DVD/150: GOLDFINGER (Guy Hamilton, 1964)

The only Bond film in my collection is also, for me, the most assured of the canon.

With two Bond films already successful and a character - and actor - fast becoming iconic, Harry Saltzman and 'Cubby' Broccoli provided a much larger budget and sleek production values.

The Bond cliches were locked in with GOLDFINGER: deaths with a quip, hundreds of mown-down extras, a villain bent on world domination, the gadgets and glamorous locations used as mere backdrops, not forgetting the title credit sequence and song.

You have to wonder how these men became criminal masterminds when they give Bond so many chances to escape rather than just killing him when they have the chance.

For those used to the crunching non-stop action of the last 30 years of Bond, they are in for a shock as here first-time Bond director Hamilton focuses on plot over needless set-pieces.

Shelf or charity shop?  Bond is saving the West from my plastic dvd storage box...  I must admit I have usually lost interest by the climax at Fort Knox but by then we have had Honor Blackman fading into view and purring "My name is Pussy Galore", John Barry's exciting score, Shirley Bassey owning the title song (amazingly, neither GOLDFINGER or DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER were nominated for the Best Song Academy Award), Sean Connery has delivered a performance of charisma and charm, and the glorious Shirley Eaton has, in three short scenes, became iconic as the doomed Jill Masterson, found very dead and painted gold.  Shirley - as I type - is the last surviving cast member.  That also includes Nikki Van der Zyl - "who she" I hear you cry?  She provided the dubbed voice of many Bond girls - Ursula Andress in DOCTOR NO and CASINO ROYALE, Eunice Gayson in FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE, Shirley Eaton in GOLDFINGER, Claudine Auger in THUNDERBALL, Mie Hama in YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE, Jane Seymour in LIVE AND LET DIE and Corinne Cléry in MOONRAKER!  She was equally busy at Hammer dubbing Raquel Welch in ONE MILLION YEARS BC and Ursula Andress (again!) in SHE.

DVD/150: MARY, QUEEN OF SCOTS (Charles Jarrott, 1971)

Producer Hal Wallis and director Jarrott hoped lightning would strike twice after ANNE OF THE THOUSAND DAYS with MARY, QUEEN OF SCOTS.

However, John Hale's basic screenplay, constantly switching between the courts of Mary and Elizabeth I, never delivers a firm momentum and, as with every screen representation of Mary, she remains an enigma - a woman who things were done to, never an instigator.

Unsurprisingly, the film comes alive in the scenes we know are fiction, the two confrontations between Mary and Elizabeth.  They never met in actuality but it's too good an opportunity to pass up for dramatists - as in Schiller's MARY STUART - and of course it delivers the electric shock of Vanessa Redgrave and Glenda Jackson having at each other.

Glenda, in the same year as playing Elizabeth for the BBC, is all fire and brimstone while Vanessa is the ultimate willowy, romantic Queen, all air and light.

Shelf or charity shop?  Shelf.  Ultimately it might be a bit of a dull plod but it is worth the climb for the two confrontation scenes where Vanessa and Glenda light up the screen with their on and off-screen personas.  The male supporting cast hold their own against their warring Queens: Trevor Howard, Ian Holm. Timothy Dalton, Patrick McGoohan and Nigel Davenport all deliver strong performances while John Barry's score and Margaret Furse's costumes make it a pleasure for the ear and eye.  It's a pity Jarrott couldn't bring a more powerful flourish to match his leading ladies - still, I will take this every time over the turgid Josie Rourke version.