Bondathon: On Her Majesty’s Secret Service

Following three bombastic adventures with Goldfinger, Thunderball, and You Only Live Twice, the Bond series returned to a more grounded adventure with 1969’s On Her Majesty’s Secret Service.

James Bond had been searching Blofeld for two years but has not come up with any results. With the case running cold Bond gets an offer from Marc-Ange Draco (Gabriele Ferzetti), the head of a criminal syndicate. Draco offers Bond information for a potential lead but in exchange, he had to marry his daughter, Tracy (Diana Rigg) and get a million-pound dowry.

The information takes Bond to Blofeld’s research facility high in the Swiss Alps. Bond has to find a way to convince Blofeld to leave Switzerland so MI6 can arrest the criminal mastermind.

On Her Majesty’s Secret Service has had a reputation that has yo-yoed up-and-down. The film was hated when it was first released, but time has been kinder to the film. Christopher Nolan who’s a big Bond fan has declared On Her Majesty’s Secret Service his favourite film of the series. I can appreciate what the film was doing but acknowledge its issues.

It must have been a jarring experience for audiences to watch On Her Majesty’s Secret Service after three action-packed adventures. The previous film had the villain stealing spacecraft and had a lair inside a volcano and filled with action and gadgets. On Her Majesty’s Secret Service slowed things down considerably. The first act of the film was more focused on Bond and Tracy’s courtship and a large portion of the film had Bond going undercover as a genealogist because Blofeld was making a claim for a title. It hardly made for enthralling viewing.

On Her Majesty’s Secret Service started a precedent of a more grounded Bond film follows an outlandish adventure. This was what happened with Moonraker and For Your Eyes Only, and Die Another Day and Casino Royale. However, On Her Majesty’s Secret Service did suffer from sluggish pacing, especially during the first half. Dr. No and From Russia With Love were also more grounded Bond films and they moved along on a brisker pace.

On Her Majesty’s Secret Service becomes more exciting when Bond’s identity was discovered, and he has to find a way to escape Blofeld’s facility. This led to the awesome ski chase down the mountain. It’s easy to see how that scene influenced the action in Inception.

The other big change was the casting of George Lazenby as the James Bond. Sean Connery famously left the role and Lazenby was plucked from obscurity to play the famous spy. It was a big ask for the unknown Aussie actor to take on such an iconic role. Lazenby’s greatest strength as Bond was his physicality. He was a bulky man and it was easy to believe he could fight three men at the same time. He famously punched a stuntman in the face during his audition to play Bond. The film was more serious in tone so Lazenby didn’t have much chance to make wisecracks. The memorable joke was when he stated he suffered from a moment of stiffness. Lazenby did lack the charm and charisma of the other actors who played the character. It is funny that at this point in the franchise a Scotsman played Bond for five films, yet it was an Aussie who got to wear a kilt.

On Her Majesty’s Secret Service was Peter R. Hunt’s directional debut. Hunt worked as an editor and second unit director on the previous Bond films. On Her Majesty’s Secret Service must have been seen as a big risk because it was a blockbuster directed by and starring newcomers. Considering Hunt’s experience On Her Majesty’s Secret Service had excellent fight and action scenes, especially the ski scenes. But the fight scenes did have odd jump cuts during them which was distracting. On Her Majesty’s Secret Service was one of the smaller-scale films because the action takes place in Blofeld’s facility and the surrounding area.

The aim of On Her Majesty’s Secret Service was to show a more vulnerable side to Bond. In this film he loves and feels due to his relationship with Tracy. This is the first Bond film where the main character falls in love. The two best scenes were when Bond escaped to the mountain town and the ending. When Bond was running away from Blofeld’s goons he was tired and disoriented, and Tracy appeared like an angel on ice skates to save the British agent. The ending was probably the most famous in the franchise because Tracy died. It’s one of the best and most shocking endings in the Bond franchise. It was one of the best scenes in the franchise. Tracy’s legacy has had a lasting impact on the franchise.

Despite Bond settling down in this film he did spend a large portion of it with 12 beautiful young ladies who were starving for male attention. There was only going to be one outcome. On Her Majesty’s Secret Service does have some scenes that modern audiences might find troubling. Bond slaps Tracy in an act of percussion, Draco punches her unconscious and Draco was trying to pay Bond to take Tracy off his hands and says she needs a man to dominate her.

Whilst On Her Majesty’s Secret Service had an important role in humanising Bond there were story issues with the film. The romance between Bond and Tracy and the main storyline involving Blofeld’s plot felt like two separate stories. Tracy disappears for most of the second act and she only becomes important again in the third act. A film like the 2006 version of Casino Royale did a better job at interweaving its romantic subplot with Bond’s mission.

This film infamously started the codename theory because a new actor took on the role and the infamous fourth wall break where Bond says ‘This never happened to the other fellow.’ However, there was more evidence that Lazenby was playing the same Bond as Connery. M states that Bond had been searching for Blofeld for two years – On Her Majesty’s Secret Service came out two years after You Only Live Twice. The title sequence had footage from the previous films and Bond had artifacts from previous missions in his office. After On Her Majesty’s Secret Service the Bond film makes references to Tracy, the most famous being at the beginning of For Your Eyes Only when Bond lays flowers on Tracy’s grave.

On Her Majesty’s Secret Service was clearly an important film in the franchise due to its character-driven film and the emotional gut punch. However, it was not quite the great Bond film that some have made it out to be due to the first act problems and slow pacing.