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"Your tapes are in another castle!"
Makes you wish that I could look up and know there was law and order in the heavens.
I have to say I prefer this music for this scene. It even makes the playful scene less playful and gives Moore's Bond a serious entrance. It's amazing how music can affect a film/scene. Amazing rendition of the Bond theme by Barry.
I'd quite like an edit of the film with the intended score reinstated.
Pretty sure Tom said he's going to do exactly that!
I wonder if you wouldn't end up with a better-sounding film; not sure if the music in the film sounds as bad as the original score release.
Incidentally: 'Launch Program Commence' :x
Has anyone ever offered up Flight in Space as it is on the album to the film sequence? Does that match?
Moonraker was released in 1979. We all know Star Wars (1977) was a big influence on the film, but Superman would have closer to Moonraker's release and its filming. Bond and Superman were both at Pinewood, as well. And this scene is perhaps their answer -- "Look, 007 can 'fly' too, and it's for real!" -- plus they even literally puts Roger in blue, red, and yellow when you combine his wardrobe with the parachute prop!
That can't all be coincidental, can it?
Thanks for sharing ! How lucky are we to hear new renditions of the Bond Theme by Barry after all these years ?
That being said, I beleive that leaving some silence during the freefall was a good call, it makes it more tense (of course I'm biased by all my viewings of the movie!).
Side note: the shot a 1:20, with Bond then Jaws entering the frame, is one of the best shot in the entire saga. The synchronisation with the music is incredible!
I love your theory. I always saw this scene as an attempt to go even farther than TSWLM (if you enjoyed the ski jump with parachute, you will love the plane jump with no parachute), but it's very tempting to make the Superman connection, indeed :)
It really is an amazing shot isn't it, incredibly exciting.
So I guess if that kickstarter had gone ahead to rerecord the score we wouldn't have got all these bits? Did they have the original sheet music or were they going to transcribe from the movie?
The gondola chase music really does fit though.
I think it matches perfectly to be honest, and seems in keeping with Barry's style which wasn't to Mickey Mouse everything. Compare how he has the Bond theme playing in the TLD PTS when, say, Bond is 'only' running along next to the Land Rover. The main Bond melody doesn't even come in when anything in particular is onscreen to match it, it just comes in when it's right for the music.
I don't see it that way. Yes, Barry didn't Mickey Mouse everything, but there still were enough sync points with the onscreen action. In the TLD PTS, Bond is running along and the horn phrase is repeated on flamboyant trumpets just as Bond pushes the guard aside. The riff doesn't come in at a specific action, but the brassy phrase that closes the A section matches Bond almost falling off the Land Rover.
The bit of Freefall when Jaws reappears (the part that was left intact in the film) syncs much better with the onscreen action than the unused first part. I think only one of the musical "big moments", the inflection points if you will, matches the onscreen action, which is Bond drawing his limbs close to his body to fall faster and approach Castaldi. With Barry, not every moment is expected to match. Here, not enough moments do, and yet the footage provides such opportunities: Bond grabbing Castaldi from behind, removing his parachute... it feels like music laid on top of the scene rather than truly working with the images.
It certainly adds some gravity to it :D
Very interesting comments @mattjoes about Barry and the TLD PTS (which I just rewatched), I agree with most points. It's not Mickey Mousing, it's "subtle syncing", let's say.
However I agree with you here @mtm , I also believe this was what Barry intended. Yes, not everything is in sync, but for me there are enough sync points to make me believe this was the intended result.
In the TLD PTS there are great sync points indeed, but also moments that feel a bit random (like the bebop section starting on the shot where the explosives are catching fire, an action which was not initiated by Bond. Or the music stopping a bit too soon rather than in sync with the Range Rover smashing through the wall at the end).
I think this is bound to happen in such sequences. It must be a complicated process, the Bond Theme has a specific structure, etc.
I think this is what happens in the Moonraker PTS too. I don't feel like Barry did care too much about syncing in Octopussy and AVTAK chases, too, though I'd be happy to be proven wrong. I feel it's more like "ok, let's do the obligatory Bond Theme for this sequence". If anything, I think that the Moonraker PTS (in the presented "restored" version) does it way better.
Inserting that tense bridge section (the one that has nothing to do with the Bond Theme) gives it an sense of danger that is very lacking in OP and AVTAK chase, I think.
The fan video above may not have been exactly right (they may not even be playing at the same speeds) and there may have been some change in the edit, it's hard for us to say, but just that the cue is the right length even suggests that the edit didn't change that much I think.
Same with Flight in Space: it fits the final version of the film surprisingly well (I always imagined the edit had changed but I think they just edited Barry's work).
I gotta say, I think Lewis Gilbert made the right call. Barry is certainly trying to be playful with the gondola bit, but I think Tritsch-Tratsch-Polka fits the scene a lot better. It’s also apparent bits like the pigeon double take was even synchronized to the polka, so it’s weird to hear Barry’s music play over that.
I always assumed the same -- until the rest of it clicked this week!
Thank goodness we ended up with the Bassey rendition.
So a rare example of the title being used better in the movie version than in the Fleming book! :)