Could this have been a classic with Sir Roger?

Obviously not at the time it was made as Sir Roger was by then sadly well past his sell by date. However if this had been made a few years earlier, say after TSWLM, would this have been considered one of Sir Roger's best?

I'm just wondering this as I was reminded of Dalton's terrible stilted performance and in particular the car chase scene where the seemingly dead inside Dalton delivers the awful "Salt Corrosion" line in response to cutting the pursuers car in half.

Moore would almost certainly have said "They had to split" before hitting the rocket boost button on the car's secret control panel. And we would have laughed and clapped.

With Dalton it's just bizarre because he doesn't seem to realise he's in a Bond film, even although he then still hits the secret rocket boost button all the same.

And then there is of course the famed cut magic carpet scene. It's a good job they cut it because it's totally out of place with the wooden Dalton, yet with Sir Roger it would have been another golden Bond moment.

So it does seem a bit of a shame that this is almost a "lost" Moore Bond film. Seems like it was written with him / his Bond character still in mind but Dalton just simply wasn't able to put the kind of performance in to reward the writing...