Silhouettes: The James Bond Titles (2000 Video) User Reviews

This is the best DVD "extra" I've watched so far in 2014 . . .

[oscaralbert · 9/10 · 2 April 2014]

. . . and I see a whole lot of these things. Approximately 20 "talking heads" are crammed into the 22 minutes and 9 seconds of SILHOUETTES' running time (before the credits roll for SILHOUETTES itself). These run the gamut from movie producers and directors to three of the children of the original producing team for Bond flicks, Albert R. Broccoli and Harry Saltzman. There is archival interview footage of Maurice Binder, the originator of the "iconic" elements the Bond titles (that is, the view of Bond down a gun barrel, with Agent 007 eventually "shooting back" at the viewer, and the nude female "silhouettes"). Friends and colleagues describe the late Mr. Binder as a graphic artist\contemporary art collector, who was both a "dedicated bachelor" and a womanizer, but who served as a sort of fairy godfather to the original producers' children. He also always procrastinated to the literal last minute with the titles, so no one could change them. There is a sample of the second Bond Titlist's work on the third and fourth Bond films (Robert Brownjohn "substituted" for Binder, who was tied up by previous commitments). Binder resumed doing the titles for Bond until LICENSE TO KILL came out in 1989, after which Danny Kleinman--seen several times here--took over until at least 2000, when this short documentary was made. One Bond is included among the Binder's toasters--Roger Moore. The only way this piece could be improved is to replace a few of the testimonials from gray-haired or bald white guys with those of a couple more James Bond Enactors, as well as adding split-screen footage (that is, the raw, untouched studio images side-by-side with the final "silouette" version); plus interviews from the proverbial "horse's mouth:" the actual naked women, none of whom get to contribute their two cents' worth here.