On Her Majesty's Secret Service

OK, so I said I wasn't going to refer to any future movies in this series of reviews, but I will mention one small thing about this review: it is incredibly difficult to view this movie in the 1969 context because this movie is the first time that a new Bond takes on the role. For us nowadays, that is something that is just so natural we take it as read. Back in 69 that was something that was just so radically unheard of, it must have been a huge jump for people to watch. So bear that in mind as we travel back about forty years to watch "On Her Majesty's Secret Service".

This is a monumental movie for so many reasons. Obviously the biggest thing that occurs in this movie is that George Lazenby takes on the role of James Bond. Sure, in Casino Royale, David Niven (or Peter Sellers or Terrence Cooper or whoever) played James Bond, but that was supposed to be a different character to the Sean Connery Bond; quite specifically in fact. Lazenby is the same man as Connery, even though they look different, walk different and speak different. To be fair there is a passing resemblance between Lazenby and Connery, but their voices are very different (Lazenby's voice initially seems to be too light to be able to play the part, but by the end of the movie you hardly notice this), and Connery has had, of course, five movies to establish the stance that he played Bond with. Lazenby doesn't have that, and so from the very gunbarrel where Lazenby drops to his knee to shoot, you know that something very different is about to come along.

Obviously the idea of introducing a new Bond was something that was preying on the minds of the producers. There are numerous attempts to reassure us that this is the same man that fought Dr No, Rosa Klebb and Emilio Largo. The first three characters we see are the familiar faces of "M", "Q" and Miss Moneypenny, all played by the actors who have held the roles for at least the last four movies. From there we see Bond driving the Aston Martin, lighting his cigarettes in a very familiar manner, before Bond runs into the title sequence which is a compilation of clips from previous movies showing all the former foes and conquests (with the notable exception of Blofeld, but more on that later). Indeed, the references don't stop there: a janitor whistles the Goldfinger theme song; Bond has a drawer with souveniers from previous adventures and Moneypenny even goes so far as to actually say "Same old Bond." Indeed the only time this look back at the past is disrupted is when Lazenby murmers "This never happened to the other fellow" just before the title sequence - but that was obviously just for laughs.

Lazenby had big shoes to fill and he was at a disadvantage from the outset. The producers didn't have the faith in him to put his name before the credits as Connery was getting, and indeed some movie posters didn't even feature Lazenby's face. However, what Lazenby has that his predecessor didn't, is a tenderness towards the girls that he ends up sleeping with. This quality helps him enormously in convincing us that Bond is falling in love with Tracy. However, alongside that tenderness is a brutalness, that Tracy suffers when she gets a slap from Bond (Bond not having slapped a woman since From Russia, With Love). Lazenby's casting came in part from his ability to be convincing in a fight, and the fight sequences are truly brutal. Lazenby shines when he is a fight sequence, and the fights in OHMSS are some of the best fights not only in Bond films but in films in general.

But it's not just that we have a new Bond that makes this movie suddenly seem so different to You Only Live Twice (and really it is so astonishingly different to its predecessor you could be forgiven for not realising they are part of the same series). New director Peter Hunt takes the movie well and truly back to the roots established by Terrence Young. Bond is once again the spy he was in Dr No and From Russia, With Love, sneaking into offices and photocopying documents (as well as stealing Playboy magazines!) and checking for bugs in the rooms provided by Blofeld at Piz Gloria. But Hunt directing the film is an excellent idea; as the man who edited the last five films, he has a specific eye for what is going to end up on screen and so we get a movie that contains no wasted footage at all. Hunt makes a number of changes to the movie; the actual Blofeld storlyine really doesn't take off for quite some time as the beginning of the movie establishes the romance between Bond and Tracy, and it is handled extremely well.

Hunt's team work together to provide us with things that have never been seen in Bond movies before, such as amazing ski chase sequences which not only look fantastic but are completely revolutionary for action films. John Glen takes over editing and the beautiful footage becomes even more amazing in his hands - the cut from the hotel swimming pool during the day, to the nighttime with the "casino" reflected in the water is stunning. Hunt's uses more of a Young style Bond than a Hamilton style and this is coupled with the smaller of the excesses of the previous movies - Bond eating cavier after beating a man - as well as introducing some new ideas - some slow-motion editing when Bond is attacked after vising Bunt. Hunt gets some beautiful performances from the leads, notably a wonderful scene between Bond, "M" and Moneypenny when Bond resigns, and at the end of the movie when Bond tosses his hat to Moneypenny. And on top of all of that some of the best dialogue to appear in any movie ever.
There's so much to say in this review that sometimes it may appeared cluttered as so many points spin off a single action. The romance between Bond and Tracy gives rise to a number of points which I'll try to address as coherently as possible.Firstly, it would be impossible for Connery to have seriously played this movie. After five movies, the last of which showed him having absolutely no interest in the death of a woman he was sleeping with, it would be extremely difficult to believe that Connery's Bond would fall in love, regardless of how sweet the relationship between Domino and Bond was. I know they are the same character, but the suspension of disbelief to see Connery's Bond genuinely fall in love would require just a little more of a leap of faith than most people have. Only a first time Bond could make this movie work well. Of course, the downside to that is, that as this movie is so wildly different from any of its predecessors, any new Bond is not going to be well received based simply on the fact that Bond is a romantic in this movie, rather than a sexual predator as he was in the last movie. The second thing to note about the romance is the use of a beautiful piece of music: "We Have All The Time In The world" sung by Louis Armstrong and, occasionally, just unaccompanied. It is a wonderful song that helps to sell the romance considerably.

Mention of the music neatly allows me to segue into John Barry's contribution to this movie. The first thing to talk about is the title song which has no vocals at all (although they were considered at one point, apparently). It is actually the best Bond theme so far, without equal. The rest of the soundtrack has a very distinctive sound, which unfortunately dates it just a little. It has a very late 60's/early 70's sound, especially in the opening casino scene where Bond and Tracy renezvous for the first time.

We've spoken a lot about Tracy and it's worth talking about her character not only for the fact she becomes Mrs Bond, but also because she is played by the wondrous Diana Rigg. Having already established herself as a brilliant actress in The Avengers as Mrs Emma Peel, and as her Avengers predecessor Honor Blackman had already done a Bond movie, perhaps it was inevitable that Rigg would make it to a Bond movie. She is undeniably gorgeous, and her appearance in the casino, in "that dress", is every bit as memorable as Urusla Andress coming out of the water in "that bikini". She has enormous presence, and at times almost threatens to overshadow Lazenby, although it is worth pointing out that when Lazenby first appears after the credits he seems a little lost, but to his credit he becomes Bond once he is opposite Rigg, almost as though he feels the need to improve his performance opposite brilliance.

Regardless, Rigg becomes almost the definitive Bond girl, and as Tracy marries Bond, it is completely appropriate.
Of course it's not just the two leads who shine in this movie. Gabrielle Ferzetti who plays Tracy's father, Marc-Ange Draco, is superb, playing a character that is vaguely similar to Kerim Bey in From Russia, With Love. Indeed, this story (as the movie is quite a close translation of Fleming's novel) seems to recycle a lot of elements from previous stories, as Blofeld's offsider, Irma Bunt, is quite similar to From Russia, With Love's Rosa Klebb; something which is made even more apparent in the movies as Klebb was working for Blofeld in the movie version.

On the downside, amongst a group of beautiful girls, Angela Scoular who plays Ruby Bartlett seems to have forgotten she's no longer filming Casino Royale and delivers a ridiculously comic performance in this movie.

Also, the casting of Telly Savalas as Blofeld seems to be a bizarre choice - and explains why Blofeld isn't in the title sequence. Lacking none of the menace of Donald Pleasance, Savalas's accent doesn't help the fact he comes across as a poor replacement for Pleasance. Certainly it's obvious that, without Pleasance, it makes sense to cast someone who can fight Bond one-on-one a little better, and also someone who will have a sexual presence that can seduce Tracy (something which Pleasance would never have been able to pull off), but that said as a villain he still falls short.

There is so much to praise in this movie, but there are some parts of the movie that are problematic, and there are certain plot points that make no sense whatsoever.
Why does Bond mimic Hillary Bray when he goes to Piz Gloria? Blofeld never spoke to Bray so he wouldn't notice the difference in Bond's voice.
And for that matter, are we seriously supposed to believe that Bond and Blofeld don't recognise each other - or at the very least Blofeld doesn't recognise Bond? They were face to face in the previous movie.
And what happened to Blofeld's scar? Did he have that fixed when he had his earlobes removed?
lIn You Only Live Twice, Bond's safecracker was matchbox sized...now it needs to be put in a suitcase.
Bond does an awful lot of stuff in his two week break - effectively gets engaged and manages to track down Blofeld as well as learn about heraldry and liase with Sir Hillary Bray.
And why, after the avalanche, does Blofeld believe Bond is dead, but accepts that Tracy survived?

This movie is not only a credit to Peter Hunt, but also to Ian Fleming's original novel, and also to George Lazenby. It's amazing that someone had the courage to stand up and take over a role that had become so associate with another actor, but the fact that he did it so well, indicates that Lazenby is deserving of his place in film history. And the ending is one of the saddest things ever put to film.
"A+"

Favourite movie order:
1. On Her Majesty's Secret Service
2. Dr No
3. Thunderball
4. From Russia, With Love
5. Goldfinger
6. You Only Live Twice
Favourite Bond girl:
1. Claudine Auger/Dominio
2. Diana Rigg/Tracy
3. Mie Hama/Kissy
4. Daniela Bianchi/Tanya
5. Ursula Andress/Honey
6. Honor Blackman/Pussy
Favourite Bond villain:
1. Donald Pleasance/Blofeld
2. Gert Frobe/Goldfinger
3. Adolfo Celi/Largo
4. Joseph Wiseman/Dr No
5. Lotte Lenya/Klebb
6. Telly Savalas/Blofeld