Cannes Film Festival 2013

Best and Worst of the 2013 Oscars

Best and Worst: Dame Shirley Bassey sings ‘Goldfinger’

In a night of many – probably a few too many – musical numbers, nobody ripped into theirs with the hungry force of Welsh diva Shirley Bassey, for many of us still the most iconic of all Bond-movie belters. Her full-throated rendition of her classic 1964 theme for “Goldfinger” was nothing short of tremendous – at the age of 76, Bassey’s voice sounds scarcely less rich and resonant than it did nearly 50 years ago. It promised great things for the show’s much-vaunted golden anniversary Bond tribute. So... where was the rest of it? The audience seemed befuddled as Bassey’s number ended and it became clear that a medley was not forthcoming: no Carly Simon, no Paul McCartney, not even Duran Duran or Sheryl Crow, while Adele’s eagerly awaited “Skyfall” performance was kept oddly separate from the entire sequence. If you’re honouring fifty years of a film franchise, surely more than one song is in order – particularly when “Les Mis” gets an entire medley to itself.

- Guy Lodge

Photo Credit: Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP

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