Introducing a young movie fan to his first James Bond film is something of a rite of passage between fathers and sons. However, as the franchise has expanded across decades and multiple actors, and has changed in many significant ways over time, where does one begin? Which movie should be a kid’s first experience with James Bond? That’s the challenge I tackle in this week’s Film at 11 podcast.
My son Thomas had previously expressed some interest in James Bond. After much deliberation, I decided that he ought to start with a Sean Connery film, even if just to get a baseline understanding of where the series began. Because these movies don’t necessarily need to be watched in order, we’ve jumped right to Goldfinger, probably the most famous 007 entry of all.
Goldfinger was not the first James Bond movie, and arguably may not even be the best, but it is perhaps the most James Bond of all James Bond movies. By that, I mean the film epitomizes the idea of what classic James Bond is in most fans’ minds. The third movie is where the franchise really pulled all the famous hallmarks of what would become its signature formula together into one rousing package that was an explosive success with audiences all around the world. From my son’s reaction afterward, I think I chose well.
| Title: | Goldfinger |
| Year of Release: | 1964 |
| Director: | Guy Hamilton |
| Watched On: | 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray |
| Also Available On: | Blu-ray Various VOD rental and purchase platforms |
The 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray
Goldfinger debuts on 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray as part of the Sean Connery 6-Film Collection from MGM, available in either an expensive Limited Edition SteelBook box set or a basic keepcase. Both sets include the movies only on 4K physical disc or Digital Copy codes (which currently redeem with older video masters). No standard Blu-ray discs are provided.
As I wrote previously about both Dr. No and From Russia with Love, the new 4K edition of Goldfinger has been mildly reframed from an aspect ratio of 1.66:1 on the 2008 Blu-ray release to about 1.75:1 now. This does not amount to much difference. More noticeably, the remaster also undoes most of the invasive digital processing (performed by a firm called Lowry Digital at the time) designed to minimize grain and clean up picture quality on the Blu-ray. I have mixed feelings about this.
As a matter of principle, I dislike heavy-handed digital processing and prefer the video image for a movie of this age to look as film-like and natural as possible. On the other hand, I wasn’t as bothered by the work Lowry Digital did as some purist fans may be, and generally feel that the Goldfinger Blu-ray holds up pretty well. Ironically, the new 4K remaster is softer than the 1080p Blu-ray from seventeen years earlier.
Even more so than Dr. No or From Russia with Love, the 4K edition of Goldfinger looks particularly drab, grainy, and dull much of the time. I won’t pretend to know the current condition of the Original Camera Negative for this film, but in my head I think of Goldfinger as a very bright, vibrant, and colorful movie, and this transfer doesn’t much reflect that mental image. The HDR grade is also frustratingly dim on my projection screen, leaving me wishing for better shadow detail during the day-for-night scenes (which still look fake regardless), and especially during the opening credits, where I can barely make out the figure of the girl onto whose body film clips are being projected. Maybe that’s a tone-mapping issue that some displays may handle better than others, and I’m not saying the 4K disc looks bad, necessarily, but I still feel some compromise could be reached between the Blu-ray and this.
Like the prior two movies, the soundtrack for Goldfinger is offered in a choice of the original theatrical mono (authored in lossless DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0) or a new Dolby Atmos remix. By this point, I’ve decided not to bother with the Bond Atmos remixes, which are too heavily rolled-off for my taste. The mono may be a little bright, have some hiss, and lack any notable dynamic range, but I find it more listenable overall than the gimmicky and filtered Atmos.
That said, if one is so inclined to want Atmos anyway, at least the Flying Circus plane flyover scenes in Goldfinger offer more excuse for height effects than, for example, Dr. No, which has absolutely nothing going on overhead.
All bonus features are once again recycled from previous home video editions. Two audio commentaries hosted by representatives from the Ian Fleming Foundation and TWINE Entertainment are interspersed with interview comments from director Guy Hamilton and other members of the cast and crew. Following those are a handful of old featurettes and interviews, plus some trailers, TV spots, and radio ads. Some of this material is interesting, but Bond fans have surely already seen or heard it all by now.
Related
- James Bond Movies
- James Bond Books
- James Bond Parody
Note: All screenshots on this page were taken from the standard Blu-ray edition of the film and are used for illustration purposes only.
The Video File Blog 