UPDATE (23.04.21): For those interested, I've recorded a podcast with further discussion of Bond and OHMSS.
While online forum clever-than-thous are busy, yet again, trying to convince everyone that Die Hard is a Christmas movie rather than just a movie which happens to take place during Christmas, Bond fans have long rested merrily on the knowledge that the finest and most under-appreciated seasonal actioner of all rests within their favoured canon: On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969).
It's worth acknowledging, however, that while OHMSS is a great Christmas movie, the best Bond movie to watch at Christmas is undoubtedly Octopussy, a perfect post-lunch confection big on stunts, scenery and silliness, where any ten minutes are sufficiently entertaining in their own right that you can drift off for half-an-hour of turkey-induced slumber only to reawaken and slot right back into the fun, barely encumbered by a plot which, let's be honest, nobody has ever paid the slightest bit of attention to anyway. That many wrongly think it's one of the worst Bonds due to the title alone makes it even more of a pleasant surprise. Nevertheless, while Octopussy fits the circumstances, it's On Her Majesty's which captures the spirit and themes of the yuletide season.
Those with a passing knowledge of the Bond movie canon will know that On Her Majesty's is unique within the series for a number of reasons. The most prominent of these is its star, George Lazenby, who only appeared once before departing under advice from his agent that Bond was passé and on the way out. Lazenby took over the role following the departure of Sean Connery, the first Bond, who was unhappy with what he perceived as being a low salary and the intrusive press attention that came with the role.
The new star marked not just a new face for the character, but a new direction. The Bond actors can be divided into two categories: those who played the Archetype Bond, and those who played the Character Bond. Connery was very much an Archetype Bond: if one were to identify a Platonic ideal of the James Bond figure, Connery's interpretation would be it. Tough but suave, beholden of a pointed and slightly cruel charisma, stylish but not dressy, sexually forward (sometimes a little too much by modern standards). Connery is Bond as an icon, but as a human being, his character was a void, absent any emotional depth or sense of a past.
Lazenby's Bond, on the other hand, represents the birth of the Character Bond. The archetypical elements remain, but this was the first interpretation to treat Bond as a person, with vulnerabilities and doubts and, heaven forfend, feelings. Lazenby's performance is often derided as wooden, which is true of some of his stiffer line readings, but unfair in the context of him being an inexperienced actor tasked with redefining who Bond is and succeeding admirably. Just as Connery's working class roots serrated Bond's smooth lines into something rougher and more relatable, Lazenby's Australian nationality removed some of the British reserve and opened up Bond's expressive range. He remains composed and calm under pressure, just on a wider emotional spectrum, immediately apparent from the jollity with which he delivers his first line and famous introduction.
Beyond the fact the movie takes place during the Christmas period - Blofeld decorates a tree! - that humanity is where On Her Majesty's finds its seasonal spirit. Die Hard might take place at the right time of year, but has none of the right concerns: it's a great action movie and nothing more. On Her Majesty's, though, is not just a Christmas movie in its aesthetics, but its soul. It's a story about redemption, rebirth, salvation and sacrifice in the name of love. Just as Joseph and Mary made the long journey to a manger in Nazareth to give birth to the saviour of humanity, so too does Bond journey long and far on a mission which culminates in him hiding out from his enemies for the night in an old barn where salvation is born. In that barn, Bond proposes to Teresa, his future wife.
In this religious allegory, though, Bond is not the Jesus figure. Teresa is. As previously noted, the Bond of the Connery era lacked any trace of human depth, being defined entirely by the accoutrements of his role. He is, in other words, a fallen man afflicted with four wounds of being a killer, a womaniser, a drinker and a non-thinker, slave to his job and his nihilistic passions. The Bond of Majesty's is the figure of man redeemed through the love and sacrifice of his saviour. Though Bond and Teresa save each other at different points in the narrative - the movie begins with Bond rescuing Teresa from a suicide attempt and she later saves him from certain capture and death at the hands of pursuing villains - it is Teresa who ultimately dies on her wedding day at the order of Blofeld, the movie's equivalent of Pontius Pilate.
Her death forever redefined and humanised Bond, giving him crucial moments of humanity in future instalments which allowed the audience to bond (pun intended) with and understand him as a human being as well as an icon. In The Spy Who Loved Me, Russian agent Anya Amasova hits a nerve by invoking Teresa in a game of one-upsmanship with Bond; in For Your Eyes Only, the movie opens with Bond paying respects at Teresa's grave, with the producers intending the scene to be a bridge between changing Bond actors (as it happened, Roger Moore remained in the role). Most powerfully, in Licence To Kill, Teresa's death provides essential character context in Bond's quest for vengeance.
Though On Her Majesty's grossed significantly less at the box office than its predecessor, the movie has grown in stature to be considered not only one of the most highly regarded and important entries in the series, but a favourite of such filmmakers as Christopher Nolan. Although unappreciated in its time, it was also the first sign of the Bond series' ability to adapt to changing times. Lazenby's agent may not have been quite as ridiculous as he first seems when he suggested Bond, the stiff and suited government agent, would not last in a social landscape leaving behind the formality of the post-war era and entering a decade of creativity, experimentation and liberation. The problem is, he was thinking of Connery's Bond: without the humanity which Lazenby brought to the role, the Bond series may well have remained stuck in its archetypical form and petered out over time as Lazenby's agent predicted.
Returning to the movie's seasonal credentials, the themes of On Her Majesty's align perfectly with those associated with Christmas. It is a story about a divided family coming together, with Bond forming a close relationship with Teresa's father, the mob boss Marc-Ange Draco, whom he wins over to the side of the angels and helps form a better understanding and closer relationship with his daughter. It is a story of helping others, as per Bond's mission to prevent a Scrooge-like Blofeld, motivated by selfish ego, from destroying the world's agricultural fertility. Just as the Christmas holidays represent a few days every year when loved ones unite, so too is On Her Majesty's a story of two lost souls coming together and finding happiness for a brief, but redeeming, period of time.
Like all good Christmas movies, it is sad, because Christmas cannot last. It is also hopeful, because through that ephemeral moment in the middle of winter, we, like Bond, return to our old lives renewed and improved. James Bond might not be the first man who springs to mind when thinking of Yuletide, but thanks to his own miracle in the form of Teresa, he truly is a man for all seasons. Merry Christmas, everyone!
(And yes, Teresa calls herself Tracy, but her penchant for a Croydon facelift aside, she's closer in spirit and role to the namechecked Saint than Tracy's Essex girl associations, so I'm sticking with the more poetic alternative.)
