3 replies to this topic

[broadshoulder]

In the build up to QoS I'm doing some mini reviews for another site. Let me know what you think of this...

Time has been very kind to this film.

Nearly forty years have passed since its release. A new generation has grown up evaluating it away from the straightjacket of Connery and the press reaction of Christmas 1969. From the safety of nearly forty years we can now conclude that 'On Her Majesty's Secret Service' is one of the great James Bond films. Some say it is the very best of all.

It was the first of the film's to feature the famous ski chases. And although 'The Spy Who Loved Me' and 'For Your Eyes Only' would probably do them better they are they are some of the most exciting in the series. When the screen fills with a white mountain and the zig-zag of Bond and SPECTRE skiers tearing down at speed then you cannot help but get caught up in the action. The action scene's in OHMSS are superb and still stand the test of time today. Back in 1969 audiences came out groggy from the auditorium after whooshing with 007 and Blofeld as they battled each other on a bobsled run.

One of the reasons why OHMSS works so well is that it sticks so closely to the Fleming novel. Many of Flemings backstory about the characters are incorporated into the film and makes them more rounded. In particular the character of Tracy - Fleming's best written female character - who played by Diana Rigg is one of the better Bond girls. This is a beautiful story where Bond marries for love.This is not a conventional Bond film and was a very tough one to pull off. George Lazenby has to work very hard for the scenes to be credible and to his credit he succeeds as often as he fails.

How can you describe George Lazenby? Probably as the man who snatched defeat from the jaws of victory. The one time Bond who couldn’t quite make the grade and antagonised the producers so much that they were not going to offer him another chance. Actually, he doesn’t do a bad job and the director Peter Hunt gets a good peformance in certain scenes. And his worse detractors must see that he is fabulous in the action scene’s. They gambled with Lazenby, an unknown had worked seven years before with Connery and they recognised that sixties machismo in the Australian model. Where he falls down is in the emotional scene’s with Tracy, and OHMSS is primarily a love story. At the end of his thirties James Bond falls head over heels in love and the actor must carry this responsibility as the audience will initially be reluctant to accept it. Connery could have carried it - so could a Dalton, a Craig or even a Moore - they were experienced screen actors. Lazenby does the best he can - and doesnt do a bad job.

Certainly it is a novelty having a Bond girl having more of a screen presence than 007 himself. There is no doubt that Dame Diana Rigg, as she is now, is a sterling addition to the Bond cannon. She simply sparkles on screen and has the experience, range and talent to pull off a very difficult role - the woman who marries James Bond for love. The character of Contessa Teresa di Vicenzo was also one of Fleming's best. Detractors always decry that Fleming didn't know much about women but those in his books were the best rounded characters. The Countessa was 'a bird with a wing down'. A woman who despite having everything in life was in desperately unhappy verging on suicidal. In many ways she seems the opposite of James Bond but it is this mutual need for someone which brings them together. My favourite Tracy scene is when she falls into Blofelds clutches and as the helicoptors mount their attack on Piz Gloria and she recognises her fathers voice and plays for time. She is such a good actress that you can tell what she is thinking behind her eyes.

After escaping his volcano lair in 'You Only Live Twice' James Bond finally catches up with his nemesis in Switzerland. It can be argued that OHMSS was Blofelds best Bond film. Telly Savalas may not have the sinister mannerisms of Donald Pleasance but he still makes a very good villain. There is a malice to Savalas that I have not seen in many of the Bond actors and supposedly his jibes at George Lazenby whilst filming were one of the reasons for the Australian's unhappiness in the role. Savalas portrays rather a malicious villain. His assistant is of course the wicked Irma Bunt - one of Fleming's best villainesses. I've often wondered if Bunt had a back-story, I've scanned Fleming and he offers no clues. I've always imagined her to have a Nazi past - perhaps she was a member of Hitler youth - and she recognises that same charisma and power in Blofeld. Whatever, she is a fabulous vllainess and it is she who guns down Mrs Bond in the last scene.

Also a word must go for the setting of the film in the snows of Switzerland at Christmas. Snow seems to permeate the film and the winter conditions give it a brittle, chilling edge. We shiver with Irmas girls as they go down in the cable car in the freezing mountain air. Snow and winter seem to give the film a crisp taut feel - remember the red blood against the white snow with the "he had lots of guts" demise of the SPECTRE skier. The snowy terrain becomes just as much a protagonist in this film as the ocean in Thunderball - the icicle filled caverns where Blofeld keeps his laborotory, the sheer walls of the bobsled run, the blizzard conditions, the ice bridge collapsing and of course the avalanche itself. The Swiss Alps are still a playground where one can go ski-ing and tobogganing - but one touched with danger.

OHMSS marks a high point in the series and is often Bond fans favourite film.But nowadays I think it deserves the recognition of a great Bond film. Watching it now without the baggage of the publicity and the sheer shock of watching a non-actor play James Bond you can make a dispassionate appraisal as successive generations have done. It is a superb film - exciting, emotionally-engaging and impressively scripted.

A contender for the very best James Bond film.

[ImTheMoneypenny]

Another great review! Makes me want to watch this one as well!

[Richard]

Good review.

May I point out that this Blofeld is the strongest version of the character because he is physically dangerous. Instead of shooting his mouth off and hiding behind henchmen, he leads the hunt, he confronts the good guy, and he physically combats the good guy. This is the only Blofeld to hold his own in a fight with James Bond. Telly Savalas plays him as a man who knows no limits. He projects a sadistic cruel streak that rivets our attention. That's a villain I can believe in.

Another reason why OHMSS is the best Bond film is that it operates on a human level. This James Bond is not a superman. His physical feats are impressive because they're played for real. This Bond is mortal, but he is also tough, hard to confine and hard to kill. This James Bond and this Blofeld are about evenly matched, I would say. It is also character-driven. The story makes us care about Bond and Tracy. They are vulnerable without being pathetic or dumb. The devolpment of their relationship is a drama that audiences can relate to, identify with, and believe in. It's good drama all around.

George Lazenby's inexperience shows sometimes, but he is working hard, and gives 100% of himself every moment. For an inexperienced actor, his performance is remarkably good, perhaps because he is the right personality for the part -- an arrogant, supremely confident, decent and intelligent man who is adept at both the athletic and emotional business required of an actor. In the 1960s, Sean Connery was like a force of nature as James Bond. Nobody could compete with him nor fill his shoes and anyone who tried was bound to lose. It took 4 Beatles, but only one Connery to lead the charge of the British invasion. Audiences weren't quite ready yet to accept another actor standing in Connery's shoes. Now that time has passed and other actors have taken a crack at Bond, Lazenby's humanistic portrayal looks very good indeed.

Which brings me to another reason why OHMSS holds up so well. It never descends into farce or science-fiction. There are no flying cars, submarine cars, obnoxious southern sheriffs, malicious midgets, giants with steel teeth, or battles in outer space. OHMSS strikes the right tone every time. Tongue-in-cheek, but not a comedy.

The action is memorable, too. The fight sequences go by quicker than the eye. If you were to watch them repeatedly, or watch them in slow-motion, you might appreciate the meticulous choreography and dense detail of these fight sequences. They are the best of the series, and like everything else in the film, are played for realism.

If anyone were to ask me what do you want from a James Bond film, I would answer, storytelling like On Her Majesty's Secret Service. The film reflects Peter Hunt's taste and judgment and Richard Maibaum's best writing. They worked so well together. I can't praise this film highly enough. Not only is OHMSS the best Bond film, it is superior, even classic, film making.

Richard

Edited by Richard, 09 August 2008 - 03:14 AM.

[lazenbyland]

Post withdrawn.

Edited by lazenbyland, 11 August 2008 - 03:15 PM.