There’s a reason why the departure from the Connery-run of James Bond films is little known or seen. On Her Majesty’s Secret Service comes in the four-year gap between You Only Live Twice and Diamonds are Forever, but it – and its leading man, George Lazenby – are often more familiar as an answer to random trivia about James Bond stars.
Lazenby only played Bond once, and there are many reasons. For starters, he delivers lines as if he is holding a mouthful of marbles. I’m unsure how many times sound was recorded or re-recorded during shooting, but it’s apparent that there were few first takes. Bond’s voice is often heard as Lazenby has his back turned, a tell-tale sign that something was overdubbed and fixed in post-production. But when the camera is tight on Lazenby’s face, he seems uncomfortable speaking, as if he’s taking his cues from a grip of gaffer crouched down below the camera’s line of sight. His pauses are less for emphasis and more to remember his lines and think about his delivery.
Perhaps I’m completely wrong here. Perhaps Lazenby was a truly gifted actor, a man whose careers before this, his first film, were as an auto mechanic and a luxury car salesman. Clearly, this says nothing about his ability to act, but his trajectory to the role of Bond was straight up – replacing Connery in his first gig! – and straight down, isolated to bit parts on television shows and as a parody of himself playing James Bond in 007 spoofs and sketches.
What’s doubly interesting about this film is that it doesn’t seem to take itself – or its star – seriously. And, perhaps this is because On Her Majesty’s Secret Service was only released to recoup the cost of production. George Lazenby bowed out of his role as James Bond before the premier of this, his only film in the series – or of any notoriety for that matter. According to an article on BBCAmerica.com, after Connery left the series, Lazenby aggressively pursued the role, purchasing “a custom-made, Saville Row suit that Connery had ordered but failed to pick up, a Rolex watch, and had his hair snipped by Connery’s barber.” [source]
But his grasp on the role and the momentary spotlight was short. He reportedly clashed with director Peter Hunt and co-star Diana Rigg, whom he accused of eating garlic before the kissing scenes (an accusation that she denies).
While Lazenby and his agent might have actually believed the Bond franchise was going to fade away at the onset of the 1970’s, Robert R. Broccoli and MGM made points during the film to ostracize this film and its star from the classic bunch.
On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, unlike the other Bond films, begins with Q speaking with M, while Money Penny is in the background. They weigh in on gadgets and gizmos. Then there’s a car chase in another country, and a lovely woman walking into the ocean with suicide in her mind. Then a man appears and rescues her. For a few shots, we only see the back of his head. At this point, we know he’s a hero. The presence of familiar supporting characters reminds us that we are in for a perpetuation of the Bond marathon, but there’s something off when his face is revealed. The dimpled chin and strong jaw bespeak honor and aesthetic beauty, but his Australian-tinged, uneven delivery of “I’m James Bond,” is off somehow. It doesn’t fit and not just because he’s trying to crawl from Connery’s shadow. It doesn’t fit because the debonair and charm associated with all of the other Bonds (Moore, Dalton, Brosnon, and Craig) comes across more as smarm than anything endearing or enviable.
When the woman flees, he then notes “This never happened to the other fella.” While tongue-in-cheek is fun, it already places this new Bond at a disadvantage. The director and screenwriter have knocked him down a peg, and it seems that he’s ignorant to their slight.
This film is also the only one since Dr. No – the first film in the franchise – in which the opening credits are without vocals. There is no catchy tune crooned by a famous performer that plays on the film’s title. Instead, there are lava lamp-inspired visuals and silhouettes and clips of all of the past Bond women and villains, just to remind us that this film is supposed to be part of the series – even though, twelve-minutes in – it feels hundreds of miles away.
Physically, it’s clear why Lazenby might have been chosen. He was leaner and younger than the aging Connery, and his fight sequences look better. Granted, this could be an adjustment in choreography, but Lazenby’s arms and legs move more fluidly than Connery – or Moore and Dalton for that matter.
But everything else is off, including the double entandres that are delivered in much less the style of Lothario, and more in the style of the creepy uncle six scotches deep.
Something else is off with the narrative here as well. In the previous film, You Only Live Twice, Bond finally encounters Blofeld (Donald Pleasence) the head of S.P.E.C.T.R.E. , his shorn head and scarred eye juxtaposing with a the falsetto voice with which he speaks. However, Majesty’s tries to erase this moment from the Bond canon. Granted, much of what happens in previous films is elided, but mostly only Bond’s female conquests. For Bond, it’s clearly better to have loved and lost than to ever see the girl again, but I digress.
The difference here is that the women are merely furniture in the films while S.P.E.C.T.R.E. and Blofeld are the most common villains throughout. While we only know the women for 2/3 of each film, the villain is a constant presence even in their absence on screen. So, Majesty’s once again sets us up for the first encounter with Blofeld (this time played by Telly Savalas, who might be the best actor in the film), but it’s not a stunning reveal. It’s a ruse. Bond pretends to be someone else and he talks to Blofeld who pretends to be someone else. The dramatic irony doesn’t work because – according to the previous film – this has already happened; our protagonist and antagonist should have a visceral familiarity with each other. But here, they don’t.
One reason for this discontinuity could be that – as I noted before – in line with Ian Fleming’s novels, On Her Majesty’s Secret Service precedes You Only Live Twice, so the first encounter would actually fall in this film. But this is excuse is extremely porous. Throughout, there are a number of adjustments made to Fleming’s novels in order to create the Bond that we see on screen, so sticking so rigidly to one and disrupting the continuity seems a bit out of place.
Regardless, this film feels more like Broccoli and MGM just wanted to play on the Bond angle, recoup their losses and convince Connery to re-don the tuxedo, which he did just two years later.
http://www.bbcamerica.com/anglophenia/2012/10/50-years-of-bond-george-lazenby-one-hit-wonder/
