You Only Live Twice (film) manned spacecraft disappear mysteriously in orbit. With each nation blaming the other amidst the Cold War, Bond travels secretly to a remote Japanese island to find the perpetrators and comes face to face with Ernst Stavro Blofeld, the head of SPECTRE. The film reveals the appearance of Blofeld, who was previously a partially unseen character. SPECTRE is working for the government of an unnamed Asian power, implied to be the People's Republic of China, to provoke war between the superpowers. During the filming in Japan, it was announced that Sean Connery would retire from the role of Bond, but after
You Only Live Twice (film) a hiatus, he returned in 1971's "Diamonds Are Forever" and later 1983's non-Eon Bond film "Never Say Never Again". "You Only Live Twice" is the first Bond film to be directed by Lewis Gilbert, who later directed the 1977 film "The Spy Who Loved Me" and the 1979 film "Moonraker", both starring Roger Moore. "You Only Live Twice" was a great success, receiving positive reviews and grossing over $111 million in worldwide box office. An American NASA spacecraft is hijacked from orbit by an unidentified spaceship. The United States suspect it to be the work of the Soviets, but the