Captain Nash's Bond elimination game...Best Bond Film

[retrokitty]

Doctor No (1)
From Russia With Love (23)
Goldfinger (24)
On Her Majestys Secret Service (19)+1
The Spy Who Loved Me (16) -1
The Living Daylights (14)

I will not be the one to take out Dr. No.

[stockslivevan]

I think DN's low-budget production values hamper it somewhat, along with the fact that everyone involved was still finding their feet and it didn't quite feel like a fully-formed Bond film, somehow.

I can understand that. But as a stand-alone film, what do you think of it?

Personally I don't see how it seems low budget, besides the terrible score. Terence Young shot it nicely enough that it didn't look like a low budget film. Also I wish Connery had kept the characterization he made in Dr. No, the rest of his performances seemed too tame. Here he was large and in charge, doesn't take BS. Anyway here's a shot of Dr. No that sums it all up for me: Adventure, mystery, intrigue, danger, and sex!



Doctor No (1)
From Russia With Love (24)+
Goldfinger (24)
On Her Majestys Secret Service (19)
The Spy Who Loved Me (15)
The Living Daylights (14)

[Kristatos]

I think DN's low-budget production values hamper it somewhat, along with the fact that everyone involved was still finding their feet and it didn't quite feel like a fully-formed Bond film, somehow.

I can understand that. But as a stand-alone film, what do you think of it?

Personally I don't see how it seems low budget, besides the terrible score.

Well, I don't know if a score can seem low-budget, but it does date it worse than the other Bond films. It makes the film seem more a product of the '50s than the '60s. And Ken Adam's set for the villain's lair, though as beautifully designed as ever, seems more shoddily constructed than usual. Then there's the infamous "spider on the sheet of glass" shot.

As a standalone film, I dunno. I had seen many other Bond films before I first saw it, so I find it hard to divorce it from the series as a whole. I'm sure that if I had seen it on its initial release in 1962, I would have been blown away by it. Sadly, I wasn't born yet.

[CaptainLewis]

Doctor No (0) -1
From Russia With Love (23)
Goldfinger (24)
On Her Majestys Secret Service (19)
The Spy Who Loved Me (16) +1
The Living Daylights (14)

[Mazer Rackham]

I think DN's low-budget production values hamper it somewhat, along with the fact that everyone involved was still finding their feet and it didn't quite feel like a fully-formed Bond film, somehow.

I can understand that. But as a stand-alone film, what do you think of it?

Personally I don't see how it seems low budget, besides the terrible score.

Well, I don't know if a score can seem low-budget, but it does date it worse than the other Bond films. It makes the film seem more a product of the '50s than the '60s. And Ken Adam's set for the villain's lair, though as beautifully designed as ever, seems more shoddily constructed than usual. Then there's the infamous "spider on the sheet of glass" shot.

As a standalone film, I dunno. I had seen many other Bond films before I first saw it, so I find it hard to divorce it from the series as a whole. I'm sure that if I had seen it on its initial release in 1962, I would have been blown away by it. Sadly, I wasn't born yet.

DN looks like a 1950s adventure film, mainly becasue it is. Still they did a great job with the material and resources.

[stockslivevan]

DN looks like a 1950s adventure film, mainly becasue it is. Still they did a great job with the material and resources.

I suppose you could say DN had one foot in the 50s and the other in the 60s. Back projection for example was still a conventional tool used in Hollywood for stuff like the car chase. By TSWLM it looks just too silly with Moore standing in front of back projection while "skiing", and it's supposed to be a 70s production. Still there are exceptions, such as Superman utilizing back projection in an effective way.

I think the worst back projection was LTK's with the villains in that car. Horrible. Horrible. It was 1989, there was no excuse by that point.

[LilleOSC]

No way. Dr. No is gone .

From Russia With Love (22) -1
Goldfinger (25) +1
On Her Majestys Secret Service (19)
The Spy Who Loved Me (16)
The Living Daylights (14)

[Kristatos]

I suppose you could say DN had one foot in the 50s and the other in the 60s. Back projection for example was still a conventional tool used in Hollywood for stuff like the car chase. By TSWLM it looks just too silly with Moore standing in front of back projection while "skiing", and it's supposed to be a 70s production. Still there are exceptions, such as Superman utilizing back projection in an effective way.

But Superman's bluescreen work was considered groundbreaking in 1978, a year after TSWLM. It's like complaining that a film made a year before Jurassic Park has outdated CGI - well, of course it does,

[carl stromberg]

From Russia With Love (22)
Goldfinger (24) -1
On Her Majestys Secret Service (19)
The Spy Who Loved Me (17) +1
The Living Daylights (14)

[Kristatos]

From Russia With Love (22)
Goldfinger (25) +1
On Her Majestys Secret Service (18) -1
The Spy Who Loved Me (17)
The Living Daylights (14)

I was so busy talking about Superman yesterday, I forgot to play the game! It's getting tougher and tougher. I don't want to take points from any of the remaining films, but OHMSS gets a point docked solely for Lazenby's wooden performance. Sorry Retrokitty.

[stockslivevan]

But Superman's bluescreen work was considered groundbreaking in 1978, a year after TSWLM. It's like complaining that a film made a year before Jurassic Park has outdated CGI - well, of course it does,

I never said there was anything wrong with Superman's, I said it was an exception mostly because it was far better excuted thanks to Geoffery Unsworth's contributions.

From Russia With Love (23) +
Goldfinger (25)
On Her Majestys Secret Service (18)
The Spy Who Loved Me (16) -
The Living Daylights (14)

[Kristatos]

But Superman's bluescreen work was considered groundbreaking in 1978, a year after TSWLM. It's like complaining that a film made a year before Jurassic Park has outdated CGI - well, of course it does,

I never said there was anything wrong with Superman's, I said it was an exception mostly because it was far better excuted thanks to Geoffery Unsworth's contributions.

Which was the point I was trying to make. TSWLM was made before Superman, so I don't think its CSO work did look outdated when it was released (though obviously it does now). Superman just took it to the next level, and superceded everything that had gone before. Of course, a Bond actor who does most of his own stunts, like Lazenby, Dalton or Craig, would have meant that the back projection wasn't needed, but that's a different issue.

[stockslivevan]

Fair enough.

[retrokitty]

From Russia With Love (23)
Goldfinger (25)
On Her Majestys Secret Service (19)+
The Spy Who Loved Me (15) -
The Living Daylights (14)

[FROSTY]

From Russia With Love (22) -1
Goldfinger (25)
On Her Majestys Secret Service (19)
The Spy Who Loved Me (16) +1
The Living Daylights (14)

[LilleOSC]

From Russia With Love (21) -1
Goldfinger (26) +1
On Her Majestys Secret Service (19)
The Spy Who Loved Me (16)
The Living Daylights (14)

[stockslivevan]

From Russia With Love (22) +1
Goldfinger (26)
On Her Majestys Secret Service (19)
The Spy Who Loved Me (15) -1
The Living Daylights (14)

[CaptainLewis]

From Russia With Love (22)
Goldfinger (26)
On Her Majestys Secret Service (19)
The Spy Who Loved Me (15) +1
The Living Daylights (13) -1

[CaptainLewis]

From Russia With Love (22)
Goldfinger (26)
On Her Majestys Secret Service (19)
The Spy Who Loved Me (16) +1
The Living Daylights (12) -1

[Kristatos]

From Russia With Love (22)
Goldfinger (26)
On Her Majestys Secret Service (18) -1
The Spy Who Loved Me (16)
The Living Daylights (13) +1

I feel like giving TLD some love today.