ON HER MAJESTY’S SECRET SERVICE (1969)
We Have All The Time In The World
“I think, ‘Her Majesty’ Secret Service’ would be my favorite Bond. It’s a hell of a movie, it holds up very well...There’s a tremendous balance of action, scale, and romanticism and tragedy and emotion. Of all the Bond films, it’s by far the most emotional.”
- Christopher Nolan, Empire Magazine (2010)
I never thought of ON HER MAJESTY’S SECRET SERVICE (or OHMSS to save my fingers the work) as the Christmas James Bond until Neon Splatter’s Rob Dean brought it up. But it totally is. Even more than the one with an actual character named “Christmas Jones” (THE WORLD IS NOT ENOUGH).
If any Bond movie can be a “Cult Film”, OHMSS is without a doubt the one. This sixth movie in the series is best known as the only film by one-off Bond George Lazenby. Initially a box office disappointment it has grown in influence.
For anybody that loves behind the scenes drama, this movie is CRAMMED with it.
Sean Connery was eager to act in an adaptation of Ian Fleming’s novel after GOLDFINGER but the producers kept pushing that project back to first do THUNDERBALL and then YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE. By the time EON Productions got around to it, Connery had grown weary of contract negotiations and the role in general so he moved on.
This was a BIG DEAL at the time and what EON did next defined the franchise for the next 50 years. The Bond franchise was the MCU of the ‘60s and Connery was their RDJ.
But the producers decided the franchise was bigger than any one star. So their replacement was first time actor/model George Lazenby.
At the end of YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE, Bond and Ernst Stavro Blofeld finally encountered each other for the first time and, for the last two years leading up to this movie, Bond has chased shadows and hints with nary a lead to his whereabouts. Bond receives an unexpected offer from industrialist/criminal kingpin Marc-Ange Draco (Gabriele Ferzetti). He offers to help Bond IF he agrees to romances his free spirited daughter, Countess Tracy di Vicenzo (an absolutely radiant Diane Riggs). Bond falls head over heels for Tracy and for the first time in his life, he believes he can finally settle down. First he has to wrap up his affairs and stop Blofeld (Telly Savalas) for good.
On the page, the central romance may sound slight but Riggs sells THE SHIT out of it. Fans that only know Riggs from her work as Game of Thrones’ Olenna Tyrell will see how she was perfectly cast as Natalie Dormer’s grandmother. Riggs already had a fanbase as the iconic Mrs. Peel on TV’s The Avenger’s, so this was an easy fit within the Bond universe. Riggs plays Tracy as a grounded woman with depth. She’s savvy and cynical about the world she lives in yet excited by the danger of Bond’s exploits. Their relationship adds stakes for Bond. He needs to learn to be less free-spirited. His philandering ways and dalliances with other women now come off as foolhardy and dangerous. (Ab Fab fans will spot a young Joanna Lumley as a conquest.)
The Christmas element doesn’t arrive until about 50 minutes. Blofeld plans his latest world dominating scheme in a Swiss mountain top compound. It’s December. Christmas decorations adorn everything. Even Blofeld’s romper room has a Christmas tree with presents. Bond gets into this impenetrable compound by pretending to be a genealogist. As typical in a Bond movie, the British superspy makes no real attempt to disguise himself outside of having another actor dub his voice.
But there is one moment in this scene that I never quite get: Bond and Blofeld meet but don’t acknowledge that they were face to face in the previous movie. In the book chronology, this was the first time they meet but here it’s almost as if they don’t recognize one another because they’re both being played by totally different actors.
This is because there’s a weird double vision when you watch OHMSS. You see Lazenby but you constantly compare him to Connery. At the time, he was mercilessly attacked for NOT being Sean Connery.
Once we had other people to compare it to, you can see Lazenby is a very competent Bond. He’s more in the Dalton school of a vulnerable and less sure-footed spy. As a result, you worry about him more than you would Connery.
Tension builds as we wait for Bond to get figured out by Blofeld. Once the action starts, it doesn’t let up. The last hour is one suspenseful set piece after another. It’s more in the playful Hitchcock school, juxtaposing the festive holiday setting with suspense. It would not shock me if a young Shane Black caught this during its initial release.
With all of the snow-based actions scenes that’s been in the series (THE SPY WHO LOVED ME, FOR YOUR EYES ONLY, A VIEW TO A KILL, LIVING DAYLIGHTS, THE WORLD IS NOT ENOUGH, SPECTRE) it’s funny to consider that it was this sixth film to start the tradition. The camerawork by Olympic skier Willy Bogner is breathtaking. It swoops behind, over, and right next to the stunt people skiing down perilous slopes. This type of technical mastery is why the analog Bond movies still hold up. Christopher Nolan openly admits that the snow fortress sequence in INCEPTION owes this movie a big debt.
When you know people are doing action scenes on top of a mountain, the “you are there” physicality draws you in. Bond hangs from the icy cables of a gondola lift. There’s a tense kinetic bobsled chase (probably the only one in film history). An amazing shot follows a stunt dummy off a cliff as it falls for a good fifteen seconds. You know that’s not a real person but you hold your breath regardless.
They stacked the deck for success. Putting in high-end talent in front and behind the camera. Since Lazenby was a new guy, they made certain he was surrounded by ringers. Telly Savalas is easily my favorite Blofeld. He’s charming, physically imposing, and is generally just awesome. Nobody holds a cigarette like him.
This would be director Peter R. Hunt’s only time in the director’s seat. He was the series editor for the first five movies and this was his big moment. You wish he would have done more. OHMSS’s actual editor John Glen would later direct five Bond films himself. And the score is arguably John Barry’s best work on the series.
It’s a rare moment where the franchise finally grew up. Unlike previous movies, there’s never a laser beam or mountain volcano or an army of ninjas. All the relationships feel deeper. Scenes with M (Benard Lee) and Miss Moneypenny (Lois Maxwell) seem more nuanced. DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER would immediately walk back the series style towards cartoony larger-than-life hijinks for the next decade. But eventually, the franchise caught back up to it. The Daniel Craig-era Bonds are particularly influenced by OHMSS; NO TIME TO DIE has multiple references including using the heartbreaking Louis Armstrong number (“We Have All The Time In The World”) over the closing credits.
Seems silly to SPOILER WARNING a 52-year-old movie but I want to give newbies a chance to discover this gem. To everybody that hasn’t seen it, don’t read further and instead visit this classic. It’s amazing.
To everybody else, read on after the video…
SPOILERS
Tracy Bond is the very first notable time in pop culture that a superhero’s love interest is “fridged”. Gwen Stacy wouldn’t fall off the Brooklyn Bridge for another four years. Since the concept would not be even vocalized for another 30 years, I think it’s fair to consider this instance of its own merit. The entire movie has an air of tragic romanticism and Tracy’s death is utterly devastating. Only 2006’s CASINO ROYALE reaches a similar level of emotion. I appreciate how later films (DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER, FOR YOUR EYES ONLY, LICENSE TO KILL) reference this moment as Bond’s emotional sore spot. Lazenby nails the heartbreak of the closing beats of the film.
I can’t even imagine how I would feel if Connery was in the role. Lazenby’s legacy is the humanity he contributed to the franchise.
