After a 3 year break Roger Moore returns as top British agent James Bond. Ten years after directing You Only Live Twice Lewis Gilbert is back at the helm with thoughts that he was remaking the same movie with the plot similarities. Replace submarines for space capsules and an oil-tanker for a volcano and you do get a sense of déjà vu.

The plot has a shipping magnate Stromberg ( Curt Jurgens ) wanting to destroy the world and create an underwater civilisation. To do this he needs some nuclear submarines which he steals from the Russians & Americans. With Bond on R&R in Austria, M demands Moneypenny to "Tell him to pull out ... immediately !". He gets a silly ticker tape message on his watch and his lovely blonde pass-time tells 007 "James I need you" but our Rog replies "So does England".

A ski chase ensues, reminding us of OHMSS, with James killing off the 'spy who loved me' of the title played by Michael tv's UFO Billington as a hairy Russian agent Sergei. The pre-title chase ends with the famous jump off the precipice with Union Jack parachute, cue Carly Simon's memorable song.

Enter the beauty of the movie, the lovely Barbara Bach as agent XXX - Anya Amasova who teams up with 007. She is great on the eye especially in that stunning v-neck dress but at times it's hard to believe her quick thinking & karate skills. I enjoyed the Cairo bar scene where she exchanges career details and Bond at last gets defensive about his late wife.

The villain of the movie is Jaws - no doubt after the Spielberg movie - played by the tall Richard Kiel who has many fights with our hero. One surviving falling rubble allows Moore to deliver "Egyptian builders" and another on a train similar to Bond's fight with Tee Hee at the end of Live And Let Die. After biting off a shark in a tank ( reminders of Thunderball & Live .. ) he goes on to live another day in Moonraker.

The star of the movie proves to be the little Lotus Esprit which dives to the bottom of the sea ( oops sorry that's tv's Stingray ) but proves a worthy replacement for 007's Aston Martin. In one scene it outmanoeuvres a helicopter piloted by the lovely Caroline Munroe as Stromberg's aide Naomi - alas no Pussy Galore.

Watch out for Robert Brown as Admiral Hargreaves later to take over as M in Octopussy, another appearance by George OHMSS Baker as Captain Benson, Albert Moses as the Cairo barman who will turn up in India as Sadruddin in Octopussy and Jeremy Bulloch as one of the British sub crew who dies valiantly only to reappear as Smithers in Q's lab in For Your Eyes Only and driving a taxi in Octopussy.

When I saw this Bond adventure, I thought that it was great to have 007 back but it seemed to be made up of the sum of past outings. Still enjoyable despite the moans, recommend the widescreen version for those tourist scenes in Egypt.

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