Skyfall wasn't the only Bond film in 2012 to be released to celebrate the big 5-0. This documentary from Stevan Riley charts the birth and development of the Bond films and is an engaging enough way to spend an hour and a half.
Any documentary on a well loved subject has the unenviable task of having to be accessible enough for the casual viewer while still making it interesting enough for those more versed in the story. As a huge Bond fan, this is hardly the untold story as I, and any who have watched previous Bond DVD bonus features, knew most of what was said and the documentary is rather flatly directed, consisting mostly of the talking heads approach that also makes you think of DVD extras. If you're unfamiliar with how Cubby Broccoli and Harry Saltzman acquired the film rights to Fleming's novels and of their trials and tribulations (with each other and with their leading man Sean Connery) then the story is an interesting one. Where the documentary scores is in interviewing Saltzman's children who provide the other side of the story of the falling out between the producers and former friends. It's a story of acrimony and sadness but one that ends with a nice description of the pair's eventual reconciliation, hugging each other after several years at an event. Sean Connery comes off less well (he declined to be involved in the doc), portrayed as a treacherous, money grabbing git (on a chat show when he was asked to name Bond's first supervillain, he deadpanned 'Cubby Broccoli') although his call to a dying Cubby suggests there was still some residual affection behind all the animosity.
One fascinating story is the terrible persistence of rival producer Kevin McClory who helped Fleming come up with a film treatment that Fleming, short on ideas and later used as the basis for the novel Thunderball. The resulting court battle over the rights helped put Fleming in the ground and led to McClory being a constant thorn in the side of EON Productions, right up until his death. It was a tale of greed and obsession that dominated McClory's life and one that roped in Connery to taunt his orignal employers once more - and the result? Never Say Never Again.
All the other Bonds agree to be interviewed although the results are a bit of a mixed bag. Lazenby is candid but has said most of his comments before. His admission that it took him a long while to recover from his spectacularly quick fall from stardom to obscurity is telling in its understatement. Roger Moore, still going strong into his 80s, recounts familiar ground with his trademark self-depreciation and humour. He didn't take Bond seriously in 1973 and his views haven't really changed. Tim Dalton, looking rather like an off duty binman here, speaks eloquently of his bid to make Bond credible again. His rationale, doomed to failure in 1987, seems much more persuasive in our Daniel Craig era, with the emotionally complex Skyfall becoming the most popular Bond film ever.
The only actor whose mask slightly slips is Pierce Brosnan. In my opinion probably the best Bond but ill served by most of his films, Brosnan is polite and candid but can't help but show some of the bitterness he feels at not just missing out on the part back in 1987 (when he'd been cast and then had to pull out when Remington Steele was recommissioned) - his admission that driving past posters of The Living Daylights, now with Dalton's face on them, and how hard it was, is striking - but also when the Broccolis, stuck in a creative impasse, decided to reboot the series and jettison Brosnan in favour of Craig. Of all the Bond actors, Brosnan has been the unluckiest. He also can't help but be rueful over how his films, especially his last Die Another Day, became increasingly daft, laughing as he recalls the infamous 'kite surfing the tsunami' CGI mess that scuppered the movie, and his tenure, as effectively as that bloody invisible car.
We get less of Craig, which is a shame as he is easily one of the more articulate and thoughtful of the bunch and one who has heavily influenced the direction the series has taken (he brought Sam Mendes on board for Skyfall). In the end, Everything or Nothing is very good for those who enjoy Bond normally when the films are at the pictures or on a Bank Holiday but a little too familiar and general for those of us who have turned the secret agent into out own personal obsession.
GK Rating: *** The Blog of Delights
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