Gold

Gold is a superb adaptation of Wilbur Smith's novel. The plot concerns a group of greed-driven businessmen conspiring to flood a South African gold mine.

Roger Moore is terrific as our mine manager hero (and unknowing pawn) and he shares an entertaining chemistry with co-star, Susannah York. Bradford Dillman also impresses in his role as one of the more conflicted of the conspirators. With Ray Milland, Sir John Gielgud and Simon Sabela supporting, it's a great cast all round.

Director Peter Hunt (On Her Majesty's Secret Service) ensures that the audience feels the ominous, claustrophobic atmosphere of the mine, and he doesn't shy away from showing the impact of a flood in such surroundings. Along with Hunt, many James Bond veterans worked on Gold, and this shows particularly in how smoothly the location work in South Africa has been integrated with the soundstage work at Pinewood.

Composer Elmer Bernstein uses Jimmy Helms' title song as an orchestral theme to stirring effect, while Maurice Binder (another Bond veteran) gets the ball rolling with his uniquely designed opening credits.

Gold comes highly recommended!

Despite the collapse of the gold price in recent months here is a movie whose value is assured. Taken from the novel "Gold Mine" by the one and only Wilbur Smith we get to see just how dangerous the world of mining is. Nerve splitting scenes in the aftermath of a rock fall, explosions, underground amputations, the calamity of an underground flood, deceit, conspiracy, loyalty, betrayl, murder, sex, tribal dance, heroics, more heroics (it was penned by Wilbur Smith) and the lengths to which men will go just to put a charm around a ladys' neck.

This is not a great film, but it has its moments. In 1974 probably not too many people knew much about South Africa and the gold mining process, so for that reason it was educational. The mine sequences are interesting although undoubtedly filmed on a studio set. For me the most interesting action sequence though is when the hero is trying to land a plane on a tailings pile at a speed low enough to almost stall out. Most interesting of all, thirty years ago it was almost unheard of to see frontal nudity in a major film. When Susannah York's breast appeared out of the suds in the bathtub scene, my jaw dropped open. I couldn't believe I was really seeing it. For sheer surprise it ranks right up there with Charlton Heston kissing a black woman in that science fiction film that I think was called The Omega Man. Today of course such things are commonplace.

I saw this film while living in Geneva Switzerland in 1981, courtesy of a borrowed video cassette copy. I was a lot younger then, thirty, and less discerning, but I was utterly enchanted by actress Susannah York, and have been ever since. It had the feel of a good James Bond adventure and I thought that actor Roger Moore was at his best, and in fact was better in this film then in any of his James Bond movies. I've never visited South Africa, but had studied the history of the country, and I enjoyed viewing the on-location scenes of the country. There are great scenes workers in the mines, as well as Zulu warriors in their regalia.

Like many movies from the 1970's and 80's, Gold was perhaps not fully appreciated for it's insight into the world of precious metal mining during the Apartheid era, based on Zambian born, Wilbur Smith's novel "Gold Mine"

Roger Moore is the eponymous hero of the film, as first The Underground Manager and later General Manager of a deep gold mine in South Africa. Susannah York provides classic English beauty in the form of the love interest and John Gielgud and Bradford Dillman exude villainy in it's most obtuse form. Simon Sabela is the quiet spoken, understated "Big King", a giant of a black miner and champion of workers treatment underground.

Filmed in 1974, this was Roger Moore's first film since his debut as James Bond in "Live and Let Die" and was sandwiched between his next outing in "The Man with The Golden Gun". It was also Susannah York's first film for two years since taking time out to have children. Producer Michael Klinger wanted to take another Wilbur Smith novel, "Shout at the Devil" to the screen but couldn't raise the finance so he made "Gold" first, which allowed him to raise the finance for the former.

This film is a fascinating insight into gold production and how both the price and availability of gold was strictly controlled and the lengths unscrupulous speculators would go to in order to cut production and increase the price. John Gielgud excels as the quintessential English financier, a role he played again in the same year in "11 Harrowhouse".

Bearing in mind that Moore was 46 years old, he makes a fine, handsome hero, as Rod Slater and the 35 year old Susannah York oozes class as Terry Steyner, the grand-daughter of mine owner Hurry Hirschfeld (Ray Milland). And a little golden nugget to boot is the performance of Tony Beckley, the mildly camp but almost psychotic geologist turned henchman. The action underground is first class and indeed quite gory in parts. It is perhaps. surprising that a film showing a miner having his face ripped off in an accident only has a 12 rating on DVD but then we live in different times.

The soundtrack for the film, composed by Elmer Bernstein, is both very "hip" for the period and has some beautiful orchestral pieces, particularly for the love scenes. Jimmy Helms' title track rendition is superb as are the two Don Black penned songs "Wherever Love Takes Me" (Oscar Nominated) and "Where Have You Been All My Life".

Finally, on a somewhat sombre note, virtually everybody of note from the actors and crew are sadly no longer with us. Only the writer, Wilbur Smith, lyricist Don Black and title song singer, Jimmy Helms remain. However, the film is a poignant reminder of a world where the colour of your skin literally determined your worth in life and in death.