Review of Goldfinger: Ultimate Edition (James Bond)

Introduction

Bond. James Bond.

Everyone`s favourite spy is here again on DVD, this time in the form of the third film, Goldfinger. This film has all of the classic Bond ingredients, and is indeed a true Bond classic.

I grew up with Roger Moore as Bond, but on repeated viewings of the Bond films my opinion has probably changed a few times over who is the best Bond. In Goldfinger, Sean Connery shows some of the reasons why many people consider him to be the best Bond.

I won`t go into the plot as I`m sure most of you are familiar with it. It`s typical Bond fare, an evil villain, nice locations, a mad scheme, Bond facing death, Bond escapes, etc. etc.

This is the another of the new "Ultimate Editions" from Sony - I`ll try and highlight what`s different between the ultimate editions and the original DVD releases.

Video

Another brand spanking new 1.66:1 anamorphic transfer, which is just that bit nicer than the previous edition. It`s still not quite perfect, but it`s an improvement. Not to say that the previous version was bad, but there were some scratches and dust marks which are largely gone.

I seem to be saying this more and more, but if you`ve only ever seen this film on TV in 4:3 (and given the amount of times Bond films are on TV, you probably have), you`ve missed a lot. There are some great locations as ever, and the inside of Fort Knox looks as you`d imagine it might (not many people have actually seen inside it!)

One or two shots show up as being shot against a projected backdrop, but it`s forgivable given the age. Also, if you listen to the commentary you`ll pick up on some shots that were composed this way that you may have missed because they look so good!

Audio

More new stuff here, courtesy of DD5.1 and dts remixes. Purists may lament the passing of the mono track from the previous release, but these remixes are not too bad. Quite subtle in places, but worth doing on the whole. Another great John Barry score too.

Features

Lots and lots of extras for you here.

First, 2 commentary tracks, both on disc 1, from the original release. The first one features director Guy Hamilton, plus several cast members, and gives plenty of insight into the film. It`s introduced and linked by an American Bond specialist who also offers some useful information but his presence on the track sometimes feels too inclusive. Also there`s quite a bit of repetition of audio clips from some of the other extras.

The second commentary features more cast and crew and is similar in style to the first one. Both are definitely worth listening to.

On disc 2 you get two documentaries, both very well narrated by Patrick MacNee. "The Making Of Goldfinger" contains some interesting background to the film, some of which is repeated in the commentaries, and some of which appears elsewhere. "The Goldfinger Phenomenon" is another very good documentary and features some great behind the scenes footage and ropey black and white stuff. This is great to see.

New extras for this release are an interview with Honor Blackman, two new features with Sean Connery and some screen test footage.

There are also trailers, radio and TV spots, all of which give a good look at how the film was promoted back then.

A very well rounded set of extras, my only qualm is that there is quite a bit of repetition.

Conclusion

A classic Bond film on a very well put together DVD.

Goldfinger has all the ingredients - villains, girls, locations, some gadgets and of course the famous Aston Martin. I actually remember getting one of the toy Aston Martins (a 1980s reissue as opposed to a valuable original model) for Xmas, and having great fun working the ejector seat and bullet proof shield.

Sean Connery is really in his element as Bond, Gert Frobe makes a great villain (watch the extras to find out some interesting facts about his portrayal of Goldfinger), Honor Blackman is great as Pussy Galore, and we really see the beginnings of Q, played by the late, great Desmond Llewellyn.

This is a must buy for Bond fans everywhere. If you have it already, again, it`s probably not really worth upgrading, but you won`t be let down if you do.