If you can look past Mr. Lazenby in the title role...the story line, action, and supporting cast of On Her Majesty's Secret Service are well above average.
This and that: Lazenby accompanies his transition to the part with a bit of self-deprecating humor. After losing the girl in the initial fight scene, he comments, "This never happened to the other guy." At another point in the story, Bond investigates his genealogy and is told that his family motto is "Orbis Non Sufficit" or "The World is Not Sufficient," more loosely translated as "The World Is Not Enough"; hence, the title of the much later film. The motto is written beneath the Bond family crest, which depicts three golden balls. Bond continues to crack double entendres, although not with the same snap or conviction of his predecessor. For instance, after the particularly bloody death of one of the villains, Lazenby quips, "He had lots of guts." Not quite up to form, what? Louis Armstrong sings the movie's love theme, "All the Time in the World," which would be the last song the great jazz artist ever recorded. Finally, Q (Desmond Llewelyn) makes only a token appearance at Bond's wedding, which tells you that this adventure is relatively free of gimmicks, gizmos, and gadgets. The director wanted to stick as closely as possible to Ian Fleming's novel and make the film more realistic than the several Bond releases that preceded it.
Video:
The screen size MGM give us is much the same as others in the series, a very wide 2.17:1 ratio that closely matches its original Panavision dimensions. The picture quality is bright and fairly well defined, with no problems from artifacts, dancing pixels, fluttering lines, age spots, lines, or flecks. It is reasonably smooth throughout.
Audio:
The sound is monaural, but it has a decent frequency range, apart from the deepest bass, and acceptable dynamics. Background noise is practically nonexistent.
Extras:
Befitting its status as a "Special 007 Edition," the disc is filled out with a healthy selection of bonus goodies. The first is an audio commentary by director Peter Hunt and various cast and crew members. The second is an excellent, forty-three-minute documentary, "Inside 'On Her Majesty's Secret Service,'" featuring recent interviews with the actors and technicians involved. Also included are a featurette, "Inside Q's Laboratory," an eleven-minute tribute to the late Desmond Llewelyn, another featurette, "Above It All," a still gallery, TV ads and interviews, an informative booklet insert, thirty-two scene selections, English and Spanish spoken languages, French and Spanish subtitles, plus a theatrical trailer and television spots. It's one of MGM's better packages.
Parting Thoughts:
If you can look past Mr. Lazenby in the title role, and I know that's asking a lot, the story line, action, and supporting cast of "On Her Majesty's Secret Service" are well above average. Certainly, no 007 devotee will want to be without it. The disc comes singly or in a boxed set with "Thunderball," "Live and Let Die," "A View to a Kill," "Die Another Day," and "Octopussy."
Video:
The screen size MGM give us is much the same as others in the series, a very wide 2.17:1 ratio that closely matches its original Panavision dimensions. The picture quality is bright and fairly well defined, with no problems from artifacts, dancing pixels, fluttering lines, age spots, lines, or flecks. It is reasonably smooth throughout.
Audio:
The sound is monaural, but it has a decent frequency range, apart from the deepest bass, and acceptable dynamics. Background noise is practically nonexistent.
Extras:
Befitting its status as a "Special 007 Edition," the disc is filled out with a healthy selection of bonus goodies. The first is an audio commentary by director Peter Hunt and various cast and crew members. The second is an excellent, forty-three-minute documentary, "Inside 'On Her Majesty's Secret Service,'" featuring recent interviews with the actors and technicians involved. Also included are a featurette, "Inside Q's Laboratory," an eleven-minute tribute to the late Desmond Llewelyn, another featurette, "Above It All," a still gallery, TV ads and interviews, an informative booklet insert, thirty-two scene selections, English and Spanish spoken languages, French and Spanish subtitles, plus a theatrical trailer and television spots. It's one of MGM's better packages.
Parting Thoughts:
If you can look past Mr. Lazenby in the title role, and I know that's asking a lot, the story line, action, and supporting cast of "On Her Majesty's Secret Service" are well above average. Certainly, no 007 devotee will want to be without it. The disc comes singly or in a boxed set with "Thunderball," "Live and Let Die," "A View to a Kill," "Die Another Day," and "Octopussy."
Average user rating (1-5):
[release]4356[/release]