“Welcome. Welcome to Japan, Mr. Bond.”
You Only Live Twice is a hard film to pin down. On the one hand, it takes the Bond formula that has slowly been developing over the first batch of films and pushes it further and on the other it also seems to get high on its own supply and want to coast on the fumes of the good faith the series has developed thus far. It’s hard to weigh those iconic moments (the Little Nellie aerial battle and the volcano lair) and the deficiencies in the script and plot and the general blandness of what should be an epic story. It doesn’t help that Connery has lost that sparkle and clearly has one foot out the door and appears disinterested through a large part of the film.
There are still bright spots in this otherwise average film. The Japanese supporting cast is excellent. Tetsurō Tamba as Tiger Tanaka is a great addition. His and Bond’s relationship is friendly but he takes great pleasure in ribbing Bond for his mistakes. Contrast with M who can humble Bond with a scowl, Tanaka is barely suppressing a smile at Bond‘s uneasiness in the Japanese wedding. Additionally Akiko Wakabayashi as Aki is a great partner for Bond and sadly due to the needs to the script is replaced by Mie Hama as Kissy (who isn’t even named in the film!) and should have just been allowed to be the Bond girl for the film.
The rest of the cast is questionable at best. Helga Brandt is definitely the poor woman’s Fiona Volpe. The illogical decisions her character makes does not help her in the slightest. Hans is a forgettable henchman. And then there’s Blofeld. Sigh. Blofeld has been built up as this mysterious figure now for three films and the reveal is anti-climatic in the worst possible way. I’m a huge fan of Donald Pleasance but this was a miscast. Yes, the look is iconic but he doesn’t really present the lethal, ethereal threat that has hovered over this series so far. The curtain was pulled back and you see this humbug. Luckily that will change soon enough.
There are some bright spots. Ken Adam’s volcano lair is absolutely fantastic. Even today that establishing shot still impresses. If you were making a list of the people most responsible for Bond’s success, Ken Adam would be one of the names at the top. His sets always provide that grand scale that these films are known for. Additionally, the music score helps to underscore the exotic nature of the setting. Nancy Sinatra’s theme is not as brassy or showy as the previous two but it’s a haunting and lyrical theme that tends to get overlooked. And finally, Little Nellie was a superb find. The aerial combat was a different type of action sequence and scored along with the Bond theme played almost in its entirety cannot help but put a smile on your face.
I’ve gone back and forth on my score for this one. I don’t think it’s as low as a 5 but I also think a 6 is too high. The script from Roald Dahl needed a few more passes. Dahl admitted that the producers were adamant he follow the formula and he conceded to their demands not being the normal series writer. It shows. The film kind of jerks around from set piece to set piece without much connective tissue. This could have also been compounded by the fact that the story is almost entirely new and only a few elements from the novel are present, a first for the series. However the grand epic scale of the sets and set pieces and their influence on films going forward is hard to ignore. I’m going to be generous (as I have been for a lot of these early ones) and give this a 6. I can picture the films I would rank lower than this but maybe that will change and I may re-rate it later in the rewatch.
Current Rankings:
1) From Russia with Love
2) Goldfinger
3) Thunderball
4) Dr. No
5) You Only Live Twice
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