OHMSS; digitally on the big screen

A couple of months ago I went along to the Glasgow Film Theatre to see On Her Majesty's Secret Service, part of a month long Bond Sundays series. I was a bit miffed at the time (and gutted now) that I was busy the prior three weeks and didn't manage to catch Dr No, From Russia With Love or Goldfinger. My mate and I chatted over lunch about what to expect, as we'd seen Goldfinger, The Spy Who Loved Me and Octopussy on the big screen in Edinburgh before and it was pretty much the kind of quality you'd expect from old reels - grainy, bit clunky, tinny crackly sound, that sort of thing - and the kind of Sunday audience you'd expect for an old film widely seen on TV and DVD, i.e. not many.

Initially I was quite surprised by the three or four people 'representing EON Productions' handing out questionnaires to be filled in after the film, and was even more surprised by the very cosy surroundings and healthy turn out. (The GFT isn't the kind of place I frequent, as it normally shows subtitled period dramas from Botswana and docufilms about the life of a pregnant rat living in Vientiane, and I'm a philistine, so I don't know if the regulars really will turn up for anything or not. The good thing about it is - no screaming kids, no louts on mobile phones, and no rustling food papers. So it's worth sitting next to a few weirdbeards).

Anyway, lights go down, lion roars on screen, and then something exceptional happens - the gunbarrel comes flying across the screen, in a straight line and bright white, the 'Albert R Broccoli...' titles are in focus and aren't shaking, and the sound of the synthesised Bond theme is thumping from wall to wall. I hadn't realised it was digitally remastered for it's 40th birthday. I spent the next two and a bit hours in awe.

The pixel perfect quality and the clarity of the sound, including that fabulous score, was astounding. I left quite exhilarated. For a start, and obligatory swipe at Quantum of Solace here, how thrilling it was to see a proper James Bond film on the big screen again. But the little details that I noted on the big screen, that I either hadn't spotted or even thought much of on DVD, highlights the quality of this remastering. For a start, yeah I noticed there was some 'shadowing' in the gunbarrel detail, but never fully appreciated it's effect. I never even noticed that the gunbarrel dot remains red after the blood has trickled down the screen. Other minor things included the dining tables revolving into view in the background when Bond is introduced to the Angels of Death, the suggestive way the 'Jamaican Girl' eats her banana during dinner, the fact that the Playboy Bond reads in Gumbold's office is the February 1969 issue (that clear), the fabulous facial expressions of the hugely underrated Ilse Steppat, even when not the focus of the shot and - smashing a bit of trivia I read here a couple of years ago - it is raining in Bern. Casino Royale was therefore not the first Bond film to feature rain. I felt cold during the escape from Piz Gloria and the pursuit through the village. The surround sound of the wind howling and the capturing of the evening into night transition, with the trudging of snow, made me want to wrap up.

The whole film just came alive.

I felt I fully appreciated it for the first time, and became convinced - solidly convinced - that this film would not have worked with anyone else but George Lazenby. Yes, some of us might knock his awkward acting at points, but Connery was too strong and established as Bond for this. While Connery might have appeared vulnerable and scared during the escape from Piz Gloria, I don't think we would really have bought it, as we all know his Bond inside out. Lazenby however, well, you're still not sure he will, as his take on Bond's character traits isn't as tried and tested. I sincerely doubt I'd have bought Connery's Bond falling in love with Tracy, either. Particularly the barn sequence. I'd be thinking "Oh, puke. Get your leg over and cut the crap."

Dare I admit it, the viewing has pushed the film into my favourite spot, knocking The Spy Who Loved Me, which was largely there for sentimental reasons. I've since introduced it to a girl friend of mine, who although absolutely loved it, had me sitting there thinking "this isn't the same" because I had just been spoiled.

There's a theme I'd like to explore in another thread about the general glamour of the films and the onset of technology, but for the first time I can see what Honor Blackman was talking about in all those documentaries. I left Quantum of Solace in a bad mood, Casino Royale impressed and somewhat relieved, Die Another Day suitably entertained but still cringing from points, but I left On Her Majesty's Secret Service walking that little bit taller.