On Her Majesty's Secret Service

1969's ON HER MAJESTY'S SECRET SERVICE is a departure for the series in numerous fashions, starting with the casting of a new James Bond, George Lazenby, previous best known for his modeling gigs and chocolate bar commercials in the U.K.  He would take over for a weary Sean Connery, who oddly enough would later return twice (in films over a decade apart) to fill 007's shoes.  But in 1969 Lazenby became Ian Fleming's super agent, touted to reinvigorate the franchise after a few lackluster entries.  He only needed one movie to decide that he'd had enough, and showed up at the film's premiere with long hair and a beard, convinced by his agent that the womanizing Mi6er's future in the cinema was growing nigh.  

I feel he did a decent job.  He certainly wears a tux well and seems able to rise to the physical demands.  Most importantly, he had chemistry with his leading lady, Diana Rigg, who beautifully portrays Countess Tracy di Vicenzo.  She would prove to be the most interesting Bond "girl" to this day, a perfect foil for our roguish cad of a bachelor, who bedded just about anything in heels.  But in this story James Bond falls in love, even eventually walking down the aisle.  Leading up to that, in the great tradition of romance stories, there is a lot of bickering and resistance, but by the time we see her inexplicably show up in Lauterbrunnen more than halfway through the picture (after being gone from the proceedings for over half an hour), we know our dear boy is toast, irrevocably smitten.

But let's back up a bit.  The Countess is the daughter of Draco (Gabriele Ferzetti), head a large crime syndicate, who offers Bond a large sum to marry her.  He agrees if Draco will help him on his perpetual hunt for the notorious and elusive Ernst Stavro Blofeld (this time played by Telly Savalas), head of the organization SPECTRE.  While posing undercover as a genealogist, Bond will learn that Blofeld is plotting to unleash biological warfare throughout the world via a group of twelve hypnotized young women, his subjects at a Swiss allergy research institute.  Blofeld becomes wise to Bond's ruse and the chase is on, leading to a very exciting third act that has some of the best chases (car, ski, and bobsled) to be found in these movies.

The second act of ON HER MAJESTY'S SECRET SERVICE, mostly spent at the Institute, does crawl along, a long stretch of exposition punctuated with Bond seducing another group of nymphets.  But Savalas does very well as the supervillain, perfectly suave and menacing. 

The first act is entertaining enough, though that annoying "frame skipping" editing, intended to make fight scenes more thrilling, just looks ridiculous, with sound effects to match. 

I believe if Lazenby had stuck it out, he would've grown nicely into the role.  At times he does appear stiff and unsure but I feel he had the raw materials, and he was certainly blessed with a worthy storyline, well scribed by Richard Maibaum, adapting Fleming's 1963 novel.  Oh, the plot is the usual business upon which to hang beautiful locations and stunts, but the love story at the center of this piece is part of why this is a Top Ten Bond.  The final moments are certainly the most moving I can recall among the 007 adventures.