The James Bond Collection, Vol. 1 (Special Edition)

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The James Bond Collection, Vol. 1 collects the same feature-packed DVDs that appeared in previous Bond boxes, but in a new combination of titles, one with a decidedly golden gleam. In 1962 Sean Connery defined the cinematic James Bond as a tough, charming, and thoroughly professional cold war spy with a license to kill in the lean, hard-edged Dr. No. With Ursula Andress (as the original Bond girl Honeychile Ryder, who makes her entrance in a bikini), Bond battles a renegade supervillain with little more than his wits, his cunning, and his Walther PPK. In Goldfinger (1964) Connery's steely presence helped forge the formula of tongue-in-cheek wit, wondrous secret agent toys created by Q, and megalomaniac supervillains bent on world destruction.

Roger Moore brought a light tone and a suave assurance to the series, and in The Man with the Golden Gun (1974), he battles million-dollar assassin Christopher Lee, one of Bond's most magnetic adversaries. The Spy Who Loved Me (1977), perhaps Moore's finest hour, is a return to the extravagant set pieces and cold war thrills of Connery's pictures and introduces Richard Kiel's steel-dentured Jaws to the series. Timothy Dalton made his second and final appearance as Bond in Licence to Kill (1989), the toughest of the Bond films since Connery's early efforts. Though not a fan favorite, it's a sleek, solid adventure with an edge missing from the Moore pictures.

Pierce Brosnan is the latest to take on the 007 mantle, combining the best of Connery's cool and Moore's humor. GoldenEye (1995) is a grand globetrotting adventure with lovely Bond girls and a tough new M (Judy Dench). Tomorrow Never Dies (1997) doesn't recapture that magic mix of action, gadgetry, and romance, but does feature the first Bond girl to match 007 blow for blow: Hong Kong action superstar Michelle Yeoh. The DVD editions of the films each feature audio commentary tracks by the director and key members of the crew, making-of documentaries, and a host of stills, TV spots, and trailers. --Sean Axmaker

Customer Reviews:

oh sean,sean,where have you been?.......2006-12-26

i don't know if anybody mentioned this(ihaven't read all the reviews)but why is it these movies aren't released in box sets according to the indiviual actors who played the secret agent?you know,a sean connery set,a roger moore set,etc.for years i've been yelling for a connery set(whom i consider the best,though they're all good)but to no avail.as many times as they've released these,you'd think they would've done so.therefore i was dissapointed when these collections came out.please give us a chance to pick the bonds we like,without throwing them all together.

Good...but not THAT good.......2006-11-29

Ok, this is the best set in this collection in my opinion. The movies are some of my favorites in the series. You have 2 great Sean Connery movies in Dr. No and Goldfinger; probably the best Roger Moore movie in The Spy Who Loved Me, and a great Brosnan film in Goldeneye (How can you not like Sean Bean as a bad guy) The problem I have with this collection is the quality and the price. While watching these movies I noticed, especially on the older movies, the poor picture quality. I felt like I was watching a movie on 1960's film. I also had disk problems with this set. My copy of Goldfinger would skip as the menus came up. The only other physical problem with this set is that on my copy (and most copies) of Tomorrow Never Dies there was a little camera icon at the top for like half of the movie. Now, you can usually get rid of it by pushing clear, but it is still very annoying. My biggest problem with this set is the price. It costs about $100 for Volume 1 and the other 2 sets can be upwards of $160. That means to have all the bond movies in this set could cost you around $400. I would recommend the new Ultimate Edition (UE) James Bond collection to anyone looking at this set. The picture and disk quality of the (UE) are SOOOO much better, and you can buy all 4 sets for a little over $200.00 total. So to sum up this is a good set, but the UEs are a MUCH better value and the quality is considerable better. My advice spend your money on the Ultimate Editions.

James Bond Collection, Vol. 1.......2005-09-16

Although I'm not sure who's at fault, I ordered all three volumes of the James Bond Collections, from three different sellers. This seller failed to include the box for the set, which angered me. I was pretty sure that it did not say in his description that the box wasn't included! He is purchasing the movies individually and selling them as a box set (to command more money)and to me that is very misleading! I wanted to have all three box sets and ended up with 7 seperate Bond movies without the box! I won't ever buy from this seller again!

Great...more Bond..........2005-08-24

Great, they brought out more James Bond. As if the original Dr. No theme wasn't annoying enough before, now it sounds twice as good (or bad if you don't like the music). And if you dont want to spend more than $100.00 each set, watch Spike TV during Thanksgiving - they repeat all the James Bond movies so much it really gets on your nerves. Good stories, the movies weren't so good...

Must Have Bond, James Bond.......2005-08-12

This collection includes various Bond movies from four of the actors that have played James Bond in the "official" Bond movies, which excludes "Never Say Never Again." My only complaint about the three collections is that the movies are not in order. I have all three sets because I like Bond rather than wanting all the Bond movies by one of the three actors. However, you have to take them as you can get them sometimes.

Each of the movies in this collection is a "special edition," which is a fancy name for DVDs that include extras that range in value from high to low. I have been very fascinated with some of the commentaries (those by Terence Young were very fascinating) and some of the features just seemed like filler. However, what I found interesting other may not, and vice versa. Rather than listing all the extras, a list of which is available, I will discuss the movies briefly.

"Dr. No" launched the Bond franchise. Sean Connery set the tone for Bond, suave, debonair, and terminally cool. He drove nice cars and had a penchant for dry one-liners. Ursula Andress set the tone for future Bond women, and Dr. No was coolly ruthless. Ken Adam's sets were artistic and artfully filmed by Terence Young, who also provided the stylistic role model for Connery's Bond. In the extras you learn that Connery was mentored by Young and acquired expensive tastes and hobbies in the process.

Many people consider the second movie in this collection, 1964's "Goldfinger," to be the best Bond film ever. Bond's villains continued to be ruthless and megalomaniacs, and Connery has a close encounter with a laser. Shirley Bassey belts out the title song and sets the standard for future Bond music. James Bond also quips that drinking Dom Perignon above 38 degrees Fahrenheit is "...as bad as listening to the Beatles without earmuffs." Fortunately, Paul McCartney did not take it personally as he recorded the title track to the 1973 Bond movie "Live and Let Die." Bond also got ever more gadgets from Q, played by Desmond Llewelyn, who went on to appear in more Bond movies than any other major actor.

The third movie in the collection is Roger Moore's second outing as Bond. "The Man with the Golden Gun" from 1974 is a mixed bag. Christopher Lee as Scaramanga and Herve Villechaize are two of the most bizarre and ruthless Bond villains ever. There are fewer gadgets than in some of the surrounding Bond movies, but Moore's performance is a bit wooden and Clifton James was a bit over-the-top as comic relief. The title song by singer Lulu is pretty good, but pales in comparison to many of the other title songs in the series.

The fourth movie in this collection attempted to put Bond back on track. The 1977 movie "The Spy Who Loved Me" had a very serious undertone. The gadgets are back, but effective. We meet Jaws (Richard Kiel) and Karl Stromberg (Curt Jürgens). We also meet incredible Bond women Caroline Munro and Barbara Bach. The stunts are awesome, the plot is incredible, the locations fantastic and the title song by Carly Simon pushed Bond music back into relevancy. This movie was one of Roger Moore's best as James Bond.

Timothy Dalton's second film, 1989's "License to Kill," is the weaker of the two Dalton Bond films. However, the supporting cast is excellent, including Carey Lowell of "Law and Order" fame, Robert Davi, Talisa Soto, and David Hedison as Felix Leiter in his last appearance in a Bond film. The location shots are very good, and the stunts are among the best of any Bond film. They actually had those semi-tractor trailers up on two wheels, according to the extras. The bad guy may have been a mere drug czar, but everyone was suitably evil. Gladys Knight takes the honors for the title song and Patti LaBelle sings the pop hit "If You Asked Me To" to close the movie.

The last two movies in this collection are Pierce Brosnan's first and second Bond movies. In 1995's "Goldeneye," Bond is more dynamic and a more traditional spy. This movie raised the location stakes by filming for the first time in Russia, along with a number of other exotic locations. The gadgets are better, and the women are nearly more than Bond can handle, especially Xenia Onatopp. This movie contains more plot twists than a typical Bond movie, so be prepared to think a little as things go boom. Tina Turner does the title song reasonably well, but her performance has powerful competition in many of the other recent Bond films.

The final film in this collection is 1997's "Tomorrow Never Dies." The supporting cast this time is phenomenal, with the great actor Jonathan Pryce as Elliot Carver, Teri Hatcher as his wife Paris Carver, and Michelle Yeoh as Chinese agent Wei Lin, among numerous others. Jonathan Pryce steals nearly every scene he is in, reminiscent of some other great Bond villains. The locations are ever more incredible, digital effects abound, and the stunts are even more thrilling. That motorcycle jump was really performed! Cheryl Crow does a great job on the title song, and the excellent video is included.

Because of all the extras these DVDs require hours to watch. While the value of the extras varies, watching them gives a fan much more information about the difficulties of making each movie, and how many of the stunts were performed. I consider these movies to be among the gems of my DVD collection. I recommend this set very highly as long as you plan on collecting all the Bond films.

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