On Her Majesty's Secret Service Review

On Her Majesty's Secret Service

Release Date: 1969 - Australia

Production Companies

Eon Productions (made by)

Genre: Action

Rating: PG

Runtime: 142 minutes

Budget: $7,000,000

Box Office Gross: $82,000,000 (Worldwide)


Plot Summary
Failing his usual
intelligence sources, Bond
enlists the help of crime
boss Draco to find Ernst
Blofeld, head of the evil
SPECTRE organisation.
Bond goes undercover in
Blofeld's high-tech
headquarters in the
mountains of Switzerland.
He meets various
seductive women, but
none as beautiful as Draco's
daughter, Tracy, who
charms 007 with her fierce
independence, biting wit
and spirit of adventure.

Bond pledges his undying
devotion to her, but there
are more urgent matters
on his mind: Blofeld plans
to unleash horrific germ
warfare weaponry, which
will threaten every living
thing on the planet!

Cast

George Lazenby - James Bond

Diana Rigg - Tracy Di Vicenzo

Telly Salvalas - Ernst Stavro Blofeld

Gabriele Ferzetti - Marc Ange Draco

Isle Steppat - Irma Bunt

Yuri Borienko - Grunther

Bernard Lee - M

Lois Maxwell - Miss Moneypenny

Desmond Llewellyn - Q

George Baker - Sir Hilary Bray

Angela Scoular - Ruby Bartlett

Bernard Horsfall - Campbell

Virginia North - Olympie

Catherine Schell - Nancy

Geoffrey Cheshire - Toussaint

Irvin Allen - Che Che

Terence Mountain - Raphael

John Gay - Hammond

James Bree - Gebruder Gumbold

Julie Ege - The Scandinavian Girl

Mona Chong - The Chinese Girl

Sylvana Henriques - The Jamaican Girl

Sally Sheridan - The American Girl

Joanna Lumley - The English Girl

Zaheera - The Indian Girl

Anouska Hempel - The Australian Girl

Ingrid Back - The German Girl

Helena Ronee - The Israeli Girl

Jenny Hanley - The Irish Girl

Crew

Director - Peter Hunt

Based on the Novel "On Her

Majesty's Secret Service" and Characters

"James Bond" - Ian Fleming (Uncredited)

Screenplay - Richard Maibaum

Additional Dialogue - Simon Raven

Associate Producer - Stanley Sopel

Producers - Albert R. Broccoli and

Harry Saltzman

Production Designer - Syd Cain

Art Director - Bob Laing
Set Decorator - Peter Lamont
Costume Designer - Marjory Cornelius

Director of Photography - Michael Reed

Camera Operator - Alec Mills

Aerial Cameraman - John Jordan

Ski Cameramen - Willy Bogner
and Alex Barbey

Assistant Director - Frank Ernst

Second Unit Director/Editor - John Glen

Stunt Arranger - George Leech

Special Effects - John Stears

Special Effects Technician - Bert Luxford (Uncredited)

Matte Artist and Optical Effects - Cliff Culley

(Uncredited)

Optical and Matte Cameraman - Roy Field (Uncredited)

Visual Effects Unit Cameramen - Robin Browne

and Martin Shorthall (Uncredited)

Dubbing Editors - Nicolas Stevenson

and Harry Miller

Sound Recordists - John Mitchell

and Gordon McCallum

Main Title Designer - Maurice Binder
Composer: James Bond Theme - Monty Norman

Music - John Barry

Lyricist - Hal David

Performer: Song "We Have All the Time in the
World" - Louis Armstrong

Review

It's been a year since I watched a Bond movie and decided to review another one. I currently reviewed a Bond movie, You Only Live Twice, but I'm halfway through the sixth flick of ON HER MAJESTY'S SECRET SERVICE, and still, there's work to do in re-watching this underrated classic. It came out as what many consider to be an overlooked film. Since then, everyone who has watched its predecessors nearly forgot this movie existed until decades later, they began to like it even more. Some even regarded it a better film than the entries Roger Moore was in and the latter two with Timothy Dalton.

I first saw this film as a kid, as it was the first James Bond movie I watched. I wasn't allowed to watch the rest of the series before I was mature enough to see any of them that contained its significant plotting and winning formula with its action, espionage and romance. However, I saw a bit of The Man with the Golden Gun, which may or may not have introduced me to the character. It was a unique rarity that a Bond film like this had a tragic ending, which I'll never get over because I was so young and unprepared for any sad conclusions. I have seen this instalment twice because the latest film, Spectre, has now opened in cinemas. I watched it to get myself in the mood for the upcoming feature.

ON HER MAJESTY'S SECRET SERVICE could have been a big start for George Lazenby in his tenure as 007. Unfortunately, his agent persuaded him to decline the role of Diamonds Are Forever due to the salary offer being too low of a figure. To make matters worse, this, combined with the lukewarm critical reception of him playing Bond, are a few reasons he never reprised the role in the later entries. Some movie-goers preferred Sean Connery in the lead when he could not be present in this picture. The film takes me back to nostalgia, which is significant as it brought me to the series. The action sequences are fun to watch and have a lot of edge-of-your-seat moments. The action takes viewers into skiing and bob-sledding and again portrays Bond as a jack of all trades.

More praise is due to George, who, despite being a non-English actor, was a charismatic secret agent with style, charm and wit. He still manages to convince us that Bond is still a suave protagonist. Telly Salvalas's portrayal of Blofeld is unforgettable. He is not as compelling as Donald Pleasence's interpretation, and the story doesn't explain the appearance change, so it's left to the audience's imagination as to why he looks so different.

Beyond question, ON HER MAJESTY'S SECRET SERVICE is one of the strongest Bond films. It is a worthy instalment regardless of the critics' negative reviews and some negative feedback from fans. Please give it another chance, viewers.

Star rating: (10/10) Best Movie Ever

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