Jump to content

On Her Majesty's Secret Service (film)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by 194.65.1.187 (talk) at 15:43, 29 November 2006 (→Film locations). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

For the Ian Fleming novel, see On Her Majesty's Secret Service.

Template:Infobox Film Bond On Her Majesty's Secret Service is the sixth film in the EON Productions James Bond series and the first and only film to star George Lazenby as British Secret Service agent, Commander James Bond. Lazenby was the second official James Bond, the first having been Sean Connery, who later returned to the role in the following film, Diamonds Are Forever (1971). This is the first and only Bond film to be directed by Peter R. Hunt, who before was a film editor or second unit director on every previous film. On Her Majesty's Secret Service was produced by Albert R. Broccoli and Harry Saltzman.

Overview

In 1967, after five successful James Bond films, Sean Connery quit the role to pursue other film roles. In his place Albert R. Broccoli initially chose actor Timothy Dalton, however Dalton declined believing himself too young and Sean Connery too good to replace. Harry Saltzman flirted with casting Roger Moore, but he was ultimately passed on because of his popular association with The Saint. Broccoli later chose Australian George Lazenby after Lazenby arranged an "accidental" encounter with the producer. Lazenby dressed the part, by sporting several sartorial Bond elements, such as a Rolex Submariner wristwatch and a Saville Row suit; Broccoli noticed him as a Bond-type man, because of physique and the character's elements, and offered him an audition.

Diana Rigg, who plays Contessa Teresa di Vicenzo (Tracy Bond), was later chosen partly because producers wanted an already established actress to play opposite the inexperienced Lazenby. Rigg, prior to On Her Majesty's Secret Service, was popular for starring as Emma Peel in The Avengers.

Filming began at Piz Gloria in Switzerland in October 1968 and wrapped up in Portugal in May 1969.

Although the film was not as successful as previous Bond films at the box office, some aficionados consider this the best film of the James Bond series, with many critics feeling George Lazenby "nailed" the character of James Bond as described in the novels. Some fans of only the movie series, however, were disappointed by his interpretation, as it significantly diverged from Sean Connery's portrayal of the character. (One author of a James Bond reference book opinioned that, while it is one of the top 007 adaptations, it would have been the best film of the series if it had starred Connery.) Others claim that his wooden acting robbed his screen relationship with Diana Rigg of any romantic chemistry.

There is a persistent belief that this film was a poor performer at the box office, or even that it was an actual flop. This is not true; it was actually the second highest grossing film worldwide of 1969, being outgrossed only by the mega-hit film Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. The film grossed $87,400,000 (USD worldwide), only $24 million less than Connery's previous offering. With inflation taken into account, the film outgrossed three of Roger Moore's Bond films as well as both of Timothy Dalton's films. It also outgrossed Connery's unofficial 1983 Bond film Never Say Never Again.

Lazenby was uninterested in reprising the role in Diamonds Are Forever. He thought the tuxedo-clad secret agent would be archaic in the sexually liberated 1970s. He was offered a seven-film contract, had signed a letter of intent to star in Diamonds Are Forever, and was even paid an initial installment of his fee (which he refunded).

Where advertisements for the previous Bond film, You Only Live Twice stated that "Sean Connery IS James Bond," those for On Her Majesty's Secret Service downplayed the fact that another actor had assumed the lead role. It is worth noting that in the film's credits Lazenby's name appears below the title - the only time the actor playing Bond was not named above the title.

Plot summary

Template:Spoiler The cinematic On Her Majesty's Secret Service is a close adaptation of the novel, but adds a few sequences.

The adventure begins one evening, with James Bond (George Lazenby) driving his Aston Martin DBS on a Portuguese coastal highway. Suddenly, a woman in a red Mercury Cougar convertible roars up behind him and overtakes him. Soon, he comes across the same car parked along the side of the road. Using a telescopic rifle sight, Bond spies her walking into the tall waves of the Atlantic Ocean, appearing utterly lost. Realising she is intending suicide, Bond drives down to the shore, runs into the surf and plucks her from the sea. He brings her back to consciousness and introduces himself as "Bond, James Bond" (simultaneously revealing his face, in the same manner as Sean Connery was revealed in Dr. No). Two men then surprise the pair and separate them — Bond being led away at gunpoint and the woman at knifepoint. In short order, Bond gains the advantage and defeats them — trapping one under a boat, snaring the other in a fishing net. Meanwhile, the woman takes Bond's car, drives it back up to her car, jumps into the Cougar, and speeds away. Bond comments, "This never happened to the other fellow" (the only time the character breaks the fourth wall in the official series, although Connery as Bond does so at the end of the unofficial Bond film, Never Say Never Again), initiating the title credits sequence.

After the title credits, Bond checks into a hotel; in pulling up to the hotel, he spies the mysterious woman's red Cougar parked in front of the hotel. Inquiring about the car's owner, the manager advises him that the car belongs to Contessa Teresa di Vicenzo (Diana Rigg). Later, Bond encounters her gambling at the casino. She makes a bet she can't back, and when she loses, Bond rescues her by paying it. Tracy invites him to her room to thank him; however, when he arrives at her room, a thug emerges from behind Bond and brawls with him. After defeating him, Bond returns to his room, there finding Tracy awaiting him. After Tracy threatens to kill him for a thrill, Bond disarms Tracy and questions her about the thug in her room. Tracy disavows any knowledge of the thug; an unconvinced Bond slaps her across the face. Bond suggests that the presence of those men indicates she may be in trouble; Tracy has nothing to say, but seduces Bond in payment for the casino rescue.

In the morning, she is gone (leaving full payment for her casino loss and a red carnation); she has checked out of the hotel. Later that morning, as Bond leaves the hotel for a round of golf, he is kidnapped by several men — including the thug from Tracy's room — and led at gunpoint to an awaiting Rolls-Royce. The men take him to a dockside office building, to the presence of Marc-Ange Draco (Gabriele Ferzetti) — the head of the Union Corse, one of the biggest European crime syndicates (second in size only to SPECTRE).

Bond recognizes Draco immediately and provides Draco with a fairly complete profile of himself, but Draco reveals one hidden item: Tracy — the woman Bond rescued — is his only daughter. Draco describes Tracy as a problem child; he also thinks Bond can resolve her emotional instability. Though Bond believes Tracy needs a psychiatrist, Draco insists that she needs "a man to dominate her". Draco asks Bond to marry Tracy; in return, Bond will receive a personal dowry of one million pounds sterling — in gold — on their wedding day. Bond refuses, but agrees to continue romancing Tracy — at Draco's birthday party — under the agreement that Draco reveal the whereabouts of Ernst Stavro Blofeld (Telly Savalas), the head of SPECTRE.

Returning to MI6 headquarters, M informs Bond he's been relieved from Operation Bedlam (tracking and killing Blofeld). Angered by the slight — Bond considered Blofeld a "must" kill — he impetuously dictates his resignation to Miss Moneypenny and returns to his desk to clear out his keepsakes. Recalled to M's office, he is briskly informed his request is granted. Leaving M's office, he discovers Moneypenny requested a fortnight's leave instead, knowing Bond didn't really want to resign. Realising he can pursue Blofeld on his time off and not quit MI6, he thanks Moneypenny and heads for Draco's birthday party in Portugal.

At the party, Tracy discovers Bond's deal with her father and strong-arms Draco into providing Bond with the information he requested. Draco tells Bond that several of his Union Corse men recently defected to Blofeld, and that the connection is Gebrüder Gumbold, a law firm in Bern, Switzerland (Gebrüder is German for "brothers", especially brothers owning a firm together). Distraught, Tracy runs away in tears; Bond catches up with her and wipes away the tears from her eyes. From that moment, they begin a whirlwind romance, backed by Louis Armstrong's rendition of "We Have All the Time in the World."

Bond and Tracy, who are falling in love, go to Bern with Draco to investigate Gumbold's connection with Blofeld. Searching the lawyer's office, Bond finds Blofeld's correspondence with the London College of Arms: Blofeld is attempting to lay claim to the title 'Comte Balthazar de Bleuchamp' — de Bleuchamp being the French form of the Blofeld surname. His College of Arms correspondent is geneaologist Sir Hilary Bray, who confirms Blofeld's pursuit of the title and agrees to cooperate with Bond. The discovery is the solid lead he needs; he visits M at home and is granted permission to chase Blofeld.

Posing as Bray, Bond visits Blofeld, under pretense of verifying the genealogical and physical characteristics of his de Bleuchamp ancestry. Blofeld has established a clinical research institute atop Piz Gloria, an alp in Switzerland. Disguised as the effete, foppish Bray, Bond meets ten beautiful young women from around the world. They are patients of the institute's clinic, ostensibly undergoing unorthodox psychological and immunological treatments for food allergies and phobias. In fact, the women are unknowingly being brainwashed to distribute, at Blofeld's command, bacteriological warfare agents throughout their parts of the world.

James Bond's lasciviousness betrays him to Blofeld henchwoman Irma Bunt, who captures him during a second visit to the bed of one of the "patients". Blofeld tells Bond his escapades have revealed his true identity; he also reveals a blunder that the real Hilary Bray would not have made (Bond identified the wrong church as the repository of the de Bleuchamp birth records). Bond escapes imprisonment in the cable-car machinery room of Piz Gloria, viciously subdues a guard, then escapes by skiing down Piz Gloria; Bond is spotted escaping and is chased by Blofeld and his henchmen. He reaches the village of Mürren during its winter festival and there encounters Tracy, who is in Switzerland looking for Bond (having been told his whereabouts by her father). Tracy acquits herself well in helping Bond escape, greatly impressing Bond, and together they flee in her Cougar. They finally escape their SPECTRE pursuers in a frantic car chase ending — for their pursuers — at an ice-track auto race. A blizzard forces them to a remote barn, where Bond declares his love for Tracy and proposes marriage to her; she accepts. Next morning they ski away, but Blofeld has tracked them down. Blofeld creates an avalanche, deliberately sacrificing some of his own men, to shorten his pursuit of the pair; he succeeds in incapacitating Bond and capturing Tracy.

Meanwhile, Blofeld holds the world at ransom with the threat of destroying its agriculture, using his brainwashed patients to release bacteriological agents which target vital types of livestock and food plants. His price is amnesty for all past crimes and recognition of his 'Comte Balthazar de Bleuchamp' title. Despite Bond's pleas, M will not allow Bond to lead an assault on Piz Gloria, as the Prime Minister has deemed such a plan too risky. As Bond realises that without the radio complex at Piz Gloria to signal his patients, Blofeld's plan will fail, Bond contacts Draco at Draco Construction to arrange a "demolition job" of Piz Gloria. Bond joins Draco and his Union Corse henchmen in a mercenary helicopter assault on Piz Gloria, in hopes of destroying the facility and rescuing Tracy.

The raid is successful, and Bond and Blofeld are the last to escape before the institute is detonated by Draco's assault team. The pair engage in a furious bobsled chase down Piz Gloria, with Bond leaping onto Blofeld's bobsled after he destroys Bond's bobsled with a hand grenade. In the fistfight aboard the bobsled, a distracted Blofeld is snared by the neck in low overhanging tree branches, ripping him out of the bobsled and apparently killing him. Bond loses control of the bobsled, which flies out of the run, but Bond survives unscathed.

Bond and Tracy marry in Portugal, with Draco's men and M, Q and a tearful Miss Moneypenny present. (During the best man's toast, Bond wipes the tears from Tracy's eyes in the exact same manner as he had at Draco's birthday party.) They drive away in the Aston Martin, pulling over to the roadside a few kilometres later. Bond removes the wedding flower decorations, and the couple exchange professions of love. Suddenly a black Mercedes sedan approaches: Blofeld, in a neck brace, is driving, and Irma Bunt, his passenger, fires at the newlyweds with an MP-40 submachine gun. Despite several bursts on the vehicle, Bond is unharmed, Bond quickly enters the car and then speaks to his wife, she doesn't answer. Bond then looks to see that a bullet had passed through the windsheild and passed through Tracy's forehead, and she is dead. Moments later, a motorcycle policeman finds the grieving groom cradling his dead wife. Fingering her wedding band, Bond turns and explains that she's tired and is just sleeping: "We have all the time in the world". (The phrase was later used as Tracy's epitaph, as seen in the graveyard pre-credits sequence of For Your Eyes Only (1981).)

Cast

Crew

Soundtrack

Untitled

Once again, the soundtrack to this James Bond adventure was composed, arranged, and conducted by John Barry; it was his fifth successive Bond film. The opening theme proved a difficult composition; usually these are eponymous, and include the film's title in the lyrics, and the film became the first in the series to deviate from this rule. (Currently, the other exceptions are "All Time High" from Octopussy, the three-tune medley from Dr. No and "You Know My Name" from Casino Royale; "Nobody Does it Better" from The Spy Who Loved Me includes the title in the lyrics.) John Barry felt it would be difficult to compose a theme song containing the title On Her Majesty's Secret Service unless it was written operatically, in the style of Gilbert and Sullivan; director Peter R. Hunt allowed an instrumental title theme. The theme, "On Her Majesty's Secret Service", is used in the film as an action theme alternate to Monty Norman's "James Bond Theme", as is the case with Barry's previous "007" theme. "On Her Majesty's Secret Service" was remixed in 1997 by the Propellerheads and was featured as a theme in the trailers for the 2004 Pixar animated film The Incredibles.

The 1962 "James Bond Theme" by Monty Norman, first played in Dr. No, was heard for the last time in a Bond film to date. The 1962 version has played since Sean Connery's tenure from 1962 to 1967. Since then, the Bond theme has been reproduced in many ways after OHMSS.

Barry also composed the love song, "We Have All the Time in the World", sung by Louis Armstrong. With lyrics by Burt Bacharach's regular lyricist Hal David, it is heard during the Bond–Tracy courtship montage, bridging Draco's birthday party in Portugal and Bond's burglary of the Gebrüder Gumbold law office in Bern, Switzerland. "We Have All the Time in the World" often is mistakenly referred to as the opening credits theme. It was Louis Armstrong's last film performance (he was dying of cancer at the time). At the time, the song barely made an impact on the charts. Years later though, it became very well known, thanks largely to its use in a Guinness advertising campaign, and is now considered among the finest of Barry's songs for the franchise.

Track listing

  1. "We Have All the Time in the World"
  2. "This Never Happened to the Other Feller"
  3. "Try"
  4. "Ski Chase"
  5. "Do You Know How Christmas Trees Are Grown?"
  6. "Main Theme"—On Her Majesty's Secret Service
  7. "Journey to Blofeld's Hideaway"
  8. "We Have All the Time in the World"
  9. "Over and Out"
  10. "Battle at Piz Gloria"
  11. "We Have All the Time in the World"—James Bond Theme
  12. "Journey to Draco's Hideaway"

Bonus Tracks on 2003 Release

  1. "Bond and Draco"
  2. "Gumbold's Safe"
  3. "Bond Settles In"
  4. "Bond Meets The Girls"
  5. "Dusk at Piz Gloria"
  6. "Sir Hillary's Night Out (Who Will Buy My Yesterdays?)"
  7. "Blofeld's Plot"
  8. "Escape From Piz Gloria"
  9. "Bobsled Chase"

Vehicles and gadgets

Main articles: List of James Bond vehicles and List of James Bond gadgets
  • Aston Martin DBS — This car is seen in the movie in four scenes: in the pre-credits teaser, outside Bond's hotel, briefly outside a jeweler's shop, and as Bond & Tracy's wedding car. Nothing is known about what kind of gadgets are installed, except for a rifle with a telescopic sight mounted in the glovebox.
  • Radioactive Lint — In the beginning of the story, Q is showing M a homing device made of radioactive lint: "When placed in a person's pocket, the anti-personnel and location fix seems fairly obvious." M is more concerned with a location fix of 007. Reportedly, director Peter Hunt had a disdain for the multiple gadgets of previous films, so the creation of the seemingly silly radioactive lint (coupled with a general lack of gadgets in the film otherwise) was seen as his response to this. Ironically, the concept of radioactive lint actually makes it one of the most practical of all James Bond film gadgets.
  • Safecracker — A small (for its time) device consisting of a flexible cable ending in a grapple meant to be fitted on a typical safe combination lock. The machine would then examine the lock, figure its combination, and open the safe. Additionally, the safecracker has an integral photocopier, to copy secret documents, and minimize the chance of the owner's learning of the break-in if the documents went missing. It is implied that the device is slow-working, as it takes an entire lunch hour to crack the safe. As demonstrated in the film, the device isn't very practical; aside from its slowness it requires support to transport the large device to the site and again to remove it after the job is done (in this film, a fellow agent passes the device to Bond using a crane from a neighbouring construction site).

Locations

Film locations

Shooting locations

Italics indicate the locations in the movie portrayed by each shooting location.

Trivia

  • The first shot of the movie shows a steel name plate with a reflection of a man walking across the street. This man is actually director Peter R. Hunt who had a Hitchcock-like cameo appearance.
  • This is the first film, in the official series, in which M's home is shown.
  • For insurance reasons Lazenby was not allowed to do any of the skiing in the film: he did sneak skiing, and once ended skiing underneath the cable car, which was, coincidentally, taking Broccoli up to Piz Gloria.
  • Originally the plan was to open On Her Majesty's Secret Service with Bond undergoing plastic surgery to hide from his enemies (his faked death in Japan, in the previous adventure, having been unsuccessful). The intention was to allow an unrecognizable Bond to infiltrate Blofeld's hideout, and so help the audience accept the new in actor in the role, but this never came to fruition.
  • The building used for Blofeld's clinic, Piz Gloria, is a restaurant atop the Schilthorn in the Bernese Oberland. The only public access is by cable car (from Mürren or Stechelberg). It was unfinished when the filmmakers were seeking locations, so EON Productions paid to finish it in return for exclusive use of the property during filming, because the owners didn't have enough money to do it alone.
  • There are homages to previous Bond films including items and songs used during a scene in which Bond is looking through his desk, and a scene where a janitor working for Draco whistles the melody to Goldfinger.
  • Originally, there was a scene filmed wherein James Bond chased and killed a SPECTRE agent spying on his meeting with Sir Hillary Bray. The scene was cut, reportedly, because it was considered too violent.
  • This is the only James Bond movie that takes place entirely in Europe.
  • For the portion of the film where Bond impersonates Sir Hillary Bray, Lazenby's voice was dubbed by the actor George Baker.
  • In this film we learn the Bond family motto, "Orbis non sufficit", translated to "The World Is Not Enough". This motto is used as the title of the 1999 Bond film of the same name.
  • Since George Lazenby was a virtual unknown, initial teaser advertising for the film emphasized the Bond character rather than the actor playing him. Several ads, in fact, utilized an image of a "faceless" Bond. The production company later admitted that the "faceless" advertising campaign was a mistake.
  • Production of OHMSS was delayed twice. It was originally to have followed Goldfinger, and early prints of that film even announced this. Later, it was earmarked to follow Thunderball but ultimately ended up following You Only Live Twice.
  • Diana Rigg was more than a year older than her leading man, one of only a couple of occasions in which a Bond girl was older than Bond (the other occasion involved Honor Blackman being several years older than her Goldfinger co-star, Sean Connery).
  • Adam West, of Batman fame, was offered the role of James Bond, but he turned it down, believing it should be played by a British actor.
  • A heavily re-edited TV version was broadcast by ABC in 1976, featuring opening narration (performed by an actor who sounds nothing like Lazenby) and split into two halves. This version of the film opens with Bond's escape from Blofeld's lair, with the bulk of the film being presented as a flashback[1].
  • This is the only Bond film (to date) in which both the main villain and main henchman (or henchwoman in this case) survive.
  • The character of Irma Bunt did not return to Diamonds Are Forever because Ilse Steppat died a few days after the film's release.
  • Joanna Lumley, who played the "English Girl" at Piz Gloria, read an abridged version of the original novel on BBC Radio 4.
Wikiquote has quotations related to On Her Majesty's Secret Service.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/enwiki/w/index.php?title=On_Her_Majesty%27s_Secret_Service_(film)&oldid=90916115"