You Only Live Twice. 1967. Directed by Lewis Gilbert.

(10/13/00)

By 1967 the producers of the James Bond movies were more interested in putting on a big show than in telling a serious story. You Only Live Twice is pretty silly in places, but it has lots of action, beautiful location photography and lots of Japanese color.

Yes, it is silly. Bond is supposed to meet Mr. Henderson, but a young Japanese woman shows up instead. He is suspicious of her and later chases her though some kind of a building through which he falls through a trapdoor and falls through a long chute right into Tanaka's office. Why all this? These are supposedly professionals who wouldn't waste their time playing games. Perhaps it's a reminder that espionage--at least in spy movie--really is a big game.

The fight scene in Osaka Chemicals is superbly edited. Continuity is thrown out the window--the shots don't match up. This is a style perfected by Peter Hunt. (It was used in the opening of Thunderball.)

America and Russia are so easy to fool. At the meeting in an isolated site in what looks like the desert the American and Soviet representatives carp at each other like kids. It takes Great Britain to bring common sense to the situation and to save the day.

Japanese "flavor" includes sumo wrestlers, a training camp for modern Ninjas and a wedding ceremony with beautiful elaborate costumes.

Personally, I get bored with all that stuff that goes on in Blofeld's lair in the volcano with the rockets and the Ninjas and the control room. It just seems to go on forever. And Donald Pleasance doesn't make that much of an impact as Blofeld. After all, we've been waiting for four years (Since From Russia with Love) to see his face--and that's the best they could come up with?

Sean Connery doesn't bring the intensity and conviction to James Bond that he had in earlier films. He's not evenplaying it in the droll style he was to use in Diamonds Are Forever. All he's doing is being Sean Connery--but he's still James Bond.

Seen today, You Only Live Twice brings back the "feel" of 1967. It was a time when sending astronauts into outer space was a big deal. It was a time when the U.S.A. and U.S.S.R. were at each other's throats. And it was also a time when modern Japanese technology was getting a lot of attention. And this was what was considered stylish entertainment back then. It holds up as enjoyable entertainment if not a riveting film.