On Her Majesty's Secret Service is the eleventh James Bond novel by Ian Fleming, published in 1963. In 1969, it was produced as the sixth film in the James Bond movie series, and the first and only film starring George Lazenby as James Bond. Lazenby was the second official James Bond, the first having been Sean Connery. On Her Majesty's Secret Service was produced by Albert R. Broccoli and Harry Saltzman and made by EON Productions.

Contents

1 The novel 1.1 Plot summary 1.2 Comic strip adaptation 1.3 Trivia 2 The film 2.1 Plot summary 2.2 Cast & characters 2.2.1 Crew 2.3 Soundtrack 2.3.1 Track listing 2.4 Vehicles & gadgets 2.4.1 See also 2.5 Locations 2.5.1 Film locations 2.5.2 Shooting locations 2.6 Trivia 3 External links

The novel

Plot summary

For more than a year, James Bond, British secret agent 007, has been trailing the private criminal organization S.P.E.C.T.R.E. and its leader, Ernst Stavro Blofeld. Bond is convinced S.P.E.C.T.R.E. no longer exists, and is frustrated at being unable to locate Blofeld. Meanwhile, Bond comes across a beautiful, suicidal young woman named Teresa di Vicenzo—by thwarting her suicide drowning.

Contessa Teresa di Vicenzo (or Tracy) is the daughter of Marc-Ange Draco, the head of the Union Corse, a powerful European crime syndicate. Draco believes the only way to save his daughter's life is for Bond to marry her. For that, Draco offers Bond a great dowry—as well as Blofeld's whereabouts.

Blofeld is perched atop a remote alp, assumed the title and name Comte Balthazar de Bleuville, and undergone plastic surgery to physically pass as of the de Bleuville bloodline—so much so that he has asked the College of Arms declare him the reigning count. Bond infiltrates Blofeld's lair (with an allergies clinic façade) by impersonating College representative, Sir Hilary Bray, and finally meets Blofeld.

Bond learns Blofeld has been using his time curing a group of young British and European women of their allergies to livestock and food phobias. In truth, Blofeld and his homely aide, Irma Bunt, have been brainwashing the women into carrying biological warfare agents back to Great Britain and their home countries in order to destroy the those countries' agriculture.

Bond escapes from Blofeld's mountain and encounters Tracy, who helps him escape from S.P.E.C.T.R.E. Bond, who has become smitten with the resourceful, headstrong woman, proposes marriage and she accepts.

With the help of Draco's Union Corse men, Bond mounts a bloody, air assault battle against the clinic and Blofeld, who escapes—later exacting revenge on James and Tracy Bond moments after their wedding ceremony.

Author:	Publisher:	Hardback:	Paperback:	Alternate titles:
Ian Fleming	Glidrose Productions	(UK) 1963 | (US) 1963	(UK) 1964 | (US) 1964
Preceded by: The Spy Who Loved Me
Followed by: You Only Live Twice

Comic strip adaptation

Ian Fleming's 1963 novel was adapted as a daily comic strip published in the British Daily Express newspaper, and syndicated worldwide. Possibly the longest James Bond novel adaptation, the strip ran for nearly a year, from June 29, 1964 to May 17, 1965. The adaptation, which revived the comic strip after a two-year hiatus, was written by Henry Gammidge and illustrated by John McLusky; it has been reprinted by Titan Books in 2004.

Trivia

• The book was the first James Bond novel published after the start of the film series. In tribute, Fleming mentions Dr. No co-star Ursula Andress by name in one chapter.

The film

Plot summary

Missing image 007OHMSSposter.jpg On Her Majesty's Secret Service movie poster
James Bond:	George Lazenby
Written by:	Ian Fleming
Screenplay by:	Richard Maibaum
Director:	Peter R. Hunt
Music by:	John Barry
Theme performed by:	John Barry
Distributor:	United Artists
Release Date:	1969 (USA)
Runtime:	140 min.
Preceded by:	- You Only Live Twice
Followed by:	- Diamonds Are Forever

The cinematic On Her Majesty's Secret Service is a close adaptation of the novel, but adds a few sequences, such as Bond's breaking in to a Swiss lawyer's office in Bern, Tracy's capture and rescue, etc. In the film, the Contessa Teresa di Vicenzo, Diana Rigg, and James Bond first meet when he thwarts her suicide-by-drowning in the Atlantic Ocean, and again later rescues her from dishonour when she gambles money she does not have. Her father, Marc-Ange Draco, Gabriele Ferzetti, the head of the Union Corse, thinks Bond can resolve his daughter's emotional instability. Draco asks James Bond to marry Tracy, in return, Bond will receive a personal dowry of one million Pounds (Sterling)—in gold, on their wedding day. Bond refuses, but agrees to see Tracy again, on agreement that Draco provide the whereabouts of Ernst Stavro Blofeld, Telly Savalas, the head of S.P.E.C.T.R.E..

Draco informs Bond that several of his Union Corse men recently defected to Blofeld, and that the connection is Gebrüder Gumbold, a lawyer in Bern, Switzerland. Searching the lawyer's office, Bond finds Blofeld's correspondence with the College of Arms: Blofeld is attempting to lay claim to the title 'Comte Balthazar de Bleuchamp'. His College of Arms correspondent is Sir Hilary Bray, a genealogist at the College; Bond poses as Bray so he may visit Blofeld, on pretence of verifying the genealogical, and physical characteristics of de Bleuchamp ancestry.

Blofeld has established a clinical research institute atop Piz Gloria, an alp in Switzerland. Undercover as the effete, foppish Bray, Bond meets ten beautiful young women from around the world. They are in the institute's clinic, undergoing unorthodox psychological and immunological allergy treatments. In reality, the women are unknowingly being trained to distribute bacteriological warfare agents throughout their parts of the world.

Bond's lasciviousness exposes his true identity. He escapes by skiing down the mountain while chased by Blofeld and henchmen. He ends in the village of Mürren, during its winter festival, and there encounters Tracy, who is in Switzerland for psychiatric therapy, and has learned Bond's whereabouts from her father; they escape in her car, but she is captured by Blofeld. With Draco, Bond returns in a helicopter assault to destroy the institute, save Tracy, and stop Blofeld from effecting his plans to blackmail the world's governments with bacteriological warfare.

After a helicopter raid on Piz Gloria, Bond and Tracy marry in Portugal, but Irma Bunt, Blofeld's right-hand henchwoman, kills Tracy while Bond's car is stopped on the roadside, so he can remove the flower decorations from their wedding. In Diamonds Are Forever, the teaser shows Bond going on a personal vendetta to kill Blofeld in revenge. Although Bond doesn't kill Blofeld in the film, he does finally avenge Tracy's murder in the teaser of For Your Eyes Only (1981).

Cast & characters

• James Bond - George Lazenby
• M - Bernard Lee
• Q - Desmond Llewelyn
• Miss Moneypenny - Lois Maxwell
• Tracy Bond - Diana Rigg
• Ernst Stavro Blofeld - Telly Savalas
• Draco - Gabriele Ferzetti
• Irma Bunt - Ilse Steppat
• Sir Hilary Bray - George Baker
• Campbell - Bernard Horsfall

Crew

• Directed By: Peter Hunt
• Produced By: Albert R. Broccoli, Harry Saltzman
• Written By: Ian Fleming
• Screenplay By: Richard Maibaum
• Composed By: John Barry
• Film editor and second unit director: John Glen
• Set decoration by: Peter Lamont

Soundtrack

Once again, the soundtrack to this James Bond adventure was composed, arranged, and conducted by John Barry, who, until Diamonds Are Forever, had worked on every preceding Bond film. The opening theme proved difficult to compose, as James Bond movie theme songs usually are eponymous, and include the film's title in the lyrics, keyed to be sung when it appears on screen. (Mr. Kiss-Kiss, Bang-Bang, Thunderball's original theme song, was changed to comply with tradition. The other exception is "All Time High", the theme song to Octopussy: its lyrics do not feature the film's title.) John Barry felt it would be difficult to compose a theme song containing the words On Her Majesty's Secret Service (unless done in the operatic style of Gilbert and Sullivan), so, he convinced director Peter Hunt to allow an instrumental opening credits theme (also an alternate action theme, in the manner of Monty Norman's "James Bond Theme"). The love song "We Have All the Time in the World", sung by Louis Armstrong is heard during the Bond–Tracy courtship montage, bridging Draco's birthday party in Portugal and Bond's break-in to Gebrüder Gumbold's law office in Switzerland. "We Have All the Time in the World" often is mistakenly referred to as the opening credits theme.

Track listing

1. We Have All the Time in the World
2. This Never Happened to the Other Feller
3. Try
4. Ski Chase
5. Do You Know How Christmas Trees Are Grown?
6. Main Theme—On Her Majesty's Secret Service
7. Journey to Blofeld's Hideaway
8. We Have All the Time in the World
9. Over and Out
10. Battle at Piz Gloria
11. We Have All the Time in the World—James Bond Theme
12. Journey to Draco's Hideaway
13. Bond and Draco
14. Gumbold's Safe
15. Bond Settles In
16. Bond Meets The Girls
17. Dusk at Piz Gloria
18. Sir Hillary's Night Out (Who Will Buy My Yesterdays?)
19. Blofeld's Plot
20. Escape From Piz Gloria
21. Bobsled Chase

Vehicles & gadgets

• Aston Martin DBS - The car is briefly seen in the movie: Once, when he and she meet seaside, and again, at the end, after the wedding; nothing is known about what kind of gadgets are installed.
• Radioactive Lint - In the beginning of the story, Q is showing M a homer made of radioactive lint: "When placed in a permanent pocket, the anti-personnel and location fix seems fairly obvious." M is more concerned with a location fix of 007.
• Safecracker - A small (for its time) device consisting of a flexible cable ending in a grapple meant to be fitted on a typical safe combination lock. The machine would then examine the lock, figure its combination, and open the safe. Additionally, the safecracker has an integral photocopier, to copying secret documents, and minimize the chance of the owner's learning of the break-in if the documents went missing.

See also

• List of James Bond vehicles
• List of James Bond gadgets

Locations

Film locations

• Lisbon, Portugal
• Switzerland
• London, England

Shooting locations

• Pinewood Studios — London, England
• Switzerland
• Portugal

Trivia

• Some aficionados consider this the best film of the James Bond series, with many critics feeling George Lazenby "nailed" the character of James Bond as described in the novels. Some fans of only the movie series, however, were disappointed by his interpretation, as it significantly diverged from Sean Connery's portrayal of the character. Others claim that his wooden acting robbed his screen relationship with Diana Rigg of any romantic chemistry.

• Lazenby wanted the role so much, that he arranged an "accidental" encounter with producer Albert R. Broccoli: a haircut by the barber Broccoli frequented. Lazenby dressed the part, by sporting several sartorial Bond elements, such as a Rolex Submariner wristwatch and a Savile Row suit; Broccoli noticed him as a Bond-type man, because of physique and the character's elements, and offered him an audition.

• At Sean Connery's departure, Timothy Dalton was offered the role ahead of Lazenby, but he declined, claiming he believed himself too young and Sean Connery too good to replace.

• Despite Lazenby's efforts to portray James Bond, he was uninterested in reprising the role. He thought the tuxedo-clad secret agent would be archaic in the sexually liberated '70s. He was offered a seven-film contract, had signed a Letter of intent to star in Diamonds Are Forever, and was paid an initial installment of his fee (which he refunded).

• For insurance reasons Lazenby was not allowed any of the skiing in the film: he did sneak skiing, and once ended skiing underneath the cable car, which was, coincidentally, taking Broccoli up to Piz Gloria.

• Although some scoffed at burly Telly Savalas as a robust Ernst Stavro Blofeld—in sharp contrast with the subdued portrayal of the villain by Donald Pleasance in You Only Live Twice—Fleming's novels established that Blofeld could substantially alter his appearance and change his demeanor. Therefore, the change in actor for each of Blofeld's appearances in the series, is in keeping with the James Bond literary canon.

• The film contains the worst continuity error in the history of the Bond film series, in that Blofeld fails to recognize the lightly-disguised Bond when they meet again. Although both characters are played by different actors, they had met in the previous film, You Only Live Twice. Since the order of the movie adventures is the reverse of the novels, On Her Majesty's Secret Service marks the enemies' first confrontation in the novel series. This error originated in abandoned plans to open On Her Majesty's Secret Service with Bond undergoing plastic surgery to hide from his enemies (his faked death in Japan, in the previous adventure, having been unsuccessful). The intention was to help the audience accept the new in actor in the role, and so allow an unrecognizable Bond to infiltrate Blofeld's hideout.

• The building used for Blofeld's clinic, Piz Gloria, is a restaurant, atop the Schilthorn in the Bernese Oberland, and the only public access is by cable car (from Mürren or Stechelberg). As the owner had run out of money, it was unfinished when the filmmakers were seeking locations. EON Productions paid to finish it in return for exclusive use of the property during filming.

• The Goldfinger title song sung by Shirley Bassey made a small cameo in On Her Majesty's Secret Service when a janitor whistles the tune in Draco Construction's offices.

• Originally, there was a scene wherein James Bond chased and killed a S.P.E.C.T.R.E. agent spying his meeting with Sir Hillary Bray. The scene was cut, reportedly, because it was considered too violent.

• Since George Lazenby was a virtual unknown, initial teaser advertising for the film emphasized the Bond character rather than the actor playing him. Several ads, in fact, utilized an image of a "faceless" Bond.

• Production of OHMSS was delayed twice. It was originally to have followed Goldfinger, and early prints of that film even announced this. Later, it was earmarked to follow Thunderball but ultimately ended up following You Only Live Twice..

External links

• On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969) (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0064757/) at the Internet Movie Database
• MGM's site on the movie (http://www.mgm.com/title_title.do?title_star=ONHERMAJ)

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