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But have to go with my favourite Bond movie,
TELLY SAVALAS was a marvellous and memorable villain!
I've never much liked Pleasance in YOLT either. Tom Sears on James Bond Radio once described him as looking like he enjoys golden showers, and I think it's a perfect description (though Tom loves him). He doesn't seem tough, he doesn't seem clever, and he doesn't seem like he'd be the head of this powerful organization.
Love Telly. Physically and intellectually convincing. He may be too American, but I kind of like his gangster quality. I do get bothered by the way he falls for Tracy's ridiculous "oh I'm starting to like you" ruse.
Charles Gray is my vote. Drag bit aside, he plays the role very straight, and delivers very good lines very well. He's certainly clever, and is big enough a guy to be some sort of threat, at least compared to Pleasance.
I also liked Christoph Waltz and considered making him my vote as he's unlikely to get any. He's clever, creepy without being a freak, and sells his madness without making you question his competence. And as I think I've mentioned elsewhere, he has one of my gavoeite villain lines: "I've really put you through it, haven't I?" He's also great in the boardroom and in the torture scene--love the no socks and "I'm sorry James, I can't hear you"
But it's Charles Gray. Just a joy to watch.
The scenes with Blofeld in the Whyte House and on the oil rig are just Grayt! Unseen Blofeld is a nice idea and makes for some interesting scenes, but FRWL/TB/NSNA suffer massively from lacking a showdown with the main villain, IMO, so that's the worst for me.
Unseen Blofeld, despite being an offscreen cameo, is getting votes because most of the seen Blofelds were so terrible!
Savalas is pretty good but I find the unseen Blofeld is ironically the closest in manner to the Blofeld I picture in the books. Charles Gray is awful. Truly, truly terrible. Fitting for the film though, admittedly. Waltz could easily have been the best Blofeld, had it not been for you know what...
Because of this, Dawson and Pohlmann are arguably the most appropriate because so much is left to the imagination. But they/he don't do anything within the films themselves, so how can their version of Blofeld be considered the best?
I don't rate Pleasance at all either. YOLT is probably my second least favourite Bond film anyway, and he doesn't help.
Waltz is given the most to do. But they saddled him with complete rubbish in the script. When he tells Bond he is the author of all his pain, Bond doesn't even seemed fussed. It's all for nothing.
Dawson/Pohlmann - perfect but do they really count here?
Pleasance - definitive, but useless and irritating.
Savalas - great presence, a threat, good character...but is it Blofeld as we expect him?
Gray - I like him very much. But it's a comic performance in a comedy film.
Von Sydow - probably the most rounded, but are we allowed to vote for him?
Waltz - could have been the best. Might still be (even though it's a huge long shot).
I'm going for Gray, just because I don't think he'll get many votes. Otherwise Von Sydow.
Love Savalas delivery of that line!
I find Telly's version slightly overrated. Just sue me.
Anyway, unseen Blofeld with the visible Blofeld's Cat.
As you wish. Expect to hear from Gebrüder Gumpold very soon.
If you tried putting each of them into a different film I am not sure their portrayal would work well in them. Interestingly, Savalas was offered to come back for DAF (!!!) but demanded a higher salary so of course EON balked at that and looked elsewhere. Has there been any confirmation if EON asked Pleasance back for either OHMSS or DAF? I would assume they'd have done the latter if only to reinforce OHMSS being erased and serving as more of a "true" sequel to YOLT.
I concur. The mystery surrounding a character that we never see the face of, together with that weird voice gives Dawson/Pohlmann the edge.
Though I'd certainly put Telly in the second spot, making him my favourite credited Blofeld.
Well, if you can get him!
Oddly, I can see Savalas working in DAF.
Savalas versus Connery would have made testosterone leak from the screen.
So I gladly vote for Anthony Dawson and Eric Pohlmann.
After all the build-up and the grand reveal, the Pleasance Blofeld is really a disappointment, a bizarre-looking man to distract from the lack of an interesting character. This is a case where the character lent to the impression as someone you wanted to see. I don't know if this is because Roald Dahl was YOLT's writer or if Maibaum could've done a better job, but he's terribly underdeveloped and a baddie like Goldfinger blows him out of the water. He does nothing but toss out threats, sneer and threaten to shoot Bond.
Savalas is the best actual Blofeld helped by being a physical threat as well as a leader who actually takes part in the chases, but can come off like he'd be a better henchman than main villain. I used to find Gray's Blofeld frightening when I was younger, he just seemed creepy, but the older me just finds him okay.
From the minute they announced Waltz, it wasn't going to work. Here's a guy who has been one of the go-to villains for the past decade, so what was he going to add to the Blofeld legend he didn't do with, say, Hans Landa. The result speaks for itself. The definitive Blofeld has yet to be portrayed onscreen.
Yeah, Waltz's performance wasn't that bad. He just lacked that genuine nefarious demeanour, the teaser trailer presented to us. The only thing not too good about his performance, is he seems a tad too loquacious....to the point of looking comical.
Waltz was fine. The writing and film wasn't.