Bondfest: You Only Live Twice
Mission Dossier: You Only Live Twice
The Year: 1967
The Director: Lewis Gilbert
The Bond: Sean Connery
The Girl: Akiko Wakabayashi as Aki and Mie Hama as Kissy Suzuki
The Baddie: SPECTRE’s big guy, Ernst Blofeld.
The Scene
Tea + Bond = Good
The James Bond show goes on tour in You Only Live Twice which takes the viewer on a tourist’s tour of Japan – sumo wrestling, the bright neon lights of Tokyo, ninjas and so on.
SPECTRE is back in town, this time spearheaded by their Number 1 Ernst Blofeld now sporting his iconic shaved head. The organisation manages to steal spaceships from both the Americans and the Russians which leaves both countries blaming the other and the world on the brink of World War III. The title refers to the oft copied, but here I think pretty original, conceit of Bond faking his own death in order to get SPECTRE and other enemies off his tail. It is interesting that the Bourne films were so praised for their realistic brand of film hand-to-hand combat because I think these early Connery films do that really well. The Judo influenced action looks rough and tumble, as long as the finger is kept away from the fast forward button which it predominately is in this film. Coupled with some of these excellent fight scenes is probably the series’ first extended car chase. Involving a helicopter with a huge magnet of course. Despite a decent first half though, there is a blandness to the script as well as some of the cringeworthiness that will plague many of the worst Bond films, especially the one that follows this one. Summing up how poor and unoriginal the script is is the fact that Blofeld utilises murderous man-eating piranhas, only one film following a villain who used man-eating sharks to slay his foes. A bit too soon really.
There is an uncomfortable exoticism about how the Japanese are presented in the film, not to mention the ‘yellow face’ makeup that Connery’s Bond ends up in which is really unfortunate. Obviously the James Bond series is not a bastion of great progressive values, but even so, the disrespect of another culture and women in this one is jarring. The constant referring to a woman that Bond is forced to marry as having the “face of a pig” to go with the racial aspects I have mentioned above round out an uncomfortable aspect that the film has. Some of the space sequences of the film provide a bit of a precursor to those that will follow in the Roger Moore starring Moonraker (1979). But they also show off some woeful special effects that are far worse than many films that were made even before this one. The poor quality of the effects is a real distraction. It also mars the aerial sequences of the film. They are not bad enough to ruin an excellent dogfight scene involving Bond’s baby helicopter Little Nelly, but they give it a fair shake. But neither of these are anywhere near as bad as the rubbish stock footage of a volcano that mars the film’s finale. These poor effects throughout give the film a cheap feel that a film of this sort of budget should definitely be able to avoid. The central villain of the piece, Blofeld, is surely the greatest in the series. Here there is a fantastic scene where Blofeld reveals his scarred face to Bond. It is a shame that the character, played so well by Donald Pleasence, is not onscreen for near enough time to save this film.
Finally Blofeld takes centre stage in this film.
In comparison to the first four classics that preceded it, You Only Live Twice is undeniably flat. There are some exciting moments, some of the chases and fistfights for example. But the unsavoury atmosphere of the Japan set parts of the film coupled with a bland overall story despite a couple of excellent ideas, means that this is easily the weakest entry in the series so far. It is incredibly disappointing that the ultimate villainous lair – inside a volcano! – is so wasted by featuring in this film.
Verdict: Schooner of Carlton Draught
Bondfest Leaderboard
- Thunderball (1965)
- Goldfinger (1964)
- Dr No (1962)
- From Russia with Love (1963)
- You Only Live Twice (1967)
Bondfest: Thunderball
Mission Dossier: Thunderball
The Year: 1965
The Director: Terence Young
The Bond: Sean Connery
The Girl: Claudine Auger as Domino Derval
The Baddie: SPECTRE’s Number 2 Emilio Largo and his frickin sharks.
The Scene
Even though I am posting this review about midnight on day 2, this was in fact my breakfast film for the day. Strong black coffee, muesli and Bond.
Often when Bond films start with a really absurd prologue, they stay rather absurd and a little rubbish. Thunderball bucks this trend though. The prologue features a funeral, cross dressing and a jetpack of course. It also features a cracking fight scene which sets the tone for the rest of the film in my opinion.
Previous viewings of this film had left me feeling a little underwhelmed, with the extensive underwater sequences in particular not impressing me. However this time around, my thoughts are very much different. I really do love seeing the continued presence of the SPECTRE organisation as Bond’s villainous foil. Especially the gradual building of Blofeld as arch villain, with the obscuring of his face continuing throughout this film. Also continuing are the organisation’s bizarrely low percentage assassination methods that they attempt to bring to bear on Mr Bond. This time it is not the deadly spider of Dr No, rather death by spinal stretching machine. As absurd as both of these are, it has to be said that both of these sequences are shot with aplomb and a whole lot of tension. The opening half an hour odd of this film is really something else. Bond faces off with a number of different foes in a health retreat as the main plot gradually reveals itself. SPECTRE this time are inserting themselves into the business of NATO, flogging an entire fighter jet along with the two atomic weapons onboard. Their plan is to hold NATO to ransom, demanding 100 million pounds in exchange for the two nukes. SPECTRE’s number 2 Emilio Largo makes a great villain in this film. The character has an inherent theatricality, with his eye patch and mannerisms, which fits the film well. Whilst there are no really standout henchman to support him, Largo does have a frickin pool with frickin killer sharks in it. He puts it to fantastic use throughout the film too.
The underwater sequences that I mentioned at the start of this review actually work fantastically well and are deployed in a number of different ways. There is something almost hypnotic about watching the wordless action taking place as SPECTRE’s finest camouflage a jet under the sea. Likewise the beautiful violence of the repeated underwater fight scenes which should be slow and unwieldy but are actually intriguing and suspenseful is a rare treat to behold. Especially cool is a large scale showdown at the end, a good old fashioned gunfight with spear guns. It is quite the effort to make underwater fight scenes actually look believable, but this film achieves it. Along with these fantastic underwater scenes, Connery continues to show just how adept he is at the land based combat too. The raw physicality of the hand to hand combat scenes is great, avoiding the attempts of later films to make it look too over the top. Overall the film is an evolution rather than a revolution. What I mean by that is that it is not reinventing the wheel for the series; rather it is just taking what has already been laid down and improving on it. A great case in point is the ‘ticking clock’ structure which works well at heightening the tension and also differentiating the film from the first three in the series, as Bond and friends race desperately to save the day.
In my review of Goldfinger, I suggested my doubts about whether or not it would be topped as my favourite Bond film. Well it has been, very quickly too. Goldfinger has a special place in my heart, but if I am honest, I think that Thunderball is the superior film. Whichever way you put them, they are probably the greatest back to back features of the series. The underwater sequences, which I thought did not work on previous viewings, really are a point of difference for the film and elevate it above anything that the series has produced thus far.
Verdict: Longneck of Melbourne Bitter
Bondfest Leaderboard
- Thunderball (1965)
- Goldfinger (1964)
- Dr No (1962)
- From Russia with Love (1963)
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Bondfest: From Russia with Love
Mission Dossier: From Russia with Love
The Year: 1963
The Director: Terence Young
The Bond: Sean Connery
The Girl: Daniela Bianchi as Tatiana Romanova
The Baddie: Rosa Klebb of SPECTRE, ably assisted by buff henchman Red Grant
The Scene
Dinner, beer, James Bond. An awesome Sunday night.
The success of Dr No (1962) ensured a sequel followed only the year after in the form of From Russia with Love, one of the most beloved films of the series, especially in critical terms. The film opens with what I think to this day is one of the best opening sequences of all the Bond films. James Bond himself is seemingly killed in the sequence. However it turns out that it is merely an enemy training mission using live adversaries.
Once again SPECTRE are up to their old tricks in this film. The central premise of the script is a clever one, with the evil organisation playing the Brits and the Russians off against each other in order to get their grubby little paws on a cipher decoder thingamajig. This brings together Bond and Russian spy Tatiana Romanov, played excellently by Daniela Bianchi. Their relationship is a pretty developed and deep one when compared to most of Bond’s romantic liaisons over his 50 years onscreen. The SPECTRE arc is probably the most convincing and best of all the multi-film arcs in the entire series and this film fleshes out the organisation a lot more. We get to see more of the scope of their organisation with their training camps and weaponry suggesting they are a fair match for MI6. The main villain is SPECTRE’s Number 3 Rosa Klebb who has recently defected from the Russians. The film is at pains to make clear that SPECTRE is not the Russians. In the books the adversarial organisation went by the name SMERSH which was the USSR secret service, but the filmmakers were not keen to inflame any tensions whatsoever. This film also gives us our first glimpse of Ernst Blofeld, who will go on to become the series’ greatest ever villain. It is only a brief cat-stroking glimpse, but a glimpse nonetheless.
The other iconic character to make a first appearance in From Russia with Love is Desmond Llewellyn’s Q. There is none of the joking with 007 that will eventually make him a fan favourite, rather he just drops off Bond’s high-tech suitcase to him and then goes on his merry way. Once again, this is another cracking early Bond script. It is a bit of a slow burn, there is not too much action in the first half hour. But it ramps things up after that, especially in a large scale battle at a gypsy camp which has the epic feel of a final showdown but comes not even halfway through the film. Bond’s one-liners are a lot more prevalent in this film and Connery seems to have a whole lot of fun delivering them. Actually I was surprised by how genuinely funny this film is and not just in terms of one-liners. There are some nice jokes built up throughout, especially in Bond’s interactions with M’s secretary Moneypenny. Performance wise Connery is once again excellent in the role. The villains are really good in this too. Especially menacing is Lotte Lenya as Rosa Klebb who gives quite a chilling turn despite not being onscreen particularly long. Robert Shaw, who would go on to play Quint in Jaws (1975), brings a terrific physicality to the role of Red, a SPECTRE henchman and his fistfights with Connery’s Bond are raw, painful looking and believable.
The two main women of From Russia with Love
From Russia with Love continues on in the excellent vein of Dr No whilst also showing how the series would be able to remain relevant by changing up its output. The film is more grounded and character driven than the first film, conveying more a sense of the realities of The Cold War as opposed to maniacal taking over the world schemes. Not that there is anything wrong with that, I think for me Dr No is still a very slight favourite over this follow up effort.
Verdict: Pint of Kilkenny
Bondfest Leaderboard
- Dr No (1962)
- From Russia with Love (1963)
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Bondfest: Dr No
Mission Dossier: Dr No
The Year: 1962
The Director: Terence Young
The Bond: Sean Connery
The Girl: Ursula Andress as Honey Ryder
The Baddie: The titular Dr No & his crazyarse metal hands
The Scene:
Started Dr No in my Sydney hotel room. Unfortunately in a somewhat hungover state.
Whilst not Ian Fleming’s first James Bond novel, Dr No was the first to be adapted for the big screen. The result is a strong entry in the series that established many, but not all, of the iconic elements that would come to define the series over the next 50 years. Here is the gunshot start, but not the bombastic vocal theme song. The villainous lair is here, but Q’s bag of gadgetry is not on the scene as yet. The rest of the iconography would gradually be bedded down over the next few films.
The storyline of the film is basically that Dr No wishes to more or less take over the world. He works for the evil organisation SPECTRE, with whom our Jimmy will have numerous run-ins with, especially throughout the early entries into the series. The character of Bond in this first film is an interesting one. For much of the film he is not the lone, ‘man apart’ figure that crops up in many later films. Especially through the early parts he is a team player, working with the local police chief, the CIA’s top man Felix Leiter and local fisherman Quarrel to try and solve the mysterious death of British operative Strangways. The first half of the film is more mystery flick than spy thriller, as Bond works his way around the island of Jamaica gathering clues and following up leads, which is great fun. The last 45 minutes sees the action shift to Dr No’s island where we see Ursula Andress make her famous entrance onto the screen. Has there been a more iconic first appearance by a character in film history? I doubt it. This is a cracking part of the film. The island is a great setting, as Bond, Andress’s Honey Ryder and Quarrel make their way through thick jungle by wading through the river. When they are captured and taken to No’s lair, the impressive set design takes over. The lair has become a bit of a cliché, thanks essentially solely to the Bond films. But there is a care and creativity to the design of this one that is impressive, some of it even bordering on the surrealist.
Andress making her iconic entrance
Bond films, whilst understandably not every film fan’s cup of tea, have always been well made. While I was only watching a DVD copy of Dr No, it still looks so sharp all these years on, with excellent cinematography. Sean Connery definitely has the physical presence to play Bond well, but in addition to that he is also a very good actor. He is believable, delivers lines well (helped here by a script that leaves cringeworthy one-liners to a minimum) and even shows the occasional, tiniest glimpses of vulnerability. Also great in a small role is Bernard Lee as M, with him and Connery’s Bond showing an immediate onscreen rapport that the two would build on in ensuing films. I touched on the script briefly, but I will mention it again. It is a very good one with a deftness and lightness of touch that is present in all of the best James Bond films. A lightness of touch that occasionally gets warped into pastiche in some of the lesser series efforts. There is also darkness here though, it is easy to look back on these early Bond efforts and forget that it is present. Late in the film Honey relates the tale of how she was raped when younger. She takes pride in the fact that she killed the perpetrator with a deadly spider, and is pleased that it took him a week to die. Pretty much straight after that Quarrel, a character that the audience has come to love, is burnt alive.
Dr No is a great start to the Bond series. It is not perfect, the first half of the film becomes a little repetitive with the endless attempts on Bond’s life and the action sequences would be tightened as the series progressed. But there is so much to love about this film and it is great to see where it all started, in this one of the stronger Bond films.
Verdict: Pint of Kilkenny
Bondfest Leaderboard
- Dr No (1962)
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