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By
NICK ZEGARAC
"You Only Live Twice" (1967)
is the last film Sean Connery made under his
contract with United Artists. By then the strain
of having a legion of fans that believed the blur
between the flamboyant fantasies of Bond and
congenial reality of its star was beginning to
wear thin on Connery. As an actor he yearned for
the opportunity to branch out. Believing that this
would be the last time Connery played Bond,
producers Cubby Broccolli and Harry Saltzman
fashioned an elaborate swan song for their star.
It begins with the apparent murder of Bond inside
an Asian brothel -- an awkward plot device that is
quickly jettisoned for a focus on intergalactic
highjacking. When an American space capsule
disappears from radar, both the Americans and the
Russians believe that the other is responsible for
foul play. Neither perceives that S.P.E.C.T.R.E.
is up to its old tricks of launching them into
WWIII.
Bond journeys to Japan to investigate the
disappearance. Almost immediately he becomes the
target of lavish assassination attempts from a
Japanese industrialist, Mr. Osato (Teru Shimada)
and his diabolical femme fatale, Helga Brandt
(Karen Dor). Eventually Bond teams with underworld
titan, Tiger Tanaka (Tetsuro Tamba), whose
connections get Bond on an island that is
seemingly populated by harmless fisherman. What
Bond discovers is that the island is actually a
hub for Blofeld's space hijacking apparatus. Using
the disguise of a dormant volcano, Blofeld (on
this occasion memorably cast as Donald Pleasance)
initiates the capture and retrieval of both
Russian and American spacecraft for the purpose of
achieving intergalactic supremacy and eventual
world domination.
What is perhaps most flawed about You Only Live
Twice is its one hit premise, which by this point
in the franchise must have seemed clichéd to say
the least. The ever mutating figure of Blofeld is
kept out of sight for most of the film, only
materializing during the climactic showdown inside
the volcano and then -- quite easily jettisoned
for an overly long action sequence that ends with
one of the worst examples of matte shot trick
photography ever put on film -- that of a nuclear
explosion that has obviously come from test
footage of the real thing, but has been haplessly
tacked on to the end of this film. Director Lewis
Gilbert does his best to make all the elements
work, but Connery -- looking much older and more
bored in the lead -- is simply going through the
motions on this occasion. Even his venerable
interactions with Q (Desmond Llewelyn) lack their
usual spark of disdainfully playful banter.
The MGM/UA DVD is rather disappointing. The
anamorphic widescreen image is both dated and
riddled in age-related artifacts. Colors are, on
occasion refined, but for the most part exhibit
quite a bit of fading -- especially during outdoor
sequences. Matte shots do not appear integrated
but rather look very artificial and one
dimensional. Whites are generally more yellowish
than white. Blacks are deeper gray than black.
Fine details are rarely present. The audio is
mono. Extras include documentaries, audio
commentaries, promotional junket materials and the
film's theatrical trailer. |
