The James Bond Collection Volume 2 -

The second grab bag of 007 adventures features three Bonds in five films, including the legendary movie that started it all. In 1962 Sean Connery defined the cinematic James Bond as a tough, charming, and thoroughly professional cold war spy with a license to kill in the lean, hard-edged Dr. No. With Ursula Andress (as the original Bond girl Honey Ryder, who makes her entrance in a bikini), Bond battles a renegade supervillain with little more than his wits, his cunning, and his Walther PPK (this was before Q armed him with the coolest toys a superspy ever had). George Lazenby, a handsome Australian model with a self-effacing confidence, made his first and only appearance as James Bond in the underrated On Her Majesty's Secret Service, a witty and action-packed adventure that makes 007 history when Bond marries the girl (the lovely and talented Diana Rigg, fresh from her duties as the butt-kicking spy on the TV series The Avengers). Roger Moore brought a light tone and a suave assurance to the series as the third Bond, and the set features three of his seven appearances. In The Man with the Golden Gun, he battles million-dollar assassin Christopher Lee, one of Bond's most magnetic adversaries. The Spy Who Loved Me, perhaps Moore's finest hour, is a return to the extravagant set pieces and cold war thrills of Connery's pictures and introduces Richard Kiel's steel-dentured Jaws to the series. Jaws returns as a comic figure in Moonraker, a misguided sci-fi entry that takes Bond to space for a physically impressive but dramatically lackluster adventure. More of a mixed bag than the initial seven-film James Bond Gift Set, this set is aimed at the Bond completist rather than the general fan. The DVD editions of the films each feature audio commentary by the director and key members of the crew, making of documentaries, and a host of stills, TV spots, and trailers. --Sean Axmaker ...