Ernst Stavro Blofeld is miscast again, but the error is not as grave as in the preceding film. Telly Savalas plays the SPECTRE leader, still attached to that white cat. He's bald, as was Pleasence's Blofeld, but he has lost the ugly scar. Only Blofeld's ear lobes are missing, because the character is passing himself as the Count de Bleuville. Savalas is too energetic and too snide to be Blofeld. He seems more like a New York gangster. There is none of Blofeld's wisdom or methodical probing in Savalas' characterization. He is successful at bringing out the man's villainy—his obligatory "spilling the beans" scene is one of the best Blofeld plans to launch biological warfare on England by hypnotizing ten beautiful girls (supposedly allergy victims) and ordering them to do his bidding. The girls will go out into the land and poison livestock and crops. Blofeld's demands for stopping the virus attack are complete amnesty from all governments with a price on his head, and recognition of his title of Count. This makes sense, considering what hell he's caused in the past: knocking down American test flights, stealing government cipher machines, blackmailing governments with atomic bombs and so forth. Another oddity of Savalas' Blofeld is that he takes part in the ski chase after Bond escapes from Piz Gloria. The real Blofeld would have had more dignity.
The most successful casting in the film is that of Ilse Steppat as Irma Bunt. Though her character appeared in the novel You Only Live Twice, she isn't in the film. Her character is important here, and she is used faithfully. The casting of Miss Steppat reminds one of the casting of Lotte Lenya as Rosa Klebb. Steppat is a matronly middle-aged actress who fits Fleming's description of Bunt perfectly. Actually, Irma Bunt comes off more menacing than Blofeld in this picture. The audience is given quite a jolt when Bond sneaks into Ruby's room a second time at Piz Gloria, only to find Irma Bunt in bed where Ruby should be.
Italian actor Gabtiele Ferzetti plays Marc-Ange Draco, the head of the Union Corse, and briefly, Bond's father-in-law. This is also a good piece of casting. It is said that Draco's voice was dubbed, though this isn't noticeable (the dubbing in Bond films has always been surprisingly good), and Ferzetti displays a good deal of the charm required for the part. An element which is missing until the final showdown at Piz Gloria is the fact that Draco can be a tough customer. After all, he is the head of the most powerful crime syndicate in France. Ferzetti seems a little too nice at times. But during the big battle, he proves he can hold his own in a dangerous situation. There is one funny moment showcasing Ferzetti: Draco is trying to convince Tracy to get inside the helicopter so they can escape from the alp. Piz Gloria will blow up any second, but Bond is still inside. Draco is finally forced to punch her in the jaw, knocking her unconscious. He shrugs at a companion and says, "Spare the rod, spoil the child," and lifts her into the copter.
Cute Angela Scoular giggles her way through the role of Ruby, one of the ten allergy patients who is lucky enough to have an affair with James Bond. In the book, she is the only one who gets to know Bond in the biblical sense, but in the film, Bond also makes love to a girl named Nancy (played by Catherine Von Schell), and it's implied that he woos a Chinese girl.
The film's Obligatory Sacrificial Lamb is the Swiss agent Shaun Campbell from Station Z. His role is small, but his presence is emphasized in key scenes. Played by Bernard Horsfall, he is the agent who oversees the crane operation that delivers the safecracker/duplicator through Gumbold's office window to Bond. He also painfully follows Bond on his journey to Piz Gloria, making the trip the hard way—mostly on foot Campbell meets his end by being strung up by his feet over a cliff after he is caught spying. (A little more dignified than past SPECTRE killings. It's also interesting that the film is missing the usual SPECTRE execution of one of its own members, even though there is one of these scenes in the book.)
As mentioned earlier, Bernard Lee and Lois Maxwell have rare moments with their characterizations of M and Miss Moneypenny, respectively. The resignation scene captures the M/Bond relationship very well, and the subsequent saving-of-the-day by Moneypenny lends her character a depth never suggested in the novels. There is also the scene at Quarterdeck, M's home. We meet Chief Petty Officer Hammond (much younger than expected) and we find M playing with a butterfly collection (his hobby in the book was watercolors). Desmond Llewelyn makes brief appearances in the film; once at the beginning, explaining his radioactive lint, and again in the wedding sequence. Referring to Tracy, Bond tells Q as he's leaving for his honeymoon that this time he has the gadgets, and that he "knows how to use them."
OTHER ASPECTS
The look of the film is picturesque. The location photography of the Swiss Alps provides a colorful and awesome backdrop for the film. Snow is everywhere and the picture's Christmas timeframe gives it a very seasonal atmosphere.
Syd Cain designs his second Bond feature and does a splendid job. Most impressive is his work on Piz Gloria. Piz Gloria is actually a revolving restaurant atop the Schilthorn Mountain ("Magic Mountain"), some 6900 feet above the Lauterbrunnen valley near Murren. The restaurant was nearing completion when Eon Productions discovered its existence and began negotiating to use the site for filming. The final agreement was that Eon Productions would furnish interior designs and execute them, as well as build a heliport outside in exchange for use of the building. The restaurant was even renamed Piz Gloria permanently.
Michael Reed's photography has a sharpness not previously seen in Bond films, which gives the film a chic look. John Jordan, unimpeded by an artificial leg, is back to film the aerial sequences, and his work is as impressive as ever. Jordan was tragically killed later the same year working on Catch-22. The stunning ski chases and bobsled scene were filmed by skiing champion Willy Bogner, Jr., who reportedly performed all kinds of daredevil tricks to obtain certain shots. These sequences were directed by second unit man John Glen, who would direct future Bond films. Glen also serves as the film's editor, and he follows Peter Hunt's footsteps in continuing the latter's fast-paced style.
John Stears returns at the special effects helm, and his model of Piz Gloria (which explodes, as usual, at the film's end) looks authentic. George Leech choreographed the action sequences, and succeeds in creating tough fight scenes and exciting chases. Anthony Squire directed the wonderful stock car chase in which Bond and Tracy escape a SPECTRE Rolls by joining a rally in progress. This scene is a variation of the "fork left to hell" scene in the novel, in which Bond sends the SPECTRE car over a cliff by reversing a KEEP RIGHT road sign. Marjory Cornelius deserves mention for her wardrobe designs, especially for the ten allergy patients at Piz Gloria. Bond's baronet outfit is amusing and all of Tracy's clothes are alluring and appealing.
OHMSS contains perhaps the best score of the series. John Barry outdoes himself with an innovative sound for the film. The Bond scores have always had a modern feel to them, but this one is raunchy and jazzy. The theme is instrumental, with an upbeat, driving tempo. The use of a fuzz-box on the guitar is prominent, creating a gritty texture. There are also several beautiful lyrical sections, such as the backgrounds to the prologue, the journey to Blofeld's hideaway, and the helicopter approach to Piz Gloria at the film's climax. "We Have All the Time in the World" is a lovely melody, and is used wistfully at the film's end when Bond realizes Tracy is dead. Like the film itself, the score is unique in the series. John Barry gambled with this one, as did Peter Hunt and the producers. On Her Majesty's Secret Service may not be the best Bond film, but it just might be the most admirable.
DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER (1971)
PRODUCTION
Sean Connery returned to the series on a one-time basis to play Bond in Diamonds Are Forever. Since On Her Majesty's Secret Service had not been as successful as the preceding films, the producers decided to revert back to the standard Bond formula. Connery was back, and the fantasy elements would be played up again. Ken Adam also returned to design more of his futuristic, sparkling sets.
Diamonds Are Forever also marks a new direction in the series. Humor began to play an increasingly important ro
le in the films beginning in the seventies. Although Diamonds still has its share of thrills and some suspense, much of it is played strictly for laughs. Tom Mankiewicz, co-scriptwriter for the film, explained his theory on why the Bond films changed in the seventies in an interview for Bondage magazine:
Well, I think what turned the Bond pictures around, in my opinion—and long before I got on them—was that car in Goldfinger. I think the minute Sean pressed the button on the ejector seat, and the audience roared, the series turned around. The audiences saw outlandish things they had never seen before, and the natural response of anybody—a writer, a filmmaker—is to give them more; more of what they want. And there's constant pressure as the films gross a great deal of money to make each one bigger, and "more" than the last.
Let's take You Only Live Twice. Once you have a helicopter come by with a giant magnet and pick a car up off the road, and dump it out in the ocean—it's a staggering thing to look at. Once you say to an audience, "All's fair; we can do that," it's awful tough to keep a serious plot line going. You have so many tools available, so many outlandish things which an audience is not only used to, but they want to see, they got indoctrinated into it, and that's when I say Bond became Disney, in a certain way. It became an entertainment; it became an afternoon out, where for two hours you were going to see stuff you never saw before . . . The feeling of the studio (I mean United Artists and Cubby) was that if you pulled your horns in, and made a smaller picture, they (the audience) would be disappointed.
(From "The Tom Mankiewicz Interview,"
by Richard Schenkman, Bondage, Number 8)
Sean Conneiy's back and Jill St. John's got him in the 1971-released Diamonds Are Forever. (UPI Photo.)
Mankiewicz's theory makes sense, and explains the mentality of the producers. Granted, Ian Fleming's lesser novels, such as DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER, might not translate well into cinematic material. One can understand why the filmmakers opted to go this route.
The general public isn't made up of James Bond purists. The people who flock to the Bond films are going to be entertained, as Mankiewicz states. The Bond purists, who have continually objected to the way James Bond has been handled on the screen since 1970, are relatively small in number. Mankiewicz told Bondage that he is a fan of Fleming's Bond, but believes that the change in the character for the films was necessary both commercially and cinematically. The Bond films, starting with Diamonds, became "romps," (to use Mankiewicz's word), and this, in part, explains their artistic decline in the seventies. Ironically, these movies made even more money than had the previous six. James Bond, apparently, is a successful commodity in almost any form.
Diamonds Are Forever employed both European and American crews. Locations were shot in Amsterdam and England with one group, and in Los Angeles and Las Vegas with the other. The production was completed in under eighteen weeks, so United Artists escaped having to pay Connery the $10,000-per-weekover-schedule salary guaranteed in his contract
The film was enormously successful when it was released in December of 1971—it appeared that the picture would outgross all the previous Bonds. The film is entertaining, without a doubt, with fast-paced action and spectacular settings. The dialogue is sometimes very funny, containing a few terrific one-liners. Guy Hamilton is back at the helm, giving the film the speed and polish that enhanced Goldfinger. But the prime asset of the film is Sean Connery's return as James Bond. This was proven in theaters around the world, when audiences cheered at Connery's first appearance on the screen saying those famous words: "The name is Bond. James Bond."
SCREENPLAY
Much of the screenplay was written by committee, as usual, with a lot of input from Broccoli and Saltzman, as well as Hamilton. Richard Maibaum wrote the first draft, and Tom Mankiewicz was brought in later for a rewrite.
The film differs a great deal from the novel. There are a few similar scenes in the first quarter of the film, but they are in an entirely different context. The plot now involves SPECTRE, rather than the syndicate known as the Spangled Mob. Good old Ernst Stavro Blofeld is in control once more (in the novel the villains are Mafia-style gangsters named Jack and Seraffimo Spang). The film harks back to the science fiction aspects of Dr. No and You Only Live Twice, involving the creation of a laser-equipped satellite which SPECTRE will use to blackmail (as usual) major government powers. The laser gun is powered by diamonds which have been smuggled from a mine in South Africa owned by the British. At the beginning of the film, the British know that the diamonds are being smuggled but are mystified because the gems are not appearing on the black market. Someone is apparently stockpiling them, and it's up to James Bond to infiltrate the smuggling pipeline and find out who the culprit is. Blofeld and SPECTRE were brought into the plot, apparently, to maintain a semblance of continuity in the cinematic saga. Bond would naturally be seeking revenge for the murder of his wife in the previous film. Therefore, in the pre-credits sequence, we see Bond attacking various people in different locations, demanding to know the whereabouts of Blofeld. Bond finally locates him in the act of creating duplicates of himself by means of plastic surgery. Bond breaks into the futuristic operating room and kills Blofeld (at least he thinks it's Blofeld). We learn later in the film that it was only one of Blofeld's duplicates, and the real villain is alive and well and threatening governments again.
This pre-credits sequence is very confusing and is over before the audience can fully comprehend what has happened. In a way, this is a problem with the entire film. The plot itself is overcomplicated, and several scenes cut in the final editing probably explained a great deal that seems missing from the released version. For instance, it's not totally clear that it is SPECTRE that is running the smuggling pipeline. It seems that a different organization is behind the operation, and SPECTRE has interfered and begun sidetracking the pipeline into their own coffers. After a couple of viewings, it becomes clear that the links in the pipeline—the dentist in South Africa, the elderly schoolteacher in Amsterdam, Peter Franks, and Tiffany Case—do not know they're working for SPECTRE. Wint and Kidd, the two homosexual SPECTRE assassins, begin killing the pipeline links; it's not clear until later that SPECTRE intended to close the operation once they had obtained all the diamonds needed to complete the satellite project.
Bond (Sean Cannery) and Tiffany Case (Jill St. John) congratulate each other on a good day's work on location in Los Vegas for Diamonds Are Forever. (UPI Photo.)
A scene from the novel that appears in the film almost intact depicts Bond's impersonation of Peter Franks and his visit to Tiffany Case's hotel room. She is dressed in her underwear, as in the novel, but her character is written differently.
A few characters from the novel were retained—Tiffany, Felix Leiter, Wint and Kidd, Shady Tree—but new ones were created as well: Willard Whyte (the Howard Hughes–like character whom Blofeld impersonates for his new front), Plenty O'Toole (just another Bond-girl), and Burt Saxby (one of Blofeld's underlings who manages the Las Vegas hotel where Bond stays).
The script does contain some funny lines, probably thanks to the wit of Tom Mankiewicz. Some of these lines were a little too witty for Broccoli's taste, but the dialogue remains in the film anyway. One example occurs when Leiter is looking for the diamonds hidden inside the dead body of Peter Franks. "Where are they?" he asks Bond. Bond replies with a smile, "Alimentary, Dr. Leiter." Connery's delivery of these lines is wry. Another funny moment is when Miss O'Toole introduces herself to Bond at the casino. "Hi, I'm Plenty," she says. Bond looks her up and down and replies, "Of course you are." "No," she says, "Plenty O'Toole!" Bond then says, "Named after your father, no doubt."
DIRECTION
Guy Hamilton is back for his second Bond film, to which he brings much of the same slick style of Goldfinger. But the touch is lighter this time. Diamonds emphasizes wit and high camp at the expense of suspense and danger. The film moves so rapidly that one can barely follow the storyline. The action speeds recklessly from set-piece to set-piece,
never giving the audience time to ask, "Now, why did that happen?" It seems to be a strategy on the part of the filmmakers for covering weak plot details: move over them fast if they don't make sense.
This doesn't mean that Diamonds Are Forever isn't stylish. The opening scenes revealing the diamond pipeline are moody, thanks to John Barry's eerie score. The scene in which Bond is trapped inside a coffin loaded into a crematorium creates a good deal of suspense, but his rescue by Shady Tree is a cop-out. The most atmospheric and Bondian scene in the film is when 007 rides the elevator to the top of the Whyte House in order to break into the penthouse. Using a gun that fires a cable and grappling hooks, Bond dangles in midair over Las Vegas for a few minutes as he pulls himself up. The music, the night sky, and the shadowy photography create a breathtaking effect.
The film's highlights are the two chases: one involving a moon buggy from the satellite space laboratory, and the other pitting Bond and Tiffany's Mustang against the Las Vegas police. This latter sequence is full of thrills and is really the high point of the film, even though it's markedly similar to the Aston Martin car chase in Goldfinger. Over twenty automobiles were totalled for the filming of this scene.
The main problem with Hamilton's direction is that he takes many of the characters too lightly, Blofeld in particular. In You Only Live Twice, Blofeld seems a raving lunatic. In Diamonds, Blofeld is British (a mistake) and very charming. He has as much style and elegance as Bond himself. The treatment of Wint and Kidd is especially annoying. In the novel, the homosexual couple are extremely dangerous characters. In the film, they are simply silly. Much of the picture's humor is derived from these two. Finally, the character of James Bond himself is treated with levity. Connery still manages to bring a certain amount of macho ruggedness to the role, but the character seems to be floating through this assignment on a breeze. It's all too easy for him. Connery's performance aside, one can easily see that the Bond character as written here would easily harmonize with Roger Moore's personality for future films.
The James Bond Bedside Companion Page 42
