1930 - 2020
4K frame shots courtesy of Apple - “Bond. James Bond,” as agent 007 announces himself to Syliva Trench during “Dr. No.” The production budget for Ian Fleming’s espionage tale was $1 million and it grossed nearly $60 million.
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SEAN CONNERY the iconic Scottish actor first played the cool and sexy James Bond in “Dr. No,” released in Great Britain and Europe in 1962. In May 1963, American moviegoers finally got to see Connery as the British secret service agent. The first installment in the Bond franchise was directed by Terence Young and follows 007 to Jamaica to investigate the disappearance of British agent John Strangways and his secretary.
This weekend Connery’s family announced he died peacefully at age 90, during his sleep at his Bahamas home where he lived full-time for nearly 30 years. He owned a mansion in Lyford Cay, a gated community on the island of New Providence. Over the decades many of the Bond films were filmed in the Bahamas including two of the seven Connery 007 films - “Thunderball” (1965) and “Never Say Never Again” (1983). His other Bond movies included “Dr. No” (1962), “From Russia with Love” (1963), “Goldfinger” (1964), “You Only Lived Twice” (1967), and “Diamonds are Forever” (1971).
Connery won an Oscar in 1988 for his role as the doomed Chicago cop Jim Malone in “The Untouchables” (1987) and was knighted by the Queen at Holyrood Place in 2000. His start in the limelight was in 1953 when he took part in the Mr. Universe bodybuilding contest in London. He's 6’2” body frame got him a third place in the contest, but caught the attention of a casting director for the London stage production of “South Pacific.” The role was in the chorus and later worked on TV productions, before becoming a movie star as James Bond.
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The 4K image on Apple and iTunes was sourced from the 2008 4K scan of the original 35mm camera negative by Lowry Digital Image. No HDR toning was applied to the Apple presentation.
Some amount of natural film grain was removed during this digital restoration, but overall sharpness is still very good, while the colors are well saturated. No signs of edge enhancement causing halo rings around the actor’s heads. At times the highlights are blown out, and the shadows are slightly blocked up compared to what HDR toning could’ve extracted.
(1) James Bond’s flirts with Miss Moneypenny (Lois Maxwell). (2) Bond arrives in Jamaica and his cab is being followed. (3) CIA agent Felix Leiter (Jack Lord) pulls a gun on 007. (4) A real tarantula was used, but a sheet of glass separated Connery and the spider.
(1) Miss Taro (Zena Marshall) invites Bond to her apartment. (2) Bond is waiting for Prof. R. J. Dent (Anthony Dawson) a professional geologist and a henchman for evil scientist Dr. No. (3) On Crab Key Island Bond finds the beautiful Honey Ryder (Ursula Andress) the first “Bond Girl,” collecting seashells.
(1&2) Bond and Honey are taken prisoner at Dr. No’s compound and given new clothes for a dinner with the evil scientist, a member of SPECTRE. (3) Bond enters Dr. No’s nuclear facility wearing a radiation suit. (4) Bond and Honey have a short-lived tow by Felix Leiter as Bond releases the rope when they start to kiss.
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