Film no. 5 · 1967 · Connery era

You Only Live Twice

Sean Connery IS James Bond – and his death in Hong Kong is only the beginning.

TMDB rating: 6.6 / 10 · View on TMDB

Plot

An American space capsule is swallowed in Earth orbit by an unknown spacecraft, and Washington blames Moscow. British intelligence, however, believes the intruder was launched from Japan. So that James Bond can investigate unnoticed, his death is staged in Hong Kong: after an apparent shooting he is buried at sea from a warship in Victoria Harbour, retrieved by divers and taken aboard a submarine, where M hands him the new assignment.

In Tokyo Bond meets his contact Henderson, who is stabbed before he can pass on his first lead. With the help of agent Aki and the head of the Japanese secret service, Tiger Tanaka, the trail leads to the Osato Chemicals corporation, whose freighter Ning-Po takes on suspicious cargo in Kobe. Bond falls into the hands of SPECTRE agent Helga Brandt, escapes from a crashing plane and scouts the volcanic islands in the autogyro 'Little Nellie', where he has to hold his own against four armed helicopters.

Because the enemy is expecting him, Bond trains at Tanaka's ninja school, is disguised as a Japanese fisherman and enters a sham marriage with the diver Kissy Suzuki. Aki dies in an attack meant for him. From Kissy's village the two discover that a supposedly extinct volcano hides SPECTRE's rocket base. There Ernst Stavro Blofeld plans to capture the next Soviet capsule with his spacecraft 'Bird One' and so trigger a war between the superpowers. Bond enters the crater, Tanaka's ninjas storm the base, and at the last second Bond destroys the spacecraft before Blofeld blows up his lair and escapes.

Facts

James Bond: Sean Connery
Director: Lewis Gilbert
Screenplay: Roald Dahl and Harold Jack Bloom
Producers: Harry Saltzman and Albert R. Broccoli
Music: John Barry
Title song: „You Only Live Twice“Nancy Sinatra
Based on: Ian Fleming: „You Only Live Twice“1964
Running time: 117 minutes
Budget: $9.5 million
Box office: $112 millionworldwide, initial release (Wikipedia en); Box Office Mojo lists only the $43.1M North American gross
Release: UK: 12 June 1967US: 13 June 1967Germany: 14 September 1967

Travel route and filming locations

Gold numbers trace Bond's journey through the story, light markers show the real filming locations. Each layer can be hidden separately.

Bond's route · 13 stops

Total distance (great-circle)≈ 8,915 km

Pre-title sequence: the US capsule Jupiter 16 is swallowed by SPECTRE's 'Bird One'; an astronaut is cast adrift in space.
Earth orbit above the Pacific → Hong Kong, Ling's apartment · ≈ 3,659 km
Bond is apparently gunned down in agent Ling's bed – a staged death.
Hong Kong, Ling's apartment → Hong Kong, Victoria Harbour · ≈ 4 km
Burial at sea from HMS Tenby; divers recover the coffin. Aboard a submarine M orders Bond to investigate in Japan.
Hong Kong, Victoria Harbour → Tokyo, Kuramae Kokugikan sumo hall · ≈ 2,889 km
Bond meets agent Aki at the sumo bout and is taken to his contact Henderson, who is stabbed before his eyes.
Tokyo, Kuramae Kokugikan sumo hall → Tokyo, Osato building · ≈ 5 km
Bond cracks the Osato Chemicals safe at night and escapes with Aki through a subway station into Tiger Tanaka's underground headquarters.
Tokyo, Osato building → Tokyo, Osato Chemicals (as Mr Fisher) · ≈ 0 km
Posing as a businessman, Bond meets Osato and Helga Brandt; the ensuing car chase ends with a helicopter magnet dropping the pursuers into the sea.
Tokyo, Osato Chemicals (as Mr Fisher) → Kobe docks · ≈ 425 km
Bond and Aki track down the freighter Ning-Po. After a brawl across the warehouse roofs Bond is captured and abandoned by Helga Brandt in a plane he bails out of just before it crashes.
Kobe docks → Kagoshima, Tanaka's house · ≈ 552 km
Bond is pampered by bathing attendants at Tanaka's estate; Q delivers the autogyro Little Nellie in four suitcases.
Kagoshima, Tanaka's house → Kirishima volcanic region (aerial reconnaissance) · ≈ 54 km
Bond flies Little Nellie over the volcanoes, finds nothing and is attacked by four SPECTRE helicopters, all of which he shoots down.
Kirishima volcanic region (aerial reconnaissance) → Tanaka's ninja school · ≈ 476 km
Bond trains as a ninja and is made to look Japanese; an assassin accidentally poisons Aki instead of Bond. The fictional school was filmed at Himeji Castle.
Tanaka's ninja school → Shrine at Nachi Falls · ≈ 170 km
Sham wedding to the ama diver Kissy Suzuki, who takes Bond to her village as her husband.
Shrine at Nachi Falls → Ama fishing village (Akime) · ≈ 592 km
Kissy's home village. Bond and Kissy dive into a cave filled with poison gas and climb the supposedly extinct volcano, whose crater lake turns out to be a steel disguise.
Ama fishing village (Akime) → SPECTRE volcano base · ≈ 89 km
Fictional rocket base inside the crater. Bond gets in, Tanaka's ninjas storm the complex, Bond blows up Bird One in flight and Blofeld destroys the base. Bond and Kissy are picked up at sea by the submarine.

Filming locations · 19

doubles for SPECTRE volcano base (Japan)
Ken Adam's volcano set on the backlot, all interiors (submarine, Tanaka's HQ, Osato's office, control room), finale
Exteriors for Ling's apartment and the police after Bond's staged death
doubles for Victoria Harbour, Hong Kong (Hong Kong)
Burial at sea aboard the frigate HMS Tenby
doubles for Victoria Harbour, Hong Kong (Hong Kong)
Underwater shots: divers recover Bond's coffin
Bond's arrival in Tokyo, street footage, Tanaka's men tailing Bond
Sumo bout and first meeting with Aki; the hall was demolished in 1984
doubles for Osato building, Tokyo (Japan)
Exterior and garden of the hotel as the headquarters of Osato Chemicals
Ride on Tanaka's private train and access to his underground headquarters
The Ning-Po at the quay, fight across the warehouse roofs, Bond's capture
doubles for Airfield near Kobe (Japan)
Take-off and crash of Helga Brandt's plane (movie-locations.com cites Scotland instead)
doubles for Tanaka's house (Japan)
Former samurai villa (now an inn) as Tanaka's residence, including the bath scene
doubles for Q's workshop (Japan)
Q's open-air workshop, assembly of Little Nellie
Little Nellie's dogfight with the SPECTRE helicopters over the Kirishima range; site of cameraman John Jordan's accident
doubles for Kirishima volcanic region (Japan)
Rocket and explosion shots of the dogfight, completed in December 1966
doubles for SPECTRE volcano base (Japan)
Exteriors of the volcano, the climb to the crater, aerial shots of Bird One landing
doubles for Tanaka's ninja school (Japan)
Ninja training in the castle grounds, Bond's transformation, Aki's death
Shinto wedding of Bond and Kissy
Ama fishing village, Kissy's house, rowing out to the cave
doubles for Secret radar station in northern Norway (Norway)
Norwegian air force radar station as the listening post tracking the launches

Characters and cast

Bond

James BondSean ConneryGerman voice: Gert Günther Hoffmann

Bond girls

Villains

Henchmen

Allies

MI6

Others

Vehicles & Gadgets

Vehicles

Open-top Toyota 2000GT – built specially for the filmPhoto: Brian Snelson · CC BY 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons
Toyota 2000GT
Car1967
Open-top one-off built for the film because Connery did not fit into the coupé; only two were made
For the chase through Tokyo and the drive out to Osato's plant, Toyota built two open 2000GTs in just two weeks in 1966 because Sean Connery, at 6 ft 2 in, did not fit under the coupé's low roof; instead of a folding hood there was only a tonneau cover, and the body was lowered by 25 mm for the camera. Aki drives the white car, whose glovebox hides the video link to Tanaka. One of the two cars resurfaced in Hawaii after a promotional tour of the United States, was bought back by Toyota and now stands restored in the Toyota Automobile Museum near Nagoya; the second is considered lost.
Driven by
Aki
Specs
2.0 L DOHC straight-six, 150 PS, 135 mph
Sources: Toyota Automobile Museum: Toyota 2000GT · Wikipedia (en): Toyota 2000GT · IMCDb: 1967 Toyota 2000GT Convertible [MF10] · Bond Lifestyle: Designing 007 in Melbourne
The real thing: Ken Wallis's WA-116 G-ARZB alias Little Nellie, seen on loan at the Shuttleworth Collection, Old WardenPhoto: kitmasterbloke · CC BY 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons
Wallis WA-116 Agile „Little Nellie“
Aircraft
Designer Ken Wallis flew it himself as Connery's double
Q delivers the autogyro to Japan in four suitcases; Bond uses it to scout the volcanic islands and is attacked by four SPECTRE helicopters. The original, registered G-ARZB, belonged to its designer Ken Wallis, who fitted John Stears' mock weaponry and did all the flying himself; a second, identically equipped machine (G-AVDH) served for close-ups. During the dogfight shoot in Japan cameraman Johnny Jordan lost a foot to a helicopter rotor, so the sequence was completed in Spain. Wallis kept Little Nellie until his death in 2013; since then it has been shown on loan, at "Bond in Motion" and the Shuttleworth Collection among others.
Driven by
James Bond
Specs
Wallis-McCulloch 4318A flat-four, 72 hp, 100 mph
Sources: Bond Lifestyle: Little Nellie Wallis WA-116 Agile · Wikipedia (en): Wallis WA-116 Agile · IMPDb: You Only Live Twice · MI6-HQ: Commander Ken Wallis (1916–2013) · Wikipedia (en): You Only Live Twice (film)
Kawasaki KV-107II – the production type behind the magnet helicopter, here a Self-Defense Force machine at the Gifu-Kakamigahara Air and Space MuseumPhoto: 先従隗始 · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons
Kawasaki-Vertol KV-107II
Aircraft
Tanaka's helicopter with a giant magnet that lifts the henchmen's pursuing car and drops it into the sea
When Osato's henchmen chase Bond and Aki in a Toyota Crown, Aki calls Tanaka's headquarters over the video link and the tandem-rotor helicopter registered JA9503 lifts the car off the quay with an electromagnet and drops it into the water. The machine is often attributed to SPECTRE, but in the film it belongs to the Japanese secret service. The KV-107 is the Boeing Vertol 107 built under licence by Kawasaki from 1965, flown by Japan's Self-Defense Forces and civil operators.
Driven by
Tiger Tanaka's men
Specs
Two GE CT58-110-1 turboshafts, 1,250 shp each, 168 mph
Sources: IMPDb: You Only Live Twice · Wikipedia (en): Boeing Vertol CH-46 Sea Knight (Kawasaki KV-107) · Airliners.net: Boeing Vertol (Kawasaki) KV 107
Kawasaki-Bell 47G – the production type of the SPECTRE helicopters, on display at Kanoya naval air base in KagoshimaPhoto: Hunini · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons
Kawasaki-Bell 47G-3
Aircraft
Four armed SPECTRE helicopters in the dogfight with Little Nellie
Four armed Bell 47s hunt Little Nellie over the volcanoes and are shot down one after another with machine guns, rockets, flamethrower and aerial mine. The helicopters came from Kawasaki's Japanese licence production. It was during the shoot in Japan that cameraman Johnny Jordan lost his foot, after which the combat scenes were re-shot in Spain. With its bubble canopy and lattice tail boom, the Bell 47 was the world's first helicopter certified for civil use, in 1946.
Driven by
SPECTRE pilots
Specs
Bell 47G-3B: turbocharged Lycoming TVO-435, 280 hp, 105 mph
Sources: IMPDb: You Only Live Twice · Wikipedia (en): Bell 47 · Wikipedia (en): You Only Live Twice (film)
Meyers 200 – the production type of Helga Brandt's aircraftPhoto: FlugKerl2 · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons
Meyers 200D
Aircraft
Helga Brandt's light aircraft, which Bond bails out of just before it crashes
Helga Brandt supposedly flies Bond to Tokyo, ties him up, ignites a flare in the cockpit and bails out by parachute; Bond frees himself and puts the burning aircraft down in a field just before it explodes. The plane carries the fictional Osato Chemicals registration OS-7429. The Meyers 200 was a four-seat all-metal low-wing tourer from Michigan of which only around 120 were built, including later production by Aero Commander; IMPDb identifies the film aircraft as a 200D.
Driven by
Helga Brandt
Specs
Continental IO-520-A flat-six, 285 hp, 215 mph
Sources: IMPDb: You Only Live Twice · Wikipedia (en): Meyers 200
The real ship: HMS Tenby off Dartmouth in 1972 – Bond is 'buried at sea' from this frigatePhoto: HantsAV · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons
Royal Navy HMS Tenby (F65)
Boat1957
Frigate from which Bond is 'buried at sea' in Victoria Harbour
After the staged assassination in Hong Kong, Bond is sewn into sailcloth and lowered from the frigate into the water; divers carry him to the submarine where M and Moneypenny are waiting. The scene was shot not in Hong Kong but off Gibraltar, where Tenby was stationed at the time. The Whitby-class frigate was launched in 1955, commissioned in 1957, served latterly with the Dartmouth Training Squadron and was sold for scrap in 1977.
Specs
Two steam turbines, 30,000 shp, 29 knots (33 mph)
Sources: Wikipedia (en): HMS Tenby (F65) · Wikipedia (en): You Only Live Twice (film)
Osato Chemicals Ning-Po
Boat
Freighter loading liquid oxygen for the rocket base in Kobe
The Osato Chemicals freighter takes on liquid oxygen in Kobe, supposedly for the food industry but in fact as rocket propellant for the base inside the volcano. Bond and Aki follow it to the docks, where the brawl across the warehouse roofs breaks out; Bond is carried aboard and meets Helga Brandt again. The Ning-Po's route later leads him to the islands he scouts in Little Nellie. No real ship behind the Ning-Po is documented; the harbour scenes were filmed in Kobe.
Sources: Wikipedia (en): You Only Live Twice (film) · Wikipedia (de): James Bond 007 – Man lebt nur zweimal
SPECTRE Bird One
Other
Intruder spacecraft that swallows the superpowers' capsules
The intruder spacecraft launches from the crater of a supposedly extinct volcano, opens its nose in orbit and swallows first the American and then the Soviet capsule, crew and all, to set the superpowers against each other. Launch pad and control room stood in Ken Adam's volcano set on the Pinewood backlot, which cost around a million dollars and could be seen from three miles away. On the third flight Bond triggers the self-destruct from the control room before Bird One reaches the next American capsule.
Sources: Wikipedia (en): You Only Live Twice (film) · Wikipedia (de): James Bond 007 – Man lebt nur zweimal
Toyota Crown S40 – the production type of the henchmen's pursuit car, a black Crown Deluxe in the filmPhoto: Jeremy from Sydney, Australia · CC BY 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons
Toyota Crown Deluxe (S40)
Car1966
Black saloon of the pursuers, lifted by the helicopter's magnet and dropped into the sea
After the visit to Osato, his men tail the Toyota 2000GT in a black Crown saloon; the chase runs past Tokyo's Olympic Stadium to the quay, where Tanaka's helicopter grabs the car and its occupants with the magnet and drops them into the water. The second-generation Crown was Toyota's upmarket executive saloon, still sold in Japan under the Toyopet brand; IMCDb identifies the car as a 1966 Crown Deluxe MS41.
Driven by
Osato's henchmen
Specs
2.0 L straight-six (Toyota M), 105 PS, 96 mph
Sources: IMCDb: 1966 Toyopet Crown Deluxe [MS41] · Wikipedia (en): Toyota Crown (S40) · Carfolio: 1966 Toyopet Crown Deluxe 2000 · Wikipedia (en): You Only Live Twice (film)
Sud Aviation Alouette II – the production type of Osato's company helicopterPhoto: Kakoula10 · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons
Sud Aviation SE 313B Alouette II
Aircraft
Osato Chemicals' company helicopter, carrying the fictional registration OS-7241
Osato and Helga Brandt fly in the Alouette II to meet Bond, who is posing as Mr Fisher; later the helicopter takes Osato to Blofeld's volcano. The aircraft was in fact G-ASXE of British Executive Air Services, given the Osato registration OS-7241 for the film and today registered in the United States as N2052Y. From 1955 the Alouette II was the first production helicopter powered by a gas turbine.
Driven by
Osato's company pilot
Specs
Turbomeca Artouste IIC6 turboshaft, 400 hp for take-off, 115 mph
Sources: IMPDb: You Only Live Twice · Wikipedia (en): Aérospatiale Alouette II
Ama-Dorf Fischerboot
Boat
Wooden rowing boat in which Bond, disguised as a fisherman, and Kissy row out to the cave in the volcanic rock
As a newly married fisherman Bond is meant to blend into the village; with Kissy he rows one of the wooden boats out to the cave where a diver died and finds poisonous gas that points to Blofeld's installation inside the volcano. The two then climb the mountain and discover the disguised crater lake. The village scenes were shot in the fishing hamlet of Akime near Bōnotsu in Kagoshima Prefecture.
Driven by
Bond and Kissy
Sources: Wikipedia (en): You Only Live Twice (film) · Wikipedia (de): James Bond 007 – Man lebt nur zweimal

Gadgets

The real thing: Ken Wallis's WA-116 G-ARZB alias Little Nellie, seen on loan at the Shuttleworth Collection, Old WardenPhoto: kitmasterbloke · CC BY 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons
'Little Nellie'
An autogyro delivered in four suitcases, armed with two machine guns, rocket launchers, aerial mines, flamethrowers and smoke dispensers; the weapons were mock-ups by John Stears, and the real aircraft was flown by its designer Ken Wallis.
Sources: Bond Lifestyle: Little Nellie Wallis WA-116 Agile · Wikipedia (en): Wallis WA-116 Agile
Safe-cracking device
A compact device Bond attaches to the safe in Osato's office; it works out the combination on its own, with lights indicating each correct number.
Sources: Wikipedia (de): James Bond 007 – Man lebt nur zweimal
Rocket cigarette
A cigarette from Tanaka's ninja arsenal that fires a lethal dart over about 30 metres; it buys Bond the crucial moment in the control room.
Sources: Wikipedia (de): James Bond 007 – Man lebt nur zweimal
X-ray desk
Osato's desk X-rays visitors and reveals the Walther PPK Bond carries under his jacket.
Video link in the Toyota
Aki's Toyota 2000GT carries a closed-circuit TV link to Tanaka's headquarters in the glove compartment, complete with a recording camera.
Sources: Wikipedia (de): James Bond 007 – Man lebt nur zweimal
Gyrojet carbine (top) and rifle at the National Firearms Museum – the rocket guns of Tanaka's ninjasPhoto: Amendola90 · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons
Gyrojet rocket rifle
Tanaka's ninjas storm the volcano with Gyrojet carbines made by MB Associates of California, which fire small rocket projectiles instead of cartridges. The weapon really existed but remained a curiosity with fewer than 2,000 built; an experimental twelve-barrel version was planned for the film but never used.
Sources: Wikipedia (en): Gyrojet

Production and trivia

On Her Majesty's Secret Service was meant to follow Thunderball, but location scouting problems led the producers to move You Only Live Twice forward instead.
Roald Dahl, a friend of Ian Fleming, wrote the screenplay and kept only the characters and the Japanese setting from the novel. It is the first Bond film to depart substantially from its source.
Shooting began at Pinewood on 4 July 1966 and moved to Japan at the end of July. German Wikipedia gives about 160 shooting days until December 1966, while the English article puts the end of filming in March 1967.
In Japan Sean Connery was hounded by reporters, one of whom even photographed him in the toilet. During the shoot he announced this would be his last Bond film – he only returned in 1971 for Diamonds Are Forever.
Czech actor Jan Werich was first cast as Blofeld. After a few days the producers found him too kindly; Donald Pleasence stepped in at short notice and gave the character its iconic scarred face.
Toshirō Mifune was wanted for Tiger Tanaka but was busy with Grand Prix. Akiko Wakabayashi and Mie Hama swapped roles during production, and Hama's lines were dubbed by Nikki van der Zyl.
Ken Adam's volcano set on the Pinewood backlot cost around one million dollars, stood some 45 metres high and had a working monorail and a helicopter pad. It is still regarded as the most impressive villain's lair of the series.
The autogyro 'Little Nellie' was a Wallis WA-116 (registration G-ARZB). Its designer Ken Wallis took off 85 times from a Japanese mountainside for the film and spent 46 hours in the air.
While filming the dogfight near Ebino, cameraman John Jordan lost a foot to the rotor of a second helicopter. Because Japan banned explosions in the national park, the rocket shots were completed over Torremolinos in Spain in December 1966.
The Toyota 2000GT was built as an open car solely for the film because Connery did not fit into the coupé. Two were made, one fitted with a TV set-up in the glove compartment.
The burial at sea was shot aboard the frigate HMS Tenby in Gibraltar harbour, the underwater retrieval in the Bahamas. In the film it is all supposed to take place in Hong Kong's Victoria Harbour.
Connery's then wife Diane Cilento doubled for several Japanese actresses in the swimming scenes. Martial arts expert Donn F. Draeger trained Connery and doubled him in fight scenes.
Nancy Sinatra sang the title song after her father Frank turned it down; it reached No. 11 in the UK charts. Its string motif underpins Robbie Williams' hit 'Millennium' (1998).
Queen Elizabeth II attended the premiere at London's Odeon Leicester Square on 12 June 1967. Despite a record opening, the film's $111.6 million gross was the first to fall short of its predecessor – partly due to competition from the spoof Casino Royale (1967).
Editor Peter Hunt agreed to rescue the unsatisfactory first cut only on condition that he would direct the next film. Ken Adam received a 1968 BAFTA nomination for art direction.
The film opened in West Germany on 14 September 1967 with a 12 rating. Gert Günther Hoffmann voiced Bond and Wolfgang Büttner voiced Blofeld; Karin Dor was the first German actress in a major Bond role.