Thunderball **** (1965, Sean Connery, Claudine Auger, Adolfo Celi) – Classic Movie Review 410

Eon Productions’ 1965 fourth James Bond movie Thunderball is excellent vintage escapist adventure entertainment, smoothly and excitingly done, though arguably not quite as brilliant as Goldfinger and From Russia with Love. It is hugely enlivened by a long series of stylishly handled, exciting sequences, particularly the underwater sequences, so no one looking for thrilling action need feel short-changed.

With the producers encouraged by the series’ runaway success, it was made on a huge budget that was more than the combined cost of the first three Bond films. The money’s noticeably well spent with all the big bucks up there on screen for a spectacular movie. It was incredibly popular with audiences, achieving a record 140 million ticket sales compared with Goldfinger’s 130 million. It became Britain’s top money-earner of the year 1965.

Sean Connery is on fine, athletic form as James Bond and an eye-patched Sicilian star Adolfo Celi makes a memorable, silkily nasty Bond villain as SPECTRE boss Emilio Largo (though he is dubbed by Robert Rietti [Rietty]). The original vintage HQ team of Bernard Lee (M), Desmond Llewelyn (Q) and Lois Maxwell (Miss Moneypenny) are once again all present and correct.

French star Claudine Auger is the lovely Bond girl Domino this time (though she is dubbed by Nikki Van der Zyl, who also dubbed Ursula Andress’s voice in Dr No). Celi’s fellow Italian Luciana Paluzzi (rejected as Domino) plays Fiona Volpe, while Rik Van Nutter is a useful CIA spy Felix Leiter.

Production design wizard Ken Adam’s huge, luxurious sets are again an enormous asset. Remarkable for their day, the special effects won an Oscar (for John Stears), and the extended underwater scenes (directed by Ricou Browning), making imaginative use of the SFx, are beautifully photographed. It is capably directed by Terence Young, in his last Bond film, and lushly lensed by cinematographer Ted Moore.

However, the Cuban missile crisis-influenced plot feels a shade lame and routine. The story follows Bond’s mission to go to Nassau in the Bahamas to root out  the evil SPECTRE organisation, which has stolen two warheads and is threatening to drop a nuclear bomb on Miami if they are not paid £100 million. In Nassau 007 meets the beautiful Domino and of course confronts Largo on board his boat the Disco Volante (Flying Saucer).

Thunderball won an Oscar for best special visual effects (John Stears) and was made in Paris, the Bahamas and at Pinewood studios, England.

Anthony Dawson reprises his role as the villain Ernst Stavo Blofeld, again dubbed with the voice of Eric Pohlmann.

Story writer, producer Kevin McClory owned the rights and remade Thunderball as Never Say Never Again in 1983 again with Sean Connery.

Thunderball is a US military term for the mushroom cloud seen during the testing of atomic bombs. Thunderbeatle was the nickname for James Bond creator Ian Fleming given to him by his wife Ann Fleming.

Also in the cast are Roland Culver, Martine Beswick, Molly Peters, Earl Cameron, Paul Stassino, Rose Alba, Philip Locke, George Pravda, Michael Brennan, Leonard Sachs, Edward Underdown, Reginald Beckwith, Harold Sanderson, Guy Doleman, Jack Gwillim, Patrick Holt, Suzy Kendall as Prue (uncredited), George Leech, André Maranne, Philip Stone, Bill Cummings and Bob Simmons.

Dr No title designer Maurice Binder returned to design the main title sequence after being absent from From Russia with Love and Goldfinger and continued on every Bond movie till Licence to Kill. He filmed swimmers naked in black and white before adding colour by an optical process.

Tom Jones sings the title song. While recording it, he asked what the ‘strikes like Thunderball’ line meant and the composer replied that he didn’t know. Jones supposedly fainted after recording the high note at the end. It failed to make the top 20 in the US or the UK.

Stuntman Bill Cumming was paid a $450 bonus to jump into Largo’s shark infested pool. It was first appearance in the series of the trademark pool of sharks to execute a disloyal subordinate. Bond’s jetpack was flown by engineer Bill Suiter, one of only two people in the world qualified to fly it.

SPECTRE = Special Executive for Counter-intelligence, Terrorism, Revenge and Extortion.

Voice actor Robert Rietti [Rietty] died on April 3 2015, aged 92. He was known for lending his voice to James Bond villains such as Largo when film-makers wanted to re-record lines.

Ricou Browning directed the underwater sequences, as well as for the 1983 Bond film Never Say Never Again.

Browning also co-created the 1963 film Flipper with Jack Cowden, and directed a number of episodes of the 1960s TV series. He directed the underwater sequences in the comedy films Hello Down There (1969) and Caddyshack (1980).

But he is best known for his underwater stunt work, especially in the 1954 film Creature from the Black Lagoon, in which he plays the Gill Man in the underwater scenes. He reprised the role for the underwater scenes in the sequels Revenge of the Creature (1955) and The Creature Walks Among Us (1956).

Ricou Browning died at his home in Southwest Ranches, Florida, on 27 February 2023, aged 93. He was the last surviving original actor to portray any of the Universal classic monsters.

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© Derek Winnert 2013 Classic Movie Review 410

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