Screen Vistas: BONDATHON: YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE

Bonds fifth outing, You Only Live Twice, represents a major shift in the creative team making the Bond films. Director Terrence Young is out, as was Guy “Goldfinger” Hamilton. In their place producers hired Lewis Gilbert who had just directed Alfie, everyone’s favorite Michael-Caine-Seducing-Women movie. Gilbert brings a light breezy charm that helps the films cheese go down a lot smoother. Which is good because if Thunderball was silly, then Only Live Twice is relentlessly ridiculous.

In the opening, an American spaceship is stolen right out of orbit by a SPECTRE vessel that opens up and swallows the thing. Not knowing of SPECTRE’s involvement, the Americans naturally blame the Soviets and threaten war if their next launch is tampered with. The British are not so convinced that the Russians are involved, they detected a mysterious launch near Japan and send superspy James Bond (still Sean Connery) to investigate.

Bond’s investigation is needlessly complicated and absurd, but this is a James Bond movie. Why Bond needs to fake his own death in the opening is not important. Also, defeating an enemy in a car chase by having a plane carry them off with an electro-magnet and drown them in the ocean is effective and indeed inventive, but it’s not exactly practical. Other whimsical details I enjoyed included the idea that head of the Japanese secret service has a private underground train that can take him anywhere in the country, and that M has his office perfectly replicated on a submarine. Eventually Bond’s investigation takes him, and a small army of ninjas, to an island where SPECTRE has been storing the stolen ship in a hollowed out volcano.

That's a set, and they're landing a real helicopter in it!

Like Thunderball, Twice is a large production. But where as Terrence Young seemed overwhelmed by the budget on that film, Gilbert handles his Bond with a light, breezy touch that carries us forward from beginning to end. The films constant momentum keeps us from realizing how ridiculous the film is. One of the reason’s the film is so absurd lies with it’s screenwriter. Richard Maibaum, who had written all the previous films, sat this entry out and was replaced by Rolad Dahl, author of books like Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Fantastic Mr. Fox and James and the Giant Peach.

Dahl was a friend of Ian Fleming and that may account for how a children’s author came to be hired for a Bond film. Dahl’s contribution is important because, unlike earlier films, his screenplay essentially throws the novel out the window. They both share a Japanese setting, many of the characters, and some minor details but the plot and motivation is completely altered. Part of this was out of necessity. The novel You Only Live Twice was a direct sequel to On Her Majesties Secret Service, which had not been adapted to film yet. Being a direct sequel, the novel deals greatly with Bond’s mental state after the previous novel's tragic end. The result is a much more intimate book that doesn't fit the increasingly large canvas that films inhabit. In addition being filmed out of order, this plot would just not have suited the persona of Movie-Bond. Death does not effect him, nothing does. The raw, emotional Bond of the novels will show up eventually, but for now he must remain an untouchable superman. Therefore Dahl created the above plot with SPECTRE stealing spaceships, and Bond flying around in his mini-helicopter.

One of the things that Dahl did keep, unfortunately, was a segment where Bond infiltrates a fishing village disguised as a Japanese worker. The fact that Bond runs around in “Yellowface” is cringe inducing, the fact that it’s one of the most terrible, ineffective looking disguises ever put on film is hilarious. They basically give him a different wig and eyebrows.

I'm completely fooled!

The very idea that Bond can go around looking like this and "pass" is absolutely absurd. The fact that that he also completes Ninja training in the space of about a week, via his western superiority, is almost worse.

Also problematic is Connery’s performance. He was getting tired of the role at this point, and we can tell. He’s not bad by any means, but he doesn’t pop the same way he did in From Russia With Love or Goldfinger. But his supporting cast is quite good. Long time foe and SPECTRE head honcho Ernst Blofeld finally gets a face in the form of Donald Pleasence, and what a great face! Pleasence isn't in the film for long, but makes every scene he's in stand out.

The film’s fight scenes are also excellent. Unlike previous Bond fights that often felt claustrophobic, Gilbert's camera pulls back and lets us see more of them. There’s even a great aerial shot of Bond taking on several assailants on a rooftop. And the final assault on the Volcano may not the most sensical thing you've ever seen, but it's certainly memorable. All of this is captured by the film’s cinematographer Freddie Young. Young’s is mostly known for his sensational work on films like Lawrence of Arabia, and while his work here may not be quite as stunning, his more naturalistic lighting style helps sell the silliness of the film and is generally a step forward for the look of the series.

Also improving the look is long time Bond production designer Ken Adam. Who went above and beyond with his set designs. The volcano set is legendary, but it's the little details that help sell the world of Bond. Like an office with a reflective desk designed so that the camera can look at the person sitting at it AND still see Bond reflected in it.


Pictured: amazing design!

You Only Live Twice isn’t a great Bond picture and at times it’s culturally insensitive, but in spite of that, it’s dreamlike structure and whimsy makes it mostly enjoyable. Even without the racism, it still wouldn't be a classic Bond, but even with the "yellowface," it's still better than Thunderball.

Tuesday, June 26, 2012

BONDATHON: YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE

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