On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969) Review

On Her Majesty’s Secret Service was the first Bond film after Sean Connery’s departure, who was replaced by Australian model and first time actor, George Lazenby. This threw off much of the audience resulting in not earning as much as You Only Live Twice did; luckily the film became very successful on home video.

To me, OHMSS is one of, if not the, strongest entry in the Bond franchise. When I first got the box set of all these films I had only really watched about 4 films so I watched them all in a huge Bond marathon. As you can tell from my reviews I did enjoy the early films but younger me didn’t really appreciate them as much as I do now. Don’t get me wrong I really liked them but when I got to this film I was just blown away. To this day it’s one of my favourites because I don’t think any other Bond film up to Casino Royale was done with such realism. Sure to us now it may seem a little cheesy but with the natural lighting and sets the film had a very realistic aesthetic. The lighting especially always stood out to me as very moody and melancholy ands effect on the viewer is very strong.

Of course I can’t not mention the score which is probably one of the best of John Barry’s scores for the films, the main song it’s self is my favourite Bond theme and Lois Armstrong’s song for the film is also excellent. It adds to tension and atmosphere brilliantly making great scenes even greater.

The action is also very well done; Bond himself doesn’t fire a single bullet until the last part of the film so for the first majority of the film he takes out his enemies through brutal hand to hand combat which is extremely entertaining and thrilling to watch. He really gets up close and personal making for some tense, thrilling fight scenes.

Yet even though what action there is was kept to a fair minimum the film doesn’t get dull or boring at all, it’s a very character and mystery driven. You’re as unaware of what’s going on as Bond himself and George Lazenby himself has a very likable persona leaving you to root for him because, unlike the previous films, Bond feels somewhat in danger, not weak but you never feel he’s safe, there is always an overhanging feeling that he’s going to fail. Also the romance which plays a large role is very well done; it doesn’t come off as forced as it often does.

Overall On Her Majesty’s Secret Service is a brilliant Bond film, it’s tense and mysterious with a fantastic score. Gorgeous and atmospheric visuals and probably one of the best 007 outings to date.

9/10