ON HER MAJESTY’S SECRET SERVICE is probably Ian Fleming’s most complex Bond yarn— keep in mind the novels are not great literature, they are pulp level action stories— but this one attempts to give Bond some depth and the film-makers for the first time stay closer to the source material than simply the title and minor plot elements and characters. Where they went wrong is mainly the tongue in cheek attitude that would hamper the franchise from this point until Daniel Craig’s turn as 007 forty years later.
Sean Connery seemed bored in the last film and he was, enough was enough and he decided to walk away from the role that had made him famous. A desperate casting call went out and the role eventually went to Australian model George Lazenby, who looked a lot older than his real age of twenty nine. Lazenby isn’t bad, but he’s not Connery and that might be the biggest flaw with the film, although by this time Connery wasn’t Connery either (and we’ll see this in the next film).
Telly Savalas is an interesting choice as Blofeld, who we last saw portrayed by Donald Pleasance. Savalas has a surprisingly strong screen presence but he’s so American and seemingly uncultured he doesn’t fit what we’ve come to think of as Blofeld.
The real win here is Diana Rigg fresh off her cult star status on BBC’s THE AVENGERS, following in the footsteps of Honor Blackman who left an earlier incarnation of the British Spy show to be the Bond girl in GOLDFINGER. Rigg is the strongest Bond girl to date, without throwing spoilers on a fifty year old film, and attains the highest level any Bond girl has ever achieved.
It’s got a great score, the first one without any lyrics, and it doesn’t need it, and a couple of really great ski chases as well as the only sled chase I can recall in the series. But it’s got it’s share of ridiculous parts notably Lazenby’s disguise as a Scottish Nobleman complete with kilt and a badly dubbed accent. But overall it’s a uptick in a series that was on a downward slide.
James Bond will be back (but Lazenby won’t) in DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER
BOND: George Lazeny isn’t Sean Connery, but he’s better than Roger Moore and everyone after him until Danny Craig ****
THEME MUSIC: The series highpoint. *****
VILLAIN: If we hadn’t met Blofeld in the previous entry, Telly Savalas would have been better served, but he’s probably the most seriously threatening Bond villain in the franchise history ****
OVERALL BOND RATING: 9.2 Get over Connery’s absence and embrace Diana Rigg. ****