[7]
James Bond (Sean Connery) travels to Japan for the fifth film in the franchise. Someone is capturing both Russian and American space vessels in attempt to start a war between the two superpowers. Bond works with the Japanese Secret Service to confirm his suspicions: that SPECTRE is behind the disappearances. At SPECTRE’s hidden base inside a dormant volcano, Bond finally comes face to face with Blofeld, the archenemy whose face was kept hidden in From Russia with Love and Thunderball. But in You Only Live Twice, the character is fully revealed — and played with suitably campy villainy by Donald Pleasence (Halloween).
You Only Live Twice maintains the franchise’s high quality with another well-paced script, this time credited to Roald Dahl, author of children’s classics Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and James and the Giant Peach. The film showcases Connery’s droll swagger through a series of fun — if increasingly cartoonish — action sequences. Highlights include a car chase that ends with the bad guys’ vehicle being lifted off the road by a giant magnet and dropped into Tokyo Harbor. There’s also an elaborate aerial battle between Bond in a tricked-out mini-helicopter and four SPECTRE choppers, and the film’s climax on one of the largest sets ever built for a motion picture — the volcanic SPECTRE lair, complete with a retractable ceiling and rocket launch bay. It’s here where SPECTRE battles an army of ninjas who rappel into the scene just as Cold War tensions reach the breaking point.
The Bond girls are a bit less distinguished this time out. Actresses Akiko Wakabayashi and Mie Hama, who learned English for their roles, struggle with dialogue and have less agency than some of the franchises more memorable ladies. Tetsuro Tamba gets the meatiest supporting role, playing Bond’s primary liaison with the Japanese Secret Service. An early scene in which Tamba’s character takes Bond to a Japanese bath house is tongue-in-cheek for its playfully chauvinist overtones. Tamba tells Bond, “In Japan, men always come first, women come second,” as the two men are then thoroughly bathed by four attentive Japanese women. Bond replies, “I might just retire to here.” The film takes a ridiculous detour late in the second act, when Bond undergoes cosmetic surgery to ‘look’ Japanese and marries Hama’s character, Kissy, to infiltrate a small Japanese island community where Blofeld’s hideout is expected to be. (The ‘look’ simply disappears over the course of the third act climax.) But that’s the only significant blemish on the film.
As usual, Q (Desmond Llewelyn) provides some wonderful new gadgets, including the mini-copter and a cigarette that launches a tiny missile. Composer John Barry delivers perhaps his most dynamic Bond score to date, fronted by a beautiful title song performed by Nancy Sinatra. The film also benefits from cinematography by Freddie Young, Oscar-winner for Lawrence of Arabia and Doctor Zhivago.
Directed by Lewis Gilbert. With Karin Dor, Teru Shimada, Bernard Lee, Lois Maxwell, Tsai Chin, and Charles Gray.