Film Credits

Screenplay by: Richard Maibaum, Paul Dehn

Directed by: Guy Hamilton

Starring: Sean Connery, Gert Frobe, Honor Blackman, Shirley Eaton, Bernard Lee, Lois Maxwell, Harold Sakata, Tania Mallett

Review

Not only is Goldfinger the most entertaining (my opinion) of the first three James Bond films, but Voyager's "Criterion Collection" CLV reissue of the title is also the best looking of the Bond films they've produced. The source materials are in excellent condition, looking just as sharp, fresh and colorful as the day the film was made. As with their other Bond reissues, Voyager has employed the same master for the CLV as they did for the earlier CAV release, only the saturation and brightness have been increased slightly. It's not as noticeable with Goldfinger as it was with Dr. No or From Russia With Love, but it's still present to a small degree nonetheless. The original British 1.75:1 theatrical aspect ratio has been replicated here at apoorx. 1.59:1, with the opening credits "windowboxed" at an apparently-correct approx. 1.51:1 ratio. The CX-encoded digital Westrex mono soundtrack was of good quality, but just the same, that was where I found the one aspect of the transfer that bothered me slightly -- several times throughout side one, the audio would glitch momentarily during a reel change or an edit point, and though it's an unavoidable fault within the original audio sources, it's still mildly annoying. An original 3m theatrical trailer pops up after the film, letterboxed at an approx. 1.61:1 aspect ratio, and it's soft, muddy and has a bunch of splices; as with Voyager's other CLV Bond reissues, Goldfinger contains none of the other supplemental features that appeared on the original CAV edition. The disc was pressed at Pioneer, who have somehow pressed the disc in such a way that your player will make lots of noise during the first couple of minutes of play for both sides). 22 listed chapter markers are also present (21 for the film, one for color bars). And yes, Goldfinger also contains a coupon so you can get any of the censored CAV audio commentaries on audio cassette for a mere $10.00 apiece.

Supplementary Recap

• Theatrical trailer