1967 - YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE, on Blu Ray

You Only Live Twice is essentially a mash up of scenes from the fout previous James Bond films.  Almost every action piece had already been done in Dr No, From Russia With Love, Goldfinger and Thunderball.  You Only Live Twice just made them more bombastic.  Roald Dahl a writer of semi-twisted and oddball short stories was hired to put together an original screenplay, but it appears that the the producers Saltzman and Broccoli were the primary influence on this film.  

Bigger is better in You Only Live Twice, the sets, the locations, the gadgets and the spectacular climax.  The director Lewis Gilbert probably had his hands full just setting up his shots.  The editor Peter Hunt shot the 2nd unit footage and did a major recut of the film after the first screening came in at three hours. 

Sean Connery is still fun to watch as James Bond.  He certainly had the drill down by film # 5.  However the real star of the film is the famous Ken Adam volcano set which was built full scale at Pinewood studios.  Even 46 years later it still looks very impressive.

You Only Live Twice on Blu Ray and a decent sized television screen looks pretty spectacular.  The photography by F. A. Young has the glossy look that a major production could pull together with the best technicians.  Overall the film is still very entertaining if derivative in the Sean Connery/James Bond series.

117 minutes, written by Roald Dahl of all people.