On Her Majesty's Secret Service – The Lost Bond?

In recent years On Her Majesty’s Secret Service has developed something of a cult reputation. Long regarded as a failure due to poor box-office returns and the perceived weakness of leading man George Lazenby, there is now a growing appreciation for the film and the efforts of those who worked it. Sadly the mainstream press still views On Her Majesty’s Secret Service as a disaster. When a new Bond film is released the magazines and newspapers are full of retrospectives about previous Bond entries. George Lazenby and his only effort as 007 rarely get a look in.

If anything illustrates the lack of regard shown by the mainstream towards Lazenby it is the following exchange on The David Letterman Show. Daniel Craig is promoting Casino Royale. Letterman has clearly not seen the film and does not seem particularly interested in Craig. Instead he holds up pictures of the previous Bond actors to emphasise how he feels a Bond should look. First is of course Sean Connery whose picture gets a huge cheer from the audience. Next up is Lazenby. Letterman holds up the picture and for a moment there is no response, until a few people start clapping, the others join in. Letterman wins a laugh by scolding the audience for being sarcastic.

George Lazenby deserves better. While his inexperience shows in some parts of the film, he more than makes up for it with his sheer physicality. At thirty, Lazenby remains the youngest incarnation of Bond and his athleticism shows through in a series of furniture-breaking fight scenes. His gun barrel walk is audacious. Instead of turning and firing, Lazenby gracefully drops onto one knee before pulling the trigger. Had Sean Connery attempted this on his return in 1971’s Diamonds Are Forever he would have broken his kneecap.

Director Peter Hunt concentrates on establishing the new guy as Bond in the pre-title sequence. Bernard Lee’s perennially grumpy M wonders where 007 is, cut to Bond driving his Aston Martin in a small European Town. Hunt does not show Bond’s face, until late on. Instead he focuses on the way Bond lights and smokes a cigarette, his clothes and the interior of the Aston. Then of course, there is a girl, Tracy Draco (Diana Rigg) whose reckless driving catches his attention, as does her reckless attempt at going swimming.

Bond pulls her from the water and introduces himself. Tracy does not seem particularly happy to see him and we learn later that she has been putting herself in dangerous situation to tempt fate because she no longer cares about her own life. Two thugs appear and try to take Tracy, but Bond bests them by half-drowning one and hitting the other with a small boat. Tracy takes advantage of the distraction and drives off in her car. Bond is left standing on the beach. Lazenby apparently improvised the line he turns and delivers to the camera, “This never happened to the other fellow.”

It is a line delivered with a nod to the audience, who probably reacted to Lazenby’s announcement that his name is “Bond, James Bond,” with the feeling, no you are not, he’s Scottish and he has less hair than you. The main problem for many at the time was the absence of Sean Connery. No Bond since has ever had a tougher job of replacing the man who went before him. Audiences weren’t used to seeing a different actor playing Bond, unless you count David Niven in the 1967 version of Casino Royale, but that was a spoof. When Roger Moore took over from Connery in 1973 for Live and Let Die he at least had the advantage of being a famous TV actor and it was now established that James Bond was a role that would from now on change actors from time to time.

After the extravagance of 1967’s You Only Live Twice, the plot for On Her Majesty’s Secret Service is relatively simple and faithful to Ian Fleming’s novel. Blofeld, played here by a streetwise Telly Savalas, wants to pass himself as an aristocrat and hires the genealogist Sir Hillary Bray to prove his lineage. Bond impersonates Bray and spends time at his clinic (Piz Gloria, the mountain ski resort), where Blofeld is treating the allergies of a dozen beautiful young women. Bond is rumbled when he starts seducing the patients and also incorrectly identifies the location of Blofeld’s supposed ancestors. As this is a James Bond film the villain then explains his master plan. Blofeld intends to spread a biological virus using the girls as carriers that will permanently wipe out animal and plant life.

Bond’s escape from Piz Gloria is one of the best sequences in Bond history, thanks to a combination of Peter Hunt’s direction, John Glen’s editing, John Barry’s music, Willy Bogner’s stunt skiing and Diana Rigg’s beauty. Bond loses a ski while fleeing, but carries on with only one ski. There is a Winter Fair in the village at the bottom of the mountain. Bond disappears into the crowd, but Blofeld’s people are still looking for him so he hides out by an ice-rink. Lazenby excels here, looking lost and a little afraid. Peter Hunt cuts between a shot of Bond sitting there and the feet of the skaters as they whiz past, until somebody stops right in front of him. Bond looks up and the camera follows, and Tracy is standing there offering him her help. No wonder Bond asks her to marry him.

With On Her Majesty’s Secret Service departing from formula by having Bond fall in love and shock, horror getting married, the novelty value of Lazenby appearing as Bond for one time only suits the film. Especially given that we know how his career turned out afterwards. Lazenby ended up with a part in Emmanuelle the TV series and cameos in TV shows like The Master and BJ and the Bear. This never happened to the other fellow indeed. The general perception is that Lazenby was fired, though it is much more complicated than that. There are varying accounts, but it seems that Lazenby never signed a contract with United Artists, even though at least one was offered to him. Badly advised, he was told by a friend that Bond was finished and the hippies were taking over. By the time Cubby Broccoli and Harry Saltzman had counted the box-office receipts they had no intention of asking him back.

The most famous thing to come out of On Her Majesty’s Secret Service is probably the Louis Armstrong track, ‘We have all the time in the world.’ Nice try Louis, but nobody does. George Lazenby knows this more than most. But he can take consolation in the fact that while he only made one Bond film, it is one of the best.