2024 - FROM ROGER MOORE WITH LOVE, kind of odd tribute to Roger Moore

The actor Roger Moore passed away seven years ago.  Moore appeared in his last James Bond film almost forty years ago.  So it's kind of strange that this tribute film to Moore was made now.  Apparently the film aired on the BBC during the holidays.  This is the usual mixture of interviews and home movies.  Moore apparently liked to run around with a Betamax VHS camera of all things and filmed a lot of the guests who stayed at his home in Switzerland.

Moore started his career as a sweater model and was lucky enough to hook up with the director Brian Desmond Hurst who apparently mentored him when he entered the acting profession.  Moore never had the acting "chops" for heavyweight dramas and was dropped by MGM after a couple of less than outstanding performances in Interrupted Melody and Diane.  This film doesn't mention his time at Warner Brothers where he mainly did television shows like Maverick and 77 Sunset Strip. 

 

After his failure in America, it was back to England where he found his signature role in the popular TV show The Saint playing sort of a gentlemen thief.  After working in television for a while he was cast in the James Bond film Live and Let Die. He was James Bond number three during the 1970's.  Moore was blamed for bringing a lot of silliness to the James Bond franchisee but the reality was the series took a sharp turn towards goofiness with Sean Connery's last Bond film Diamonds Are Forever. 

If there is anything to be learned from this documentary and I use the term documentary very loosely it's that Roger Moore recognized his limitations as an actor and was able to turn these limitations into a film and television career.  Moore was apparently a very nice guy in real life.  He was never a prima donna on film sets and he apparently never turned his nose up at his fans.  Moore was also a very lucky man in his career.  Christopher Walken who never does these tribute interviews shows up and speaks very highly of him.

 

From Roger Moore With Love is about as lightweight as Roger Moore was.  It's a painless way to pass some time, sort of entertaining if you are a fan and in the end not remotely memorable.

The film is amusingly narrated by actor/writer Steve Coogan imitating Roger Moore's voice which Coogan has made a career of, the running time is 79 minutes.