On Her Majesty's Secret Service

 Year of Release:  1969

Director:  Peter R. Hunt

Screenplay:  Richard Maibaum, with additional dialogue by Simon Raven, based on the novel On Her Majesty's Secret Service by Ian Fleming

Starring:  George Lazenby, Diana Rigg, Telly Savalas, Bernard Lee, Gabriele Ferzetti, Ilse Steppat

Running Time:  141 minutes

Genre:  Action, adventure, spy

British secret agent James Bond (Lazenby) puts his career on the line as he pursues criminal mastermind Blofeld (Savalas) who is preparing his latest diabolical plan to hold the world to ransom from his remote lair in the Swiss Alps.  Meanwhile, Bond unexpectedly falls in love with the alluring but troubled Tracy (Rigg).

This is the sixth film in the popular James Bond series, and the first without Sean Connery in the lead role, although Connery would return for the next instalment, Diamonds Are Forever (1971).  The producers seemed nervous about recasting the lead role and went to great lengths to persuade the audience that, yes, they were watching a Bond film:  At the end of the film's prologue, Lazenby looks straight at camera and quips "This never happened to the other fellow", the opening titles feature clips from previous Bond films, and in one scene Bond goes through some of his old gadgets.   However this does ring some changes with the traditional Bond formula, for one thing although there is the regular elaborate opening title sequence there is no theme song, although the Louis Armstrong song "We Have All the Time in the World" features prominently throughout the film; also, unlike most Bond films, it sticks very closely to the Ian Fleming novel, which means it has less humour and none of the usual gadgets. I think that fans disliked the recasting of James Bond, as well as the downbeat tone of the film, which culminates in a genuinely shocking ending.  However, I also think that a lot if the things that fans had disliked, have helped the film grow in stature in more recent years, with the downbeat and slightly more realistic (for a Bond film) tone helping it age better than many of the others, particularly in the more gritty Danial Craig era.

This was the one and only time that Australian model turned actor George Lazenby would play the role of James Bond, and he lacks the lethal charisma of Connery, but has a kind of boyish charm, and Lazenby's Bond has a kind of diffident and unsure quality, I don't know how much of that was Lazenby himself - after all it's his first acting role and he is taking over one of the biggest roles in film - but it gives Bond a vulnerability that makes for a more interesting character.  However, his performance is as uneven at times as his English accent, and he does sometimes come across as bland, but when he is at his best he gives a good performance, and his acting in the climax is genuinely affecting.  it's a pity that Lazenby didn't do more Bonds because, on this evidence, as his acting ability and confidence grew he could have really done some interesting things with the character.  Diana Rigg was previously best know for her iconic role as Emma Peel in the spy series The Avengers (1961-1969), which by the way has nothing to do with the Marvel Comics characters, and she makes her first appearance attempting suicide by walking into the ocean, only to be saved by Bond.  Tracy has a darkness and a strong personality that isn't often seen in the "Bond girls".  Bond initially courts her in order to use her father's wealth and resources to track down Blofeld, but he does eventually fall in love with her for real.  Diana Rigg gives a very good performance, dominating every scene that she is in.  As Blofeld, Telly Savalas is okay but he doesn't have the silkily menacing quality that Donald Pleasance had in You Only Live Twice (1967).  Joanna Lumley and future children's TV presenter Jenny Hanley are among the army of brainwashed women in Blofeld's lair.

There are some really enjoyable action set-pieces, particularly the climatic ski chase through the Alps, which also makes for a glamorous location.  While it is not without it's flaws, it is an impressive entry in the series.

Diana Rigg and George Lazenby in On Her Majesty's Secret Service

Last Night in Soho

 Year of Release:  2021

Director:  Edgar Wright

Screenplay:  Edgar Wright and Krysty Wilson-Cairns, from a story by Edgar Wright

Starring:  Thomasin McKenzie, Anya Taylor-Joy, Matt Smith, Michael Ajao, Terence Stamp, Diana Rigg

Running Time:  117 minutes

Genre:  Horror

Teenager Eloise Turner (McKenzie) moves from rural Cornwall to the bright lights of London to study fashion design.  Fascinated by the music and the style of the Swinging Sixties, Eloise moves to a bedsit in the Soho area of the city, and finds herself haunted by visions of Sandie (Taylor-Joy) an aspiring singer in the 1960s.  At first Eloise is delighted by these journeys back in time, and uses her experiences to fuel her creativity.  However, as Sandie's story becomes increasingly dark, Eloise's dreams quickly turn into horrific nightmares, which begin to bleed into her waking life.

Probably many people have visions of some fantasy "Golden Age" when everything was cool, wonderful and glamorous, even if it was a time long before they were born.  For modern day teenager Eloise it's the 1960s, but she soon comes to discover that despite the glamour, cool clothes and fantastic music, there is darkness and cruelty.  She comes to London to pursue her dreams of fashion design but almost as soon as she steps off the train, she has a disturbing experience with a creepy taxi driver, and is bullied by the fellow students in her halls of residence, causing her to move into a bedsit.  One of the hallmarks of Edgar Wright films is the visual inventiveness, and this is on full display here, particularly the sequence where Eloise has her first dream which is throughly intoxicating, as Sandie is revealed as her mirror images, and we see Anya Taylor-Joy, with Thomasin McKenzie as her reflection, and vice versa.  Thomasin McKenzie is heartbreaking as the romantic, tormented Eloise, haunted by the past in more ways than one, Anya Taylor-Joy is striking as Sandie, at first seeming the personification of sixties glamour, but who increasingly falls apart.  Former Doctor Who Matt Smith plays handsome, charismatic but dangerous Jack, and Smith is very effective in a throughly villainous role.  Michael Ajao plays Eloise's classmate John, pretty much the only sympathetic male character in the film, and he does invest what could be a very bland part with some real emotion.  There are slo appearances by several Sixties icons: Terence Stamp, Rita Tushingham and, in her final performance, Diana Rigg.  As with all of Edgar Wright's films, music is crucial here, with the stream of sixties classics almost another character.  The film does fall apart somewhat in the final third when it moves into more gruesome giallo horror territory, and at the end there are a few too many coincidences and shocking reveals, but for the most part it works very well, and the film is constantly intriguing, entertaining and sometimes genuinely shocking.  It's about the perils of nostalgia and "Golden Age" thinking, the dark side of glamour and most of all how men prey on women, which is the real horror in the film.

Anya Taylor-Joy and Thomasin Mackenzie in Last Night in Soho