The Director's Chair - Lewis Gilbert

Lewis Gilbert became the third director to helm a James Bond film in 1967, when he directed You Only Live Twice - the fifth James Bond adventure.

Gilbert began his filmmaking career by making wartime documentaries during World War II. This theme continued into his feature film output as well, as he directed many succesful war films in the 1950s, such as Reach For The Sky(a personal favourite), Carve Her Name With Pride and Sink The Bismark!.

One of Gilbert's most famous films was the 1966 film starring Michael Caine, Alfie, which received five Academy Award nominations. The following year, Gilbert entered the world of Bond. The film was the most over-the-top, large-scale, fantastical Bond film to date. It featured predatory spacecraft, a villain's lair inside a hollow volcano and the first appearance of the so-far faceless Ernst Stavro Blofeld. The volcano set required an enormous construction to be built on the lot at Pinewood studios, which cost as much as the first Bond film, Dr. No.

It would be another ten years until Gilbert returned to Bond, and he did so in The Spy Who Loved Me. The film was the first made after the disappointing The Man With The Golden Gun and the breakup of the Broccoli-Saltzman producing partnership. Therefore, the stakes were high, and the film needed to deliver. Once again, Gilbert brought an over-the-top, large-scale epic to the screen. As before, the showpiece set required an enormous construction, and this time it was decided to build it on a stage, but no stage existed that was big enough - so one was built. The huge 007 Stage was built around the set - which was the interior of a supertanker. And like the spacecraft of You Only Live Twice, this vehicle swallowed others - in this case, nuclear submarines. In many ways, Spy is a reworking of the plot from Gilbert's first Bond film.

Gilbert was back again for Moonraker in 1979. This film went beyond all the others in terms of size and fantasy. It involved spacecraft once again, and involved a lot of humour, often slapstick, silly humour. However, the film performed well at the box office, despite often being held in low regard by Bond fans. It exemplifies the over-the-top style of Lewis Gilbert's Bond films.

Lewis Gilbert's legacy in the Bond films is that his three are perhaps the three biggest Bond films, and although they are not my personal favourites they are enjoyable spectacles. Lewis Gilbert himself said that his claim to fame was that he filmed in the three largest sets ever constructed for the Bond series.

Quantum of Solace - In Review

Having now seen Quantum of Solace several times, I have formed many opinions about the film. Firstly, my response to the film is positive overall. There are many strong points to the film, and there were only a few elements which I felt negatively about.

Firstly, Bond himself. Daniel Craig is proving to be a fantastic choice to play Bond. He is just as good in this film as he was in Casino Royale. However, Bond is more of an action character in this film, so Craig has fewer dramatic scenes, but there are enough to provide a level of emotional gravity in the character, which helps the audience in going along his journey of anger and vengeance.

I also enjoyed Camille, the main female part very much. For years actresses have been saying “My character is not the typical Bond girl.” Olga Kurylenko can say that honestly as her character is quite unique – the only leading lady which doesn’t share a romantic relationship with Bond. Her character, like Bond is on a mission of personal revenge, and a brief kiss at the end of their mission is the closest that they get to each other.

The villain, Dominic Greene comes across as a much smaller scale villain than most, and is obviously just a part of a larger story involving the Quantum organization. Mr White, who first appeared in Casino Royale continues to appear in this film, and will probably do so again in Bond 23.

The film has fewer glamorous scenes than most Bond films – the Tosca opera scene in basically the only one. However, I did not miss this side of the film as this film didn’t really need these scenes. If they were included it would have only been to satisfy the list of things that a Bond film usually has, such as Bond introducing himself as “Bond. James Bond”, which is also omitted from this film. Quantum of Solace, like Casino Royale doesn’t begin with the traditional gunbarrel logo, instead this is moved to the back. I personally would prefer it to be back at the beginning, but it isn’t really that important.

Finally, the music – when I first heard the score, almost a month before seeing the film I was a little underwhelmed. Although, now having seen the film a few times I really appreciate David Arnold’s score and consider it one of his best. I am even one of the minority who like the main title song. I also thought that the main titles were quite good and also broke a few traditions. The animated text was a novel feature, and although it grated a little at first it eventually grew on me.

Overall, I am very happy with the new Bond film, and I am now looking forward to Bond 23. I may have a long time to wait, because rumours are that Bond 23 will only come out in 2011.

Overall Bond ranking for Quantum of Solace – 9th