Good evening, Mr. Bond fans. Welcome back to a video looking back at one of the very original review videos that I made for this channel way back in like 2010. This time, we're going to be looking back at 'On Her Majesty's Secret Service'. And I'm very much nervous about looking back at this one in particular. If you've been keeping up with this series, you'll know that I was making these original videos at a very impressionable time and at a time when it was very much in vogue to be sort of bombastic with your opinions on YouTube and very, you know, a lot of hyperbole being knocked around.
So, coming to 'On Her Majesty's Secret Service', a film that I think at this point in time I will have had a lot of fondness for. I think I like the film well enough, but I am slightly nervous that I'm going to be saying some very unfair and unkind things about George Lazenby, whose performance in 'On Her Majesty's Secret Service' I have found challenging at times over the years, particularly when compared to, you know, other Bond actors Sean Connery, Roger Moore, and what have you. And as I say, given that at the time that I made this video, it was very much in vogue to go overboard in YouTube review videos and stuff, I have a feeling that I'm going to be saying some particularly not nice things, but we will see. This has been another very much requested original video for me to look back on. It's another one that I have very little memory of. So, without further ado, let's get right into it.
Hello and welcome to another edition of my weekly bond. Back on the official series this week with 'On Her Majesty's Secret Service' starring everyone's favorite 007 George Lazenby. Okay, so that was because as I say, I've been keeping up with this series. You'll know that in the background I have posters from the individual Bond actors behind me whenever I'm talking about one of their films. So, I had a Goldfinger poster, which I had up throughout the duration of the Connery ones. And then for Moore, Dalton, Brosnan. I didn't actually have an 'On Her Majesty's Secret Service' poster at this time or anything with George Lazenby on it. So, that's why I had this kind of generic '90s Bond poster and then printed off a picture of Lazenby's face to stick on it. Just so that he had some representation in the background.
On with the film. The film opens with a similar gun barrel sequence to 'Dr. No'. By that, I mean it features a Harry Saltzman and Albert R. Broccoli presents card and we then see our new James Bond driving around Portugal in his new Aston Martin. He's overtaken by a woman in a Mercury Cougar and naturally decides to follow her. Bond sees the woman attempting suicide by walking into the ocean and rescues her when a couple of thugs appear out of nowhere and we get a rather cool fight scene in the shallows. The woman drives away and leaves behind a shoe prompting this godforsaken line. This never happened to the other fella.
Okay, that line really annoys me. Did they really have to break the fourth wall like that? I mean, this film is quite a serious take on Bond. Did they really have to spoil it by throwing in a tacky gag like that? I guess you can justify it in the universe of the film by saying Bond is referring to Prince Charming from Cinderella, the whole woman running off and leaving behind a shoe thing, which is how I prefer to take it. I've also heard people use that line as evidence to explain the change of actors within the world of the film, that James Bond 007 is just an assigned name and number and can be applied to any MI6 agent. Not true. James Bond up until the Daniel Craig reboot is supposed to be one character as is displayed in this film by Lazenby's Bond going through his drawers and looking at artifacts from past adventures. Roger Moore's Bond visiting Tracy's grave in 'For Your Eyes Only' and the mention of Bond having a wife in 'Licence to Kill'. Anyway, rant over.
Bond later bumps into the woman at a hotel casino where Bond rescues her by covering a bet she isn't able to pay. It's here that we're introduced to the woman played by Diana Rigg as Contessa Teresa de Vicenzo or Tracy as she'd first be called. Tracy is one of my absolute favorite Bond girls and Diana Rigg plays her brilliantly. It almost makes up for George Lazenby's incredibly dull and wooden performance as Bond. Tracy later ends up in Bond's hotel room. Wow. A woman who doesn't immediately fall for Bond and who he doesn't try to automatically seduce. That must be a first.
Anyway, Tracy leaves the hotel the next morning and as Bond is leaving, he is kidnapped and taken to meet a man called Draco, who is the head of a European crime syndicate. It turns out Tracy is in fact his daughter and has had quite a troubled past with Draco believing her troubles will be over once she settles down with a nice chap. So he offers Bond a million pounds to marry her. Bond being the gentleman that he is refuses the offer but agrees to continue courting Tracy so long as Draco reveals where the heck Blofeld is hiding. Bond heads back to MI6 but is relieved of his Blofeld assignment. Throwing his toys out of the pram, Bond dictates a resignation letter to Moneypenny, who changes the wording to request two weeks leave for Bond instead, meaning Bond can still pursue Blofeld in his time off.
Bond heads to Draco's birthday party in Portugal, where Tracy learns of the deal her father made with Bond and threatens him into providing Bond with the information he requires on Blofeld. After an argument, Bond and Tracy begin a loving relationship set to Louis Armstrong music. Following the lead from Draco, Bond breaks into a Swiss lawyer's office, breaking into his safe to discover Blofeld's correspondence from the London College of Arms, where it turns out he is trying to claim a count title. Quite why Bond needs that giant safe cracking device when in 'You Only Live Twice' he had one that just fit in his pocket is an error on the part of the filmmakers.
Bond is granted permission to recommence his investigation of Blofeld and so heads to Switzerland posing as Sir Hilary Bray from the London College of Arms. It's here we meet Ilse Steppat as Irma Bunt. And I have to credit Steppat with doing an excellent job with the character. To say she could have just become a Rosa Klebb 2.0, she actually makes the character her own.
At dinner, Bond meets the patients of the clinic, all young, beautiful women. Bond trapped in an isolated mountaintop hotel with a gaggle of beautiful international women seems like a classic scene. Bond then meets with Blofeld here played by Telly Savalas and they have a very polite encounter with Bond trying to persuade Blofeld to leave Switzerland for research purposes though really so that the British Secret Service can arrest him without violating Swiss sovereignty.
The meeting between Bond and Blofeld provides the film with something of a plot hole. Yes, Bond is undercover as Sir Hilary Bray, but he's exactly the same character he was when they came face to face in 'You Only Live Twice'. So really, Blofeld should recognize him. Of course, Bond looks different to us because a different actor is playing him, but in the world of the film, he should look exactly the same as he always has.
Bond later escapes capture and comes to realize that Blofeld has been brainwashing the women at Piz Gloria to distribute a deadly virus across the world. Bond escape scenes are filled with a lot of stunt work and skiing, and he makes his way to a nearby village carnival while being pursued by Irma Bunt and her men.
At the carnival, Bond is reunited with Tracy in one of my favorite scenes of the entire series. James, you know, it's genuinely really hard to pick fault with this film. It's probably the most polished Bond film up to this point.
After a car chase, Bond and Tracy are forced to take shelter in a remote barn due to a blizzard. It's here that Bond does the unthinkable. He declares his love for Tracy and proposes to her in a scene that is genuinely quite touching.
The next day, Bond and Tracy are discovered by Blofeld, who causes an avalanche, which leads him to capturing Tracy, while Bond is left to die in the snow. Of course, Bond survives and makes his way back to MI6 in London. It's here that Bond learns that Blofeld is holding the world at ransom, demanding pardons for all his past crimes, and that he be recognized as a count from now on.
Bond therefore looks to Draco for aid in attacking Blofeld's headquarters and rescuing Tracy. The final attack on Piz Gloria is one of the finest action sequences to ever feature in a Bond film.
After a very exciting battle sequence, Tracy is freed and Piz Gloria is blown up by Draco. Blofeld escapes, however, with Bond giving chase in a bobsled. After a brutal fight, Blofeld becomes wedged in a tree branch, and Bond escapes the out-of-control bobsled just before it crashes. Bond gets married. Yes, 007 is settling down after many women. He's finally found the one he wants to spend the rest of his life with.
Of course, the happiness doesn't last long. Bond pulls the Aston Martin over to remove the flowers from the car. And as Tracy is musing about how many children the couple are going to have, Blofeld drives past with Irma Bunt firing a machine gun at the Aston. Bond survives the attack, but Tracy has been shot in the forehead and killed, prompting the best bit of acting from Lazenby in the whole film. And it's on this very sad, emotional note that the film comes to an end.
And so that's 'On Her Majesty's Secret Service'. You know, this film really does stick out more than any other film in the series. It certainly leaves more of a lasting impression than any of the other Bond films, and it's certainly a strong contender for the best Bond film of them all. It really is a polished quality piece of cinema. However, one of the very few things to drag it down in my opinion at least is George Lazenby.
It really is a shame that Connery decided to leave the franchise at this point because 'On Her Majesty's Secret Service' would have really been a great showcase for an actor like Connery. I say this yet if Connery had stayed in the role, the series would have probably continued on its course of getting more elaborate and outrageous. Whereas 'On Her Majesty's Secret Service', he's grounded in reality with Bond relying more on his wits to get him out of life-threatening situations rather than gadgets.
And I say this as a lover of the elaborate and outrageous Bond films. Lazenby is just a rather wooden actor, but this was his first acting role, and before this, he was a complete unknown, so maybe he'd just have benefited greatly from a few acting classes.
However, every other member of the cast in this film is fantastic. Diana Rigg is brilliant as Tracy, and it's easy to see why Bond would choose to spend the rest of his life with this woman. Ilse Steppat too is brilliant and is really quite menacing as Irma Bunt.
The action sequences in this film are terrific and they never really feel too crowbarred in like action scenes often do in this series. A lot of the scenes actually managed to create genuine tension and suspense as well. There are times when you really worry for Bond and I guess this is largely down to Lazenby. He had a vulnerability that Connery never had.
I also love all the score in this film is by far my favorite. John Barry's music is always very hit and miss with me. I usually love half of it and detest the other half, but every track in this film is wonderful and always suits the scene it's attached to.
'On Her Majesty's Secret Service' made a rather lot of money, just not enough money to satisfy the big wigs at the movie studio. Couple this with the fact that George Lazenby walked away from James Bond before the film was even released. It was almost inevitable that the filmmakers were going to do all they could to lure Sean Connery back to the role. And indeed, they did for Connery's second 007 swan song, 'Diamonds Are Forever'.