… and why is it OHMSS?
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At least with the footage from the Bernese Alps, Mürren and Schilthorn, the answer is the location is simply one of the most beautiful you can imagine. Those helicopter shots of Bond’s arrival and of the raid are amongst the most fabulous in the series. In all fairness though, Deakins’ work on Bond and Sandgren’s is quite outstanding too.
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I’m not in the industry so I’m not quite sure how to describe this, but I like the style of filming where the viewer can see everything in the frame - ie. where the foreground action may be taking place in the centre, but you can still let your eyes wander to the edges and discern the set details to the left and right. It’s sort of akin to exploring.
Newer films seem to rely more heavily on post-production, filters, and aggressively blurring the background. To me, that can make the footage look artificial. And less immersive. With location shooting in particular, I don’t get the same acute sense of place with the Craig films as I do with the Connery, Lazenby and Moore films. I love their epic natural splendour. Their locations seem to have more impact.
There’s no denying that parts of NTTD looked absolutely gorgeous. But unnaturally so. And while I appreciate that in its own way and I admire the skill involved, I do think it has robbed us of something, and I rather lament the passing of it. [With apologies for the lack of a more precise understanding of what exactly I’m talking about here!]
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This. It’s an example of how digital enhancement/correction has moved aesthetic…and not always for the better. Though perhaps future generations may not even mind the difference, smaller screens, shorter attention spans, sensibilities subject to algorithms so on so forth.
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I’ve always liked the framing and color on Martin Campbell’s movies. I think they look really cool.
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It’s an amazing location. The way the Piz Gloria ski escape sequence was shot shows me the technical skill involved rather than just the sheer beauty of the mountains. OHMSS has the energy of all creatives putting on a masterclass to compensate for the absence of Connery, seeing out the 1960s with all their prior experience contained in one package. I think it’s still the best in the franchise visually, but MR and SF are also excellent.
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It’s so obviously Licence to Kill. I don’t know what the rest of you are talking about. 
In all seriousness, it probably comes down to either On Her Majesty’s Secret Service or Skyfall. Both films are stunning to look at, although I’d probably prefer if Skyfall had just a slight touch more saturation to its look. Both films have some real standout moments in terms of their visual presentation.
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It’s sad that the series seems to have relegated the depiction of sheer atmosphere and picturesque beauty. Those lingering pans - at times just a second or two longer than necessary - elevate whole sequences way above establishing shots. And the score in ON HER MAJESTY’S in particular drives the point home: this is the beauty of the world - enjoy it while it lasts.
As @sharpshooter says, the whole production team was working full steam and with all their expertise to make this one of the gems in the series to look at.
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I think that this has largely been down to a lack of emphasis on the globe trotting nature of the franchise. Bond still travels, but they try to pack so many locations into the films now that we don’t get settled in any one place to really enjoy and appreciate the visuals that the place has to offer, if what is presented on screen is even filmed in the place it’s supposed to be or if it’s done on a soundstage somewhere.
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I also hope they luxuriate a bit more in fewer locations next time, rather than pushing for constant globe trotting that inevitably gets duplicated on a sound stage anyway. The budget of whatever comes next should be interesting.
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I think this upcoming film could lend itself well to the Dr. No approach. Find a location that’s reasonably exotic to a wide section of the public and that has a decent variety when it comes to the types of things you can find in and around that location, and craft a story that can take place mostly within that location.
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Nothing does this better than Barry’s Journey to Piz Gloria cue, the helicopter journey of Sir Hillary. Possibly the most beautiful track in the series. Bond is undercover but for a moment all that stops and there’s an emotional experience of simply enjoying the landscape. I like how they’re teasing the coming events too: bobsledding, avalanche damage, the cable car and people down below. Going to Piz Gloria is treated as an event rather than just a change of location which I think is key. It’s built up as an event, almost like going to Jurassic Park.
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OHMSS was definitely the first Bond film to feature absolutely masterful visual compositions.
Afterwards, TSWLM and MR delivered, too.
Then there was a long wait - good but mostly serviceable photography - until SF proved once again that Deakins is the master.
So… four films battling for the top spot.
OHMSS stays there. Because Deakins is always phenomenal and should have his own category.
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Deakins deserves even more praise for how he makes a lot of the soundstage work look like the exotic locations they are meant to be. Obviously the set designers deserve quite a bit of credit as well, but given how much of Shanghai and Macau were not filmed there, it could have easily looked a bit off, but Deakins work makes it look anything but.
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Definitely. When you know that none of the first unit even left London, it is incredible.
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… and strangely also an argument for not leaving London again.
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I can’t remember which author it was (maybe Winder?) who made the point that the allure of “location” now is lesser than it was when the books and the films were borne; travel is no longer the sole purview of the rich (well, let’s see where the price gas eventually lands… 
) and so many more people have traveled all over the globe (well, their Instagram accounts seem to have…). So the excitement of Bond landing in Istanbul or even JFK in LALD is far less pronounced than it might have been?
I’m going to give a shoutout to QoS - I would not equate Bolivia with Bermuda, yet the direction and cinemtography are able to make something almost “otherworldly” and make it feel at home in a Bond film.
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My London raised wife would strongly agree
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“Why, Sir, you find no man, at all intellectual, who is willing to leave London. No, Sir, when a man is tired of London, he is tired of life; for there is in London all that life can afford.”
— Samuel Johnson
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I suspect it’s also the general mindset that has changed, not merely the availability. In my youth, any voyage was an adventure, whether by car across the Alps, by train across (western) Europe powered by InterRail or by plane to Israel, Turkey and Greece.
You went to these places and discovered a different side of the world, foreign customs and foreign lives. Travel then was by no means cheap, I must have slept in half a dozen ‘Hotel Californias’ before the song became a cult classic, almost all of them nasty dosshouses just so I could go on for a day - or a week! - longer. I worked at a Paris bookstore for a sandwich and a place to sleep and the year after I had to do it again.
The difference seems to be, today people try to escape their lives for a week or two of boozing and full board, not really caring about where they are going as long as it looks impressive on their Insta stories. They let themselves be herded into Venice, into Barcelona or simply one of the tourist ghettos floating on the seas or hermetically sealed off on some tropical beach. The hotspots are notoriously overcrowded. By us. The people living there are gradually out-priced of their homes and cities.
And back home a zillion burned out tourists plan their next vacation in six months, more booze, more junk food, more selfies of their shiny, happy nightmare lives. How can anybody mistake this for fun? And yet, people aren’t forced onto overcrowded charter flights, aren’t forced to spend their precious lifetime with an industry designed to make them even more stressed and miserable. They do it willingly. 
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