On Her Majesty's Secret Service (film)

This is a good article. Click here for more information.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
On Her Majesty's Secret Service
A man in a dinner jacket on skis, holding a gun. Next to him is a red-headed woman, also on skis and with a gun. They are being pursued by men on skis and a bobsleigh, all with guns. In the top left of the picture are the words FAR UP! FAR OUT! FAR MORE! James Bond 007 is back!
Theatrical release poster by Robert McGinnis and Frank McCarthy
Directed byPeter R. Hunt
Screenplay byRichard Maibaum
Additional dialogue by
Based onOn Her Majesty's Secret Service
by Ian Fleming
Produced byHarry Saltzman
Albert R. Broccoli
Starring
CinematographyMichael Reed
Edited byJohn Glen
Music byJohn Barry
Production
company
Distributed byUnited Artists
Release dates
  • 18 December 1969 (London, premiere)
  • 19 December 1969 (United States)
Running time
142 minutes[1]
CountriesUnited Kingdom[2]
United States[3]
LanguageEnglish
Budget$7 million
Box office$82 million

On Her Majesty's Secret Service is a 1969 spy film and the sixth in the James Bond series produced by Eon Productions. It is based on the 1963 novel by Ian Fleming. Following Sean Connery's decision to retire from the role after You Only Live Twice, Eon selected George Lazenby, a model with no prior acting credits, to play the part of James Bond. During filming, Lazenby announced that he would play the role of Bond only once. Connery returned to portray Bond in 1971's Diamonds Are Forever.

In the film, Bond faces Blofeld (Telly Savalas), who is planning to hold the world to ransom by threatening to render all food plants and livestock infertile through the actions of a group of brainwashed "angels of death". Along the way Bond meets, falls in love with, and eventually marries Contessa Teresa di Vicenzo (Diana Rigg).

It is the only Bond film to have been directed by Peter R. Hunt (with this serving as his directorial debut), who had served as a film editor and second unit director on previous films in the series. Hunt, along with producers Albert R. Broccoli and Harry Saltzman, decided to produce a more realistic film that would follow the novel closely. It was shot in Switzerland, England, and Portugal from October 1968 to May 1969. Although its cinema release was not as lucrative as its predecessor You Only Live Twice, On Her Majesty's Secret Service was still one of the top-performing films of the year. Critical reviews upon release were mixed, but the film's reputation has improved greatly over time and is now regarded as one of the strongest entries in the series as well as one of the most faithful adaptations of a Fleming novel. The film's title is a play on the phrase "On Her Majesty's Service".

Plot[edit]

James Bond saves a woman on the beach from an attempted suicide by drowning, and later meets her again in a casino. The woman, Contessa Teresa "Tracy" di Vicenzo, invites Bond to her hotel room to thank him, but when Bond arrives he is attacked by an unidentified man. After subduing the man, Bond returns to his own room and finds Tracy there; she claims she was unaware of the attacker's presence. The next morning, Bond is kidnapped by several men, including the one he fought, who take him to meet Marc-Ange Draco, the head of the European crime syndicate Unione Corse. Draco reveals that Tracy is his only daughter and tells Bond of her troubled past, offering Bond one million pounds if he will marry her. Bond refuses, but agrees to continue romancing Tracy if Draco helps him track down Ernst Stavro Blofeld, the head of SPECTRE.

Upon returning to London, M relieves Bond of his mission to assassinate Blofeld. Furious, Bond dictates a letter of resignation to Moneypenny, which she alters into a request for leave. Bond heads for Draco's birthday party in Portugal. There, Bond and Tracy begin a whirlwind romance, and Draco directs Bond to a law firm in Bern, Switzerland. Bond breaks into the office of Swiss lawyer Gebruder Gumbold and learns that Blofeld is corresponding with London College of Arms genealogist Sir Hilary Bray, attempting to claim the title Count Balthazar de Bleuchamp.

Posing as Bray, Bond goes to meet Blofeld, who has established a clinical allergy research institute atop Piz Gloria in the Swiss Alps. Bond meets twelve young women (later referred to by Blofeld as his "angels of death"), who are patients at the institute's clinic, apparently cured of various allergies. After dinner, Bond goes to the room of one patient, Ruby, to seduce her. At midnight, while still with Ruby, Bond discovers the women go into a sleep-induced hypnotic state while Blofeld implants subliminal audio instructions. In fact, they are being brainwashed to distribute bacteriological warfare agents throughout the world.

Bond tries to trick Blofeld into leaving Switzerland so that MI6 can arrest him without violating Swiss sovereignty. Blofeld refuses and Bond is eventually caught by henchwoman Irma Bunt. Blofeld reveals that he identified Bond after his attempt to lure him out of Switzerland, and tells his henchmen to take Bond away. Bond eventually makes his escape by skiing down from Piz Gloria while Blofeld and his men give chase. Tracy finds Bond in the village of Lauterbrunnen, and they escape Bunt and her men after a car chase, luring their pursuers into a stock car chase which results in their vehicle overturning. A blizzard forces them to a remote barn, where Bond professes his love to Tracy and proposes marriage to her, which she happily accepts. The next morning, as the chase continues on skis, Blofeld sets off an avalanche. Tracy is captured, while Bond is buried but manages to escape.

Back in London at M's office, Bond is informed that Blofeld intends to hold the world to ransom by threatening to destroy its agriculture using his brainwashed women, demanding amnesty for all past crimes, and that he be recognised as the current Count de Bleuchamp. M tells 007 that the ransom will be paid and forbids him to mount a rescue mission. Bond instead enlists Draco and his forces to attack Blofeld's headquarters, while also rescuing Tracy from Blofeld's captivity. The facility is destroyed, and Blofeld escapes the destruction alone in a bobsleigh, with Bond pursuing him. The chase ends when Blofeld is trapped in a collision with the branch of a tree.

Bond and Tracy marry in Portugal, then drive away in Bond's Aston Martin DBS. When Bond pulls over to the roadside to remove flowers from the car, Blofeld and Bunt commit a drive-by shooting of the couple's car. Bond survives, but Tracy is killed in the attack.

Cast[edit]

Blofeld's Angels of Death[edit]

Some of the "Angels of Death" at Piz Gloria during principal photography. From left to right: Mona Chong, Zaheera, Julie Ege, Jenny Hanley, Anouska Hempel, Joanna Lumley.

The angels of death are 12 beautiful women from all over the world being brainwashed by Blofeld under the guise of allergy or phobia treatment to spread the Virus Omega.[4] There is at least one blonde, brunette, and redhead as well as Asian women and a black woman. A number appeared in the representative styles of dress of their particular nation. Their unwitting mission is to help Blofeld contaminate and ultimately sterilise the world's food supply.

Production[edit]

The novel On Her Majesty's Secret Service was first published after the film series started and contains "a gentle dig at the cinematic Bond's gadgets"; Broccoli and Saltzman had originally intended to make On Her Majesty's Secret Service after Goldfinger and Richard Maibaum worked on a script at that time.[10] However, Thunderball was filmed instead after the ongoing rights dispute over the novel was settled between Fleming and Kevin McClory.[11] On Her Majesty's Secret Service was due to follow that,[10] but problems with a warm Swiss winter and inadequate snow cover led to Saltzman and Broccoli postponing the film again, favouring production of You Only Live Twice.[12]

Between the resignation of Sean Connery at the beginning of filming You Only Live Twice and its release, Saltzman had planned to adapt The Man with the Golden Gun in Cambodia and use Roger Moore as the next Bond, but political instability meant the location was ruled out and Moore signed up for another series of The Saint.[13] After You Only Live Twice was released in 1967, the producers once again picked up with On Her Majesty's Secret Service.[10]

Peter Hunt, who had worked on the five preceding films, had impressed Broccoli and Saltzman enough to earn his directorial debut as they believed his quick cutting had set the style for the series.[14] It was also the result of a long-standing promise from Broccoli and Saltzman for a directorial position, which they honored after Lewis Gilbert declined to direct.[15][16] Hunt also asked for the position during the production of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, and he brought along with him many crew members, including cinematographer Michael Reed.[17] Hunt was focused on making his mark – "I wanted it to be different than any other Bond film would be. It was my film, not anyone else's."[18] On Her Majesty's Secret Service was the last film in the series on which Hunt worked.[19]