Bond Revisited

You Only Live Twice (1967)
Bond 5

In 1967 the US and Soviet Russia reach a new crisis when Jupiter 16, a US space capsule, is captured in Earth orbit by a strange rocket ship. The US accuses the Soviets of the space hijacking, even though Great Britain believes the alien ship landed in the Sea Of Japan. Her Majesty's Secret Service now swings into action by "killing" James Bond in Hong Kong - a ruse so Bond can move about Japan unmolested by his enemies. Working with, and enjoying the exotic hospitality of, Japanese SIS and its commander "Tiger" Tanaka, James uncovers evidence that a major chemical company is smuggling liquid oxygen for rocket fuel, and his and Tanaka's investigation leads to an extinct volcano that is the source of the space hijacking - just as a Soviet spacecraft is grabbed by the alien rocket and a previously scheduled US launch is pushed upward with America's strategic forces on full battle alert, forcing James and Tanaka to confront the true source of the space hijackings - SPECTRE, and its ruthless leader Ernst Stavro Blofeld. Hilarity ensues.

Trivia: For the first time the story of a 007 film bears little resemblance to the novel it is based on. The budget was the then astronomic sum of $9,500,000 ($1,000,000 of of which was spent by Ken Adam in his crater set). The crater set was so large that crew members kept misreading Adam's dimensions as being in feet when they were supposed to be meters.

The female leads Mie Hama and Akikio Wakabayashi both appeared in Kingu Kongu Tai Gojira (1962) (King Kong vs. Godzilla). After being selected for the film, both Hama and Wakabayashi went to London and undertook English language tuition. Mie Hama found it difficult and failed to learn much English. When the producers came to the conclusion they would have to replace her, she threatened to commit suicide.

First Bond film in which 007 does not begin his mission in England (or in fact visits Britain at all). It is also the first film not to have Bond's briefing occur in M's London office; instead, it establishes that M and Miss Moneypenny and their offices are portable - a gimmick that would be revived in The Spy Who Loved Me (1977). First film to show James Bond in his Royal Navy uniform and to clearly indicate that he holds the rank of Commander.

The Characters:

• James Bond - Sean Connery, in his fifth film as Bond. Connery announced during filming that this would be his last Bond film (he was wrong, he made two more).
• Ernst Stavro Blofeld - Donald Pleasence, evil leader of SPECTRE and inspiration for Dr. Evil of the Austin Powers fame, this is the first time Blofeld's face was seen on screen.
• Tiger Tanaka - Tetsuro Tamba, head of Japan's secret service.
• Aki - Akikio Wakabayashi, Aki is Tiger Tananka's assistant and James Bond's guardian angel in Japan, saving him on several occasions. In a manner that is unusual for a Bond film, Aki, which the audience had been led to think was the main Bond girl, was killed off at the end of the second third of the film, leaving her successor Kissy to carry on as the female lead in the film's final third.
• Kissy Suzuki - Mie Hama, One of Tiger Tananka's top agents, Kissy is an Ama diver instructed to "marry" Bond through a sham marriage ("Remember, you gave false name to priest!"). Although she is considered the main Bond girl of the film, she didn't make her appearance until the final third of the film. Kissy held the distinction of being the only main Bond girl whose name, first or last, was never mentioned. In the beginning, Kissy held off Bond's advances ("This is business!"), which, as usual, did not last long.
• Helga Brandt - Karin Dor, SPECTRE agent Number 11 is Helga Brandt, who poses as a personal secretary to Osato, a Japanese businessman who also is a SPECTRE operative. A villainess in the tradition of Fiona Volpe, Helga wants to kill Bond off in a most spectacular manner (after bedding him, of course, thus ensuring she will be his last encounter). Spectacular usually does not mean effective. Bond survived, and Helga became fish food.

The Theme Song:

The soundtrack to You Only Live Twice was composed by Bond veteran, John Barry. At the time, this was his fourth credited Bond film. The theme song, You Only Live Twice, was sung by Nancy Sinatra. A rock version of You Only Live Twice was covered by Coldplay when they toured in 2001, and was covered by Natacha Atlas for her 2005 compilation album The Best of Natacha Atlas. The Icelandic singer Bjork also recorded a cover version.

Interestingly, an alternative example of a possible theme song (also called 'You Only Live Twice' and sung by Lorraine Chandler) was discovered in the vaults of RCA records in the '90s. Probably intended as a demo for consideration by the film's producers, it became a very popular track with followers of the Northern soul scene (Chandler was well known for her high-quality soul output on RCA) and can be found on several RCA soul compilations.

Vehicles & Gadgets:

• Toyota 2000GT convertible — Owned by Aki. Two 2000GT coupes were turned into convertibles for the film. One is displayed at Toyota's headquarters today, while the whereabouts of the other are unknown.
• Little Nellie — A heavily armed autogyro (mini helicopter-thingy) that could be transported in several suitcases for quick field assembly. Based on the real-life Wallis Autogyro, Little Nellie was actually flown by Wing Commander Wallis in the film.
• Shooting Cigarette — Tiger gives Bond a rocket-shooting cigarette with an accurate range of 30 yards; he uses it against a guard in Blofeld's volcano to reach the control to open the crater hatch, allowing Tanaka's forces to storm the base.
• Safecracker — A small, pocket-sized device that attaches to a safe lock the secret agent wants opened. When properly positioned, the user needs only to turn the combination lock's dial, and the device lights as each correct combination digit is found until the safe is opened. However, Bond learns the hard way that the gadget does not defeat a safe's other security measures, such as alarms.
• Gyrojet rocket guns — prototype guns using a small rocket-propelled projectile rather than conventional ammunition. A limited number were made in real life for trials by the US and British militaries, but the design never caught on and the guns and ammunition are now very collectible (and therefore highly sought after and expensive!) [Source]
  

The Pretitle Sequence:

While in Japan, James Bond beds Ling, who gives him "very best duck" then she throws a switch and his bed (one of those fold up into the wall beds) folds up into the wall, then two gunmen come in and blast the bed with multiple automatic gunshots. When the cops show up they find the secret agent still in the bed, dead. Bond is then buried at sea to full military honors...before being picked up by a British submarine. Bond and Ling had faked his death to throw Bond's detractors off of his trail.

Typical Bond film, very solid and fun to watch. The above descriptions pretty much tell you everything you need to know, so a few observations. I'm sorry, but Bond doesn't look very asian, it was actually kind of comical. He had slanted eye make-up, was very harry, and stood a full head taller then evrybody around him. I know that this seems racially stereotypical but there it was, on the screen. The most amazing part of the story was the flight of Little Nellie. It is still awesome to watch this little autogyro fly rings around the four helicopters chasing it. And the film footage was just amazing.

Up Next: On Her Majesty's Secret Service, Bond 6 and the first non-Connery Bond.