Released December 21, 1965, Thunderball was the fourth James Bond film based on the Ian Fleming novel of the same name. It was the highest grossing film with Connery in the lead role. Connery would star in just one more film before handing over the reins to George Lazenby and eventually Roger Moore. As a huge Bond fan, it’s hard to pick a favorite. However, I can say this, MGM’s initial wave of Bond Blu-ray releases includes all three of the movies directed by Terence Young; Dr. No, From Russia with Love, and Thunderball, three of the most iconic films in the Bond catalog. Riding high after the success of Goldfinger, Thunderball is Young’s most lavish contribution to the series–lavish production design, exotic locations, gorgeous women, hot cars and lots of action.
As Thunderball opens James Bond (Sean Connery) is attending a funeral. He quickly realizes that the deceased is still very much alive and disguised as a widow in mourning. Bond disposes of the bad guy and then sets off in a fully functioning backpack and then speeds off in an Aston Martin after taking care of pursuing bad guys with a pair of water jets mounted in the trunk of the Aston Martin. Bond is then sent by M. (Bernard Lee) to a spa in the Bahamas to improve his health. While there, he uncovers a murderous plot involving the pilot of a French Vulcan, which was stolen and crashed into the ocean to hide its whereabouts. With the plane and its nuclear payload missing, Bond is asked to return to England. When he gets there, it is understood that SPECTRE´s number two agent Emilio Largo (Adolfo Celi) is behind the plot. Bond asks M (Bernard Lee) to return to the Bahamas and seek out the sister of the dead body Bond found at the spa, Domino (Claudine Auger). As it turns out, Domino is staying with Largo on his boat the Disco Volante.
Bond convinces domino to work undercover to discover if the nuclear weapons are on the Volante. Meanwhile, Largo sends out assassin Fiona Volpe (Luciano Paluzzi) to take out Bond, but she fails. Bond teams up with his friend CIA agent Felix Leiter (Rik Van Nutter) as they try and uncover what SPECTRE has in store for the bombs. Bond finds himself scuba diving with sharks in an effort to board the Volante to stop Largo.
Thunderball’s biggest misstep is setting so much of the film — somewhere around a quarter of its 130 minute runtime — underwater. There’s no dialogue, which means a lot of the clever banter that was so prevalent in the first three Bond movies is missing. Even though there is some underwater action, keeping the film centered there for so long tends to slow things down a bit. Peter Hunt was asked to double the length of the final underwater confrontation — a dazzling display of violence with dozens of scuba-diving mercenaries squaring off against one another — and even he admits in the disc’s audio commentary that it drags on for far too long. As good as Thunderball is, it might have been better if it were ten minutes shorter.
Despite those issues, Thunderball is still a great film. Moreover, MGMhas done such a great job with this Blu-ray release that it’s a must have for any movie collector. As with the other recent Bond releases, Thunderball was restored using the Lowry grain reduction / restoration process and looks truly fantastic. Thunderball is presented in its original theatrical aspect ratio of 2.35:1 and it’s worth noting that this was the first of the Bond films to be filmed in this widescreen format. Unsurprisingly, MGM has opted for a Mpeg-4 / AVC high bitrate encode in full 1080p as well.
Thunderball does have a few small issues, likely due to its age (43 years). There were a few instances of slight flickering on the lower half of the screen. In addition, there a few occasions that some color fading was noticeable. Both of these issues are minor and probably the result of damage to the original source; neither will interfere with the viewing experience.
MGM has outfitted the film with a superlative DTS HD-Master Audio lossless 5.1 soundtrack. Again, they’ve done a masterful job of making a 43 year old film feel fresh and new. As with the video, there are times during the audio presentation where the technology of 1965 imparts its limitations on this modern mix, but for the most part, the experience is involving and spectacular.
Thunderball has been carefully remixed for 5.1 and the results are impressive. Dialogue is crisp and clear, but occasionally has a tinny and slightly muffled sound. This issue is relatively minor with only a few passages in the film affected. Despite this one flaw, Thunderball has been brought to Blu-ray with a outstanding sound mix.
Thunderball on Blu-ray is packed with extras:
There are two commentaries under “MI6 Commentary.” The first Commentary by Director Terence Young and others has Ian Fleming Foundation personality John Cork providing commentary and introducing interview segments pertinent to the film and individual scenes. The second Commentary by Editor Peter Hunt, Screenwriter John Hopkins and Others again finds John Cork serving as host and providing insight into the film as he introduces the interviews and asks questions regarding to the film.
Outside of the commentary tracks are a number of supplements set up identical to other Bond Blu-ray releases. The “Declassified: MI6 Vault” includes seven featurettes. The Incredible World of James Bond – Original 1965 NBC Television Special (50:54) dated but provides entertainment in both content and the vintage presentation of this special. This covers the entire bond franchise up to the point of the NBC special and is not based on Thunderball, but makes for a solid hour of entertainment. The oddly titled A Child´s Guide to Blowing Up A Motor Car – 1965 Ford Promotional Film (17:09) is another intriguing vintage feature added to the disc. On Location with Ken Adams (13:06) finds the “Thunderball” production designer showing and discussing vintage film from location scouting and shooting on set for the film.
The remaining four items under “Declassified: MI6 Vault” are: Bill Suitor: The Rocket Man Movies (3:54) finds a former Bell engineer discussing actual jet packs for an Army contract that worked on the backpack technology used in the film. The Thunderball Boat Show Reel (2:51) has producer Michael Wilson show some promotional footage used from a boat show in 1965 from the film´s underwater battle. The Selling Bonds – Original 1965 Television Commercials (2:05) shows three commercials. One is for a raincoat, the other is for slacks and a third are for toys; all sold through a company called Burton. Credits are also included for the Blu-ray production.
The “007 Mission Control” contains the same seven categories as those I saw on both the Dr. No and From Russia With Love Blu-ray titles. Most of the items contained under this menu simply jump you to points in the film. Two items that are not scene jumps and can be found here. The first, Opening Titles – Textless (2:58) removes the text from the sequences so that you may enjoy the opening sequence as a musical video and enjoy listening to Tom Jones. Exotic Locations (3:20) has Maude Adams return once again to discuss the Bahamas and other locations used for the fourth Bond film.
“Mission Dossier” is the next submenu of special features and contains three items. The Making of Thunderball (27:34) is a relatively recent feature that looks back at the making of the film by T.W.I.N.E. Entertainment and is narrated by Patrick Macnee. It combines solid footage from the film and is shown in high definition. The Thunderball Phenomenon (31:04) finds Macnee continuing the conversation started during the making of feature and this spends more time looking at the Bond phenomenon and the success of the 1965 release of Thunderball. The third and final item under “Mission Dossier” is The Secret History of Thunderball (3:56) and has Macnee talk about some unusual facts about the most popular of the early Bond films.
The “Ministry of Propaganda” and an “Image Database” conclude the submenus. The “Theatrical Archive” contains theatrical trailers Get to the Point (3:06), What an Operator (2:57) and Two Biggest Bonds (2:21) which markets both Thunderball and You Only Live Twice. The TV Broadcasts (3:31) contains five television advertisements for the James Bond films. They can be viewed individually or collectively via a “Play All” menu selection. The theatrical trailers may be viewed in the same manner as can be the ten Radio Communication (5:03) supplements that begins with a nice Introduction by John Cork. These radio spots aired in the United States and Canada. The Image Database provides many photographs from 1965 that relate to Thunderball.
