Was the Japanese disguise considered bad, back when it came out?

This is the main part of the movie I cannot stand, is that terrible Japanese disguise. However, maybe when the movie came out, the disguise was impressive for it's time. Maybe it was the equivalent, of the masks you see in the Mission: Impossible movies today. But then again, they have a more convincing Bond mask in the opening of From Russia With Love.

So was the disguise actually impressive for back then, or did people think it was terrible?

I don't think it ever did. That's just an element from the book that should have been discarded for the film adaptation, especially with Connery, who could never look convincing as a Japanese if his life depended on it.

Funnily, Connery looked more convincing as a middle easterner in THE WIND AND THE LION due to his bushy beard, and that he had a strong resemblance to Ayatollah Khomeini.

Why they held that from the book after dumping virtually everything else makes no sense. It's half assed and then thrown away so what was the point.

Well also right after the Japanese disguise was complete Bond goes back to his quarters with the woman to go to sleep and an assassin comes for him and kills her instead. The next morning, another assassination attempt is made on him. So the disguise was not fooling anybody, yet he decides to keep it on for a few more days even though the villains are not fooled.

I gave this a rewatch last night and was thinking of this thread during the disguise scenes.

It's not the best plot element by any stretch but it might be worth remembering that Bond's disguise is used for Bond's insertion to the area near the volcano. So Bond's position could already be jeopardised immediately following his Asian makeover when Aki dies and SPECTRE has a mole in Tanaka's training school. Once Bond gets married and sails to an area closer to the volcano, considering there's no direct threat to his life until his gets into Blofeld's lair, maybe the disguise is more efficient than we give it credit for?

It's such a short part of the film, they could have done away with the disguise and it wouldn't have made much of a difference. One oddity though: During the first bit when he's "turning Japanese", he's actually having facial appliances added to give him a more Asian appearance. However, he just ends up looking like all he did was put a wig on. I have to wonder if at some point they actually tried to have Connery wearing prosthetics to appear Japanese but that it was so unconvincing that it was immediately dropped? If so, they should have just abandoned the disguise plot entirely.

Possibly, given Connery's particular lack of enthusiasm when making the film. But I do see a change in his eyes, which I'm assuming is a result of the eyelids they put on.

The villain has managed to set up base inside a volcano complete with launch-pad apparently without anybody noticing. An unconvincing Japanese disguise for Bond is fairly far down YOLT's list of implausibilities.

I doubt audiences found it any more convincing than Alec Guiness playing a Japanese man in a movie (can't recall the name) from that same period.

Best to watch as much YOLT as you can now, the race commissars will burn every last copy sooner rather than later.

Blunt Instrument wrote:

The villain has managed to set up base inside a volcano complete with launch-pad apparently without anybody noticing. An unconvincing Japanese disguise for Bond is fairly far down YOLT's list of implausibilities.  

Well if the disguise was done in a convincing way and actually fooled people than I would buy into it more. Blofeld drag outfit in DAF was no less convincing, but for some reason fans hate that costume, yet YOLT's Japanese disguise is not considered as unconvincing, which I don't understand.

Plus they never explain why Bond has to get married as part of the disguise charade. It's not like if a Japanese man is single, than that automatically means he is an imposter, does it?

The disguise is not 'considered as unconvincing' ... WTF?

Try re-reading the thread. This is a Bond fan forum (i.e. the sort of place where the series can, broadly speaking, probably expect an 'easier ride' than it would amongst general moviegoers) ... and even WE'RE not convinced.