AJB live commentary on DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER

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  • emtiememtiem SurreyPosts: 5,686MI6 Agent
    Barbel wrote:
    I was one of the people watching DAF in the cinema at the time. A ridiculous number of times, to be honest. Audiences laughed at the jokes, "oohed" in the right places, and warmly appreciated Sean Connery- there were actual cheers when he appeared onscreen saying The Line.

    DAF had a release date in London mid December 1971. Unlike today, movies were given a London release before going on general release some time after. The general release date for the UK was Easter 1972, so many of you would not have seen it until that date.

    Ah, there you go! :D That explains it then.

    I wonder when LALD went on general release? Sounds like there wouldn't have been much of a gap.
  • CoolHandBondCoolHandBond Mactan IslandPosts: 6,030MI6 Agent
    LALD was released in London and nationwide in the same week in July 1973. As more and more cinemas were being converted into twin or triple cinemas, instead of being just one with an upper and lower tier, more films were needed, so the general release date became nationwide around this time. Previous to this, London was used as a gauge to see if a film was to have a nationwide release or not, although it would seem to me that a Bond movie would not need gauging.

    My dad was friends with our local cinema manager and he used to give him a pack of cigarettes each week in exchange for the movie posters and front of house stills after the movies had had their run :)
    Yeah, well, sometimes nothin' can be a real cool hand.
  • emtiememtiem SurreyPosts: 5,686MI6 Agent
    Wow, so not much more than a year between seeing the films for a lot of people.
  • Golrush007Golrush007 South AfricaPosts: 3,418Quartermasters
    Such a short gap sounds amazing, unlike our 5 year wait for NTTD. 8-)
  • caractacus pottscaractacus potts Orbital communicator, level 10Posts: 3,907MI6 Agent
    Everybody likes these images of Tiffany when Bond first meets her, right?
    As Bond says, "That's a nice little nothing you're almost wearing"
    tumblr_p30oczt6th1wzvt9qo1_500.gifv
    (saving Gymkata some work here)



    That's the one scene in the film that more or less adapted from the novel, and was also the cover of the PAN edition in the early 1960s!
    DAF07.jpg
    The other volumes in this series had the banner aligned to the bottom of the book's cover.
    This one only has the banner raised a bit too far up, inconveniently obscuring Tiffany's bottom.
    If you do the math, you'll conclude we really ought to be able to see a bit more cheek, as Blofeld might say.



    Here's Fay Dalton's version of the same scene:
    Fuilles%20Mortes%20low%20res.jpg
  • Shady TreeShady Tree London, UKPosts: 2,965MI6 Agent
    edited June 2020
    Great work on the Tiffany imagery, cp. {[] {[] {[]

    Following CHB's point about the Easter 72 general release date for DAF in the UK, I've dug out my copy of 'Target: The Great New Weekly For Boys', No. 2, which is dated in its 'letter from the editor' as 29th April 72. This confirms that Easter 72 must have been when I first saw DAF, as the original copy that I owned of this issue of 'Target' I remember carrying around with me everywhere for at least a week at the time of that trip to the cinema.

    The reason? Alongside articles by Christopher Lee, boxer Henry Cooper and Formula 1 driver Ray Allen, 'Target' #2 included a full page colour pin up of Bond firing his piton gun in WW's penthouse suite, and a feature on DAF flanked by colour stills of the moon buggy crashing through the Tectronics security barrier, Bond karate chopping Peter Franks in the elevator and a smiling Connery straddling a motorbike with 'Sheriff' marked beneath its windshield. The feature's headline was 'Sean Connery - Billion Dollar Bond' and the writer suggested that: "if Fleming was the instigator of the Bond cult then Sean Connery has surely been the benefactor." The writer credited Fleming as follows, obviously confusing the novels with the films: "He took the grey, cold-blooded world of the seedy espionage agents who actually fight the cold war and moulded it into a space-age fantasy of death rays, gadget-packed cars and man-eating piranha fish." There was no mention at all of OHMSS, yet oddly the writer did refer to the torture scene in the 'Casino Royale' novel. I'm fairly certain that this feature article in 'Target' was the first print text about Bond that I read.

    Mankiewicz recalled in the dvd commentary for DAF how at the time there was a popular obsession with the space age and moon missions. 'Target' #2 exemplifies this mania. Its front cover image was of a moon-walking astronaut; the magazine's free gift was a sample of the 'powder of life' used in an Apollo 16 experiment on cosmic radiation (purportedly Artemia Salina eggs)!
    Critics and material I don't need. I haven't changed my act in 53 years.
  • Shady TreeShady Tree London, UKPosts: 2,965MI6 Agent
    Gymkata wrote:
    I've got a meeting right when this starts today, unfortunately. I'm going to miss the first 45 minutes or so. I'll pop in when I can.

    Thanks for the heads up. It'll be great if you can make it after your meeting.
    Critics and material I don't need. I haven't changed my act in 53 years.
  • Shady TreeShady Tree London, UKPosts: 2,965MI6 Agent
    Higgins wrote:
    Guys, I may be on the road on Friday late evening and probably exhausted when I am back home ( driving over 200 km/h is hard :D ).

    I have asked Barbel to take over the lead in this thread and he thankfully has accepted {[]

    I hope the day and the drive go well.
    No worries.

    "We do function in your absence, Double-O Seven." :007)
    Critics and material I don't need. I haven't changed my act in 53 years.
  • BarbelBarbel ScotlandPosts: 36,053Chief of Staff
    We start in just over a hour's time. Please see Higgins' opening post for time details.

    Please use this link for time reference https://greenwichmeantime.com/
  • BarbelBarbel ScotlandPosts: 36,053Chief of Staff
    30 minutes till loading the disc, and then work through the menus freezing just before the gunbarrel.

    We start ten minutes after that.
  • Thunderbird 2Thunderbird 2 East of Cardiff, Wales.Posts: 2,774MI6 Agent
    Everybody likes these images of Tiffany when Bond first meets her, right?
    As Bond says, "That's a nice little nothing you're almost wearing"

    Here's Fay Dalton's version of the same scene:
    Fuilles%20Mortes%20low%20res.jpg

    Oh My Gods! It’s Lady P in Bond Mode!
    This is Thunderbird 2, how can I be of assistance?
  • BarbelBarbel ScotlandPosts: 36,053Chief of Staff
    10 minutes to go, please load up your discs and work past the menus, stopping just before the gunbarrel.
  • Shady TreeShady Tree London, UKPosts: 2,965MI6 Agent
    @Thunderbird 2 "'ome, Milady?" "Home, Parker!"
    Critics and material I don't need. I haven't changed my act in 53 years.
  • BarbelBarbel ScotlandPosts: 36,053Chief of Staff
    Oh My Gods! It’s Lady P in Bond Mode!

    Does that make James a Nosey Parker?
  • CoolHandBondCoolHandBond Mactan IslandPosts: 6,030MI6 Agent
    It’s 3am here but am I allowed to join in?
    Yeah, well, sometimes nothin' can be a real cool hand.
  • BarbelBarbel ScotlandPosts: 36,053Chief of Staff
    TB2, you have remembered that Scott Tracy himself is in this movie?
  • BarbelBarbel ScotlandPosts: 36,053Chief of Staff
    It’s 3am here but am I allowed to join in?

    But of course! Glad to see you
  • Charmed & DangerousCharmed & Dangerous Posts: 7,358MI6 Agent
    I'm joining you all this evening -{
    "How was your lamb?" "Skewered. One sympathises."
  • BarbelBarbel ScotlandPosts: 36,053Chief of Staff
    {[] :)
  • CoolHandBondCoolHandBond Mactan IslandPosts: 6,030MI6 Agent
    Looking forward to this :)
    Yeah, well, sometimes nothin' can be a real cool hand.
  • BarbelBarbel ScotlandPosts: 36,053Chief of Staff
    One minute to go
  • CoolHandBondCoolHandBond Mactan IslandPosts: 6,030MI6 Agent
    There were 3 “jolt” moments when I first saw this, first one when the man comes crashing through the screen
    Yeah, well, sometimes nothin' can be a real cool hand.
  • BarbelBarbel ScotlandPosts: 36,053Chief of Staff
    Go!
  • BarbelBarbel ScotlandPosts: 36,053Chief of Staff
    Sir Sean's last gunbarrel
  • Golrush007Golrush007 South AfricaPosts: 3,418Quartermasters
    Excellent arrangement of the gunbarrel music by the maestro.
  • BarbelBarbel ScotlandPosts: 36,053Chief of Staff
    Music “Gunbarrel and Manhunt”
  • Number24Number24 NorwayPosts: 21,699MI6 Agent
    It’s 3am here but am I allowed to join in?

    I don't think there are any particular rules against people living on the other side of the world participating, so join in! :D :D :D
  • CoolHandBondCoolHandBond Mactan IslandPosts: 6,030MI6 Agent
    Bad dubbing
    Yeah, well, sometimes nothin' can be a real cool hand.
  • BarbelBarbel ScotlandPosts: 36,053Chief of Staff
    I hate to say it (cos I like this film) but this is probably the weakest PTS so far
  • Charmed & DangerousCharmed & Dangerous Posts: 7,358MI6 Agent
    So much hair on Blofeld!
    "How was your lamb?" "Skewered. One sympathises."
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