On Her Majesty’s Secret Service
Synopsis
While James Bond is hunting Ernst Stavro Blofeld, head of SPECTRE, at a beach he saves Tracy from committing suicide by drowning. Afterwards Bond and Tracy begin a relationship that gives her a reason to live. With the help of Tracy’s father, Draco, head of the Unione Corse crime syndicate, Bond tracks down Blofeld to Piz Gloria, on a mountaintop in the Alps. Here he finds that Blofeld is brainwashing a group of women to act as his secret agents of biological warfare so that he can blackmail world powers. Bond infiltrates Piz Gloria disguised as Sir Hilary Bray of the College of Arms. When his real identity is discovered, Bond escapes and reunites with Tracy, but she is captured by Blofeld after being caught in an avalanche. The world powers refuse to attack Blofeld, so Draco leads the Unione Corse’s attack on Piz Gloria and rescues Tracy. During the siege, Bond fights Blofeld on a bob-sleigh run and believes Blofeld to be dead. Afterwards, Tracy and Bond marry, but Blofeld exacts his revenge when Tracy is killed in a hail of bullets intended for Bond.
Cast
George Lazenby, Diana Rigg, Telly Savalas, Gabriele Ferzetti, Ilse Steppat, Angela Scoular, Lois Maxwell, Catherina Von Schell, George Baker, Bernard Lee, Bernard Horsfall, Desmond Llewelyn, Yuri Borienko
Producers
Harry Saltzman
Albert R. Broccoli
Director
Peter Hunt
Release Date
18 December 1969 (UK)
18 December 1969 (USA)
World Premiere
18 December 1969, Odeon Leicester Square, London
Locations
London, Pinewood Studios, UK; Switzerland; Portugal
Music
“On Her Majesty’s Secret Service” – composed, conducted and arranged by John Barry
“We Have All The Time In The World” – performed by Louis Armstrong, written by Hal David
Vehicles
Aston Martin DBS; Tracy’s Mercury Ford Cougar; Bobsleds; Blofeld’s silver Mercedes-Benz 600
Gadgets/Weapons/Technology
- Walther PPK 7.65mm
- Safe-cracking photocopy device
- Radioactive lint
- Minox A/III camera
- Folding rifle hidden in Bond’s Aston Martin DBS’ glove box• Compact communicator that houses a shortwave radio allowing Blofeld to communicate with his Angels of Death
Trivia
Switzerland had the mildest winter for 40 years when the production arrived to film the ski sequences
The storyline required a heliport adjoining Blofeld’s mountain-top fortress. So at a cost of £60,000, the production hauled more than 500 tons of cement and equipment to the peak by helicopter and cable car – and built one. That also covered the cost of installing a 2,000 amp generator to power the camera crew’s lights
120 crew members had to travel everyday via cable car – 3,000 meters, a 20 minute journey
Richard Graydon decided to use local expert skiers not stuntmen for Blofeld’s ski chase scene
For the key sequence at a skating rink, the production team flooded a car park in Grindelwald every night until the ice that formed was thick enough to withstand the wear and tear of over 100 skaters. The same technique was employed for the stock car chase on ice utilising a large open field between Stechelberg and Lauterbrunnen
750 extras were employed for the Grindelwald ice skating scene
For the thrilling ski chase scenes, world-class champion Willy Bogner Jr skied backwards down the mountainside with a hand-held camera, skiers travelling at high speed behind him. Johnny Jordan filmed while suspended 18 feet below a jet helicopter in a specially built harness while pilot, John Crewedson ‘buzzed’ mountain peaks and glaciers
Stefan Zurcher – aka The Snowman’ was a Piz Gloria guard – stuntman/skier on this film, the first of nine Bond films he worked on in different capacities
The name Piz Gloria was taken from Ian Fleming’s original novel and has been adopted by the restaurant ever since
To get the over the shoulder shots of Blofeld on the bobsled run, Willy Bogner Jr. was tethered to the back of the bob with a 20 foot cable that could be quickly released by knocking out a stick
