PART THREE
ON HER MAJESTY'S SECRET SERVICE
(Note: All timings quoted refer to the PAL
releases, unless otherwise stated)
ON HER MAJESTY'S SECRET SERVICE - 1969
For many, the single greatest entry in the
entire Bond canon, this is a film graced with almost peerless
cinematography, courtesy of Hammer stalwart Michael Reed; stunning
direction, from Peter Hunt; and what is probably the finest score in the
series, supplied by the incomparable John Barry. George Lazenby makes the
character his own, in his only crack at the role, Diana Rigg proves to be
the ultimate “Bond girl”, and the rest of the cast all provide sterling
support. Indeed, the final result is a slick, sumptuous, exquisitely
executed film from start to finish.
Before we look at the many home video
releases of this masterpiece of action cinema, however, let’s look at the
censorship history of the film. Despite being a viscerally violent and
erotically charged film, the only change the BBFC insisted upon when
On Her Majesty's Secret Service
was originally submitted was the addition
of some dialogue. After Bond says “I feel a slight stiffness coming on”
the words “…in the shoulder” were added, so as to lessen the overtly
sexual nature of the line as it originally stood. You’ll note that the
added dialogue is heard over a cutaway shot, to smooth over the
alteration. Thankfully, and rather cleverly, this cutaway actually
deflects one attention away from the additional dialogue, thus retaining
the impact and humour in the joke as it was originally conceived. Peter
Hunt was no fool.
Now, onto the myriad edits and alternate
cuts this film has been subjected to and released in over the years. For a
long time, the only version commercially available was a pan-and-scan
atrocity missing a variety of sequences, ranging from the incidental, to
the downright vital, including the entire sequence in which Bond breaks
into Gumbold’s safe, and a short sequence in which Campbell tries to gain
entry to Piz Gloria via a cable car, only to be turned back by one of
Blofeld’s henchmen. These sequences, along with the opening scene of film,
with M and Q, were also missing from quite a number of theatrical prints.
During the mid-nineties
On Her Majesty's Secret Service
sneaked out on to the home video market
once more, in a 25th Anniversary Edition that was to eclipse all
previous releases (and, as it would turn out, all subsequent editions,
too). Fully uncut for the first time, this print contained all the shots
and sequences missing from earlier releases, as well as a 3-minute long
trailer, that depicted footage and alternative angles that did not make
the final cut of the movie. A thing of beauty, MGM clearly knew what a
special property they had on their hands, since this was the only film in
the range that was released in its own VHS box set, containing not only
the lovely-looking and clean-sounding, widescreen print of the film,
complete with aforementioned trailer, but also two glossy art cards, one
containing a reproduction of one of the many posters for the film, another
of Lazenby in suitably action-packed pose, and a reduction of 007
Magazine’s commemorative issue devoted entirely to the film. It was,
in essence, the Ultimate Edition of its day.
Sadly, upon its appearance on DVD, things
began to take a down turn. Firstly, and perhaps least significantly, the
longer trailer was missing, and a shorter one (by one minute) was included
instead, minus most of the unique and rare footage that made the VHS
version so valuable. Quite why the longer trailer wasn’t included as well
is a mystery.
However, worse was to come. The film itself
was shorn of around twenty-five seconds worth of footage, including a shot
of the shadow of a cable car passing over the mountainside, just
before a cut to Campbell scaling the mountain (which has been reinserted
on the UE, just after the line "Perhaps you'd like to teach me?", at
72'19"), approximately ten seconds worth of footage from the stock car
race, and a line in the subsequent sequence as Bond and Tracy leave the
race-track (the line "I told you that crowd would discourage them" should
be delivered over an interior shot of Bond and Tracy in the car, as can be
seen in the UE at 103'58". The previous DVD version had it delivered over
an exterior shot of the car - which should play out without the dialogue -
with the interior shot being omitted entirely). Finally, Blofeld's line
"Tracy, don't be so proud. Your father's own business is not entirely
within the law. His brotherhood also have exotic ways of keeping a closed
shop" was cut short after "the law." The line can be heard in full in the
UE, at 116'36". Also, the cue John Barry wrote to cover the safe-cracking
scene, whilst starting in the same place as the uncut VHS edition, was
incorrectly cued on the SE, and starts five seconds into the piece,
cutting off the opening notes. This has also been corrected for the UE
(though the scene itself has other, far more serious, problems, as we
shall see below).
The SE was also framed slightly less
generously than the VHS, altering the composition, though not to any
damaging degree. In the final analysis, it was something of a
disappointment all round, when compared with the video.
And so to the Ultimate Edition. With
framing more akin to the VHS, and a superbly cleaned up picture, this was
very nearly perfect, but for a few, important factors. Firstly, the new
colour timing during the opening beach scene leans far too heavily towards
the blue end of the spectrum. The scene in question is clearly set at
dawn, with subtle, gold and pink hues (a fact confirmed upon viewing a
theatrical print, which had much the same feel to the sequence), but now
looks like it was shot day-for-night. Likewise a later shot of Draco’s
fleet of helicopters, as they fly towards Piz Gloria at 115’ 48”; once an
extraordinarily beautiful, almost romantic, shot, with the helicopters
silhouetted against the dawn sky, the same shot now plays out in the UE in
distinctly less remarkable fashion, with the sky looking dull in
comparison.
Secondly, no mono track is included, and the surround track
significantly changes the mix to the extent that many scenes (the beach
scene and the safe-cracking scene among them) lose much of their impact,
due to a baffling decision to dial down the music in many instances, in
favour of intrusive sound effects. Add to this, the disturbing re-dubbing
of many of the original sound effects throughout the film (for example,
the gunshots during the final battle at Piz Gloria, and later when Irma
opens fire on Bond’s car at the end of the movie) sound distractingly
different to how they sounded in the mono track. The jump cut employed at
the end of the safe-breaking scene, when the clock clicks onto the hour to
mark the end of Gumbold’s lunch hour, appears to have been digitally
tidied up somewhat, to make the edit slightly smoother.
PART FOUR -
THE ROGER MOORE MOVIES
