The James Bond web site MI6-HQ.com provides full coverage of last weekend's "60 Years of Bond" event held at Pinewood Studios. The sold-out event was planned and hosted by Cinema Retro's own Gareth Owen of Bondstars.com and featured many dignitaries from the Bond series. CR's Dave Worrall led a tour of the studio grounds and contributing writer Matthew Field provides this detailed report.

By Lee Pfeiffer

Actors and directors have a long tradition of trying to pass off exotic vacations as legitimate film making. Sometimes the cynical gambit pays unexpected dividends such as the Rat Pack's decision to shoot Oceans Eleven in between their nightly gigs on stage in the Sands hotel and casino in Las Vegas. They somehow turned out a good movie in between all the drinking, screwing and gambling. John Ford rounded up his stock company and headed to Hawaii for Donovan's Reef, but even with John Wayne on board, Paramount balked at the reed-thin script and old Pappy ended up having to front some of the production costs himself. In 1990, director Michael Winner teamed two of the wittiest and most likable stars- Michael Caine and Roger Moore- for what would appear to be a "no lose" proposition: casting them in an espionage comedy. Winner was well past his sell date as a director by then and ended up reinventing himself as a grouchy political pundit and much-feared restaurant critic. Still, how could he lose by teaming Harry Palmer and James Bond? It's a rhetorical question because the resulting film, Bullseye, was considered almost unreleasable. It's one of the least-seen movies of Caine and Moore's careers and with good reason. The ridiculous plot finds the two charismatic actors cast as two low-grade London con men who become embroiled in a plot to impersonate two renegade nuclear scientists who plan to sell top secrets to dangerous foreign powers. The silliest aspect of the film is that the scientists just happen to be physically identical to the con men. Moore and Caine are subjected to a series of increasingly weird scenarios that see them running about like the Keystone Cops as any shred of sensibility in the script is tossed out the window. They are joined by B movie mainstay of the era Sally Kirkland and Moore's daughter Deborah (billed here as "Deborah Barrymore") but not even the resurrection of Marilyn Monroe's sex appeal could salvage this cinematic train wreck. Winner seems to be directing as an afterthought as he indulges in some gorgeous locations in Scotland where the on-screen antics become so confusing that you literally have no idea whether you are observing the con men or the scientists. Winner films the final scene in an exotic island location which is quite obviously an indication of his ability to actually fly everyone there simply to shoot a few seconds of inconsequential footage. Winner wrote the non-screenplay with another otherwise talented person, the great lyricist and songwriter Leslie Bricusse. The only consolation they must have had is that they had a hell of a time on location and no one saw the movie anyway.

Personal observation: In 2017, following the death of Sir Roger Moore, a suitably opulent memorial service was held for him at Pinewood Studios, arranged by his friend, personal assistant and frequent co-author, Cinema Retro's own Gareth Owen. The service reflected the man himself: it was sentimental and funny as hell. Following the memorial, there was a champagne reception in the fabled gardens area. I found myself sipping bubbly next to Sir Michael Caine. In the parlance of the Brits, he and Roger had been best mates for decades. I mentioned to him that it was a shame that the only time they had teamed on screen was for "Bullseye". Sir Michael grinned and said he and Roger referred to the film as "Our "Ishtar", a reference to the notorious flop comedy from 1987. He said they had figured out very quickly that Michael Winner wasn't interested in the film. That was evidenced by the fact that every night he would whisk his stars away for dinner at another opulent restaurant and bill the entire meal to the studio. A great time was had by all. Consequently, he said that he and Roger agreed on two things: "Bullseye" was the worst film of their careers and, paradoxically, it was the most fun they ever had on a film set. 

(The film is currently streaming on Amazon Prime.)

CINEMA RETRO Issue #55 (2023)

• John Murphy provides this issue's "Film in Focus": a 10-page article on Charlton Heston as The Omega Man.
• Ian Brown provides an extensive tribute to the classic Hammer horror films of director Terence Fisher.
• Brian Davidson interviews actress Susan Penhaligon, known as "The British Bardot".
• Roland Schaefli revisits the French actual locations of the D-Day epic The Longest Day
• Tim Greaves shamelessly celebrates his "guilty pleasure" of this issue, Orgy of the Dead.
• Lee Pfeiffer looks back at the MGM crime thriller Signpost to Murder starring Joanne Woodward and Stuart Whitman.
• Gareth Owen takes you inside the Bondstars.com 007 convention at Pinewood Studios
  
• Mark Mawston concludes his 3-part interview with actor and pop singer John Leyton.
• Plus regular columns by Raymond Benson, Darren Allison and Brian Hannan plus a French cinema column by Julien Comelli

THIS ISSUE HAS NOW SOLD OUT. SORRY!

• Mike Siegel provides the inside story on the decades-long quest to restore Sam Peckinpah's Convoy and The Osterman Weekend.
  
• Simon Lewis celebrates the 1970 Pearl Harbor epic Tora! Tora! Tora!.
• Nicholas Anez  pays tribute to the ill-fated Robin and Marian starring Sean Connery, Audrey Hepburn and Robert Shaw.
  
• Gareth Owen is in Double-0 Heaven celebrating 60 years of James Bond at Pinewood Studios with many rare photos.
• Hank Reineke looks back at Vincent Price as The Last Man on Earth. 
• Brian Hannan looks at boxoffice performance of retro film releases.
• Darren Allison reviews the latest soundtrack releases.

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Production Designer Ken Adam, Producer Albert R. Broccoli and Director Lewis Gilbert on the original "007 Stage" at Pinewood Studios.

It was the biggest James Bond film to date. Released in 1977, Roger Moore's third 007 film, "The Spy Who Loved Me", restored the series to its former grandeur, following the anemic reaction to the previous film "The Man with the Golden Gun". Producer Albert R. Broccoli was making his first Bond movie without his former partner, Harry Saltzman, who ended their partnership after "Golden Gun". Broccoli was determined to go all-out and backed his plans by getting United Artists to provide the biggest budget the franchise had ever enjoyed. Broccoli made sure every penny was on the screen and constructed the largest sound stage in the world at Pinewood Studios. American Cinematographer magazine has long provided detailed behind-the-scenes coverage of the making of the Bond films. They have reprinted their on-set visit to Pinewood where contributing editor David Samuelson interviewed production designer Ken Adam and Director of Photography Claude Renoir. 

Click here to access the article.

Cinema Retro has received the following press release from The History Press. 

THE ART OF FILM

Designing James Bond, Aliens, Batman and More

24 March 2022 | 9780750997423 | HB | £25

TERRY ACKLAND-SNOW WENDY LAYBOURN

Legendary Art Director Terry Ackland-Snow lifts the lid on his extraordinary career in cinema.

Features many unpublished images and production sketches, and a wealth of amusing and revealing anecdotes. Terry Ackland-Snow has been a legendary figure in the film / TV industry for more than 40 years. Having worked on over 80 feature films, including two James Bond (On Her Majesty’s Secret Service and The Living Daylights), Aliens, Batman, 2001: A Space Odyssey, Labyrinth and The Rocky Horror Picture Show, he reveals in The Art of Film the stories behind the making of these iconic productions. With behind-the-scenes photographs and Terry’s own production sketches, many of which are published here for the first time, this is an essential read for lovers of classic cinema.

Terry Ackland-Snow has been in the film and television industry for more than 50 years. Having worked on over 80 feature productions, he has amassed a wealth of knowledge and experience, all of which he now teaches on his art direction training courses based at Pinewood Studios.

Wendy Laybourn has worked in the film industry since the early 1970s and has spent the past few years helping the future generation of filmmakers to understand the skills and crafts involved.

(In light of Sidney Poiter's recent passing, we are re-running this article by Eve Goldberg that was originally posted in May, 2021.) 

BY EVE GOLDBERG

To Sir, With Love (1967) is a classroom drama set in London’s working-class East End during the swinging 1960s. It’s a well-scripted, well-acted, and well-directed film of the “good teacher vs unruly students” subgenre. But, more than anything else, To Sir, With Love is a Sidney Poitier film. It’s Poitier’s persona and charisma, his decency and humanity, that shine through in every scene. And, it’s Poitier at the apex of his acting career—In the Heat of the Night and Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner were also released that same year. The film has aged surprisingly well, and is still enjoyable to watch. But it’s as an artifact of the Sidney Poitier oeuvre that To Sir, With Love earns its historical significance.

Class Struggle

In To Sir, With Love, Poitier plays Mark Thackeray, an unemployed engineer who takes a job teaching in a rough London high school while looking for work in his chosen field. From the beginning, the students give him a hard time. Led by rebellious Bert Denham (Christian Roberts), the teens are disrespectful and rude. Despite Thackeray’s patience, he fails to reach them. Eventually, he ditches the academic curricula and decides to engage the students around issues of personal ethics, survival skills, and everyday reality. “Life, love, death, sex, marriage, rebellion—anything you want,” he tells them. Thackeray opens up about his own hard-scrabble childhood in British Guiana. He demands that the students treat him, and each other, with respect. At one point, he takes them on a field trip to a museum, which proves to be a breakthrough scene as they experience life, and themselves, in a new way.

As the students grow and change, new challenges emerge for Thackeray: a female student (pretty blonde Pamela, played by Judy Geeson) develops a crush on him; he guides another student to cope with a humiliating situation in a more mature way. Towards the end of the movie, the students surprise Thackeray when they overcome their racism to attend the funeral of a mixed-race classmate’s mother.

In Poitier’s own words, his character “taught manners to kids who hadn’t understood what manners were… He also taught about self-respect, dignity, integrity, and honesty… He taught them integrity largely by showing them integrity. He offered himself as a friend, and until they were able to understand the offer and accept it, he endured an awful lot. He was driven to anger. He was humiliated… In the end, though, he succeeded in helping his students to see themselves in this new life as valuable, useful human beings with impressive potential.”

At the conclusion of the film, Thackeray receives the engineering job offer he was hoping for. But he tears up the job offer letter, realizing that he has found his calling as a teacher.

Race Takes a Back Seat

Despite several nods to issues of racial prejudice—in addition to the funeral subplot, Thackeray must deal with sporadic racists comments made by a fellow teacher and by the students—To Sir, With Love is more about class than race. Thackeray is educated, sophisticated, of the professional class and upwardly mobile. His students—almost all of them are white—are hard-core working-class, aware that they face a bleak economic future. When Thackeray throws out the text books in favor of teaching practical life lessons, he is in fact choosing to instruct the students in middle-class values and behavior.

But for all that class trumps race in this film, there is not a single moment when an American viewer in 1967 would not have been acutely aware that this is a black man teaching white kids. This is a black man counseling a student to disavow violence and turn the other cheek. This is a black man who might or might not become romantically involved with a white teacher. This is a black man who is intelligent, resourceful, self-restrained, and kind.

And that was a big part of the movie’s draw.

“I’m the only one”

In 1967, Sidney Poitier was the only black movie star in America. There was no Will Smith. There was no Denzel Washington. There was no Halle Berry, no Eddie Murphy, no Viola Davis, no Jamie Foxx, no Angela Bassett.

In 1967, movies were still at the center of the American cultural universe. When Newark and Detroit erupted in riots, when issues of race were daily front page news, when the more radical factions of the civil rights movement were verbally duking it out with the more moderate groups, Poitier was under pressure to be a spokesperson for all of black America.

“I’m the only one,” Poitier stated in an interview from that time. “I’m the only Negro actor who works with any degree of regularity. I represent 10,000,000 people in this country, and millions more in Africa.”

With the release of To Sir, With Love, In the Heat of the Night, and Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner, he also became the top-grossing box office star in the country. His ascent to this rarefied position was a matter of talent, hard work, and the guts to take on challenges and risks.

Sidney Poitier’s life journey began in 1927. He grew up on Cat Island in the Bahamas, population 1,000. His parents were tomato farmers; their house had no electricity or running water. He saw his first automobile at age 10 when the family moved to Nassau. When he was 15, Poitier went to live with his older brother in Miami. A year later, he moved to New York where he worked as a dishwasher, took acting lessons, and joined the American Negro Theater. A fellow restaurant worker helped him improve his reading skills by pouring over the daily newspaper together.

Eventually, the actor began to get parts in theater, film, and television. His breakout movie role came in 1955 when he was cast as an angry, rebellious student in Blackboard Jungle. From there, he went on to leading roles in The Defiant Ones, A Raisin in the Sun, Lilies of the Field, and A Patch of Blue. He was the first black person to win a Best Actor Oscar—for his role in 1963’s Lilies of the Field.

Poitier’s star was rising at the exact time the civil rights movement was making its enormous impact on mainstream America. He became active in the movement, traveling to the south for Freedom Summer, and participating in Martin Luther King, Jr.’s 1964 March on Washington. (Other stars who attended the march included Marlon Brando, Charlton Heston, Paul Newman, and Burt Lancaster.)

As an actor, Poitier became an icon in the struggle for racial equality. He refused to play roles that did not embody dignity and strength. In an interview, he described his relationship to the history of black people in cinema: “The kind of Negro played on the screen was always negative, buffoons, clowns, shuffling butlers, really misfits.… I chose not to be a party to the stereotyping … I want people to feel when they leave the theatre that life and human beings are worthwhile. That is my only philosophy about the pictures I do.”

Fortunately for Poitier, he was not the only one in Hollywood concerned with breaking these old stereotypes. “The explanation for my career,” he writes in his memoir, “was that I was instrumental for those few filmmakers who had a social conscience. Men like Daryl Zanuck, Joe Mankiewicz, Stanley Kramer, the Mirisch brothers, Ralph Nelson, Mike Frankovich, David Susskind—men who, in their careers, felt called to address some of the issues of their day.”

In 1966, Poitier was cast as Virgil Tibbs, a Philadelphia police detective investigating a murder in a small southern town, in Norman Jewison’s In The Heat of the Night. While waiting for production to begin, he traveled to London to star in a modestly-budgeted film about a teacher and his students, based on a property that had been kicking around Hollywood for years.

Iconic

To Sir, With Love began as a 1959 autobiographical novel by Guyanese writer E.R. Braithwaite. Columbia Studios owned the film rights but executives worried that it wouldn’t be a money-maker. They fretted that both its London setting and its interracial romance between Thackeray and a white teacher would alienate American audiences. So the book just sat.

Eventually however, Poitier’s agent Marty Baum put together a deal that offset the studio’s concerns.

Baum was also the agent of writer James Clavell (of later Shogun fame) who had scored a big success with his book and movie King Rat. Clavell had done a bit of screenwriting and directing and was eager to do more. He signed on as writer-director of To Sir, With Love. Baum structured a deal in which Poitier would get only a small up-front salary—much less than he would normally command—plus 10% of the film’s gross earnings. Clavell agreed to work for a percentage of the net. The film’s total budget would be $640,000. By way of comparison, the budget for In the Heat of the Night was $2,000,000 and Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner’s budget was $4,000,000. Taking on only a minimal financial risk, Columbia greenlit the film.

To Sir, With Love was shot on location in London and at England’s Pinewood Studios. It was released in June, 1967, and quickly became a smash hit. Studio executives were surprised: they didn’t know that Poitier was such a huge box office draw.

Teenagers (including 13-year-old yours truly) were among those who flocked to the movie. It had rebellious youth; it had Mod clothing, rock music, and pop star Lulu’s catchy hit “To Sir, With Love.” (Nineteen-year-old Lulu also has a part as one of the students.) The title song plays three times in the film, most notably as the soundtrack for an unusual scene that sticks out in an otherwise conventionally styled move: The class field trip to the museum is presented as a montage of still photos set to the title tune (a slightly longer version than was heard on the radio or on the 45 RPM record.) Is the montage a nod to hip, avant garde filmmaking such as A Hard Days’ Night? Or was it a necessity due to the film’s limited budget? Either way, it works.

Another plus for teenage audiences is the school’s end-of-the-year dance at which live entertainment is provided by real-life British rock band The Mindbenders.

But most of all, the movie had Sidney Poitier. Who wouldn’t want a teacher as handsome, understanding, compassionate, and smart as Mr. Thackeray?

Spurred by Lulu's bestselling single of the title song, the film's soundtrack became a hit, as well. It featured an extended cut of the song heard over the museum montage sequence.

Reviews of the movie were mixed.

The New York Times’ Bosley Crowther called it, “a cozy, good-humored and unbelievable little tale of a teacher getting acquainted with his pupils, implying but never stating that it is nice for the races to live congenially together.”

“If the hero of this Pollyanna story were white, his pieties would have been whistled off the screen,” Penelope Gilliatt wrote in The New Yorker.

Pauline Kael in The New Republic—she had not moved to The New Yorker yet—was sympathetic to the double bind Poitier found himself in: “Poitier has been playing the ideal-boy-next-door-who-happens-to-be-black for so long that he’s always the same…[but] What can he do? He can’t pass as a white man in order to play rats or cowards or sons of bitches, and if he plays Negro rats or cowards or sons of bitches he’ll be attacked for doing Negroes harm.”

The black press, which generally applauded Poitier and his pioneering contributions to civil rights, was mostly enthusiastic about To Sir, With Love. It was noted in Ebony, however, that the book’s interracial romance between Thackeray and fellow teacher Gillian Blanchard (Suzy Kendall) had been deleted in the movie. “Had Thackeray been white, the Thackeray-Gillian relationship would have been a love affair.”

Despite these mixed reviews, the public kept buying tickets. Loads of them. Month after month. Soon, To Sir, With Love became Columbia’s biggest hit since Lawrence of Arabia.

Eclipsed

In the Heat of the Night opened just two months after To Sir, With Love. Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner opened several months after that. These latter two films were prestige projects, centered around issues of race, with multiple Academy Awards nominations and wins. All three movies were giant box office hits. By any measure in Hollywood, 1967 had shaped up as The Year of Sidney Poitier.

However, the peak of his acting career was short-lived. Social and political currents were shifting, and the tide turned amazingly quickly against his film persona.

According to the actor, “The issue boiled down to why I wasn’t more angry and confrontational. New voices were speaking for African-Americans, and in new ways. Stokely Carmichael, H. Rap Brown, the Black Panthers. According to a certain taste that was coming into ascendancy at the time, I was an ‘Uncle Tom,’ even a ‘house Negro,’ for playing roles that were nonthreatening to white audiences, for playing the ‘noble Negro’ who fulfills white liberal fantasies. In essence, I was being taken to tasks for playing exemplary human beings.”

Already in 1967, Poitier sensed that his career as a leading man on screen was coming to an end. And he was right. He made more movies, as an actor and director—he directed Uptown Saturday Night and Stir Crazy among others—but the height of his cultural influence was over.

Today, Sidney Poitier may be most remembered for his role as detective Virgil Tibbs in In The Heat of the Night. But let’s not forget that it was a little movie about a teacher and his students that launched the great actor’s star into the stratosphere.

(

 If you haven't subscribed for Season 17 of Cinema Retro, here's what you've been missing:

Issue #49 (January, 2021)

Lee Pfeiffer goes undercover for Robert Vaughn's spy thriller "The Venetian Affair" .

Cai Ross goes to hell for "Damien- Omen II"

Ernie Magnotta continues our "Elvis on Film" series with "Elvis: That's the Way It Is"..

Robert Leese scare up some memories of the cult classic "Carnival of Souls"

Dave Worrall and Lee Pfeiffer look back on the 1976 Sensurround sensation "Midway"

Remembering Sir Sean Connery

James Sherlock examines Stanley Kramer's pandemic Cold War classic "On the Beach".

Dave Worrall goes in search of the Disco Volante hydrofoil from "Thunderball"

Gareth Owen's "Pinewood Past" column

Darren Allison reviews the latest soundtrack releases

Issue #50 (May, 2021)

50th anniversary celebration of "The French Connection" : Todd Garbarini interviews director William Friedkin

"Scars of Dracula": Mark Cerulli interviews stars Jenny Hanley and Christopher Matthews

Mark Mawston interviews Luc Roeg about his father Nicholas Roeg's "Walkabout"

James Bond producer Kevin McClory- Matthew Field and Ajay Chowdhury interview his family members

John Harty pays tribute to "Young Cassidy" starring Rod Taylor

"The Curse of the Werewolf"- Nicholas Anez pays tribute to the underrated Hammer horror film

Dave Worrall on the moving 1974 adventure film "The Dove"

Lee Pfeiffer on what worked and didn't work in "Goodbye, Columbus"

PLUS! You will also receive our fall issue:

Dave Worrall chronicles the challenges of bringing Cleopatra to the big screen in a 14 page Film in Focus feature loaded with rare photos.

John Harty looks at the ambitious but disastrous Soviet/Italian co-production of "The Red Tent" starring Sean Connery, Claudia Cardinale and Peter Finch

Terence Denman rides tall in the saddle with his story behind "The Savage Guns", the only Western ever made by Hammer Films

Dave Worrall and Lee Pfeiffer unveil the secrets of "Ice Station Zebra" starring Rock Hudson, Ernest Borgnine, Patrick McGoohan and Jim Brown

Rare original U.S. drive-in movie theater adverts

Brian Davidson's exclusive interview with David McGillivray (aka McG), screenwriter of 1970s horror flicks and looks back at "Hoffman", the bizarre film that Peter Sellers wanted destroyed.

Nicholas Anez examines the underrated thriller "The Night Visitor" starring Max Von Sydow, Liv Ullmann, Per Oscarsson and Trevor Howard

Plus regular columns by Raymond Benson, Darren Allison and Gareth Owen

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Mark Cerulli with Jerry Juroe at the "Bond in Motion" exhibition in London, 2018. (Photo: Mark Cerulli. All rights reserved.)

BY MARK CERULLI

While not a marquee name like Broccoli, Connery or Moore, Charles “Jerry” Juroe was an integral part of the James Bond movie phenomenon for three decades. On September 30^th, he passed away quietly at his home in Southern Spain with his daughter Kim by his side. Jerry was 98.

A publicity man through and through, Jerry started out at Paramount Pictures in the 1940s, but his new career was interrupted by World War II. As a graduate of the Castle Hill Military Academy in Tennessee, he was immediately called up and was part of the D-Day Invasion -service that, 75 years later, would earn him France’s prestigious Legion d’Honneur, presented by President Emmanuel Macron, no less. Jerry also saw action in Germany and Czechoslovakia before transferring to the Army’s Office of Special Services. There he escorted movie stars on USO appearances while also arranging entertainment for the troops. Although he held positions in Hollywood and was the publicist for Bob Hope and Bing Crosby, Jerry loved Europe and preferred to live there – especially after meeting lovely British actress Lynn Tracy, who became his wife of 42 years until her death in 2001. During his stint as a publicist for Arthur P. Jacobs, Jerry handled press for The Prince and the Showgirl, working with the mercurial Marilyn Monroe. Running European publicity for United Artists, Jerry worked with The Beatles on A Hard Day’s Night and Help. The job also put him in the orbit of a rising young producer named Albert “Cubby” Broccoli. At UA, Jerry handled publicity chores on Dr. No, accompanying Sean Connery on his first press tour. He worked on all of Connery’s films through the 1967 epic, You Only Live Twice. He left UA for several years but was invited back into Bondage by Cubby himself for The Man with The Golden Gun, joining the EON fold permanently from Moonraker through Licence to Kill. (Jerry came back briefly for the 1994 announcement of Pierce Brosnan as the new 007.)

I was fortunate enough to know Jerry for 40 years, meeting him as a college student spending a semester in London. I wrote a gushing letter to EON, which Jerry answered then invited me out to Pinewood. That was the start of a beautiful friendship. He also was fond of my wife, a fellow marketing exec, pulling me aside to say, “You got the best part of that deal.” Pure Jerry.

Jerry Juroe (far left) on the "Moonraker" publicity tour, 1979. (Photo courtesy of Jerry Juroe estate.)

He was fond of cruise ships and came to New York to take one of the last “crossings” of the QE2. While there, he handed me the manuscript of his autobiography which Ian Fleming Foundation co-founder and close friend Doug Redenius and I were able to get published in 2018 as Bond, The Beatles and My Year With Marilyn (McFarland Books). EON graciously invited us to lunch then sponsored a book-signing at the London Bond in Motion exhibit. A number of 00 alumni came for one of Jerry’s last hurrahs – John Glen, Gitte Lee (Sir Christopher’s widow), Jenny Hanley, Valerie Leon, Peter Lamont, Deborah Moore, Carole Ashby, Margaret Nolan, Steven Saltzman, Anthony Waye, former EON publicity & marketing honchos Anne Bennett and John Parkinson, EON Chief Archivist Meg Simmonds and many more. Also on hand were authors Ajay Chowdhury and Matthew Field, CR’s Dave Worrall, From Sweden with Love’s Anders Frejdh, bullet-catcher Mark O’Connell, French Bond expert Laurent Perriot – even Titanic star Billy Zane. Speeches were made, glasses were raised and warm embraces were exchanged. It was a beautiful night.

Jerry’s passing severs one of the very last connections to Hollywood’s Golden Age and his contribution to Bond’s success can’t be understated. As 5x Bond director John Glen put it, “Jerry was very much a part of the James Bond phenomenon. He took great care of all aspects of publicity, particularly looking after the actors which could be a trying task at times.”

“Sad indeed, but a full life well lived and lived well,” said actress Jenny Hanley (OHMSS).

My last conversation with Jerry was just days ago. I asked how he was feeling and he answered with a weary, “I’m still here.” Indeed he was and he always will be.

Thank you, Jerry.

If you want to read more about Jerry Juroe's remarkable life and career, order his autobiography.

CLICK HERE TO ORDER FROM AMAZON

HIGHLIGHTS OF ISSUE #30 INCLUDE:

• Mark Mawston lands a rare exclusive interview with A Hard Day's Night director Richard Lester, who recalls the making of the iconic film on its 50th anniversary- with insights from former United Artists production head David V. Picker, who brought the film to the screen.
• Denis Meilke looks at the legacy of the Steve Reeves Hercules films and the spin off Italian sword and sandal flicks in "Blood, Sweat and Togas". 
• Nicholas Anez compares the John Wayne/Howard Hawks  classics Rio Bravo and El Dorado in the concluding part of his essay. 
• Matthew Field provides the moving and informative final interview with legendary cinematographer Oswald Morris, who shot such diverse films as Fiddler on the Roof, Oliver!, Death Wish and The Guns of Navarone.
• Lee Pfeiffer on the legacy of the late, great Eli Wallach.
• Brian Davidson pays tribute to the short, tragic career of 1960s glamour girl Francoise Dorleac.
• Tim Greaves celebrates the guilty pleasures of Warlords of Atlantis
• Gareth Owen's tribute to legendary Gerry Anderson and his work at Pinewood Studios
• Brian Davidson revisits the kinky, British cult thriller Fright starring Susan George and Honor Blackman
• Howard Hughes concludes The Oakmont Story with a look at their last production, Hell Boats starring James Franciscus.
• John M. Whalen explores the strange tale of One-Eyed Jacks starring and directed by Marlon Brando
• Sergio Leone's A Fistful of Dollars- the 50th anniversary of the Clint Eastwood classic
• Raymond Benson's 10 best films of 1989
• Plus the latest film book, soundtrack and DVD reviews

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HIGHLIGHTS OF ISSUE #28 INCLUDE:

• Sheldon Hall's 13 page spectacular tribute to the 50th anniversary of Zulu starring Stanley Baker and Michael Caine. Rare behind the scenes photos and international movie posters.  
• Dave Worrall takes on you on a locations "now and then" tour of where Goldfinger starring Sean Connery was filmed at the legendary Pinewood Studios.
• Ray Morton's exclusive interview with cinematographer Richard Kline, who shot King Kong (1976), Death Wish, Star Trek: The Motion Picture and Camelot. 
• Dean Brierly looks at classic American crime movies including The Killers (1974), The Driver, Point Blank, Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia and The Taking of Pelham One Two Three.
• Brian Hannan tells the fascinating story of Elizabeth Taylor's BUtterfield 8, the film she did not want to do but won an Oscar for!
• Tim Greaves looks at the short but exotic career of Victoria Vetri, star of Hammer Films' When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth- and provides some rare provocative photos!
• Illustrated tribute to movie comic book tie-ins from the 1960s and 1970s.
• Howard Hughes continues his history of Oakmont Productions with The Thousand Plane Raid starring Christopher George. 
• Harvey Chartrand tells the fascinating story behind Mary Rose, the dream project that Alfred Hitchcock never filmed.
• Trevor Chapman remembers the glorious Gaumont Theatre, one of Britain's Cinerama gems. 
• Gareth Owen looks at Pinewood Studios in the 1970s and 1980s.
• Raymond Benson's top ten films of 1987
• Plus the latest film book, soundtrack and DVD reviews

USA/ CANADA : CINEMA RETRO #28

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REST OF THE WORLD : CINEMA RETRO ISSUE #28

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LOW STOCKS!

HIGHLIGHTS OF ISSUE #27 INCLUDE:

• Don L. Stradley examines the dramatic life and career of Lolita star Sue Lyon
• John Exshaw's unpublished interview with screen legend Peter Cushing
• Adrian Smith interviews Hugh Hudson, director of Revolution and Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes
• Dean Brierly looks at classic Japanese crime movies
• Stephen C. Jilks celebrates the Hammer horror flick Curse of the Werewolf
• David Savage examines Liz Taylor's little-seen, late career bizarro cult movie The Driver's Seat
• Howard Hughes continues his history of Oakmont Productions with Submarine X-1 starring James Caan
• Paul Thomson provides in-depth coverage of the Amicus Edgar Rice Burroughs film adaptations The Land That Time Forgot, At the Earth's Core and The People That Time Forgot and reviews the long-forgotten electric rock Western Zachariah
• Remember Ray Harryhausen
• Raymond Benson's top ten films of 1986
• Lee Pfeiffer's Take Two column looks back on The Valachi Papers starring Charles Bronson
• Burt Reynolds underrated dark comedy The End is re-evaluated by Tim Greaves
• Gareth Owen's Pinewood Past column features Reach for the Sky starring Kenneth More
• Plus the latest film book, soundtrack and DVD reviews. 

CINEMA RETRO ISSUE #27

CINEMA RETRO ISSUE #27 $30.00 USD

HIGHLIGHTS OF ISSUE #25 INCLUDE:

• James Bond at 50: Cinema Retro interviews Daniel Craig, producers Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson and Skyfall director Sam Mendesabout the screen legacy of Agent 007.
• Dr. No cast and crew reunion at Pinewood Studios, England: Gareth Owen reports
• Matthew R. Bradley covers the Blofelds of screen and literature in The Importance of Being Ernst: Part 2
• Major coverage of Hammer Films events: convention report, Hammer horror film locations then and now and coverage of the latest Blu-ray releases.
• In-depth look at the new restoration of David Lean's masterpiece Lawrence of Arabia and exclusive interview with Sony's Grover Crisp, the man who spearheaded the restoration process.
• Best-selling author Robert Sellers provides a fascinating look at the life and career of the ultimate "bad boy" of British cinema, Oliver Reed.
• Dean Brierly looks at the best Italian crime movies of the 60s and 70s.
• Tribute to the creator of master of British film posters, artist Tom Chantrell.
• Michael Davey interviews British sex symbol Liz Fraser
• Sands of the Kalahari starring Stuart Whitman and Susannah York: Lee Pfeiffer revisits an underrated classic adventure
• Nicholas  Anez pays tribute to Burt Lancaster's controversial The Swimmer 
• The"B" British war film Attack on the Iron Coast starring Lloyd Bridges- part one of Howard Hughes' history of Oakmont Studios
• Raymond Benson's top ten films of 1984
• Plus the latest DVD, soundtrack and  film book reviews 

CINEMA RETRO ISSUE #25

CINEMA RETRO ISSUE #25 $30.00 USD

ISSUE #43 (January, 2019)

Highlights of Cinema Retro #43:

Tribute to the 50th anniversary of the James Bond classic "On Her Majesty's Secret Service" starring George Lazenby: a five-page photo feature packed with rare images, some never published before.

"Mackenna's Gold"- a look back fifty years on at the much-hyped big budget fiasco that has a fascinating back story behind it. This major article by Dave Worrall and Lee Pfeiffer is the most comprehensive ever written about the troubled production that starred Gregory Peck, Omar Sharif, Telly Savalas and an all star cast. 

Cai Ross provides an exclusive interview with director Peter Medak, who recalls the little-seen Peter Sellers pirate comedy "Ghost in the Noonday Sun" and relates the maddening experience of working with the volatile comedy genius.

Dawn Dabell covers the 1966 British coming-of-age comedy "The Family Way", which allowed Hayley Mills her first adult role in a scathing comedy about coming of age during the sexual revolution. 

Brian Davdison looks back on the controversial "Assault", which is regarded as Britain's only true giallo.

Nick Anez analyzes director Robert Aldrich's bizarre-but-gripping Depression era crime drama "The Grissom Gang".

Gareth Owen examines the clues in the making of "Sleuth" starring Laurence Olivier and Michael Caine at Pinewood Studios

Brian Davidson pays tribute to actress Virginia Maskell, whose career and life were tragically short, but very impressive.

John V. Watson takes a nightmarish journey back to 1971 to examine the release of numerous high profile films that were extremely violent. Among them: "A Clockwork Orange", "Get Carter", "Villain", "Dirty Harry", "Straw Dogs" and "The Devils".

Plus Raymond Benson's "Cinema 101" column, Darren Allison's news about the latest soundtrack releases and our extensive reviews of new Blu-ray and DVD releases.

THIS ISSUE SHIPS FROM OUR UK OFFICE, AS IT IS SOLD OUT IN THE U.S.

ISSUE #32 OF CINEMA RETRO MAGAZINE:

HIGHLIGHTS OF ISSUE #32 INCLUDE:

• Ernie Magnotta goes overboard and analyzes the merits of Orca, The Killer Whale
• Tim Greaves goes undercover to examine the Charles Vine spy films of the 1960s and talks with star Tom Adams.
• Adrian Smith interviews screen sex siren Caron Gardner and reviews Our Man in Marrakesh (akaBang! Bang! You're Dead!)
• Raymond Benson's Top Ten Films of 1952
• Tom Santopietro celebrates the 50th anniversary of The Sound of Music
• Lee Pfeiffer looks back on the underrated British thriller, Val Guest's 80,000 Suspects starringRichard Johnson and Claire Bloom. 
• Plus Gareth Owen's Pinewood Past column, the latest soundtrack, film book and DVD reviews and much more!

CINEMA RETRO ISSUE #32

CINEMA RETRO ISSUE #32 $30.00 USD

BY LEE PFEIFFER

In the 1960s, enterprising producers James H. Nicholson and Samuel Z. Arkoff were riding high through their production company American International Pictures. They specialized in making low-budget crowd pleasers that ranged from "B" horror and science fiction films to zany "beach" comedies. They had established a stable of stars who they could depend on to top-line these movies, none of which were blockbusters, but most of which turned a decent profit in an era in which a decent profit was sufficient to please studio bosses. There was no greater star for American International than Vincent Price, who had often teamed with producer Roger Corman for a number of highly successful film adaptations of Edgar Allan Poe's literary works. When Corman and Price had exhausted most of the more promising Poe works, Corman moved on to other projects, establishing himself as a legend in the movie industry. Price, however, remained at the disposal of American-International. He was never overly-selective about the films he agreed to star in, though even the worst of them benefited from his presence.  Nicholson and Arkoff kept mining the Poe pot of gold by the weakest of links, as evidenced by "War-Gods of the Deep", of which it has been said that Price didn't even read the script until a week before filming had commenced. Nicholson and Arkoff had authorized a film inspired by Poe's poem "City in the Sea", with Dan Haller and George Willoughby producing. The movie was directed by Jacques Tourneur, who had brought to the screen at least two films that are now regarded as classics: "Cat People" and "Out of the Past". However, throughout most of his career, Tourneur did not enjoy the appreciation retro movie fans now show for his work. Instead, his talents were considered workmanlike and he was largely relegated to directing mediocre and forgettable films. ("War-Gods" would prove to be his final movie.)

"War-Gods of the Deep" (released in some countries as "City Under the Sea" and "City in the Sea") was a production fraught with problems from the very beginning. Charles Bennett, who wrote the first draft of the screenplay, was disheartened when Louis M. Heyward was hired to significantly rewrite his concepts to add some humor to the movie. Heyward's contributions included introducing a major comedic character, Harold Tufnell-Jones, played by David Tomlinson and the inclusion of a pet hen which he absurdly carries with him throughout the film. This was enough to make Bennett disown the final version of the movie. Similarly, there was also a falling-out between producers Haller and Willoughby. The production also lost some luster when plans to cast Boris Karloff in a key role fell through and he was replaced by John Le Mesurier. Filming took place at Pinewood Studios outside of London, with the movie's few exterior shots filmed on the Cornwall Coast. The film seemed to capitalize on audience fascination during this era with science fiction stories that were set in underground lairs or cities (i.e. "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea", "The Time Machine", "First Men in the Moon", "Journey to the Center of the Earth" and "Mysterious Island.") However, "War-Gods" pales in comparison to those similarly-themed films.

The movie, which is set at the beginning of the 20th century, opens in a British coastal town where strange occurrences have the inhabitants in distress. People are mysteriously disappearing and in one case, a missing man turns up dead in the surf. Ben Harris (Tab Hunter) is an American mining engineer working in the area. He makes the acquaintance of Jill Tregillis (Susan Hart), the American daughter of a local hotelier. When Jill vanishes, Ben and quirky local artist, Harold Tuffnell-Jones (David Tomlinson) launch a search only to accidentally be sucked into a whirlpool that deposits them in a secret underground city beneath the sea. It is ruled over by an aristocrat known as The Captain (Vincent Price), who overseas a civilization that has existed here for over a hundred years. The Captain informs them that, due to atmospheric conditions, the inhabitants never age and will enjoy eternal life. The city is guarded by the Gill Men, who are half-human, half-fish, who are the remaining survivors of a once thriving neighboring city that has that been all but obliterated. The Captain and his followers have installed an elaborate system of pumping air into their water-tight bubble that prevents them from drowning. They exist in apartments and rooms that have been carved into undersea caverns. He rules with an iron fist and sends the amphibious Gill Men to procure needed equipment from the local village and to occasionally kidnap people for various reasons. It becomes clear that he thinks Jill is the reincarnation of his beloved late wife. The Captain explains that an once-dormant undersea volcano is now activated, which is all-too-apparent to his captives. The seabed rocks with explosions and the Captain is desperate to find someone who can stem the inevitable destruction of his city. Ben buys time by pretending to be a scientist but with the clock ticking down, he knows he and his friends must escape before the ruse is discovered and they are sentenced to death. 

Peter Lamont interviewed by Gareth Owen at a celebration of his career at Pinewood Studios, 2016. (Photo: Mark Mawston).

We at Cinema Retro mourn the passing of our good friend Peter Lamont, the legendary Production Designer of many James Bond films as well as "Titanic", for which he received the Academy Award. CR columnist and author Gareth Owen reflects on Peter's life and career.

By Gareth Owen

British Oscar winning (and four-time nominee) Production Designer Peter Lamont passed away on December 18^th aged 91 after suffering complications from pneumonia.

Having seen his name on the silver screen throughout my formative years on films such as The Seven Percent Solution, Sleuth, Fiddler On The Roof, and of course pretty much every James Bond film, I first met Peter in 1990 at Pinewood Studios and was immediately struck by his friendliness, charm and modesty. I bumped into him on the lot many times in following years, and no matter how busy or pressured he was Peter always made time to have a little chat, and to enthuse about his latest film and some of the challenges he’d overcome.

Living nearby, in the mid 1940s, Peter started his career at Pinewood Studios as a runner and after breaking for two years for National Service in the Royal Air Force, he returned to Pinewood as a junior draughtsman on films such as Captain Boycott (1950), The Browning Version (1951), Hotel Sahara (1951), The Importance of Being Earnest (1952) and The Seekers (1954). His talent, easy-going demeanour and ability to keep a cool head in a crisis endeared him to many of the days leading Production Designers of the day including Alex Vetchinsky and Maurice Carter.

He then came on to the radar of Ken Adam who, in 1964, asked Peter to join the art department of Goldfinger to help recreate Fort Knox on the Pinewood backlot.

"I drew it all up and made a model," he recalled, "and I remember [director] Guy Hamilton and [producers] Cubby [Broccoli] and Harry [Saltzman] came up and they looked at it and said, 'Well, let's get an estimate of how much it's going to cost.' And I almost fell through the roof because the estimate was for £56,000 … I thought, 'Oh God, I'm going to get fired for this.' But nobody turned a hair."

Peter stayed with the Bond family until his retirement in 2006 and graduated to Set Dresser, Assistant Art Director, Art Director and – in 1981 – Production Designer, which was a position he kept through Casino Royale (2006). Though he did actually miss one Bond assignment (Tomorrow Never Dies in 197) due to being “on a sinking ship” – namely, James Cameron’s Titanic (1997); a film which finally brought him a much deserved Oscar win. His other nominations were for Fiddler on the Roof (1971), The Spy Who Loved Me (1977) and Aliens (1986).

Peter was a great ambassador for the Bond films and whilst his retirement probably came one film too early, he always spoke with great pride about his association with the series and regularly attended our Bondstars gatherings at Pinewood where he eagerly chatted with fans and entertained everyone with stories of his adventures. I developed a closer friendship with Peter often joining him and some of his art department colleagues on a Thursday lunchtime at the White Horse pub near the studios for a lunch, or his favourite Italian restaurant just around the corner from his home in Farnham Common. They were always jolly affairs and conversation around the table included anything from what was on TV the day before, the latest advances in technology and science, to memories of far flung locations many decades earlier – Peter’s recall and memory for detail was always astounding.

Lamont with Cinema Retro Lifetime Achievement Award, presented to him at Pinewood Studios in 2016. (L to R: Cinema Retro publishers Lee Pfeiffer, Dave Worrall and contributing writer Matthew Field.) (Photo: Mark Mawston.)

Having sadly lost his wife Ann six years ago, Peter was surrounded by his family, son Neil and daughter Madeline with their children and was very proud to have two great-grandchildren. He was also a great friend to, and of, many.

Upon hearing of Peter’s death, Eon Productions issued a press release:

"Peter Lamont was a much beloved member of the Bond family and a giant in the industry, inextricably linked with the design and aesthetic of James Bond since Goldfinger. He became Production Designer on For Your Eyes Only (1981) working on 18 of the 25 films including nine as Production Designer. He was a true success story proving that with talent and hard work you will achieve your dreams.

Our hearts go out to his family and all those who worked with him over many years. He will be very sorely missed."

Among Peter’s other notable films outside of 007 were: This Sporting Life (1963), The Ipcress File (1965), Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (1968), The Boys From Brazil (1978), and True Lies (1994).

Though never mentioned publicly, Peter did sometimes feel his contribution to the film industry was overshadowed by his frequent collaborator Ken Adam - but rest assured, his legacy is a rich and unique one in itself and will continue through his children and grandchildren who have followed in his footsteps.

Highlights of this issue include:

• We pay tribute to the eternal cinematic love story Somewhere in Time starring Christopher Reeve and Jane Seymour. Cai Ross provides an exclusive interview with the film's director, Jeannot Szwarc.
• Simon Lewis provides a 12-page "Film in Focus" article detailing the trials and tribulations of making David Lean's ill-fated Irish romance, Ryan's Daughter.
• John P. Harty examines the merits of another high profile boxoffice misfire, Richard Brooks' Lord Jim starring Peter O'Toole.
• Mark Mawston entices actor John Leyton to give a rare interview in which he discusses his successful career as a rock 'n roll heartthrob and, as an actor, filming The Great Escape.
• Dave Worrall shines the spotlight on Helen Mirren's breakthrough film, Age of Consent.
• Gareth Owen's "Pinewood Past" column
• Brian Hannan looks at boxoffice performance of retro film releases
• Darren Allison reviews the latest soundtrack releases
  
• Thomas Hauerslev celebrates the recent restoration of MGM's Cinerama classic The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm
• Lee Pfeiffer looks at the dark side of director Blake Edwards' films with Experiment in Terror starring Lee Remick, Glenn Ford and Stefanie Powers.

• Plus regular columns by Raymond Benson, Gareth Owen, Darren Allison and Brian Hannan.

USA/ CANADA : CINEMA RETRO #53

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UK : CINEMA RETRO ISSUE #53

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REST OF THE WORLD : CINEMA RETRO ISSUE #53

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BY HANK REINEKE

On the surface it appeared somewhat brave of Kino Lorber to greenlight a Blu-ray edition of Peter Hunt’s 1974 conspiracy-thriller Gold. It’s not that the film isn’tt deserving of such treatment, in this case an almost flawless restoration from original elements courtesy of Pinewood Studios. It’s only that this film has already been exhaustively exploited on peddled by every budget VHS and DVD label over the last several decades. So fans of the film would surely have this title – perhaps in multiple editions and action-film multi-packs – already sitting on their collection shelves. If so, I can promise your copy is a greatly inferior version to what we’ve been happily provided with here.

The back story of this film’s production, as so often the case, is nearly as interesting as the film itself. Michael Klinger, the British film producer who had given us the great Michael Caine spy thriller Get Carter in 1971, had previously optioned the film rights to such novels as Gold Mine (1970) and Shout at the Devil (1968). Both of these adventure-thrillers had been authored by the Rhodesian novelist Wilbur Smith. Smith would, alongside co-writers, later share screenwriting credit for both films. Klinger was able to raise funds for the film’s production through South African investments and a promise – soon to be controversial - to shoot both of his films in Johannesburg and neighboring communities.

Klinger brought on Peter Hunt to direct the film – whose working title of Gold Mine was soon shortened to Gold. In doing so, Klinger would not-so-coincidentally rescue Hunt’s career as a director of big-screen adventures. Following production of the Hunt helmed sixth James Bond film On Her Majesty’s Secret Service (1969), the former editor was sadly offered only two subsequent directorial assignments, both far more modest efforts for British television. In what everyone hoped would be his deserved return to big screen respectability, Hunt would bring on a number of veterans from the James Bond series to assist him on his return to big feature filmmaking: editor John Glen, sound recordist Gordon K. McCallum, camera operator Alec Mills, title artist Maurice Binder and production designer Syd Cain amongst them.

It was likely a Godsend to Cain that he wasn’t tasked to replicate an actual working mine in full scale. Klinger had been able to secure the full cooperation of South Africa’s General Mining Corporation for the film’s production. The British souvenir program for Gold, later sold at cinemas in the UK, boasted that the GMC was “one of the great mining and finance houses in the world,” adding the production team was given unfettered use of their mines at West Rand and Bufflesfontein. It was at the latter location that most of the surface photography was shot, with filming having commenced “beneath the 160-foot high shafthead and above the 500 miles of tunnels which twist 9,000 feet below and from which are torn 5,000 metric tons of rock every month.” Cain did impressively replicate portions of the gold mine to film interior action scenes at Pinewood Studios.

Tapped to portray Rod Slater, was another – if more recent – member of the James Bond film family: Roger Moore. Moore’s character in the film was recently promoted – or perhaps one should say “set up” – from “Underground Manger” to General Manager of Sonderditch GMC Ltd. It’s a South African mining company that will soon fall victim to a nefarious plot hatched in London by a board room of ruthless financial investors led by Sir John Gielgud. Their plan is to covertly flood the mine to manipulate prices on the gold market in an effort to increase their own fortunes… even if their windfall would come at the at the expense of the miner’s lives. I’m not giving away anything here, this film is by no means a mystery; the protagonists are identified nearly from the film’s very beginning. Gielgud has many accomplices in his plot including the mine’s very own Managing Director Manfred Steyner (Bradford Dillman).

There was little doubt that the producers of Gold hoped their film might ride the coattails of Moore’s surprising international success as James Bond in Live and Let Die (1973). The lobby cards for Gold, one guesses not unintentionally, would boast “Everything They Touch Turns to Excitement!” Which may have been a great line of ballyhoo, but one whose promotional zing would seem awfully familiar to the one found on the Goldfinger (1964) one sheet: “Everything He Touches Turns to Excitement!” I suppose it can also be argued that Gielgud’s intention to create a crisis to manipulate gold prices and increase his fortune by “five thousand million dollars” (whatever amount that is) is essentially an idea torn from Auric Goldfinger’s playbook. Interestingly, Gold would later be paired in the UK as a double-feature with Diamonds Are Forever (1971). The very collectible British Quad poster assembled for this odd cross-studio pairing would trumpet “At last! Moore and Connery Together in One Terrific All-Action Programme!”

Moore wasn’t the only actor on hand to bring a little star power to the marquee. Actress Susannah York was cast to play Terry Steyner, the Cessna piloting wife of conspirator Dillman, and Slater’s immediate boss. If Dillman’s Steyner is a complete tool, Moore’s Slater is, to be honest, a bit of an anti-hero himself: he’s a philandering rapscallion, who carries a checkered past of broken marriages, debt and high-living tastes that he can ill afford. Moore easily seduces York and their ill-advised affair begins... though, to be fair, she was desperately unhappy in her marriage to begin with. Ray Milland, who plays York’s father, is also on hand as the curmudgeonly but amiable CEO of Sonderditch. Also working on the film was famed composer Elmer Bernstein, whose emotive score would earn him (and lyricist Don Black) an Academy Award nomination in the Best Music, Original Song for “Wherever Love Takes Me”… but they would lose out to “We May Never Love Like This Again” from The Towering Inferno.

So the film certainly doesn’t lack for talent. The problem with Gold is that the story is a maddeningly meandering slow burn. Every stage of the nefarious plan and every criminal and marital double-cross is dutifully documented at length… at the expense of the film’s action which is relegated to the film’s final fifteen minutes. Hunt’s best and most dramatic moments are captured in scenes involving the dangers of the dank, claustrophobic mines, all groaning beams of lumber, dynamite fuses, trapped miners and unsettling cave-in catastrophes (one which includes a grim on-site medical amputation).

As already mentioned, there were a lot of film technicians associated with the James Bond franchise who would work on Gold. The most notable, perhaps, was this film’s Editor and Second Unit director John Glen. There’s little doubt that this film would later prove influential to Glen when chosen to direct the fourteenth Bond film A View to a Kill (1985). Much of the visual mayhem on display in Max Zorin’s soundstage mine was eerily similar to those in Hunt’s Gold. Glen would go on to direct Moore in three James Bond adventures from 1981-1985. Hunt, on the other hand, had previously worked with Moore on a single episode of The Persuaders (“Chain of Events,” 1971), but would work again with the actor on Gold and Shout at the Devil (1976). Despite their friendship, Hunt would confess in a fascinating interview with the short-lived sci-fi magazine Retro Vision, “I love Roger, he’s a lovely man and I’ve done three films with him. But he was never my idea of James Bond.”

The World Charity Premiere (“In Aid of the Star Organisation for Spastics”) of Gold was held on the evening of Thursday, September 5, 1974 at the Odeon Leicester Square. On Friday, September 6^th, the film was to set to enjoy a limited roll out to just short of two-dozen theaters across the UK. Hemdale, the corporation set to distribute the film in the UK afterwards took out a full-page ad in the trades trumpeting “Gold is proving to be 24 carat – 1^st Week Box-Office Total in 23 Cinemas: 81, 660 GBP. Every situation held over. Mr. Exhibitor Make Sure You Get Your Share of Gold.” The film would make less of a splash in the U.S. Though the US would not see a version of the colorful souvenir program brochure that British audiences were offered, Pyramid Books would publish a paperback movie tie-in with a promise their pulp edition would include “an 8-page photo insert from the film.”

Unfortunately for the producers, critical reaction to the film in the U.S. was less enthusiastic, with many newspapers writing off Gold as one more run-of-the-mill “disaster films.” There was some morsel of truth in that. The success of The Poseidon Adventure (1972) had kicked-off in its wake a rash of box-office and pop-culture disaster-film successes as The Towering Inferno (1974) and Earthquake! (1974). One critic would, incorrectly, but understandably, describe Hunt’s adaptation of Gold “as one of the cataclysm of disaster movies that have lately been making cinemas look like Red Cross centers.”

BY HANK REINEKE

In his 2008 memoir My Word is My Bond, Roger Moore recalls the fortunes that followed his second turn as James Bond in The Man with the Golden Gun (1974). “It seemed I was in demand!” he gushed. “Scripts were coming in to my agent and offers were being made everywhere.” Indeed, the success of his first Bond film Live and Let Die was not guaranteed, so when audiences turned out in remarkable numbers - the film raked in more than 126 million at the worldwide box office - everyone at United Artists and Eon Productions could breathe a little easier. It appeared that Moore’s interpret as agent 007 had been embraced by James Bond fans worldwide. Live and Let Die would premiere in June of 1973 with a massive press campaign. Throughout the summer of 1973 Moore would work tirelessly on the promotion of the eighth James Bond film.

By September of 1973 Moore was due to get back to work on his first post-Bond project. He and former Bond film editor-director Peter Hunt (On Her Majesty’s Secret Service) flew directly to Johannesburg, South Africa, where a team awaited to begin work on Gold (1974). It was a difficult production, beset by problems both logistical and political. Not the least of which was an uneasy disagreement with the actor’s union due to the unit’s shooting the film in apartheid-era South Africa. Moore would admit to Hollywood columnist Earl Wilson that while he was duly proud of his work on Gold it was nevertheless an exhausting, laborious and unglamorous shoot. The actor rued that he and the film crew were routinely dispatched “6,000 feet underground in a gold mine in South Africa. It was slightly claustrophobic and acrophobic, and [we] were dropping 4,000 feet in two minutes [into] miles and miles of tunnels.”

Moore would soon be back in daylight. Piggybacking on his new found James Bond fame, the years 1973-1985 would prove to be the actor’s most productive as the principal marquee draw in feature films. Due to the commercial success of Moore’s first James Bond adventure, a decision was made by UA and Eon to go with the momentum and get the announced follow-up Bond adventure, The Man with the Golden Gun into theaters as soon as possible. Their reasoning was sound, at least in theory. They believed a quick follow-up to Live and Let Die would even more firmly establish Moore as the quintessential James Bond of the new decade. So it was on this gamble that principal photography would commence on The Man with the Golden Gun in April of 1974. It was, by the standards of the Bond franchise, an unusually rushed production. Though a handsomely produced film, the box office receipts and reviews for Moore’s second Bond outing were less spectacular than for his first. The film was released, somewhat incredibly, a mere eight months’ following the start of filming.

If the ninth James Bond film fared less well than its predecessor, it can partly be attributed to the fact that Moore had little to no time to promote his second turn as oo7 as vigorously as his first. Filming on his next project, That Lucky Touch (1975), was scheduled to commence in December of 1974, this date neatly overlapping with The Man with the Golden Gun’s hurried Christmas holiday release. That Lucky Touch was shot on location in and around Brussels, Belgium, and at Pinewood Studios. The film was constructed as a romantic-comedy of sorts, Moore’s arms-dealing Michael Scott falling in love with contrarian journalist Susannah York. But Moore’s fans certainly wouldn’t have known the film was a Rom-Com had they trusted the misleading one-sheet posters issued to promote the film.

Capitalizing on Moore’s success as the new James Bond – or perhaps in recognition That Lucky Touch as released was a complete dud - the film’s marketing team had done their best to pass the film off to unsuspecting filmgoers as a new spy adventure. The most egregious example of this promotional shell-game was the poster depicting a tuxedoed Moore standing center, right arm crossed against his chest and brandishing a pistol in the classic James Bond fashion. He’s flanked on the poster by two lovelies, the image of a roulette wheel serving as a suitably Bond-ish backdrop behind them.

This was marketing at its crassest and most dishonest. This was no James Bond film; in fact it was not even a terribly successful or interesting romantic-comedy. One critic dismissed the production as “an inconsequential soufflé, flavored mildly with amusement.” Moore seemed - somewhat reluctantly – to share agreement with that assessment. While he believed the film offered some “funny moments,” the pacing of the screenplay was noticeably off and the resulting product disappointing. There would be other disappointing news on the horizon. Moore learned that it might be some time before he could again don James Bond’s famed shoulder-holster. The franchise was in temporary hiatus due to a very public and fractious legal dissolution of the partnership between Bond producers Albert R. Broccoli and Harry Saltzman and United Artists.

Luckily, his association with the James Bond franchise was enough to keep the scripts and offers coming in. There was plenty of work to keep himself busy as an army of lawyers moved in to settle Bond’s legal affairs. Moore would appear in his second film for Peter Hunt, Shout at the Devil (1976), sharing the starring co-bill with tough-guy Lee Marvin. Principal photography on that film would take place from March 1975 through July 1975. Reading through scripts and considering other offers late into the summer, Moore sat down for an interview with columnist Joyce Haber of the Los Angeles Times in September of ‘75. The actor announced he had chosen his next project. He was soon to begin an eight-week shoot in San Francisco for an independent film financed by Italian money. The working title of the film was The Sicilian Cross. “It’s about the Mafia and I’m mixed up in it,” he explained.

BY HANK REINEKE

Novelist Jay Richard Kennedy was, in his pre-Hollywood youth, known to friends simply as Samuel Richard Solomonick. Idealistic and having come of age in the midst of the U.S. depression, this native of Bronx, New York, would be caught up in the radical politics of the 1930s. In the years prior to the entry of the U.S. in World War II, Kennedy’s personal politics were mostly aligned with those of domestic left-wing groups, including the U.S. Communist Party. This marriage of shared ideals was primarily due to the CP’s seemingly uncompromising anti-fascist beliefs.

But Kennedy’s allegiance to the CP and to their professed socialist ideals came to an abrupt end in 1939 when the Soviet Union’s Joseph Stalin shocked internationalists and fellow travelers by doing the unthinkable - co-signing a non-aggression pact with Hitler’s Germany. That agreement, of course, was not long-lasting, broken when Germany invaded the Soviet Union in June 1941. But Stalin’s pact with the Devil had irreparably shaken the faith of many left-wing activists who had previously – and naively - looked to the Soviet Union for political guidance.

Though Kennedy would abandon many tenets of the far left, he remained an unapologetic political liberal. He was particularly active in the civil rights movements of the 1960s. He worked alongside members of C.O.R.E. (Congress of Racial Equality) and professed solidarity with the Black Panther Party. In truth, this activist wasn’t doing so badly working within the framework of the capitalist system. In April 1966, the recording industry trade magazine Billboard would describe the creative Kennedy as a true renaissance man. He was, they explained, been “at various times a writer for films, radio producer, novelist, talent manager, songwriter, and music publisher.”

At age 54, Kennedy’s youthful radicalism, while never abandoned, was likely tempered when he was tapped by Frank Sinatra to head the record and music publishing wing of Sinatra Enterprises. Kennedy’s 1965 novel, Favor the Runner, had mixed politics and seamy stories of entertainment industry practices. The novel was praised by Sinatra as “the most entertaining and beautifully written novel about show business to be published in this or any season… a swinging, shattering, glorious experience.”

Though the film credits of The Chairman do note that the film was based on a Kennedy’s original novel, it would appear as though the book was only first published two months following the movie’s release in June 1969. It was also published in an odd manner, the mass-market Signet paperback movie-tie-in of August 1969 preceding the later 1970 hardcover by the New American Library/World Publishing. The hardcover version of the book was simultaneously published in the UK under the more intriguing title “The Most Dangerous Man in the World.” (This title was retained for the UK release of the film.)

As Kennedy had a life-long interest in contemporary international-politics, it’s not surprising that the ideas behind The Chairman would germinate from his passion. In 1966 Mao Zedong, the Chairman of the Communist Party of Party, would architect his infamous “Cultural Revolution,” fervently calling on students and workers to commit themselves to continual revolution. It was a disastrous experiment, an anti-intellectual call to arms. During a four year period, universities were shuttered and any semblance of a free press crushed, leaving only Mao’s cult-of-personality and famed “Little Red Book” to light the path to world revolutionary socialism. Professors, intellectuals, workers of mid-to-high station - even loyal Communist Party members - were publically criticized, chastised and jailed by Mao’s infamous Red Guard, derided by the faithful as “Capitalist Roaders.”

Interestingly, the term “Capitalist Roader” was invoked to disparage the new bourgeois class of post-revolutionary China, accusing former comrades of abuses of privilege and power. Such charges were – somewhat oddly - more anti-Soviet than anti-American in their hysteria. In the mid 1950s, Mao had soured on what he perceived as the U.S.S.R.’s softening anti-revolutionary rhetoric and other “anti-socialist” practices as détente. Mao deemed such peace offerings as misguided and “revisionist.” It was a moment in time when the Soviet Union and China were jockeying for position as the preeminent architects of the international socialist movement.

The opening credit sequence of J. Lee Thompson’s The Chairman perfectly captures the revolutionary zeal of Mao’s Red Guards. Playing beneath composer Jerry Goldsmith’s stirring score is a montage of folk art and propaganda poster images of China’s peasant class brandishing their “Little Red Books,” holding them triumphantly aloft in their left-hands or dutifully studying Mao’s enlightening text.

The film had been in the works for some time. In February 1967, the syndicated gossip columnist Earl Wilson teased: “Jay Richard Kennedy, Frank Sinatra’s story sleuth, is winding up the minutes of The Chairman, about Commie China, which Frank, Yul Brynner, and Spencer Tracy’ll have fun with in Hong Kong next fall.” None of this would actually happen, of course, though Frank Sinatra was strongly rumored to have been considered for the role of the Nobel Prize-winning scientist John Hathaway early on. The part eventually went to Gregory Peck. For his troubles, Peck would sign onto a contract that reportedly paid him $500,000 dollars and 10% of any profits. Peck had been working steadily, though his more recent films had not been overly successful at the box office. In 1969, the actor would appear in no fewer than four feature-length films of varying success. Though The Chairman, Peck’s first film with 20^th Century Fox in more than a decade, eventually brought in 2.5 million dollars, it was not a huge box-office success. The film would only rank as the forty-first highest-grossing film of 1969.

On July 17, 1968, Hollywood gossip columnist Joyce Haber reported that producer Arthur Jacobs was in London test-screening some of the “10,000 feet of film” the filmmaker had managed to photograph discreetly “behind the bamboo curtain for use in The Chairman.” Afterwards, the production crew was to move to Hong Kong for principal photography. Jacob’s first choice to helm the feature was the British director Peter Yates. Yates was a natural choice for this espionage film, having previously worked on such ITV television series as The Saint with Roger Moore and Danger Man with Patrick McGoohan. Yates had recently – and easily - made the transition to feature films, beginning with Robbery (1967) but scoring big-time with Bullitt (1968) featuring Steve McQueen.

Jacob’s talks with Yates eventually stalled, perhaps due to the success of the latter film which might have made the director too hot – or too expensive - a property to sign on to The Chairman. Jacobs then offered the directorial job to another Brit, the equally talented J. Lee Thompson. Thompson was a natural choice. He had already worked with Gregory Peck on The Guns of Navarone (1961, for which he would receive a “Best Director” nomination by the Academy), Cape Fear (1962), and the all-star cast assembled in search of Mackenna’s Gold (1969).

In The Chairman, Gregory Peck portrays John Hathaway, an American currently residing in England and lecturing at a London university. He is contacted by Shelby, an American military attaché, who along with a Russian diplomat, and a British RAF officer, press him into accepting an industrial espionage assignment, code name Minotaur. It seems the Red Chinese have developed a ground-breaking agricultural enzyme that allows for crops to grow in usually unfriendly environments. With such ground breaking technology, the allies are afraid the world’s power balance will accordingly tilt. They are afraid that the poorest nations of the third world would sidle to the side of their Peking benefactors.

The Chinese have already expressed interest in having Hathaway lend his scientific expertise to their breakthrough. Though they possess the secret formula, they have thus far been unable to produce this enzyme in sufficient quantities. As few Americans are welcomed to Peking, the calculating Shelby wants Hathaway to accept the invitation of the Reds. He’s not to help out as they wish, of course, but will only be sent east long enough to steal their secret. The scientist refuses until the U.S. President himself calls, urging Hathaway to accept as the mission has been deemed as being of “urgent and terrific importance.”

Hathaway relents and agrees to have a “Q-23 transmitter” surgically inserted as a mastoid sinus canal implant. While Hathaway is told the implant has a satellite monitored tracking radius of one hundred and ten miles and can even monitor changes in his physiology, he is not informed the device also houses a “coil of explosive wire” which the military can remotely detonate should the mission go wrong. Arriving in China in the midst of the Cultural Revolution - already warily surveilled by his cautious and suspicious Chinese hosts - things, quite understandably, go wrong rather quickly.

While a very entertaining and old fashioned Cold War thriller, The Chairman does suffers from a bit of an identity crisis. It’s first positioned as a serious film involving a chess game of competing ideologies and geo-political espionage. But it soon loses such sober prestige when it occasionally dresses as a pastiche of a more outlandish James Bond adventure. In many respects the film is less interesting as the controversies that would surround its production. Principal photography on The Chairman was scheduled from August 26^th through December 3^rd, 1968. Most of the film’s interior scenes were shot without incident on the soundstages of Pinewood Studios, with the windy and rugged cliff sides of Scotland doubling as those of western Mongolia.

The real troubles began when, following a series of location shoots in Taiwan, the cast and crew were due to arrive in Hong Kong on Saturday, November 30, 1968. The company’s Hong Kong schedule was unceremoniously scrapped when, on Wednesday the 27^th, the New York Times reported the “British colonial government, reacting to Communist protests, announced today that it had forbidden an American film unit to shoot several sequences here of the movie The Chairman.” The leftist Wen Wei Pao and other Communist newspapers were at the forefront of cancellation of the film unit’s business in Hong Kong. The newssheets all published editorials decrying the project as a “conspiracy of the British and American imperialists,” an “insult to Chairman Mao,” and a “serious provocation against the 700 million Chinese people.”

Interestingly, there was not a lot of support for the production team in Hong Kong’s non-Communist mainstream press either. Beginning In the spring of 1967, Hong Kong had been wracked with nearly eight months of serious violence – bombings, assassinations, and street riots – following a series of hit-and-run confrontations between police and Communist agitators in the wake of a labor dispute. The resulting chaos and property damage had wearied many of the 8.5 million people living in Hong Kong. They were less interested in engaging in a free-speech battle, opting instead for an uneasy peace. To complicate matters further, a British-based journalist for Reuters was concurrently being held under house arrest in Peking, the capitol of mainland China. The reporter’s detention was seen by most observers as Peking’s retaliatory tactic for what they accused was Hong Kong’s “unjustified persecution of Communist reporters.”

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Issue #47 (May, 2020)

Nick Anez covers "Flaming Star", the Elvis Presley drama that remains an overlooked gem.

Director John Stevenson's tribute to animation genius Karel Zeman

Tim Greaves enters "The House That Dripped Blood"

Ian Brown  interviews actress Isobel Black

Barnaby Page takes flight on "Capricorn One"

Lee Pfeiffer reappraises Victor Buono as "The Strangler" and Brian Keith in "The Mackenzie Break"

Candid on set photos from Sam Peckinpah's "Major Dundee"

Dave Worrall visits a Sergio Leone western film location- in America!

Christopher Russell reveals "Where Eagles Dare" film locations, then and now.

George Anna White analyzes the films and TV series of producer Lew Grade

Raymond Benson's Cinema 101 column

Gareth Owen's Pinewood Past column looks at the making of "Victor/Victoria"

Darren Allison reviews the latest soundtrack releases

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BY LEE PFEIFFER

"The Wilby Conspiracy" is primarily notable for the teaming of two big screen legends: Sidney Poitier and Michael Caine. The 1975 film itself aspires to be a bold indictment of South Africa's cruel apartheid regime which saw black residents of the country terrorized and humiliated by the white minority.  Most movies wouldn't go near the topic in the mid-1970s so the script, based on Peter Driscoll's novel, is to be commended for being ahead of the game in terms of raising awareness of the practices that would ultimately bring down the corrupt regime and see the seemingly impossible achievement of having one-time political prisoner Nelson Mandela elected as president. Yet, screenwriters Rod Amateau and Harold Nebenzal were obviously tasked with primarily delivering an action adventure "buddy" pic that starts off resembling Poiter's 1950s classic "The Defiant Ones" (the protagonists are even handcuffed together for a time.) Adding another note of nostalgia is that the film reunited Poitier with director Ralph Nelson, with whom he collaborated on "Lilies of the Field" and "Duel at Diablo".

The film opens with a courtroom scene in which a prisoner, Shack Twala (Poitier) is awaiting what is believed to be a predetermined sentence for political "crimes" that will see him sent back to prison. Twala is a prominent black activist who has gained international attention for his objections to social injustice. Much to the surprise of Twala and his lawyer, Rina Van Niekerk (Prunella Gee), Twala is absolved of the crime and is released as a free man. The good feelings don't last long, however. During the drive home, their car is stopped by police officers who harass Twala, who becomes enraged and fights back with the help of Rina's boyfriend, Jim Keogh (Caine), a mining executive who is largely apolitical. Now wanted by the law, the two men drop off Rina and flee to Johannesburg, a 900 mile journey. There, Twala hopes to unite with a fellow political activist who might be able to sneak them across the border into Botswana. They have plenty of close calls and are aggressively pursued by Major Horn (Nicol Williamson), a dreaded higher up in the nation's nefarious security forces that routinely employed torture. They also learn that there was an ulterior motive in the court case that saw the government drop charges against Twala. The plot gets increasingly burdened with secondary characters and the search for a large cache of stolen diamonds that went missing many years ago. Twala wants to recover them and deliver them to a man named Wilby (Joe de Graft), the head of the black resistance movement who resides freely in Botswana. The plan is to use the diamonds to finance Wilby's attempts to publicize and shame the apartheid regime. Along the way there are double crosses and people who turn out to be dubious allies to the men who are on the lam. Most amusing is Saeed Jaffrey as a timid dentist who nevertheless risks his life for the activists cause. He also employs a fellow conspirator, Persis (Persis Khambatta), who seems to have been primarily written into the film in order to shoehorn in a rather absurd and unconvincing sex scene between her and Twala. Caine is in top form as the meek man who turns into an action hero literally overnight and he has the movie's best one-liners. Poitier, while not wasted, is under-utilized and lacks any scenes of great dramatic power. Prunella Gee provides a fine, spirited performance but the scene stealer is Nicol Williamson, who presents a fascinating villain who is charismatic, yet cruel and totally dedicated to enshrining white supremacy in South Africa by whatever means he needs to employ. (Like his real life counterparts, he naturally considers himself to be a patriot.)

The film abounds with impressive action scenes though a couple come close to "jumping the shark" in terms of credibility. (Ironically, the most suspense was generated off screen when an errant camera crashed through a speeding car with Poitier and Caine in the front seats, almost killing them both.) The movie also has an adequate score by Lalo Schifrin, though the decision to open this action opus with a romantic love song over the credits is bewildering. Because South Africa was obviously not available as a film location, Kenya substituted nicely and director Nelson makes the most of the expansive landscapes. Interiors were shot at Pinewood Studios outside of London. There are quite a few "behind-the-cameras" talents from the James Bond films: Associate Producer Stanley Sopel, Sound Recordist Gordon K. McCallum, legendary stunt coordinator Bob Simmons, First Assistant Editor John Grover and and Stills Photographer George Whitear. Another trivia note: the film was produced by actor/director Helmut Dantine, who has a small role in the movie. So there's a lot of talent both on and off-screen and while the movie is certainly not a classic, it can be recommended as a fun and sometimes poignant action flick.

Kino Lorber has released a Blu-ray edition of "The Wilby Conspiracy". The transfer is generally fine but not overwhelmingly impressive. The only bonus feature is a trailer gallery of other Caine and Poitier films available from KL.

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(Above: the famed Pinewood mansion house that served as Spectre HQ in "From Russia with Love")

Since the early days of the British film industry, Pinewood Studios, located on the outskirts of London in Iver Heath, has been an iconic presence in the motion picture industry. The long time home of the James Bond series has also seen countless other major franchises and other blockbusters utilize the studio's sound stages and nearby rural settings as backdrops for some of the most memorable films of all time. Now, however, the studio will be taken in a very different direction. Variety reports that Disney has signed a long-term deal to effectively take over all of the studio for a period of ten years commencing in 2020. With the exception of a few minor television studios on the premises, the deal will allow Disney to dominate production in the British film industry for the next ten years. Film production in England has been booming in recent years, a far cry from decades ago when draconian tax laws threatened the very existence of the studios.

Vintage trade magazine advertisement from 1965.

Variety reports that Netflix has signed a similar deal with Shepperton Studios, the other major historic setting of classic British films.  Not coincidentally, Shepperton is under the ownership of Pinewood. Thus, available space for non-Disney or Netflix productions in Britain will be very limited in the years to come. Even Agent 007 would seem to be affected, as the franchise belongs to MGM and Eon Productions. Presumably, future Bond films might be excluded from the studio that has served as the franchise's home base since the early 1960s. The irony is that the fabled "Albert R. Broccoli 007 Stage" might be off limits to James Bond for the next decade.  For more, click here.

BY MARK CERULLI

Forty eight years ago, United Artists continued their series of highly profitable Bond double features by releasing arguably the biggest 00 double bill of them all – Thunderball and You Only Live Twice. Both films had coined money on their initial releases, with Thunderball being the highest-grossing 007 film of that era – in fact, of many eras, right up until Skyfall in 2012. Thunderball earned a stunning $141 Million worldwide (over one billion dollars in today’s money), a number that must have had UA’s finance department humming the Bond theme at 727 Seventh Avenue. You Only Live Twice pulled in over $111 Million worldwide, its profits squeezed perhaps by a competing Bond film, the over-the-top comedy, Casino Royale with Peter Sellers, David Niven, Terence Cooper and Woody Allen as various Bonds or an Italian spy knockoff starring Sean Connery’s younger brother, Neil. (More on that later.)

Throughout the 60s, 70s and into the early 80s, United Artists cannily fed the demand for Bond with double features that also served to ignite audience interest between new films. The double-bills were pure cash cows for the studio – the movies had already been produced and paid for, so all UA had to do was book the theaters, buy TV, radio and print advertising, then, as Bond producer Cubby Broccoli was fond of saying, “Open the cinema doors and get out of the way.”

As a (very) young Bond fan in New York City, the exciting double feature TV spots for “The Two Biggest Bonds of All” got my attention and I desperately wanted to go. My father, an advertising and music executive, thought noon on a Saturday was the perfect time – instead we were greeted with a line around the block and a sold out show. Apparently that satisfied my dad’s interest in the movies because we never went back. Almost five decades later, I still regretted missing those two fantastic films on the big screen…

Enter Quentin Tarantino. Throughout July, his New Beverly Theater in LA ran most of the classic Bonds in vintage 35MM IB Technicolor prints, reportedly from his own collection. (The IB refers to “imbibition”, Technicolor’s patented die-transfer process resulting in a richer, more stable color palette.) So while there was no 4-hour, action-packed double feature for me, I finally got to see both films in 1960s 35MM, only a week apart. Even fifty years later, they didn’t disappoint: Thunderball remains a bonafide masterpiece. Fortunately Quentin owns a very good print, so the colors were still lush and it was fairly scratch-free. The main titles set to Tom Jones’ timeless song still popped in an explosion of colors and sound effects. The scenes of Domino and Bond meeting on a coral reef were hauntingly beautiful. The frantic Junkanoo chase fairly jumped off the screen and Thunderball’s iconic underwater battle is still a showstopper. (The filmmakers cleverly refrained from wall-to-wall music so the sequence incorporated underwater breathing and other natural sounds. Kudos again to 00 audio genius, Norman Wanstall.)

You Only Live Twice is a true epic and only the master showmen, Monsieurs Broccoli and Harry Saltzman could have pulled it off. They reached into the highest levels of the Japanese government to secure a lengthy shoot in what was then a very exotic location in a much bigger world. Japan was almost a character itself in their sprawling space age tale that occasionally bordered on sci-fi. Much has been written about Ken Adam’s volcano crater, but seeing it on a big screen really brings out his mind-blowing vision, especially during the climactic battle where the “ninjas” rappel down from the roof as controlled explosions rock the set. One can only imagine how that went over with 1967 audiences who had never seen anything like it. Putting it in context, Tarantino had selected various spy-themed trailers to run before the film – including The Wrecking Crew, The Venetian Affair and The Liquidator. Although they were all successful and well made, their sets and action sequences looked positively cheap in comparison to a Bond film.

Both features starred a young, vibrant Connery whose acting chops were on full display. Connery played Bond for real. He made you believe… once you bought into him as 007, then his strapping on a jetpack to fly over a French chateau, or a SPECTRE construction crew hollowing out a volcano - in secret - to create a rocket base seemed totally plausible. Sure Connery had put on a few pounds between Thunderball and Twice, but he was still fit and looked fantastic in his custom-made suits. And his fight with Samoan wrestler Peter Maivia (grandfather to Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson) in Osato’s office is still one for the ages.

(Above: Mie Hama joins in celebrating Connery's birthday on the set.)

As most Bond students know, Twice was a grueling shoot for the mercurial star. He was subjected to intense press and fan interest in a country that had gone wild for 007. Connery needed security to accompany him from location trailer to set. Going out for a quiet dinner was out of the question – even visiting the loo was off limits after an overzealous photographer poked his lens into Connery’s toilet stall! But if he was feeling angry or bitter about his situation, he was too much of a pro to let it show in his performance. In spite of the pressures, there were some good times on the Twice shoot during the furnace hot Asian summer of 1966 – now-famous photos show Connery-san laughing with lovely Mie Hama at his 36^th birthday party on location, or back at Pinewood, smiling at Donald Pleasence during a light moment in the control room that even had Blofeld’s hulking bodyguard (actor Ronald Rich) laughing in the background.

The latest, still untitled James Bond film, has certainly endured a run of bad luck since it went into production but a much-needed shot in the arm came with the visit by Prince Charles to the set of the movie earlier today. In footage provided by the Royal Family's YouTube channel, Charles is seen chatting with producers Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson, then getting an overview of Bond's vintage Aston Martins from 007 himself, Daniel Craig (who despite a recent injury, looks fit-as-a-fiddle). Charles then meets the crew members and takes a tour of "M"'s office. It's no secret the Prince of Wales is a long-time Bond fan, along the other members of the Royal Family. He has attended Bond premieres in the past, as has Princes William and Harry and, occasionally, Her Majesty as well.

BY HANK REINEKE

Sir Christopher Lee left us in 2015. In doing so he left even his most rabid fans to spend a good portion of their lives trying to track down all of the films he appeared in since 1946. This Kino Lorber Studio Classics Blu-ray release of director Kevin Connor’s Arabian Adventure (1979) will be a welcome one to his many devotees, especially as it sports a transfer superior to the old Televista DVD issued in 2007. This new transfer is colorful and bright, with very few issues of scratches or speckling and with just enough authentic film grain.

Though a near life-long fan of Christopher Lee’s work, I somehow managed to miss this film when on U.S. release in 1979. I vaguely recall a feature cover story on the film in a very early issue of Fangoria magazine but, perhaps since Arabian Adventure was marketed as a “family film,” my then too-cool nineteen year old self chose to skip it. Or maybe my friends weren’t interested in seeing it; or maybe it didn’t play at a theater near me. I simply don’t recall the circumstances. Lee historians Robert W. Pohle and Douglas C. Hart (The Films of Christopher Lee) suggest that the failure of this Arabian Nights-styled fable at the U.S. box office was due to it having been released during the Iranian hostage crisis. Perhaps. Or maybe it was too whimsical and anachronistic a film to usher out the 1970s, a decade of often seamy, violent, and envelope-pushing cinematic tropes.

The film was largely photographed at Pinewood Studios, the fabled home base of the James Bond series. Eagle eyed viewers will catch glimpses of some familiar Pinewood faces, character actors who have contributed to the 007 franchise in small but meaningful ways: veterans Shane Rimmer (You Only Live Twice, Diamonds are Forever, The Spy Who Loved Me) and Milton Reid (of The Spy Who Loved Me and several Amicus Productions). There’s even a youthful appearance of a future ally of agent 007, Art Malik (billed here under his actual first name Athar), “Kamran Shah” from The Living Daylights.

Of the aforementioned three, Reid has the most memorable role as a hulking, intemperate genie tasked in the guarding of the “Sacred Rose of Elil.” Otherwise, the other aforementioned actors share roles barely above cameos. Another connection of this film to the Bond series is the bright and colorful cinematography courtesy of veteran Director of Photography Alan Hume. Hume would go on to be EON’s DOP of the 80s, handling principal photography on three successive Roger Moore-era adventures (For Your Eyes Only, Octopussy, A View to a Kill).

The film also boasts two “Special Guest Appearances” featuring a pair of on-screen personas far more familiar to casual movie-going audiences. The genial Peter Cushing makes two brief appearances in the film, but is sadly underused here, relegated only to a small role and one semi-extended scene as Wazir Al Wuzara, the deposed ruler of Jaddur. More disappointingly to fans of his work in the Hammer Horror film franchise is that Cushing and his frequent on-screen nemesis Lee do not share a single scene.

If it’s any consolation to Cushing’s fans, at least the beloved actor gets a few lines of dialogue. The same cannot be said of the film’s second special guest, Mickey Rooney. The diminutive, aged Rooney has an unusual and wordless role as the Steam-Punk marionette master to a trio of fearsome, fire-breathing, gilded gold steel-plated gargantuan dragons. It’s an amusing scene, but his presence here amounts – again – to little more than a cameo.

By Lee Pfeiffer 

In between filming the James Bond blockbusters The Spy Who Loved Me and Moonraker, Roger Moore starred in a largely unheralded action adventure film that afforded him one of the best roles of his career. The movie was released internationally as North Sea Hijack but was retitled "ffolkes" in the all-important U.S. market. The title referred to the character Moore played, an eccentric crank who operates a Navy Seal-like team of daredevils who are periodically enlisted by the British government to combat terrorists. ffolkes may be a cute title for a movie hero but it lead to disappointing boxoffice returns in America, where audiences found it to be rather confusing: "What the hell is a ffolkes?" Nevertheless, this is a crackling good action flick, deftly directed by Andrew V. McLaglen, who was on a roll at the time with The Wild Geese, The Sea Wolves and this film, all of which, not coincidentally, starred Roger Moore.  

The film opens with ffolkes drilling his team of men in a relentless scuba-diving training sessions and casually tossing live grenades into the water as an incentive for them to complete their task within the allotted time. ffolkes is perpetually grouchy. He hates women (the result of growing up in an all-female household), a clever nod to show us that this character may be a man of action, but he's the antithesis of 007. (The script also makes a fleeting mention of the fact that ffolkes' disdain for the fairer sex is also partly due to a failed marriage, 'lest any of Moore's fans might suspect he's playing a gay man of action.) ffolkes also enjoys a more-than-occasional drink and is perpetually in the presence of a bottle of Scotch that he totes everywhere. He also hates smoking (another inside joke, as Moore was an obsessive cigar smoker at the time in real life) but has an obsession with cats. He lives in an old but imposing home on a lake, presumably in northern England or Scotland (though these scenes were actually filmed in Ireland, with interiors filmed at Pinewood Studios in Britain.), where he is comfortable eschewing the company of anyone but his team and his kitties. Topping off his eccentricities, ffolkes does his deep thinking while engaged in the art of crocheting. He's an interesting character and Moore has a field day playing him in some delightfully funny scenes in which he lambastes his men, traveling companions on a train, and lastly, top MPs and British naval brass. 

Moore rehearsing a scene on location in Ireland.

The story quickly kicks into gear when a team of sophisticated criminals hijack a cargo ship that is en route to bring supplies to the two biggest oil rigs in the North Sea. The group is led by the mastermind Kramer (Anthony Perkins), who orders his men to attach mines to both of the oil rigs before taking control of the larger of the two complexes. The gang demands that a 25 million pound ransom be paid to them by the British government or they will blow up both rigs, causing incalculable damage to the world economy, not to mention the environmental disaster that would ensue. The British Prime Minister (Faith Brook, exploiting the new era of Thatcher quite amusingly) reluctantly follows the advise of her military command to use ffolkes and his small team to outwit the bad guys. ffolkes accepts the mission on the proviso that he gives all the orders. He enlists a British admiral (very well played by James Mason) and an oil company executive (Moore's old real life pal and former Felix Leiter, David Hedison) as part of the high risk plot to be held hostage on the oil rig while ffolkes and his men engineer an ingenious plot to save the day. To say any more would spoil the fun. Suffice it to say that the screenplay refreshingly makes the seemingly superhuman ffolkes all-to-human by showing him making some mistakes in judgment that have costly consequences. Most of the laughs comes from Moore verbally sparring with the female PM and anyone else who might foolishly think they can contribute in any meaningful way to his master plan. The supporting cast is very good with Perkins' sarcastic and ruthless villain a scene-stealer, Michael Parks as his top henchman and old stalwart Jack Watson, virtually unrecognizable as the Norwegian sea captain whose vessel is hijacked. It all moves at a brisk pace by director McLaglen and the flick's old style editing and cinematography is downright refreshing in this era of overblown action movies.

The DVD is devoid of extras and has plenty of grain indicating that this fine, but overlooked movie is deserving of a Blu-ray upgrade. (Reader Gerhard Gallian advises that a no-frills Blu-ray is currently available in Germany.)

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BY LEE PFEIFFER

In a shock announcement, the James Bond producers Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson and star Daniel Craig have announced that Oscar-winning director Danny Boyle has exited the new, as yet untitled, 007 production. Much fanfare was attached to the original announcement that Boyle, who previously directed "Trainspotting" and "Slumdog Millionaire", would follow in the footsteps of another Oscar winning director, Sam Mendes, who had helmed the two previous blockbuster Bond films, "Skyfall" and "Spectre". The reason cited for Boyle's departure is the old show biz catch phrase: "creative differences". It is not known whether the screenwriter that Boyle brought on board, John Hodge, will stay with the production. Hodge has replaced longtime Bond movie scribes Neal Purvis and Robert Wade, who had already completed a screenplay that was shelved when Boyle and Hodge came aboard. Filming is set to begin in December at Pinewood Studios, London. The pressure will be on Eon Productions to find another director of stature to sign for the film on relatively short notice. The movie is scheduled for the usual high profile London premiere in late October 2019. For more click here.

Cinema Retro has received the following press release from MI6 Confidential magazine:

In 2017, after ten years of service, MI6 Confidential introduced a new special format: a limited-run 100-page perfect bound issue of the magazine taking a deep dive into one particular facet of the franchise. The second release is co-authored by Matthew Field and Ajay Chowdhury whose "Some Kind of Hero" is the 21st century's modern Bond bible.

Rather than recounting the production history of Sir Roger's epic seven film run as 007 the authors instead turned the narrative over to Moore's on-screen co-stars. The actor, philanthropist and true gentleman touched the lives of many — and many of his Bond co-stars who have said little or nothing about their work on the EON films since took this opportunity to regale Field and Chowdhury with some remarkable stories about Sir Roger Moore. No two stories are alike but each adds to a picture of a warmhearted man, a consummate professional, who never took himself too seriously.

In This Special Issue

• 100 page special magazine; professionally printed; perfect bound

• A unique look at the life and work of Sir Roger Moore through the eyes of his co-stars

• More than 60 of Moore's colleagues share memories, including: Christopher Walken, Yaphet Kotto, Tanya Roberts, Britt Ekland, Lois Chiles, Gloria Hendry, Julian Glover, Charles Dance, Steven Berkoff, and Vijay Amritraj.

• Over 100 rare and interesting photos of Sir Roger with his Bond 'family', plus beautiful key art from each film

• A full report from the opening of the Roger Moore Stage at Pinewood, including reflections from Michael Wilson, Sir Michael Caine, and David Walliams

Order

https://www.mi6confidential.com/issue-s2.php

Cinema Retro columnist and author Gareth Owen was employed for 16 years as Sir Roger Moore's personal assistant, primarily working out of Sir Roger's office at Pinewood Studios, London. However, they also enjoyed a close personal friendship that saw Gareth co-authoring several books with Sir Roger as well as traveling the world with him, often in relation to Sir Roger's very popular stage appearances. Those shows played to packed houses throughout the UK, with Gareth engaging Sir Roger in lighthearted and very funny interviews in which the iconic star delighted audiences with some surprising anecdotes. Click here to read the Daily Post's interview with Gareth and view some clips relating to Sir Roger's career.

BY LEE PFEIFFER AND DAVE WORRALL 

Actress Eunice Gayson, who made screen history by playing the first love interest of James Bond on the big screen, has passed away at age 90. Gayson played the sexy, single woman Sean Connery's 007 encounters at a high end gambling club in the first Bond thriller "Dr. No" in 1962. Gayson's character set the standard for future "Bond Girls" by portraying an independent, self-assured woman who had no pangs of guilt in regard to engaging in a sexual relationship for the pure pleasure of it. In fact, it is she who seduces Bond, turning up in his apartment and putting a golf ball while clad only in one of his shirts. The character, Sylvia Trench, also appeared in a brief love scene with Bond in the second film in the series, "From Russia with Love". Gayson got the role because she had worked with director Terence Young previously in the 1958 production "Zarak". The original idea was to have Trench appear in each of the films as a recurring character but that idea was dropped when Young, the director of the first two films, temporarily left the series and Guy Hamilton took over. Gayson also appeared in the Hammer Films production "The Revenge of Frankenstein" as well as many other feature films and TV series including "The Saint", "The Avengers" and "Danger Man". On a personal level, we at Cinema Retro mourn her passing. Eunice was a lovely, talented lady with a wonderful wit and sense of humor. We treasure the many hours we spent with her over the years and we are grateful that we saw her again recently at the memorial service for her old friend, Sir Roger Moore, which was held at Pinewood Studios last October. Bond producers Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson have issued the following statement:

"We are so sad to learn that Eunice Gayson, our very first 'Bond girl' who played Sylvia Trench in DR. NO and FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE has passed away. Our sincere thoughts are with her family."

For more about Eunice Gayson's career, click here. 

Gilbert on the set of the 1977 James Bond blockbuster The Spy Who Loved Me with production designer Ken Adam and producer Albert R. Broccoli at Pinewood Studios, London.

BY LEE PFEIFFER

Cinema Retro mourns the news of director/producer Lewis Gilbert's death in London at age 97. Gilbert was a good friend to our magazine and gave what is probably his last interview to our correspondent Matthew Field several years ago. It ran in three consecutive issues of Cinema Retro (#'s18, 19 and 20). 

Gilbert had a remarkable career that began early in life as a music hall performer and an actor in small roles in British films. During WWII he served in the RAF, producing and directing documentaries for the military. His first feature film as director was "The Little Ballerina", released in 1947. Gilbert toiled through directing low-budget, often undistinguished films, honing his craft along the way. He earned praise for his 1958 WWII-themed espionage film "Carve Her Name with Pride" and had a major hit in the WWII genre with the release of the 1960 film "Sink the Bismarck!" As Gilbert's clout in the industry rose, so, too did his production budgets. He directed the 1962 adventure film "Damn the Defiant!" (UK title: "H.M.S. Defiant") starring Alec Guinness and Dirk Bogarde followed by the 1964 Cold War thriller "The 7th Dawn" starring William Holden. He rose to even greater prominence by producing and directing the 1966 anti-Establshment comedy "Alfie", a major early hit for Michael Caine that was accorded great critical praise and numerous Oscar and BAFTA nominations. Gilbert proved to be eclectic in his abilities to move between genres. He was a seemingly unlikely choice to direct the 1967 James Bond epic "You Only Live Twice" starring Sean Connery, which was set in Japan, but the film was an enormous boxoffice success. Ten years later Gilbert returned to the Bond genre to direct Roger Moore in two back-to-back 007 films, "The Spy Who Loved Me" and "Moonraker". Both films were major international hits. Gilbert had also directed the 1970 big-budget screen adaptation of Harold Robbins' bestseller "The Adventurers", but it was a troubled production that flopped with critics and the public. In 1971 he directed a popular, small-budget teenage love story, "Friends" which featured original songs by Elton John early in his career. Four years later he directed the film's sequel, "Paul and Michelle".  In 1980 he directed the sophisticated comedy "Educating Rita" which won Oscar nominations for Michael Caine and Julie Walters, followed by "Shirley Valentine" in 1989. 

For more, click here.

BY LEE PFEIFFER

Kino Lorber has released the 1968 espionage thriller "The High Commissioner" on Blu-ray. The film, which was titled "Nobody Runs Forever" in it's UK release, is significant in that it paired two charismatic leading men- Rod Taylor and Christopher Plummer- in a low-key but well-scripted tale that sustains interest throughout. The film is based on John Cleary's novel and presents some offbeat and refreshing elements for a spy movie made at the height of the James Bond-inspired phenomenon. Most refreshingly, the two protagonists are Australians, a rare instance in which heroes from "Down Under" are showcased in a non-Australian movie of the era. Taylor plays Scobie Malone, a tough-as-nails police officer in the Northern Territory who is content to fulfill his job of keeping order in the Outback and arresting small-time trouble makers. He is reluctantly assigned to travel to London for an unusual mission: to bring back the Australian High Commissioner, Sir James Quentin (Plummer) and have him stand trial on charges that he murdered his first wife many years before. When Scobie arrives in London, he realizes that the timing of his mission could not be more sensitive: Quentin is hosting an important diplomatic conference with African leaders in the hope of finalizing a major treaty that could affect the balance of power in the African continent. The world is watching as Quentin tries to iron out details to make the treaty a reality. When Scobie informs him of his assignment, Quentin seems curiously nonplussed about the nature of the charges against him- but he is quite concerned by the fact that his sudden absence from the conference would almost certainly cause the talks to collapse. He imposes on Scobie to give him a few additional days to sort out the final details on the treaty. Scobie takes an instant liking to Quentin and his adoring wife Sheila (Lilli Palmer), and agrees with the request. Scobie's cover story to Sheila is that he is simply acting as a bodyguard to Quentin, but she seems to suspect his real motive is more nefarious. When an attempt is made on Quentin's life, Scobie is instrumental in thwarting it. The two men ultimately bond as friends and Scobie begins to suspect that Quentin could not have possibly murdered his first wife. Why then is the Australian government convinced he had? More pressing is solving the problem of who is behind the assassination attempt on Quentin and who in his inner circle is a mole. It appears a shadowy organization feels threatened by the chances of the treaty succeeding- and wants to thwart it by killing Quentin. 

"The High Commissioner" is a film that plays best if not examined in detail because there are plenty of loosely-developed plot points. It's never quite explained why Scobie was taken all the way from the Outback for this particular assignment. Surely the government could have found one equally capable law enforcement officer who was a bit more accessible. It also becomes clear that the plot to thwart the conference is just the "MacGuffin" in that it's never thoroughly explained who the bad guys are or why they feel threatened by Quentin's peace conference. Nor do we learn precisely what is being negotiated at the conference. What we do have are some intriguing characters including two of the most glamorous actresses of the period: Daliah Lavi, in full dangerous femme fatale mode as a seductive enemy agent and Camilla Sparv as Quentin's loyal secretary who holds a not-so-secret crush on him. While on assignment, Scobie allows himself to be seduced by Lavi (who wouldn't?) but remains chaste with Sparvi's character, so as to not impede his professional standing with the Quentins. The film moves along at a brisk pace under the direction of Ralph Thomas, who had recently helmed two other spy flicks- "Deadlier Than the Male" and "Agent 8 3/4" (aka "Hot Enough for June". )  Thomas showcases Taylor's rugged good looks by giving him Bondian opportunities to wear tuxedos and engage in plenty of mayhem. The film's climax takes place at Wimbledon, where the villains intend to assassinate Quentin by using a gun placed inside a television camera. The murder charges against Quentin come to a head in an emotional discussion Scobie has with Sheila, though her explanation for his innocence seems rather weak. The film builds to a fiery and explosive final scene that is undermined only shoddy special effects. 

The best aspect of "The High Commissioner" is that it provides a good role for Rod Taylor, one of the most charismatic leading men of the 1960s. Taylor was usually cast as American or British characters because he had mastered both accents, but here he is allowed to talk like a native Australian, which, in fact, he was. Equally at home in posh cocktail parties or flailing away at the bad guys, Taylor was the epitome of the charming tough guy. Plummer also gets an interesting role though the character is never fully developed and plays second-fiddle to Taylor's. Nevertheless, he embellishes the much-besieged Quentin with quiet dignity even when narrowly dodging bombs and bullets.  Lilli Palmer is especially poignant as Quentin's ever-faithful but long-suffering wife who is harboring a terrible secret that figures in the explosive climax. There is also an impressive supporting cast that includes Clive Revill as a butler whose allegiance may be in question, Calvin Lockhart as a handsome international man of mystery and an unrecognizable, black-haired Derren Nesbitt as a villain. The lush locations begin in Australia before moving to London, where director Thomas capitalizes on them. Interiors were shot at Pinewood Studios. 

The Kino Lorber Blu-ray is up to the company's usual fine standards and includes the original trailer. Recommended.  

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BY LEE PFEIFFER

With the untimely death of Peter Sellers in 1980, his long-time collaborator, writer/director Blake Edwards decided to create a "tribute" to his iconic star of their "Pink Panther" series by filming not just one, but two sequels simultaneously. The decision was not without controversy as virtually everyone in the film industry was aware of the fact that the two men had long ago come to loathe each other but continued to work together because of the success of the "Panther" franchise. The first sequel, "Trail of the Pink Panther" was a cut-and-paste job incorporating clips from Sellers' original films as Inspector Jacques Clouseau along with unseen outtakes that were cobbled together to form a plot in which Clouseau goes inexplicably missing in the second half of the film (only because Edwards had run out of outtakes.) The film sets the premise for the second sequel, "Curse of the Pink Panther" (1983) which was designed to introduce a suitable replacement for the Sellers/Clouseau persona in the form of a new character. Edwards originally approached then red-hot Dudley Moore, who declined to be tied to a film franchise. He then went in the opposite direction and hired Ted Wass, a veteran of the TV sitcom "Soap", to take on the challenge of establishing himself as Sellers' successor. It was a tall order especially for a young actor who had never made a feature film and who was completely ignorant of the process. Still, it represented an offer he couldn't refuse. The script picks up where "Trail" leaves off with the world galvanized by the authorities' attempts to find what happened to "the world's greatest detective". Leading the frantic investigation is French Inspector Dreyfus (Herbert Lom), Clouseau's long-suffering boss and a klutz in his own right. Dreyfus is secretly thrilled that Clouseau has gone missing and may be dead but he's forced to oversee the search efforts. In a scene that seems inspired by "Our Man Flint", he utilizes a computer to come up with the name of the sleuth who is most qualified to take on the mission. Through a quirk, the resulting answer puzzles everyone: it turns out to be Clifton Sleigh (Ted Wass), an inept New York City police officer who, like Clouseau, has gained a reputation for efficiency despite his constant bumbling. Sleigh's own harried boss is thrilled to send him packing off to Paris to take on the investigation. Sleigh's first meeting with Dreyfus quickly crushes the latter's hopes that he might finally be working in alliance with a capable detective. The simple act of crossing room and shaking Dreyfus's hand results in Sleigh stumbling and knocking the French lawman out of a window, resulting in being hospitalized, as he had so often been due to Clouseau's ineptness. Lom's comic timing was always a major asset to the series and he's in top form here.

The story then finds Sleigh on hunt across exotic European locations in search of Clouseau. It's a journey that rapidly becomes wearying despite Edwards' attempts to liven the proceedings with frequent scenes of slapstick humor. Sleigh meets up with Cato (Burt Kwouk), Sellers' longtime man servant, who has now established their apartment as a museum in honor of his employer, replete with wax figurines representing Clouseau's greatest disguises. The scene seems more like another desperate gimmick on the part of Edwards to summon the presence of Sellers, even if its in the form of a wax model. Along the way, Sleigh also encounters characters from the early "Panther" films including those played by David Niven, Robert Wagner and Capucine (all of whom filmed their reunion scenes for "Trail"  with the understanding that some of the footage would be  utilized in "Curse"). The assemblage of these notable stars is one of the few inspired aspects of "Curse" and it's a joy to see them together, even though the ailing Niven had to be re-voiced by impressionist Rich Little, who did a very commendable job of it. A gangster played by Robert Loggia is introduced into the convoluted plot that takes on an "everything-but-the-kitchen sink" aspect and another character from Clouseau's past, Prof. Balls makes a couple of brief appearances to little effect despite the fact that the role is played once again by the great comedic second banana Harvey Korman. The proceedings drag on through flat and completely predictable sight gags, some of which go on interminably (i.e Sleigh in drag as an undercover cop in New York and later using a blow-up sex doll in an attempt to convince bystanders she is his girlfriend. There's also a seemingly endless fight scene in which Sleigh takes on the baddies with the help of a sexy female martial arts expert).  What is most shocking about "Curse" is how the timing is off on almost every comedic set-up, which is rather surprising given the fact that Edwards originated the series and professed to care about it immensely. It would be easy to blame Ted Wass for the film's failure but in reality the young star gamely performs his required duties with admirable skill. However, he's hampered by a poorly-developed character and Edwards seemed convinced that the mere intention to name him as Sellers' successor would immediately win over audiences. However, Wass's Sgt. Sleigh is merely a klutz with none of the fabled eccentricities of his predecessor. The fact that he wears over-sized eyeglasses that make him look remarkably like Christopher Reeve's Clark Kent only adds to his burden. The film only comes alive in the final act with an extended and clever cameo appearance by Roger Moore (amusingly billed as "Turk Thrust II", a reference to Bryan Forbes' screen credit in "A Shot in the Dark"), who was simultaneously filming the James Bond movie "Octopussy" on another sound stage at Pinewood Studios. Moore's deft comedic timing steals the entire latter part of the film and left this viewer pondering that, had he been the star of the production, the movie might not have been so ill-fated. It must be said, however, that the film does boast one other positive aspect: the traditional, wonderfully animated opening credits that make it all the more apparent how frustrating movies seem today in the sense that they usually eschew opening credits all together. An entire art form is vanishing from the industry in the urge to  "cut to the chase" and get immediately into the story.

Blake Edwards originally envisioned that the Ted Wass series of "Panther" films would be moved to New York City, partly to accommodate MGM's insistence that the franchise become more budget-oriented. The unpromising prospects that scenario afforded were circumvented by the failure of the movie. But the problems didn't end there. Edwards accused MGM of intentionally low-balling the film's release and not marketing it aggressively enough. The suit was settled out of court in 1988. The title "Curse of the Pink Panther"s seemed eerily prophetic for all concerned.

Bond girls Jenny Hanley, Caron Gardner, Francesca Tu.

BY MARK MAWSTON

The ultimate “Bonding” session once again took place at the home of the 007 franchise, Pinewood Studios, on Sunday 24th September. Those lucky enough to attend were treated to a dealer’s room, a 50^th Anniversary 4K screening of You Only Live Twice, at which organizer Gareth Owen read a message received from the e Prime Minister herself, Theresa May, which touched on the amazing feats of ingenuity and sheer technical mastery that went into the construction of the films famed volcano set; a three course lunch and afternoon tea and of course a "who’s who" from the world of Bond from both in front and behind the camera. These included:

Peter Lamont - Assistant Art Director - Art Director and Production Designer of 18 Bond films, Terry Ackland-Snow - Art Director on two Bond films, Alan Tomkins - Art director on five Bond films, Monty Norman – Composer, Vic Armstrong - 2nd Unit Director and stunt performer / supervisor, Rocky Taylor - Stunts - You Only Live Twice and many other Bond films; Norman Wanstall - Dubbing Editor/ Oscar-winning Sound Designer, Paul Weston – Stunts, and William P. Cartlidge- Assistant Director- You Only Live Twice and future Bond Associate Producer.

Monty Norman, composer of "The James Bond Theme".

Shane Rimmer, a Bond film veteran cast member and his wife Sheila, lead the crowd out of the John Barry Theatre.

Alan Tomkins and Peter Lamont.

Brian Gorman presented his one-man Bond tribute show.

And from in front of the camera: Shane Rimmer - three Bond films including You Only Live Twice, Eunice Gayson - Sylvia Trench in Dr. No & From Russia With Love, Jenny Hanley – “Irish Girl” in On Her Majesty's Secret Service, Sylvanna Henriques - Title sequence - You Only Live Twice and “Jamaican Girl” in On Her Majesty's Secret Service, Caron Gardner - Pussy Galore Flying Circus pilot in Goldfinger, Nadja Regin - Kerim's girl in From Russia With Love and Bonita in Goldfinger and Francesca Tu, Osato’s secretary- You Only Live Twice.

Stunt Legends Vic Armstrong and Rocky Taylor enjoy some amusing anecdotes along with interviewer Gareth Owen.

William P. Cartlidge reflects on the trials and tribulations of bringing "You Only Live Twice" to the screen.

The highlight for many of those stars, as well as the fans in attendance, was a special tribute to the late, great Sir Roger Moore. The day was rounded off with a special premiere of Brian Gorman’s wonderful 60 minute one-man show “One Man Bond” (every Bond film in 60 minutes!). Afterwards Gorman said “It’s a dream to perform at Pinewood at this event, as you already know that this audience will get it, terrifying though it is if you get something wrong! It’s not like a normal crowd and I’ve never used a microphone before!” He needn’t have worried though and this rounded off what was another excellent event organized by Bondstars Andy Boyle and Retro’s own Gareth Owen.

(All images copyright Mark Mawson. All rights reserved)

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