You Only Live Twice [Blu-ray]

Director: Lewis Gilbert, Gilbert Lewis Lewis Gilbert

Overview

James Bond heads East to save the world (and to learn how to serve saki properly) in You Only Live Twice. When an American spacecraft disappears during a mission, it's widely believed to have been intercepted by the Soviet Union, and after a Soviet space capsule similarly goes missing, most consider it to be an act of American retaliation. Soon the two nations are at the brink of war, but British intelligence discovers that some sort of UFO has crashed into the Sea of Japan. Agent 007, James Bond (Sean Connery) is sent in to investigate. After staging his own death to avoid being followed, Bond, disguised as a Japanese civilian, teams up with agent Tiger Tanaka (Tetsuro Tamba) and his beautiful associate Aki (Akiko Wakabayashi). With their help, Bond learns that both the American and Russian space missions were actually scuttled by supercriminal Ernst Blofeld (Donald Pleasance) in yet another bid by his evil empire SPECTRE to take over the world. As he battles the bad guys, Bond finds time to romance both Kissy Suziki (Mie Hama) and Helga Brandt (Karin Dor). You Only Live Twice was one of Sean Connery's last outings as James Bond. The next Bond film, On Her Majesty's Secret Service, would star George Lazenby as 007, and while Connery would return for Diamonds Are Forever, in 1973, Roger Moore took over the role. (Connery would play Bond one last time, in 1983's Never Say Never Again, which was produced outside the official series.)

Product Details

Release Date:	09/15/2015
UPC:	0883904334118
Original Release:	1967
Rating:	PG
Source:	Mgm (Video & Dvd)
Language:	English
Sales rank:	17,282

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Sean Connery	James Bond
Donald Pleasence	Ernst Stavro Blofeld
Tetsuro Tamba	Tiger Tanaka
Mie Hama	Kissy Suzuki
Akiko Wakabayashi	Aki
Teru Shimada	Mr. Osato
Karin Dor	Helga Brandt
Bernard Lee	M
Lois Maxwell	Miss Moneypenny
Desmond Llewelyn	Q
Alexander Knox	American President
Tsai Chin	Chinese Girl
Robert Hutton	President's Aide
Burt Kwouk	Spectre 3
Michael Chow	SPECTRE No. 4
Diane Cilento	Double
Ronald Richter	Actor
Peter Maivia	Actor
Tetsurô Tanba	Tiger Tanaka
Jeanne Roland	Bond's Masseuse
David Toguri	Assassin in Bedroom
Norman Jones	Astronaut - 1st American Spacecraft
Paul Carson	Astronaut - 1st American Spacecraft
Laurence Herder	Astronaut - Russian Spacecraft
Richard Graydon	Astronaut - Russian Spacecraft
George Roubicek	Astronaut - 2nd American Spacecraft
John Stone	Submarine Captain
Anthony Ainley	Hong Kong Policeman #2
Vic Armstrong	Ninja #1
Robin Bailey	Foreign Secretary
George Baker	NASA Engineer
David Bauer	American Diplomat
Robert Rietty	Voices
Frazer Hines	Mr. Osato's Secretary
Bill Nagy	Actor
George Murcell	Actor
William Sylvester	Actor
Shane Rimmer	Actor
Roald Dahl	Actor
Charles Gray	Henderson
Bill Mitchell	Astronaut - 2nd American Spacecraft
John Barry	Composer

Technical Credits

Roald Dahl

Harold Jack Bloom

Ian Fleming

Lewis Gilbert	Director
Roald Dahl	Screenwriter
Albert R. Broccoli	Producer
Harry Saltzman	Producer
John Stears	Special Effects
Harold Jack Bloom	Screenwriter
Ian Fleming	Screenwriter
Cliff Culley	Special Effects
Gordon K. McCallum	Sound Effects
Harry Miller	Sound Effects
John W. Mitchell	Sound Effects
Norman Wanstall	Sound Effects
Ron Butcher	Sound Effects
Stanley Sopel	Producer
Mick Dillon	Stunts
Gilbert Lewis	Director

Editorial Reviews

The fifth of Sean Connery's James Bond films, You Only Live Twice is another entertaining winner that rides the coattails of the Scot's charming screen presence. On this outing, Connery plays the super-spy with more poise and humor than menace, perhaps a symptom of Connery's growing dissatisfaction with the role. The film itself is different in tone from the earlier entries: as directed by Lewis Gilbert, it's grander and more elaborate than any Bond film before it, as evidenced by the climactic fight scene in a dormant volcano, of all places. In this respect, You Only Live Twice marks a shift away from the earnest espionage thrills of the earlier Bond films toward the over-the-top camp phenomenon quality of the later efforts. As with any high-quality Bond movie, You Only Live Twice features a memorably sinister villain: in this case, Donald Pleasance's Blofeld, inaugurating the trademark white cat-petting bad guy.

All Movie Guide