This fifth installment of the Bond series starring Sean Connery opens with a spectacular space scenario, and is one of the best of the entire Bond series. Connery is comfortable in his role at this point and plays 007 with suave coolness. We also see the appearance of the SPECTRE leader for the first time, played with more coolness by Donald Pleasence. The cat loving head of the secret organization has been seen before in other Bond flicks but never as the chief nemesis or fully on camera. Michael Myers got a lot of material from these early Bond films for his Dr. Evil character.

Space capsules are being hijacked in space and the US and Soviets are both accusing each other of the dirty deeds. However, British intelligence believes another organization is behind it all and send Bond to Japan, where a rocket was monitored entering the Earth's atmosphere. Bond meets up with the head of Japanese intelligence, as well as his able "bodied" assistants, who expose Bond to Japanese culture. Bond is helped of course by "Q" branch, and the gadget in this film is a mini-helicopter called "Little Nellie". A spectacular air battle with helicopters over a volcanic island highlights this gadgetry. Bond doesn't find what he is looking for though and must disguise himself as a humble fisherman on the island's coast. His cover is complete with false eye lids, a wig, and also a bride. He is reluctant to go through with this ceremony as he is not impressed with the island ladies. However, he is pleasantly surprised when his bride turns out to be a babe. A lot of exposure to Japanese culture is made in this film, and makes this an unusual Bond film. However, the ending is spectacular and worth the wait in a set that cost over a million dollars to create. That's 1967 dollars.

Picture-While presenting the film in in widescreen for 16X9 presentation, the film does suffer from dust and scratches. I was disappointed that a better job wasn't done to clean it up for this special edition DVD. Colors are decent and the picture is sharp regardless and the panoramic views of the Japanese islands are spectacular, filmed in Technicolor and Panavision. The end battle sequence is also breathtaking and a marvel of coordination, surpassing the underwater battle in Thunderball. Sound-Dolby Digital Mono is a bit harsh during some of the louder scenes, including the memorable opening sequence. Bond films are known for their music and John Barry's score is a great addition to this work. The mono soundtrack has good fidelity but is limited in its dynamic range. Extras-These "Special Edition" DVDs all come with a lot of extras, including this one with commentary by the director and cast members, a making of featurette, another special entitles "Silhouettes", about the titillating title credits featured in every Bond film, radio and TV spots, and a "Making of" booklet, enclosed with every Bond Special Edition. These booklets contain stills, and interesting facts about the films, such as it took 700 tons of structured steel, 200 miles of tubular steel, 200 tons of plaster and over 250,000 square feet of canvas for the construction of the SPECTRE headquarters set. The booklets also contain facts about the cast and crew, and techniques used in the filming.

One of my favorites of the Connery Bond film's, this DVD edition includes lots of information about the film, has a decent widescreen presentation but suffers from technical difficulties in picture and sound. A hard one to pass up, as this probably won't get another treatment until the next video format, this film is spectacular and fascinating to watch. The plot slows a bit with the infusion of the Japanese cultural moments, but makes up for it in the finale.