LIVE AND LET DIE - DVD review

Goodbye, Sean; hello, Roger. "Live and Let Die" marked Roger Moore's inauspicious screen debut as 007. He had big shoes to fill with Connery gone, and this first of his long series of Bond associations proved less than promising. It is said that Moore was author Ian Fleming's first choice for Bond as far back as 1962, but Moore was unavailable at the time, preparing for "The Saint." Lucky us. One thing, though: He looks great in a sport coat.

In an effort to recapture the spirit of earlier Bonds, producers Albert R. Broccoli and Harry Saltzman brought in director Guy Hamilton, who had previously done "Goldfinger" and "Diamonds Are Forever," and screenwriter Tom Mankiewicz, who had written "Diamonds Are Forever" and would later do "The Man With the Golden Gun."

Next, they set a part of the story in a location, Jamaica, reminiscent of "Dr. No" and made sure Bernard Lee and Lois Maxwell showed up to reprise their roles as M and Moneypenny. They added Yaphet Kotto as the villainous kingpin, Kananga, and Jane Seymour as the chaste, psychic heroine, Solitaire. Finally, they stirred in Julius W. Harris as a mechanical-armed heavy, Geoffrey Holder as a musically inclined baddie, Clifton James as a harried redneck sheriff, plus a whole lot of alligators, crocodiles, drug smuggling deals, boat chases, and voodoo mumbo-jumbo. Everything was tied together by a title song from Paul and Linda McCartney, perhaps the best part of the film.

Did much of it work besides the song? Not really. Moore is suave, debonair, and unflappable, to be sure, but he's relatively bland compared to Connery and, worse, doesn't look as if he could really handle himself in a pinch. When he goes into a bar in downtown Harlem we have little confidence in his ability to get out alive. He's too handsome, too pretty in effect, to project the aura of invincibility a really tough Bond needs. Moore's recourse would be to play Bond increasingly tongue-in-cheek in future issues.

Then there's the plot. To be blunt, it has no pace; it simply meanders. By halfway through the film we don't know where the story is going or what the villains are up to. Kotto is never given a chance to stretch as the antagonist and winds up as one of the series' least memorable evil doers, just as Seymour is nearly forgotten as the love interest. And it seems almost perverse of Bond to seduce her, an untouched maiden, even though in the convoluted plot losing her virginity is the only way she can escape Kananga's clutches. Maybe a double-0 number gives Bond the right to do more than just kill. The film's release date, 1973, is dated by its Afro hairstyles, long sideburns, paisley shirts, and garish colors. Gad, it's Austin Powers!

Two trivia notes: "Live and Let Die" is one of only two films in which Q, forever played by actor Desmond Llewelyn, does not physically appear (although the booklet note mistakenly says Llewelyn was absent from just this one Bond film; apparently, they're forgetting "Dr. No"). "Live and Let Die" also includes the only actor to play the part of CIA agent Felix Leiter more than once. It's a tradition that a different actor get the part each time Leiter appears, but David Hedison plays him here and again in "Licence to Kill."

Video:
As though the weak plot and characters weren't enough, "Live and Let Die" is also MGM's least successful transfer to DVD. The screen size is projected in a 1.85:1 ratio, and the picture quality is slightly grainy. It is a colorful print but never quite as well defined as other entries in the series.

Audio:
The monaural sound simply does nothing at all. It's inoffensive but drab.

Extras:
Fortunately, there is an abundance of peripheral items to keep one company. The Special Edition package includes two audio commentaries, one by the director and another by the screenwriter. In addition, there's a thirty-minute documentary titled "Inside Live and Let Die," narrated by Patrick Macnee and featuring present-day interviews with the director and stars. There are also some behind-the-scenes shots; an extensive stills gallery; MGM's familiar informational booklet insert; plenty of chapter stops; English and French spoken language and subtitle choices; and a slew of radio, TV, and theatrical trailers. Probably the most bizarre bonus item, however, is a Milk Board commercial made for British television showing the cast and crew standing around the set drinking glasses of milk.

Parting Shots:
With so many entries in the Bond series, a person is bound to have favorites and least favorites. My least favorites are this one, the first of Moore's Bond films, and "A View to a Kill," the last of his efforts. In between, Moore reached a peak with "The Spy Who Loved Me" and "Moonraker" and then slid slowly back downhill.

"Live and Let Die" is strictly for the diehard fan or the collector who has to have everything. If one buys the Bond boxed set, one gets this release and four others--starring Connery, Moore, Lazenby, and Brosnan--of considerably higher quality, including "Thunderball," "On Her Majesty's Secret Service," "Die Another Day," and "Octopussy," plus "A View to a Kill."