Customer Reviews

The James Bond Story [VHS]

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I can tell you this...if you're a Bond fan, see this...you will thoroughly love it.

Interviews with all 5 Bonds (Sellers and Nelson are missing, but who cares). Clips from a ton of films, Q and more. It's a fun-filled hour or so for us Bond-maniacs.

I saw it on AMC one night earlier this year and was wondering if it would make it to video. I am glad it is!

This documentary, which only barely scratches the surface of Bond is not only very short, but also not well researched. How well can a documentation about 19 (official) movies be, when it only last about an hour? It is more than obvious, that the people who created this DVD did not know what they were talking about. They even show an interview with Maud Adams, who did appear in Golden Gun and Octopussy, but still say that no Bondgirl actress appeared twice in different movies... After watching this, owners of Bond DVDs, will be frustrated they spent money on this. Each one (!) of the Bond DVDs includes more features and more interesting documentations. In my opinion, they should have put these documentaries on a DVD Set by themselves. Instead, they created this documentation with all that was left over... or so it seems. Don't buy it, if you own Bond DVDs! If you are a newcomer to the Bond phenomenon, and only own a few Bonds on VHS, this is a good, but very basic overview of all things Bond.

Are you a bond fan? This is the movie for you! Filled with exciting information on all the James bond films from Dr. No to The World is Not Enough, this story is one not to be missed. Also included are interviews with many people of the "Bond Family" including Cubby Broccoli, Michael G. Wilson, Terence Young, John Glen, Louis Gilbert, Maud Adams, Jane Seymour, Pierce Brosnan, Roger Moore, Timothy Dalton, Sean Connery, George Lazenby and many more.... There are also exclusive interviews with Ian Fleming from his home Goldeneye in Jamaica. This story contains chapters on the Bond girls, exotic locations, the novels of Ian Fleming and many more. The only downer to this is the very droll voice of narrator Miranda Richardson. Telling the tales of the movies, the novels and James Bond himself- this story should be in everyone's collection who calls themself a Bond fan!

The James Bond story is worth, buying or watching.
Great for any Bond fan who wants to know a little bit more about the secret agent and the films in the pass, from DR. No, to The World is Not Enough.
The Story is based on the coming of Bond, Gadgets, Girls, and more. Interviews with our favorite characters as Bond from past and present.
But the story is great, but could have added more to the story, more details, to be exact. Worth getting, by all means.

If you are a Bond fan you will enjoy this video. If you are not a Bond fan you probably will enjoy this video. In less than an hour, the JB Story takes you into the fantasy world of the legendary hero (from Sir Sean Connery to Pierce Brosnan) his women, and gadgets and villains. The video also provides you with a biographical sketch of the 007 creator, Ian Fleming and his reclusive Goldeneye in the Bahamas. Either way, you cannot lose if you watch this video because it will hold your attention regardless of your gender. The hold is this-the video explores the mystique of the venerable superman and why he has been so immensely popular to both sexes internationally for four decades. He is every man's wannabe and every woman's desire. He is James Bond 007 and he is here to stay!

While not exactly loaded with explosive new insights, this documentary is well worth a look for Bond fans. Entertaining, some nice clips and moves along briskly. The extras on this disc, however, are practically worthless. The 20 question quiz, for instance, will be annoying to the fans who instantly notice incorrect information and just plain pointless for most everyone. It's worth renting, but I wouldn't rush out and buy a copy.

XXXXX

This action-packed documentary is a behind-the-scenes look at everything that makes people like the James Bond or 007 movies. (For those into trivia, there was a 1954 James Bond TV episode and a 1956 Bond radio program.) It includes brief film clips (and a few longer clips that highlight dialogue) from all the 007 movies (meaning from 1962's "Dr. No," the first Bond movie to 1999's "The World is Not Enough," the last Bond movie that was still in production as this documentary was being made).

There are ten scenes in this brief documentary covering everything from the origins of the series, sex and girls, violence, gadgets to the five actors who up to 1999 portrayed James Bond, locations, Ian Fleming (the author who created 007 in 1952), and the predicted future of the movie series.

The initial interviews with the five Bond actors (Sean Connery, George Lazenby, Roger Moore, Timothy Dalton, and Pierce Brosnan) as well as their comments throughout are, I found, very interesting. Be aware that at the beginning Connery mentions that there were a total of 20 Bond movies made. But as the documentary proceeds it shows printed on screen how many Bond movies each of these actors made. Respectively, these are {6,1,7,2,and 3 (as of 1999)}. The total is 19. Why the difference in totals?

The difference is due to the fact that Connery is including the movie titled "Never Say Never Again" (1983) in which he starred as Bond. However, the documentary is counting only those Bond movies made by `EON Productions' and "Never Say Never Again" was a non-EON production. Unfortunately, this fact is not mentioned by the narrator (actress Miranda Richardson) and this may cause confusion for some. (Another piece of trivia--there was a 1967 comic Bond movie made that was a non-EON production.)

Besides comments made by the Bond actors, there are also comments made by others involved with some of the Bond movies such as directors and producers. Comments are also made by "Bond girls" such as Maud Adams and Jane Seymour. (You will also see other Bond girls in brief film clips that are shown.) There is excellent archival footage of Ian Fleming and his James Bond writings. I also enjoyed the interviews with the Bond "gadget man" named "Q" (the late Desmond Llewelyn--who was in, count them, 17 Bond movies). These are some highlights. Much more interesting stuff is included.

The last scene of this documentary is called "The Furture" where the future of the James Bond movie series is discussed. It was predicted that Brosnan would make one more Bond movie and, as is known now, he did in 2002 (bringing the total EON Bond productions to 20). After that, they felt sure the series would continue. This documentary was right again! We now have a sixth James Bond portrayed by actor Daniel Craig who made his first Bond movie in 2006 (bringing the total EON Bond productions to 21 as of the date of this review).

I did have some minor problems with this documentary:

(1) I feel that, as discussed above, it should have been mentioned that the official Bond movies for this documentary were those made by EON productions. By not doing so, confusion in movie count was created.
(2) This documentary implies that all Bond movies were based on the writings of Ian Fleming. This is untrue. After Fleming died in 1964, there were other writers that took up the Bond saga and on whose writing some movies are based.
(3) On the DVD front case for this documentary (displayed above by Amazon), it says as of 1999, that there are "5 bonds; 19 films; over 30 years." The first two facts are correct. However, this documentary goes to 1999 so it would be more accurate if it read "over 35 years."

There is one major problem with this documentary. It does not discuss anything about the unique Bond theme music. This music is an essential ingredient of all the EON Bond movies. I thought this was a major oversight.

Finally, the DVD itself (the one released in 2000) is perfect in picture and sound quality. I found that some of the scene selections did not match the sections in the documentary. There is also one major extra--a multiple-choice twenty-question interactive trivia game. I found this interesting and fun but did find that the dates following some Bond movie titles were incorrect.

In conclusion, despite some minor problems and one major problem, I found that this documentary is a good way to increase your "Bond, James Bond" I.Q.

(1999; 50 min; full screen with wide screen sections; made for TV)

XXXXX

A short DVD about the worlds greatest spy films. Includes some good interviews and insights into the films. If you own all of the Bond movies though, you can watch the special features and get a lot of the same with out buying this.

...The order of the produced bond films does not follow theorder of the publication of Mr.Fleming's novels. Ian Flemingconsidered doing away with the character after the first few novelsfailed to catch on in the U.S. (in fact the first Bond novel, CASINO ROYALE was retitled YOU ASKED FOR IT during early U.S. release) but it wasn't until YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE - the second to the last complete Fleming novel did 007 appear to die with chief antagonist Ernst Blofeld in a Holmes/Moriarity - Victoria Falls-type encounter. He re-emerged, mentally scared,in the last Fleming novel THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN GUN. Departing from the standard British "Clubland Heroes" of the 40s and 50s - pulp saviors like Bulldog Drummond, and even farther back to Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes - men who'd never even conceive of a woman as a sexual object let alone a formidable antagonist - Bond drew from the darker American archtypes Philip Marlowe and Sam Spade with a healthy dose of classical references thrown in for good measure. And as such the film THE WORLD IS NOT ENOUGH emerges as one of the best written Bond sagas of recent years (Book or Film). Refer to Giraudoux's early 1900'sstageplay version of Electra and her father the King and one will have insight into T.W.I.N.E.'s niftiest plot-twist concerning the appropriately named chief female character Elektra King. Anyway, while THE JAMES BOND STORY (which aired earlier this year on AMC) offers no staggering new insight to anyone familiar with the world's greatest secret agent. SECRET? It does feature a much broader interview base than any other 007 documentary so far; and is a very entertaining, fast moving and informative primer for anyone seeking to enter the nearly half-century long club of international "Bondage". Good show 007, as well as to the producers of the documentary and the newest film. And hey,Desmond Llewelyn ... we miss you.

Very informative, and well put together. Information about each actor
who played Bond, where the name 'James Bond' came from, who Fleming might have based the Bond character on, actor interviews, as well as talking about the gadgets and the girls. A must have for Bond fans!