Diamonds Are Forever (Special Edition)
by Guy Hamilton
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Charles Gray, Jill St. John, Jimmy Dean, Lana Wood, Sean ConneryDirector: Guy Hamilton
Producer: Alan Silvers
Producer: Albert R. Broccoli
Producer: Harry Saltzman
Producer: Stanley Sopel
Writer: Ian Fleming
Writer: Richard Maibaum
Writer: Tom Mankiewicz
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: Spanish (Subtitled); French (Subtitled); English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0
Format: Anamorphic, Closed-captioned, Color, DVD, NTSC, Widescreen
Picture Format: 2.35:1
Running Time: 120 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2000-10-17
Audience Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Studio: MGM
Movie Reviews of Diamonds Are Forever (Special Edition)
Movie Review: A Paradox in the Cinematic James Bond Lineage
Summary: 5 Stars
When I first saw DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER I thought it was esoterically good from an eclectic viewpoint. It was the last Connery James Bond movie I had viewed. I had already watched the first 5 that he made. They were a little too serious. DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER was more like Roger Moore's James Bond movies. DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER was very different from the earlier ones, especially George Lazenby's stand-alone ON HER MAJESTY'S SECRET SERVICE. George Lazenby is the definitive James Bond in my mind. DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER was closer to Roger Moore's THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN GUN and the exceptional and misunderstood A VIEW TO A KILL.
Watching the movie I kept finding it so much more humorous from the earlier Connery ones and very enjoyable. All the villains were acting with a breezy and carefree caricature of what a James Bond villain should act like. It was as if I put on a Moore Bond movie. I think they were making a satire of their own series and the 60s spy craze.
The first six Bond films were played too straightforward. If there was any comedy at all it was played in a very indirect and dull manner. It was never lively but it was never done as a detriment of the story. It was always outlying the scene and meant to enhance it, not be the focus of it. This was wrong. It should have been central to the plot in such a way to advance each story in a more interesting way for greater audience interaction.
The villains in first six Bond films always played their parts with deadly seriousness most of the time. They lacked any humor from within themselves. Some of the villains were a bit quirky like Kleb, Benz and Oddjob. The idiosyncratic Kleb added some comic relief as she tried to kick Bond to death with a poisonous steel-pointed shoe in FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE. "She's had her kicks," remarks Bond. Not bad! Otherwise the villains in first six Bond films were all too serious and too threatening to James Bond. They should have lightened up.
The villains in DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER with the exception of Peter Franks, are all real unadulterated unflappably cool! They all make it that much more enjoyable and entertaining. Bruce Glover as Mister Wint and Putter Smith as Mister Kidd, Blofeld's henchmen, are the hippest! Look at Red Grant and Vargas who were much too serious. When you think about it however, Vargas, in THUNDERBALL was sort of funny going around all the time in that black outfit in broad daylight! Actually he did not look too cool at all!
Blofeld's other bad guys in DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER include Burt Saxby, Shady Tree, Mrs. Whistler, Slumber, Bambi and Thumper. Burt Saxby comes to his end in a funny scene; he gets fired literally by Willard Whyte. Whyte was supposed to be guarded by Bambi and Thumper, but Bond gets them all wet in Whyte's swimming pool. They don't stand a chance against Bond! There are just so many good actors in minor parts in this film. Don't forget Klaus Hergersheimer "checking radiation shields."
Even the good guys are plentiful in amusing roles. Jimmy Dean as Willard Whyte and Norman Burton as Felix Leiter are good. Jill St. John as Tiffany Case and Lana Wood as Plenty O'Toole are among the best "Bond Girls." "Q" has a good scene with Tiffany Case in the casino at a slot machine.
Many Bond fans didn't like Charles Gray's performance as Blofeld. He was not the same Blofeld we saw in "From Russia With Love," THUNDERBALL or YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE. He certainly was not the same Blofeld we saw in ON HER MAJESTY'S SECRET SERVICE. In fact there is a bit of a continuity problem with Blofeld as seen consecutively in YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE, ON HER MAJESTY'S SECRET SERVICE and DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER. However, that is a topic for discussion at some other point. The main point here is that Charles Gray was the best and perhaps definitive Blofeld.
This was Sean Connery's best performance as Bond. It looks like he had an amusing time coming back. He delivered an exceptional self-parody of his previous performances of James Bond 007.
John Barry's score was much better than his earlier ones. In fact, it is one of his better James Bond scores. It is fun, moving, and dynamic and yet pure Bond! He brought back his 007 theme to score the helicopter attack on the Blofeld's oilrig. We didn't hear that again until MOONRAKER. Let the good times roll.
Ken Adam's designs for the Willard Whyte penthouse and Blofeld's mud bath hideout were similar to sets that were to come latter in the series. His best design was for the lunar surface set used at Willard Whyte's laboratories in the Nevada desert. The pipeline where "Bond smells a rat" was also very good.
This film set up the Roger Moore James Bond epics that were to come. DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER is truly a paradox in the cinematic James Bond lineage. It is a contradiction of everything that came before and established the James Bond mystique. Yet, in the final analysis everything works in DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER in a self-made world of complete absurdity.
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