---
title: "You Only Live Twice"
year: 1967
kind: "film"
canonical: "https://film.one/film/you-only-live-twice"
fi1m_score: 62
critics_score: 56
critics_reviews: 11
published: "2026-09-18T11:06:38.557033+00:00"
updated: "2026-09-18T11:06:51.685861+00:00"
region: "US"
licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL."
---

# You Only Live Twice (1967)

Directed by Lewis Gilbert · 1h 57m · MPA PG · Action, Thriller, Adventure

**Fi1m score: 62** · Critics 56 from 11 reviews

*In a sentence:* Ken Adam builds a rocket base inside a volcano and Connery looks like he would rather be back at the hotel

> The fifth Bond film has the grandest set the series had yet built and a leading man who has stopped pretending to enjoy himself. Ken Adam’s volcano, John Barry’s score and Tetsuro Tamba earn the evening; Roald Dahl’s script and the middle hour do not.

## Synopsis

In Hong Kong, James Bond (Sean Connery) is shot in bed and buried at sea. Meanwhile an American spacecraft is swallowed in orbit by an unidentified craft; Washington blames Moscow, and the British believe the intruder was launched from Japan. Bond, alive after all, is sent to Tokyo, where he meets the local contact Dikko Henderson (Charles Gray), the head of the Japanese secret service Tiger Tanaka (Tetsuro Tamba) and Tanaka’s agent Aki (Akiko Wakabayashi). The trail leads to Osato Chemicals, its president Mr. Osato (Teru Shimada) and his secretary Helga Brandt (Karin Dor), and to a freighter taking on cargo at a dock in Kobe. Somewhere behind it all sits Ernst Stavro Blofeld (Donald Pleasence).

## Review

The fifth Bond film sends Sean Connery to Japan, kills him in the opening minutes and buries him at sea, then spends the rest of its 117 minutes proving the series can carry on regardless. Lewis Gilbert directs from a screenplay by Roald Dahl, with Harold Jack Bloom also credited, that keeps Ian Fleming’s title and his Japanese setting and not much else. What the film is really about is a volcano.

Ken Adam built it, and it remains the best reason to see the film. A crater lake slides aside on rails to show a launch pad below, a monorail runs round the lip, a helicopter pad is cut into the rock, and men in grey boiler suits go about their business on gantries far above the floor. We sat up when the roof opened. We had seen the photographs and it did not matter; people are walking about inside it rather than in front of a painting. Adam gives Blofeld a chair, a cat and a pool.

Freddie Young, who had shot [*Lawrence of Arabia*](https://film.one/film/lawrence-of-arabia), photographs Japan as a place rather than a backdrop: a fishing village at dawn with the boats going out, a sumo hall lit from above so the ring glows, Tokyo streets at night in reds and neon blues. It is handsome, and it is where the film stalls, because Gilbert lets each new location introduce itself before anything happens in it. John Barry’s score is the one element that seems to feel anything: a title song sung by Nancy Sinatra with strings that slide downwards, and a slow brass march for the rocket sequences that makes the hardware look larger than it is. Peter R. Hunt cuts the fights hard and short, and a dockside brawl shot from a helicopter is over before we have worked out the geography.

Connery is the trouble at the centre. He is heavier here, and says his lines as if reading them off a card held out of frame. The Bond of [*From Russia with Love*](https://film.one/film/from-russia-with-love) (1963) enjoyed himself; this one is waiting for a car. Tetsuro Tamba’s Tiger Tanaka is the liveliest person on screen, a spymaster with a private underground train and a bath staffed by attendants, playing the friendship as an amused host putting up with a difficult guest. Akiko Wakabayashi’s Aki drives, shoots and gets the film’s few good jokes. Mie Hama’s Kissy Suzuki arrives late and is handed almost nothing. Karin Dor’s Helga Brandt has one strong scene in a small aeroplane. Charles Gray’s Dikko Henderson is on screen for a few minutes and missed for the rest. Donald Pleasence plays Blofeld small, bald, scarred and soft-voiced, and is given so little to do that the menace is mostly Adam’s.

Dahl’s script is a run of arrivals. Bond goes somewhere, someone tries to kill him, he goes somewhere else. Little Nellie, the gyrocopter Q (Desmond Llewelyn) delivers in suitcases and assembles on a hillside, is flown into a helicopter fight that happens only because the gyrocopter existed. Then Bond is made up to pass as a Japanese fisherman, wig and all, and married off in a village so that he can look at a volcano. We found it embarrassing before anything is said about its taste, and it costs the film ten minutes of its middle. We were bored through the wedding and then irritated, because the film had already shown us a rocket base and was now showing us a boat.

Against *Goldfinger* (1964) and [*Thunderball*](https://film.one/film/thunderball) (1965) this is where the formula becomes scaffolding. The parts are all present, gadgets, girls, a briefing from M (Bernard Lee), Lois Maxwell’s Moneypenny fending him off, and none of them connects to anything the film wants. Most critics land somewhere in the middle, and so do we, though we suspect the ones who love it are remembering the set and the ones who hate it are remembering Connery.

Watch it for the volcano, for Barry and for Tamba, and feel free to make tea during the village. It carries a PG and runs 117 minutes, at least twenty of which are scenery.

*Fi1m score 62, published 18 September 2026.*

### Reviews we read (11)

- **Radio Times**, Andrew Collins (5/5): One of the best Sean Connery Bond films, with a great villain in Donald Pleasence's Blofeld; director Lewis Gilbert keeps the pace up and the script is suitably arch, though production designer Ken Adam's secret volcanic base is the real triumph. [Read](https://www.radiotimes.com/movie-guide/b-nkogdr/you-only-live-twice/)
- **Empire**, Ian Nathan (85/100, inferred): The critic hails the film as the pinnacle of the Bond series for its flamboyance and scope. They single out Roald Dahl's script and Ken Adam's volcano lair for particular praise. [Read](https://www.empireonline.com/movies/reviews/live-twice-review/)
- **The New York Times** (70/100, inferred): The review calls it a bag of good Bond fun mixing science-fiction with the series' bright bravado, despite Connery seeming slightly bored and minimal sex. Lovely Japanese scenery and supporting players add to the entertainment value. [Read](https://www.nytimes.com/1967/06/14/archives/screen-sayonara-007connery-is-at-it-again-as-whatshisname.html)
- **Variety**, Variety Staff (70/100, inferred): The review notes Connery plays 007 with his usual finesse in this expensive production. Supporting players like Akiko Wakabayashi and Tetsuro Tamba register well, with Donald Pleasence suitably menacing as the heavy. [Read](https://variety.com/1966/film/reviews/you-only-live-twice-1200421183/)
- **Film Comment**, Mark Harris (50/100, inferred): The critic views the film as a product of franchise pressures rather than a classic, noting its low box office and the series' shift toward spectacle amid competition from parodies. He singles out Ken Adam's production design, the Blofeld reveal, and the Nancy Sinatra title song for praise while criticizing cultural insensitivity. [Read](https://www.filmcomment.com/cinema-67-revisited-live-twice-casino-royale/)
- **Time Out**, NF (50/100, inferred): Agent 007 travels to Japan to thwart Blofeld's scheme involving hijacked space capsules; Roald Dahl's implausible script is padded with exotic locations, stunts and trickery. [Read](https://www.timeout.com/movies/you-only-live-twice)
- **RogerEbert.com**, Roger Ebert (30/100, inferred): The critic finds the film top-heavy with gadgets but weak on plotting, failing to recapture the magic of earlier Bond entries like Goldfinger. Connery labors to maintain the illusion amid over-the-top hardware and underdeveloped characters. [Read](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/you-only-live-twice-1967)
- **Sight and Sound** (30/100, inferred): The critic finds the film no better or worse than its Bond predecessors but less enjoyable overall, as the formula has grown mechanical with a predictably indestructible hero and no compensating individuality or elegance in direction. [Read](http://old.bfi.org.uk/features/ultimatefilm/chart/details.php?ranking=90)
- **The New Yorker**, Penelope Gilliatt (30/100, inferred): The review observes that the cheery self-parody of earlier films has coarsened, with the sense of play lost amid gadgets and violence. Bond appears inert and deflated, more a vehicle for production ideas than a compelling character. [Read](https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1967/06/24/nether-villainy)
- **Den of Geek**, Max Williams (60/100, inferred): The critic calls it the first epic Bond film with memorable set pieces and the iconic volcano lair but finds the writing lazy, characters two-dimensional, and Connery disengaged. He singles out the pre-credits 'death' sequence and Little Nellie for praise while criticizing the Bond girls and Blofeld's limited role. [Read](https://www.denofgeek.com/movies/you-only-live-twice-the-first-epic-james-bond-movie/)
- **Film Stories**, Mark Harrison (30/100, inferred): The critic sees the film as both the most iconic and risible of Connery’s Bond outings, a weak ending to the original golden age marked by missteps and gimmicks that undermine it. He singles out its self-undermining parody elements and excessive travelogue style for complaint while noting its original box-office success. [Read](https://filmstories.co.uk/features/you-only-live-twice-and-the-rise-of-the-james-bond-parody/)

## Details

- **Director:** Lewis Gilbert
- **Director:** Lewis Gilbert
- **Screenplay:** Roald Dahl
- **Writer:** Harold Jack Bloom
- **Novel:** Ian Fleming
- **Cinematography:** Freddie Young
- **Editor:** Peter R. Hunt
- **Music:** John Barry
- **Production design:** Ken Adam
- **Producer:** Albert R. Broccoli, Harry Saltzman
- **Cast:** Sean Connery as James Bond; Akiko Wakabayashi as Aki; Mie Hama as Kissy Suzuki; Tetsuro Tamba as Tiger Tanaka; Teru Shimada as Mr. Osato; Karin Dor as Helga Brandt; Donald Pleasence as Ernst Stavro Blofeld; Bernard Lee as M
- **Runtime:** 1h 57m
- **Certificate (MPA):** PG
- **Release (the US):** 13 June 1967
- **Genres:** Action, Thriller, Adventure
- **Budget:** $10 million
- **Box office:** $112 million

## Where to watch in the US

- Amazon Prime Video: rent $3.99, uhd
- Apple TV: rent $3.99, hd
- Amazon Prime Video: buy $14.99, uhd
- Apple TV: buy $14.99, hd

*Checked 2026-09-18.*

Also available in: AE, AR, AT, AU, BE, BG, BR, CA, CH, CL, CO, CZ, DE, DK, EE, ES, FI, FR, GB, GR, HK, HU, ID, IE, IN, IT, JP, LT, MX, MY, NL, NO, NZ, PA, PH, PL, PT, RO, RS, SE, SG, TH, TR, UA, US, VN, ZA. Add `?region=XX` to this URL for another country.

## If you liked this

- *From Russia with Love* (1963), Fi1m 84: The same man, four years younger, plainly enjoying the job and the train. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/from-russia-with-love.md)
- *On Her Majesty's Secret Service* (1969), Fi1m 83: Peter R. Hunt directs the next one and gives Bond a heart and a mountain. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/on-her-majestys-secret-service.md)
- *Branded to Kill* (1967): Seijun Suzuki’s Japanese hitman film from the same year, stranger and far cheaper.
- *Danger: Diabolik* (1968): Mario Bava’s comic-strip thief has the lair, the girl and none of the solemnity.
- *The Incredibles* (2004), Fi1m 88: A volcano base, a monorail and a villain’s island, done with real affection. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/the-incredibles.md)

---
© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/film/you-only-live-twice