You Only Live Twice

Artist: Robert McGinnis
Format: UK Quad (30"x 40")
Condition: Excellent
Year: 1967

Description

By 1967 the James Bond franchise had, after just five years, developed into such a global phenomenon that for the release of “You Only Live Twice”, three different Quad designs were released in the UK (the standard amount being only one, with two for more major releases). Displayed here is the Style-C Quad poster for the film, designed by Robert McGinnis, while his frequent collaborator Frank McCarthy provided the artwork for both the A and B variants which are also featured in the collection.

Despite the obvious success of the Bond series, the production for “You Only Live Twice” still faced obstacles with perhaps the largest being that "Bond" himself was reluctant in participating. Sean Connery had grown tired of playing the character, fearing being typecast and resenting the amount of time it took to film and publicise each new release and was only tempted back by an increased fee with the producers aware that they would have to find a new star for the next instalment. Other casting issues remained with Jan Werich, who was originally cast as Blofeld, being dismissed after a few days of filming for not being menacing enough with Donald Pleasence coming in as a replacement.

The ambitious aerial fight scene between “Little Nellie” and the helicopters also proved problematic with crew members being injured whilst screenwriter Roald Dahl, a close friend of Ian Fleming, criticised the source material that he had to work with. The film eventually overcame these difficulties and upon release was a great success at the box office and, despite receiving more erratic reviews critically, is now one of the more imitated and parodied films of the franchise.

Differing in comparison to McCarthy’s two more vibrant, action-packed and somewhat surreal designs, the Style-C Quad features artwork which is less extravagant though no less eye-catching with a focus on another convention of the series; The Bond girl. As detailed in Dennis Gassner's seminal book on Bond Posters “James Bond: 50 Years of Movie Posters” (2012), the design was deliberately racy and a sign of the changing attitudes of the late 1960’s towards sexuality. Style-C Quad posters that were used in Ireland, invariably come back with Bond's hand-maidens more fully clothed!

 

The poster has been linen-backed