James Bond "You Only Live Twice" on Epix, looks amazing..*

I asked this question earlier in this thread, but nobody answered.

On a Retroplex airing of You Only Live Twice, the original 1967 United Artists Transamerica circle that started the picture was reinstated. Does anyone recall if that logo was also seen on early television broadcasts of that film on ABC Television Network?

 

I suspect many DPs and directors are in love with the idea of anamorphic, whether or not 2.40 is appropriate to tell their specific story. I'm particularly opposed to using 2.40 for intimate human dramas, and love stories and comedies are usually a good example of that.

 

Exactly, and it's used so indiscriminately these days. I remember when seeing Jurassic Park for the first time thinking how smart Spielberg was to shoot that in 1.85 rather than 2.35 to convey the height of the dinosaurs.

 

The 1.66:1 for the first three and 1.85:1 for Live and Let Die/TMWTGG work perfectly, and provide for an interesting argument against the "Bonds must be in scope" mentality that I think really began with the kitchen sink event of Thunderball and later again when Cubby Broccoli went for bust in trying to make The Spy Who Loved Me a huge success. (BTW the revival of non-scope Bond in the early 70's was for cost cutting reasons, and after much research I would say to insure against the possibility of Moore not being accepted by the public and/or Harry Saltzman's increasing financial woes.)

I think Ted Moore was better able to work in the 1.66 frame, and to be honest despite my extreme adoration, Thunderball is not as well lensed-with a definite sense of screen waste I think--and especially when compared to Freddie Young's jawdropping photography on YOLT. The non-scope also provides a better sense of focus, and is very good for the lower-key more Terrence Young oriented style of Bond.
This becomes increasingly obvious when seeing a Bond marathon or double feature theatrically, where the screen is re-matted between shows. Thunderball does not have the same impact as Dr. No this way.

YOLT on the UE transfer was one of the worst. It was unwatchable due to the fact that all the original golden warm color had been bleached out and the contrast had been changed. The BD and new master is tweaked, being from the last 9 of the original films to be issued (these all were tweaked from their previous 2006 UE DVD counterparts, and TSWLM got a whole new master done by MGM.) on BD, and features better but still not perfect color/contrast. I know I have to base this off of the LD/SE DVD master which isn't the greatest of sources (IP at MGM I think) to draw details from, but for years I would point to YOLT and its phenomenal color scope cinematography as one of the great examples of the form, only to have this utterly wrecked. To this day, and I am fully prepared to be criticized for it, I watch YOLT and all the other Bonds in their letterboxed LD editions on my calibrated CRT. The 1989 disc still looks rather good.

And don't even get me started on the audio remixes. Ugh. Replaced effects, random placements...just unnecessary for the early films, so stick with the mono tracks. (Norman Wanstall, who won the Oscar for Goldfinger's sound design is quoted somewhere as being appalled by the 5.1 remix for Goldfinger.) From Spy onwards it was matrixed stereo until the 90's. Some of these had 70mm blowups but there has never been much evidence of discrete multichannel audio being utilized. I've compared the 5.1 discrete versions to the original matrixed audio on both DVD and LD and they are all perfectly compatible. That being said, I personally prefer the original tracks which seem to have greater warmth and range; there is incredible detail on Moonraker and all of the 80's films that simply isn't as present on the 5.1 editions. (The natural bass in the late 80's films-AVTAK and the Dalton era-is really surprising.)

 

I read this as well.

Ole Blue Eyes was good friends with Broccoli and was supposed to sing the "Moonraker" theme song at the time titled "Think of Me" , however he turned it down.

 

For those curious to hear the 45 single mix of the title track:

 

I just caught Goldfinger which looked incredible. You can even see where Connery's hairpiece ends and his hairline starts! Just kidding, I had never seen it look that good. I DVR'd Russia and YOLT.

Does anyone know if Epix will be airing additional Bond films in the near future with this kind of visual quality?

 

And from what I understand, it was the very first UA film with any Transamerica logo. Previous films either had a hexagon, or no logo at all.

 

I love all of the Classic Bond films on Blu! Have all of the classics from Dr. No to Diamonds are Forever (except for Thunderball but should get it just to complete the Classic Sean Years). The all look superb in the blu Rays!

 

Ah, so I'm not the only one. I totally agree with you regarding the new remixes. Of course I get that the producers wanted "modern", enhanced multichannel versions but I've kept all my old DVDs for the original audio tracks alone. Old mono tracks are fine for those flicks, unfortunately for me the italian dubbed versions of the 60s 007 movies are a hiss fest but I much prefer them to the 5.1 remixes.

Btw there are some editions of the James Bond Blu rays that still have the original mono track; eg Thunderball and Goldfinger:

http://www.blu-ray.com/movies/Thunderball-Blu-ray/53928/

http://www.blu-ray.com/movies/Goldfinger-Blu-ray/3755/

while some have the 5.1 only..

http://www.blu-ray.com/movies/Thunderball-Blu-ray/1722/

http://www.blu-ray.com/movies/Goldfinger-Blu-ray/81938/

 

All of the Blu-rays have the Lowry Digital transfers which have this kind of detail. When I saw the Lowry demo back in 2005, they had just processed Diamonds Are Forever, and one of the things the demo exec specifically showed me was the toupee hairline on Connery's head. It was incredible that this was visible in the 4K transfer from the camera negative, but not in the old version.

 

That ad campaign was written specifically in response to the coinciding release of "Casino Royale", with its enormous "CASINO ROYALE IS TOO MUCH FOR ONE JAMES BOND!" or deceptive "JAMES BOND 007 IS BACK!" ads.

 

Wow that splice at 1:44 may be the worst edit I've ever heard. Is that really on the 45 or did the Youtube author do that?

 

Steve, It seems everytime I turn around, video makes a huge leap in visual quality. Audio seems to be a somewhat different tale..improvements yes, but be prepared to spend mucho bucks to have it. These video 4K demos I've been seeing at places like Best Buy are mind blowing!! And that's around $2,000. Why is it harder to notice an improvement (if any, like 16 vs. 24 bit) in audio when it's so apparent in video? In the digital medium is it easier to upgrade video than audio?

 

Not sure, I assumed the youtube poster had needle dropped the original 45, but maybe I am wrong.

 

What is Epix - a satellite premium channel?

 

I have Comcast up here in Bay Area and haven't heard of it - must be a Time/Warner thing .

 

Epix is a subscription movie service BUT it is new and is being given an "open" window till sometime in June, when it will be locked, at least on Time Warner in LA I guess. I have it programed in to my movie choices, but their programming is vague, at the best. The Bond films are the only things I really recognize as worthwhile. The On Demand service is also open.

 

Epix is also available as an app for Xbox One, and I bet other devices as well.