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Aquatic game, as Jules Verne would have it, a reworking of Dr. No. Tom Jones serenades silhouetted nudes in an undulating puddle, though not before Bond (Sean Connery) brawls with a foe in mourning drag. (It leads to flowers disdainfully tossed on the garroted body, cf. Hawks' Scarface.) Diamonds for nuclear bombs courtesy of Largo (Adolfo Celi), currently Number Two at SPECTRE, "a dedicated fraternity." Hijacking of the RAF jet, concealment under the Bahamian surf, disruption of the hero's spa time. Doppelgängers are paid for and discarded, the slain pilot's sister (Claudine Auger) turns out to be the villain's mistress. The pool of sharks receives failed henchmen (the rippling POV from the bottom turns crimson), still Largo's top weapon is the fatale beauté of the assassin (Luciana Paluzzi) who takes 007 for a spin in her roaring Mustang. "How far do you go?" Literally a rush job, with Terence Young's images often undercranked for kinetic impressions stitched with wipes and Junkanoo inserts. The emphasis on surface speed (culminating with the pursuit of the runaway hydrofoil) contrasts with the virtual slow-motion of the underwater sequences, with the climactic ballet of knives and bubbles handled by Ricou Browning. Bond the tourist's power fantasy, "sort of a licensed troubleshooter," against him the baddie who "does not drink, does not smoke, does not make love" and expires by the tip of a harpoon. The Man Who Knew Too Much at the Kiss Kiss Club, The Black Pirate for the arrival of the scuba warriors. "He obviously had a highly developed sense of, shall we say, drama." After the skewering of Modesty Blaise, only the appropriately heartless Eighties adjustment of Never Say Never Again. With Rik Van Nutter, Guy Doleman, Molly Peters, Martine Beswick, Paul Stassino, Desmond Llewelyn, Bernard Lee, and Lois Maxwell.
--- Fernando F. Croce |