Bob Simmons is in charge of the stunts again, with assistance from George Leech. Their work is especially impressive during the climactic battle in the volcano between the SPECTRE forces and Tanaka's ninjas. Over 120 stuntmen were employed for the scene, and it's a magnificent display of panoramic acrobatics. There is one particular ninja who, during the training camp sequence, is given his own moment of glory when he displays his swordsmanship in a whirlwind tour de force. The sequence is repeated against enemy SPECTRE agents during the climactic battle, and it almost always receives a round of applause from the audiences with which I've seen the film. The actor performing this role was also one of Kurosawa's original Seven Samurai.
John Stears is once again in charge of special effects, and does his usual explosive job with pyrotechnics. His work on the outer space sequences is less successful, but one must remember that this was before the advent of Kubnck's 2001, which changed the norm of special effects work in space films.
Eileen Sullivan, as wardrobe mistress, deserves a mention for the Japanese costumes and ninja outfits. The design aspects of the film all blend well to create the most visually consistent of all the Bond films.
John Barry deserves special mention for his beautiful score for the film, which is truly one of his best Nancy Sinatra's rendition of the title song (with lyrics by Leslie Bricusse) was a hit single, and is one of the best main themes. It has a haunting melody which is difficult to forget Barry also created a unique sound with strings for the outer space segments. Again, the overall mood is haunting and awe-inspiring. Barry is also given a chance to compose music with an Oriental flavor for the wedding scene and the bits in Tanaka's home. It's a truly lovely score, and is one of the film's greatest assets.
Finally, Maurice Binder does it again with his main title design, this time employing Oriental motifs and semi-clad geisha girls. As usual, it's a feast for the eyes, and, blended with Barry's title theme, it launches You Only Live Twice most promisingly.
ON HER MAJESTY'S SECRET SERVICE (1969)
PRODUCTION
When Sean Connery made it absolutely clear that he was not going to play James Bond in the next film, Eon Productions decided to hold a massive talent search to cast a new 007. The resulting choice was an unusual one—Australian model George Lazenby. What won him the part, supposedly, were his test fight scenes. Grilled by stuntman George Leech, Lazenby proved his prowess in displaying the tough aspects of Bond. It was finally announced that George Lazenby would be the next James Bond in On Her Majesty's Secret Service.
The sixth James Bond film is extraordinary for several reasons, and it is usually a fond favorite among Bond fans. But it has been forgotten by the general public. First of all, the obvious element separating it from the rest of the series is the casting of Lazenby. Second, the film departs from the direction established by the series' formula. The film's director, Peter Hunt (in his debut), wanted to make the film as close to the Fleming original as possible. This meant the script had to concentrate more on character and plot than on art direction and gadgetry. You will recall that On Her Majesty's Secret Service is the novel in which James Bond falls in love and marries Tracy di Vicenzo, only to have her murdered at the story's end by Ernst Stavro Blofeld. Hunt wanted to make the film more like the early pictures and he finally succeeded in persuading the producers to see it his way. Commercially, the gambit didn't pay off. Critics blamed George Lazenby. The producers blamed the departure from the established formula and George Lazenby. On Her Majesty's Secret Service did make a good deal of money, but it was two years after its initial release that it finally recouped its costs.
Mr. and Mrs. James Bond. Actually it's Diana Rigg as Tracy and George Lazenby as 007. On the set of On Her Majesty's Secret Service for the filming of the famous wedding. (Wide World Photo.)
It's unfortunate that the film wasn't an immediate financial success because it is undoubtedly an artistic triumph. I agree with John Brosnan, who believes that On Her Majesty's Secret Service might have been the best James Bond film in the series had Sean Connery performed the leading role. The film, like From Russia With Love, follows the novel very closely, with a few minor changes. It even ends sadly with the death of Tracy. And George Lazenby isn't all that bad, either. More on him later.
There is limited gadgetry in the film. Bond depends on his wits and courage to get him through the dangers he faces. In the pre-credits sequence, we see Q experimenting with radioactive lint, which, when planted on someone, makes him easy to track. M simply shakes his head and wonders how to keep track of 007. This dismissal of Q's idea, Brosnan believes, perhaps underlines Peter Hunt's attitude toward the series' penchant for gadgets. The only other such apparatus in the film is a clever combination safecracker and xerox duplicator, which Bond uses when he breaks into a lawyer's office to obtain information leading to the whereabouts of Blofeld. The large and heavy mechanism is supplied to him once he's inside the office by a friendly agent operating a crane in the construction site behind the building. The machine is delivered through the window, Bond sets it up, and it performs the work while the lawyer is out to lunch. Bond simply sits and reads Playboy magazine while he waits. This is another touch of humor at the expense of improbable gadgetry.
Piz Gloria, the Swiss Alp headquarters of Ernst Stavro Blofeld in On Her Majesty's Secret Service. Art director Syd Cain turned this revolving restaurant into the SPECTRE hideout. (Piz Gloria publicity photo.)
Gone, too, are Ken Adam's futuristic designs. Syd Cain, who designed From Russia With Love, is back, and creates a more realistic look for the film. The cast, aside from Bond, is well chosen for the most part, and Richard Maibaum supplies a faithful and engaging script. Filmed on location in Switzerland and Portugal, On Her Majesty's Secret Service contains beautiful scenery and tough action scenes. It is pure Bond. And it's certainly a better film than Thunderball or You Only Live Twice.
Steven Rubin recounts many of the production problems that were faced while making the film in his book, The James Bond Films. The British press especially exploited the disagreements between George Lazenby and the filmmakers. Lazenby's biggest mistake was that he announced, prior to the release of the film, that he would not be making any more James Bond films. This comment particularly alienated the producers.
Prolonged bad weather was another obstacle, delaying the shooting schedule by several weeks. The cold temperature was hazardous to the cast and crew, and the thin air created difficulties for the stuntmen. Problems notwithstanding, On Her Majesty's Secret Service is an interesting adventure film and one of the best of the series.
SCREENPLAY
Richard Maibaum takes the screenplay credit alone this time, and his work is splendid. He has remained faithful to Fleming's intention, and has even improved certain sections with an additional scene or two.
The circumstances in which Bond meets Tracy have been slightly altered. In the novel, the opening beach sequence occurs in the present, as Bond and Tracy are abducted by Draco's men. The next two chapters then flash back to the events leading up to the first chapter. In the film, the latter sequences are not flashbacks, but continuous action. Bond meets Tracy on the beach in the pre-credits sequence, and the scene works very well as a prologue. Maibaum creates a clever device for easing Lazenby into the role of James Bond. After Bond has vanquished Draco's thugs and Tracy (whom he has rescued from attempted suicide) has run away, Bond picks up one of her dropped slippers and mutters, "This never happened to the other fellow." (Maurice Binder even contributed to this device by inserting shots from previous Bond films, sans Connery, into his main title design.)
The events at Royale-les-Eaux are practically verbatim from the novel, and contain good dialogue. There is a scene in which Bond unexpectedly finds Tracy in his hotel suite (this wasn't in the novel) that has shades of the confrontation scene aboard the Orient Express in From Russia With Love. Bond treats Tracy pretty roughly and even slaps her (it's the second time Bond has struck a woman onscreen). There is au
thentic dramatic tension here, and it's primarily due to Maibaum's fine script
There are other dissimilarities between film and novel. In the book, Bond is sick and tired of Operation Bedlam (the search for Blofeld) and mentally drafts a letter of resignation from the service. In the film, it's just the opposite. M wants to take Bond off Operation Bedlam, and Bond is adamant about sticking with it and finding Blofeld. M curtly makes his order final and dimisses Bond (it's a terrific Bond/M scene). Angrily, Bond steps into the outer office and actually dictates a letter of resignation to a shocked Miss Moneypenny. Bond then storms to his own office (the first and only time we see it in the films), and begins to empty his desk. Maibaum throws in more references to the past as Bond goes through the desk's contents, which include Honey's belt and knife from Dr. No, Grant's garroting wrist watch in From Russia With Love, and the four-minute breather from Thunderball. M then calls Bond back into his office, and without looking up, says, "Request granted." Stunned by the cold dismissal, Bond slowly walks out to face Moneypenny. But she reveals that she changed Bond's letter of resignation to a request for two weeks' leave. This entire sequence is one of the best of the obligatory office scenes.
Another new sequence is the previously mentioned safe-cracking scene in which Bond learns Blofeld's whereabouts. Draco knows that a lawyer named Gumbold has been corresponding with Blofeld. The trick is to break into Gumbold's office and safe, find correspondence from Blofeld, and duplicate the letters. Maibaum builds great suspense with this scene, with John Glen's editing contributing to its effectiveness.
There is one flaw in the script that disturbs the continuity of the film series. In the novel, Bond and Blofeld have never met before they encounter each other at Piz Gloria, the new headquarters for SPECTRE in the Swiss Alps. In the films, Bond had already met Blofeld in You Only Live Twice;but in this film Blofeld does not recognize Bond and they haven't ever met. Of course, Bond is disguised (slightly) as Sir Hilary Bray.
Also, in the film, Bond is caught by Blofeld before he can escape Piz Gloria on skis. Bond is placed in a strange room that houses the cable car mechanism, from which he escapes by climbing onto the huge gears and inching out by hand onto the cable. He hitches a ride on an approaching cable car, and then drops to the snow when the ground is close enough. The scene is suspenseful and required impressive stunt work, but it seems a little silly that Blofeld would place Bond in such an escapable prison.
The final change occurs after Bond has escaped and found Tracy in the village. The morning after Bond proposes to her, Tracy is captured by Blofeld after she and Bond are buried by a SPECTRE-made avalanche. Thus, Bond's mission becomes twofold: stopping Blofeld's bacterial warfare plot (straight from the novel), and rescuing Tracy. This overcomes one of the main criticisms of the novel—that the book's two plots (the pursuit of Blofeld and the romance with Tracy) weren't related. By involving Tracy in Bond's pursuit of Blofeld, Maibaum has solved this problem.
The remainder of the film follows the novel closely, down to the last line spoken by Bond as he is cradling the dead Tracy in his arms: "We have all the time in the world."
Despite the return to a more serious format, On Her Majesty's Secret Service still contains a good deal of humor. The jokes sneak up on us, such as when Blofeld delivers one of my favorite lines during the exciting ski chase: "We'll head him off at the precipice!"
DIRECTION
Editor-turned-director Peter Hunt makes an impressive debut with On Her Majesty's Secret Service. The film has style, pace, and conviction. There are a couple of scenes that don't quite work, and there are moments when the acting is flat, but this is true of the cast as a whole, not just George Lazenby. What carries the film are the spectacular action sequences, stunts, fights, and the pictorial beauty of the surroundings. Above all, Hunt is a good storyteller, and the film doesn't seem built around a series of set-pieces.
The pre-credits sequence is unique in the series. Rather than providing an up-tempo beginning for the movie, the prologue is melancholic and dark and remains so until Lazenby's last line. Hunt's shots of Tracy walking into the ocean and her subsequent rescue by Bond are not only beautiful to behold, but are tense and haunting. Michael Reed's photography and John Barry's score stand out here. The sky has an eerie blue-green glow about it, as the sun is rising, that perfectly captures Fleming's description of the scene: "Seascape with Figures."
Hunt injects his own contributions to the film's comic relief. While Bond is led through a warehouse (at gunpoint) to meet Marc-Ange Draco (Tracy's father), we see a midget janitor sweeping the floor. Bond film fans recognize that he's whistling the theme from Goldfinger.
Hunt directed half of the action scenes in the picture, while second unit director/editor John Glen took control of the other half. The fight sequences are among the toughest in the series. The tumble with the large black man in Tracy's hotel room near the beginning of the picture is especially explosive.
The only scene that mars the film takes place during Bond and Tracy's courtship. After showing up at Draco's birthday party (at Draco's insistence) simply to see Tracy again, Bond begins to fall for her. Once this feeling has become mutual, there is one of those corny, romantic montage sequences where we see the man and woman walking along the beach (or in a field, or riding horses)—underscored by a passionate love song. The number happens to be a very lovely tune by Barry called "We Have All the Time in the World," with lyrics by Hal David. The problem is that the late Louis Armstrong's rendition of the song seems more out of place than the sequence itself. The effect of seeing James Bond and a woman in a Harlequin Romance setting with the raspy, deep voice of Armstrong crooning along is, well, laughable.
Another bit that doesn't work too well is the scene in which Bond witnesses the "treatment" of Ruby in her room at Piz Gloria. Ruby is one of the ten "allergy" patients at the supposed clinic, but in reality her treatment is nothing but a brainwashing by Blofeld. Bond and Ruby have just finished making love, when suddenly Blofeld's reverberating voice crackles from a hidden speaker as the lights flicker and change colors. Bond watches with confusion as Ruby falls asleep while listening to Blofeld say, "You love chickens . . . you like their feathers . . ." etc. It's one of the series' best (unintentionally) silly sequences.
The film is played straight overall, and exhibits a great deal of sophistication. The casino scene, and all the sequences with Tracy, evince a certain elegance which is missing from the later Eon offerings. Hunt has succeeded, perhaps more than any other Bond director, in closely capturing Fleming's world.
ACTORS AND CHARACTERS
George Lazenby is introduced to us as Bond in a manner similar to that used for Connery. The first few shots of Bond are only of his shoulders, the back of his head, his hands, etc. He is driving his Aston Martin down a highway in Portugal and is passed recklessly by Tracy. "The James Bond Theme" is heard with an unusual arrangement as Bond shifts gears and speeds after her. He follows her to the beach, spies on her with the telescopic sight from his attaché case, and realizes she is attempting to drown herself. We see the figure exit the car, remove his jacket, and run down the dune to rescue her. Bond carries her out of the water, lays her down on the sand, and revives her. "I don't think we've been properly introduced," he says. Then there is a shot of this new face, looking fresh and a bit young for Bond. "The name's Bond. James Bond." The voice is pleasant, with a slight Australian accent.
Once one gets over the shock of a different actor saying those words, it is not difficult to accept Lazenby as Bond. In many ways he more closely resembles the Ian Fleming version of Bond than either of the other two actors. He is dark, with a thin face. He is handsome, yet his looks have a hard edge. At times Lazenby does seem a little young for the role, but his physical abilities overcome this problem. He is terrific in the fight scenes, and handles the love scenes with surprising confidence. He's most awkward in lengthy conversation scenes, such as the first meeting with Marc-Ange Draco. Lazenby's handling of the romantic inte
rchanges with Tracy (such as the proposal) is admirable for a beginning actor. Unfortunately, the actor's ultimate downfall was his lack of a powerful, charismatic screen presence akin to an actor such as Sean Connery. The critics were too harsh on Lazenby. His performance is the most honest and sincere of any of the actors who have played Bond.
Distinguished British actress Diana Rigg, known to Americans for her role in The Avengers on television, portrays Teresa di Vicenzo, the only woman ever to be Mrs. James Bond. Since Bond was being played by an unknown, the producers felt that perhaps this time the heroine should be someone with more experience. Miss Rigg is very good in the role, although she portrays a slightly different Tracy from the one in the novel. She plays the contessa image to the hilt, sometimes coming off a little haughty. And although Tracy in the novel is rich and spoiled, she retains a helplessness for which Bond is the cure. We never believe the film. Tracy needs James Bond. But we do believe she loves him, and this is important. The film Tracy also has a bit of Emma Peel (the character Rigg portrayed in The Avengers) in her make-up. She knows judo and handles being kidnapped by the villain reasonably well. Had she been kidnapped in the novel, I doubt that Tracy would have remained calm. Rigg is particularly effective in the scenes at Draco's birthday party. When she discovers that her father has invited Bond to his house on her behalf, we see some emotions rarely displayed by a Bond-girl onscreen. The proposal scene in the barn is effective, too. When Bond finally pops the question, Miss Rigg's face assumes the perfect expression of disbelief. Even Tracy di Vicenzo finds it hard to believe that the James Bond has actually proposed to a woman, and it happens to be her.
The James Bond Bedside Companion Page 41