Thunderball on Blu-ray Disc Review
By Brandon A. DuHamel
The Film
Thunderball is seen by many as the film that set the tone for all Bond films to come for decades. With a typically slight plot and witticisms aplenty from everyone's favorite debonair British secret agent,
Thunderball for the first time introduced the over-the-top special effects and gadgetry that is first in people's minds when they think of Agent 007. From a jetpack escape and tricked-out Aston Martin DB5 that fires cannons from the rear, to underwater fight sequences and stolen atomic bombs, it is difficult for any James Bond production to escape the themes and plot devices set forth in
Thunderball.
In
Thunderball, James Bond (Sean Connery) comes up against adversary Emilio Largo, SPECTRE #2 (Adolfo Celi), who has stolen a NATO atomic bomb by causing the Vulcan aircraft it was aboard to crash and sink into the Atlantic near Nassau. Naturally, Bond must head to the Bahamas to stop Largo and the ever-increasing web of villains and attractive villainesses and recover the weapons in order to foil Largo's plans for detonating the bombs in Miami Beach.
The film's on-location sequences in the Bahamas offer the most engaging visual spectacles of the film provided by director Terrence Young, as the crystalline waters and sandy beaches are true eye candy in their glitzy Technicolor display. The most innovative parts of
Thunderball, however, are the underwater sequences. In particular, the final underwater fight sequence that pits Bond and the Coast Guard against the forces of SPECTRE is one of the most superbly filmed action sequences in cinematic history, and certainly in the history of Bond films. There can be no underwater action in a James Bond film that does not owe a major debt or in some way allude to these sequences from
Thunderball.
Upon its release in 1965,
Thunderball heralded a new era in James Bond fanaticism. With the release of this fourth film in the franchise, James Bond became a true worldwide phenomenon, spawning sundry cross-promotional deals and 007 merchandise to tie-in to the film, from 007 raincoats and slacks, to action figures and promotional films for traveling boat shows. Despite being the fourth film, it may very well be the defining film on the James Bond legacy, which would continue to get more outrageous over the years with special effects and villains intent on world destruction.
Thunderball, however, did all with a sense of reserve and style that makes it more fun and entertaining than the silliness that some later Bond efforts would become.
The Picture
Thunderball arrives on Blu-ray disc in a marvelous 2.35:1 AVC/MPEG-4 1080p/24 high definition encoding that shows the true care that MGM and Lowry Digital gave to bringing these films into the high definition realm. Scanning the original negatives at 4K (4000 x 3000 pixels), the film was then digitally cleaned up using a farm of 600 Power Mac G5's to remove dirt, scratches and other imperfections. The end result is an image that is clean, yet still sharp and film like showing a good amount of grain structure. The blacks are deep with an amazing amount of shadow detail that does not crush and contrast never tends to bloom. The colors are slightly less than accurate, but they still look good within the context of the film. Sean Connery's famous tan looks impeccable and the turquoise waters of the Caribbean are truly breathtaking.
The transfer is free from all compression and processing artifacts which allows its newly cleaned up source to shine through with fine detail. This is a superbly done transfer of a catalog release that is now aged over 43 years. It looks truly splendid.
The Sound
Not only have MGM offered new lossless 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio mixes for
Thunderball, but also they've provided the original English Mono (Dolby 2.0) mix in addition French Dolby Digital 5.1 and Spanish Mono mixes. The 5.1 mix is obviously less discrete than many of the surround mixes we are accustomed to today for action films, but it does open up the soundfield with good amounts of ambience in the rear channels and some nice directional use of the front left and right channels to follow some of the onscreen action. Dialogue is surprisingly full and clear for such an old sound recording, and there are decent dynamics and moderate use of the LFE to add some weight.
Switching to the original English Mono, things obvious collapse a tad, and it is also mastered at a slightly louder level than the 5.1 mix, but it still offers an amazingly full sound for its dialogue, though the sound effects did sound much more harsh and a bit thinner. Still, for an authentic experience it is good to have this version available as an option.
The Extras
At first glance it may appear as if
Thunderball is overloaded with supplemental materials, but on closer inspection, much of the "extras" are actually just direct access to the films scenes categorized by characters and themes. With that being said, there is still a sizable amount of extras offered on this release that will offer fans of the 007 franchise loads of background information, trivia and anecdotes on both the film, the character's creator and author of the novels Ian Flemming, as well as the actors and producers.
The extras available on this release are:
- MI6 Commentary:
- By editor Peter Hunt, screenwriter John Hopkins and others
- Director Terrence Young and others
- Declassified: MI6 Vault:
- The Incredible World of James Bond (4:3/standard definition) -- This 1965 NBC television special profiles the fictional character and his creator, Ian Flemming.
- A Child's Guide to Blowing Up a Motor Car -- 1965 Ford Promotional Film (4:3/standard definition) -- This tongue-in-cheek promotional video from Ford purports to follow a man and his young son as they go to the production set of Thunderball, meanwhile there is a clear emphasis on the Ford Fairlane they are driving in. It does offer some fine behind-the-scenes footage of the filming of Thunderball and explanations of the various technical
- On Location with Ken Adam (4:3/standard definition) -- Thunderball's production designer narrates this featurette, which offers some archival footage of the production crew location scouting for the film and designing the sets for Thunderball.
- Bill Suitor: The Rocket Man Movies (4:3/standard definition) -- This featurette details the jetpack that was used in the film, which was an actual working model and the stunt man who was used to double for Sean Connery.
- Thunderball Boat Show Reel (2.35:1/standard definition) -- This film features footage from Thunderball's underwater sequences and was used as promotional material during boat shows.
- Selling Bonds (4:3/standard definition) -- Original 1965 TV commercials advertising 007 merchandise:
- 007 Raincoat
- 007 Slacks
- 007 Action Pack Toys
- Credits -- credits for the Declassified: MI6 supplements
- 007 Mission Control -- This offers direct access to selected scenes from the film featuring its many characters, divided into the categories 007, Women, Allies, Villains.
- Mission Combat Manual -- A selection of scenes featuring the film's action sequences
- Q Branch -- This offers a selection of scenes featuring 007's various gadgets
- Exotic Locations (2.35:1/high definition) -- Classic "Bond girl" Maud Adams narrates and offers trivia on the films various locales as scenes from the film meander by.
- Mission Dossier:
- The Making of Thunderball (1.78:1/high definition) -- This making-of featurette is narrated in a BBC-like documentary style and offers an informative, in depth look at the evolution and production of Thunderball.
- The Thunderball Phenomenon (1.78:1/high definition) -- A look at the worldwide commercial phenomenon of 007 that was heralded by the 1965 release of Thunderball.
- The Secret History of Thunderball (2.35:1/high definition) -- This feature shows the different versions of Thunderball that have played in the theatres and made it to home video over the years. Among the differences are differing dialogue and the underwater sequences which have up until now only ever been available on home video without the underlying musical score.
- Ministry of Propaganda:
- Theatrical Archive (4:3/standard definition) -- Original theatrical trailers:
- Get the Point
- What an Operator
- Two Biggest Bonds -- Trailer for Thunderball/You Only Live Twice double feature
- TV Broadcasts (4:3/standard definition) -- Original TV Spots:
- Strikes like Thunderball
- Look Up, Look Down, Look Out
- Two for One Bonds -- Thunderball/From Russia with Love double feature
- Bond Sale -- Thunderball/From Russia with Love double feature
- Radio Communication -- Original Radio Spots:
- Introduction
- The Biggest Bond of All
- See Sean Connery in Thunderball
- Look Up, Look Down, Look Out
- James Bond Does it Everywhere
- Sean Connery in Thunderball
- Here Comes the Biggest Bond of All
- One Motion Picture
- Thunderball and You Only Live Twice
- Sean Connery is James Bond
- Image Database -- Dozens of portraits and production stills from the making of Thunderball:
- Portraits
- The Aston Martin
- Chateau D'Anet
- Pinder's Shop
- Searching for the Vulcan
- Romance Between the Waves
- Underwater Action
- The Final Fight
- The Pinewood Tank
- "Thunderball" Around the Globe
- Merchandising
Final Thoughts
Time and again in various polls and surveys Sean Connery is the man
that people point to as the definitive James Bond. If that be the case,
then
Thunderball
is arguably the film that defined the franchise for decades to come and
is in many ways still the yardstick against which all other Bond films
are measured. MGM has pulled no punches on this Blu-ray release,
bringing out an absolutely stellar video presentation alongside a newly
remixed 5.1 lossless soundtrack in addition to providing the original
English monaural mix for authenticity. If you are a true 007
aficionado, or even a newcomer to the franchise, this film is a
must-have edition to your Blu-ray collection.
Where to Buy:
Also available in the following boxed sets:
Compatibility Issues:
Some people are reporting playback problems with certain Bond titles on
Blu-ray. Specifically the Samsung BDP-1500 player and LG BH200 players
have problems playing some of these new Bond Discs. Please check the
Bond Blu-ray Player Compatibility thread in our forum for more details and to report your results.
Product Details
- Actors: Sean Connery, Claudine Auger
- Director: Terence Young
- Audio/Languages: English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1, Original English Mono, French Dolby Digital 5.1, Spanish Mono
- Subtitles: English, Spanish
- Region: A
- Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1
- Number of discs: 1
- Rating: PG
- Studio: Fox/MGM
- Blu-ray Disc Release Date: October 21, 2008
- Run Time: 125 minutes
- List Price: $34.98
- Extras:
- Audio Commentary with Director Terrence Young and Others
- Image Database
- Audio Commentary with Editor Peter Hunt and Co-Screenwriter John Hopkins and Others
- Selling Bonds Original 1965 Television Commercials
- On Location with Production Designer Ken Adam
- A child's Guide to Blowing Up a Motor Car 1965 Ford Promotional Film
- Bill Suitor: The Rocket Man Movies Featurette
- The Secret History of Thunderball Featurette
- Thunderball Boat Show Reel
- The Making of Thunderball Featurette
- The Thunderball Phenomenon
- 007 Mission Control Interactive Guode into the world of Thunderball
- The Incredible World of James Bond Original 1965 NBC-TV Special
- Theatrical Trailers, TV, and Radio Spots
