The James Bond Bedside Companion (64 page)

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.

PRODUCTION

W
hen 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

R
ichard 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 authentic 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

E
ditor-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."