Review of You Only Live Twice: Special Edition (James Bond)

Introduction

This is possibly one of the most memorable Bond adventures of all. It marked a major upturn in scale for the Bond series, not just in terms of budget but sets with a massive hollowed out volcano being the bad guys lair.

The bad guys this time round are SPECTRE – helmed by the evil Ernst Stavro Blofeld (Donald Pleasence). These naughty scoundrels have been using their own space ship to steel Russian and American craft from the Earth’s orbit in an attempt to start World War III. Whilst the American and Russian diplomats blame each other it is of course us Brits who know what’s really happening and so James Bond is despatched to Japan to look into the last reported radar sighting of the mysterious craft.

Video

‘You Only Live Twice’ is served up as a 2.35:1 anamorphic transfer which unfortunately looks the little worse for wear. Considering it was filmed in 1967 I can’t be too critical but there are numerous film artefacts present throughout the movie along with a general grainy quality.

It would have been nice to have seen this one restored to it’s former glory as this series of DVDs has earned a reputation for top quality discs but alas we’ve got a somewhat sub standard picture.

Audio

As with the video presentation the audio side of things is a let down. You get the original mono soundtrack which does nothing at all to enrich your viewing. Some people would say that it’s great to be getting the disc as it was originally presented, perhaps people who don’t own stereo speakers let alone a full blown Dolby Digital 5.1 setup that is.

Some of you might have seen the DVD release of the original series of Star Trek. If you have you’ll appreciate just how good older material can be made to look and sound. With top quality visuals and full 5.1 sound the Star Trek discs are testament to what can be achieved on DVD. If it can be done for a TV series then surely a top movie deserves the same treatment?

Features

As with every disc in the James Bond collection this one does not disappoint when it comes to extras. You basically get the standard Director’s/actors commentary, a couple of documentaries, some trailers and a storyboard sequence all wrapped up in the usual high standard 007 animated menu.

It’s nice to see the effort made on this disc and throughout the series of discs but it does beg the question that if they put this much care and attention into this part of the DVD why not give us a remastered audio/visual package as well?

Conclusion

This is a classic Bond tale that has “almost” all the Bond elements that you have come to know over the years. We’ve got the main twisted villain, Ernst Blofeld, in charge of a large evil empire (SPECTRE) whom reside in a wonderfully elaborate hideout in the form of a hollowed out volcano. There’s the love interest(s), “our man in ‘whatever location’”, the fiendishly diabolical and totally implausible plan to screw over the world for no apparent reason, the standard Bond theme music, the death defying stunts, Q and his gadgets etc, it’s almost all here. What’s missing? The car is what. This time he has some very amusing looking helicopter to play with and, let’s face it, an Aston Martin it will never be.

This movie is probably most remembered for the hollowed out volcano which served as the villains lair. It’s amazing how they managed to take such an absurd idea and make it work. More amazing is how they have since managed to rework the same sort of idea for numerous other Bond adventures. I guess this is all down to the ability of the Bond tales to make you suspend your disbelief and simply enjoy them.

I’ve never been a fan of Sean Connery as Bond and would gladly argue with anyone that Roger Moore was the better choice for the role however that doesn’t mean to say the early Bond movies can’t be entertaining and this one is no exception. Taken for what it is this is it is one of the better Bond tales and laid the foundation for better movies to come. After 34 years it’s still an enjoyable romp.

One note though . . . as I started watching this disc I couldn’t help but chuckle to myself. Why you ask? Well need I say Austin Powers 2? Mike Myers smash hit comedy does such a wonderful job of parodying the early Bond movies it’s hard not to chuckle at certain parts of the film.

So in summary a very entertaining film let down by poor image and audio quality. If you’re a Bond fan then you probably already have this disc, if not and you’ve somehow missed this movie during the slew of Bank Holiday movies in the UK then take a look at how the modern day Bond movies really began.