James Bond Sundays in June - classic Bond back on the big screen

In celebration of the centenary of producer Albert R. ‘Cubby’ Broccoli (born in 1909), a season of classic James Bond films have been digitally restored and are returning to cinemas nationwide over the month of June.

Restored versions of Dr. No (7th June), From Russia With Love (14th June), Goldfinger (21st June) and On Her Majesty's Secret Service (28th June) will show at 60 cinemas around the UK. Each has been digitally restored frame by frame, with fading, dirt, scratches and other defects removed to leave the movies as sharp as the day they were filmed.

If you want to see what that looks like in practice, check out the Park Films website for a full list of venues.

Find out more at the Park Circus website

Imperial War Museum offers James Bond poster reprints for under £5

We mentioned the Ian Fleming and James Bond exhibition at the Imperial War Museum some months back, but we didn't mention the merchandise that came with it - including these classic James Bond movie poster reprints.

All are exact reprints of original posters, covering just about every James Bond classic, including our favourite - On Her Majesty's Secret Service. Sized at 24 x 36 inches, it features a typically wacky 60s design, complete with 'Far Up! Far Out! Far More!' slogan.

And at just £4.99, it's at least £700 cheaper than an original. Follow the link for this and all the other Bond posters available.

Find out more at the Imperial War Museum website

Via Retro To Go

Classic James Bond movies head to Blu-Ray

Just bought the latest restored versions of the James Bond movies on DVD? Well, I'm afraid we have some bad news - the James Bond back catalogue is to be reissued in high definition on Blu-Ray disc.

Good news if you didn't buy the most recent reissues though - and if you have a Blu-Ray player. According to MGM/Twentieth Century Fox, the new versions have been 'recently restored and re-mastered for the highest quality picture and sound quality via the state-of-the-art Lowry process digital frame-by-frame restoration. And they'll be packed with special features too.

The date for your diary is October 31st (same day as the new Quantum of Solace hits the big screen), with the first titles reissued being Dr No, Die Another Day, Live And Let Die, For Your Eyes Only, From Russia With Love and Thunderball.

James Bond (unofficial) website

Barbican's Best of Bond Weekend

London's Barbican centre is hosting a Best of Bond weekend over the weekend of 7th and 8th June, with the films shown based on the votes of the cinema's audiences over the past couple of months.

The winners have just been announced, with the four films being shown:

Saturday 7th June
6.00pm - From Russia With Love (1963)
8.45pm - Goldfinger (1964)

Sunday 8th June 
6.00pm - Casino Royale (2006 - not the 'spoof' version from 1967)
8.45pm - Dr No (1962)

You could sit through the whole weekend if you wanted, but it doesn't look like you get a discounted ticket for doing so - admission is £8.50 per film, £6 for the unwaged.

Find out more at the Barbican website

DVD Review: What's Up, Tiger Lily? (1966)

In the mid-sixties Woody Allen became a hot property after scripting the hit comedy What's New, Pussycat? (1965).  Exploitation legends James Nicholson and Sam Arkoff at American International Pictures promptly purchased a Japanese spy movie called Kokusai himitsu keisatsu: Kagi no kagi ("International Secret Police: Key of Keys") and roped Allen in to re-dub and re-script the picture, transforming it into a zany comedy.  The result was What's Up, Tiger Lily? 

Allen's version recasts star Tatsuya Mihashi as Phil Moskowitz (!), the ace superspy recruited to track down a top secret egg salad recipe.  His employer, the High Macha, ruler of "an exotic country that isn't real but sounds believable", warns him villains are also on its trail.  "They kill, they maim and they call information for numbers they could easily look up in the book."  Aided by sexy sidekicks: Suki Yaki (Akiko Wakabayashi) and Teri Yaki (Mie Hama), Phil tangles with no-goods Shepherd Wong (Tadao Nakamura) and Wing Fat (Susumu Kurobe) in a wild and crazy caper, interspersed with interviews with "creator" Woody Allen ("Danger is my bread and butter") and musical numbers by The Lovin' Spoonful. 

Part of American pop's response to the British invasion, The Lovin' Spoonful were spliced into the movie against the wishes of rock music hater Woody Allen.  Indeed, Allen was scathing about the whole enterprise, calling it: "stupid and juvenile" and tried to sue the producers (including Henry G. Saperstein, who co-produced many a Japanese monster movie with Toho) to prevent the film being released.  He recanted after the film drew good reviews and proved a box office success.  Forty years on, What's Up, Tiger Lily? remains frothy fun with some choice Allen witticisms ("I'd call him a sadistic, hippophilic necrophile, but that's flogging a dead horse").