Though Sting was cooler as the Ace Face in the movie Quadraphenia, this film was certainly unique as it cast the 32-year old Sting in the role of the devil. The rape scene of Patty was disturbing to say the least but what do you expect from the devil? Most memorable is the soundtrack which I have yet to find on CD format. A notable track is "Only You" which features Jeff Seitz, Stewart Copeland's drum tech on drums. This track was also listed in the liner notes of the Police's '93 box set as being included in the 4-CD set but it wasn't! Nor was the instrumental "Light Changes" from their movie "Around the World" but I digress. Brimstone and Treacle was a dark film and spawned the video for one of its tracks, "Spread a Little Happiness". The video is bizarre as it features Sting in clerics serving tea to a bunch of church ladies. Yet at the very end of the video, he turns to look at the camera and his look is so demonic, so piercing that it actually gave me a fright. If you see the video, you'll understand.
Reviews
4 Reviews
"...a sort of grisly waxworks display for morbid tourists."
21 July 2004
I am aware that this film is either loved or hated, no in-between. I loved it although I was taken aback when I first saw Lazenby as Bond. Yet in time, I grew to appreciate it. Gabriele Ferzetti's great character as Draco is similar to FRWL's Kerim Bey. Telly Savalas was a sinister villain with the jagged lines of a twisted intelligent villain, such as his passing comment to Bond of the dead character Campbell hanging upside down outside the window (see one-line summary of this piece above). Diana Rigg's character of Tracy came off a bit too much as a mentally unstable spoiled brat but sheds that as the film progresses. The soundtrack by John Barry is superb and the instrumental title sequence has the coolest bass line I've ever heard in a Bond film. The cinematography of the Swiss Alps in 1969 is nothing more than breathtaking and the Christmas setting is very nostalgic, setting a very warm tone to parts of the film. Lazenby was a good Bond and deserves a little more respect than he's given. Give the guy a break; he's no Connery and had some big shoes to fill taking on the role of Bond but I thought he carried it well. His scene on the cablecar was pretty endearing of him being a 'hands-on' take charge kind of spy.
From Russia with Love
(1963)
"Charming...charming!"
21 July 2004
A good film in the spirit of reliance on actors' ability versus stunts and gadgets that plaque the rest of the series. Connery has a brooding and sinister presence as Bond. I recall the look he gives the bug hidden behind the picture in his hotel room as he backs away from it. Really mean! Villain Robert Shaw as Grant is an excellent foil to Connery as he has a definite screen presence as well. The knockout blow he gives to Bond on the train with the butt of his gun was pretty convincing! I think he really hurt Connery! Daniela Bianchi as Tonya is a very attractive companion for Bond (although I disapprove of Bond backhanding her across the face on the train)and Pedro Armendariz is instantly likable as Kerim Bey. One of his best lines is when he sees Tonya in her nightie: "Charming...charming!" His better line was to Bond: "Ahh, the old game: give a wolf a taste and then keep him hungry. My friend, she's got you dangling." The cinematography is great too showing vistas of Istanbul, Russia and England. One of the best duels between Bond and a villain was in this film as Bond and Grant fight in a train compartment. Interesting to note that there is no action music while this is going on. Just the sound of them scuffling and the train in motion. Very suspenseful! The movie itself seems to pride itself on 'taking it's time' as it build suspense through subtle devices. Some of these are the slow footsteps Grant takes at the beginning of the film while stalking 'Bond' during a Spectre exercise, the time it takes the character Kronsteen to look up at a messenger and back down again with his bulbous eyes, and Grant's relaxed interrogation of Bond on the train. A film that I'm sure Ian Fleming was proud of as it remained fairly true to his book.
Dr. No
(1962)
"Tonight."
21 July 2004
Sean Connery is responsible for one of the coolest scenes in movie history as he says in a cavalier tone: "Bond...James Bond" in Dr. No. This deliverance was never equalled by any of the other four Bonds, try as they did. Dr. No was a simple film that was a real slice of 1962: a 32-year old Connery, the incredibly attractive Ursula Andress as Honey Rider (an unfortunate character name), the very dated (yet typical of the decade) opening sequence of the colored buttons highlighting the actors' names and the overlapping colored silhouettes of the dancers. Joseph Wiseman as Dr. No was sinister in his understated taciturn way, especially when he says to Professor Dent to pick up the cage containing the tarantula for Bond: "Tonight." The repartee between Bond and Dr. No's henchmen when they are captured in the swamp and brought into Dr. No's decontamination room is pretty lame however as the henchmen sound like they have a grade six education. The scene too where Bond passes as one of Dr. No's Asian henchmen simply because he is wearing a protective suit is totally implausible. He is mistaken for Chang who is much shorter than Bond (who is over 6-feet tall as Connery) But anyway... Dr. No stands as a simple pure form of Bond without gadgetry, stunts, one-liners and the other trappings that have evolved throughout the Bond series. Certainly a dated movie but attractive in its quaintness.
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