So this is a little documentary that details the history of the James Bond franchise. The guys on James Bonding (podcast) reference it so often, I felt the need to see it myself.
It's pretty interesting, or really, it's pretty impressive who they were able to interview for the film. People they couldn't get (Connery) they at least had audio clips of from earlier interviews. And there was a lot of archive footage of "Cubby" Broccoli and Harry Saltzman and various others.
The story itself—Bond from book to screen—is maybe not the most compelling thing ever. But there is drama. When isn't there in the film industry? They manufacture drama because they get bored so easily. In the case of Bond, it's a lot of feuding. Connery hating on Cubby, Cubby and Harry falling out, that whole McClory thing. Also, I learned a lot about Ian Fleming, and he doesn't sound like a very nice person. Even when people in the documentary were trying to be diplomatic and sympathetic, he sounded kind of like an asshole. But I'm sure I can't take my entire education about Fleming from a few snippets of a Bond documentary. If I really want to know, I guess I'd go read a biography. Or at least his Wikipedia page.
But anyway. I think this documentary is, at least, impressively edited. I don't know if I'd say the narrative is very entertaining, but it is informative, and they make up for it with the visuals. I'm glad I watched it, but I wish it would maybe have gone deeper. I'm not sure in what way, exactly, but despite the wealth of information given, it still felt a bit superficial. Still, on the whole a good primer.
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