Posted 12 March 2011 - 05:01 PM
The occasion I saw the BBC's 'Omnibus' documentary on 'The British Hero' was at an event called 'Bond at 50'; this was part of 'Crime Scene 2003', sponsored by Penguin Books and Turner Classic Movies, which took place at the London NFT in 2003. The Omnibus documentary (first transmitted by the BBC on 7th October, 1973) was just one of the programmes shown (but not in full, only extracts). What can I remember from the 2003 event? Well, here goes (but it's a bit fuzzy now): Bond author John Gardner was sitting 2-3 rows in front of me, and the audience also included Zena Marshall (Miss Taro in 'Dr. No') and Phil Mayheux (the cinematographer on 'Goldeneye'). Director John Glen was the special guest of the day, and gave a short talk. Bond enthusiasts from across the UK were present at the event, and there was a great 'buzz' in the air. The Omnibus 'British Hero' extracts were the first extracts to be shown at the event, and these were indeed scenes from DAF and Goldfinger i.e. from the novels. A very young-looking Christopher Cazenove, as 007, was seen scaling down the side of the luxury liner the Queen Elizabeth (as in the novel DAF) to break into Wint and Kidd's cabin, where they were holding Tiffany Case and torturing her. A shootout ensued, with both hoodlums dying. Case, however (as I recall) recovered quickly enough to allow Bond join her in the bath-tub immediately after, which amused the NFT audience! I also recall the rather 'camp' 1970s costumes. 007 was also seen strapped to a torture table (as per the novel Goldfinger), with a rapidly spinning circular saw fast approaching, watched over by Oddjob and (a rather tall-looking) Graham Crowden as Auric Goldfinger. This was quite atmospheric, but an evil nurse standing nearby was licking her lips a bit more than necessary to be fully credible. Oddjob also looked rather wooden (nobody can really beat the great Harold Sakata!). But, to be fair, the scenes were clearly created to capture the dark, brooding nature of the original Fleming novels. And I remember thinking that somebody at the BBC had gone to a great deal of trouble in 1973 to recreate the sequences for BBC-TV, showing a real eye for detail. By the way, Graham Crowden renewed his Bond connection in 1981: he popped up in a scene in EON's 'For Your Eyes Only'.
