JOHN GLEN

Bil’s rating (out of 5):  BBBB. 

United Kingdom/USA, 1983.  United Artists, Eon Productions. Screen story and Screenplay by George MacDonald Fraser, Richard Maibaum, Michael G. Wilson, based on the stories Octopussy and The Property of a Lady by Ian Fleming. Cinematography by Alan Hume.  Produced by Albert R. Broccoli.  Music by John Barry.  Production Design by Peter Lamont.  Costume Design by Emma Porteous.  Film Editing by Peter Davies, Henry Richardson.  

Though this Bond adventure, the sixth to star Roger Moore, isn’t as smooth on action as others and does feature Bond in a clown costume, it’s still a grand adventure. 007 is sent to India to investigate the mysterious death of a double-0 agent who is found holding a false Faberge egg, a clue that leads to (what else) a madman intent on taking over the world. Somewhere in between, Bond comes into contact with an elegant villain (Louis Jourdan) and a beautiful smuggler (Maud Adams), who is the best aspect of this film: exquisite and refined, she is one of the most fascinating of all the Bond girls (and for trivia fans, Adams is the only one to play a lead Bond girl twice, following her appearance in The Man With The Golden Gun). Their romance, set against the country’s exotic backdrops (the only time a Bond film has been shot in India) is irresistibly attractive, and their race to save the world from total destruction exciting and breathtaking. Moore hams it up a bit too much, and was already starting to look a bit too ripe for the job, but he is still good enough to carry it on for one more adventure before his last.