Japan. James Bond 007 Sir Sean Connery fakes his own death in Hong Kong, China, "buried at sea" to give him cover from his enemies, following this he is sent to Tokyo, Japan. Bond is met by agent Aki Akiko Wakabayashi , assistant to the Japanese secret service leader Tiger Tanaka Tetsuro Tamba , who takes him to local MI6 operative Dikko Henderson Charles Gray , who has critical information about the rogue craft. Henderson is killed before going into detail, Bond kills his assailant and disguises himself to gain access to Osato Chemicals, after subduing the getaway car driver he breaks the office safe and steals documents, Aki helps him escape the security. Stopping at an abandoned subway station Bond chases Aki, but falls down a trap door into the office of Tanaka. Examining the documents they find a photograph of a cargo ship, and a microdot message about the tourist who took the photograph being killed as a security precaution, masquerading as a buyer Bond meets Mr. Osato Teru Shimada himself, for any information he can gather. Leaving the office Tanaka helps foil an attack on Bond and Aki from assassins sent by Osato's secretary Helga Brandt, aka agent "Number 11" Karin Dor , Bond and Aki investigate the dock facilities, finding the cargo ship, Ning-Po, was delivering elements for rocket fuel. After seducing and escaping an assassination attempt by Brandt, Bond investigates the area where the Ning-Po was unloaded, in heavily armed autogyro "Little Nellie", near a volcano Bond is attacked by four helicopters, but he defeats them. Meanwhile the Soviet spacecraft is captured in orbit by the unidentified spacecraft, heightening tensions between the U.S. and Russia, the spacecraft lands in an extensive base hidden inside a volcano, the mastermind behind the scheme is SPECTRE Special Executive for Counter- intelligence, Terrorism, Revenge and Extortion , headed by "Number 1", Ernst Stavro Blofeld Donald Pleasence , Brandt is killed by piranhas for failing to kill Bond, Blofeld demands Osato to kill him. Bond is trained with Tanaka's ninjas and disguised to become Oriental, during the night Aki is poisoned in an assassination attempt on Bond, a fake marriage then goes ahead with Bond and Tanaka's student Kissy Suzuki Mie Hama her name is never said . With a lead Bond and Kissy investigate a cave and the volcano above it, the discover the disguised hatch leading to the secret rocket base, while Kissy goes to alert Tanaka, Bond slips in. Bond locates and frees the captured astronauts, and with a spacesuit attempts to infiltrate the spacecraft, "Bird One", but Blofeld spots him and he is taken to the leader, the reserve astronaut is sent to pilot. While Blofeld reveals himself to Bond, and Tanaka, Kissy and an army of ninjas surround the base, Bird One closes in on the American spacecraft in orbit, Bond manages to open the hatch and let in the ninjas. As battle ensues Bond escapes Blofeld and his henchmen, gaining access to the control room he activates the rocket's self- destruct before it reaches the American craft, American forces stand down, finally Blofeld activates the base's self- destruct system before escaping, the surviving ninjas, Tanaka, Kissy and Bond escape as the base and volcano explodes. Also starring Bernard Lee as M, Lois Maxwell as Miss Moneypenny, Desmond Llewelyn as Q, Tsai Chin as Ling, Chinese Girl in Hong Kong, Alexander Knox as American President and Burt Kwouk as Spectre 3. Connery desired to quit the franchise, but he still delivers a good performance as the cool and suave super spy, the supporting cast are all good, especially Pleasence who stays hidden behind the white Persian cat until the final half and with his scarred eye is suitably sinister, the action sequences are all exciting, especially the Little Nellie sequence, and there are great things to see, a brilliant spy adventure. It was nominated the BAFTA for Best British Art Direction. James Bond was number 3 on 100 Years, 100 Heroes & Villains, he was number 21 on The 100 Greatest Sex Symbols, and he was number 21 on The 100 Greatest Pop Culture Icons, Sir Sean Connery was number 8 on The 100 Greatest Movie Stars, and he was number 3 on The 50 Greatest British Actors, the film was number 7 on James Bond's Greatest Hits for the title song by Nancy Sinatra Frank's daughter , and it was number 90 on The Ultimate Film. Outstanding!

like each Bond plot is - but Bond fans do not look at Bond movies with artistic attitude but fun-attitude. Readers, please do not be offended - I am genuine Bond fan and I know what am i talking about. Bond movies have they own criteria that cannot be applied on any other kind of movies, ie any movie except 007 serial. Also, YOLT has interesting reference to space race of 60', Japanese economic and technological boom and to menace of aggressive policy of China of that time. Not to mention self-irony to British rule in world affairs. Low-rating of YOLT should be reconsidered.

You Only Live Twice, in wich an amnesiac Bond Hunts down Blofeld in Japanese castles, Broccoli and Saltzman have ridden themselves of the same problem evident in Thunderball : Slow Movement, Uninterested Audiences. Thunderball may have been a success, but this was probably due to the Bondmania wich raged through the mid sixties like a giant inferno. Luckily for the fans of the eye popping spectacles the Bond series is famous for, You Only Live Twice contains no such problems of dreary moments of boardom. In its place we have a Space Age actioneer written by childrens author Roald Dahl, and an entertaining and swift director in Lewis Gilbert, who seems more suited to Bond than any director yet.It has been said before, but the real star of the show is Ken Adams sets. His wondefull Volcano set wich Blofeld uses is one of the most memorable in Cinema history. Add to this the Japanese sets, the Submarines [M's Offices], Tanaka's Lair, and the real sense of Japanese authenticy. Adam deserves an Oscar for this movie alone. For his total contributions to Bond and other movies, there is no Award yet created.Donald Pleasence makes a very creepy Blofeld. He is perhaps the ultimate Blofeld. His scenes with the other cast members show the complete acting skills of a fine actor. Twice also contains one of Desmonde Lywellyn's funniest performances as Q,and one of Q's finest creations, the Little Nellie Helicopter. Little Nellie is every Bond fans dreams, personally i think it would be lovely to soar above rural England in Nellie, let alone Japan! Some guys have all the luck! Twice also has one of John Barry's most beautiful themes,and songs sung by Nancie Sinatra.The only real let down this time is Sean Connery. He makes any Bond film look good, but this time doesn't look as though he is enjoying himself all that much. This is a petty bacause Twice itself is a very impressive and enjoyable Bond movie, with some of the best sets, Action sequences and Acting in the entire series.

happy to see that the support cast regulars were all back Desmond Llewelyn, Lois Maxwell, and Bernard Lee . The rest of the supporting cast was good as well. I was quite surprised to see Donald Pleasence in the film as the antagonist. Donald did a fine job with his role, although I'm not sure if I was very fond of his voice...not sinister enough, but I can deal with it.The story was quite interesting and pretty well thought out. I always liked the idea of a third-party attempting to make two super-powers fight each other thinking that each other is responsible for what the third-party did. There are of course a few things throughout the film that I didn't like, but I won't get into them because I don't want to give away anything to those of you that haven't seen the film .When reviewing a Bond film, I feel it's required to talk about the cool gadgets used in the film. The gadgets in this film are pretty cool, although there aren't a whole lot of them.Another requirement of reviewing Bond films is the women of the film. The women in this film were nice, but nothing spectacular.All in all, I thought this was an excellent fifth installment to the Bond series, and hopefully the later installments can live up to the quality of the first 5 read my reviews and find out...if I've written them by the time you read this . If you liked any of the previous Bond films, or just like the Bond films in general, I would definitely recommend checking this one out. I hope that you enjoy the film. Thanks for reading.-Chris

training camp, the cool aerial battle between 007 in his silly little yellow toy-airplane versus various heavily armed black helicopters, the pet piranhas, and – most of all – the portrayal of the ultimate evil mastermind Ernst Stavro Blofeld by the inimitable Donald Pleasance. Now, 25 years and yet another 8 new Bond installments later, I can still shamelessly admit that "You Only Live Twice" still stands as my personal favorite Bond movie and – even though Sir Sean Connery will probably disagree with me – it's undeniably the most entertaining one of the entire series. Through the eyes and ears of an adult viewer I can add more good reasons to love this movie, actually, like for example it features on of the top three greatest theme songs courtesy of Nancy Sinatra and an action-packed screenplay penned down by another one of my childhood heroes, namely Roald Dahl. The plot of "You Only Live Twice" is easily summarized… Criminal organization S.P.E.C.T.R.E, led by the scar-faced and cat-loving psychopath Blofeld, is well on track to evoke a third World War by alternately abducting a US and then a Soviet space capsule from within a secret base camp on a Japanese volcanic island, and then counting on the fact that these two stubborn world powers will blame each other. Luckily the intelligent British government suspects there's more going on, and so they send their best agent to the Far East. In order to fulfill his delicate mission, 007 first has to fake his own death and then literally must become a Japanese warrior. "You only live Twice" is another fast- paced and spectacular Bond-adventure with beautiful exotic filming locations, lots of pleasant hi-tech gadgetry cigarette gunfire, anyone? and plenty of action. The Bond girls in this one are all Oriental, evidently, so whether Akiko Wakabayashi and Mie Hama rank amongst the most beautiful 007 bed partners or not entirely depends on your own personal taste. My major complaint now is that I remember Pleasance's role in the film to be bigger… When I was 12- years-old Donald Pleasance must have made such an everlasting impression on me that he forever remains the embodiment of James Bond villains…

really start thinking about it but that is all part of the charm of this entertaining movie. It's a very imaginative movie that has some unforgettable sequences in it, that are both thrilling as well as spectacular.The movie is mostly set in the culturally rich Japan. It works as a perfect backdrop for the movie and the strange unusual culture helps to make the movie an imaginative filled one. Also sequences like with 'Little Nellie' and the end fight set in the hollowed-out volcano add to the adventurous and imaginative feeling of the movie.Ken Adam is also one of the reasons why everything in the movie works so well. As a production designer he made the right backdrops for the story and made several elements of the movie work out surprising well, such as mainly all of the sequences in the hollowed-out volcano.Also the musical score by John Barry and the cinematography by Freddie Young are worth mentioning.Sean Connery is good and fun as always as James Bond and he still showed good form in this movie. This time Ernst Stavro Blofeld was played by legendary actor Donald Pleasence. He takes the movie to an even higher level. He plays the best Blofeld out of the long series of Bond movies, along with Telly Savalas who played the villainous character in "On Her Majesty's Secret Service".This is a fantastic fast paced, action filled movie, that has some spectacular and unforgettable sequences in it, especially toward the ending. One of my personal favorite Bond movies, of which I never grow tired of watching it.8/10http://bobafett1138.blogspot.com/

nuclear war ! Can anyone see what a ridiculous idea this is ? There is some historical context to this since Mao thought because of the large population of China if there was a third world war his country would come up trumps and if I remember correctly he stated in the mid 1960s that " Even if we lose 300 million of our citizens China would still survive " which just goes to show that he wasn't perhaps the cleverest of people . It's insinuated heavily without being spelt out that China is paying Spectre to cause the war but what is Blofeld getting out of this apart from 100 million dollars in gold bullion ? At least in THE SPY WHO LOVED ME you can understand why the villain would want to see a nuclear holocaust but Blofeld seems entirely ignorant that you wouldn't be able to trade or spend anything after world war three .There's also a few other little irritants . Much of the movie is beautifully paced but Bond's burial at sea is again illogical and holds up the story . I mean why don't the Royal Navy just dump a weighted down dummy into the sea and come to think of it doesn't the " Bond is dead " charade just seem entirely stupid in the first place ? How if Bond was alive the Hong Kong police say he was dead ? Were they part of the conspiracy ? For an intricate plot it seems to involve a ridiculous number of people for it to work effectively . Same as the Bond pretends to be a Japanese fisherman subplot . Couldn't the Japanese secret service just land him on the island via boat instead of putting him in a ninja training camp ? There's also something else that is totally unexplained : Bond rescues two Soviet cosmonauts and an American astronaut then one of these characters disappears from the narrative when Bond and the two others knock out the Spectre spacemen then these two characters likewise disappear from the story . It might sound anal of me but I was very annoyed that I never found out what happened to the three space kidnap victims Despite these flaws YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE is a tremendously entertaining movie . As I said from one or two unnecessary elements This would become a serious problem in the latter movies it's beautifully paced and contains some great set pieces with special mention going to the chase scene on top of a warehouse and this is the movie where we finally get to see the face of Blofeld . Again I notice that some people aren't all that impressed with Donald Pleasence's performance but I think it's an excellent portrayal of a megalomaniac , he's aloof and attached , almost Hitlerite and compare it to the campy style other actors have played him in Perhaps not as good as DOCTOR NO or GOLDFINGER but this Bond film is much better than most other in the franchise

extremely comic-book-like tone thanks largely to Roald Dahl's industriously well-guided screenplay that plays its cards close to the chest with its characters, atmospherics and set-pieces that for me would make it one of the most creative and exciting inclusions to the series.Bond heads to Japan racing to uncover the true mastermind behind the space-jacking that could see another world war, as British sources believe that the mysterious rocket ship which has seized American and Russian space shuttles originates from there, but those countries believe otherwise than each other for the acts.Couple of things which made it more the memorable would be that it's the first chance we get to see arch villain SPECTRE Agent #1 Ernst Blofeld's face, than just the hand stroking the cat… although the first hour we get enough of that. It's a devilishly meaty Donald Pleasence who just seemed the part of Blofeld. Now who didn't love the hidden lair that was in an inactive volcano, and of course Blofeld's pool of pet piranhas. The inventive gadget novelty was really making a mark, just look the deadly mini-copter named 'Nelly' and the dangerous effects of smoking around others. Strangely enough the witty script seemed to spit out a few self-knowing quips involving cigarettes, which became rather odd. Director Lewis Gilbert who would go on to control the very similar in story-structure "The Spy Who Loved Me" and then following that the plain goofy "Moonraker" does a tersely capable job with a fast moving pace that shifted from one well organized set-piece to another like the chase on-top of a rooftop in a fishing docks that's masterfully captured by cinematographer Freddie Young to finally finish on a barnstorming climax with none other than ninjas and then a familiarly fitting final frame. Sean Connery might look a little tired a bit funny trying to make himself look like Japanese under make-up , but remains just as charismatic and fittingly lean when it came to getting down and dirty Bond and his tussle with Blofeld's massive henchman Hans comes to mind . The bond girls shape up nicely in the form of Akiko Wakabayashi, Mie Hama and the stunning German redhead Karin Dor. Tetsurô Tanba was good as Bond's Japanese counterpart. Bernard Lee, Lois Maxwell and Desmond Llewelyn treat us to their iconic roles. John Barry's classy music score has a smoothly oriental touch, which can get actively copious when called for and theme song "You Only Live Twice" is enticingly sung by Nancy Sinatra.