CBn Reviews 'Diamonds Are Forever'

10/10 - A perfect combination of fun and grittiness, all the more so because it can be taken as a total farce by some people or as a serious spy film by others. Highly recommended. Be aware when reading the many negative reviews on Bond fan sites that the average Bond fan seems to be driven absolutely crazy by this film because he or she overidealizes 1. The cinematic potential of Fleming's works (there's no disputing his literary skill) and 2. On Her Majesty's Secret Service, which such people regard as a masterpiece that dare not be questioned. The fact that Diamonds are Forever appears to ignore OHMSS upsets such people, so that they can no longer give DAF a reasonable review. The film is criminally underrated, and deserves a reappraisal, which I hope to do here.

Pros: Normally I'd mostly just say (as I did with DN and FRWL) that there are "too many pros to list". However, this film deserves a closer look from me to counteract the bilge people fling at it.

While Guy Hamilton has his weaknesses as a director, he brings a polish and sophistication back to the Bond films that had been missing in the camp of Lewis Gilbert's YOLT and the Batman style fight scenes and weak Lazenby performance in OHMSS. Peter Hunt fans love to go on and on about the fight scenes in OHMSS, but they are poorly edited and happen for little or no reason. Hamilton, who hardly specialized in good fight scenes, blows everything Hunt did fight-wise (other than perhaps the climatic battle at Piz Gloria) away with one scene - the absolutely brutal and highly inspired elevator fight scene between Bond and Peter Franks. Hamilton is surprisingly (and delightfully) bloodthirsty as well in the way he has people killed in this movie. In particular, one man is lit on fire (very close to the camera) and another has a peton shot directly into his head.

Tom Mankiewicz writes a superb script that mixes some of the cleverest double entendres in any Bond film ("more than my hands up" and "cuffs and collars match" being two particular delights) with a plot that unfolds slowly and deliberately. Bond films have a tendency to make the villain plain to the viewer within the first reel. This film starts off as a simple smuggling caper and gradually expands until it involves a laser in space (which seems relatively plausible scientifically, and hardly as camp as people claim - certainly more believeable than space marines or the YOLT space space ship that can land on a platform!).

Lest people think I don't like OHMSS, I do. I just think it's overrated, and for the wrong reasons. OHMSS had a wonderful continental European feeling to it, and it reflects on Bond as a quasi-mythological character. Bond is able to bed any woman he wants in the film and defeat Blofeld's plan, but when he tries to marry and start a new life, his wife is killed almost instantly. There's something about that which reminds me of Heracles/Hercules or perhaps of Christopher Nolan's Batman.

DAF continues this thematic depth. In fact, I find it to be thematically deeper than OHMSS. From the opening scene, to Shirley Bassey's rather bitter song comparing men unfavorably to diamonds to the end of the movie, the film has deep themes about death and the inability of people to control death on their own. There is a sense of ennui about this movie that people mistake for laziness. For example, people complain that Bond quickly avenges Tracy in the pre-credits and then seems unconcerned when Blofeld reappears later in the film. When Bond had thought he'd killed Blofeld earlier (actually, he killed one of his doubles) he welcomed him "to hell". Now Bond finds Blofeld alive and well (two Blofelds in fact) in, of all places, Williard Whyte's penthouse suite, the one place nobody's supposedly been to for many years. Bond at this point realizes that he and Blofeld are both trapped in hell. Both are seemingly immortal - the real Blofeld is never killed by Bond any more than Bond is killed by Blofeld. But Blofeld can never realize his master-plans, anymore than Bond can marry and settle down. John Barry's excellent score conveys this world-weariness verging on nihilism quite well, especially in the scene where the hearse takes Bond to the Slumber Funeral home. The music playing is the theme from the title song, but it's done in an arid fashion, as if Bond almost wished he could switch places with Peter Franks in the back (later, continuing this theme, Bond actually does end up in a coffin, and put into a crematorium in a way he can never escape, and he STILL survives due to the villains' greed). Much like Batman and Joker in The Dark Knight, Bond and Blofeld seem fated to reenact the same plot over and over again, with no respite for either. Given that, the cordialness they almost have for one another seems perfectly reasonable.

Cons:

Hamilton's films tend to be poorly edited, and there are some strange choices made with this film as well. A scene was cut that would have better explained how Plenty knew where Tiffany lived, for instance. A stunt man's mistake as to which side wheels he put Tiffany's car up on could seemingly have been fixed just by flipping the negative (as was done in AVTAK to change a scene filmed on London's streets to look like one filmed in Paris). Also, some idiot assistant director set off the explosions on the oil rig too early, and the crew were lucky to have gotten the footage they ended up with. This accounts for the somwhat limp finale, which people usually chalk up to budget woes.

Edited by right idea, wrong pussy, 15 July 2011 - 05:34 AM.

Nowhere bad as I expected it to be. It's not great but I think a lot of the criticism comes from the fact that it came after OHMSS and completely ignored anything to do with Lazenby. As a stand alone film, it is flawed but is fun and it is good to see Connery back in the role.

It doesn't quite have the epic nature or memorable action that most Bond movies have and the ending is a damp squib. I couldn't tell you the plot without watching again and Charles Gray's Blofeld is probably the least menacing villain I've ever seen but despite those flaws, it does manage to be a very funny romp and Mr. Wint and Mr. Kidd are memorable. I wouldn't want this from Bond all the time but for a bit of light entertainment, it does a pretty good job.

7/10.

Edited by Andy Bond, 16 February 2012 - 03:19 PM.

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