Casino Royale - The DVD

I got my DVD copy of Casino Royale (widescreen edition natch) today. Sony has put it out in a 2 disc set. I haven't finished watching the movie yet, but I have checked out the bonus disc. & while I wish there had been more on it, what content there is on it is good.

The 1st short is Becoming Bond. This looks at the decision by Eon Productions to make Casino Royale & the search for the new Bond. It is only 26 minutes long but it is packed with information that makes more sense to a Bond fan who knows a little of the history of Bond than it would to someone who has no background on the history of Casino Royale. But hopefully that will inspire the person to want to find out more. It doesn't ignore the controversy behind the selection of Daniel Craig. Rather it embraces it & reminds the viewer that even Sean Connery had his detractors before Dr. No was released. It also looks at why it took so long for Eon to make Casino Royale. I should say, for Eon to technically put out what is the 2nd remake of the Casino Royale. It looks at the history of the rights to the novel which resulted in the 1954 CBS-TV version with Barry Nelson to the 1967 Charles K. Feldman production with Sir David Niven, Peter Sellers & Ursula Andress.

The 2nd short is James Bond: For Real. This short looks at how the many of the action scenes were developed & done. A lot of people don't realize the hard work it is to make fake fights so real. & what seems like a simple stunt, for instance the Aston Martin rolling over to avoid hitting Vesper, is really much more complicated. It takes a lot of effort to make those crashes, explosions etc seem effortless. This short is a good salute to those 2nd unit people & stunt men & women. It gives them the recongnition that they have earned through their dangerous work that those of us watching often take for granted.

Next is a special made originally for American Movie Channel, Bond Girls Are Forever. & they are. Not that that is a surprize to any Bond fan. This documentary was co-written & co-produced by Maryam d'Abo, a Bond Girl herself (Kara Milovy in The Living Daylights). It was originally produced in 2002 at the time that Die Another Day was made. The version on the DVD has been updated to look at the newest additions from Casino Royale. & while it doesn't cover every Bond Girl, it does look at a fair number of them over the years. Ms. d'Abo was able to sit down & talk with quite a few of them. They share their reactions, positive & negative, to what has happenned to them as a result of being in a Bond movie. It also looks at the change in attitude towards women in the Bond movies from 1962 to the present.

My favorite inteviews in this special were those with Ursula Andress (Honey Rider, Dr. No; Vesper Lynd, Casino Royale 1967), Honor Blackman (Pussy Galore, Goldfinger), Luciana Paluzzi (Fiona Volpe, Thunderball) & Jill St. John (Tiffiny Case, Diamonds Are Forever). & while most people wouldn't consider her a Bond Girl, there is also a look at Dame Judi Dench & her role as M. In fact, I read 1 comment on the documentary (on IMDb) that was anything but complimentary of her inclusion. I do like the description given of her portrayal of M in that comment: her "androgynous, politically correct, repellent and repulsive hag character". Actually, I think this person totally misses the point of the whole documentary. As well as the whole point of the female M's attitude in the movies (& novels). & I've never seen M as androgenous, esp since M is married & has a family.

The documentary is a salute to the Bond Girl who HAS changed as the times changed, but has remained the same in that she is "politically incorrect" to some extent & always will be. Honor Blackman, who has played some of the most liberated women in her 60s roles even laughs at the idea of changing the term to "Bond Woman". & if Cathy Gale says so, who am I to argue. Actually, I know that I will draw some ire, but I honestly see some of the Bond Girls as proof that being a strong woman & eye candy are not mutually exclusive.

The last bonus (if you don't count the requisite previews) is the Chris Connell's video for the theme song: "You Know My Name". The title, 1 of only 3 Bond themes to not take its title from the movie (if you don't count Dr. No), is a play on the fact that we do, but don't know who James Bond is. & it works. The lyrics capture the fact that Bond (as Fleming ment him to be) is a cold-blooded killer & has to be to do his job well. They also fit well with the card theme (Bacarat in the novel, Texas Hold-Em Poker in the movie) that runs through the movie.

So far all I've watched of the movie is the pre-credit sequence & the opening credits. The pre-credit sequence holds up well from when I 1st saw it. I agree with the decision to do it in B & W. & the seeing the credits anew I can appreciate the finer details this time arround. Clearly this movie will loose something on the small screen as some of the action scenes work better on the big screen. That is no surprize. But, I don't expect that to make the movie any less enjoyable.

As I said at the beginning, I was hoping for a little more content. That is my only disappointment with this set. I noticed that Wal-Mart has a special edition with 2 sets of cards & poker chips. Obviously aimed at the collector. (I'm not rushing out to buy it, but if anyone wants to give me a couple of copies so I can keep 1 & open 1 to use the cards etc, I won't argue.) & it is fun to note that even though this was a Sony release (MGM/Columbia) that it still has to acknowledge that the series is still actually under the United Artists ownership. & in my opinion, the sooner they go back to that opening the better.

(Casino Royale DVD wide-screen edition cover, used under fair use doctrine for a review & not intended to harm or deny any rights of the copyright owners Danjaq LLC,United Artists Corporation, & Columbia Pictures [Sony Pictures].)