On Her Majesty's Secret Service

On Her Majesty's Secret Service (entitled 007 al servicio de su Majestad México y Al servicio secreto de His Majesty in Spain, Argentina and Chile) is a British spy film and the sixth film in the official James Bond theatrical series. It was released on December 18, 1969 in the United Kingdom and was produced by Eon Productions. It is based on the homonymous novel written by Ian Fleming. Following Sean Connery's decision to step down from the role after the previous installment, Eon Productions tapped George Lazenby, a model with virtually no prior acting experience, to play James Bond. Although his contract was for 7 installments, during the making of the film, Lazenby announced that he would play the role of Bond only once. Connery would return two years later to star in Diamonds Are Forever.

In this installment, Bond confronts his archenemy Blofeld (Telly Savalas), who is planning to hold the world by threatening to render all food plants and livestock infertile through the actions of a group of " angels of death" brainwashed, unless his demands for an international amnesty, recognition of his title as Count De Bleuchamp (the French form of Blofeld) and being allowed to retire into private life are met. Along the way, Bond meets, falls in love with, and eventually marries Countess Teresa di Vicenzo (Diana Rigg).

It is the only Bond film to be directed by Peter R. Hunt, who previously served as editor and second unit director on previous Bond films. Hunt, along with producers Albert R. Broccoli and Harry Saltzman, decided to produce a more realistic film that closely followed the novel. It was shot in Switzerland, England and Portugal from October 1968 to May 1969. Although its theatrical release was not as lucrative as its predecessor You Only Live Twice, At the Service Her Majesty's Secret remained one of the highest-performing films of the year. Reviews upon release were mixed, but the film's reputation has greatly improved over time and it is now considered one of the highest-performing entries. solid of the series. Along with 2006's Casino Royale, it is generally regarded as one of the most faithful adaptations of the film series of an Ian Fleming novel.

Plot

In the pre-credits sequence M (Bernard Lee), Q (Desmond Llewelyn) and Moneypenny (Lois Maxwell) search for James Bond (George Lazenby), who while on a road saves the life of a beautiful woman who was trying to commit suicide jumping into the sea After her the woman flees while Bond is confronted by several thugs who are chasing her.

Still on the road, Bond stays at a hotel where he sees the same car as the woman he saved. That night at the hotel casino Bond plays baccarat and rediscovers the woman he saved, whose name is Teresa di Vicenzo (Diana Rigg). Bond intends to spend a night with her after saving her life for the second time (since she couldn't pay what she lost playing baccarat) and leaves the hotel the next morning, whereupon several thugs, including one with whom he he had found the night before at the beginning, Bond is taken to the office of Marc Ange Draco (Gabriele Ferzetti), a mafioso union leader of the Union Corsa and owner of a construction company. Draco learns of Bond's feats in saving his daughter Tracy di Vicenzo and proposes to marry her in exchange for discovering the whereabouts of his archenemy Ernst Stravro Blofeld (Telly Savalas), and Bond accepts despite only wanting to follow his lead. single life knowing that she has been through difficult times. He then goes to MI6 headquarters, where M relieves him of the mission to search for Blofeld: Bond assures him that Blofeld is already in his hands, but fails to dissuade his boss from his decision. Angered, he leaves M's office, asks Moneypenny to draft his resignation from MI6, and goes to his office to collect his personal belongings. As he leaves, he learns that Moneypenny did not write the resignation, but a leave of absence accepted by M.

Bond meets with Tracy di Vicenzo and her father Marc Ange Draco (who was having a birthday), and in addition to giving him a million dollars, he commits him to his daughter. Bond being in love for the second time dominates Tracy and they start a relationship. Later Bond, looking for information on Blofeld, arrives at a small office in Bern belonging to a lawyer named Gebrüder Gumbold (James Bree), he leaves his office and Bond infiltrates it where, helped by Shaun Campbell, (Bernard Horsfall), a member of the Draco construction company and an ally of the agent, manages to steal documents from his safe that linked Blofeld to Her Majesty's College of Arms and a genealogist from the same named Sir Hillary Bray: using a copier (the same machine that used to open the safe) Bond manages to copy the documents before Gumbold arrives. Later Bond goes to M's residence where, in his office, he tells him about the documents: M demands his agent to obey the order to stay out of the mission but Bond convinces him by showing him the documents and after a while Bond meets with Sir Hillary Bray (George Baker) who, knowing of his mission, asks him to impersonate him in order to reach Blofeld while he went on vacation, also taking advantage of the fact that neither Bray nor Blofeld knew each other personally.

Bond follows Blofeld's trail to Switzerland where Blofeld, under the identity of Count Balthazar De Bleauchamp (a title he asks for at the College of Arms), runs an allergy research clinic at Piz Gloria. Guided by Blofeld's assistant, Irma Bunt (Ilse Steppat), Bond arrives at the clinic (still guarded by Campbell) where he maintains his false identity and gains confidence in the villain's facility. Later Bond arrives at a small room where several beautiful women, patients of the clinic, enthusiastically receive the supposed genealogist. Bond also discovers that the patients have been cured of their food allergies and two of them express interest in Bond: Ruby Barlett (Angela Scoular) and Nancy (Catherina von Schell). Bond is taken to Blofeld who, assuming his identity as a count, receives Bond (believing that he was Sir Hillary Bray) and gives him documents to study his ancestors and thus be able to definitively assume the noble title. That night, in addition to studying Blofeld's ancestry, Bond escapes from his hermetically locked room to have an affair with Ruby, claiming to lend her a book on heraldry, where at the same time the agent realizes that Blofeld is hypnotizing her with his recorded voice. and filling the room with colored lights. Bond returns unseen to his room where he has another affair, this time with Nancy. The next day Campbell, worried that Bond had not left the clinic, approaches the cable car where they tell him that Piz Gloria is private property. While Bond meets the girls to play Curling, Campbell for his part tries to climb the Piz Gloria dressed as a mountaineer, but is stopped by order of Blofeld (whose soldier had recognized Campbell on the cable car) and his confiscated equipment, Bond asks him He tells Blofeld to travel to Augsburg (where Blofeld would be arrested without violating Swiss sovereignty) to investigate his ancestry and secretly promises Ruby and Nancy to meet them at night at a different time since the women will be leaving the clinic.

That night Bond enters Ruby's room but finds Bunt who along with a guard kidnap Bond, who after a while wakes up in the office of Blofeld who had recognized his identity since the real Sir Hillary does not usually flirt with women He does his job perfectly and knows that Blofeld's ancestors are buried elsewhere. Blofeld confesses that his clinic trains women whom he calls "Angels of Death" to spread a virus capable of extinguishing plants and animals necessary for the world economy and thus put pressure on the UN making him pay a huge ransom to prevent biological warfare and that he will hold the agent hostage to show that his intentions are serious. Bond is taken to the cable car engine room and Blofeld shows the constable Campbell's hanging corpse. Meanwhile the girls discover that Blofeld has given them gifts, which contain cosmetics, a bottle of perfume with the virus and a small radio so that they obey Blofeld's voice and disperse the virus. Bond with difficulty manages to leave the room and enter the clinic again and observes the process planned by Blofeld who with his voice gives instructions on how to use the "gift". Bond goes down to the first floor where he neutralizes a guard and escapes from the building in the ski locker. The guards, noticing the escape, give chase to Bond along with Blofeld. With difficulty Bond neutralizes some guards and then arrives at Lauterbrunnen where he further tries to evade Irma Bunt and several guards who were looking for him, Bond meets Tracy who helps him escape but still fails to evade pursuit.

Confident that they had lost track of them, Tracy gives Bond time to contact M in London but is intercepted by Blofeld's henchmen and after another chase, Bond and Tracy lose them in the middle of a car race and with difficulty they manage to get out of the race leaving Bunt's car and his henchmen on fire, although with them escaping. Bond and Tracy continue but after a snow storm they hide in a small barn where they spend the night and Bond promises to find another job and proposes to her and Tracy accepts. The next day Blofeld's henchmen arrive at the barn to see that Bond and Tracy had escaped, they were skiing away in a fleetingly romantic moment; Blofeld and his soldiers chase them and Bond and Tracy flee to a dangerous avalanche point where the villain causes a huge avalanche that buries Bond and his fiancée. Convinced that he has killed Bond, Blofeld takes Tracy hostage. M from his office receives a call from his informant at the UN where he alerts him that the nations will agree to give him amnesty, pardon and recognition of his title of count within two days, Bond asks Mir to go to Piz Gloria and destroy the complex, but M refuses saying that the operation was over. Bond does not sit idly by and calls Draco to organize an operation to rescue Tracy and defeat Blofeld.

Bond and Draco arrive at Piz Gloria disguised from Red Cross helicopters while Blofeld offers Tracy everything to win her over, with fighter jets chasing Draco's helicopters. Tracy recognizes her father's voice and leads Blofeld to take her to the dining room to see how the helicopters bombed Blofeld's compound, Tracy for her part confronts Gunther (Yuri Borienko), a Blofeld guard and barely manages to defeat him and Draco pulls Tracy out of the battle. Bond manages to destroy the center with Draco's help and goes after Blofeld once he destroys the complex. Blofeld flees into a bobsled racetrack in a battle to the death with Bond, when Bond gets into a fight on the bobsled and Blofeld is left hanging by his neck in a tree, apparently breaking his neck, and Bond assumes he has finished off his enemy..

A few days later Bond and Tracy get married, Q wishes Bond well, and M and Draco have a little interview. Bond says goodbye to Moneypenny to go on his honeymoon, but ending the wedding party in the middle of the road when they were discussing how many children they would have and Bond was removing the flowers from the car, Blofeld's assistant Irma Bunt fired a burst of shrapnel at Bond and Tracy from a car driven by his boss, who wears a cervical collar. Bond, who was planning to go after Blofeld, discovers that Tracy has been shot dead and decides to hold his dead wife in his arms while telling a passing traffic cop that she is just resting.

Cast

• George Lazenby - James Bond, secret agent of MI6, key name 007.
• Diana Rigg - Countess Teresa 'Tracy' di Vicenzo, then Tracy Bond, a vulnerable countess and daughter of Marc-Ange Draco, who captures Bond's heart.
• Telly Savalas - Ernst Stavro Blofeld (also known as Count Balthazar of Bleuchamp), Bond nemesis, SPECTRE leader and clandestine.
  

  Telly Savalas at the scene.
• Gabriele Ferzetti - Marc-Ange Draco, Head of the Corsa Union, an important crime union and Tracy's father.
• Ilse Steppat - Irma Bunt, Blofeld's henchman who helps in trying to eliminate Bond.
• Lois Maxwell - Miss Moneypenny, M's secretary.
• George Baker - Sir Hilary Bray, varonés, genealogist and heraldist at the College of Arms in London where Bond is being spent in Piz Gloria. Baker was also Bond's voice as he supplanted Bray.
• Bernard Lee - M, Director of the British Secret Service.
• Bernard Horsfall - Shaun Campbell, a colleague of 007 who tries to help Bond in Switzerland as part of Operation Bedlam, before being killed by Blofeld or his minions when Bond is unmasked as an agent.
• Desmond Llewelyn - Q, chief of the technical department of MI6.
• Yuri Borienko - Grunther, the brutal security chief of Blofeld in Piz Gloria.
• Virginia North - Olympe, Draco lover. Nikki van der Zyl doubled the voice for the character.
• Geoffrey Cheshire - Toussaint, one of Draco's thugs joining Piz Gloria's assault.
• Irvin Allen - Che Che Che, Tracy's bodyguard who fights James Bond, but then serves as an ally.
  

  Irvin Allen and George Lazenby.
• Terry Mountain - Raphael
• James Bree - Gebrüder Gumbold
• John Gay - Hammond
• Brian Worth - Manuel (not accredited)
• Bessie Love - Battery player (not accredited)

Blofeld's Angels of Death

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

The Angels of Death are twelve beautiful women from around the world who are brainwashed by Blofeld under the guise of allergy or phobia treatment to spread the Omega Virus. Several appeared in the representative styles of clothing of their particular nation. His unwitting mission is to help Blofeld contaminate and ultimately sterilize the world's food supply.

• Angela Scoular - Ruby Bartlett (Windsor in the novel), an English girl in the clinic that suffers from chicken allergy, to whom Bond seduces. Scoular also played Buttercup in the 1967 comedy Casino Royale.
• Catherina von Schell - Nancy, a Hungarian girl at the clinic with which Bond is also sleeping. Allergy to the pope.
• Julie Age - Scandinavian girl. Allergy to fish.
• Mona Chong - Chinese girl. Allergy to rice.
• Sylvana Henriques - Jamaiquina Girl. Allergy to the banana.
• Dani Sheridan - American girl. Allergy to the pig.
• Joanna Lumley - English girl.
• Zara - Indian girl. Allergy to lentils.
• Anouska Hempel - Australian girl. Allergy to beef.
• Ingrit Back - German girl. Allergy to citrus.
• Helena Ronee - Israeli girl. Allergy to seafood.
• Jenny Hanley - Irish girl. Allergy to corn.

The film's producers, probably underestimating Lazenby's ability to carry the full weight of the film, made the unusual decision to have George Baker dub Lazenby's voice for the parts where Bond was impersonating Baker's character, Sir Hillary Bray, in contrast, in the dubbing made for Mexico, the voice of Víctor Trujillo as Bond continued to be maintained. A heavily edited version of the film was later released for broadcast on ABC in 1976 and in 1980. In this version, Lazenby's voice is dubbed by another actor. The film opens with Bond's escape from Piz Gloria and continues from that section of the film to the scene in M's office after the avalanche that results in Tracy's capture by Blofeld. Later the complete film is seen in the form of flashback.

Production

The novel On Her Majesty's Secret Service was first published after the film series began and contains "a mild dig at Bond cinematic devices"; Broccoli and Saltzman originally intended to adapt On Her Majesty's Secret Service after Goldfinger and Richard Maibaum was working on a script at the time. However, Thunderball was filmed instead after the legal dispute over the novel was resolved between Fleming and Kevin McClory. On Her Majesty's Secret Service would be the next film, but problems with a warm Swiss winter and inadequate snow cover led Saltzman and Broccoli to postpone the film again, favoring the production of You Only Live Twice.

Between Sean Connery's resignation at the start of shooting You Only Live Twice and its release, Saltzman had planned to adapt The Man with the Golden Gun in Cambodia and cast Roger Moore as the next Bond, but political unrest meant the location was scrapped and Moore was still filming yet another season of The Saint. Then You Only Live Twice i> was released in 1967, the producers took it up once more with On Her Majesty's Secret Service.

Peter Hunt, who had worked on the previous five films, had impressed Broccoli and Saltzman enough to earn his directorial debut, as they believed his quick editing had set the style for the series; he was also the the result of a longstanding promise by Broccoli and Saltzman for a directing position. Hunt also applied for the position during the production of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, and brought many members of the crew with him, including the cinematographer Michael Reed. Hunt focused on making his mark: "I wanted it to be unlike any other Bond film. It was my movie, not anyone else's.” On Her Majesty's Secret Service was the only film Hunt directed in the series.

Script

Screenwriter Richard Maibaum, who had worked on all but the previous Bond film, was responsible for the script for On Her Majesty's Secret Service. Saltzman and Broccoli decided to leave the sci-fi gadgets from the previous films and focus more on the plot as in From Russia with Love. Peter Hunt asked Simon Raven to write some of the dialogue between Tracy and Blofeld in Piz Gloria, which was going to to be "sharper, better, and more intellectual"; one of Raven's additions was having Tracy quote James Elroy Flecker. In writing the script, the producers decided to make the closest adaptation of the book possible: virtually everything that happens in the novel happens in the film as well, and it was reported that Hunt would always come onto the set with an annotated copy of the novel.

Because the script follows the novel more closely than the other film adaptations of Fleming's original novels, there are several continuity errors due to the films running in a different sequence, such as when Blofeld does not recognize Bond despite having face to face with him in the previous film, You Only Live Twice. In the original script, Bond undergoes plastic surgery to disguise him as his enemies; the intention was to allow an unrecognizable Bond to infiltrate Blofeld's hideout, while at the same time helping audiences to accept the new actor in the role. However, this was dropped in favor of ignoring the actor change.

So that the public would not forget that it was the same James Bond played by another actor, the producers inserted many references to the previous films, some in the form of inside jokes. These include Bond breaking the fourth wall by saying "This never happened to the other guy", thus making reference to Connery's Bond although in the Spanish-American dubbing he only says "This had never happened"; the main credits with images of the previous deliveries; Bond visiting his office and finding objects from Dr. No, From Russia with Love and Thunderball; and a caretaker whistling the theme to Goldfinger. Maibaum later said he thought "Lazenby wasn't ideal for the part", but "it was a wonderful script". In this film Bond shows his office at MI6 headquarters.

Casting

Diana Rigg and George Lazenby during the shooting.

In 1967, after five successful films, Sean Connery stepped down from the role of James Bond and, during the filming of "You Only Live Twice," and without speaking to Albert R. Broccoli. First considered for the role were John Richardson of England, Hans De Vries of the Netherlands, Robert Campbell of Australia, Anthony Rogers of England and George Lazenby of Australia. Broccoli also met with Terence Stamp to play the role, and was also interested. on rising star Oliver Reed but decided he already had too defined a public image. Broccoli initially wanted Timothy Dalton to be Connery's successor after seeing his work in the movie The Lion in Winter, but Dalton declined, believing he was too young for the role and too intimidated to continue. the legacy left by Connery. Harry Saltzman considered Roger Moore for the role but was unavailable as he was contractually tied to the television series The Saint . Saltzman also considered Jeremy Brett for the role, however Broccoli ultimately cast George Lazenby for the part.

Broccoli and Hunt ultimately chose Lazenby after seeing him in a commercial for Fry's Chocolate Cream. Lazenby wore a tailored suit on Savile Row (ordered by Connery, but not picked up by him) and a Rolex watch Submariner, all this after an "accidental" with him at a hairdresser's in the Dorchester Hotel. Broccoli, seeing that Lazenby had many of the necessary elements for the role of Bond, offered him the opportunity to audition for the character. The position was cemented when Lazenby accidentally punched a professional wrestler, who was acting as a stunt coordinator, in the face, impressing Broccoli with his ability to display aggression.Lazenby was offered a seven-picture deal; however, he was convinced by his agent Ronan O'Rahilly that the secret agent and his tuxedo would be archaic in the liberated 1970s, and as a result, Lazenby left the series after the release of On His Secret Service. Majesty in 1969.

For the role of Countess Teresa Di Vicenzo; Tracy Bond, the producers wanted an established actress to contrast with the neophyte Lazenby. Brigitte Bardot was invited (even though Connery was being considered for the role of Bond), but after she signed on to appear in Shalakp, ironically co-starring with Sean Connery, the deal fell through, and Diana Rigg—who had previously played the popular heroine Emma Peel in the series, The Avengers—was cast. Rigg said one of the reasons for accepting the role was it was that she always wanted to be in an epic film. Telly Savalas was cast at the suggestion of Broccoli, and Hunt's neighbor George Baker was offered the role of Sir Hilary Bray. Baker provided the voice for Lazenby as Bray, as Hunt found Lazenby's imitation not convincing enough. Gabriele Ferzetti was cast as Draco after the producers saw him in the Italian film We Still Kill the Old Way, but Ferzetti's heavy Italian accent also led to his voice being dubbed by English actor David de Keyser in the final edit.

Shooting

Film shooting in Piz Gloria, Switzerland

Principal photography began in the Canton of Bern, Switzerland, on October 21, 1968, with the first scene filmed being an aerial view of Bond climbing the stairs of Blofeld's mountain retreat to meet the girls. scenes were shot in the revolving restaurant Piz Gloria, located on top of the Schilthorn, near the town of Mürren. The location was found by production manager Hubert Fröhlich after three weeks of location scouting in France and Switzerland. The restaurant was still under construction, but the producers found the location interesting, and had to finance the supply of electricity and the cable car to make filming possible. The first chase scene in the Alps was shot in Schilthorn and the second in Saas-Fee, while the Christmas celebrations were filmed in Grindelwald and some scenes were shot on location in Bern. Production was hampered by a light snowfall that was unfavorable for ski action scenes, a first for Bond films. The producers even considered moving to another location in Switzerland, but it was taken over by the production of Downhill Racer. The Swiss shoot ended 56 days late. In March 1969, the production moved to England, to Pinewood Studios in London which was used for interior shooting, and M's house was shot in Marlow, Buckinghamshire. In April, the filmmakers went to Portugal, where principal photography wrapped in May. Pre-credits coastal and hotel scenes were filmed at the Hotel Estoril Palacio in Estoril and Guincho Beach, Cascais, while Lisbon was used for the meeting of Bond and Tracy, and the ending used a mountain road in the Arrábida Natural Park near Setúbal. Harry Saltzman wanted the Portuguese scenes to be in France, but after searching there, Peter Hunt considered that the locations not only were they not photogenic, but they were already "overexposed".

Cameraman Johnny Jordan hanging from a helicopter.

While the first unit fired on Piz Gloria, the second unit, led by John Glen, began filming the ski chases. Alpine skiing involved professional skiers and various camera tricks. Some cameras were handheld, with operators holding them as they went downhill with stuntmen, and others were aerial, with cameramen Johnny Jordan, who had previously worked on the helicopter battle in You Only Live Twice., developing a system in which he was hung. using an 18-foot (5.5 m) long parachute harness under a helicopter, allowing moving scenes to be filmed from any angle. The sled chase was also filmed with the help of Swiss Olympians, and it was rewritten to incorporate accidents the stuntmen suffered during filming, such as the scene where Bond falls off the sleigh. Blofeld was caught with a tree on set by Savalas himself, after an attempt to do this by the on-site stuntman went awry. Glen was also the film's editor, employing a similar style to that used by Hunt in earlier Bond films, with fast-paced action scenes and exaggerated sound effects.

The avalanche scenes were to be filmed in cooperation with the Swiss Army, which annually used blasting to prevent snow accumulation causing avalanches, but the naturally chosen area was entombed just prior to filming. The end result was a combination of a man-made avalanche in an isolated location in Switzerland filmed by second unit, footage and images created by the special effects team with salt. Doubles were filmed later, added by optical effects. For the scene where Bond and Tracy crash in a car race while being chased, an ice rink was built on top of an unused plane runway, with water and snow constantly being sprayed. Lazenby and Rigg did most of the driving due to the large amount of close-ups.

For the cinematography, Hunt aimed for "simple, but glamorous like the '50s Hollywood movies I grew up on," as well as something realistic, "where the sets don't seem sets". Cinematographer Michael Reed added that he had difficulties with the lighting, as each set built for the film had a ceiling, which prevented spotlights from being hung from above. While filming, Hunt wanted & #34;the most interesting shots possible", which would also look good after being cropped for television.

Lazenby said he experienced difficulties during filming, received no training despite his lack of acting experience, and was never addressed directly by director Hunt, only through his assistant. Lazenby also stated that Hunt also asked the rest of the crew to keep their distance from him, as "Peter thought the more alone he was, the better he would be as James Bond". personality conflicts with Rigg, who was already an established star. However, according to director Hunt, these rumors are not true and there were no such difficulties, or they were minor, and may have started with Rigg joking with Lazenby before filming a love scene: 'Hey, George, I'm going to have garlic for lunch". I hope you are!" Hunt also stated that he usually had long conversations with Lazenby before and during filming. For example, to shoot Tracy's death scene, Hunt brought Lazenby on set at 8 in the morning and had him rehearse all day,' and I tore him up until he was absolutely exhausted, and when we shot it by five o'clock I was exhausted, and that's how I got the performance'. Hunt said that if Lazenby had stayed in the role, he would also have directed the follow-up film Diamonds Are Forever, and that his original intention had been to conclude the film with Bond and Tracy departing after their wedding, saving Tracy's murder for the Diamonds Are Forever pre-credits sequence. The idea was scrapped after Lazenby stepped down from the role.

On Her Majesty's Secret Service was the longest Bond film until Casino Royale released in 2006. Even so, two scenes were cut from the final cut: Irma Bunt spying on Bond shopping for a wedding ring for Tracy, and a chase across London rooftops and the Royal Mail underground rail system after Bond's conversation with Sir Hilary Bray is overheard to which he was told. makes a brief mention in a newspaper read by Campbell when Bond arrives in Switzerland.

Film Locations

• London, United Kingdom
• Lisbon, Portugal
• Bern, Switzerland
• Piz Gloria, Switzerland

Shooting Locations

• Pinewood Studios, United Kingdom
• London, United Kingdom - Exterior of Universal Exports and the College of Arms
• Marlow, United Kingdom - Outside of the M house known as Quarterdeck.
• Piz Gloria, Switzerland - Blofeld headquarters in the Alps
• Bern, Switzerland - Gunbold offices and scenes in the city
• Lauterbrunnen, Switzerland - several action scenes in the Alps
• Grindelwald, Switzerland - Scenes of the Christmas Festival
• Lisbon, Portugal - Bond and Tracy in the park
• Estoril, Portugal - Pre-credit scenes and Palacio Estoril Hotel (Rua do Parque)
• Playa de Guincho, near Cascais, Portugal - Pre-credit scenes
• Da Vinho Estate, Zambujal, Portugal - Draco House, Birthday Party scene

Soundtrack

The slopes of the Saas Fee area where the ski sequences were rolled.

The soundtrack to On Her Majesty's Secret Service has been called "perhaps the best soundtrack of the series". It was composed, arranged and conducted by John Barry; It was his sixth consecutive Bond film. Barry opted to use more electronic instruments and a more aggressive sound in the music: "I have to stick my oar into the music area twice as hard so the audience tries to forget that they dont have Sean...be Bondian beyond Bondian".

Barry felt it would be difficult to compose a theme song titled "On Her Majesty's Secret Service" unless it was written operatically, in the style of Gilbert and Sullivan. Leslie Bricusse had considered the lyrics for the title song, but director Peter R. Hunt allowed an instrumental title theme in the tradition of the first two films. bond. The track was described as "one of the best mainline titles around, a wordless Moog synth monster fit for skiing at breakneck speed or dancing with equal abandon".

Barry also composed the love song "We Have All the Time in the World," with lyrics by Hal David, regular lyricist for Burt Bacharach, sung by Louis Armstrong. Bond-Tracy courtship montage, linking Draco's birthday party in Portugal and Bond's robbery of Gebrüder Gumbold's law office in Bern, Switzerland. Barry recalled that Armstrong was very ill, but recorded the song on a single take. Armstrong did, however, make some additional recordings in 1970 and 1971. The song was re-released in 1994, peaking at number three over a 13-week period on the UK charts.

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

The theme, "On Her Majesty's Secret Service," is used in the film as an alternative action theme to the "James Bond Theme" by Monty Norman, as with previous tracks from "007" from Barry. "On Her Majesty's Secret Service" was covered in 1997 by British big beat group Propellerheads for the album Shaken and Stirred. Barry's orchestrator Nic Raine recorded an arrangement of the Piz Gloria fugue sequence and appeared as theme in the trailers of The Incredibles, the 2004 Pixar animated film directed by Brad Bird. Barry was the first choice to do the soundtrack for The Incredibles. However, he refused to do the score because he did not wish to reproduce the sound of his previous work.

Note: Tracks 12 to 21 only appear on the 2003 soundtrack

• 1. We Have All the Time in the World - Louis Armstrong
• 2. This Never Happened to the Other Feller
• 3. Try
• 4. Ski Chase
• 5. Do You Know How Christmas Trees Are Grown? - Nina.
• 6. Main Theme - On Her Majesty's Secret Service
• 7. Journey to Blofeld's Hideaway
• 8. We Have All the Time in the World
• 9. Over and Out
• 10. Battle at Piz Gloria
• 11. We Have All the Time in the World - James Bond Theme
• 12. Journey to Draco's Hideaway
• 13. Bond and Draco
• 14. Gumbold's Safe
• 15. Bond Settles In
• 16. Bond Meets The Girls
• 17. Dusk at Piz Gloria
• 18. Sir Hillary's Night Out (Who Will Buy My Yesterdays?)
• 19. Blofeld's Plot
• 20. Escape From Piz Gloria
• 21. Bobsled Chase

Premiere and reception

The film was released on 18 December 1969 with its premiere at the Odeon Leicester Square in London. The avalanche sequence in the film had been recorded in stereo and Odeon installed a new speaker system to highlight the effect.

Lazenby appeared at the premiere with a beard, looking "very unBond-like," according to the Daily Mirror. Lazenby claimed that the producers had tried to persuade him to shaved to look like Bond, but by then he had decided against making another Bond film and rejected the idea. The accompanying beard and shoulder-length hair "strained his already fragile relationship with Saltzman and Broccoli";.

Because Lazenby had informed the producers that On Her Majesty's Secret Service was to be his only appearance as Bond and due to the lack of devices used by Bond in the film, there were few merchandise items for the film aside from the soundtrack and a film edition of the book. Those produced included various Corgi Toys, including Tracy's Mercury Cougar (1969), Campbell's Volkswagen, and two versions of the bobsledder, one with the 007 logo and one with the Piz Gloria logo. To the Secret Service for Her Majesty was nominated for only one award: George Lazenby was nominated in the New Star Actor of the Year category - at the 1970 Golden Globe ceremony, losing to Jon Voight.

Ticket office

The film topped the United States box office when it opened grossing $1.2 million for the week. It was the highest-grossing film in January 1970. The film closed its box office run with £750,000 in the UK. Kingdom (highest-grossing film of the year), $64.6 million worldwide, half the total gross of the previous installment, but still one of the highest-grossing films of 1969. It was one of the most popular films of France in 1969, with 1,958,172 admissions. However, this was a considerable drop from the box office earned from You Only Live Twice. After re-releases, the total box office was $82,000,000 in everyone.

Contemporary Criticism

Most of the comments were critical of either the film, Lazenby, or both, while most contemporary reviews in the British press refer to George Lazenby at some point as "The Big Fry" 34;, a reference to his earlier performance in advertisements for Fry's Chocolate. Derek Malcolm of The Guardian newspaper was dismissive of Lazenby's performance, saying that he "didn't he's a good actor and while I never thought Sean Connery was that stylish either, there are moments when one craves a bit of his louche' style. Despite all the criticism of Lazenby, however, Malcolm says that the The film was "quite amusing in the familiar money-spinning way". Tom Milne, writing in The Observer was even more scathing, saying that "I.. I fervently trust (OHMSS) will be the last of the James Bond movies. All the quirks, eccentricities and nice gizmos of the previous films have somehow been lost, leaving a routine trail through which the new James Bond progresses without noticeable signs of animation.

Donald Zec in the Daily Mirror was similarly damning of Lazenby's acting chops, comparing him unfavorably to Connery: "He looks awkward in the role as a four foot on a size ten rubber boots'. In another unfavorable comparison of Lazenby to Connery, Gene Siskel of the Chicago Tribune commented that he "doesn't fill the shoes of Sean Connery, Aston Martin, or elastic pants. The new 007 is more youthful and, consequently, less of a man. He doesn't order food with the same enthusiasm and generally lacks the smirk that Connery kept with him and passed on to his audience.' A. H. Weiler of The New York Times also shared he opposed Lazenby, saying that "Lazenby, if not a spurious Bond, is simply a casual, pleasant and satisfying replacement".

Zec was kinder to Lazenby's co-star, saying that "there's flair to Diana Rigg's performance and I suspect the last scene that takes something out of a Lazenby performance owes a lot to her silky background". Siskel also wrote that Rigg "is well cast to play the girl, but we lose her for about an hour in the movie, only to have her return in a highly unlikely time and place".

One of Lazenby's few supporters among 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 whom in his film he refers to as 'the other'. Lazenby's voice is softer than sexy-sinister and he could pass for the other's twin. on the dark side of the casino. Bond is now definitely '70s ready'. Judith Crist of New York magazine also found the actor to be a strong point of the film, stating that "this time there's less softness and a no-nonsense muscularity and masculinity to the role via the handsome Mr. Lazenby".

Feminist film critic Molly Haskell also wrote an approving review of the film in The Village Voice: “In a world, an industry and, in particular, a genre that values the new and improved product, it is nothing short of miraculous to see a movie that dares to regress, a technological artifact that has nobly deteriorated into a human being. I'm talking about the new and outdated James Bond, played by a man named George Lazenby, who seems more comfortable in a wet tuxedo than a dry martini, more at home as a Donnish genealogist than reading (or playing) Playboy, and who dares to think that one woman of her equal is better than a thousand part-time playmates'. 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 seemingly getting rid of the bad guys, they get married. They are heading towards a shocking and surprising finale. His love, being too real, is killed by the conventions he defied. But they obtain the final victory by calling, unexpectedly, to feel. Some of the onlookers hissed, he was devastated. If you like Bond movies with happy endings, don't go there".

Retrospective reviews

Modern reception of the film has been more favourable. Film critic James Berardinelli summed this up in his review of the film: 'with the exception of one production aspect, [it is] by far the best entry in the long-running James Bond series. The film contains some of the most exciting action sequences to ever hit the screen, a touching love story, and a cute subplot that has Agent 007 crossing over (and even threatening to resign) from Her Majesty's Secret Service". Lazenby is often cited as the underdog Bond, though Connery, Moore, Dalton, and Craig have highlighted his performance.

American film critic Leonard Maltin has suggested that if it had been Connery in the title role instead of Lazenby, "On Her Majesty's Secret Service" he would have epitomized the series. 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 humour, sense of fun and self-confidence, would be out of place in this picture. Actually, he works better with Lazenby because he's incapable of playing Bond as a larger-than-life hero; For one thing, he doesn't have the look... Lazenby's Bond doesn't have the confidence of Connery's Bond either, and that's fitting in the crumbling, depressing world he finds himself in. He seems vulnerable and nervous at times. At the skating rink, he's actually scared. We care about him... On Her Majesty's Secret Service, she doesn't & # 39; I've got Connery and it's impossible to fully adapt to Lazenby, but I think it could still 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" from the Bond films.

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

Filmmaker Steven Soderbergh writes that "For me, there is no doubt that cinematically On Her Majesty's Secret Service is the best Bond film and the only one worth repeat viewing. for reasons other than pure entertainment... Shot for shot, this film is beautiful in a way that none of the other Bond films are'. Director Christopher Nolan also stated that "On the Secret Service of Your Majesty" it was his favorite Bond film; Describing his influence on his own 2010 film Inception, Nolan said, "What I liked about what we tried to emulate in this film is that theres a tremendous balance to that film of action, scale, romanticism, tragedy and emotion".

Mercury Cougar XR7 of 1969 used in the film.

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 reads: "The George Lazenby's sole appearance as 007 is a fine entry into the series, with one of the most intriguing Bond Girls in Tracy di Vincenzo (Diana Rigg), stunning visuals, and some great ski chases ". IGN rated On Her Majesty's Secret Service as the eighth best Bond film, Entertainment Weekly as the sixth, and MSN's Norman Wilner as the fifth best. Digital Spy listed the film as the best James Bond film to date. The film also became a fan favorite, earning "the biggest hit in the home video market". In September 2012 it was announced that "On Her Majesty' s Secret Service" he had topped a Bond fan poll conducted by 007 magazine to determine the best Bond film ever. "Goldfinger" came second in the poll and "From Russia With Love" in third place.

Starting with Goldfinger and continuing with Thunderball and Never Say Never, Rigg conducted a product placement example with the updated look and feel of a 1969 Mercury Cougar XR7 in an extended car chase scene in the Swiss Alps. There were no devices installed in the car as it was Tracy's character's personal car.