Review of On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969) by Stuart K — 24 Mar 2011

The 6th James Bond film and the one where they did something completely different. They went with a total unknown for the lead after Sean Connery left, they stayed close to Ian Fleming's original novel and kept gadgets and action to a near minimum.

The result is the Casino Royale (2006) of it's day, and one of the best Bond films. This has James Bond (George Lazenby) falling for Tracy di Vicenzo (Diana Rigg), who is the daughter of European crime syndicate magnate Marc-Ange Draco (Gabriele Ferzetti), but using Draco's connections and doing a big favour for Draco in Switzerland, Bond is able to use it to aid a case he's working on, where Blofeld (Telly Savalas) is in the Swiss Alps, running a clinical research centre on top of a mountain, looking to allergy cures.

Bond goes undercover as Sir Hilary Bray, and discovers Blofeld is brainwashing his patients, 10 beautiful women from around the world, to distribute bio-chemical warfare agents in their respective countries.

However, Bond is rumbled, he escapes and is rescued by Tracy. Bond repays the favour by proposing to her, but is it happily ever after?? It's the most emotionally charged off the Bond films, and even if Lazenby is a bit wooden in parts, the film is held together by it's strong plot and Savalas' Blofeld is the best interpretation of the character.

However, this one didn't go down well with audiences, so it was back to Sean Connery, gadgets, action and over the top Ken Adam sets for Diamonds are Forever (1971). Pity really.