007: Sean Connery 6-Film Collection (4K Ultra HD Review)

Reviewed by: Bill Hunt
Review Date: Jun 06, 2025
Format: 4K Ultra HD

Director

Terence Young, Guy Hamilton, Lewis Gilbert

Release Date(s)

1962-1971 (June 10, 2025)

Studio(s)

Eon Productions/United Artists (Amazon MGM Studios/SDS/Warner Bros. Discovery Home Entertainment)

Film/Program Grade: See Below
Video Grade: See Below
Audio Grade: See Below
Extras Grade: B+
Overall Grade: A

Review

MGM’s new 007: Sean Connery 6-Film Collection features all of the official James Bond films starring the legendary Sean Connery—Dr. No, From Russia with Love, Goldfinger, Thunderball, You Only Live Twice, and Diamonds Are Forever—in newly-remastered 4K Ultra HD presentations. Note that the set is available in both Elite and Limited Edition Steelbook packaging.

I’m going to review the each of its films on disc one by one, starting with…

Dr. No (1962)

Based on the 1958 spy novel by Ian Fleming (which was his sixth novel to feature the character), Terence Young’s film adaptation of Dr. No finds the suave and cunning British Secret Service agent James Bond (Sean Connery) tasked with a high-stakes mission to investigate the mysterious disappearance of MI6 station personnel in Jamaica—officers who it seems were attempting to uncover the source of powerful radio jamming that’s interfering with rocket launches from Cape Canaveral, a threat that could imperil the American government’s Moon program.

Upon arriving in the sun-soaked Caribbean, Bond learns that the missing station chief, John Strangeways, had focused his attention on the nearby island of Crab Key. It’s a place the locals either fear or are suspiciously content to ignore, so Bond enlists a reluctant boatsman named Quarrel (John Kitzmiller) to take him there, crossing paths with CIA operative Felix Lieter (Jack Lord) in the process. Realizing that their objectives align, the two agents join forces in an effort to uncover the secrets of Crab Key and its enigmatic owner, Dr. Julius No (Joseph Wiseman).

A co-production of Harry Saltzman, who’d secured the film rights to Fleming’s novels, and Albert “Cubby” Broccoli, a Hollywood producer with connections with United Artists, Dr. No launched one of the most successful franchises in film history and redefined the cinematic spy genre with its stylish action, futuristic technology, and exotic locales, all despite a relatively modest budget of under $1 million. The film not only features eye-catching opening titles designed by Maurice Binder—who created the signature gun barrel sequence—it introduced the iconic James Bond Theme, composed by Monty Norman and arranged by John Barry, which became a cultural touchstone with its blend of pop, jazz, and orchestral elements.

Dr. No made a breakout star of actor Sean Connery, whose biggest role to that point was in Disney’s Darby O’Gill and the Little People (1959). The film’s success led to co-star Jack Lord’s eventual casting in the ABC Western series Stoney Burke and his later starring role in CBS’ popular police procedural series Hawaii Five-O. Dr. No is also a visual showcase for the work of the legendary production designer Ken Adam, who would define the look of the Bond franchise in subsequent installments and whose career would reach its peak with Ken Hughes’ Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (1968—another Ian Fleming adaptation) and particularly Stanley Kubrick’s Dr. Strangelove (1964) and Barry Lyndon (1975). And the film’s success was helped greatly by the fact that its theatrical release coincided with the Cuban Missile Crisis, so its plot resonated strongly with audiences on both sides of the Atlantic.

Dr. No was shot by cinematographer Ted Moore (A Man for All Seasons, Goldfinger, Clash of the Titans) on 35 mm film (specifically Eastman 50T 5250) using Mitchell BNC cameras with spherical lenses. It was finished photochemically with an intended aspect ratio of 1.75:1, though it was exhibited theatrically in the UK framed at 1.66 and in the US at 1.85. For its first ever disc release on Ultra HD, MGM commissioned a new 4K scan of the original camera negatives (I’ve confirmed this with WBDHE—the work was apparently done in 2024). Extensive digital remastering was completed as well and the image was graded for high dynamic range (compatible with both Dolby Vision and HDR10). The film is persented here at the originally intended ratio of 1.75 and it’s been encoded for maximum data rates on a 100GB disc. (The video rate alone averages around 70 Mbps with peaks of over 100 Mbps.)

The result is a very lovely, natural looking, and highly cinematic image. There’s a ton of detail, but it’s far more subtle looking that it appeared in the old Lowry Digital remaster (both on the MGM/20th Century Fox Blu-ray and the more recent 4K Digital version available via streaming), which suggests that the Lowry process involved a tremendous amount of artificial sharpening. (This is confirmed by the fact that there are a couple of shots in the film that appear optically soft in the negative, but the Lowry remaster sharpened them so much that it’s hard to tell on the old Blu-ray—specifically, I’m thinking of the scene with Bond, Lighter, and Quarrel sitting in conversation at Puss Feller’s nightclub, but that’s not the only example.) The sharpening also had the effect of flattening most of the depth of field out of the image, but it’s back again here.

When Lowry’s remaster was later released in 4K Digital, it was further scrubbed with noise reduction to the point that nearly all of the grain and some of the artificially-sharpened detail were removed, leaving faces looking somewhat waxy. So you’ll be glad to know that there’s no noise reduction here whatsoever—the grain is not only present, it’s organic looking. What’s more, while the Lowry remaster exhibited crushed shadows and highlights, here there’s much more detail on both ends. Colors also appear rich looking and accurate, with pleasing nuance. They’re well saturated too, but not overly so as they sometimes were in the Lowry remaster.

Essentially, this is a beautiful 4K image. But I suspect there will be some fans who’ll complain that it’s “not as detailed looking” as the previous Blu-ray. And they’re technically not wrong, it’s just that the old Lowry Digital remaster was a lot more… let’s say revisionist… than most of us realized at the time. The detail is all there in this 4K image, it just that it hasn’t been artificially sharpened to the nth degree, leaving all of the original subtleties in the camera negative unmolested.

On the audio side, MGM’s 4K disc includes the film’s remastered English soundtrack in a new Dolby Atmos mix that’s 7.1 Dolby TrueHD compatible. Fidelity is excellent overall, with the classic James Bond Theme rendered in full, rich tones. The soundstage is front-focused as you’d expect, and medium wide. The surround channels are employed mostly for light atmospherics and modest effects panning, adding a bit of sweep to Bond’s hard right turn on the road from the airport, for example. The height channels chime in occasionally, as when Bond’s plane touches down or to add a bit of lift to public announcements in the airport’s lobby. Bass is modest, but sufficient for tasks like deepening the growl of car engines. Dialogue is clean and readily discernible. This certainly isn’t a blustery or modern sounding mix, nor should it be. Restrained is the word I’d use to describe the Atmos experience, and there doesn’t appear to be any sound effects alterations (though I’ll leave those more familiar with these films to confirm it). You’ll be happy to know that the Original Theatrical audio is also included here in English 2.0 mono, this time in lossless DTS-HD Master Audio format (it was in lossy Dolby Digital on the previous Blu-ray). Additional options include English Descriptive Audio in Dolby Digital 2.0, as well as French, German, Italian, Castilian Spanish, and Latin Spanish in Dolby Digital 5.1. Optional subtitles are available in English, French, German, Italian, Castilian Spanish, Dutch, and Latin Spanish.

There’s no Blu-ray in this package—you get just the UHD disc and a Digital Code (sadly, it redeems on Fandango at Home only—not Movies Anywhere). But most of the previous DVD and Blu-ray extras carry over on the actual 4K disc. The special features include…

Audio Commentary by Terence Young and Members of the Cast and Crew
Declassified: MI6 Vault
- The Guns of James Bond (SD – 5:07)
- Premiere Bond: Opening Nights (SD – 13:08)
Exotic Locations (HD – 2:36)
Mission Dossier
- Inside Dr. No (HD – 42:08)
- Terence Young: Bond Vivant (HD – 17:56)
- Dr. No 1963 Featurettes (SD – 8:41)
Ministry of Propaganda
- Theatrical Archive
  - Theatrical Trailer (HD – 3:22)
  - Introducing Mr. Bond (SD – 3:16)
  - James Bond Is Back in Dr. No and From Russia with Love (SD – 2:01)
  - James Bond Face to Face with Dr. No and Goldfinger (SD – 2:19)
- TV Broadcasts
  - Miss Honey and Miss Galore Have James Bond Back For More (SD – 1:02)
  - Miss Honey and Miss Galore (SD – :22)
- Radio Communications
  - Beautiful Nature Girl (SD – 1:05)
  - Dr. No, a Madman with a Fantastic Secret (SD – 1:10)
  - James Bond, the Indestructible Ace Undercover Agent (SD – 1:03)
  - Meet James Bond, Ace Undercover Agent (SD – :55)
  - On the Edge of Your Seat (SD – 1:14)
  - Come on Out, We Know You’re There (SD – 1:04)

Missing are all of the 007 Mission Control scene access links from the Blu-ray, though that’s not much of a loss. Also missing is the 007: License to Restore (SD – 11:56) featurette on the Lowry Digital remastering process, which makes sense given that this is no longer the Lowry restoration. Also missing are the various Image Database video galleries—The Filmmakers (HD – :47), Portraits (HD – 2:02), Jamaica (HD – 4:51), Pinewood (HD – 1:19), The Lost Scene (HD – :27), Ian Fleming – Jamaica (HD – :47), Ian Fleming – Pinewood (HD – :31), and Around the World with 007 (HD – 1:43)—but the actual images in them were SD only anyway. The Radio Communication clips are here still, but they’ve been downsampled to SD, presumably to make sure they don’t take away from the 4K data rate. But they’re essentially audio features, so it’s no loss. The MI6 Declassified Credits (SD – 1:48) are missing too, but that’s not really content. The only thing that’s actually missed is The Gun Barrel Textless (HD – 3:01) clip that was buried in the 007 Mission Control. Otherwise, everything of significance seems to be here.

[Editor’s Note: For more on Dr. No, I highly recommend reading Michael Coate’s excellent History, Legacy & Showmanship retrospective on the film here at The Bits.]

Film Rating (Dr. No): B+
Disc Ratings (Video/Audio/Extras): A/B+/B+

From Russia with Love (1963)

Director Terence Young returns to helm an adaptation of Ian Fleming’s fifth Bond novel, From Russia with Love, which finds MI6 agent James Bond (aka 007, played once more by Sean Connery), on a mission to retrieve a highly coveted “Lektor” cryptographic machine from a Soviet Security cipher clerk named Tatiana Romanova (Daniela Bianchi). The young woman, who works in the Russian Consulate in Istanbul, has leaked to British Intelligence that she’s fallen in love with Bond after seeing a picture of him in secret files. So allegedly smitten is she that if Bond will help her to defect, Romanova will deliver the Lektor in exchange.

Her story is so preposterous that both M (Bernard Lee), the chief of British Intelligence, and Bond know it’s surely a trap. But the promise of a Lektor is too tempting to forego, and its allure is only surpassed by the charms of Romanova herself. Always game for a challenge, Bond arrives in Turkey and accepts the help of the local MI6 station chief, Ali Kerim Bey (Pedro Armendáriz), to make contact with Romanova and plan her exfiltration. But what he doesn’t know is that the trap has been laid not by the Soviets but by the sinister organization SPECTRE (Special Executive for Counter-intelligence, Terrorism, Revenge and Extortion), which wants revenge for the death of Dr. No. And they’ve sent their best assassin (Robert Shaw) to eliminate Bond for good.

Though From Russia with Love lacks some of the elements that would later come to define the Bond series—including elaborate Ken Adam sets, Maurice Binder’s title design, and fantastical high-tech gadgetry—the film is all the better for its sophistication, elegance, and more grounded style. In fact, it’s very reminiscent of Alfred Hitchcock’s North by Northwest (1959), a work that was certainly an influence for Fleming. The film does include key elements, including the second appearances of Bernard Lee and Lois Maxwell as M and Miss Moneypenny. And it introduces Desmond Llwewlyn as the head of MI6’s Q Branch and the mysterious SPECTRE chief Ernst Stavro Blofeld (here credited as “?” but played on set by Anthony Dawson—Professor Dent from Dr. No—and voiced by Eric Pohlmann, sounding remarkably like Max von Sydow). The film’s Orient Express train fight and speed boat chase sequences have since become iconic. From Russia with Love also features John Barry’s first full Bond score and the franchise’s first title song, here sung by Matt Monro, a track that was released as a single and reached the top 20 on the UK Singles Chart.

As a film, From Russia with Love pleases in many little details, including the casting of Armendáriz as Bey, a role that shares similarities with Giancarlo Giannini’s René Mathis from the more recent Casino Royale (2006). Newcomer Daniela Bianchi is remarkably effective as Bond’s love interest, and Lotte Lenya (an accomplished Austrian-American actress and the ex-wife of composer Kurt Weill) is perfect as Rosa Klebb (aka SPECTRE Number 3). Though he’s better known for later roles in A Man for All Seasons (1966), The Taking of Pelham One Two Three (1974), and Steven Spielberg’s Jaws (1975), Robert Shaw plays a convincing muscle-bound heavy. And to add an additional measure of realism to the story, Young recreated one of the most famous endgames in the history of chess, specifically Boris Spassky's 1960 victory over David Bronstein. Taken in total, all of these elements combine to make From Russia with Love one of the best entries in the Bond franchise. If only more of the later installments had followed its example!

From Russia with Love was shot once again by cinematographer Ted Moore (A Man for All Seasons, Goldfinger, Clash of the Titans) on 35 mm film (specifically Eastman 50T 5251) using Mitchell BNC cameras with spherical lenses. It was finished photochemically with an intended aspect ratio of 1.75:1, though it was exhibited theatrically in the UK framed at 1.66 and in the US at 1.85. For its physical release on Ultra HD, MGM commissioned a new 4K scan of the original camera negatives (again, confirmed by WBDHE—the work was done in 2024), completed extensive digital remastering, and graded the film for high dynamic range (compatible with both Dolby Vision and HDR10). The film is presented here at the originally intended ratio of 1.75 and it’s been encoded for maximum data rates on a 100GB disc. (Video rates average around 70 Mbps with peaks of over 100 Mbps.)

This remaster is every bit as good as Dr. No, and it might even be a little better but for a few too many shots that are optically soft as filmed—mostly second unit insert footage here and there, as well as a couple shots during the helicopter set piece. Overall image detail is splendid, and readily apparent in skin textures, hair, and costume fabrics (like the weave of Bond’s suit jacket). Light to moderate photochemical grain is in evidence at all times, and there’s none of the unwanted noise reduction or artificial sharpening that was so obvious in the previous Lowry Digital remaster. The HDR grade greatly expands the palette and has enhanced both shadow and highlight detail as well. Colors—particularly flesh tones—are accurate and natural in appearance. This is a terrific 4K image; not quite reference quality, but certainly as good as I’ve ever seen this film looking before. And once again, all of the subtleties inherent in the original camera negative remain unspoiled.

On the audio side, MGM’s 4K disc includes the film’s remastered English soundtrack in a new Dolby Atmos mix that’s 7.1 Dolby TrueHD compatible. Fidelity is excellent, with the classic James Bond Theme and film’s title song rendered in robust tones. The soundstage is once again front-focused as you’d expect, and medium wide, with the surround channels employed mostly for light atmospherics. But this installment’s soundtrack is a bit more active, as there’s somewhat more going on in terms of action. Effects panning is sparing but effective—adding a bit of left/right movement to shots of the train’s passage, for example. The height channels activate lightly for moments like helicopter arrivals and flyovers, as well as the blast in Bey’s office, and the gunfight in the gypsy camp. Bass is modest but sufficient, adding a bit of heft to explosions and the like. Dialogue is clean and readily discernible. This isn’t a blustery or modern mix, nor should it be. Restrained is again the word I’d use to describe the Atmos experience, and it’s pleasing indeed. The Original Theatrical audio is also included in English 2.0 mono in lossless DTS-HD MA. Additional options include English Descriptive Audio in Dolby Digital 2.0, as well as French, German, Italian, Castilian Spanish, and Latin Spanish in Dolby Digital 5.1. Optional subtitles are available in English, French, German, Italian, Castilian Spanish, Dutch, and Latin Spanish. (Note that brief Russian dialogue in the film is NOT subtitled in English here.)

Audio Commentary by Terence Young and Members of the Cast and Crew
Declassified: MI6 Vault
- Ian Fleming: The CBC Interview (SD – 7:43)
- Ian Fleming & Raymond Chandler (SD – 5:12)
- Ian Fleming on Desert Island Discs (SD – 5:11)
- Animated Storyboard Sequence (SD – 1:28)
Exotic Locations (HD – 3:14)
Mission Dossier
- Inside From Russia with Love (HD – 33:45)
- Harry Saltzman Showman (HD – 26:43)
Ministry of Propaganda
- Theatrical Archive
  - Original Theatrical Trailer – SPECTRE (HD – 3:45)
  - Bond: Back-to-Back (SD – 2:01)
  - The Biggest Bond Sale Ever (SD – 1:54)
- TV Broadcasts
  - Sean Connery Is Bond (SD – :12)
  - Bond All Over (SD – :21)
  - More Thrills Per Minute (SD – 1:02)
- Radio Communications
  - Fantastic Bond Sale (HD – :54)
  - Famous Named Villains (HD – :29)
  - Sean Connery Is… (HD – :11)

Missing here are all of the 007 Mission Control scene access links from the Blu-ray, though that’s not much of a loss. Also missing are the various Image Database video galleries—The Filmmakers (HD – :22), Ian Fleming (HD – :30), Portraits (HD – 1:24), Pinewood (HD – 1:26), Dressed to Kill ;(HD – :22), Lovely… Lovely (HD – :46), Tatiana Meets Rosa Klebb (HD – 1:14), Istanbul (HD – :50), The Gypsy Camp (HD – :22), The Orient Express (HD – :54), Scotland (HD – 1:02), Rats! (HD – :18), Back Projection (HD – :22), Smoke on the Water (HD – :18), The Lost Scene (HD – :32), and Around the World with 007 (HD – 1:38)—but again the actual images in them were SD only anyway. The Radio Communication clips are here and this time they’re all still in HD (though as audio features it matters not). The MI6 Declassified Credits (SD – 1:48) are missing again too, but they aren’t actual content. Otherwise, everything of significance from the previous Blu-ray and DVD editions appears to be here.

[Editor’s Note: For more on From Russia with Love, be sure to read Michael Coate’s excellent History, Legacy & Showmanship retrospective on the film here at The Bits.]

Film Rating (From Russia with Love): A
Disc Ratings (Video/Audio/Extras): A/B+/B+

Goldfinger (1964)

Director Guy Hamilton takes the helm for the third installment in the Bond franchise, in which MI6 special agent 007 is charged with investigating Auric Goldfinger (Gert Fröbe), a wealthy British magnate with a keen interest in a particular yellow-orange metal. It seems the Bank of England suspects the man of illicit gold smuggling which could threaten global economic stability. When Bond first encounters Goldfinger in a sunlit Miami Beach resort, he finds the man cheating at cards with the help of an attractive female accomplice. Bond disrupts the game and distracts the girl, but this leads to her untimely demise from being dipped in gold paint.

Back in England, M (Bernard Lee) arranges for Bond to meet Goldfinger over a round of golf, posing as a businessman in possession of recovered Nazi gold. But Goldfinger proves too clever to take the bait and warns Bond off instead, using his menacing Korean manservant Oddjob (Olympic weightlifter Harold Sakata) to emphasize the point. Undaunted, Bond places a homing device in Goldfinger’s car and tracks the man to his sprawling refinery in Switzerland. It’s there that Bond finally uncovers the secret of Goldfinger’s smuggling operation. But he learns something else as well: Goldfinger is hatching a scheme codenamed “Grand Slam” involving Chinese scientists, the American mafia, and the US Bullion Depository at Fort Knox.

Though he visited the set during filming, author Ian Fleming sadly died of a heart attack a month before Goldfinger’s theatrical release. The film became the fastest grossing of all time nevertheless, recouping its $3 million budget in just two weeks. Some theaters even played Goldfinger around the clock, so great was the audience demand. And it’s easy to see why: The film boasts all of the franchise’s classic elements: witty banter, a high-stakes criminal caper, jet-setting world travel, clever gadgets—including the first appearance of the iconic Aston Martin DB5—Ken Adam sets, and dames aplenty. The key supporting players are all present, among them M, Q, Moneypenny, and CIA agent Felix Leiter (this time played by Cec Linder). And to add a bit more sheen to the gilding, composer John Barry delivers a brassy score with ample swagger, not to mention one of the franchise’s best title songs sung by the great Shirley Bassey.

The cast is solid too, including Honor Blackman (of TV’s The Avengers), Tania Mallet, and Shirley Eaton as the requisite femmes fatales. German actor Gert Fröbe is terrific as the title character, despite the fact that he spoke little English—his dialogue was dubbed by British actor Michael Collins (who performed the same service in other films, including Chitty Chitty Bang Bang). All of this explains why Goldfinger is consistently ranked as one of the best entries in the series. But the film also walks right up the line of being camp. Blackman’s character name—Pussy Galore—is a prime example, but so too is Goldfinger (his first name even starts with “Au”). The buxom blonde pilots of Galore’s Flying Circus and Goldfinger’s legions of vaguely Asian henchmen don’t help either, nor does the fact that Oddjob never utters more than a squawk. And while it’s hard not to admire Goldfinger’s ingenious scheme, the method by which Bond foils it is… well, let’s be generous and call it a stretch.

Like Dr. No and From Russia with Love before it, Goldfinger was also shot on 35 mm film (Eastman 50T 5251 to be specific) by cinematographer Ted Moore using Mitchell BNC cameras with spherical lenses. It was finished photochemically with an intended aspect ratio of 1.75:1, though it was exhibited theatrically in the UK framed at 1.66 and in the US at 1.85. For its physical release on Ultra HD, MGM commissioned a new 4K scan of the original camera negatives (confirmed by WBDHE—the work was done in 2024), completed extensive digital remastering, and graded the film for high dynamic range (compatible with both Dolby Vision and HDR10). The film is presented here at the originally intended ratio of 1.75 and it’s been encoded for maximum data rates on a 100GB disc. (Video rates average around 70 Mbps with peaks of over 100 Mbps.)

I would say that the remastering here is right in line with the two previous entries, with excellent overall detail, light-moderate grain, and only the occasional shot that appears soft due to focus issues or optical compositing (which results in a generational loss of image quality). The colors are rich and accurate, with the HDR grade greatly expanding the palette to enhance both shadow and highlight detail. None of the noise reduction or unnatural sharpening that appeared in the Lowry Digital remaster is present, nor has the palette been quite so brightened and oversaturated as it appeared on Blu-ray—all of the subtleties inherent in the original camera negative are in evidence, including its depth of field as photographed. This is once again an excellent 4K image; not quite reference quality, but certainly terrific. And the important thing is that Goldfinger actually looks like a film, just as it should.

MGM’s 4K disc impresses sonically too, including the film’s remastered English soundtrack in a new Dolby Atmos mix that’s 7.1 Dolby TrueHD compatible. After the opening set piece, Bassey’s magnificent vocals accompany the titles in excellent fidelity. The soundstage is medium wide and front-focused, with the surround channels employed for modest panning (car chases through the Swiss Alps, for example, and aircraft flyovers) as well as light atmospherics. Low end is modest but sufficient for adding muscular heft to gunshots and explosions. The height channels activate lightly for things like departure announcements on the tarmac at London Southend Airport, Tilly Masterson’s sniper shot, and the plunge of Goldfinger’s henchmen over a cliff in their flaming automobile). Dialogue is clean and readily discernible. Once again, this is a restrained Atmos mix, but it’s certainly pleasing and true to the spirit of the film. The Original Theatrical audio is also included in English 2.0 mono in lossless DTS-HD MA format. Additional options include English Descriptive Audio in Dolby Digital 2.0, as well as French, German, Italian, Castilian Spanish, and Latin Spanish in Dolby Digital 5.1. Optional subtitles are available in English, French, German, Italian, Castilian Spanish, Dutch, and Latin Spanish.

There’s no Blu-ray in this package—you get just the UHD discs and a Digital Code (it redeems on Fandango at Home only—not Movies Anywhere). But most of the previous DVD and Blu-ray extras carry over on the actual 4K disc. The special features include…

Audio Commentary with Guy Hamilton
Audio Commentary with Members of the Cast and Crew
Declassified: MI6 Vault
- Sean Connery from the Set of Goldfinger (SD – 3:11)
- Theodore Bikel Screen Test (HD – 5:38)
- Tito Vandis Screen Test (HD – 4:12)
- On Tour with Aston Martin DB5 (HD – 11:42)
- Honor Blackman Open-Ended Interview (SD – 3:58)
Exotic Locations (HD – 3:15)
Mission Dossier
- The Making of Goldfinger (HD – 26:05)
- The Goldfinger Phenomenon (HD – 29:13)
Ministry of Propaganda
- Theatrical Archive: Original Theatrical Trailer (HD – 3:08)
- TV Broadcasts
  - Stop Look He’s Gunning for Trouble (SD – :22)
  - Miss Honey and Miss Galore (SD – :22)
  - Miss Honey and Miss Galore Have James Bond Back for More (SD – 1:02)
- Radio Communications
  - Original Radio Interview with Sean Connery (HD – 11:50)
  - Evening 006: Evening 008 What’s New (1) (HD – :58)
  - James Bond Is Back in Action… (1) (HD – :17)
  - Everything He Touches Turns to Excitement (HD – 1:01)
  - What’s That Paint? (HD – 1:01)
  - James Bond Is Back in Action… (2) (HD – :26)
  - James Bond Is Back in Action… in Goldfinger… (1) (HD – :26)
  - Honey, What Are You Doing with That Paint… (HD – :28)
  - Evening 006: Evening 008 What’s New (2) (HD – :31)
  - Everything He Touches Turns to Excitement in Goldfinger (HD – :17)
  - James Bond Is Back in Action Mixing Thrills and Girls (HD – :19)
  - Think You’re in Miami Alone, Alone Except for… (HD – :58)
  - About One of the Secrets Agents James Bond… (HD – :56)
  - He Had the Oddest Name… Goldfinger (HD – 1:02)
  - Agent James Bond Thought It the Most… (HD – :58)
  - How Would You Like to Make Love to a Woman (HD – :31)
  - James Bond’s Drugged Twilight Sleep… (HD – :26)
  - James Bond Is Back in Action, Sean Connery Is James Bond (HD – :21)
  - In All of Adventure, There Are No Men Like James Bond (HD – :20)
  - Life Magazine Proclaims: The Best Bond Adventure Yet Filmed (HD – :10)
  - Goldfinger – His Women Like His Fortune Drenched in Gold (HD – :10)
  - Goldfinger and Dr No Are Getting Another Shot at 007 (1) (HD – :56)
  - Now Miss Honey & Miss Galore Have James Bond Back for More (1) (HD – :58)
  - Goldfinger and Dr No Are Getting Another Shot at 007 (2) (HD – :28)
  - Now Miss Honey & Miss Galore Have James Bond Back for More (2) (HD – :29)
  - Goldfinger and Dr No Are Getting Another Shot at 007 Together (1) (HD – :58)
  - Sean Connery as James Bond (HD – :11)
  - Goldfinger and Dr No Are Getting Another Shot at 007 Together (2) (HD – :11)
  - Now Miss Honey & Miss Galore Have James Bond Back for More (3) (HD – :57)
  - Goldfinger and Dr No… (HD – :58)
  - Madness Perhaps…? (HD – :27)
  - Two Stunning Women James Bond Could Never Forget (HD – :27)

Missing here are the 007 Mission Control scene access links from the Blu-ray and the MI6 Declassified Credits (SD – 1:23), but these are no loss. The various Image Database video galleries are missing too—The Filmmakers (HD – :31), Portraits (HD – 1:29), Pre-Credits (HD – 1:19), The Fontainebleau (HD – :55), Bond and Jill (HD – :47), M’s Office (HD – :31), Dinner with Colonel Smithers (HD – :31), Stoke Poges (HD – 2:19), Andermatt (HD – 1:19), Laser Table (HD – :47), Honored with Honor (HD – :31), The Flying Circus (HD – :43), Auric Stud (HD – 1:47), A Roll in the Hay (HD – :59), Fort Knox (HD – :51), No Time to Be Rescued (HD – :35), The Aston Martin DB5 (HD – :31), Guiding Jill (HD – :51), Ken Adam (HD – :27), Bond Meets His Maker (HD – :35), Goldfinger Around the Globe (HD – :47), and Merchandising (HD – 2:55)—though they only included SD images. The Original Publicity Featurette (HD – 2:15) from the Blu-ray’s Mission Dossier section is also missing, as are two radio spots—James Bond is Back in Action in Goldfinger (2) (:08) and James Bond Mixes Thrills and Girls! Danger and Girls in Goldfinger (:09). Otherwise, everything of significance from the previous Blu-ray and DVD editions appears to have carried over.

[Editor’s Note: For more on Goldfinger, be sure to read Michael Coate’s excellent History, Legacy & Showmanship retrospective on the film here at The Bits.]

Film Rating (Goldfinger): A-
Disc Ratings (Video/Audio/Extras): A/B+/B

Thunderball (1965)

Terence Young’s Thunderball opens in an unconventional and gradual way, as MI6 special agent James Bond (Sean Connery) attends a man’s funeral and then attacks his widow—who is revealed to be the supposedly deceased man in disguise. Bond proceeds to kill him for real, then escapes via jetpack. Next we meet Emilio Largo (Adolfo Celi) as he arrives at a secret meeting where we learn that the man Bond killed was a SPECTRE operative, as is everyone present. Ernst Stavro Blofeld, the leader of SPECTRE, then announces that Largo has devised a scheme to steal two atomic bombs and extort the British and American governments for £100 million.

When we catch up with Bond again, he’s relaxing at a health resort after his mission. But by coincidence, another man at the resort is recovering from some kind of facial surgery. Little does Bond know that the man’s face has been altered to match that of a French Air Force pilot named François Derval, who’s scheduled to fly as a NATO observer on a training mission aboard an RAF Vulcan bomber. The man—who’s also a SPECTRE agent—kills the crew in flight, hijacks the aircraft, and lands it in shallow water in the Bahamas where it promptly sinks as the henchman aboard Largo’s yacht, Disco Volante, wait nearby to recover its bombs.

Upon learning that the bomber is missing, Her Majesty’s Government goes on high alert and M (Bernard Lee) calls his 00 agents in for an emergency briefing. There Bond recognizes Derval’s face from a photo in his briefing materials, having seen the man dead at the resort after the bomber left on its mission. In the photo, Derval is posing with his sister Domino (Claudine Auger) in the Bahamas, so Bond is sent there to question her. And when it turns out that the young woman is Largo’s mistress, Bond suspects that he’s on the right track, and begins investigating Largo with the help of his old friend Felix Leiter of the CIA (here played by Rik Van Nutter).

Now… if you’re unfamiliar with Thunderball, that might seem like a lot. Yet it’s only the setup for what’s ultimately one of the best films in the franchise. Yet the road to its production was fraught. When Ian Fleming wrote his original novel in 1961, he made the mistake of using ideas from an earlier collaboration with writers Kevin McClory and Jack Whittingham on a potential screenplay for an “underwater Bond adventure.” After the novel’s publication, the pair sued and were granted co-writing credits. McClory was further granted a portion of its screen rights. Devastated, Fleming died a mere nine months later. But to avoid a rival project competing with their own, Bond producers Cubby Broccoli and Harry Saltzman made a deal with McClory, giving him sole producing credit and making themselves executive producers in order to proceed on a single film. The result proved profitable indeed—adjusted for inflation, Thunderball is second only to Skyfall (2012) in terms of financial success.

Thunderball certainly marked a shift to the epic. Not only was it the first Bond film to be shot in the scope aspect ratio, its stunts—including an underwater battle involving as many as 40 divers—were more elaborate than ever. The film’s gadgets were no mere props; its jetpack was developed by Bell Aerosystems for the US Army (which ultimately deemed it too dangerous for combat due to a 21-second fuel limit). The film’s submersibles were real too, as were the tiger sharks lurking in Largo’s saltwater pool. Even the plot of Thunderball was bigger, its nuclear blackmail scheme grand enough to be an effective threat while not so outrageous as to defy plausibility. As such, it marks a turning point after which the franchise began embracing its more fantastical elements. The film’s supporting cast is solid across the board, including a great turn by Desmond Llewelyn as Q, though it’s a shame the filmmakers failed to cast Felix Leiter more consistently. And the John Barry score is one of his best, with the title song here performed by Tom Jones (who reportedly nearly fainted in the recording booth after singing its final note).

Thunderball was shot on 35 mm film (once again on Eastman 50T 5251) by the series’ experienced cinematographer Ted Moore, but this time using Arriflex 35-IIA and Mitchell BNC cameras with Panavision B-Series anamorphic lenses, and it was finished photochemically at the wider 2.35:1 aspect ratio. For its physical release on Ultra HD, MGM commissioned a new 4K scan of the original camera negatives (confirmed by WBDHE—the work was done in 2024), completed extensive digital remastering, and graded the film for high dynamic range (compatible with both Dolby Vision and HDR10). The film is presented at 2.35 and it’s been encoded for maximum data rates on a 100GB disc. (Video rates average around 50 Mbps, with occasional peaks that are much higher.)

The image quality is excellent, with a pleasing amount of detail and subtle texturing. The anamorphic lenses render the occasional bit of softness around the edges of the frame, and you might notice the odd flare or two (one is triggered by a camera flash during the nighttime Junkanoo parade). Optically printed transitions and effects shots have the usual generation loss. But otherwise, this is a beautiful and cinematic image. Grain is light-moderate and organic throughout. Colors are pleasingly accurate, well-saturated, and nuanced. The HDR grade expands the overall dynamic range, adding a bit more detail in both the darkest and brightest parts of the frame. Highlights have a more natural sheen. None of the noise reduction or unnatural sharpening that appeared in the Lowry Digital remaster is present, nor has the palette been quite so brightened and oversaturated as it appeared on Blu-ray. Overall, this is an excellent remaster.

MGM’s 4K disc includes the film’s remastered English soundtrack in a new Dolby Atmos mix that’s 7.1 Dolby TrueHD compatible. Not unlike its visuals, Thunderball’s soundtrack is a little more robust and lively than those of previous installments. As such, the soundstage is a little bit wider across the front, and its surround and height channels are more actively employed for atmospheric immersion, music, directional sound effects, and panning. The height channels engage often during set pieces, including the jetpack’s flight, the Vulcan bomber’s liftoff and its interior cockpit coms, helicopter flybys, and especially the entire underwater fight sequence. Bass is more than sufficient to add a measure of bite to explosions and the boat chase at the end of the film. Dialogue is clean and both the musical score and title song are presented in terrific fidelity. Here’s a nice touch: There’s also an alternate Atmos mix, and the film’s Original Theatrical audio is also included in two different English 2.0 versions in lossless DTS-HD MA format. (Thunderball is infamous for having had multiple audio mixes over the years, one of which offers John Barry’s original end title music instead of a needle drop theme—now you have your choice.) Additional options include English Descriptive Audio in Dolby Digital 2.0, as well as French, German, Italian, Castilian Spanish, and Latin Spanish in Dolby Digital 5.1. Optional subtitles are available in English, French, German, Italian, Castilian Spanish, Dutch, and Latin Spanish.

There’s no Blu-ray in this package—you get just the UHD discs and a Digital Code (sadly, it redeems on Fandango at Home only—not Movies Anywhere). But most of the previous DVD and Blu-ray extras carry over on the actual 4K disc. The special features include…

Audio Commentary with Terence Young and Others
Audio Commentary with Peter Hunt, John Hopkins, and Others
Declassified: MI6 Vault
- The Incredible World of James Bond 1965 NBC TV Special (SD – 50:55)
- A Child’s Guide to Blowing Up a Motor Car 1965 Ford Promotion Film (SD – 17:10)
- On Location with Ken Adam (SD – 13:09)
- Bill Suitor: The Rocket Man Movies (SD – 3:57)
- Thunderball Boat Show Reel (SD – 2:50)
Selling Bonds (SD – 2:09)
Exotic Locations (HD – 3:18)
Mission Dossier
- The Making of Thunderball (HD – 27:32)
- The Thunderball Phenomenon (HD – 31:01)
- The Secret History of Thunderball (HD – 3:54)
Ministry of Propaganda
Theatrical Archive
- Get the Point (HD – 3:01)
- What an Operator (SD – 3:08)
- Two Biggest Bonds (SD – 2:21)
TV Broadcasts
- Strikes Like Thunderball (SD – 1:00)
- Look Up Look Down Look Out (SD – 1:01)
- Two for One Bonds (SD – 1:02)
- Bond Sale (SD – :22)
- Thunderball and From Russia with Love Double Bill (SD – :12)
Radio Communications
- Introduction (HD – :12)
- The Biggest Bond of All (HD – :53)
- See Sean Connery in Thunderball (HD – :27)
- Here Comes Thunderball (HD – :18)
- Look Up Look Down Look Out (HD – :30)
- James Bond Does It Everywhere (HD – :29)
- Sean Connery in Thunderball (HD – :20)
- Here Comes the Biggest Bond of All (HD – :25)
- One Motion Picture (HD – :57)
- Thunderball and You Only Live Twice (HD – :29)
- Sean Connery Is James Bond (HD – :12)

Missing here are the 007 Mission Control scene access links from the Blu-ray and the MI6 Declassified Credits (SD – 1:47), but these are no loss. The various Image Database video galleries are missing too—Portraits (HD – 2:10), The Aston Martin (HD – :23), Chateau D’Anet (HD – 1:17), Pinder’s Shop (HD – :35), Searching for the Vulcan (HD – :27), Romance Beneath the Waves (HD – 1:11), Underwater Action (HD – 1:55), The Final Fight (HD – :23), The Pinewood Tank (HD – :27), Thunderball Around the Globe (HD – 1:59), and Merchandising (HD – 2:55)—though they only included SD images. Otherwise, everything of significance from the previous Blu-ray and DVD editions appears to have carried over.

[Editor’s Note: For more on Thunderball, be sure to read Michael Coate’s excellent History, Legacy & Showmanship retrospective on the film here at The Bits.]

Film Rating (Thunderball): A
Disc Ratings (Video/Audio/Extras): A/A/B+

You Only Live Twice (1967)

Review coming soon.

Film Rating (You Only Live Twice): B-
Disc Ratings (Video/Audio/Extras): -/-/-

Diamonds Are Forever (1971)