Stuart Heritage at the British newspaper the Guardian looks back at the 1969 James Bond film On Her Majesty's Secret Service.
On Her Majesty's Secret Service (OHMSS) had a lot to live up to. As far as the entire world was concerned, Sean Connery was James Bond. And here was some impostor – worse, an impostor from the colonies, George Lazenby, whom nobody had heard of – waltzing in to take his place. It wasn't right. It wouldn't do. To rub everyone's noses in it even further, On Her Majesty's Secret Service deliberately stuck closely to the book, which meant no audience-pleasing whizz-bang gadgets. And what's with the bummer of an ending? No wonder the film only took half of the amount of You Only Live Twice at the box office.
And yet I will fight anyone who dares to tell me that they don't like On Her Majesty's Secret Service. Because they are flat out wrong. In the 45 years since it was released, it stands out as one of the best 007 films ever. Possibly even the best. It has the best soundtrack. It pushes the character into difficult new places. And that ending: that's not just a great James Bond ending, it's probably in the top 10 film endings of all time. If you've never seen On Her Majesty's Secret Service, you should watch it. If you've seen On Her Majesty's Secret Service before, you should watch it again. And if you don't like it, I'm serious about fighting you.
You can read the rest of the piece via the below link:
http://www.theguardian.com/film/2014/feb/23/on-her-majestys-secret-service-film-recap
Note: I agree. I watch the film every Christmas season, as the film takes place during the Christmas holiday and has a winter backdrop in Switzerland. I think the novel was one of Ian Fleming's best and director Peter Hunt was faithful to the novel, unlike most Bond films.
You can read an earlier post on the film via the below link:
http://www.pauldavisoncrime.com/2009/10/on-her-majestys-secret-service-is-one.html
And you can read my Crime Beat column on Cinema Crime Wave, which touches on Her Majesty's Secret Service, via the below link:
http://www.pauldavisoncrime.com/2012/11/cinema-crime-wave.html
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