Review of Goldfinger: Special Edition (James Bond)

Introduction

Bond goes face to face with one of the most notorious villains of the 007 adventures who attempts a scheme to clear out all of the gold in Fort Knox, and to satisfy his obsession with gold. Upon investigation, Bond finds out that Goldfinger is using one of his businesses as a front and within the cover he is smuggling gold and selling it more expensively than he purchased it to other interested buyers, he uses his cars as the disguise for the gold by putting the car parts through a process of melted gold, ingenious! During the chase Bond gets to close for comfort near Goldfinger and has to confront trusty henchman, Oddjob before getting his man at the end.

Video

A nice transfer from a 1964 movie on the whole although it does have its constant dropouts and fleks of age especially on the lighter scenes, the opening scene showing the sky and zooming onto the hotel shows some up here. Very clean coloured print, skin tones are warming and natural and the colours are bold and clear too. The DVD is an anamorphic transfer and using the 1.78:1 aspect ratio giving corner to corner coverage on a widescreen TV, some of the other 007 movies are in the 2.35:1 ratio.

The special effects are limited in Goldfinger and the optical work shows up badly, putting actors on fake backgrounds looks very super imposed and gives the characters a `cut out` type edge around them. There are also a few cases of the optical work during the scene where Bond is tailing Goldfinger in his car and definitely looks dated.

Despite being on a lower Bond budget than say `Die Another Day`, the movie does have some nicely done scenes, sets and camera work included. There are quite a few nice panoramic location views during Goldfinger`s car ride from the golf club and even the scenery surrounding the club presents some nice shots. During the interior meeting about Goldfinger in the dining room scene the camera draws back and shows off a nice widescreen shot and an elegantly made set. The convertible plan room of Goldfinger and interior shots of Fort Knox which is an impressive scale, four level set are other examples.

Some of the scenes utilise the camera work well, there is a nice shot of a plane nose looming over you as it enters a hanger and it almost looks like the camera was positioned on the floor itself. The high speed chase through Goldfinger`s factory is also shot well using low angle shots from in front of the cars, the scene with Pussy Galore`s flying circus in action in the skies has also been done well and even the pilots themselves are nothing less than stunning in those tight jumpsuits!

The first hotel fight scene is fast, vicious and rough, the earlier 007 adventures seem to be less censored in the fight scenes and let a lot go. I think only `Goldeneye` has a decent grapple and even that`s cut by the BBFC on the Region 2 version.
I think one of the most famous scenes in Goldfinger has got to be where Bond is strapped beneath an industrial laser and it slowly comes up the table and between his legs, ouch! It`s during this scene you can really see and feel the tension, the laser is moving slowly, the table is burning and Bond has a sweat on. A very good scene even though Bond almost becomes a cropper, not! Another part of Goldfinger to be proud of is the excellent Aston Martin DB5 with modifications it`s well stocked and 007 does put the gadgets to good use throughout the movie.

Audio

The audio doesn`t have much to impress and is basically your standard package affair for the older movies that get remastered. This movie comes with a Dolby Digital 2.0 mono track, very poor unfortunately and doesn`t produce any good bass during explosions and the quality seems to break up too on the louder bits.

The dialogue and ambient sound is fine and clear enough to hear but some of the gunfire effects during the chase scene for example, sound like the ricochet type from western movies and sometimes animated and unrealistic. The majority of the music is simplified instruments that go well with the scene at present; other tunes are mellow strings impersonating the main theme. There are some differences in the music, the laser scene plays a piece containing whining strings that are looped over and producing a tension to the scene. At the horse and chariot track a brief riff is played using a steel guitar and sounding similar in type to `The Dukes of Hazard` TV series.

Features

The menu animates nicely and opens up upon activation. Animated light dots, line grids and movie footage fill the various segments of the screen. In the centre a circular shape rotates, the whole screen is filtered in gold colour and is accompanied by the Goldfinger and 007 themes. Special features, languages, play movie and scene selection are present.

There are 2 audio commentaries, 1 by the director and 1 by cast and crew, a stills gallery split into 22 categories, `Making Of Goldfinger` documentary, a 2nd documentary called `The Goldfinger Phenomenon`, trailer, original black and white publicity featurette, 3 TV spots, radio spots (22 mins), original radio interview with Sean Connery and `Tomorrow Never Dies` Playstation game trailer. The languages are English and French with the same subtitles included.

Conclusion

Goldfinger has got to be one of the 007 classics and a good action movie of its day. Apart from its dated effects and simplistic style the story is a good favourite amongst Bond fans alike. Lois Maxwell looks in her prime as Moneypenny compared to `Octopussy` and later and although Oddjob is pretty quiet throughout he`s a tough opponent and even keeps coming after Bond after a solid gold bar hits him in the head! You`ve got to take your hat off to the guy! One of the key features in Goldfinger for me personally has got to be the look and usage of the Aston Martin, what a gem isn`t it?