ON HER MAJESTY'S SECRET SERVICE - DVD review

Discounting an early television production of "Casino Royale" and later the witless theatrical version of same, "On Her Majesty's Secret Service" (1969) was the sixth regular installment in the Bond series. It is held in varying degrees of affection by 007 fans and comes equipped with a number of firsts. It's the first entry to star someone other than Sean Connery in the lead role; it's the first instance of Bond threatening to quit the British Secret Service; it's the first and only time Bond ever marries; and it's the first and maybe the only Bond issue to bring a tear to the eye. It's also the lengthiest Bond ever (142 minutes). Whether any of this makes it the best Bond epic of all is debatable.

Let's start with George Lazenby. When Connery called it quits, a worldwide search went out to find a replacement. Curiously, the producers came up with Lazenby, who had never acted before. Face it, he's a stiff. He could be set in a window to sell clothes. Which, in fact, was pretty close to his former job, a model. However, more so than Connery he did look and sound like the fellow the producers had wanted all along, Cary Grant. The only reason they had gone with Connery in "Dr. No" was that Grant's asking price was out of their range. So Lazenby looks and sounds great, although Lazenby said he was surprised during the film's premiere to find that his Australian accent had been looped. Anyway, appearance and voice aside, watching him go through the motions of Bond can be painful to any 007 buff, no matter how well Lazenby wears a tuxedo, how good he looks in a casino playing baccarat, or how smartly he sits behind the wheel of an Aston Martin. And apparently the producers thought so, too. When the film failed to generate the profits they expected, Lazenby took the fall, and Connery agreed to come back for one more round.

The plot is pretty straightforward. Bond rescues a beautiful young woman, Tracy (Diana Rigg), from an attempted suicide and from a group of thugs. Her father, Draco (Gabriele Ferzetti), turns out to be a big-time crime-syndicate boss who offers Bond one million dollars to marry his daughter. Bond agrees to consider the offer if Draco will help him locate the whereabouts of his archenemy, Ernst Stavro Blofeld (Telly Savalas), the evil head of SPECTRE, who is threatening to release a virus on the world. In the course of events, Bond romances Tracy, finds and defeats Blofeld high in the Swiss Alps, and then returns to get married. All in the line of work for a super agent.

One of the ironies of the film is that everything in it is so good except Lazenby. Diana Rigg, fresh from "The Avengers" TV series, makes one of the best Bond heroines of all with her combination of beauty, intelligence, and charm. Interestingly, Honor Blackman (Pussy Galore in "Goldfinger") was also a product of "The Avengers," obviously a program noted for its strong female leads. Savalas makes an acceptable Blofeld. Previous actors in the part had had little to do, which I had always liked because it made the character more mysterious, but Savalas takes the part and flies with it. He could have been even more malign, perhaps, more vicious, but chooses to carry out the role in a quietly sinister fashion. His best line: "We'll head him off at the precipice." In addition to the principal actors, the usual supporting cast is on hand: M and Q and Moneypenny.

Unlike many of the 007 films, this one gets off to a fairly slow start. That is, director Peter Hunt prefers to build up the relationship between Bond and Tracy before starting in on too many ski chases, car chases, bobsled chases, or avalanches. When these events do begin, though, they are among the best of their kind. The scenes in the high Alps are spectacular in the extreme, and that final run down the mountain is a sure crowd pleaser. One major difference between the early versus late Bond movies is that in the earlier ones fewer things blow up. I suspect this has something to do with surround sound and the spectacular effects directors can now pull off. Unfortunately, stuff exploding every two minutes is a poor substitute for plot, suspense, or character development, which is probably why devoted fans of the series prefer the earlier entries.

This and that: Lazenby accompanies his transition to the part with a bit of self-deprecating humor. After losing the girl in the initial fight scene, he comments, "This never happened to the other guy." At another point in the story, Bond investigates his genealogy and is told that his family motto is "Orbis Non Sufficit" or "The World is Not Sufficient," more loosely translated as "The World Is Not Enough"; hence, the title of the much later film. The motto is written beneath the Bond family crest, which depicts three golden balls. Bond continues to crack double entendres, although not with the same snap or conviction of his predecessor. For instance, after the particularly bloody death of one of the villains, Lazenby quips, "He had lots of guts." Not quite up to form, what? Louis Armstrong sings the movie's love theme, "All the Time in the World," which would be the last song the great jazz artist ever recorded. Finally, Q (Desmond Llewelyn) makes only a token appearance at Bond's wedding, which tells you that this adventure is relatively free of gimmicks, gizmos, and gadgets. The director wanted to stick as closely as possible to Ian Fleming's novel and make the film more realistic than the several Bond releases that preceded it.

Video:
The screen size MGM give us is much the same as others in the series, a very wide 2.17:1 ratio that closely matches its original Panavision dimensions. The picture quality is bright and fairly well defined, with no problems from artifacts, dancing pixels, fluttering lines, age spots, lines, or flecks. It is reasonably smooth throughout.

Audio:
The sound is monaural, but it has a decent frequency range, apart from the deepest bass, and acceptable dynamics. Background noise is practically nonexistent.

Extras:
Befitting its status as a "Special 007 Edition," the disc is filled out with a healthy selection of bonus goodies. The first is an audio commentary by director Peter Hunt and various cast and crew members. The second is an excellent, forty-three-minute documentary, "Inside 'On Her Majesty's Secret Service,'" featuring recent interviews with the actors and technicians involved. Also included are a featurette, "Inside Q's Laboratory," an eleven-minute tribute to the late Desmond Llewelyn, another featurette, "Above It All," a still gallery, TV ads and interviews, an informative booklet insert, thirty-two scene selections, English and Spanish spoken languages, French and Spanish subtitles, plus a theatrical trailer and television spots. It's one of MGM's better packages.

Parting Thoughts:
If you can look past Mr. Lazenby in the title role, and I know that's asking a lot, the story line, action, and supporting cast of "On Her Majesty's Secret Service" are well above average. Certainly, no 007 devotee will want to be without it. The disc comes singly or in a boxed set with "Thunderball," "Live and Let Die," "A View to a Kill," "Die Another Day," and "Octopussy."