On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969)

James Bond woos a mob boss's daughter and goes undercover to uncover the true reason for Blofeld's allergy research in the Swiss Alps that involves beautiful women from around the world.

Director:

Peter R. Hunt

Writers:

Simon Raven (additional dialogue), Richard Maibaum (screenplay),

Stars:

George Lazenby, Diana Rigg, Telly Savalas

Nominated for 1 Golden Globe. Another 2 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
George Lazenby	...	James Bond
Diana Rigg	...	Tracy
Telly Savalas	...	Blofeld
Gabriele Ferzetti	...	Draco
Ilse Steppat	...	Irma Bunt
Lois Maxwell	...	Moneypenny
George Baker	...	Sir Hilary Bray
Bernard Lee	...	'M'
Bernard Horsfall	...	Campbell
Desmond Llewelyn	...	'Q'
Yuri Borionko	...	Grunther (as Yuri Borienko)
Virginia North	...	Olympe
Geoffrey Cheshire	...	Toussaint
Irvin Allen	...	Che Che
Terence Mountain	...	Raphael (as Terry Mountain)

Storyline

George Lazenby steps into the role of James Bond and is sent on his first mission. For help with Draco, he must becomes very close friends with her daughter, Tracy, and heads off to hunt down Ernst Stavro Blofeld one more time. This takes him to Switzerland, where he must pose as Sir Hilary Bray to find out the secret plan of Blofeld. The facility is covered with Blofeld's guards and well as his hench-woman, Irma Bunt. What has Blofeld got in mind this time? Bond keep up this act for much longer? and are ALL Bond girls safe?

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Plot Keywords:

switzerland | mission | virus | british | agent | 

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Taglines:

James Bond OO7 [German poster]

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Genres:

Action | Adventure | Crime | Romance | Thriller

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Certificate:

M

Details

Official Sites:

MGM Official Site

Country:

UK

Language:

English German

Release Date:

18 December 1969 (USA)

Also Known As:

Ian Fleming's On Her Majesty's Secret Service

Filming Locations:

St. Moritz, Kanton Graubünden, Switzerland

Box Office

Budget:

$7,000,000 (estimated)

Gross:

$22,800,000 (USA)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Danjaq, Eon Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

142 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Recording System) (uncredited)

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

George A. Cooper is often wrongly credited with being in this film.

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Goofs

During the car chase, before they reach the racetrack, Tracey is seen turning the steering wheel to the left when the road is curving to the right.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Q: I've been saying for years, sir, that our special equipment is obsolete. And now, computer analysis reveals an entirely new approach: miniaturization. For instance, radioactive lint. When placed in an opponent's pockets, the anti-personnel and location fix seems fairly obvious.
M: What we want is a location fix on 007.

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Crazy Credits

During the opening credits, images are shown of Bond girls and villains. (This is the first Bond movie since Goldfinger to feature previous movies' footage in its credits.) Specifics are as follows. *First Set. *Honey Ryder from Dr. No, standing on the beach. *Dr. No from the same, in front of his underground aquarium. *Tatiana Romanova from From Russia with Love, messing around with her hair. *Pussy Galore from Goldfinger, in the barn scene. *Second Set. *The title character from Goldfinger. *Assorted Bond girls from the Goldfinger (1964) / Thunderball (1965) era. *The "Flaming Car Crash" scene from Thunderball. *Third set. *Emilio Largo, the main villain from Thunderball. *Aki, Kissy Suzuki, and a swordsman from You Only Live Twice. *Blofeld's volcano lair exploding from the end of the same. Note the strategic absence of Blofeld from You Only Live Twice, as Blofeld is played by a different actor in this film.

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Connections

Referenced in The Operative: No One Lives Forever (2000)

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Soundtracks

"We have all the time in the world"
Written by John Barry and Hal David
Sung by Louis Armstrong

User Reviews

Great Bond film

"On Her Majesty's Secret Service" is a sadly under-appreciated Bond film which is stylishly-directed and features an outstanding score, like most of these early Bond films. Other than a silly self-referential line in the teaser and some sappy romantic montages, "On Her Majesty's Secret Service" is a thrilling adventure which sees Bond traveling to the Swiss Alps to encounter villains and partake in dangerous action sequences.

It sounds like a Bond film, alright, but this is actually quite different from the formulaic films one would later expect from the series, and the sort of film Bond was gravitating towards with "Thunderball" and "You Only Live Twice". It certainly delivers on the promise of sexual innuendo and lots of provocatively dressed women, but it's a different sort of Bond in that it seems to be more straight-faced and harsh, culminating in what is probably the saddest Bond ending. It's also probably the closest to Fleming's version of Bond outside of "Casino Royale", although "The Living Daylights" was also somewhat similar to the literary Bond. As a Fleming fan it is nice to see the Bond series take after the books.

Lazenby, who has been frequently criticized and is many people's least favorite Bond, actually does a decent job of the role. He's nowhere near as good as Connery, of course, but I thought that other than the scenes where he tried to seriously emote, he carried the film with his charisma and physical presence. I strongly believe he should have continued in the role. Lazenby fits the content of the film, which is certainly far more down to Earth than many other Bond films, and focuses heavily on hand-to-hand combat in the action scenes, which is somewhat refreshing after the overblown (entertaining, but seriously outrageous) action scenes in "You Only Live Twice". This is a genuinely good script, with a solid plot, good dialogue, and good characterization.

It's not just a throwaway action flick, it's an excellent espionage thriller with a strong dramatic core, and as fun as things like "Goldfinger" certainly are, it's nice to see one of these movies treat women as more than mere sex objects, and it's interesting to see a Bond girl paired with a Bond who reacts as a human would and not a cartoon character. Diana Rigg is probably my favorite Bond girl. She gives a strong performance and is helped by an excellent script which gives her a fair amount to do.

By staying closer to the source material, "On Her Majesty's Secret Service" dramatically improves on its two predecessors and features some of the best locations in the series, although I admit my familiarity with the majority of the Swiss shooting locations gives me a nostalgic view of things. "On Her Majesty's Secret Service" is a strong contender for the title of best Bond film.

9/10