DVD Review: Caprice (1967)

Review: Caprice

Caprice is an odd bird, because it’s both a Doris Day movie and a Sixties Spy movie. I don’t even think of those two genres (because Day was a genre unto herself) as being contemporary! And they really weren’t. Caprice was one of Day’s last movies, and the first to reinvent her wholesome Fifties/Early Sixties style as Carnaby Street-inspired mod. But despite its confused pedigree, Caprice succeeds overall as a light, fluffy, fun spy movie.

Despite the romance and comedy that come standard-issue with any Day picture, the spying is not played for laughs. There are genuine, Bondian stunt sequences, thrills, and a few killings-one kind of brutal. The obvious model for Caprice, rather than 007, is Charade, and the result is certainly a sub-Charade confection, but shares a similar mixture of intrigue, humor and romance.

Caprice is not the name of Doris Day’s character in the film, as I always assumed it was. Rather, Caprice is a cosmetic product of some sort. I think. Or, as the announcer says in the ads, Caprice is "a kicky little word that means something truly modern in motion picutres!" Okay... Or as Doris sings in the theme song, Caprice is a "whim." I guess it doesn’t really matter what Caprice is; it sounds like both a spy title and a Day title, so it serves its function. Day plays Patricia Foster, an industrial spy for rival cosmetics companies. (Yes, "companies;" she’s sort of a double agent.) That’s an interesting angle in itself, because Sixties spy films rarely focused on industrial espionage. Of course, in the end, the villain’s plot turns out to be a little more sinister than stealing the Macguffin of a water-proof hairspray.

The Cary Grant to Doris’s Audrey Hepburn is Richard Harris, as a rival agent of dubious allegiance. Despite the bad rap he tends to get for this film, Harris is quite good, in what was probably his only spy movie and his only comedy at the time. Doris herself is also good, but not the most appealing heroine. I know, I know, she was "America’s Sweetheart" and everyone loved her, but I’ve never totally bought into her mystique. Then again, I haven’t seen very many Doris Day movies. She was 43 when Caprice was made and certainly still looked great, but her character seems intended to be much younger, and the mod wardrobe reinforces this notion. That, combined with a really bad platinum wig (also mod) and orange skin (presumably the result of a bad fake tan), keeps her from being at her most appealing as a leading lady. But you can’t deny her gift for comedy.

Director Frank Tashlin came from a background in cartoons (Looney Tunes and Disney), as the commentators point out frequently, and that’s constantly in evidence. Many of the gags are timed with cartoon-like precision, and even sound effects. This style suits Doris’s talents well. In one of the featurettes, the costume designer reveals that his designs were also supposed to be cartoon-like. That makes sense, and the art direction seems to be following a similar mandate. Some of the sets are almost Modesty Blaise-like in their mod, pop art design, and colors all pop.

Many other spy tropes of the time are also intact. There are young, beautiful women in various states of undress (including a scene with lingerie models and go-go dancers posing for photo-shoots), exotic locations (France, Switzerland... California), double-crosses and triple-crosses, and exciting action sequences.

One of the best sequences, which combines comedy and suspense, finds Doris infiltrating a secretary’s giant house with a balcony in the Hollywood Hills. (The commentators say it’s Santa Monica, but it sure looks like the Hills to me. And how, exactly, did secretaries manage to afford houses in the Hills with pools and porches back then? As in this and Don’t Make Waves, among other things. Maybe that was only in the movies...) Anyway, the secretary, Su (Irene Su), sunbathes with her hair hanging over the edge of the balcony, which juts out over the cliffside. The plot calls for Doris to steal a lock of her hair (don’t ask), so she needs to climb around (rather unconvincingly) underneath the deck to get it, while a giant Great Dane tries to stop her. Other good sequences include a madcap escape from police through the apartments of crazy tenants in a high-rise, Doris thwarting Harris’ attempts to bug her conversation in Century City, and what is possibly Doris Day’s only ever fight with a shark. (Though it turns out to be more of a dolphin.)

The best sequence, however, and the one you’ll remember from this movie, is an elaborate Swiss ski chase. Day (or rather her double), in a fashionable yellow ski parka, is pursued down a mountain by a masked assassin in black with a high-powered rifle. As she nears the edge of a cliff (presaging The Spy Who Loved Me), Harris lowers himself from a low-flying helicopter in an attempt to save her. Despite the obvious rear projection when the stars themselves are spliced in, the stunt is quite impressive. There’s some exciting on-the-go ski photography quite reminiscent of On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, which came two years later. (John Cork even postulates on the commentary track that it was Willy Bogner, Jr. who shot this, too, although there is no proof of that. His backwards-skiing photography technique is clearly used, though, and it’s hard to imagine who else could have pulled it off.) This is definitely the movie’s crowning achievement, and pulled off with the skill of a seasoned action director, not a comedy man with a background in cartoons.

The film wraps up with just about everyone turning out to be something different from what they were presenting themselves as, but none of these twists are very convincing. Indeed, the plot itself doesn’t make much sense at this point, but Caprice isn’t really a "plot" kind of movie in the first place, if you know what I mean. There’s even a bit of Psycho gender-bending (don’t worry about spoilers; you’ll see it coming a mile away) which is kind of silly. But overall, Caprice is the lightest of the light, and has the feel of some of the Eurospy Bond knock-offs. It’s definitely a recommended rental for spy fans, if not a necessary part of your collection.

Extras
Fox’s new Caprice DVD is a full-blown special edition, produced by John Cork and Bruce Scivally, the men responsible for the excellent documentaries on the Bond DVDs. First, there’s a commentary by Cork and Doris Day expert Pierre Patrick. It’s got some interesting nuggets, but has a tendency to drift off topic. (Some unrelated facts you’ll pick up include the history of the Eiffel Tower and a lengthy discussion of the dangers of sodium pentathol.) Patrick even makes an inane comment at one point, saying Caprice is similar to movies like Austin Powers, Naked Gun and Pulp Fiction. (???????!) I was fascinated to learn the origins of LA’s Century City, though, which mercifully had something to do with what was going on onscreen. The commentary also serves to decipher the plot for the viewer, as the commentators helpfully tell us important details from the script that were left out of the final product. It’s certainly not a good sign that you need a commentary to tell you this sort of thing, but as I said, it’s not really a "plot" movie anyway. Overall, Cork and Patrick are a good pair for this movie, since one is a spy expert and one is a Day expert.

"The Caprice Look: A Conversation With Costume Designer Ray Aghayan" contains the aforementioned insight about the cartoon look for the movie. "Double-O Doris" nicely situates Caprice amongst the mid-Sixties spy craze, and tells how Doris Day came to make a full-fledged spy movie. I haven’t heard of any of the experts interviewed (who the hell is "Doktor Goldfinger"?), but their sound bites are well-chosen and this featurette is certainly the thing of the most interest to spy fans on the disc. Wait till after you watch the movie to see it, though, as it spoils the helicopter/ski climax.

"Doris and Marty," on the other hand, is of very little interest to spy fans, but certainly informative for someone new to Doris Day. It focuses on her career, and how it changed when her third husband, agent/producer Martin Melcher, took control of it. Poor Doris! Apparently he spent all her money ($20 million!), didn’t pay her taxes, and even sold her art collection and replaced it with imitations! And he signed her to a TV show without her knowledge before he died! This is another example of the well-produced, informative sort of documentary we’ve come to expect from Cork’s Cloverland Productions.

The radio interviews (with Day and Harris) are also well-produced. Not the standard audio over a blank screen (ala WB) or even audio over a still gallery we’ve come to expect of radio interviews on DVD, this is a well edited segment with the audio playing over stills and video (appropriately selected scenes from the film) turning the radio interviews into two more featurettes, with comments from the stars. Finally, there are several trailers, in English and Spanish, and a still gallery, which includes some nice posters in the Sixties spy tradition.

Caprice is a very impressive special edition. I’m glad Fox continues to treat its back catalog with such respect, and give us little gems like this with loads of great features.

Book Review: James Bond Encyclopedia

For a while, Bond fans could always look forward to a new, official, lavish, fully-illustrated coffee table book on their hero to coincide with each new movie. But now, they don’t even have to wait for a new movie; they can pretty much expect one every year! The latest officially-sanctioned offering is James Bond Encyclopedia (no "The," strangely), by John Cork and Collin Stutz. Cork is one of the constants on these books (along with the same assortment of official publicity stills), having co-authored The James Bond Legacy and Bond Girls Are Forever, as well as producing the fantastic special features on all the Special Edition Bond DVDs and publishing Goldeneye, the now defunct official magazine of the Ian Fleming Foundation, during the nineties. After sitting out last year’s Art of James Bond (by Laurent Bouzereau), he’s back on the case with this one. It’s a wonder he has anything left to say on the subject of 007, but his name is a mark of assured quality, and a good indication the book you’re holding will be accurate and as error-free as humanly possible.

Cork and Stutz have put a lot of research into this volume, managing to offer up a few nuggets that will surprise even the most dedicated of fans, and even readers of Cork’s previous books. (Plenty of the information will be familiar, too, but that’s to be expected of a book such as this.) Frustratingly, owing to the nature of the encyclopedia, they don’t provide sources for much of this information. For example, they say that Carter, 007's associate in Madagascar at the beginning of Casino Royale (listed in the "Supporting Cast" section), was bitten by the cobra in the pit and died from the bite. The movie certainly doesn’t make his fate clear, and I’ve always wondered what happened to him. So it’s good to know, but I’m curious as to from where they got that information! Is it stipulated in the screenplay? Is it gleaned from viewing scenes cut from the final film? Some form of sourcing would be appreciated.

In a similar instance, the biography in their entry on James Bond himself is well-written and a great capsule for someone just getting their feet wet in Bondian waters. But again, they don’t reveal where much of the information comes from. I can identify some bits as coming from certain movies (the "First in Oriental languages at Cambridge" bit is obviously from You Only Live Twice, although Raymond Benson did a good job of reconciling it in his novelization of Tomorrow Never Dies with the schooling Fleming provided for Bond... so I guess they’re not using novelizations as sources here...), and a lot from the dossier on Bond that was available on the official website around the release of Casino Royale, but not everything!

Perhaps the authors are simply picking, choosing and embellishing, doing their own reconciling of multiple conflicting sources. If that’s the case, though, I’d like to know. Speaking of reconciling, they come up with a good excuse for the differing birth dates listed for Commander Bond in various places (6 May, 1961 on the medical records in The World Is Not Enough, 13 April, 1968 on the passport in Casino Royale, etc.): As 007 is a spy, the documents are usually cover papers, and it’s hard to say if any actually reflect his true birthday! (They explain that the April 13 date in Casino Royale was chosen because that was the day on which Fleming’s Casino Royale was first published in 1953, one of those nifty facts I hadn’t known.)

As you may have gathered from the birthday example, most of the entries treat the characters (like Bond) as if they were real people, focusing on what Cork and Stutz, in their introduction, call "the world inside the Bond adventures." So the information you find under the entry "Anya Amasova," for example, will be that she "arrives in Moscow after a period of leave with her KGB agent lover..." and not that she was dreamed up by Christopher Wood in the second draft of his screenplay for The Spy Who Loved Me or something. (I’m making up that bit about the second draft, by the way, but I would be interested in knowing the truth.) So, personally, I would have preferred a book that gave production information about all the characters, and treated them as fictional creations rather than real people. But that sort of take has been done many times before (including in Stephen Jay Rubin’s Complete James Bond Movie Encyclopedia), so perhaps a fresh approach is a good thing.

Confusingly, though, the authors don’t fully embrace even that approach. They sometimes break the "fourth wall" to reveal a behind-the-scenes tidbit, or continuity reboot, and there are also entries on the filmmakers, in their own sidebars. The authors could have had more fun with the conceit, as Andrew Pixley did with his The Avengers Files, a similar alphabetical listing which treated all the characters as if they were real people, but gave extensive information on their creators as "chroniclers" in elaborate footnotes (which also listed the sources for all information provided).

I’ve spent a lot of time detailing shortcomings that amount to personal preference and nitpicking. Of course, when there have been as many books on the subject of the Bond films as there have, that’s really the kind of stuff a reviewer has to tackle! But for someone who hasn’t read loads of other volumes on the topic, James Bond Encyclopedia is a great place to start. It fills a void in the current market as an "introductory" book on Bond movies. If you’re not prepared to delve into as much gloriously obsessive detail as offered in James Bond: The Legacy, but still want broader coverage than found in the more specific Bond Girls Are Forever or The Art of James Bond, then this is the ideal place to start. Furthermore, the same goes for its pictures. It may not offer a lot that dedicated readers haven’t seen before, but it does offer a truly amazing assortment of handsome, color images in one place, as lavishly illustrated as any DK book. The layout, typical of the publisher, is truly beautiful, and helps suck the reader into the page. This aspect is certainly an improvement over Rubin’s volume, which provided only black and white stills.

Even if their choices on how to arrange the book are questionable, Cork and Stutz have been successful in differentiating their book from Rubin’s, which is definitely a good thing. Precisely because it’s arranged differently, reading it is an entirely different experience. The authors are completely successful at the goal they set for themselves in their introduction: "We have tried to have fun with this book and make it somewhat like James Bond’s world. The enjoyment is not in the logic, but in the discovery, the visual sweep, and the intricate details." It’s similar to reading the source books for the 80s James Bond roleplaying game. You can flip through pages and pages of weapons, then browse the fictional biographies of Bond Girls. You don’t read it cover-to-cover, as you might The Legacy, and you don’t necessarily flip to a specific entry as you would with Rubin’s Complete James Bond Movie Encyclopedia. A different reading experience is definitely enough for me to recommend this book to Bond completists as well as neophytes, especially when it’s so beautifully produced.

Comic-Con: James Bond

I've got lots of spy news from this past weekend's huge San Diego Comic-Con, and I'll start with a few James Bond tidbits.

The James Bond Encyclopedia

Publisher DK had the gallies for their upcoming James Bond Encyclopedia on hand at their convention booth. The large format hardcover book is not organized A-Z like most encyclopedias (including Stephen Jay Rubin's The Complete James Bond Movie Encyclopedia), but divided into sections on topics like James Bond (covering Ian Fleming and the various actors to play the part), Bond Girls, villains, gadgets, vehicles, etc. Within each subject, it is A-Z. I only had a chance to flip through it quickly, but it looked like it focused primarily on the characters rather than the actors, and on things and people that appeared on screen rather than behind-the-scenes. It appeared fairly in-depth (as one would expect from Bond experts like John Cork and Collin Stutz), but didn't seem to offer lots of new, previously unseen photos like Cork's last Bond tome, The James Bond Legacy. (Can there possibly be any left?) Co-author Cork gratefully acknowledges Rubin in his introduction, and says it's impossible to attempt such a work without doing so. He points out some of the differences between the two books, the primary one being that Cork's encyclopedia is officially licensed by EON. That means, he confesses up front, no coverage of the '67 Casino Royale or of Never Say Never Again, both of which were given a lot of attention in Rubin's book. Judging from the other, similar encyclopedias DK had on display (like their Spider-man volume), the new James Bond Encyclopedia should be a top-notch production. It's due out in October.

Sideshow Craig On The Way

Representatives at Sideshow Collectibles wouldn't officially confirm it, but they strongly, strongly hinted that a Daniel Craig sculpt was in the offing. "Check the website," they said after pretending not to have heard of Craig. "Craig fans will be happy." So the Sideshow line-up of official Bond actors will soon, once more, be complete! I can't wait to see their Casino Royale figure. (And I do hope they go with the tux.)

Upcoming Femme Fatales Bond Cover

The magazine Femme Fatales has had plenty of Bond Girl cover stories in the past, but the one gracing an upcoming cover is a bit different. Instead of presenting previously published photos of past Bond beauties, a brand new photoshoot will portray contemporary models in a variety of famous Bond Girl poses, costumes and situations. Look for the issue in the months ahead.

Beckinsale Refused Bond

Apparently Underworld actress Kate Beckinsale is immune to 007's charms. At the Whiteout panel, she was asked if she had ever been offered a Bond Girl role. She said yes, but she couldn't remember for which film, and she had turned down the part. She claimed she didn't want to embarrass her daughter (yet she did Van Helsing!) and cited an unwillingness to appear in her underwear, which she seemed to think was required of all Bond Girls. "I'm getting a bit elderly for that sort of thing," the 33 year-old knockout modestly claimed.

I'll have more coverage of spies at Comic-Con soon, including Get Smart, 24, Whiteout, Hot Fuzz, Chuck, new spy comic books and more Bond!

Spy DVD News Roundup

New James Bond Discs On The Way

Readers who frequent the various big James Bond websites will probably already be aware of some exciting new releases coming this fall from MGM and Fox, but they're certainly worth mentioning here as well... and perhaps I can even add a few small details.

Amazon recently added listings for two new items, "The James Bond Monster Box" and a "Casino Royale 40th Anniversary Edition," both due out (according to the site) on November 6. Fan site MI6.co.uk has reported that the new Casino Royale (that's the '67 version, of course)has been delayed until early 2008, but the truth is there has still been no official press release on either of these products and the studio won't yet confirm a release date, so for now all we have to go by is what Amazon says. And Amazon has been wrong before!

A complete Region 1 set of all the Bond movies has been in the offing for a while from Fox, but has gone through several iterations. A prototype was created this past summer for an attache case containing the two-disc versions of all twenty movies that were released from MGM in the four individual sets last fall in the main portion, and Sony's two-disc release of the 2006 Casino Royale on the flip side. This packaging would have been similar to Australia's well-received attache case collection. But when the Amazon listing went up, a different design was originally pictured, which was basically just a big box. (The box art said something like "The Complete Collection" and nothing about "Monster Box," which seems to be a term only being used by Amazon.) That art has since been removed from the retail site, however, so maybe things are in flux once again. Personally, I hope Fox (who release MGM's DVDs) will re-evaluate the attache case design, as that sounds pretty cool! What is known for sure about the set is that it will contain 42 discs, so it would seem that it's still set to include the two-disc special editions of the movies, which with the exception of Casino Royale, are currently available only in four collections. The individual editions contain just one disc and omit most of the special features.

While the 40th Anniversary Edition of the 1967 spoof version of Casino Royale, the famously troubled production starring David Niven, Peter Sellers and Woody Allen (among many, many others), also has yet to be confirmed, there is a little more information available for it. The disc will again be produced by well-known Bond expert and former chairman of the Ian Fleming Foundation, John Cork, whose Cloverland Productions also produced the last, non-special edition of the film for MGM, as well as all of the excellent Special Editions of the legit Bond movies. (Cork also co-authored a number of officially licensed books on 007, the latest of which, The James Bond Encyclopedia, is due out next month.) According to CommanderBond.net, Cork will team up with fellow Bond expert and author of the first encyclopedia on the subject, Steven Jay Rubin, for a commentary track. The site lists the following special features:

“Bond James Bond” featurette
“A 3 Ring Circus” featurette
“More Directors, More Stars” featurette
“The Big Climax” featurette
“It’s a Wrap!” featurette

Hopefully all of these featurettes will come together to form as definitive a documentary on the making of this film as all of Cork's other impressive James Bond making-of docus! I'd argue that Casino Royale actually has the most fascinating production history of any Bond film, and a well-done documentary on the subject could easily be more entertaining than the film itself, especially if the producers were able to get interviews with any of the surviving participants. Speaking of interviews, the one with co-director (among at least five) Val Guest that was included on the last DVD of Casino Royale is not listed among the extras for the new one, but it may well have been re-purposed and used in the featurettes. Also not yet announced is the best special feature on that last release, the black and white 1954 TV version of Casino Royale, starring Barry Nelson. I really hope this is included, although I suppose it's possible that copyright issues could preclude it. The other possibility, of course, is that Fox/MGM is planning a separate release down the road, giving this version its own special edition! Wouldn't that be great? If they are, I hope they managed to record a commentary with Nelson prior to his passing last spring. Genre specialists Spy Guise planned to put out a special edition DVD of the '54 version several years ago, but were forestalled in their efforts by EON and MGM.

Anyway, Amazon lists the retail price for Casino Royale: The 40th Anniversary Edition at $19.99. Thankfully, the packaging seems more in keeping with Fox's last wave of "Classic Spy Films" rather than the ugly artwork found on the current editions of the Bond DVDs. CBN points out that "James Bond" is mentioned nowhere on the cover, no doubt to keep the Broccolis pleased! Furthermore, Fox impressively managed to dig up a version of Robert McGinnis' iconic "tattooed girl" artwork for the movie that I've never seen before anywhere! Usually, she has the words "Casino Royale" tattooed onto her back, obscuring the many characters and scenes from the movie depicted on this version! None of the international variations on the poster artwork included in Tony Nourmand's fairly comprehensive book James Bond Movie Posters show these details, and the original painting included in McGinnis' own Tapestry contains the words. I suppose Fox could have commissioned new artwork, but since the trend in new DVD artwork is toward bad Photoshopping and not painting, that seems highly unlikely. If anyone knows the origins of this cover artwork, please let me know!

New Edition Of Hot Fuzz

No sooner did I complain about the lack of extras on the single disc American release compared to the two-disc British release of Hot Fuzz (co-starring Timothy Dalton) than Universal trumps even the Brits and announces a three-disc special edition coming to America this fall! DVDActive has a list of all the impressive features, which seems to cover everything on the UK edition (including the much-missed commentary track with Dalton!), everything on the existent American version, and more, including an extended version of "Fuzzball Rally," the featurette documenting the filmmakers' US press tour! The new edition is due out November 27, and retails for $34.99. I can see why some consumers who already purchased the single disc edition might be upset, but I've come to accept double-dipping as a necessity of the market, and I'm just glad we're getting the best edition possible without having to import from Region 2. So save your money, and don't get one of those Wal-Mart exclusives that are now going for $50 or more on Ebay!

Young Indy Press Release

LucasFilm has issued a press release with further details on the upcoming first volume of The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles (or The Adventures of Young Indiana Jones, as they're now calling it). It won't actually contain any of the espionage episodes I mentioned before, and it won't contain the Daniel Craig episode that Zencat pointed out in a comment on that post, but it will contain some great episodes! Going chronologically, this set focuses primarily on Indy as a young boy, as played by Corey Carrier. I was never as into those episodes when the series initially aired, but there are quite a few of them I haven't seen, so I'm looking forward to them. The Carrier episodes included in this set are:

"My First Adventure," set and shot in Egypt
"Passion For Life," in Kenya and Paris
"The Perils of Cupid," in Vienna and Florence
"Travels With Father," in Russia and Greece
"Journey of Radiance," in China

Bear in mind that each "episode" here is actually two hour-long episodes from the original run on ABC, combined into one feature-length adventure. So we also get four episodes starring Sean Patrick Flannery as a teenaged Indy (some of my very favorites, in fact), combined into two features:

"Spring Break Adventure," in Princeton and Mexico
"Love's Sweet Song," in Ireland and London

Each adventure gets at least one disc to itself, and some get two. The whole set is 12 discs. Each adventure has a slew of documentaries on the historical situations or locations featured therein, with topics as varied as "Easter Rising—The Poets’ Rebellion," "The Mystery of Edward Stratemeyer [creator of Nancy Drew]," "Powder Keg—Europe 1900 to 1914," "Theodore Roosevelt and The American Century," "Braque + Picasso: A Collaboration Cubed," "Howard Carter and the Tomb of Tutankhamun," "Colonel Lawrence’s War: T.E. Lawrence and Arabia" and "The Passions of William Butler Yeats," among many others. And each of those is actually topical and relevant to the series! I have very high expectations for these documentaries, as they've been a passion project for George Lucas and he's had his people working on them for years, since before there was a format capable of containing them all! There's also a twelfth disco of additional bonus features.

Unfortunately, with all this space devoted to the history involved, there are no featurettes on the making of the series itself. Since the press release touts the fact that the series shot in thirty-five countries over four years, and "was the first television series to use digital production, pioneering processes that would pave the way for Lucas' own Star Wars prequels," I know there's a fascinating behind-the-scenes story to be told! In fact, I've read about it in other places, and producer Rick McCallum even claims, "Young Indiana Jones was one of the most ambitious and complex projects that had ever been attempted for television." So some making-of featurettes would be welcome companions to the historical documentaries. Hopefully, that will be covered in Volume 2 or 3.

New Spy DVDs Out This Week

Well, this is it, spy fans. This is the week you empty your wallets. This is a huge week for spy DVDs!

Casino Royale (2006): 3-Disc Collector's Edition and Blu-Ray

In a week filled with great releases, this is the real prize. Anyone disappointed in the rather threadbare two-disc special edition of Casino Royale put out by Sony back in 2007 will be more than placated by this fantastic three-disc version (also available on Blu-Ray), brimming with extras, that really earns its special edition status! In addition to all the features included on the initial release, this collector's edition also includes scores of all-new documentaries produced by John Cork, one of the men behind the wonderful documentaries on all the classic Bond DVDs and more. Cork has promised documentaries that go beyond Casino Royale alone into the wider Bond mythos, and told me that every one of them will feature information that even the most die-hard Bond fan has not heard before. Highlights among these tantalising documentaries are:

o Ian Fleming’s Incredible Creation – A remarkable look at the birth and continued success of James Bond, including never-before-revealed information about Bond’s creator and the origins of 007.

o The Road to Casino Royale – The story of why it took over 50 years for the Bond filmmakers to bring Ian Fleming’s first 007 novel to the big screen, featuring the amazing behind-the-scenes stories of the many attempts to make the film.

o James Bond in the Bahamas – A fascinating examination of the links between the the cinematic Bond and the Bahamas, with never-before-told behind-the-scenes stories from Casino Royale, Goldfinger, Thunderball, You Only Live Twice, For Your Eyes Only and The World Is Not Enough.

o Ian Fleming: The Secret Road to Paradise – A revealing exploration of the world of James Bond’s creator. In this documentary, discover why Ian Fleming was drawn to the Bahamas , and learn the cinematic Casino Royale’s unique link to an important chapter in 007’s secret history.

The press release promises that even the "Filmmaker Profiles" (usually the boring, texty part of a DVD menu) will include "in-depth conversations" and "never-before-seen footage!" Showcased are director Martin Campbell, Director of Photography Phil Meheux, Stunt Coordinator Gary Powell, composer David Arnold and others.

Fans complained that the original release neglected deleted scenes; that's made up for here with "Rescue & Recovery,” "Squandering Government Funds," "Cricket Pavilion," and "Gettler Raises Bond’s Suspicions."

Beyond that, you also get storyboard sequences, storyboard-to-screen comparisons, Chris Cornell's music video and a commentary with Martin Campbell and other key creative talent. The Blu-Ray also includes a picture-in-picture video commentary, and an interactive Bond trivia game called "Know Your Double-O." Whew! And it's all wrapped up in a much cooler cover than the original release, utilising the film's awesome teaser artwork. Obviously, this one's a no-brainer for Bond fans.

Casino Royale (1967) 40th Anniversary Edition

All that, and it's not even the only Casino Royale DVD coming out this week! We also get the oft-delayed 40th Anniversary Edition (one year too late) of the 1967 spoof version of Casino Royale, starring David Niven, Peter Sellers, Woody Allen and Orson Welles (among many, many others). This release includes a documentary on "The Making of Casino Royale" and the featurettes, “Bond James Bond,” “A 3 Ring Circus,” “More Directors, More Stars,” “The Big Climax,” and “It’s a Wrap!” The long-awaited special edition is produced by Steven Jay Rubin, a name justifiably familiar to Bond fans as the author of The Complete James Bond Movie Encyclopedia and The James Bond Films. Rubin and Cork provide what's sure to be an informative audio commentary. Apparently not included, however, is the 1954 Barry Nelson TV version of Casino Royale, which was part of the last DVD release (albeit in a slightly truncated version). So while the new features make this disc a must, you might want to hold onto your old copy as well.

The Man From U.N.C.L.E. - The Complete Series

This is the long-awaited retail edition of the sublime set TimeLife put out last year as an online exclusive. It's still expensive, but not at least you can buy it at a heavy discount now from retailers like Amazon and DeepDicount. And it's worth every penny. This is an amazing set, packed with extras. Discs' and discs' worth of extras, with everything from new interviews with the likes of Robert Vaughn, David McCallum and Richard Donner to U.N.C.L.E.-related clips from Emmy Award shows and the like. Plus, of course, every episode of a fantastic spy series. Prior to getting this set, I'd only ever seen some of the later, campier, color episodes. I was really surprised at the tone of the first, black and white season, which seems more in keeping with Danger Man than with Bond or The Avengers. It's great spy adventure, and generally more on the serious side. The later seasons get bigger and more Bondian (and beyond) with gorgeous Sixties colors and great guest stars. (Vincent Price! Herbert Lom! Terry-Thomas! Nancy Sinatra!) And if you want camp (and I admit, sometimes I do), the third season delivers camp. The series covers the same spectrum as the Bond movies; from its four season run you can choose a From Russia With Love-serious episode like "The Terbuf Affair" or Moonrakerishly over-the-top ones like the notorious "My Friend, The Gorilla Affair." And they're all great in their own way, and they all come bundled in a cool attache case package (though Tim Lucas warns that you must be careful with the handle; it's prone to breaking). This set is a must-own for all spy fans.

The James Bond Collection on Blu-Ray

If you've still got any money left after all that stuff, there's still more Bond releases out today. Six classic Bond titles make their high-definition debut in The James Bond Blu-Ray Collection, Volume 1 and The James Bond Blu-Ray Collection, Volume 2. The titles (Dr. No, From Russia With Love, Thunderball, Live and Let Die, For Your Eyes Only and Die Another Day) are also available individually. Special features are the same as on the previously-released two-disc special edition DVDs, but picture and sound are better than you've ever seen them. In fact, they're pretty much better than you've ever seen any movie from the 1960s!

Individual Two-Disc James Bond Special Editions

Finally, if you never managed to pick up the four sets of two-disc Bond Special Editions in the past two years, you can now buy the two-disc versions individually with slightly better cover art. Previously, only single-disc versions were available on their own.

Preview Of April's Hemispheres Magazine James Bond Content

The new issue of United Airlines' in-flight magazine, Hemispheres, with the Bond content I mentioned last week, hits seat pockets (and the web) tomorrow. Here's an advance look at what readers can expect, courtesy of the editor.

The complete Bond content in the issue is as follows:

1. The John Cork feature (6 pages)

2. The Connery Interview (3 pages)

3. A Bond-themed crossword puzzle (1 page)
4. A gear/tech page of some real-life products that are “practically Bond” (an aquatic auto, a camcorder pen, etc.)

5. A listing and photo on the event calendar of the Fleming exhibit at the Imperial War Museum in London

I've seen the magazine, and I have to say, it's surprisingly impressive! 007 permeates the issue, as evidenced in the table of contents where a little red "007" logo denotes all the stories with relevance to the theme. Cork's handsomely-illustrated feature is of the same high quality we get from his books on the subject, but the real highlight is definitely the Connery interview (by the evidently knowledgeable Matt Hurwitz), which focuses almost exclusively on Bond. Connery shares his candid thoughts on Daniel Craig and Casino Royale, both of which he's very enthusiastic about. He does offer one interesting and valid criticism of Royale, though:

"I did have one reservation," the star reveals. "They sort of diluted the Bond musical theme, which you hear only at the very end. When I heard it, I thought, 'Oh, that's what I've been missing.' That theme gives the audience a direct connection to Bond--it's an instant recognition." I'm sure John Barry (and Monty Norman) would be happy to hear how highly Connery regards the importance of music in Bond films! He shares a lot more similar insights, and even distills his secret of playing Bond! (That bit might be familiar to avid fans, but it definitely makes a nice conclusion to a very good interview.)

Stay tuned for a chance later this week to win copies of the magazine here on the Double O Section!

The Spy Fan’s Holiday Shopping Guide

Some people might call such a list a "last minute holiday shopping guide" or something, but if you’re like me, then last minute isn’t until the stores close on Christmas Eve! Personally, I’m planning to get an early start on my Christmas shopping this weekend... So for those in the same boat who have spy fans on your list, here’s a roundup of the many things available this holiday season for espionage enthusiasts...

DVDs

Several snazzy complete series box sets have been released just in time for the holidays. At the top of my own list is HBO Home Video’s Get Smart - The Complete Series. True, it’s been available for a few years now–but only as an online exclusive from TimeLife, which may have made it a tad prohibitive as a gift in Christmas Past. This year, it’s available for the first time from retailers and etailers at deeply discounted prices. The twenty-five disc set includes not only every season of the classic Sixties spy comedy starring Don Adams, but also loads of bonus material like interviews, commentaries, documentaries, commercials featuring cast members and even pertinent excerpts from awards shows.

The Man From U.N.C.L.E. - The Complete Series is another, equally feature-laden former TimeLife exclusive that recently got retail release–and the price drops that go with that. This is a truly fabulous collection of all four seasons of action-packed spy adventure, from the gritty, black and white premiere season to through the technicolor high camp of Season 3 to the somewhat more grounded swan song. The only reason this one isn't at the top of my personal wish list is because I already got it for Christmas last year; I couldn't possibly wait for America's answer to James Bond to end its window of exclusivity! Speaking of Bond, the extensive documentaries cover Ian Fleming's involvement in the conception of the series, including the entirety of his original memo to ABC.

Paramount has collected all four previously available seasons of the classic spy western starring Robert Conrad and Ross Martin as The Wild Wild West - The Complete Series. Sweetening the deal, they’ve also included the two Wild Wild West TV reunion movies (from 1979 and 1980) on a bonus disc available exclusively in this set. The packaging’s kind of weird on the inside (collecting all the discs in their own little cardboard file folders in some flimsy cardboard "saddlebags"), but the attractive box would wrap up nicely and makes for some satisfying opening come Christmas morning.

A&E has created an interesting box set this holiday season that makes the perfect sampler for spy fans into British adventure series with their Spy Collection. This set features the first sets (of two each) of The Protectors, starring Robert Vaughn, and The Persuaders!, starring Roger Moore and Tony Curtis along with half of The Champions (the cult show about secret agents with superpowers that’s currently being remade for the big screen with a script by Guillermo Del Toro)–which is all that A&E has released of that show to date, unfortunately. In addition to all that, you also get a taste of the ultimate cult spy series, The Prisoner with the first two discs of the renowned Patrick McGoohan vehicle (amounting to three episodes). If the spy fan in your life doesn’t have The Persuaders! yet, then this set is worth its price for that alone–and everything else makes it a great bargain! The whole bundle is much cheaper than what the individual volumes of these series originally retailed for. It's currently available exclusively from A&E's store, but hits Amazon in February.

If you’re looking to spend a little bit less (and who isn’t this Christmas?), there are plenty of individual TV seasons available as well. Paramount’s Mission: Impossible: The 5th TV Season presents a top-notch collection of episodes, every bit equal to the earlier seasons. This one gets a bad rap, but that’s unfair. It’s classic spy TV, and an essential stocking stuffer for every spy fan. Previous seasons (including this year’s Mission Impossible: The 4th TV Season) are also available individually, as well as in bundles from Amazon. Spy seasons worth getting from earlier in the year include the first season of Get Smart on its own (and sans extras), all three seasons of I Spy (starring Robert Culp and Bill Cosby) at ridiculously low prices, the sole season of Honey West (America’s delectable answer to The Avengers in the shapely form of Anne Francis), and the Canadian spy drama Intelligence.

Intelligence would make an especially nice gift for the die-hard spy fanatic who has all that other stuff, because this series probably slipped under the radar of even those die-hard fans. Playing like a cross between MI-5 and The Sopranos, Intelligence follows agents of Canada’s domestic service (and the criminals they’re spying on) as they attempt to form the nation’s first foreign spy agency. It’s compelling television, and I certainly hope further seasons are forthcoming in 2009.

24: Redemption, the TV movie based on the hit Fox series not only makes a great stocking stuffer, but also the perfect segue from TV DVDs into movies...

The absolute must-have disc of the holiday season for any spy fanatic is Sony’s luxurious new three-disc Collector’s Edition of Daniel Craig’s James Bond debut, Casino Royale (2006). This is a thoroughly classy production, inside and out. The packaging is downright beautiful, with a satisfying heft to it that will keep Bond aficionados guessing as they shake their presents the night before Christmas. And what we have inside is quite simply the best James Bond DVD ever produced. The first disc boasts not one but two amazing commentary tracks that manage to remain informative and entertaining all the way through while the second ports all of the special features from the original two-disc release of the title. The third, though, is the main course. Here you’ll find a series of amazing, in-depth documentaries on every aspect of production that go off on fascinating tangents covering the entire history of James Bond 007. Producer John Cork boasted that even the most well-versed Bond fans would learn at least one thing they didn’t know from each documentary–and he’s right. There’s a trove of knowledge here that will delight the 007 fanatic in your life. This is the must-have disc of the season. And it's also available on Blu-Ray!

It’s not the only Casino Royale Collector’s Edition, though. MGM has rather confusingly called their newest release of the 1967 spoof version a "Collector’s Edition" as well–but you’re not likely to mix up the two movies. The new MGM disc also comes in a nice package, utilizing the film’s original poster art and including reproductions of the famous door posters on the inside. I’ve always contended that the behind the scenes story of making this movie was far more compelling than the movie itself, and that story is well told in a five part documentary produced by Bond luminary Steven Jay Rubin. Rubin and Cork also provide an informative commentary track.

The seemingly ubiquitous Cork also produced the special features on another one of the season’s classiest releases, MGM’s new Alfred Hitchcock Premiere Collection. Included are the spy titles Sabotage and Notorious (the latter long out of print as a Criterion Edition) as well as Spellbound, Lifeboat, Rebecca, The Paradine Case, The Lodger (looking better than it ever has before) and the little-seen gem Young and Innocent. Not only is this a wonderful assortment of movies, but the special features are every bit as gripping and educational as we’ve come to expect from Cork’s Cloverland Productions. Best of all, Amazon is offering this set at half price right now!

Another appealing MGM collection out in time for the holidays is The Pink Panther Ultimate Collection, which collects (almost) all the movies (even the one where Roger Moore played Clouseau!) as well as seemingly every Pink Panther and Inspector cartoon ever produced, along with a hardcover book on the series.

If you’re not after box sets, try the individual James Bond Blu-Ray discs (for the most technologically up-to-date spy fans on your list) or a pair of recent theatrical hits out on DVD just in time for Christmas: Traitor and Burn After Reading. Anchor Bay’s Traitor, starring Don Cheadle, is a slight but enjoyable post-Bourne "War On Terror" spy flick that makes excellent use of its globe-hopping exotic locations. The Coen Brothers’ Burn After Reading, from Focus Features, is easily one of my favorite movies of the year and another must-have for fans of the genre. The brothers delightfully send up the entire CIA genre in a comedy about intelligence... and lack thereof. The DVD is a little short on features, but the ones included are surprisingly good for their brevity.

There's also a revered cornerstone of the genre that's just been given the Criterion treatment: Martin Ritt's 1965 film of John Le Carré's The Spy Who Came In From the Cold. This amazing disc not only features a stunning new transfer that blows the old Paramount release out of the water, but also some of the best supplemental material you could hope for. The second disc contains a lengthy, brand new interview with Le Carré as well as an insightful hour-long documentary on the man. Between the two of those things, it's the best portrait we've got on film of one of the towering figures of the genre. There are also ample features focusing on the filmmakers.

Books

The book that better be under every Bond fan’s Christmas tree this year is Roger Moore’s new memoir, My Word Is My Bond. The star of The Saint, The Persuaders! and the most James Bond films of anyone is also a great raconteur–as anyone who’s ever heard one of his DVD commentaries already knows. You can open up to any page of this book and find a great behind-the-scenes story that will have you laughing out loud thanks to Moore’s self-deprecating sense of humor. Even if Sir Roger isn’t your favorite 007, his book is sure to entertain.

‘Tis the season for actor memoirs, apparently, and other secret agent stars with autobiographies out this winter include Robert Vaughn (The Man From U.N.C.L.E.), Robert Wagner (It Takes A Thief) and Tony Curtis (The Persuaders!). For some reason, all of these books have remarkably similar covers (especially Moore’s and Wagner’s), so you might not want to give too many of them to the same person...

DK released two very nice gift books in conjunction with Daniel Craig’s current theatrical Bond outing: the behind-the-scenes photo book Bond On Set: Filming Quantum of Solace, and the all-ages-oriented James Bond: The Secret World of 007 in a brand new updated edition. The latter would make a great gift for the younger Bond fans in your life; the former is essential supplemental material for fans of Craig’s 007.

Digging back to earlier in the year, Robert Sellers’ The Battle For Bond is the best book about the Bond movies to come along in quite some time. Every year a new movie hits cinemas, there’s a slew of books riding its coattails–and many of them are very good–but rarely do they offer truly new insight for the seasoned Bond fan who’s read them all, including the staples like The James Bond Bedside Companion and The James Bond Legacy. The Battle For Bond is the rare tome that actually offers all sorts of new information, mainly thanks to its steady focus. Sellers’ book tells the whole thorny story of the Thunderball lawsuit. Of course, that case ends up encompassing a good chunk of Bond’s cinematic history, from Fleming’s first attempts to get a movie off the ground with Alfred Hitchcock directing up through Sean Connery’s Bondian comeback, Never Say Never Again. Absolutely essential reading for anyone interested in the Bond films, the entertainment industry or copyright law. And it's now available in a new, more affordable (if slightly censored) version.

There’s new spy fiction out from John Le Carré (A Most Wanted Man), Stella Rimington (Deadline) and Mark Gatiss (Black Butterfly, a hilarious Bond send-up with a dead-on Richard Chopping style dust jacket). There’s also that much ballyhooed Centenary James Bond novel by Sebastian Faulks, but it turned out to be pretty lousy, unfortunately. So instead of saddling the Bond fan in your life with a subpar read, how about stuffing their stocking with a far more interesting, more unique take on Ian Fleming’s world with Samantha Weinberg’s The Moneypenny Diaries? While the whole trilogy is out in England (Final Fling hit paperback this fall), we’re only at Volume 1 here in America–and that’s the perfect place to start. These Bond novels from the point of view of M’s famous secretary really transcend what admittedly sounds like a gimmicky premise, and deliver first rate spy reads. Alternatively, the other series of Bond spinoff novels, Charlie Higson’s Young Bond books, also deliver the goods much better than Mr. Faulks’ pastiche. By Royal Command closed out the initial cycle in style in England this year; America is again behind, with the third volume, Double or Die, still being the most recent.

Finally, for the avid spy reader who’s already burned through every Bond book, ever Ludlum and Le Carré–and everything else in between–get them started on Greg Rucka’s Queen & Country. This series may have eluded even the most voracious spy fiction readers merely because it happens to be primarily comprised of graphic novels. As I’ve said before, Rucka’s tales of SIS operative Tara Chace and her Director of Operations, Paul Crocker, are still the best spy story going in any medium, so they’re sure to please even readers who normally turn up their noses at books with pictures. (They’re also a good way to enlighten such people!) Oni Press have handily collected the entire series into three volumes (with a fourth due in 2009) of Definitive Editions. Each one contains several of the original graphic novels together, making them the ideal way to hook new readers. If you know someone who lives and breathes spy novels but hasn’t yet opened their mind to comics, the Queen & Country Definitive Edition Volume 1 is the ideal stocking stuffer.

Music

There's plenty of new spy music available this holiday season as well. Foremost amongst it has to be Network's fantastic box sets of score music from classic Sixties spy shows. Most recent are two boxes worth of Edwin Astley music from Danger Man (aka Secret Agent) one comprising the soundtracks to the half-hour episodes, the other the hour-long ones. Also available are sets for The Prisoner, Man In a Suitcase and Department S.

If you're just looking for stocking stuffers, try Varese Sarabande's recent single-disc release of Dave Grusin music from The Girl From U.N.C.L.E. Or pick up David Arnold's stellar score for Quantum of Solace, one of the movie's most successful elements. If you prefer Jack White's theme song, "Another Way To Die" (performed with Alicia Keys), you can also get that as a single with a cool instrumental-only version as a B-side.

Happy shopping–and Happy Holidays as well!

Random Intelligence Dispatches For June 19, 2007

On DVD Today: 009-1
The apparently Ian Fleming-inspired anime series about a futuristic female cyborg agent, 009-1, Vol. 1 is in stores today... Since I've never seen the show, I'm going to quote the intriguing product description for Vol. 2 from Amazon: "In a world where the Cold War never ended, East and West continue to battle for technological and political supremacy. Mylene Hoffman, field commander of the elite Double Zero intelligence division, exists in this world with her eyes open and her body always ready to do battle. There’s no problem Mylene can’t solve that doesn’t use the proper application of high explosives, fast-talk, deceptive jewelry, make-up and the right moves behind closed doors!" Definitely sounds worth checking out!

Danger Mouse Megaset

Another animated spy show is due for the complete series treatment from A&E this August. TVShowsOnDVD reports that the classic British kids' show about an eyepatched agent who happens to be a mouse will be released as a megaset (containing all ten seasons, which were previously released individually) on August 28. Billed as "the world's smallest secret agent," Danger Mouse promises to "send up everyone from 007 to Sherlock Holmes," according to A&E's press release. Let's hope it's as good as the last "Danger" megaset the company put out...

The Unit

Fox will release the second season of The Unit on September 25. The series, produced by David Mamet and The Shield's Shawn Ryan and starring 24's Dennis Haysbert, follows the exploits of a US military covert ops team. TVShowsOnDVD reports that unlike the rather bare-bones first season, Season Two will be loaded with featurettes and commentaries.

Hurricane Gold Final Cover

The Young Bond Dossier revealed the slightly different final cover art for Charlie Higson's next Young Bond adventure, Hurricane Gold, last week. It's now up on Amazon.co.uk.

New James Bond Encyclopedia

The next officially-licensed, large format book on Bond films (following The James Bond Legacy, Bond Girls Are Forever and last fall's Art of James Bond) will be The James Bond Encyclopedia by John Cork and Collin Stutz. All of these books have been beautifully produced, but they seem to be coming a bit quick now... My bookshelf's starting to sag, and I still have yet to crack open The Art of James Bond, which got buried at the bottom of a pile of new Bond books that came out around the time of Casino Royale! I never though I'd complain about too much James Bond product, but I'm starting to look back fondly my childhood days when the only readily available books on 007 were Stephen Jay Rubin's The James Bond Films and Raymond Benson's The James Bond Bedside Companion! I kind of wonder what this new book will have to add since Rubin's Complete James Bond Movie Encyclopedia is pretty thorough (if occacionally erronious) and even covers Never Say Never Again and the '67 Royale, which this one may not, since it's licensed by EON. There can't be that many new photographs left unseen in the archives at this point, can there? Still, Cork always does a great job with any Bond project he contributes to, be it book, Special Edition DVD or the now defunct, sorely missed Goldeneye Magazine.

Fuller Report Soundtrack Ready To Order
Following last month's teriffic release of the Special Mission Lady Chaplin soundtrack, another classic Eurospy score has been unearthed! Screen Archives is now taking preorders for Rapporto Fuller Base Stoccolma (The Fuller Report) for $17.99. The score, by Armando Trovaioli, is coming out on Beat Records. The 1967 movie, starring Ken Clark, is currently being restored by Dorado Films for a DVD release in the (hopefully) near future.

Actor News: Ian Ogilvy Records New Commentary

DVDDrive-In reports that Return of the Saint star Ian Ogilvy will participate the in the commentary track on MGM's long-awaited Region 1 DVD of Witchfinder General, starring Vincent Price. The classic horror film will be presented as a Director's Cut, and be loaded with special features including the commentary with Ogilvy and producer Philip Waddilove. Anyone who's heard Ogilvy's commentaries on Umbrella's Australian Return of the Saint DVDs knows that he's a very entertaining commentator, so this should be a treat. The disc comes out September 11 and marks the welcome return of MGM's long dormant Midnight Movies line.