Bond 50: The Complete 22 Film Collection [Blu-ray]

My only beef with this set is the book. I paid the full 180 for this with the book instead if the 150 discounted price that didnt have e book with it. The book is only 70 pages and abridged. The full book is less than 30 bucks and I could have had both if Id just canceled my order and got the cheaper set and book seperately. Other than that I have no complaints. The case is sturdy and, with a little practice I can get the discs out of the sleeves unharmed. I like having the slot for Skyfall but dont know if I want to really use it when the film comes out. The movies look excellant in HD. Ive already watched all the ones previously available so I am starting with You Only Live Twice and the video quality and sound are first rate. If you have all the previous Bond Blu-rays sell them to get this set (except for Casino Royale 2disc Blu as it has some features not found here). This is well worth the purchase and a welcome addition to my collection.

This review is by a fifty-something male who has watched all the Bond shows previously. Some salient points Id make are: 1. I bought the DVD collection for about $100, so the cost per movie seemed acceptable. 2. Show quality was good. 3. Nice to have them all together, even the Roger Moore ones. 4. Interesting to watch through the series how the Bond character evolves from the suave, rump-spanking chauvinistic character of the sixties (Connery) to the damaged-goods sensitivity of the new millenium Bond (Craig). 5. The singular irritating thing that the producers of the DVD did was to make the audience endure a short commercial touting the Bond series, as well as the FBI warning. You cant bail out early. How f_______ irksome! Why advertise what we have already bought? 6. Id still recommend the purchase despite the forced commercial.

NB: As is their wont, Amazon have bundled the reviews for the Blu-ray and DVD boxed sets together. This review refers to the Blu-ray edition. Please bear in mind that the DVD version only includes the one-disc versions of the films, losing nearly all the extras apart from the audio commentaries. With the release of Skyfall imminent, EON and MGM/UA have finally got around to releasing the remaining Bond films that werent on Blu-ray (with the exception of non-EON entries Never Say Never Again and the 1967 Casino Royale), releasing them in a lavish boxed set thats surprisingly sturdily constructed but offers virtually nothing new for those who have already faithfully collected the Ultimate Edition DVDs. The plentiful extras have been carried over pretty much wholesale from those two-disc releases, with one exception - Casino Royale is a strange hybrid of the two-disc special edition and first single-disc release, containing most of the special editions extras but losing Martin Campbells picture-in-picture commentary, two featurettes (The Art of the Freerun, Catching a Plane - From Storyboard to Screen), the revised documentary Bond Girls Are Forever, storyboard sequence and filmmaker profile featurettes (Martin Campbell, Chris Corbauld, Phil Méheux, Gary Powell, Alexander Witt and David Arnold). The version of Die Another Day only features the extras from the Ultimate Edition, with the much better extras from the original DVD release, including the 76-minute making of documentary, still AWOL. The picture quality is for the most part very good, though its not always as convincing as you feel it should be, with the suspicion that some scenes have been scrubbed up a little too brightly compared to the way they looked on the big screen. GoldenEye thankfully corrects the overcropping of the Ultimate Edition DVD release that was particularly noticeable when cutting off letters and numbers on video displays and is now in the proper framing but it has some noticeable DNR work done on it, though its not as dramatic as some reports claim. More worrying is that the UK set doesnt offer the original mono soundtracks on the early Bond films that were previously released on Blu-ray, such as Dr No, From Russia With Love, Goldfinger and Thunderball, instead offering remixed stereo tracks that often favour the sound effects a little too much. The new to BD titles do contain the original mixes, but if you want them on the earlier films youll have to buy the US set - which will cause a problem for those without multi-region Blu-ray capability since the set is a mixture of Region A-locked titles (Dr No, From Russia with Love, Goldfinger, Thunderball, Live and Let Die, The Man with the Golden Gun, Moonraker, For Your Eyes Only, Licence to Kill, The World is Not Enough, Die Another Day, Casino Royale and Quantum of Solace) and Region-free ones (You Only Live Twice, OHMSS - thankfully the uncut version - Diamonds Are Forever, The Spy Who Loved Me, Octopussy, A View to a Kill, The Living Daylights, GoldenEye and Tomorrow Never Dies). As for the exclusive extras disc - well, its a huge disappointment. Rather than include any new extras from Quantum of Solace such as the deleted The names Bond. James Bond ending or any of the slew of other promos or documentaries about the series its just a brief selection of soundbites, very brief featurettes, a few video diaries for Skyfall and a collection of title sequences from the films. Theres no booklet either, but at least the book-style packaging for the films is especially strong, has a space reserved for Skyfall and is designed for repeated use - which plenty of these films will be getting

Perfect for adventure, beautiful women and dangerous people

Box set is beautifully designed (like a story book) with nice pictures of the Bond actors and villains. Movies are in order by year with the Bond girls next to their corresponding movie. My only problem is the packaging. The movies are slipped into cardboard slots wrapped in plastic, so youll end up with scratches and marks on your movies when you take them out. My copy of Octopussy was skipping at certain parts, so I had to stop watching it. There should be plastic tray holders instead of dvds wrapped in plastic. Would rate 5 stars if it werent for the horrible slot packaging. My copy actually came with Skyfall, so you dont need to order that movie separately.

] This is a wonderful transfer to Blu-ray for this great series. There is no doubt that this Blu-ray package represents the very best picture for these movies since their original theatrical release. I have owned this James Bond series on every medium released. VHS, Laser Disc, DVD and now this Blu-ray release. There is no comparison. This has stunningly exceptional video quality. The sound is also excellent. There are only a couple of the films where the sound mix levels were a little uneven (dialogue volume versus background music) but these are just a few instances and therefore quite negligible. Particularly at this price, I highly recommend the purchase of this Blu-ray set. I have just one complaint which is why my rating is a 4 and not a 5. The book that the Blu-ray discs are housed in, does not have the conventional center clasp that securely holds the Blu-ray disc in place. Instead, the discs are housed in a slot that you have to slide them in and out of. This is quite poor because of the risk of damaging the discs. I think that springing for the additional expense of proper disc holders within the book would have been worth it, even if it meant charging a little bit more for the product.

(10-3 UPDATE / expansion starting at paragraph 6) I havent watched Bond movies since the mid-90s, and the last recent one I watched was The World Is Not Enough. (1999) By the time deluxe boxed DVD sets of the films came out, I was pretty much maxed out on DVD collecting, and rather disillusioned with the limitations of the fragile medium, and the 007 franchise was in a slump anyway. When I got news of this release, I wish listed it, and here we are, only a few weeks after his pop cultural offspring, Indiana Jones, hit Blu-Ray. Keep in mind this is from the PoV of one who hasnt watched a single Bond DVD, and therefore skipping straight to Blu-Ray. Oct 5, 1962 -- Ian Flemings 007 spy novels had been best sellers for a decade; Kennedy and Khruschev were about to play nuclear tightrope over Cuba; and Dr. No debuted, and a film franchise, iconic characters and images, and a variety of Bond traditions were born. The set includes all 22 official Bond films in nicely designed and colorful packaging -- although Im still uncomfortable with the studios using tight paper packaging yet again....twill be investigating. And, yes, how cute, there is a slot for the newest Bond movie, Skyfall, too. The Blu-Rays come in two books, for pre- and post-Never Say Never Again Bond movies. I mention Never Say, because it is not included, despite starring Sean Connery, for four reasonable reasons: A) its a re-make (of Thunderball); B) its not from the same production co.; C) its not very good anyway; and D) if you must, then you can probably get it very cheaply by itself. (Then again, I just checked the prices.....uh-oh). There is also no 1967 Casino Royale. Since it is a parody; complaining about its absence is analogous to moaning about the Star Wars set not having Spaceballs in it. Here at Amazon, the set comes with a book about 007 posters.....at least the Exclusive Excerpted Edition. But hey, dont worry, the Blu-Rays have plenty more poster images on them. The presentation quality is shockingly stunning, looks fabulous. Cute menu screens with character shots and backlit chicks on wobbly discs waving pistols around-- how very title sequency. The commentaries are, I suspect, carried over from the DVD releases. For the older films, they are loose compilations of observations and reflections of a variety of people involved in the production: designers, editors, composers, ad campaign designers, and many of the actors. Each film has at least one commentary, and a few even have three. When a commentary goes quiet or into an undesirable topic or monologue, its good to be able to switch over to another commentary for a little while. Some of the 60s films commentaries go into now lets hear what Bond sounds like in x language for about five minutes or so at a time; again, good to switch and keep the info. flowing. During slow spots, you can also play with the other extras, arranged along the following pattern: Top Level Access ( a rare category): In the case of the Dr No disk, its a 12-minute look at the Lowry Digitals efforts and processes of restoring and cleaning the prints of older Bond movies to give it the immaculate presentation that it has on these Blu-Rays. A) Declassified MI6 Vault: Little vignettes about topics across all the Bond movies -- here on Dr. No, its a look at the UK, US, and a few world premieres of all of the pre-Craig 007 movies, and another that looks at Guns. Lots of behind-the-scenes stuff (which is under category A or C or both) varies wildly, including material from the time of the making of the film in question: featurettes, different angles, on set, on location, effects, storyboards, press conferences, interviews from the time, deleted scenes. Many 60s films have Ford / car co. promo films ranging from mildly informative to weirdly whimsical. (Childs Guide to Blowing Up a Motor Car, from Thunderball comes to mind.) There are a few screen tests, including those for the Bond That Never Was, Josh Brolin, for Octopussy. That films extras also include the ultimate reminder of the series Cold War origins and milieu with location footage of the Berlin Wall. B) 007 Mission Control (on half the films): Movie-specific looks at 007, Women, Allies, Villains, Mission Combat Manual, Q Branch, and Exotic Locations The 007 Mission Control sets are on half of the films. The problem is, all they are are just random snippets straight from the films.....isnt that what chapter selection is for? More of the films have the Exotic Locations feature, which, unlike the other Mission Control features, actually has some substance. They are nice 3-min. tour guides (narrated by Maud Adams, no less) of the various places where the Bond movies were filmed. C) Mission Dossier: Various BTS doc.s: for Dr. No, a strange scratchy vintage 1963 featurette narrated by a funny little man with an enormous nose; an 18min. look at director Terence Young; and a main doc called Inside Dr No Starting in 1981, you have music videos. (Except for DADs Madonna song in 2002) D) Ministry of Propaganda: Trailers, TV spots, radio ads (Goldfinger had over a dozen!), n such; starting w/Moonraker, some of the films have only theatrical trailer(s) here. E) Image Database: Photos of the Filmmakers, Portraits of the Cast, BTS photos fm. Jamaica and Pinewood, and some of Ian Fleming fm both places, a small set of pics of the strange Lost Scene (Ursula vs. crabs), and Around the World w/007, a collection of posters and the like. There are tons of image galleries for each movie. (And somewhat fewer for the 21st century Bonds, but still plenty.) Most of them are tiny sets, more average about 2 min.s to sit through, and once in a while there are epic sets of photos that run up to 8 minutes. My favorite category here is 007 Around the World (as in, posters) and Merchandising, although, alas, these arent included with every movie. This categorization essentially stops with the post-Brosnan movies, w/somewhat fewer extras for the newer movies as a result. And these are all just the minor-sounding extras! Im saving the various main documentaries (on each film, or on major players) and the bonus disc for later. While the extras may not be consistent nor complete, they are still pretty comprehensive. For obvious reasons, its going to take me a while to go through the whole set, but I suspect this initial run-through gives a great idea of what to expect. Except for the iffy packaging (I use disposable gloves for removing and replacing each disk), I suspect that this set is near perfect, one of the best of the decade so far.

My boyfriend is a big James Bond fan. I have not watched it yet. Waiting to see if all the DVDs play.

Great collection for Bond Lovers. Whats not to like! Great purchase. My husband enjoys the set. Nice presentation.

This collection replaced LaserDisc and DVD versions of these films. The LaserDiscs were good transfers but the idiot that decided where the sides would break must have been high on something. The BluRay picture quality on transfers of Dr. No, From Russia With Love, and Goldfinger were incredible. The audio on all discs does leave something to be desired. The dynamic range is so wide that during quiet passages I had to turn my volume up past 11. Then I had to quickly turn it back down again the very next scene to prevent blowing my speakers. Digital sound is good when done right, but I wonder if the people doing the audio ever listen to the quality of their work. If not for the audio, this set would have been 5 stars