REVIEW – We take a look at the new 4K Sean Connery James Bond collection
This release is available to buy now:
At this stage – with screen incarnations spanning 60 years – it seems a little silly going into a detailed history of the Bond films. Who hasn’t heard of them? What can I tell you about them that you don’t already know? Likewise, everyone has their favourite Bond actor and film, and knowing my opinion is unlikely to change that…
So for now, let’s keep it simple and just stick to the facts.
What we have here is the first in what will presumably be a full series of new collections, with this release bringing together the films that got the ball rolling with Sean Connery in the lead role, making their debuts on 4K disc (not included is his unofficial, non-Eon produced entry, 1983’s Never Say Never Again).
So we get the classics, with Connery’s era – and career – defining performances in Dr No, From Russia With Love, Goldfinger, Thunderball, You Only Live Twice, and – after a brief pause while George Lazenby took over for On Her Majesty’s Secret Service – his return in Diamonds Are Forever.
In Dr No, Bond is sent to Jamaica to investigate the murder of a fellow agent. His mission leads him to the titular Dr. No, a reclusive scientist and member of the organisation SPECTRE, who is using a private island to sabotage the U.S. space program. Bond must stop him before a rocket launch is disrupted.
In From Russia With Love, Bond is lured into a trap by SPECTRE, out for revenge over Dr. No’s death. Bond deals with double agents, deadly traps, and a treacherous train ride across Eastern Europe with his trademark panache.
While the first two films created the template for the series, it’s perhaps Goldfinger where all the pieces really fell into place, as Bond investigates Auric Goldfinger, a gold dealer suspected of running a large smuggling operation on the side, who’s plotting to contaminate the U.S. gold reserve and inflate the value of his own holdings.
Those pesky SPECTRE guys and girls are back in Thunderball, hijacking a NATO jet carrying two nuclear bombs and threatening to detonate them unless a ransom is paid. Bond follows the trail to the Bahamas, foiling SPECTRE’s plan and saving the day (again).
You Only Live Twice sees Bond faking his own death, then traveling to Japan to investigate the mysterious disappearance of American and Soviet spacecraft. He discovers a SPECTRE base hidden inside a volcano (well, where else would you hide a secret base?), and a plot to trigger a global war.
With Connery’s final official appearance as Bond, Diamonds Are Forever sees our hero investigating a diamond smuggling operation and discovering a plot by his old nemesis Blofeld to create a space-based laser weapon. Posing as a smuggler, Bond follows the trail to Las Vegas to stop the villain from holding the world hostage.
While Connery was obviously the public face of Bond (with every actor who followed inevitably being compared to him), the team assembled behind the scenes was just as important to the success of the series. With assured, efficient direction from Terence Young, Guy Hamilton and Lewis Gilbert, slick editing from Peter Hunt, outstanding production design from the legendary Ken Adam, iconic music from Monty Norman and John Barry, and unforgettable title theme songs from the like of Shirley Bassey, Tom Jones and Nancy Sinatra, producers Cubby Broccoli and Harry Saltzman laid down the template that’s been followed to huge success in the decades that followed.
Video
So, for their 4K disc debuts, how do these movies look? In a word, fantastic. In a few more words…
The previously released Blu-rays – which utilised 4K masters produced by Lowry Digital all the way back in 2005 – were rightly criticised for being overly processed with DNR, sharpening, and uneven colours. Sure, for the time they looked pretty good compared the films’ previous releases, but as restoration technology and experience has improved over the years, in 2024 MGM created new 4K scans of the original camera negatives.
With the caveat that these are clearly old films, so you should not expect the kind of pin sharp images with eye-searingly bold colours that you’ll get from a more recently produced movie. The results this time are much, much better.
The cleanup work done on each film is extremely impressive, with a ton of detail on show. Grain looks natural, with no obvious signs of DNR, while colours look accurate and stable between shots. The films are all presented in Dolby Vision and standard HDR, with both highlights and shadows getting plenty of detail.
They’re not perfect, but on the whole I think they’re an accurate representation of the source materials, and I doubt the films have ever looked better.
Audio
The main English audio options for each film are DTS-HD 2.0 mono presentations of the original sound mix, or newly produced Atmos mixes.
Naturally the mono mixes are the ones to go for if you’re a purist, and they all sound pretty good, and in keeping with the era of the films’ production.
The Atmos mixes on the whole manage to avoid the usual pitfall of new mixes derived from mono tracks, where they end up sounding either flat or too over the top, and, well, just a bit pointless.
Here the soundstage is put to good use, with a decent spread of sound across the front channels, while the surrounds and height channels spring to life for some well placed directional and atmospheric effects. Bass is well used, especially for things like explosions and some of the music.
As with the video, none of the films sound particularly modern, but the mixes don’t feel over the top or out of place either, and on the whole come across and very sympathetic to their source materials.
Extras
We’ll cover this in more detail further down, but there are two versions of this release – while one also includes the films on Blu-ray (presumably re-using the old master), the other is 4K only.
Thankfully, the 4K discs include almost all of the previous releases’ bonus features. These include:
- Director, cast and crew audio commentaries on each film
- Several featurettes focusing on the production and legacy of each film
- Contemporary TV specials and features from the time of the films’ original releases
- Original trailers and radio ads for each film
Pretty much the only things missing from the old DVDs and Blu-rays are a selection of images galleries for each film, but in my opinion that’s not enough reason to hang on to your old discs. All the important stuff is carried over, and it’s great.
The audio commentaries are packed with info and anecdotes from the film makers, and are a treasure trove information, while the various documentaries tell you everything you need to know about the making of the series up the this point, from the making of each of the films, production design, the title sequences, screen tests, locations, and lots, lots more.
Packaging
As mentioned above, there are a couple of options when it comes to buying this set.
First up is a 4K-only single box amaray case, containing all 6 4K discs. It’s a bit of a tight squeeze, but the discs are easy enough to get in and out.
The collage-style artwork is… interesting. Not bad, but not particularly eye catching.
The other option is a steelbook collection, with each film in its own case on 4K and Blu-ray (presumably re-using the old Blu-ray masters), housed in a padded metal outer-case. A few years ago, a number of the Bond films got Blu-ray steelbooks using stills from each film’s opening title sequence. They looked pretty good, and it would have been nice to see those used again and then continued for future releases, but alas that wasn’t be.
This time round, the artwork for uses a publicity still from each film, rather than poster or newly commissioned art, or that aforementioned opening title imagery. I wasn’t convinced at first, but to be honest it has grown on me since it was first announced. It’s not what I’d have chosen, but it’s clean, simple and pretty stylish. Hopefully at least a consistent style will be used for the rest of the releases.
Summary
So, after years of rumours about an imminent release, the Connery Bond films are finally with us in 4K. Has it been worth the wait? I’d say so yes.
While the packaging choices may not be to everyone’s taste, the discs themselves are fantastic, with great looking remasters giving the films a new lease of visual life. Add in decent new Atmos audio mixes and an extremely thorough collection of bonus features, and it’s easy to recommend this release.
In terms of cost, they’re not cheap, but at just over £13 and £20 per film for the amaray and steelbook editions respectively, the price isn’t that bad. Add in the additional Blu-ray discs and the outer storage case, and steelbook release is even better value.
If you’re a fan of the series, this well worth picking up, and a definite upgrade over the old releases. As for what’s next, we’re guessing future collections will Moore, Lazenby/Dalton, Brosnan, then Craig (though whether the Craig set will use new 4K masters or their existing ones remains to be seen). Hopefully we won’t need to wait long to find out.
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