On Her Majesty's Secret Service - The LS Cut

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Overall rating
 
9.6
Audio/Video Quality
 
10.0
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9.0
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10.0
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9.0
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10.0
Watched this for the Christmas season (don't forget that Blofeld's scheme relies on the girls' X-mas presents) after putting it off for some time. I have always said OHMSS is my fav Bond film, so it was hard for me to believe an edit could improve it, but that's exactly what LastSurvivor has done.

I'll leave my thoughts on the film itself for my review here: https://letterboxd.com/nottheacademy/film/on-her-majestys-secret-service/
Instead I'll focus on what LS has changed. While I do miss most everything that was cut, for the purpose of focusing the film more, they are all good, smart cuts. Honestly, LS probably doesn't go far enough. Several of the Bond sequences could be tightened up a little (like the lawyer's office or escaping the gearhouse) and his romancing the Angels could probably be cut even more. If the goal is to keep him focused on his great love, then including more references to him 'not being interested in women' and then cutting the actual Ruby seduction would be better. I also found the very opening with Q and M to serve no real purpose since Bond won't be using any gadgets and the plot has nothing to do with nuclear lint. Better if it could be cut.

But these are minor quibbles. Most every change here is for the better, including the audio substitutions. The one that I would argue against is making Louis Armstrong's track the title credit song. It's a slow, melancholy track, not at all fitting for starting a Bond adventure. It would be much better to run this vocal version over the end credits, especially after LS has played it several times without the vocals as the love theme. Its melancholy will then be fully "given voice" at the culmination of the film. But at the start, something a little more in line with the sultry women voicing Bond's previous themes would be better. If it's absolutely necessary to switch from the best Bond theme of all time, Barry's OHMSS, then how about his unused song for the film with "Nina" on vocals?: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gxp-zfMWvMw

All in all, however, no change here is a "bad" change, and everything makes the story more focused. Dare I say it? This replaces the original film for me, despite my wish for an even better v2.0 (with a stereo track?)... well done, LS, and thanks!

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Overall rating
 
9.2
Audio/Video Quality
 
9.0
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10.0
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9.0
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9.0
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9.0
I'll admit, I've always been to two minds with this movie. The overall plot, locations, and action sequences have always been classic Bond for me. But Lazenby as a one-off in the franchise never really gelled as Bond for me, and the pacing has always bugged me. LastSurvivor has fixed this film for me.

The biggest improvement is the trims in the Piz Gloria sequence. It's always been way over-long for me, and far too much dallying around with the angels of death--even for Bond. Now there is just enough for Bond to accomplish his mission goals and the "yep, that's Bond being Bond."

Next is minimizing all the nods back to Connery's movies. Now all I could pick out at glance is the title sequence (no fixing that, and IMHO the worst in the franchise), and the quick shot during him clearing his desk.

The soudtrack changes are more subtle, but work really well. I had forgotten the original, and the changes description reminded me. LastSurvivor's choices work far better than the original release. The use of All the Time in the World was much moe impactful, and not over used.

This is now my preferred version to view.

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Overall rating
 
9.6
Audio/Video Quality
 
10.0
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10.0
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10.0
Narrative
 
9.0
Enjoyment
 
9.0
It’s hard for me to judge these old Bond films. They suffer from the success of the franchise. Imitated and parodied endlessly; from Austin Powers to even Nolan movies, the tropes now seem completely cliche. That said, I do think this movie gets a bit of bad rap and certainly Lazenby does. It works best when it does its own thing. The relationship between Bond and Tracy works, in no short degree thanks to the chemistry between Lazenby and Rigg. And that is refreshing. The more serious side of Bond works. But it frustratingly seems to want it both ways. And the sillier Bondisms mostly fall flat. The screenplay itself is puzzling. Again, it seems to want to carry on with Bond as if there’s nothing different, but then it contradicts that often. The worst error is leaving Tracy out of the film for the bulk of the middle only to way-too-conveniently emerge for the last act. I admit I’m revisiting this one because we’re heading to the Jungfrau region and Lauterbrunnen valley next month. And that scenery was fantastic. Overall, I feel like I ended up liking this movie less than I remembered. But, as I said at the outset, I think that may be due in large part to the impact of the Bond series overall. It’s probably been more than 30 years since I last watched it.

Given that I don’t have much direct memory of the movie, I have a hard time comparing the edit to the theatrical. But I’ll say the editing was never noticeable for me so Last Survivor again did a terrific job both technically and narratively editing the film. And one thing I do remember that LS has thankfully cut is the fourth wall breaking “other guy” quip. That change alone makes this edit worth it.

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Overall rating
 
9.4
Audio/Video Quality
 
10.0
Audio Editing
 
10.0
Visual Editing
 
10.0
Narrative
 
9.0
Enjoyment
 
8.0
This edit is a bit polarizing for me. On the one hand, I love all the little things in this edit, the fixing of continuity errors and slight trims here and there to really tighten things and remove some of the more dated and silly elements. On the other hand, the removal of two scenes dampen my enjoyment a bit. The first is the rearranging of Campbell's ascent and capture, as I feel without the scene where they're all playing curling we lose sight of Blofeld for too long. I love Telly Savalas as Blofeld and feel the removal of this scene hurts the film by keeping him out of frame for far too long. The second is the removal of the bell room fight, one of my favorite action scenes in the film. I understand why it was cut, but I think it adds a certain element of danger to Bond's escape, that he's far from being out of the woods even when he makes it to the town. I love all the other work LastSurvivor has done, such as removing some of the egregious rear projection shots and recutting the battle at Piz Gloria to be more coherent and suspenseful, and the musical changes throughout to correct some baffling bits of tone-deafness on the part of the soundtrack. I feel that if these two scenes were retained or only slightly modified, I'd consider this a replacement for the theatrical version, hands down. Perhaps at some point in the future, there will be another version of this edit that fixes my minor quibbles. I won't hold my breath, though. However, aside from those complaints, this is a superb edit. Nearly seamless visual and audio editing and a good grasp of story and character make this an edit to seek out, even though it might not fully replace the original. It's still fun to see attention being paid to what is, in my opinion, the greatest James Bond film ever made.

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E
2 reviews
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Overall rating
 
9.2
Audio/Video Quality
 
10.0
Audio Editing
 
9.0
Visual Editing
 
10.0
Narrative
 
9.0
Enjoyment
 
8.0
A very good edit that trims away some of the problems I have with the original. Most prominently, the scenes with the Angles of Death. The film at least moves on now, instead of dies completely. Vultural's review below really says it all, so I will only commend LS's skills as a editor. Though I would argue against Vutural that this cut makes Lazenby quite alright as Bond (despite the poorly inserted one-liners they gave him). No silly callbacks and I like some of the fights in this, especially the one on the beach.

Then again, "Lazenby would always pick the wrong wine" is a wonderful description!

A clear improvement. Well done!

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