From Roger Moore with Love directed by Jack Cocker is a riveting, well-made documentary about the life of the iconic James Bond actor and universally charming bon viveur, featuring previously unseen home movies and interviews.
Creating Roger Moore
by Alexa DalbyFrom Roger Moore with Love
3.0 out of 5.0 stars
CAUTION: Here be spoilers
My guilty pleasure is watching repeats of The Saint on Talking Pictures (Monday afternoons, since you ask). Roger Moore was in his pomp then – a pomp that seemed to last a lifetime – and he was so mischievous and so handsome. Those boyish good looks and that left eyebrow that moved on its own!
As this documentary explores, insouciance was a role Moore worked at perfecting, rather like that other great English export Cary Grant. Both men married multiple times (Moore four, Grant five): it is tempting to try to play amateur psychologist. Both had humble beginnings but both came to be seen in Hollywood and worldwide as the epitome of English gentlemanly cool, suaveness and self-deprecating humour.
This riveting film shows Moore’ s life from RADA to James Bond and beyond. He made seven Bond films, more than any other actor. Uncomfortable at first, he allegedly took the advice to turn James Bond into Roger Moore, rather than vice versa.
He worked lifelong at perfecting his persona and at having a happy life, as shown in previously unseen home movies.The film also includes interviews with his three now-adult children (with third-wife Luisa) and his surviving friends, co-stars (Steven Berkoff, Pierce Brosnan, Jane Seymour) and producers. No one has a bad word to say about him.
The documentary skates over the role of his four wives (especially number two in boosting the start of his career). Now that they all and Moore have passed away, the film, presumably, can see the light of day.
I’ve been asked not to divulge who is the narrator, so I won’t.
From Roger Moore with Love screens in cinemas and also on BBC2 in the Arena strand on 13 December.
