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On Her Majesty's Secret Service (film)

July 20, 2023

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.

On Her Majesty's Secret Service
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 (1969-12-18) (London, premiere)
  • 19 December 1969 (1969-12-19) (United States)
Running time
142 minutes[1]
CountriesUnited Kingdom[2]
United States[3]
LanguageEnglish
Budget$7 million
Box office$82 million

In the film, Bond faces Blofeld (Telly Savalas), who is planning to hold the world ransom by a threat 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.

Plot

James Bond saves a woman on the beach from committing 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. 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 ensnared by tree branches.

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

  • George Lazenby as James Bond, MI6 agent, code number 007 — with the double zero denoting that an agent is "licensed to kill" on behalf of the government.
  • Diana Rigg as Countess Tracy di Vicenzo, a vulnerable countess and Marc-Ange Draco's daughter, who captures Bond's heart.
  • Telly Savalas as Ernst Stavro Blofeld (also known as Comte Balthazar de Bleuchamp), Bond's nemesis, leader of SPECTRE and in hiding.
     
    Telly Savalas on location
  • Gabriele Ferzetti as Marc-Ange Draco, Head of the Unione Corse, a major crime syndicate and Tracy's father.
  • Ilse Steppat as Irma Bunt, Blofeld's henchwoman who assists in the attempts to eliminate Bond.
  • Lois Maxwell as Miss Moneypenny, M's secretary.
  • George Baker as Sir Hilary Bray, Herald in the London College of Arms, whom Bond impersonates in Piz Gloria. Baker also provided the voice of Bond while he is imitating Bray.
  • Bernard Lee as M, Head of the British Secret Service.
  • Bernard Horsfall as Shaun Campbell, 007's colleague who tries to aid Bond in Switzerland as part of Operation Bedlam, before being killed by Blofeld or his henchmen when Bond is unmasked as an agent.
  • Desmond Llewelyn as Q, Head of MI6's technical department.
  • Yuri Borienko as Grunther, Blofeld's brutish chief of security at Piz Gloria.
  • Virginia North as Olympe, Draco's lover. Nikki van der Zyl provided the uncredited voice for Olympe.
  • Geoffrey Cheshire as Toussaint, one of Draco's thugs who joins in the assault of Piz Gloria.
  • Irvin Allen as Che Che, Tracy's bodyguard who fights James Bond, but later serves as an ally.
     
    Irvin Allen and George Lazenby
  • Terry Mountain as Raphael
  • James Bree as Gumbold
  • John Gay as Hammond
  • Brian Worth as Manuel (uncredited)
  • Bessie Love as Baccarat Player (uncredited)

Blofeld's Angels of Death

 
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

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]

Writing

Screenwriter Richard Maibaum, who had worked on all the previous Bond films except for You Only Live Twice, was responsible for On Her Majesty's Secret Service's script.[20] Saltzman and Broccoli decided to drop the science fiction gadgets from the earlier films and focus more on plot, as in From Russia With Love.[21] Peter Hunt asked Simon Raven to write some of the dialogue between Tracy and Blofeld in Piz Gloria, which was to be "sharper, better and more intellectual";[22] one of Raven's additions was having Tracy quoting James Elroy Flecker.[17] When writing the script, the producers decided to make the closest adaptation of the book possible: virtually everything in the novel occurs in the film[17] and Hunt was reported to always enter the set carrying an annotated copy of the novel.[18]

With the script following the novel more closely than the other film adaptations of the eponymous source novels, there are several continuity errors due to the films taking place in a different sequence, such as Blofeld not recognising Bond, despite having met him face-to-face in the previous film You Only Live Twice.[23] In the original script, Bond undergoes plastic surgery to disguise him from his enemies; the intention was to allow an unrecognisable Bond to infiltrate Blofeld's hideout and help the audience accept the new actor in the role. However, this was dropped in favour of ignoring the change in actor.[15][24]

To make audiences not forget it was the same James Bond, just played by another actor, the producers inserted many references to the previous films, some as in-jokes. These include Bond breaking the fourth wall by stating "This never happened to the other fellow"; the credits sequence with images from the previous instalments; Bond visiting his office and finding objects from Dr. No, From Russia with Love, and Thunderball; and a caretaker whistling the theme from Goldfinger.[25] Maibaum later said he thought "Lazenby was not ideal for the part" but that "it was a marvellous script."[24]

Casting

 
Diana Rigg and George Lazenby on set

In 1967, after five films, Sean Connery resigned from the role of James Bond and was not on speaking terms with Albert Broccoli during the filming of You Only Live Twice.[26] Over 400 actors, including many of the most famous performers in the Commonwealth, were considered for the role of James Bond.[16] The confirmed front runners were Englishman John Richardson, Dutchman Hans De Vries, Australian Robert Campbell, Scotsman Anthony Rogers, Greek Giorgos Fountas[27] and Australian George Lazenby.[13] Broccoli also met with Terence Stamp about playing the part.[28] Broccoli was interested in rising star Oliver Reed but decided his public image was already too distinct. Future Bond star Timothy Dalton was asked to audition after his appearance in The Lion in Winter but considered himself too young, as he was 25 years old and did not want to succeed Connery as Bond. In an interview in 1987 when he was playing Bond in The Living Daylights, Dalton said "I was 24-25 then, I had a good career then as a young man in films The Lion in Winter and Mr Broccoli kindly asked me if I was interested, I think I'm just too young for this role. I think Bond should be between 35 and 40, and as a 25-26 year old and I wouldn't have been right".[16]

Broccoli and Hunt eventually chose Lazenby after seeing him in a Fry's Chocolate Cream advertisement.[17] Lazenby dressed the part by sporting several sartorial Bond elements such as a Rolex Submariner wristwatch and a Savile Row suit (ordered for, but uncollected by, Connery), and going to Connery's barber at the Dorchester Hotel.[18] Broccoli noticed Lazenby as a Bond-type man based on his physique and character elements, and offered him an audition. The position was consolidated when Lazenby accidentally punched a professional wrestler, who was acting as stunt coordinator, in the face, impressing Broccoli with his ability to display aggression.[13] Lazenby was offered a contract for seven films; however, he was convinced by his agent Ronan O'Rahilly that the secret agent would be archaic in the liberated 1970s, and as a result he left the series after the release of On Her Majesty's Secret Service in 1969.[17]

For Tracy Draco, the producers wanted an established actress opposite neophyte Lazenby.[29] Brigitte Bardot was invited, but after she signed to appear in Shalako opposite Sean Connery, the deal fell through,[15] and Diana Rigg—who had already been the popular heroine Emma Peel in The Avengers—was cast instead.[7] Rigg said one of the reasons for accepting the role was that she always wanted to be in an epic film.[17] Hunt and Maibaum admired Donald Pleasence's performance as Blofeld in You Only Live Twice but wanted to recast the character. Maibaum originally wrote the role of Blofeld with Max von Sydow in mind;[16] coincidentally, von Sydow later played Blofeld in the non-Eon Bond film Never Say Never Again. Telly Savalas was ultimately cast following a suggestion from Broccoli. Hunt's neighbour George Baker was offered the part of Sir Hilary Bray. Baker's voice was also used when Lazenby was impersonating Bray,[17] as Hunt considered Lazenby's imitation not convincing enough.[30] Gabriele Ferzetti was cast as Draco after the producers saw him in We Still Kill the Old Way, but Ferzetti's heavy Italian accent also led to his voice being redubbed by English actor David de Keyser for the final cut.[25]

Filming

 
Filming at Piz Gloria, Switzerland

Principal photography began in the Canton of Bern, Switzerland, on 21 October 1968, with the first scene shot being an aerial view of Bond climbing the stairs of Blofeld's mountain retreat to meet the women.[17] The scenes were shot at the revolving restaurant Piz Gloria, located atop the Schilthorn near the village of Mürren. The location was found by production manager Hubert Fröhlich after three weeks of location scouting in France and Switzerland.[18] The restaurant was still under construction, but the producers found the spectacular location interesting,[why?][25] and had to finance the provision of electricity and the aerial lift to make filming there possible.[17] The first chase scene in the Alps was shot at the Schilthorn and the second one at Saas-Fee, while the Christmas celebrations were filmed in Grindelwald, and some scenes were shot on location in Bern.[31] Production was hampered by weak snowfall which was unfavourable to the skiing action scenes. The producers even considered moving to another location in Switzerland, but it was taken by the production of Downhill Racer.[25] The Swiss filming ended up running 56 days over schedule.[18] In March 1969, production moved to England, with London's Pinewood Studios being used for interior scenes, and M's house being shot in Marlow, Buckinghamshire. In April, the filmmakers went to Portugal, where principal photography wrapped in May.[17][25] The pre-credit coastal and hotel scenes were filmed at Hotel Estoril Palacio in Estoril and Guincho Beach, Cascais,[32] while Lisbon was used for the reunion of Bond and Tracy, and the ending employed a mountain road in the Arrábida National Park near Setúbal.[31] Harry Saltzman wanted these scenes to be in France, but after searching there, Peter Hunt considered that not only were the locations not photogenic, but were already "overexposed".[33]

 
Cameraman Johnny Jordan dangling from a helicopter

While the first unit shot at Piz Gloria, the second unit, led by John Glen, started filming the ski chases.[34] The downhill skiing involved professional skiers, and various camera tricks. Some cameras were handheld, with the operators holding them as they were going downhill with the stuntmen, and others were aerial, with cameramen Johnny Jordan – who had previously worked in the helicopter battle of You Only Live Twice — developing a system where he was dangled by an 18 feet (5.5 m) long parachute harness rig below a helicopter, allowing scenes to be shot on the move from any angle.[17] The bobsledding chase was also filmed with the help of Swiss Olympic athletes,[25][35] and was rewritten to incorporate the accidents the stuntmen suffered during shooting, such as the scene where Bond falls from the sled. Blofeld getting snared with a tree was performed at the studio by Savalas himself, after the attempt to do this by the stuntman on location came out wrong.[17] Heinz Lau and Robert Zimmermann served as the stunt doubles for Bond and Blofeld during the bobsleigh scene.[16] Glen was also the editor of the film, employing a style similar to the one used by Hunt in the previous Bond films, with fast motion in the action scenes and exaggerated sound effects.[25]

The avalanche scenes were due to be filmed in co-operation with the Swiss army, which annually used explosions to prevent snow build-up by causing avalanches, but the area chosen naturally avalanched just before filming.[33] The final result was a combination of a man-made avalanche at an isolated Swiss location shot by the second unit,[17] stock footage, and images created by the special effects crew with salt.[33] The stuntmen were filmed later, added by optical effects.[36] For the scene where Bond and Tracy crash into a car race while being pursued, an ice rink was constructed over an unused aeroplane track,[25] with water and snow sprayed on it constantly. Lazenby and Rigg did most of the driving due to the high number of close-ups.[17]

"One time, we were on location at an ice rink and Diana and Peter were drinking champagne inside. Of course I wasn't invited as Peter was there. I could see them through the window, but the crew were all outside stomping around on the ice trying to keep warm. So, when she got in the car, I went for her. She couldn't drive the car properly and I got in to her about her drinking and things like that. Then she jumped out and started shouting 'he's attacking me in the car!' I called her a so-and-so for not considering the crew who were freezing their butts off outside. And it wasn't that at all in the end, as she was sick that night, and I was at fault for getting in to her about it. I think everyone gets upset at one time."

George Lazenby[18]

For the cinematography, Hunt aimed for a "simple, but glamorous like the 1950s Hollywood films I grew up with",[33] as well as something realistic, "where the sets don't look like sets".[33] Cinematographer Michael Reed added he had difficulties with lighting, as every set built for the film had a ceiling, preventing spotlights from being hung from above.[37] While shooting, Hunt wanted "the most interesting framings possible", which would also look good after being cropped for television.[33]

Lazenby said he experienced difficulties during shooting, not receiving any coaching despite his lack of acting experience, and with director Hunt never addressing him directly, only through his assistant. Lazenby claimed that Hunt also asked the rest of the crew to keep a distance from him, as "Peter thought the more I was alone, the better I would be as James Bond."[18] Allegedly, there also were personality conflicts with Rigg, who was already an established star. However, according to Hunt, these rumours are untrue and there were no such difficulties—or else they were minor—and may have started with Rigg joking to Lazenby before filming a love scene, "Hey George, I'm having garlic for lunch. I hope you are!"[7] Hunt also declared that he usually had long talks with Lazenby before and during shooting. For instance, to shoot Tracy's death scene, Hunt brought Lazenby to the set at 8 o'clock in the morning and made him rehearse all day long, "and I broke him down until he was absolutely exhausted, and by the time we shot it at five o'clock, he was exhausted, and that's how I got the performance."[38] Hunt said that if Lazenby had remained in the role, he would also have directed the successor film, Diamonds Are Forever, and that his original intention had been to conclude the film with Bond and Tracy driving off following their wedding, saving Tracy's murder for the pre-credit sequence of Diamonds Are Forever. The idea was discarded after Lazenby quit the role.[17]

On Her Majesty's Secret Service was the longest Bond film until Casino Royale was released in 2006.[39] Even so, two scenes were deleted from the final print: Irma Bunt spying on Bond as he buys a wedding ring for Tracy,[40] and a chase over London rooftops and into the Royal Mail underground rail system[41] after Bond's conversation with Sir Hilary Bray was overheard.[39]

Music

Main article: On Her Majesty's Secret Service (soundtrack)
 
The slopes in the Saas Fee area in which the ski sequences were shot.

The soundtrack for On Her Majesty's Secret Service has been called "perhaps the best score of the series."[34] It was composed, arranged and conducted by John Barry;[42] it was his sixth successive Bond film. Barry opted to use more electronic instruments and a more aggressive sound in the music – "I have to stick my oar in the musical area double strong to make the audience try and forget they don't have Sean ... to be Bondian beyond Bondian."[43]

Barry felt it would be difficult to compose a theme song containing the title "On Her Majesty's Secret Service" unless it were written operatically, in the style of Gilbert and Sullivan.[44] Leslie Bricusse had considered lyrics for the title song[45] but director Peter R. Hunt allowed an instrumental title theme in the tradition of the first two Bond films. The theme is built around a lament bass, which establishes the story as a tragedy. Barry's composition was described as "one of the best title cuts, a wordless Moog-driven monster, suitable for skiing at breakneck speed or dancing with equal abandon."[46]

Barry also composed the love song "We Have All the Time in the World", with lyrics by Burt Bacharach's regular lyricist Hal David, sung by Louis Armstrong.[42] It is heard during the Bond–Tracy courtship montage, bridging Draco's birthday party in Portugal and Bond's burglary of the Gebrüder Gumbold law office in Bern, Switzerland.[47] Barry recalled Armstrong was very ill, but recorded the song in one take. Armstrong did, however, make some further recordings in 1970 and 1971.[48] The song was re-released in 1994, achieving the number three position during a 13-week spell in the UK charts.[49] The song was reused for a second Bond movie, when it was used as the soundtrack for the closing credits for the 2021 release No Time to Die.[50]

Barry and David also wrote two other songs for the film, both performed by Danish singer Nina. One, entitled "Do You Know How Christmas Trees Are Grown?", was featured in the film in several scenes.[51] The other, "The More Things Change", was recorded by Nina at the same session but did not end up in the finished film. Instead, it appeared as the B-side of the UK single of "Do You Know How Christmas Trees Are Grown?" and an instrumental version of it appeared on John Barry's 1970 LP Ready When You Are J.B..[52]

The theme, "On Her Majesty's Secret Service", is used in the film as an action theme alternative to Monty Norman's "James Bond Theme", as with Barry's previous "007" themes. "On Her Majesty's Secret Service" was covered in 1997 by the British big beat group the Propellerheads for the Shaken and Stirred album.[53] Barry's orchestrator Nic Raine recorded an arrangement of the escape from Piz Gloria sequence and it was featured as a theme in the trailers for the 2004 Pixar animated film directed by Brad Bird, The Incredibles. Barry was the first choice to do the score for The Incredibles. However, he declined to do the score, as he did not wish to duplicate the sound of his older work.[54]

Release and reception

 
Joanna Lumley and George Lazenby

On Her Majesty's Secret Service was released on 18 December 1969[55] with its premiere at the Odeon Leicester Square in London.[56] The avalanche sequence in the film had been recorded in stereo and the Odeon installed a new speaker system to highlight the effect.[57]

Lazenby appeared at the premiere with a beard, looking "very un-Bond-like", according to the Daily Mirror.[58] Lazenby claimed the producers had tried to persuade him to shave it off to appear like Bond, but by then he had already decided not to make another Bond film and rejected the idea.[59] The beard and accompanying shoulder-length hair "strained his already fragile relationship with Saltzman and Broccoli".[60]

Because Lazenby had informed the producers that On Her Majesty's Secret Service was to be his only outing as Bond and because of the lack of gadgets used by Bond in the film, few items of merchandise were produced for the film, apart from the soundtrack album and a film edition of the book. Those that were produced included a number of Corgi Toys, including Tracey's Mercury Cougar (1969), Campbell's Volkswagen and two versions of the bobsleigh—one with the 007 logo and one with the Piz Gloria logo.[61] On Her Majesty's Secret Service was nominated for only one award: George Lazenby was nominated in the New Star of the Year – Actor category at the 1970 Golden Globe Award ceremony, losing out to Jon Voight.[62]

Box office

The film topped the United States box office when it opened with a gross of $1.2 million for the week.[63] It was the highest-grossing film in January 1970.[64] The film closed its box-office run with £750,000 in the United Kingdom (the highest-grossing film of the year),[65] $64.6 million worldwide,[66] half of You Only Live Twice's total gross,[65] but still one of the highest-grossing films of 1969.[67] It was one of the most popular movies in France in 1969, with admissions of 1,958,172.[68] Nonetheless, this was a considerable drop from You Only Live Twice.[69] After re-releases, the total box office was $82,000,000 worldwide.[70]

Contemporary reviews

 
George Lazenby as James Bond

The majority of reviews were critical of either the film, Lazenby, or both, while most of the contemporary reviews in the British press referred to George Lazenby at some point as "The Big Fry", a reference to his previous acting in Fry's chocolate advertisements.[71] Derek Malcolm of The Guardian was dismissive of Lazenby's performance, saying that he "is not a good actor and though I never thought Sean Connery was all that stylish either, there are moments when one yearns for a little of his louche panache."[72] For all the criticism of Lazenby, however, Malcolm says that the film was "quite a jolly frolic in the familiar money-spinning fashion".[72] Tom Milne, writing in The Observer was even more scathing, saying that "I ... fervently trust (OHMSS) will be the last of the James Bond films. All the pleasing oddities and eccentricities and gadgets of the earlier films have somehow been lost, leaving a routine trail through which the new James Bond strides without noticeable signs of animation."[73]

Donald Zec in the Daily Mirror was equally damning of Lazenby's acting abilities, comparing him unfavourably to Connery: "He looks uncomfortably in the part like a size four foot in a size ten gumboot."[74] In yet another unfavourable comparison of Lazenby to Connery, Gene Siskel of the Chicago Tribune remarked that he "doesn't fill Sean Connery's shoes, Aston-Martin, or stretch pants. The new 007 Is more boyish and consequently less of a man. He doesn't order food with the same verve, and generally lacks the self-satisfied smirk that Connery kept with him and transmitted to his audience."[75] A. H. Weiler of The New York Times also weighed in against Lazenby, saying that "Lazenby, if not a spurious Bond, is merely a casual, pleasant, satisfactory replacement."[76]

Zec was kinder to Lazenby's co-star, saying that "there is style to Diana Rigg's performance and I suspect that the last scene which draws something of a performance out of Lazenby owes much to her silken expertise."[74] Siskel also wrote that Rigg "is well-cast as the girl, but we lose her for about an hour In the film, only to have her return in a most implausible location and time."[75]

One of the few supporters of Lazenby amongst the critics was Alexander Walker in the London Evening Standard who said that "The truth is that George Lazenby is almost as good a James Bond as the man referred to in his film as 'the other fellow'. Lazenby's voice is more suave than sexy-sinister and he could pass for the other fellow's twin on the shady side of the casino. Bond is now definitely all set for the Seventies."[77] Judith Crist of New York also found the actor to be a strong point of the movie, stating that "This time around there's less suavity and a no-nonsense muscularity and maleness to the role via the handsome Mr. Lazenby".[78]

The feminist film critic Molly Haskell also wrote an approving review of the film in The Village Voice: "In a world, an industry, and particularly a genre which values the new and improved product above all, it is nothing short of miraculous to see a movie which dares to go backward, a technological artefact which has nobly deteriorated into a human being. I speak of the new and obsolete James Bond, played by a man named George Lazenby, who seems more comfortable in a wet tuxedo than a dry martini, more at ease as a donnish genealogist than reading (or playing) Playboy, and who actually dares to think that one woman who is his equal is better than a thousand part-time playmates."[79] Haskell was also affected by the film's emotional ending: "The love between Bond and his Tracy begins as a payment and ends as a sacrament. After ostensibly getting rid of the bad guys, they are married. They drive off to a shocking, stunning ending. Their love, being too real, is killed by the conventions it defied. But they win the final victory by calling, unexpectedly, upon feeling. Some of the audience hissed, I was shattered. If you like your Bonds with happy endings, don't go."[79]

Retrospective reviews

 
Diana Rigg and George Lazenby

Modern reception of the film has seen a strong positive reversal, to the point that many Bond connoisseurs have ranked it as their personal favourite, including multiple Academy Award winners and participants in a magazine fan poll.[80][81][82] Film critic James Berardinelli summed this up in his review of the movie: "with the exception of one production aspect, [it] is by far the best entry of the long-running James Bond series. The film contains some of the most exhilarating action sequences ever to reach the screen, a touching love story, and a nice subplot that has agent 007 crossing (and even threatening to resign from) Her Majesty's Secret Service."[83][clarification needed] Julia Sirmons, writing in CrimeReads, also regarded it as the best Bond film, highlighting its mix of romance, the strong Bond girl, its cheekiness, and Lazenby.[84]

The American film reviewer Leonard Maltin has suggested that if it had been Connery in the leading role instead of Lazenby, On Her Majesty's Secret Service would have epitomised the series.[85] On the other hand, Danny Peary wrote, "I'm not sure I agree with those who insist that if Connery had played Bond it would definitely be the best of the entire Bond series ... Connery's Bond, with his boundless humor and sense of fun and self-confidence, would be out of place in this picture. It actually works better with Lazenby because he is incapable of playing Bond as a bigger-than-life hero; for one thing he hasn't the looks ... Lazenby's Bond also hasn't the assurance of Connery's Bond[,] and that is appropriate in the crumbling, depressing world he finds himself. He seems vulnerable and jittery at times. At the skating rink, he is actually scared. We worry about him ... On Her Majesty's Secret Service doesn't have Connery and it's impossible to ever fully adjust to Lazenby, but I think that it still might be the best Bond film, as many Bond cultists claim." Peary also described On Her Majesty's Secret Service as "the most serious", "the most cynical" and "the most tragic" of the Bond films.[86]

Brian Fairbanks differed in his opinion of Lazenby, saying that the film "gives us a James Bond capable of vulnerability, a man who can show fear and is not immune to heartbreak. Lazenby is that man, and his performance is superb." Fairbanks also thought On Her Majesty's Secret Service to be "not only the best Bond, it is also the last truly great film in the series. In fact, had the decision been made to end the series, this would have been the perfect final chapter."[87]

The filmmaker Steven Soderbergh writes that "For me there's no question that cinematically On Her Majesty's Secret Service is the best Bond film and the only one worth watching repeatedly for reasons other than pure entertainment ... Shot to shot, this movie is beautiful in a way none of the other Bond films are".[80] The director Christopher Nolan also stated that On Her Majesty's Secret Service was his favourite Bond film; in describing its influence on his own film Inception (2010), Nolan said: "What I liked about it that we've tried to emulate in this film is there's a tremendous balance in that movie of action and scale and romanticism and tragedy and emotion."[81]

Due to previous criticism, (which has more recently seen it reappraised as one of the best) it has often been referred to as the most overlooked/underrated of the Bond Movies. [88][89]

 
The 1969 Mercury Cougar XR7 used in the film (pictured 2012)

The review-aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes gives the film a score of 81% based on 54 reviews, and a weighted average of 6.78 out of 10. The website's critical consensus states, "George Lazenby's only appearance as 007 is a fine entry in the series, featuring one of the most intriguing Bond girls in Tracy di Vincenzo (Diana Rigg), breathtaking visuals, and some great ski chases."[90] IGN ranked On Her Majesty's Secret Service as the eighth-best Bond film,[91] Entertainment Weekly as the sixth,[92] and Norman Wilner of MSN ranked it fifth.[93] Digital Spy listed the film as the best James Bond film to date. The film also became a fan favourite, seeing "ultimate success in the home video market".[94] In September 2012, it was announced that On Her Majesty's Secret Service had topped a poll of Bond fans run by 007 Magazine to determine the greatest ever Bond film. Goldfinger came second in the poll and From Russia With Love was third.[82]

See also

References

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Sources

External links

 
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July 20, 2023
majesty, secret, service, film, majesty, secret, service, 1969, film, sixth, james, bond, series, produced, productions, based, 1963, novel, fleming, following, sean, connery, decision, retire, from, role, after, only, live, twice, selected, george, lazenby, m. 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 On Her Majesty s Secret ServiceTheatrical release poster by Robert McGinnis and Frank McCarthyDirected byPeter R HuntScreenplay byRichard MaibaumAdditional dialogue bySimon RavenBased onOn Her Majesty s Secret Serviceby Ian FlemingProduced byHarry SaltzmanAlbert R BroccoliStarringGeorge Lazenby Diana Rigg Telly Savalas Bernard Lee Gabriele Ferzetti Ilse SteppatCinematographyMichael ReedEdited byJohn GlenMusic byJohn BarryProductioncompanyEon ProductionsDistributed byUnited ArtistsRelease dates18 December 1969 1969 12 18 London premiere 19 December 1969 1969 12 19 United States Running time142 minutes 1 CountriesUnited Kingdom 2 United States 3 LanguageEnglishBudget 7 millionBox office 82 millionIn the film Bond faces Blofeld Telly Savalas who is planning to hold the world ransom by a threat 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 Contents 1 Plot 2 Cast 2 1 Blofeld s Angels of Death 3 Production 3 1 Writing 3 2 Casting 3 3 Filming 3 4 Music 4 Release and reception 4 1 Box office 4 2 Contemporary reviews 4 3 Retrospective reviews 5 See also 6 References 7 Sources 8 External linksPlot EditJames Bond saves a woman on the beach from committing 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 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 ensnared by tree branches 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 EditGeorge Lazenby as James Bond MI6 agent code number 007 with the double zero denoting that an agent is licensed to kill on behalf of the government Diana Rigg as Countess Tracy di Vicenzo a vulnerable countess and Marc Ange Draco s daughter who captures Bond s heart Telly Savalas as Ernst Stavro Blofeld also known as Comte Balthazar de Bleuchamp Bond s nemesis leader of SPECTRE and in hiding Telly Savalas on location Gabriele Ferzetti as Marc Ange Draco Head of the Unione Corse a major crime syndicate and Tracy s father Ilse Steppat as Irma Bunt Blofeld s henchwoman who assists in the attempts to eliminate Bond Lois Maxwell as Miss Moneypenny M s secretary George Baker as Sir Hilary Bray Herald in the London College of Arms whom Bond impersonates in Piz Gloria Baker also provided the voice of Bond while he is imitating Bray Bernard Lee as M Head of the British Secret Service Bernard Horsfall as Shaun Campbell 007 s colleague who tries to aid Bond in Switzerland as part of Operation Bedlam before being killed by Blofeld or his henchmen when Bond is unmasked as an agent Desmond Llewelyn as Q Head of MI6 s technical department Yuri Borienko as Grunther Blofeld s brutish chief of security at Piz Gloria Virginia North as Olympe Draco s lover Nikki van der Zyl provided the uncredited voice for Olympe Geoffrey Cheshire as Toussaint one of Draco s thugs who joins in the assault of Piz Gloria Irvin Allen as Che Che Tracy s bodyguard who fights James Bond but later serves as an ally Irvin Allen and George Lazenby Terry Mountain as Raphael James Bree as Gumbold John Gay as Hammond Brian Worth as Manuel uncredited Bessie Love as Baccarat Player uncredited 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 Angela Scoular as Ruby Bartlett an English girl at the clinic suffering from an allergy to chickens 5 whom Bond seduces Scoular also played Buttercup in the 1967 Bond comedy Casino Royale Anouska Hempel as an Australian girl Catherina von Schell as Nancy a Hungarian girl at the clinic whom Bond also beds Dani Sheridan as an American girl Helena Ronee as an Israeli girl Ingrid Back as a German girl Jenny Hanley as an Irish girl Joanna Lumley as an English girl 6 Julie Ege as Helen a Scandinavian girl 7 Mona Chong as a Chinese girl Sylvana Henriques as a Jamaican girl Zara as an Indian girl 8 9 Production EditThe 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 Writing Edit Screenwriter Richard Maibaum who had worked on all the previous Bond films except for You Only Live Twice was responsible for On Her Majesty s Secret Service s script 20 Saltzman and Broccoli decided to drop the science fiction gadgets from the earlier films and focus more on plot as in From Russia With Love 21 Peter Hunt asked Simon Raven to write some of the dialogue between Tracy and Blofeld in Piz Gloria which was to be sharper better and more intellectual 22 one of Raven s additions was having Tracy quoting James Elroy Flecker 17 When writing the script the producers decided to make the closest adaptation of the book possible virtually everything in the novel occurs in the film 17 and Hunt was reported to always enter the set carrying an annotated copy of the novel 18 With the script following the novel more closely than the other film adaptations of the eponymous source novels there are several continuity errors due to the films taking place in a different sequence such as Blofeld not recognising Bond despite having met him face to face in the previous film You Only Live Twice 23 In the original script Bond undergoes plastic surgery to disguise him from his enemies the intention was to allow an unrecognisable Bond to infiltrate Blofeld s hideout and help the audience accept the new actor in the role However this was dropped in favour of ignoring the change in actor 15 24 To make audiences not forget it was the same James Bond just played by another actor the producers inserted many references to the previous films some as in jokes These include Bond breaking the fourth wall by stating This never happened to the other fellow the credits sequence with images from the previous instalments Bond visiting his office and finding objects from Dr No From Russia with Love and Thunderball and a caretaker whistling the theme from Goldfinger 25 Maibaum later said he thought Lazenby was not ideal for the part but that it was a marvellous script 24 Casting Edit Diana Rigg and George Lazenby on setIn 1967 after five films Sean Connery resigned from the role of James Bond and was not on speaking terms with Albert Broccoli during the filming of You Only Live Twice 26 Over 400 actors including many of the most famous performers in the Commonwealth were considered for the role of James Bond 16 The confirmed front runners were Englishman John Richardson Dutchman Hans De Vries Australian Robert Campbell Scotsman Anthony Rogers Greek Giorgos Fountas 27 and Australian George Lazenby 13 Broccoli also met with Terence Stamp about playing the part 28 Broccoli was interested in rising star Oliver Reed but decided his public image was already too distinct Future Bond star Timothy Dalton was asked to audition after his appearance in The Lion in Winter but considered himself too young as he was 25 years old and did not want to succeed Connery as Bond In an interview in 1987 when he was playing Bond in The Living Daylights Dalton said I was 24 25 then I had a good career then as a young man in films The Lion in Winter and Mr Broccoli kindly asked me if I was interested I think I m just too young for this role I think Bond should be between 35 and 40 and as a 25 26 year old and I wouldn t have been right 16 Broccoli and Hunt eventually chose Lazenby after seeing him in a Fry s Chocolate Cream advertisement 17 Lazenby dressed the part by sporting several sartorial Bond elements such as a Rolex Submariner wristwatch and a Savile Row suit ordered for but uncollected by Connery and going to Connery s barber at the Dorchester Hotel 18 Broccoli noticed Lazenby as a Bond type man based on his physique and character elements and offered him an audition The position was consolidated when Lazenby accidentally punched a professional wrestler who was acting as stunt coordinator in the face impressing Broccoli with his ability to display aggression 13 Lazenby was offered a contract for seven films however he was convinced by his agent Ronan O Rahilly that the secret agent would be archaic in the liberated 1970s and as a result he left the series after the release of On Her Majesty s Secret Service in 1969 17 For Tracy Draco the producers wanted an established actress opposite neophyte Lazenby 29 Brigitte Bardot was invited but after she signed to appear in Shalako opposite Sean Connery the deal fell through 15 and Diana Rigg who had already been the popular heroine Emma Peel in The Avengers was cast instead 7 Rigg said one of the reasons for accepting the role was that she always wanted to be in an epic film 17 Hunt and Maibaum admired Donald Pleasence s performance as Blofeld in You Only Live Twice but wanted to recast the character Maibaum originally wrote the role of Blofeld with Max von Sydow in mind 16 coincidentally von Sydow later played Blofeld in the non Eon Bond film Never Say Never Again Telly Savalas was ultimately cast following a suggestion from Broccoli Hunt s neighbour George Baker was offered the part of Sir Hilary Bray Baker s voice was also used when Lazenby was impersonating Bray 17 as Hunt considered Lazenby s imitation not convincing enough 30 Gabriele Ferzetti was cast as Draco after the producers saw him in We Still Kill the Old Way but Ferzetti s heavy Italian accent also led to his voice being redubbed by English actor David de Keyser for the final cut 25 Filming Edit Filming at Piz Gloria SwitzerlandPrincipal photography began in the Canton of Bern Switzerland on 21 October 1968 with the first scene shot being an aerial view of Bond climbing the stairs of Blofeld s mountain retreat to meet the women 17 The scenes were shot at the revolving restaurant Piz Gloria located atop the Schilthorn near the village of Murren The location was found by production manager Hubert Frohlich after three weeks of location scouting in France and Switzerland 18 The restaurant was still under construction but the producers found the spectacular location interesting why 25 and had to finance the provision of electricity and the aerial lift to make filming there possible 17 The first chase scene in the Alps was shot at the Schilthorn and the second one at Saas Fee while the Christmas celebrations were filmed in Grindelwald and some scenes were shot on location in Bern 31 Production was hampered by weak snowfall which was unfavourable to the skiing action scenes The producers even considered moving to another location in Switzerland but it was taken by the production of Downhill Racer 25 The Swiss filming ended up running 56 days over schedule 18 In March 1969 production moved to England with London s Pinewood Studios being used for interior scenes and M s house being shot in Marlow Buckinghamshire In April the filmmakers went to Portugal where principal photography wrapped in May 17 25 The pre credit coastal and hotel scenes were filmed at Hotel Estoril Palacio in Estoril and Guincho Beach Cascais 32 while Lisbon was used for the reunion of Bond and Tracy and the ending employed a mountain road in the Arrabida National Park near Setubal 31 Harry Saltzman wanted these scenes to be in France but after searching there Peter Hunt considered that not only were the locations not photogenic but were already overexposed 33 Cameraman Johnny Jordan dangling from a helicopterWhile the first unit shot at Piz Gloria the second unit led by John Glen started filming the ski chases 34 The downhill skiing involved professional skiers and various camera tricks Some cameras were handheld with the operators holding them as they were going downhill with the stuntmen and others were aerial with cameramen Johnny Jordan who had previously worked in the helicopter battle of You Only Live Twice developing a system where he was dangled by an 18 feet 5 5 m long parachute harness rig below a helicopter allowing scenes to be shot on the move from any angle 17 The bobsledding chase was also filmed with the help of Swiss Olympic athletes 25 35 and was rewritten to incorporate the accidents the stuntmen suffered during shooting such as the scene where Bond falls from the sled Blofeld getting snared with a tree was performed at the studio by Savalas himself after the attempt to do this by the stuntman on location came out wrong 17 Heinz Lau and Robert Zimmermann served as the stunt doubles for Bond and Blofeld during the bobsleigh scene 16 Glen was also the editor of the film employing a style similar to the one used by Hunt in the previous Bond films with fast motion in the action scenes and exaggerated sound effects 25 The avalanche scenes were due to be filmed in co operation with the Swiss army which annually used explosions to prevent snow build up by causing avalanches but the area chosen naturally avalanched just before filming 33 The final result was a combination of a man made avalanche at an isolated Swiss location shot by the second unit 17 stock footage and images created by the special effects crew with salt 33 The stuntmen were filmed later added by optical effects 36 For the scene where Bond and Tracy crash into a car race while being pursued an ice rink was constructed over an unused aeroplane track 25 with water and snow sprayed on it constantly Lazenby and Rigg did most of the driving due to the high number of close ups 17 One time we were on location at an ice rink and Diana and Peter were drinking champagne inside Of course I wasn t invited as Peter was there I could see them through the window but the crew were all outside stomping around on the ice trying to keep warm So when she got in the car I went for her She couldn t drive the car properly and I got in to her about her drinking and things like that Then she jumped out and started shouting he s attacking me in the car I called her a so and so for not considering the crew who were freezing their butts off outside And it wasn t that at all in the end as she was sick that night and I was at fault for getting in to her about it I think everyone gets upset at one time George Lazenby 18 For the cinematography Hunt aimed for a simple but glamorous like the 1950s Hollywood films I grew up with 33 as well as something realistic where the sets don t look like sets 33 Cinematographer Michael Reed added he had difficulties with lighting as every set built for the film had a ceiling preventing spotlights from being hung from above 37 While shooting Hunt wanted the most interesting framings possible which would also look good after being cropped for television 33 Lazenby said he experienced difficulties during shooting not receiving any coaching despite his lack of acting experience and with director Hunt never addressing him directly only through his assistant Lazenby claimed that Hunt also asked the rest of the crew to keep a distance from him as Peter thought the more I was alone the better I would be as James Bond 18 Allegedly there also were personality conflicts with Rigg who was already an established star However according to Hunt these rumours are untrue and there were no such difficulties or else they were minor and may have started with Rigg joking to Lazenby before filming a love scene Hey George I m having garlic for lunch I hope you are 7 Hunt also declared that he usually had long talks with Lazenby before and during shooting For instance to shoot Tracy s death scene Hunt brought Lazenby to the set at 8 o clock in the morning and made him rehearse all day long and I broke him down until he was absolutely exhausted and by the time we shot it at five o clock he was exhausted and that s how I got the performance 38 Hunt said that if Lazenby had remained in the role he would also have directed the successor film Diamonds Are Forever and that his original intention had been to conclude the film with Bond and Tracy driving off following their wedding saving Tracy s murder for the pre credit sequence of Diamonds Are Forever The idea was discarded after Lazenby quit the role 17 On Her Majesty s Secret Service was the longest Bond film until Casino Royale was released in 2006 39 Even so two scenes were deleted from the final print Irma Bunt spying on Bond as he buys a wedding ring for Tracy 40 and a chase over London rooftops and into the Royal Mail underground rail system 41 after Bond s conversation with Sir Hilary Bray was overheard 39 Music Edit Main article On Her Majesty s Secret Service soundtrack The slopes in the Saas Fee area in which the ski sequences were shot The soundtrack for On Her Majesty s Secret Service has been called perhaps the best score of the series 34 It was composed arranged and conducted by John Barry 42 it was his sixth successive Bond film Barry opted to use more electronic instruments and a more aggressive sound in the music I have to stick my oar in the musical area double strong to make the audience try and forget they don t have Sean to be Bondian beyond Bondian 43 Barry felt it would be difficult to compose a theme song containing the title On Her Majesty s Secret Service unless it were written operatically in the style of Gilbert and Sullivan 44 Leslie Bricusse had considered lyrics for the title song 45 but director Peter R Hunt allowed an instrumental title theme in the tradition of the first two Bond films The theme is built around a lament bass which establishes the story as a tragedy Barry s composition was described as one of the best title cuts a wordless Moog driven monster suitable for skiing at breakneck speed or dancing with equal abandon 46 Barry also composed the love song We Have All the Time in the World with lyrics by Burt Bacharach s regular lyricist Hal David sung by Louis Armstrong 42 It is heard during the Bond Tracy courtship montage bridging Draco s birthday party in Portugal and Bond s burglary of the Gebruder Gumbold law office in Bern Switzerland 47 Barry recalled Armstrong was very ill but recorded the song in one take Armstrong did however make some further recordings in 1970 and 1971 48 The song was re released in 1994 achieving the number three position during a 13 week spell in the UK charts 49 The song was reused for a second Bond movie when it was used as the soundtrack for the closing credits for the 2021 release No Time to Die 50 Barry and David also wrote two other songs for the film both performed by Danish singer Nina One entitled Do You Know How Christmas Trees Are Grown was featured in the film in several scenes 51 The other The More Things Change was recorded by Nina at the same session but did not end up in the finished film Instead it appeared as the B side of the UK single of Do You Know How Christmas Trees Are Grown and an instrumental version of it appeared on John Barry s 1970 LP Ready When You Are J B 52 The theme On Her Majesty s Secret Service is used in the film as an action theme alternative to Monty Norman s James Bond Theme as with Barry s previous 007 themes On Her Majesty s Secret Service was covered in 1997 by the British big beat group the Propellerheads for the Shaken and Stirred album 53 Barry s orchestrator Nic Raine recorded an arrangement of the escape from Piz Gloria sequence and it was featured as a theme in the trailers for the 2004 Pixar animated film directed by Brad Bird The Incredibles Barry was the first choice to do the score for The Incredibles However he declined to do the score as he did not wish to duplicate the sound of his older work 54 Release and reception Edit Joanna Lumley and George LazenbyOn Her Majesty s Secret Service was released on 18 December 1969 55 with its premiere at the Odeon Leicester Square in London 56 The avalanche sequence in the film had been recorded in stereo and the Odeon installed a new speaker system to highlight the effect 57 Lazenby appeared at the premiere with a beard looking very un Bond like according to the Daily Mirror 58 Lazenby claimed the producers had tried to persuade him to shave it off to appear like Bond but by then he had already decided not to make another Bond film and rejected the idea 59 The beard and accompanying shoulder length hair strained his already fragile relationship with Saltzman and Broccoli 60 Because Lazenby had informed the producers that On Her Majesty s Secret Service was to be his only outing as Bond and because of the lack of gadgets used by Bond in the film few items of merchandise were produced for the film apart from the soundtrack album and a film edition of the book Those that were produced included a number of Corgi Toys including Tracey s Mercury Cougar 1969 Campbell s Volkswagen and two versions of the bobsleigh one with the 007 logo and one with the Piz Gloria logo 61 On Her Majesty s Secret Service was nominated for only one award George Lazenby was nominated in the New Star of the Year Actor category at the 1970 Golden Globe Award ceremony losing out to Jon Voight 62 Box office Edit The film topped the United States box office when it opened with a gross of 1 2 million for the week 63 It was the highest grossing film in January 1970 64 The film closed its box office run with 750 000 in the United Kingdom the highest grossing film of the year 65 64 6 million worldwide 66 half of You Only Live Twice s total gross 65 but still one of the highest grossing films of 1969 67 It was one of the most popular movies in France in 1969 with admissions of 1 958 172 68 Nonetheless this was a considerable drop from You Only Live Twice 69 After re releases the total box office was 82 000 000 worldwide 70 Contemporary reviews Edit George Lazenby as James BondThe majority of reviews were critical of either the film Lazenby or both while most of the contemporary reviews in the British press referred to George Lazenby at some point as The Big Fry a reference to his previous acting in Fry s chocolate advertisements 71 Derek Malcolm of The Guardian was dismissive of Lazenby s performance saying that he is not a good actor and though I never thought Sean Connery was all that stylish either there are moments when one yearns for a little of his louche panache 72 For all the criticism of Lazenby however Malcolm says that the film was quite a jolly frolic in the familiar money spinning fashion 72 Tom Milne writing in The Observer was even more scathing saying that I fervently trust OHMSS will be the last of the James Bond films All the pleasing oddities and eccentricities and gadgets of the earlier films have somehow been lost leaving a routine trail through which the new James Bond strides without noticeable signs of animation 73 Donald Zec in the Daily Mirror was equally damning of Lazenby s acting abilities comparing him unfavourably to Connery He looks uncomfortably in the part like a size four foot in a size ten gumboot 74 In yet another unfavourable comparison of Lazenby to Connery Gene Siskel of the Chicago Tribune remarked that he doesn t fill Sean Connery s shoes Aston Martin or stretch pants The new 007 Is more boyish and consequently less of a man He doesn t order food with the same verve and generally lacks the self satisfied smirk that Connery kept with him and transmitted to his audience 75 A H Weiler of The New York Times also weighed in against Lazenby saying that Lazenby if not a spurious Bond is merely a casual pleasant satisfactory replacement 76 Zec was kinder to Lazenby s co star saying that there is style to Diana Rigg s performance and I suspect that the last scene which draws something of a performance out of Lazenby owes much to her silken expertise 74 Siskel also wrote that Rigg is well cast as the girl but we lose her for about an hour In the film only to have her return in a most implausible location and time 75 One of the few supporters of Lazenby amongst the critics was Alexander Walker in the London Evening Standard who said that The truth is that George Lazenby is almost as good a James Bond as the man referred to in his film as the other fellow Lazenby s voice is more suave than sexy sinister and he could pass for the other fellow s twin on the shady side of the casino Bond is now definitely all set for the Seventies 77 Judith Crist of New York also found the actor to be a strong point of the movie stating that This time around there s less suavity and a no nonsense muscularity and maleness to the role via the handsome Mr Lazenby 78 The feminist film critic Molly Haskell also wrote an approving review of the film in The Village Voice In a world an industry and particularly a genre which values the new and improved product above all it is nothing short of miraculous to see a movie which dares to go backward a technological artefact which has nobly deteriorated into a human being I speak of the new and obsolete James Bond played by a man named George Lazenby who seems more comfortable in a wet tuxedo than a dry martini more at ease as a donnish genealogist than reading or playing Playboy and who actually dares to think that one woman who is his equal is better than a thousand part time playmates 79 Haskell was also affected by the film s emotional ending The love between Bond and his Tracy begins as a payment and ends as a sacrament After ostensibly getting rid of the bad guys they are married They drive off to a shocking stunning ending Their love being too real is killed by the conventions it defied But they win the final victory by calling unexpectedly upon feeling Some of the audience hissed I was shattered If you like your Bonds with happy endings don t go 79 Retrospective reviews Edit Diana Rigg and George LazenbyModern reception of the film has seen a strong positive reversal to the point that many Bond connoisseurs have ranked it as their personal favourite including multiple Academy Award winners and participants in a magazine fan poll 80 81 82 Film critic James Berardinelli summed this up in his review of the movie with the exception of one production aspect it is by far the best entry of the long running James Bond series The film contains some of the most exhilarating action sequences ever to reach the screen a touching love story and a nice subplot that has agent 007 crossing and even threatening to resign from Her Majesty s Secret Service 83 clarification needed Julia Sirmons writing in CrimeReads also regarded it as the best Bond film highlighting its mix of romance the strong Bond girl its cheekiness and Lazenby 84 The American film reviewer Leonard Maltin has suggested that if it had been Connery in the leading role instead of Lazenby On Her Majesty s Secret Service would have epitomised the series 85 On the other hand Danny Peary wrote I m not sure I agree with those who insist that if Connery had played Bond it would definitely be the best of the entire Bond series Connery s Bond with his boundless humor and sense of fun and self confidence would be out of place in this picture It actually works better with Lazenby because he is incapable of playing Bond as a bigger than life hero for one thing he hasn t the looks Lazenby s Bond also hasn t the assurance of Connery s Bond and that is appropriate in the crumbling depressing world he finds himself He seems vulnerable and jittery at times At the skating rink he is actually scared We worry about him On Her Majesty s Secret Service doesn t have Connery and it s impossible to ever fully adjust to Lazenby but I think that it still might be the best Bond film as many Bond cultists claim Peary also described On Her Majesty s Secret Service as the most serious the most cynical and the most tragic of the Bond films 86 Brian Fairbanks differed in his opinion of Lazenby saying that the film gives us a James Bond capable of vulnerability a man who can show fear and is not immune to heartbreak Lazenby is that man and his performance is superb Fairbanks also thought On Her Majesty s Secret Service to be not only the best Bond it is also the last truly great film in the series In fact had the decision been made to end the series this would have been the perfect final chapter 87 The filmmaker Steven Soderbergh writes that For me there s no question that cinematically On Her Majesty s Secret Service is the best Bond film and the only one worth watching repeatedly for reasons other than pure entertainment Shot to shot this movie is beautiful in a way none of the other Bond films are 80 The director Christopher Nolan also stated that On Her Majesty s Secret Service was his favourite Bond film in describing its influence on his own film Inception 2010 Nolan said What I liked about it that we ve tried to emulate in this film is there s a tremendous balance in that movie of action and scale and romanticism and tragedy and emotion 81 Due to previous criticism which has more recently seen it reappraised as one of the best it has often been referred to as the most overlooked underrated of the Bond Movies 88 89 The 1969 Mercury Cougar XR7 used in the film pictured 2012 The review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes gives the film a score of 81 based on 54 reviews and a weighted average of 6 78 out of 10 The website s critical consensus states George Lazenby s only appearance as 007 is a fine entry in the series featuring one of the most intriguing Bond girls in Tracy di Vincenzo Diana Rigg breathtaking visuals and some great ski chases 90 IGN ranked On Her Majesty s Secret Service as the eighth best Bond film 91 Entertainment Weekly as the sixth 92 and Norman Wilner of MSN ranked it fifth 93 Digital Spy listed the film as the best James Bond film to date The film also became a fan favourite seeing ultimate success in the home video market 94 In September 2012 it was announced that On Her Majesty s Secret Service had topped a poll of Bond fans run by 007 Magazine to determine the greatest ever Bond film Goldfinger came second in the poll and From Russia With Love was third 82 See also EditOutline of James BondReferences Edit On Her Majesty s Secret Service British Board of Film Classification Retrieved 4 February 2015 On Her Majesty s Secret Service Lumiere European Audiovisual Observatory Retrieved 9 October 2020 AFI Catalog Cork amp Stutz 2007 p 102 Pfeiffer amp Worrall 1998 p 70 White 2007 p 96 online copy p 96 at Google Books a b c Pfeiffer amp Worrall 1998 p 69 Zaheera s biography Mtv com Retrieved 8 June 2023 On Her Majesty s Secret Service at IMDb a b c Cork amp Stutz 2007 p 280 Smith 2002 p 96 Inside You Only Live Twice You Only Live Twice Ultimate Edition DVD MGM Home Entertainment Inc a b c Barnes amp Hearn 2001 p 82 Cork amp Stutz 2007 p 41 a b c Barnes amp Hearn 2001 p 83 a b c d e Field Matthew 2015 Some kind of hero 007 the remarkable story of the James Bond films Ajay Chowdhury Stroud Gloucestershire ISBN 978 0 7509 6421 0 OCLC 930556527 a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Inside On Her Majesty s Secret Service DVD OHMSS Ultimate Edition DVD MGM Home Entertainment Inc 2000 a b c d e f g De vergeten 007 Andere Tijden Amsterdam 19 November 2002 VPRO Nederland 2 Cork amp Stutz 2007 p 99 Pfeiffer amp Worrall 1998 p 67 Dimare 2011 p 53 online copy p 53 at Google Books Barnes amp Hearn 2001 p 84 Benson 1988 p 197 a b Goldberg Lee 1983 Richard Maibaum 007 s Puppermaster Starlog p 27 a b c d e f g h On Her Majesty s Secret Service audio commentary On Her Majesty s Secret ServiceUltimate Edition MGM Home Entertainment You Only Live Twice TCM Film Article Turner Entertainment Networks Inc Retrieved 2 August 2011 O Giwrgos Foyntas dex8hke protash na diadex8ei ton Son Koneri sto rolo toy Tzeims Mpont Arnh8hke na parei ton rolo toy praktora 007 an kai o Finos ton pieze na dex8ei 25 December 2016 Terence Stamp I blew the chance to play James Bond 9 May 2013 Benson 1988 p 199 George Baker On Her Majesty s Secret Service audio commentary On Her Majesty s Secret ServiceUltimate Edition MGM Home Entertainment a b Exotic Locations On Her Majesty s Secret ServiceUltimate Edition MGM Home Entertainment Barnes amp Hearn 2001 p 89 a b c d e f Peter R Hunt On Her Majesty s Secret Service audio commentary On Her Majesty s Secret ServiceUltimate Edition MGM Home Entertainment a b Benson 1988 p 200 Evans Hilary Gjerde Arild Heijmans Jeroen Mallon Bill et al Robert Zimmermann Olympic Results Olympics at Sports Reference com Sports Reference LLC Archived from the original on 18 April 2020 Retrieved 7 April 2018 Glen John March 1970 Filming the thrills chills and spills of 007 American Cinematographer Vol 52 no 3 Michael Reed On Her Majesty s Secret Service audio commentary On Her Majesty s Secret ServiceUltimate Edition MGM Home Entertainment Interview with Peter R Hunt Retrovision No 2 1997 Archived from the original on 14 February 2009 a b Smith 2002 p 101 Smith 2002 p 102 Cork amp Stutz 2007 p 281 a b Smith 2002 p 89 Fiegel 2001 p 219 John Barry On Her Majesty s Secret Service audio commentary On Her Majesty s Secret ServiceUltimate Edition MGM Home Entertainment Goldfinger The Reunion Bondstars com 13 April 2008 Archived from the original on 22 July 2012 Retrieved 5 December 2010 Stanley Bob 1 August 2008 Bond for glory The Times Barnes amp Hearn 2001 p 85 Jon Burlingame 31 October 2008 John Barry reflects on 10 of his scores Variety Archived from the original on 8 November 2012 Retrieved 2 August 2011 Louis Armstrong Top 75 Releases Official UK Charts Archive The Official UK Charts Company Retrieved 2 August 2011 We Have All the Time in the World is Crucial to Truly Understanding No Time to Die 8 October 2021 MI6 HQ Copyright 2011 18 November 1997 MI6 On Her Majesty s Secret Service 1969 James Bond 007 Mi6 hq com Retrieved 6 July 2013 Jon Burlingame 10 May 2020 The Music of James Bond Oxford University Press p 91 ISBN 978 0199358854 Flick Larry 21 March 1998 Propellerheads plot altitude gain via DreamWorks bow Billboard Vol 110 no 12 p 37 ISSN 0006 2510 Music On Her Majesty s Secret Service MI6 co uk Retrieved 3 August 2011 On Her Majesty s Secret Service MGM Official site Archived from the original on 11 August 2010 Retrieved 2 August 2011 Barnes amp Hearn 1997 p 92 Barnes amp Hearn 2001 p 88 New James Bond sticks to tradition Daily Mirror 19 December 1969 Hickey William 19 December 1969 I couldn t snub royalty says Lazenby Daily Express Barnes amp Hearn 2001 p 91 Pfeiffer amp Worrall 1998 pp 69 70 The 27th Annual Golden Globe Awards 1970 Golden Globe Award Search Hollywood Foreign Press Association Retrieved 8 August 2011 50 Top Grossing Films Week Ending December 24 Variety 31 December 1969 Wear Mike 11 February 1970 Zesty January in National B O 007 Butch Cactus Reivers Lead Dolly Takes Fifth Place Variety p 20 a b Barnes amp Hearn 1997 p 93 Block amp Autrey Wilson 2010 pp 428 429 George Lazenby Biography Yahoo Movies Yahoo Retrieved 5 August 2011 Box office of 1969 in France at Box Office Story Box office of 1967 in France at Box Office Story On Her Majesty s Secret Service The Numbers Nash Information Services Retrieved 5 August 2011 Smith 2002 p 100 a b Malcolm Derek 16 December 1969 Off the peg Bond The Guardian Milne Tom 21 December 1969 One day of delights The Observer a b Zec Donald 16 December 1969 Big film small fry Daily Mirror a b Siskel Gene 24 December 1969 Bond and de Sade Chicago Tribune 13 Weiler A H 19 December 1969 Screen New James Bond The New York Times Walker Alexander 16 December 1969 Review London Evening Standard Crist Judith 12 January 1970 Hello Barbra After a Fashion New York Vol 3 no 2 p 54 ISSN 0028 7369 a b Haskell Molly 25 December 1969 On Her Majesty s Secret Service The Village Voice a b A Rambling Discourse Archived from the original on 18 January 2015 Retrieved 15 January 2015 a b Jolin Dan July 2010 Crime of the Century Empire p 91 a b Rye Graham 007 Magazine readers vote On Her Majesty s Secret Service as greatest ever Bond film 007 Magazine Retrieved 19 September 2012 Berardinelli 2003 p 27 online copy at Google Books and original version available at Reelviews Could On Her Majesty s Secret Service be the best Bond film CrimeReads 8 October 2021 Retrieved 26 October 2021 Maltin 1999 p 1664 Peary 1988 p 175 Fairbanks 2005 p 258 Tarantino s Casino Royale Was A Sequel To The Most Underrated Bond MSN Retrieved 12 October 2022 Vinciguerra Thomas 27 December 2019 50 Years Later This Bond Film Should Finally Get Its Due The New York Times ISSN 0362 4331 Retrieved 12 October 2022 On Her Majesty s Secret Service 1969 Rotten Tomatoes Fandango Media Retrieved 2 June 2020 James Bond s Top 20 IGN 17 November 2006 Archived from the original on 18 December 2008 Retrieved 7 November 2008 Svetkey Benjamin Rich Joshua 1 December 2006 Ranking the Bond Films Entertainment Weekly Retrieved 14 November 2008 Wilner Norman Rating the Spy Game MSN Archived from the original on 19 January 2008 Retrieved 1 June 2009 Pfeiffer amp Worrall 1998 p 75 Sources EditBarnes Alan Hearn Marcus 1997 Kiss Kiss Bang Bang the Unofficial James Bond Film Companion Batsford Books ISBN 978 0 7134 8182 2 Barnes Alan Hearn Marcus 2001 Kiss Kiss Bang Bang the Unofficial James Bond Film Companion Batsford Books ISBN 978 0 7134 8182 2 Benson Raymond 1988 The James Bond Bedside Companion London Boxtree Ltd ISBN 978 1 85283 234 6 Berardinelli James 2003 ReelViews the Ultimate Guide to the Best 1 000 Modern Movies on DVD and Video Justin Charles amp Co ISBN 978 1 932112 06 1 Black Jeremy 2005 The Politics of James Bond from Fleming s Novel to the Big Screen University of Nebraska Press ISBN 978 0 8032 6240 9 Block Alex Ben Autrey Wilson Lucy 2010 George Lucas s Blockbusting A Decade by Decade Survey of Timeless Movies Including Untold Secrets of Their Financial and Cultural Success London HarperCollins ISBN 978 0 06 177889 6 Bray Christopher 2010 Sean Connery The Measure of a Man London Faber and Faber ISBN 978 0 571 23807 1 Broccoli Albert R 1998 When the Snow Melts London Boxtree Ltd ISBN 978 0 7522 1162 6 Chapman James 1999 Licence to Thrill London New York City Cinema and Society ISBN 978 1 86064 387 3 Cork John Stutz Collin 2007 James Bond Encyclopedia London Dorling Kindersley ISBN 978 1 4053 3427 3 Dimare Philip C 2011 Movies in American History An Encyclopedia ABC CLIO ISBN 978 1 59884 296 8 Fairbanks Brian W 2005 Brian W Fairbanks Writings Raleigh NC Lulu ISBN 978 1 4116 2432 0 Fiegel Eddi 2001 John Barry A Sixties Theme From James Bond to Midnight Cowboy Macmillan Publishers ISBN 978 0 7522 2033 8 Gresh Lois H 2006 The Science of James Bond From Bullets to Bowler Hats to Boat Jumps the Real Technology Behind 007 s Fabulous Films John Wiley amp Sons ISBN 978 0 471 66195 5 Knight Gladys L 2010 Female Action Heroes A Guide to Women in Comics Video Games Film and Television Santa Barbara ABC CLIO ISBN 978 0 313 37612 2 Macintyre Ben 2008 For Yours Eyes Only London Bloomsbury Publishing ISBN 978 0 7475 9527 4 Maltin Leonard 1999 Leonard Maltin s Movie and Video Guide 2000 New York New American Library ISBN 978 0 452 28123 3 Peary Danny 1988 Cult Movies Three Sidgwick amp Jackson ISBN 978 0 671 64810 7 Pfeiffer Lee Worrall Dave 1998 The Essential Bond London Boxtree Ltd ISBN 978 0 7522 2477 0 Smith Jim 2002 Bond Films London Virgin Books ISBN 978 0 7535 0709 4 White Rosie R 2007 Violent Femmes Women as Spies in Popular Culture London Routledge ISBN 978 0 415 37078 3 External links Edit Wikimedia Commons has media related to On Her Majesty s Secret Service film Wikiquote has quotations related to On Her Majesty s Secret Service film On Her Majesty s Secret Service at BFI Screenonline On Her Majesty s Secret Service at IMDb On Her Majesty s Secret Service at the TCM Movie Database On Her Majesty s Secret Service at AllMovie On Her Majesty s Secret Service at Rotten Tomatoes On Her Majesty s Secret Service at Box Office Mojo 1968 James Bond OHMSS Photogallery at Walter Riml Portals 1960s Film Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title On Her Majesty 27s Secret Service film amp oldid 1163597784, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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