James Bond Movie Posters: The Official Postcard Book [Paperback]

Here’s a must for any self respecting Bond fan. This is a luscious coffee table book full of colour and having posters for every Bond film including the unofficial ones of ‘Casino Royale’ and ‘Never Say Never Again’.

And it’s not just the final release posters that you get here either. There are different versions of the posters that were used in various parts of the world (just try reading the Japanese ones) as well as the pre-release and other promotional posters.

Each film is introduced with about half a page of text and then there’s between 6-10 pages of artwork dedicated to each individual film. It’s interesting to see how they evolved from the rather crude early efforts to the more sophisticated posters of the later Bonds.

You may think that once you’ve looked at the artwork once that’ll be it, but this book draws you back to admire the art of Bond over and over. The book looks lovely, feels lovely and is lovely. As I said at the start, this book is a must for Bond fans and I highly, highly recommend it.

The `James Bond Movie Poster Postcard Book' is - in concept - a very nice idea: present a collection of the world-famous and instantly recognizable Film Posters from the James Bond Films, from `Dr. No' (the very first to be filmed in 1962, with Sean Connery as Bond) up to `Die Another Day' (Pierce Brosnan's final outing as Bond, in 2002); as a flip-book of 5 x 7 detachable `post-cards' (actually, they are nearer 5 x 6 ½ when detached - but, `so what?').

The quality of this flip-book is generally 'good' - the individual poster pages are printed on a heavier gauge `card' than standard book-gauge paper (as indeed is the outer font & rear cover), giving these a genuine `post-card' size, weight & feel to them (indeed, their reverse side is also marked out for use as a formal `post-card', complete with Stamp Square Mark etc).

But what totally ruins this collection is the omission of a poster for the 5th Sean Connery Bond Film: `You Only Live Twice' - Why? Why, thrice `Why?!' This destroys (what could easily have been) a very comprehensive and worthwhile collators item for both the causal and the dedicated `Bond' Fan alike.

This unforgivable omission makes the whole publication (almost) pointless. It's like having a history of the Second World War and forgetting to represent the D-Day Landings on one of the beaches! - you just DON'T do it!

Further more, in its place is included a Japanese poster of the 1967 `Casino Royale' film (I stress again: that's the `original' 1967 `farce' film, starring David Niven and Woody Allen et al, and NOT the recent exemplary 2006 `Casino Royale' film, starring Daniel Craig) - the 1967 film not even being an `official' James Bond Film!

Additionally, in a number of cases, multiple `one-sheets' are included for a particular film (`Die Another Day' for example is represented by FIVE - that's `5', count them - posters!) - as used to promote the film in different countries and areas of the world. Whilst these are (generally) worth-while and have some interest value; this again seems totally pointless when the overall `collection' is missing representation of one of the series most memorable and important films in: `You Only Live Twice'.

`You Only Live Twice' was actually the last time Sean Connery played Bond, in his original 5 film `run' (although he did return to the role again for `Diamonds Are Forever' in 1969, and then - finally - for `Never Say Never Again' in 1983; the latter itself being regarded as an `unofficial' James Bond Film - not part of the `EON' Series), and it also features one of Bond's most memorable `gadgets' of all time: the autogyro, code named: `Little Nellie' (or `a Toy Helicopter!' according to Bond's ally in the film, `Tiger' Tanaka!) - which featured in the film's spectacular aerial fire-fight encounter between Bond and several `SPECTRE' Helicopter Gunships, high above Ernst Stavro Blofeld's secret Rocket Launching Facility within a concealed Japanese Island Volcano Crater.

So, if you are going to omit any film from such a series collection as this (and you shouldn't!) - then this film is certainly NOT the one to omit!

So, what remains here is `OK' - 3 'Stars: ***', and is worth purchasing for your own `Bond Collection', Just do so in the up-front knowledge that there is this omission, and that this `collection' is (far) from being a `definitive' representation of the James Bond Film Posters from across the entire EON film series.

Also note: this collection is now `out-of-date' - since the 2006 release of the excellent franchise reinvigorator: `Casino Royale' (Daniel Craig); so if / when the publishers finally get round to revising this post-card flip-book it is to be hoped that they will INCLUDE at least 1 `one-sheet' for `You Only Live Twice', remove the awful `Casino Royale' 1967 `farce' film, and include sheet(s) representing the latest 2006 `Casino Royale' Daniel Craig Masterpiece.

But, until then, it has to be: `Goodbye, Mr. Bond!' to this particular post-card collection flip-book publication.

...but it doesn't contain "You Only Live Twice". Having said that, the quality of the others make it hard to notice, and having so many is something the avid fan will enjoy. (They look geat in a big frame and the missing one is available on its own if you look around, thus making the complete set).