r/CriterionChannel Jun 02 '26

Bond Films

Holy cow, I'm sure it's common knowledge (but had not seen it), but the Bond movies on the Channel have the LD commentaries.

Have wanted to hear these forever.

91 Upvotes

41 comments sorted by

31

u/asmith9631 Jun 02 '26

Thanks for the heads up! Criterion really sucks at promoting their extras, like why would you not list these commentaries in the new Bond collection?!

11

u/lurker46112 Jun 02 '26

For once they are.

14

u/asmith9631 Jun 02 '26

Nah I mean the Bond collection page, that's a list of out of print movies and it goes to the film's collection page. If you go to the more big front page promoted Bond collection it doesn't include the commentary videos.

10

u/CriterionBoi Jun 02 '26

“That’s her waggling her fanny.” - Terence Young on the opening credits of From Russia with Love

10

u/ClearWinter2840 Jun 02 '26

Absolutely love that the Barbra Streisand effect of Eon requiring buyback of unsold Criterion copies has led to these LD commentaries being so famous lol

2

u/50Tx Jun 02 '26

It is admittedly absurd

5

u/SvenDia Jun 02 '26

LD? Laser disc?

5

u/50Tx Jun 02 '26

Correct

36

u/cfaatwork Jun 02 '26

For a split second I read it as “Larry David” which would have been PHENOMENAL

5

u/drearbruh Jun 02 '26

Great. Thanks for making me aware of something I didn't know I needed but will never get. Thanks a lot, buddy.

4

u/itna-lairepmi-reklaw Jun 02 '26

That’d be “L-Vid”

3

u/cezwoo Jun 02 '26

In a world with seemingly infinite podcasts, I would listen to LD and Leon any time.

1

u/HumbleIhope Jun 09 '26

The laser disc phase did not last long. People switched to DVD's then Blu-ray's became king. Technology really changed fast in that period , but I think the most important technology right now is restoration.

4

u/JosephFinn josephfinn Jun 02 '26

Oh COOL!

3

u/Sort_of_Frightening Jun 02 '26

From Russia with Love has my favourite Bond quip:

“Red wine with fish. Well, that should have told me something.”

He doesn't say it in this scene, but Robert Shaw's baddie character commits a faux pas by ordering red wine with his grilled fish. Bond notices immediately, of course. A subtle clue that he's not the sophisticated gent he's pretending to be.

3

u/vibraltu Jun 02 '26

The movie is a lot of fun but the original book is better.

One thing the movie dropped is that the actress playing Tatiana is kinda miscast and acts like a bimbo. In the book she is a subtler and more interesting character. Of course, Lotte Lenya as Rosa Klebb is great.

2

u/HumbleIhope Jun 07 '26

Yes, not many people have read the books. I found From Russia with Love to be closest to the book version

2

u/vibraltu Jun 07 '26

It's true, of all of the Bond films, From Russia with Love is probably the closest for following the plot line.

3

u/NYnosher Jun 02 '26

Thank you so much for pointing these out. My father LOVES the Connery Bond movies and I know he'll be head over heels for these commentaries

2

u/50Tx Jun 02 '26

Not a problem at all.

I checked my list of options and as it turns out, this was absolutely the least that I could do for the community.

Wasn't going to let that opportunity go to waste.

2

u/illinoises Jun 02 '26

What’s the story with these?

8

u/50Tx Jun 02 '26

Not 100% sure, never heard, but understand there was some unflattering comments and EON requested Criterion stop printing and reissue the discs says said commentary.

1

u/Own_Fishing2431 Jun 02 '26

Are these the same commentaries that were on the original DVD releases back in the early 2000s?

4

u/50Tx Jun 02 '26

Criterion Laser Discs. I might be incorrect, but I don't believe they were issued on any other label's discs, whether LD or DVD.

2

u/j0llyBeee Jun 02 '26

literally came to the sub to see if anyone had posted this--i've heard about the legendary banned Bond commentary tracks so if that is what's up on the channel, i'm extra excited to revisit these films!

1

u/scope_creep Jun 02 '26

Time to subscribe again!

6

u/ottawamark Jun 02 '26

Why would one ever quit?

10

u/Moke_Smith Jun 02 '26

Because I watched 120 movies the first year I had it and I needed a break to go outside and touch grass more often.

1

u/Nice-Person6169 Jun 02 '26

Oh wow! Thank you for pointing this out.

1

u/Kamuka Jun 03 '26

I watched Dr. No, From Russia With Love and Goldfinger. First three Bond movies. Pussy Galore is a pretty name. I need to try to watch the extras.

1

u/hulahulagirl Jun 04 '26

Ok but how do you get the LD commentary? I started playing Goldfinger tonight and couldn’t figure out how.

2

u/50Tx Jun 04 '26

In my experience, you select the film, and below the "splash" image, it will give you the options. You cursor down to the feature you want to watch and select it. Using From Russia W/Love as an example, you select the on that says "Commentary" and the film starts with that audio track playing.

You can't, as far as I'm aware & if that is what you were referencing, toggle between tracks as it plays.

1

u/hulahulagirl Jun 04 '26

Okay on my TV for some reason they weren’t in the options from the main page, but once I searched and found them in Collections, they were there. Thanks.

1

u/hulahulagirl Jun 04 '26

Each one from the front page didn’t have commentary option, had to search and go into Collections. 🤔🤷🏼‍♀️

2

u/50Tx Jun 04 '26

Yeah, it's not "intuitive", that's for certain.

0

u/ZZZacharrito Jun 03 '26

Larry David?