REVISITED: the ‘banned’ Goldfinger commentary

Poster for a triple feature of the first three 007 movies

We conclude our look at the “banned” Criterion James Bond laserdisc commentaries with Goldfinger.

The commentaries on the first three 007 films were “banned” because Criterion didn’t obtain the permission of Eon Production to include them. As a result, unsold laserdiscs were recalled but interest has remained high among 007 fans over the past two decades.

Evidently, the producers of the commentary track didn’t have as much access to Goldfinger director Guy Hamilton as they did with Terence Young, director of Dr. No and From Russia With Love. There are long stretch where host Bruce Eder comments about Goldfinger and the Bond movies generally without any input with the creators of the film.

Again, this is only a sampling. To listen to the entire thing, CLICK HERE.

During the pre-credits sequence, Hamilton describes his approach. “If this amuses you, if this surprises you, good. Sit back, relax, don’t ask too many questions.”

Hamilton also says producers Albert R. Broccoli and Harry Saltzman “were old acquaintances of mine” before they joined forces to produce the early bond films. Hamilton notes he was offered the chance to direct Dr. No but he ‘had to settle some personal affairs” instead.

The director also comments about Cec Linder taking over the Felix Leiter role. “Jack Lord who had played Felix Leiter (in Dr. No) had gone on to better things in Hawaii.”

Hamilton’s memory is faulty on this point. In 1964, Lord was acting in guest star parts on U.S. television. He wouldn’t be cast in Hawaii Five-O until 1968, four years after Goldfinger.

Meanwhile, Hamilton muses how most actors in Bond films, don’t get paid much. “All the money goes to special effects and sets.”

Editor Peter Hunt wasn’t a big fan of an early sequence where Goldfinger is cheating at cards.

“It was a very unfocused beginning, this movie,” Hunt says. “I suspect Guy Hamilton didn’t even believe it. I don’t think he thought it could work. In order to make it work, I had to do a lot of insert shots.”

Hunt also wasn’t fond of a later scene where Bond and M attend a dinner with Colonel Smithers, who explains why gold smuggling is important.

“It was wrong way around. It was very pretentious.” By that, Hunt refers to how the scene begins with a relatively tight shot, then the camera pulls out to show an enormous dinner table and then cuts back to a tigher shot of the three men.

Ken Adam, the production designer, also chimes in at this point. “This was the first time we see an actual gold bar. We made these out of lead. The gold bar had an enormous weight but obviously wasn’t gold.”

Soon after, Hamilton explains his spin on the Bond-Q relationship.

“I was always convinced Q hated Bond,” the director says. “He always mistreated his gizmos and never brings them back.” This became the template for a number of Bond movies to come.

Hamilton and Hunt appear to disagree how much English actor Gert Frobe, who played Goldfinger, actually knew. Hamilton makes it sound as if Frobe knew two sentences. Hunt says Frobe could speak English but slowly. “His knowledge of English was great. His pronunciation of English was poor.” Either way, both agree (separately) that Frobe needed to be dubbed.

When it came to cars, Hunt says, “Ford’s was very good to us. The producers must have had a deal with Ford’s.” Aston Martin, meanwhile, demanded to paid for the DB5 cars it provided for the film, according to Hunt.

Screenwriter Richard Maibaum also weighed in on the delicate balancing of drama and humor. “Every now and then you have do what I call ‘pulling down the balloon,’ and make it more realistic,” Maibaum says. He cites how the audience laughs while Bond shows off the Aston Martin DB5’s gadgets only to then see the death of Tilly (Tania Mallet).

The participants also comment about a scene that gives 21st century audiences pause — when Bond “must have appealed to her maternal instincts” to make Pussy Galore 007’s ally.

Maibaum, in his comments, says it turned out fine. “It all came out the way we hoped it would.”

Hamilton hedges his bets a bit. “I think this is one of the trickiest scenes in the movie. How to go from dy** to sexpot to heroine in the best of two falls, one submission and one roll in the hay. I suppose it comes off.”

Later, Peter Hunt sums up Sean Connery’s appeal as Bond. Connery, he says, was among the few actors who look as if they “can virtually walk into a room and f*** anybody.”