James Bond in review - On Her Majesty's Secret Service (Peter Hunt, 1969)

"This never happened to the other fella!"

It's 1967 and Connery announces he is to leave the role that has made him a worldwide superstar over the last five years and five films. It is also time for Connery Bond editor Peter Hunt to take the director's chair for the long delayed but finally ready for production On Her Majesty's Secret Service. Lazenby would prove to be the most controversial thing about the sixth Bond adventure, apart from the small fact that Bond gets married. Having seen him only in a Fry's chocolate television commercial in 1968, this non-actor with a thick Australian accent was undoubtedly incredibly lucky to become the second James Bond. What marks Lazenby out, despite his lack of prior acting experience, is his ability to see an action sequence through. He has some great timing and fights with purpose which in some respect improves on his predecessor. Where Lazenby struggles, on the flipside, is in some of the delivery of the dialogue. The fact that he has to wear a kilt for at least 10 minutes of the film doesn't do a lot to help his reputation as the successor to Connery's suave secret agent.

Lazenby's Bond kneels before the audience for his gun barrel sequence

The relationship between Rigg and Lazenby, clearly falsely reported as frosty on and off the set, appears in reality to be a great one with a lot of chemistry. Tracy has the intelligence and the self will that a man like Bond would become instantly attracted to and there is a definite Scottie/Madeleine "Vertigo" parallel between the characters and their predicaments. Lazenby is at his best when he is getting stuck into the action and when he can show genuine sincerity in the character. Bond pacing M's office whilst Tracy is held hostage by Blofeld and Bond and M's frosty tones between each other are wonderful moments in the film and of course the ending is bar none the most brilliant in the series. Lazenby wants to know if he can meet our high standards? Well he's no Connery but the saddest thing is, if he'd stayed with the character particularly for another couple of films, not only could he have made Diamonds are Forever one of the best follow ups in the series rather than the awful mess that it is, but he could also have shortly become the best Bond. As the wonderful Louis Armstrong notes, he could have had "all the time in the world" to perfect his Bond. Sadly it wasn't to be.

Mr and Mrs Bond make their way to a very short honeymoon

What director Hunt delivers with OHMSS is a raw, engaging adventure, and along with John Barry's electric score and John Glen's erratic editing technique (no doubt influenced by Hunt's own editing of Connery's Bond adventures), presents us with an adrenaline charged Bond adventure. As Moneypenny insightfully recognises, "same old James...only more so"