When both Russian and American spaceships start disappearing, each country suspects the other is responsible, bringing the planet to the brink of WWIII--exactly what SPECTRE agent Ernst Blofeld (Donald Pleasence), the architect of this international crisis, had in mind. Connery is sent to Japan to investigate. Hoping to give himself a little breathing room, he fakes his own death before exploring the volcano that houses Blofeld's own extraordinary spacecraft.

Limited by a Bond formula that demanded, among other things, that 007 be involved with at least three women, screenwriter Roald Dahl produced a contrived scenario that prevents YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE from ever really taking off. The film was also hampered by the last-minute casting of Pleasence to replace Jan Werich. Pleasence experimented with a variety of disfigurements and disabilities--finally settling on a facial scar--but nothing made him look quite sinister enough. Despite its obvious shortcomings and $10 million budget (staggering by mid-1960s standards), YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE was a tremendous commercial success. Nancy Sinatra sings the wistful title song, and the action scenes are enhanced by some of composer John Barry's best work for the Bond series. leave a comment

Sean Connery: James Bond

Akiko Wakabayashi: Aki

Charlie Abrahams: Ernst Stavro Blofeld

Tetsuro Tamba: Tiger Tanaka

Teru Shimada: Osato

Karin Dor: Helga Brandt

Lois Maxwell: Miss Moneypenny

Desmond Llewelyn: "Q"

Charles Gray: Henderson

Bernard Lee: "M"

Alexander Knox: American President

Robert Hutton: President's Aide

Burt Kwouk: SPECTRE No. 3

Diane Cilento: Double

Lewis Gilbert: Director

Harold Jack Bloom: Writer - based on the novel by Ian Fleming

Albert R. Broccoli: Producer

Harry Saltzman: Producer

Peter Hunt: Editor

John Barry: Musical Composer

Ken Adam: Production Designer

Harry Pottle: Art Director

David Ffolkes: Set Decorator

Eileen Sullivan: Costumes

John Stears: Special Effects

Paul Rabiger: Make Up

Basil Newall: Make Up