The first James Bond film to made without Sean Connery in the title role is another mixed bag. Certainly not as good as Goldfinger or From Russia With Love or Thunderball, On Her Majesty’s Secret Service seems to be trying to hold on to what made Bond so popular while also trying to head in a new direction. Due to scheduling conflicts, producers Albert Broccoli and Harry Saltzman were unable to secure Roger Moore, and instead chose a relatively unknown Australian model named George Lazenby to take over the role of Bond. Lazenby was convinced by his agent that the series would become archaic in the 70’s, so he only agreed to do the one film rather than the seven that Broccoli and Saltzman offered.

Oops.

On it’s own terms, the film itself is actually quite good. Taking into consideration its time of release, the action sequences and special effects remain top notch. Even the storyline and the characters are well developed, and Lazenby gives Bond a much more relate-able persona than Connery did. Depending on your point of view, this can be a good or a bad thing. Where as Connery was a confident and humorous playboy, Lazenby played the role in a more subdued and toned it back fashion, and he gives the role more emotion. The problem with this film is that it just doesn’t quite know what it wants to be, which makes it too bad that Lazenby didn’t give the role more of a chance. Had he done the seven pictures he was supposed to, he might have grown more effectively into the role, and it’s reasonable to think that he could have been at least as good of a Bond as Roger Moore. There was potential for Lazenby to grow into a great Bond, but unfortunately we’ll never know.

From a story telling perspective, this film didn’t exactly follow the model of the Connery films. Like Dr. No, there are few high tech gadgets, and there is a lot more realism in this plot. But the storyline itself has better dramatic structure than than the last couple of films in the series, although it has a long first act, and it feels like they were trying to make more of a straight action film.

This film also follows the Hero’s Journey a little more closely than its more recent predecessors. In an interesting twist, Bond’s Ordinary World is one in which he’s still trying to track down Blofeld (played sinisterly in this film by Telly Savalas), and his call to adventure occurs when M releaves him of his duty. His Refusal of the Call occurs when Bond tells Moneypenny to take a memo in which he tenders his resignation. Moneypenny, acting as a Mentor, instead gives Bond the gift of writing the memo as a request for two weeks’ leave. Bond has already Crossed the First Threshold by agreeing with Draco to marry his daughter Traci di Vicenzo in order to get information on Blofeld’s whereabouts. In that regard, Draco also fills the Mentor archetype by giving Bond valuable information as well as a valuable gift. Bond actually falls in love with Tracy and will marry her at the end of the film. The Tests, Allies and Enemies portion of the film happens when Bond (assuming the archetype of the Shapeshifter) disguises himself as a genealogist in order to gain access to Blofeld’s lair, as Blofeld is attempting to be claim the title of Count de Bleuchamp . Once there, he meets Blofeld’s henchwoman Irma Blunt along with the so called Angels of Death. They’re a group of 12 women that Blofeld is hypnotizing and brainwashing in order to get them to spread his Omega Virus that will render plants and livestock sterile. This is also where Bond goes through the Approach, where he literally enters the inmost cave that is Blofeld’s lair on top of a Swiss mountain. The Supreme Ordeal is when Bond is found out to be 007 and captured by Blofeld, who reveals his plan to Bond. He intends to blackmail the world using his virus. The Ordeal continues as Bond escapes and skis down the mountain to the village below where he is picked up by Tracy and they elude Irma Blunt and escape. The Reward for Bond is Tracy accepting his marriage proposal. The third act begins with The Road Back where Blofeld causes an avalanche that nearly kills Bond and allows Blodfeld to capture Tracy. The resurrection shows Bond literally emerge from the snow followed by him disobeying M’s orders yet again and going to the mountain to face Blofeld and rescue Tracy. He destroys Blofeld’s lair and the virus, but Blofeld escapes. Bond escapes with Tracy and the Return with the Elixir has Bond marrying her. However, as Bond and Tracy are driving to their honeymoon, Blofeld (wearing a neck brace) and Irma Blunt drive by and shoot at the car, killing Tracy. A police officer comes by and a tearful Bond tells him as he cradles Tracy’s body that there’s no need to worry. They have all the time in the world.

This motif would be referred to with varying amounts of subtlety throughout the series. In For Your Eyes Only, Bond lays flowers at Tracy’s grave. Anya Amasova will mention his wife’s death in The Spy Who Loved Me, which will get a charged response from Bond. More subtle references occur in License to Kill and The World Is Not Enough. Speaking of which, there is a scene in On Her Majesty’s Secret Service where Bond meets with the real genealogist, who has found the Bond family crest. He points out to Bond the creed written across the front in Latin which translates to “The world is not enough”.

In many ways, this is the forgotten Bond film, even though it’s high on many lists of the Best Bond films and even though many motifs from his film live on in the films that follow it. But it’s not nearly as iconic as other titles in the series. Perhaps that’s because Lazenby didn’t continue on in the role, so it feels like this picture is more of a one-off. Connery would reprise the role in the next picture before handing the reigns over to Roger Moore, who would play the role for a decade and a half. The series was in a very transitional phase at this point, and no film suffered for it more than this one, for it truly could have been one of the iconic films of the series had outside circumstances been different.

If you haven’t seen On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, I would suggest watching it. Try not to watch it to compare it to the rest of the series. Just enjoy it for what it is.