more pleasing results if she was sitting in the conference room instead.
A handful of the Bond films have been fortunate to craft scenes that have aged wonderfully through the years. It was Honey Ryder in Dr. No, the gold dead woman in Goldfinger, but Thunderball by far has the most memorable sequences of any sequel. They have also been spoofed on a number of occasions, but I see this as a filmmaking strength, not a weakness that causes it to look tacky In any event, this was also the only one to get remade (in 1983’s Never Say Never Again). Thanks to Austin Powers, most will be familiar with certain moments in Thunderball, but that does not diminish how fun they are to watch.
For starters, Emilio Largo’s eye-patch, which was included to separate him from previous baddies, was imitated hilariously by Robert Wagner. Largo has at his disposal, a pool of Golden Gratto sharks because he enjoys fishing. Pushing the stooge into the pool so the sharks have lunch was very creative, as was Bond’s evasiveness during his swim with the metal pool cover preventing his escape. Also worth noting is Blofeld’s method of punishing employees that break the rules. The exploding chair, and Largo’s composed expression, is terrific. The fabulous teaser sequence in this case has Bond fleeing a property with a jetpack, which was actually being used by the military incidentally.
Thunderball’s most inventive aspect, is also the primary flaw. The underwater scenes, while brilliantly executed, tend to drag at points. The exception is the concluding battle, which is mind-blowing and marvelous to behold, but prior to that the camera remains sluggish as Largo carries out his various tasks. Peter Hunt’s masterful editing reveals the illusion that superb harpoon exchanges and water vehicles chases are taking place. The action on dry ground is effective too with an excellent car and motorcycle chase, the spa tortures in the beginning segments, and a gripping foot pursuit through a Mardi Gras parade.
Maurice Binder’s credits design is complimented amazingly by the title song by Tom Jones, so this must be Carlton Banks’ favorite Bond. No matter what you think of Tom Jones outside of the Bond universe, his voice is perfect for one of these adventures. Director Terence Young, cinematographer Ted Moore, and the Oscar winning special effects by John Sears blended wondrously. The diligent results they produced were exciting, dramatic, and mesmerizing. However, the water sequence issue mentioned above causes the 2 hour running time rule to rear its head. Whenever a film runs over 2 hours, some audiences grow restless, and this can be the case with Thunderball.
The post-Thunderball era for Bond is where the path starts to get a little shaky from film to film. Terence Young would step down as the man who instilled live-action life into the character, and others would go on to try and replicate his extraordinary efforts. Though many people are responsible for Bond’s longevity, Young is the man who made it possible. Thunderball represents how versatile his abilities were, and how invigorating they could be when applied appropriately.
The Video
When you glance at the back cover and it reads “Blu-Ray was made for Bond”, trust me when I say it is an accurate statement. This hi-def transfer has been presented with its original aspect ratios and in 1080p high definition with AVC MPEG-4 encoding. It is crystal clear, pristine, and unquestionably gorgeous. All the defects of an older film like this has vanished. The action sequences really have the opportunity to shine as the cinematography from Young. This is more evidence of how “classic” films can be worth the extra money in the Blu-Ray format. The fact that so much meticulous work went into making a 1964 picture look so fresh and alive is astonishing. This is the same efforts that were put forth in the previous “Ultimate Edition” DVDs, but this elevates that to a whole new level.
The Audio
The sound mixing is certainly stunning to the ears. The music and every single effect from gun shots to explosions are loud and overwhelming in a good way. The dialogue does not match the other sound elements more often than the others, but every character is understandable. That means you must turn the volume up a little so that the action does not overwhelm everything else, and be careful not to annoy the neighbors. This disc offers a DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 surround sound track, as well as the original presentation which is a two-channel mono track. The disc also contains a Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound track in French, and a two-channel mono Spanish track. Subtitles in English and Spanish are also available.
The Packaging
Thunderball, the Blu-Ray disc is distributed in a slimline clear blue case with a cardboard slipcover on top of that. The artwork of both is the same. The slipcovers for Blu-Ray seem to reveal shelf wear quicker than normal keep case slipcovers, but they're included to prevent theft so we have to deal with them. The menus are typically aggravating for Bond films. Don’t get me wrong, they are always neat looking, but the "Initiate Mission" instead of play, and other coded entries get old. Actually, these are a bit easier to navigate through, until you get to the extras. The menu design is neat with the 007 logo and clips from the film.
The Extras
Since this is the first appearance of Bond on Blu-Ray, I’ll refrain from giving you the history of the standard DVD releases. As a reminder, Blu-Ray disc and standard discs should not be compared since they are two different formats. It would be like me giving the history of a film on VHS while I do a DVD review. I should also talk about the compatibility of these Blu-Ray discs. I had to update my firmware before any of the Bond would play past the menu screen, so just be aware of that if you decide to buy one and have yet to update.
M16 Commentary - The commentary track on From Russia with Love, and every Bond Blu-Ray disc recycles a commentary which was included on a standard release. It really doesn’t matter, as the original commentaries are as effective as any new one would be. Here, John Cork from the Ian Fleming Foundation hosts an assortment of interviews with Director Terence Young, in addition to various members of the cast and crew. This particular disc has a second commentary track with interviews from Editor Peter Hunt and Screenwriter John Hopkins spliced in. They do not follow the film much, but the conversations are extremely interesting, especially as Hunt describes his voice-dubbing techniques. On occasion, collage commentary tracks can grow bland because they have no flow. It is simply clips spliced in, and that can be fabulous and also irritating. This one is a bit of both actually, but the information revealed is quite intriguing and educational as long as you’re patient.
DECLASSIFIED: M16 VAULT The Incredible World of James Bond: The Original 1965 NBC Television Special (50:54) – The best clips from this can be found in the documentaries, but this is still worth a look. Basically they use clips from the first four films to stretch the length. They describe the character and random scenes as they are narrated by Alexander Scourby.
A Child’s Guide to Blowing Up a Motor Car: 1965 Ford Promotional Film (17:09) – This is a morbid little bonus that has a child named Chris being escorted to a Thunderball set by his Godfather. The adult is very mean, yet shows Chris how to wire a car for explosives. The kid then uses this information to blow up the car with his Godfather inside. He turns out to be ok, but geez people would have a field day if this aired today.
On Location with Ken Adams (13:06) – This displays a range of locations that were scouted as Ken Adams talks about them. He also discusses various facets of the filmmaking process since others had more time to do so on other featurettes.
Bill Suitor: The Rocket Man Movies (3:54) – The person who enabled the crew to use this device describes its creation, how it feels to wear it, and how Director Terence Young wanted to use it without a helmet.
Thunderball: Boat Show Reel (2:51) – This is rather intriguing. These were clips strewn together for a boat show, but it is also an alternate version of the underwater battle sequence. In this case, it is too short.
Selling Bonds: The Original 1965 TV Commercials (2:05) – These can be viewed all at once or individually. There are 3 in all, and they advertise Bond slacks, a raincoat, a fun pack with a pen I’d love to own.
007 MISSION CONTROL
Boy was this section a pain to weave through. The point is you can click on various categories and be whisked away to the scene in the film that covers the topic you clicked on. The categories are: 007, Women, Allies, Villains, Mission Combat Manual, and Q Branch, with sub-categories inside each of those. The only semi-neat bonus here is the Bond gun barrel sequence textless from under the “007” name. “Exotic Locations” looks at the various locations for From Russia with Love. Most of these range anywhere from 1 to 5 minutes in length.
MISSION DOSSIER The Making of Thunderball (27:34) – This making-of documentary chronicles the weird process of acquiring the rights to the source, and how Thunderball was initially supposed to be the first Bond picture. It goes on to discuss the underwater sequences, the easy production schedule, the stunts, the popularity, and how one explosion caused windows 30 miles away to break. As usual, neat interviews with various cast and crew members are inserted for our enjoyment.
The Thunderball Phenomenon (31:04) – For some reason, this featurette begins by stating Bond’s origins, as written by Ian Fleming. Then, it goes into the subject of the enormous popularity of this picture, and all the toys that were in stores such as a really cool pen, a road race set, and so forth. I’ll bet these go for a lot of money on Ebay. Anyway, the soundtrack, and how it was released before it was actually finished is touched on. The full score would be in stores for 30 more years. Connery refused to attend the premieres after Goldfinger due to a fan throwing themselves in his car.
The Secret History of Thunderball (3:56) – This is a newer extra that briefly chats about the various lines depending on which version of Thunderball you have seen. The sounds and music were wonderfully updated for the most recent DVDs.
MINISTRY OF PROPAGANDA Theatrical Archive (8:24) – Remember that trailers/spots in the old days were overly long, and this is no different, but still, they are fun to skim through.
TV Spots (3:31) – Five TV spots are included, and can again be played all at once. These are all about Dr. No, so the above statements apply.
Radio Spots (5:03) – We have eleven of the radio spots, and they are cool to listen to for a couple minutes since not many DVD releases attach them.
IMAGE DATABASE
A series of image galleries can be found in this section. There are 11 in all, and are fun to peruse after watching the film.
The Film: 9.0/10.0
The Video: 10.0/10.0
The Audio: 9.0/10.0
The Packaging: 8.5/10.0
The Extras: 9.0/10.0
The 411: Thunderball is one my favorite Bond films because it offers so much in terms of pure entertainment. The action, the gadgets, and all the memorable scenes are just fantastic to watch over and over again. At this point, the franchise was as comfortable as possible, and would become shakier after Director Terence Young left the series. The technical specifications are top-notch once again with the underwater material looking beautiful. The reason for the higher rating rests mainly with the extras, which are lengthier and more interesting that on the other discs. Plus, this has an added commentary, which is always welcomed. Personally, I think Thunderball illustrates how accessible the Bond movies can be over 4 decades later. For the most satisfactory experience according to the entire DVD, I would recommend this one most of all.
