You Only Live Twice (1967)

When Russian and American spacecraft vanish in mid orbit, each country accuses the other of sabotage. But the British Secret Service suspects that source of these mysterious space kidnappings may be in Japan so they send their top agent James Bond (Sean Connery) to investigate. The James Bond franchise is in peak form here, cutting out some of the bloat that marred the previous entry, THUNDERBALL. A strong screenplay by Roald Dahl from the Ian Fleming novel, assured direction by Lewis Gilbert (ALFIE), handsome cinematography by Oscar winner Freddie Young (though the rear projection shots stand out like a sore thumb) and a superb score by John Barry which includes the haunting title song sung by Nancy Sinatra. Some of the visuals are among the most indelible in the Bond canon including the fight on the Kobe docks shot from a helicopter or the Ninjas sliding down the ropes in Blofeld's volcano hideaway. Akiko Wakabayashi and Mie Hama are the Bond girls, Karin Dor the Bond "bad" girl and Donald Pleasence an unnerving Ernest Blofeld. With Charles Gray, Tetsuro Tamba, Bernard Lee, Lois Maxwell, Teru Shimada, Tsai Chin and Burt Kwouk.