The James Bond Film Festival. Part 6: On Her Majesty's Secret Service

Cafe Society
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The James Bond Film Festival. Part 1: Dr. No
The James Bond Film Festival. Part 2: From Russia with Love
The James Bond Film Festival. Part 3: Goldfinger
The James Bond Film Festival. Part 4: Thunderball
The James Bond Film Festival. Part 5: You Only Live Twice

Spoilers, of course.

I may have mentioned once or twice in threads on these boards that I like the cold. I love the cold! And On Her Majesty’s Secret Service (1969) has plenty of it, much of it taking place in the Swiss Alps.

George Lazenby takes over as Agent 007. Some people hate him, and some people like him. I thought he did an adequate job in the role. No Sean Connery, he; but certainly better than The Smirk that Swallowed James Bond Whole.

In this outing Bond takes on Ernst Stavro Blofeld (Telly Savalas), who is running a clinic in the Swiss Alps dedicated to curing allergies. Of course, he has a cunning plan to wage bacteriological warfare against the world unless his plans are met. This plot is straight from the book, and also rather topical today. Bond locates Blofeld with the help of underworld boss Mark Ange Draco (Gabriele Ferzetti), whom he meets after dissuading Draco’s daughter Teresa “Tracy” Draco (Diana Rigg) from committing suicide. In gratitude, Draco offers Bond a million pounds if Bond will marry Tracy. Bond declines, but then asks Draco for the whereabouts of Blofeld. Draco says he will not tell Her Majesty’s Secret Service, but he might divulge any leads he has to his future son-in-law.

Tracy arrives at her father’s birthday party to find Bond there. She finds out about her father’s offer to Bond, and then reminds him that a good hosts suplies his guests’ needs – and without obligation. Draco gives Bond the information he has, which leads Bond to a lawyer Gumbold (James Bree). After stealing into Gumbold’s office, Bond discovers correspondence from Blofeld to the College of Arms. Blofeld, it seems, is after a royal title. Why this is, is never explained; either that, or I missed it. In any case, Blofeld is very keen to recognized as a Count. Bond takes on the identity of Sir Hilary Bray (or Brait – George Baker), a senior genealogist at the college so that he can meet Blofeld face-to-face and lure him to a place where he can be captured.

At Blofeld’s “clinic” Bond discovers the plan to use brainwashed women from many countries to spread a bacterium that will render plants and animals sterile – thus wreaking havoc on the world. Unfortunately, Bond makes a small mistake when he is chatting with Blofeld (under his guise of a genealogist). Blofeld points out that the records “Sir Hilary” wants are not kept in the place Bond says, but another. :smack: D’OH! Blofeld does not kill Bond because he will be useful verifying Blofeld’s capabilities.

Bond escapes, of course. He is helped by Tracy who is in Switzerland hoping to find him. And Bond falls in love with her. She is captured after a thrilling chase, and Bond requests help from M (Bernard Lee). M denies Bond’s request, so Bond turns to Draco. Draco and his demolition team fly to Blofeld’s Piz Gloria “clinic” to rescue Tracy and destroy the stock of bio-weapons. Piz Gloria is destroyed, but Blofeld escapes in a bobsled. Bond gives chase in a second bobsled. Eventually, and after a struggle, the two are seperated.

Bond marries Tracy at Draco’s estate leaving poor Miss Moneypenny (Lois Maxwell) holding his hat. Bond and Tracy take off in one of the ugly Aston Martins of the time, and pull to the side of the road to remove the flowers. As Bond removes the decorations and talks of love with his new wife, Blofeld and henchwoman Irma Bunt (Ilse Steppat) drive by and rake their car with submachinegun fire. Bond, in love and married but minutes before, is now a widower.

I like On Her Majesty’s Secret Service because it is very close to the book. And I love the snow! The alpine village was charming. The skiing was good, but I’ve seen skiing in films before. I really liked the bobsled scene. I’m a fiend for the Winter Olympics. I love watching the bobsleds (or are they properly referred to as bobsleighs now?). That scene was great fun to watch. I also liked the dearth of “gadgets”. Sure, Bond uses an automatic safecracker, but that’s pretty much it.

Of course there are some problems. First of all, I really didn’t buy Tracy’s suicide attempt at the beginning of the film. She tries to drown herself, and then while her rescuer is battling assassins, she drives away. Surely, then would have been a good time to take a deep swim! And after sleeping with Bond, she no is no longer suicidal? That whole thing was just weak.

The other major blunder was that Blofeld didn’t recognize Bond. I mean, they were in rather close proximity in You Only Live Twice! Just because Bond doesn’t look like Sean Connery is no reason why the character of Blofeld shouldn’t recognize Bond! Maybe he was distracted by the kilt.

I didn’t particularly care for Telly Savalas as Blofeld. Savalas was very definitely Greek-American, and I’ve always pictured Blofeld as being more Teutonic. (I didn’t care for Donald Pleasence as Blofeld either. They should have kept him faceless.)

So “thumbs up” for the location and the story, but “thumbs down” for the attempted suicide, the ugly Aston Martin, and Ernst “Can’t Remember a Face” Blofeld.

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I’ve heard from a few people that this is one of the better Bond movies. What’re your thoughts on that?

And thanks for doing these, it’s nice to read up on the ones I haven’t seen.

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Even with the total spoilers?

I think this is one of the better Bond films. As I said, Lazenby does a good job. And OHMSS is certainly a better film than You Only Live Twice. Bond is more of a “secret agent” in this film, and not a super-duper-spy. I know that one of the biggest draws in these films are the gadgets, but I like it better when Bond uses his brains and muscle instead of toys. (Okay, some of his toys are pretty cool; but still…)

Bond fans seem to come in two basic types: Those who like Connery, and those who like Moore. (Of course, there are those who like Brosnan or Dalton better than either of them.) I think that OHMSS is overlooked because it has the “other Bond”; the “unsuccessful Bond”. So Lazenby didn’t pan out; OHMSS is still a good story with a great location, few gadgets, and a final battle that is not overdone.

(Hey Esprix, which film are you on now?)

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Dude, it’s Bond. You can’t spoil Bond.

I’m all about Sean Connery. He defines the role. I like Roger Moore too. And I even like Brosnan, but I think he’s been crippled by crappy scripts.

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Laz is not bad as Bond but he was working uphill. Sure he was taking over the his royal Scotness who practically perfected the call for the Dry Martini and those are some BIG shoes and tuxes to fill. Personally, I think Laz would have done a little better in time but the pressure was on and Laz took off thinking Bond was going to die out (Ouch George - a 7 picture deal and you think its gonna die?). Even Broccoli said he would have been the best Bond if he stuck to the guns.

Laz on the other hand tried to bring about a bit more of a ‘boy scout’ in Bond. He does fantastic in the chase sequences, and handles action like he was truly trained to do so…but the acting chops suffered. He was not bad but he needed a bit more suave, more style.

I like to think of him as the “straight laced” Bond. However, I had grown to love the Bond who gave the girls a slap on the ass and this one did not do it for me (sorry girls, but I loved the fact that he could actually get away with it) and this did not suit me with this youngster.

And those ears…always bit me in the ass about those big ears

Anyway, OHMSS represents what I think is a high in directness to book. Wonderful interpretation, good locations, decent useful gadgets, and even the first threat of Bond ‘doing his own thing’, threatening to leave OHMSS.

This is also the first one where Bond genuinely falls for the babe. And what a babe! I got to tell you Diana Rigg just makes you want Bond to marry her. A great pair of legs, lovely eyes, headstrong, and great style. Rigg just oozes the perfection and makes for a tasty dish.

Telly Savalas cuts his turn at Blofield and quite frankly owns it. He has the chops, the strong evilness, the penetrating glare, the evil plan. Definitely better than Donald Pleasence and a lot more menacing than the ol Cracked Egg. The height of Blofield.

The Evil Plan…well definitely improves over capturing astronauts and hiding out in the volcano with color coordinated henchmen. Blofield goes for a ransom on the worlds food supply in return for the offical pardon and a countship (!) while surrounding himself with hot babes in the Alps. Not bad, feasible and a bigger score on the style points.

No big faceless henchmen this time other than Grunther and Irma but then again they are coming off the biggest and best of Oddjob and Red in former movies, so what can you do?

The car…oy vey. I agree, easily the ugliest Aston Martin out there but a hell of a V8 underneath the hood. Should have stayed with the move lovely curves of the former Astons.

Next up…the Return of his Royal Scotness! Diamonds are Forever! Early Vegas! Jill St John! Plenty O Toole (WOW!)! And about the campiest evil guys you will see in Bond!

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You know, I’ve seen Diamonds are Forever. And remember none of it.

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Mmm… Emma Peel…

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This is the only Bond film I haven’t seen, but I seem to recall that Blofeld also doesn’t recognise Bond in another film, too, where he is played by yet another actor.

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This happens to be one of my favorite Bond films, primarily for Diana Rigg, Telly Savalas’ energetic turn as Blofeld, Diana Rigg, the well-written, reasonably plausible storyline, Diana Rigg, the wonderfully sustained chase by ski and car, one of John Barry’s best scores, and of course Diana Rigg.

Lazenby of course was slated mercilessly at the time the movie came out. In part I think this was because of the bad impression established by the hilariously inept pre-credit sequence, with unnecessary speeding up of the fight action, Rigg first trying to commit suicide for no apparent reason, then inexplicably driving off, and the stupid attempt to play off the change of lead actor (“This never happened to the other guy”), which takes everyone right out of the film almost before it begins.

Things improve considerably once the titles kick in, however. Lazenby actually does a pretty good job, IMO, except for some woodenness in the early scenes and occasionally slipping into his native Ozzie accent at other times. And he WAS mostly great in the fights and other scenes that required some athleticism.

Critics of Lazenby’s acting (this was his first film, was it not?) should look again to two scenes:

a) where he has escaped Blofeld’s lair and is trying to hide in a skating-rink crowd while Blofeld’s henchmen inexorably close in. Check the palpable sense of fear on his face, followed by his relief when Tracy magically appears in front of him.

b) His emotional response to Tracy’s death at the end of the film.

For me, OHMSS may be the only film in the Bond canon where we really get a feeling that Bond has suffered by choosing the life he leads. A couple of the Brosnan films have attempted to mine this vein, but IMO without nearly as much success.

Lastly, I first saw this in a theater at a time when the teenaqe hormones were raging, and I still remember how, er, stimulating was the combination of Diana Rigg and that house full of babes at Piz Gloria.

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I love John Barry’s theme for this film. It says “spy” just as much as Monty Norman’s famous Bond theme does.

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There was a gruesome death scene in this one. During the ski chase, one of Blofeld’s henchmen falls into a snowblower.

BOND: “He had a lot of guts.”

The blowing snow was still pink as the others skiied over the trench.

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Hey! I like the “This never happened to the other guy” thing. If you take James Bond as a name that comes with 007 it makes sense. Plus it allows us to ignore Moore’s run as 007 by saying that M made a recruiting mistake. That way Connery’s cold murderous Bond doesn’t get confused with the Bond of Moonraker.

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I remember reading an interview somewhere with Lazenby where he said he was having many personal problems at the time and that is why he made the bizarre desision to leave the franchise.

I did like this film though. Then again, I also like “You Only Live Twice”, so I am pretty easy on the franchise.

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One of my favorite Bond films. It’s also surprisingly close to the novel (which always seems to be the case with the better Bond films). Diana Rigg is a major plus for this film.

The thing that’s always bothered me is the inability of Blofeld and Bond to recognize each other. And you can’t blame the movie for that – it’s in the book! That never did make sense to me.

(Trivia point – in the book, they comment about Ursula Andress’ tan – she’s a guest at the ski resort. Andress had just finished shooting the film Dr. No when Fleming was writing this. It’s the only time AFAIK that the Fleming Bond makes an in-joke about the films. Although later Bond writers would continue to make such in-jokes.)

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That instrutmental was great, and luckily they also played it during the extended ‘Skiing escape’ sequence.

The only part that made me cringe a bit was when Lazy wore the Kilt to the big dinner party, and the (at least to me) horrible acting of the ladies fawning over him. Definitely cringe-causing.

Otherwise a very underappreciated movie…

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Except that in the context of the books and films, James Bond is always the same person. That is, we are expected to accept the character as James Bond no matter who the actor is who is portraying him.

The films have been made over the past 40 years, but the books were not so far apart. So the audience is expected accept the film as occuring in the present, and also accept that the older films took place in the recent past.

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This is one of the few instances in which scenes from a movie are strikingly similar to the way I imagined them when I read the book (another is the miniature hunter-seeker missile in Paul’s bedroom in Dune). In this case, the view of the clinic atop the Alps.

And, as others have noted, it was tightly faithful to the book, where most of the Roger Moore Bond movies used only the book’s title and some faint ghost of story concept.

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This was one of the better books (one of the originals)- but the movie did not come off as well. Maybe because Teddy seemed to upstage Lazenby when they were on the screen together.

While Lazenby didn’t do a bad job, he certainlt did not distinguish himself either. Not as bad as the last Roger Moore Bond flick when he was clearly too old for the role, or the disaster which was Never Say Never Again, but not that much better overall either.

Are we required to use the buzz-phrase labels ala TWoP in this thread?

:confused:

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No.

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I rank this one in the top ten. LOVED all the ski scenes and the cool Piz Gloria. (which really is atop the Shilthorn and can still be visited by rail).

And they hammer this home in a scene in the movie where Bond looks through his desk and finds Honey’s knife from Dr. No, Robert Shaw’s watch used in From Russia With Love and that tiny scuba-diving thing from Thunderball, all while the score plays songs from those movies.

That scene always struck me as strange - that he can fondly remember his other missions and retain keepsakes, but it doesn’t occur to him when he’s in Cuba during Goldeneye that maybe the enemy base is hidden under that lake…

Sounds like it wouldn’ve been a perfect addition to my “Most gruesome Bond deaths” thread. :slight_smile: