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Blofeld of your choosing??

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  • SirHilaryBraySirHilaryBray Scotland
    edited October 2015 Posts: 2,138
    Donlad Pleasence (You Only Live Twice) So Iconic in his Volcano layer. He will always be who I envisage when I think of Blofeld. Blofeld when it came to it was a corward with a mad mind and money,that's why he had henchmen to do his fighting for him, and would rather attempt to get away than stay for a fight. I don't think Blofeld was ever meant to be physical threat, film or novels.
  • ThunderfingerThunderfinger Das Boot Hill
    Posts: 45,489
    @Birdleson, great ranking and very good reasoning.

    I feel Pleasence tried to portray Blofeld as insane. He may have been that, but not in the traditional sense of the word.
  • Mendes4LyfeMendes4Lyfe The long road ahead
    Posts: 8,400
    SirHilaryBray wrote: »
    Donlad Pleasence (You Only Live Twice) So Iconic in his Volcano layer. He will always be who I envisage when I think of Blofeld. Blofeld when it came to it was a corward with a mad mind and money,that's why he had henchmen to do his fighting for him, and would rather attempt to get away than stay for a fight. I don't think Blofeld was ever meant to be physical threat, film or novels.

    Bang on
  • RC7RC7
    Posts: 10,512
    Mendes4Lyfe wrote: »
    SirHilaryBray wrote: »
    Donlad Pleasence (You Only Live Twice) So Iconic in his Volcano layer. He will always be who I envisage when I think of Blofeld. Blofeld when it came to it was a corward with a mad mind and money,that's why he had henchmen to do his fighting for him, and would rather attempt to get away than stay for a fight. I don't think Blofeld was ever meant to be physical threat, film or novels.

    Bang on

    You're judging Blofeld as a comic villain, although I'm doing a disservice to comics as a lot of comic book villains are more than just a deformity.

    The Fleming Blofeld was an enigma, a force of nature. The early Dawson/Pohlman version embodied this. Think about how threatening he is in that seminal scene opposite Klebb and Kronsteen, or how ruthless he is in the TB meeting. Pleasance doesn't come close to this level. He's a visual icon, but not a character.
  • Mendes4LyfeMendes4Lyfe The long road ahead
    Posts: 8,400
    RC7 wrote: »
    Mendes4Lyfe wrote: »
    SirHilaryBray wrote: »
    Donlad Pleasence (You Only Live Twice) So Iconic in his Volcano layer. He will always be who I envisage when I think of Blofeld. Blofeld when it came to it was a corward with a mad mind and money,that's why he had henchmen to do his fighting for him, and would rather attempt to get away than stay for a fight. I don't think Blofeld was ever meant to be physical threat, film or novels.

    Bang on

    You're judging Blofeld as a comic villain, although I'm doing a disservice to comics as a lot of comic book villains are more than just a deformity.

    The Fleming Blofeld was an enigma, a force of nature. The early Dawson/Pohlman version embodied this. Think about how threatening he is in that seminal scene opposite Klebb and Kronsteen, or how ruthless he is in the TB meeting. Pleasance doesn't come close to this level. He's a visual icon, but not a character.

    'they told me you were assassinated in Hong Kong'

    'we're now impregnable'

    'extortion is my business'

    delivery is everything.
  • MurdockMurdock The minus world
    Posts: 16,351
    Don't forget "Prepare for Fiwwing." Blofeld turned into Elmer Fud for a second there. :))
  • Mendes4LyfeMendes4Lyfe The long road ahead
    Posts: 8,400
    Murdock wrote: »
    Don't forget "Prepare for Fiwwing." Blofeld turned into Elmer Fud for a second there. :))

    Have you noticed how he tends to speak in soundbites? Very deliberate.
  • Mi6LisbonBranchMi6LisbonBranch Lisbon, Portugal
    Posts: 243
    Telly Savalas (On Her Majesty's Secret Service). I love everything about this movie. And Telly Savalas is very charismatic! Superb the scenes with Tracy in Piz Gloria. Just next, and close, i would choose Pleasance in YOLT. And it's impossible to dislike Max Von Sidow.
  • LudovicoLudovico
    edited October 2015 Posts: 15,125
    RC7 wrote: »
    Birdleson wrote: »
    None of them seem to genuinely evoke Fleming's depiction(s). Maybe the unseen Blofeld is the closest in temperament, at least in relation to the character's debut in THUNDERBALL.

    This is it. I was going to say in my previous post, no one has yet nailed it and (to ref the above) Pleasance was the furthest wide of the mark. Not only does he lack physical stature, he lacks screen presence, which next to Connery is a double fault. The scenes in the control room look like Connery is school prefect, come in to mock the diminutive new starter who's acting up. If they'd bolstered the idea of him as a super-intelligent being it would've elevated it slightly, but he appears to be a bumbling, deformed dwarf. Pohlman's voice is perfect by comparison.

    Sometimes I wonder if Pohlman could have played Blofeld in the flesh. But voice actors are not always good actors in the flesh. Would his face have matched the voice?
    RC7 wrote: »
    Mendes4Lyfe wrote: »
    SirHilaryBray wrote: »
    Donlad Pleasence (You Only Live Twice) So Iconic in his Volcano layer. He will always be who I envisage when I think of Blofeld. Blofeld when it came to it was a corward with a mad mind and money,that's why he had henchmen to do his fighting for him, and would rather attempt to get away than stay for a fight. I don't think Blofeld was ever meant to be physical threat, film or novels.

    Bang on

    You're judging Blofeld as a comic villain, although I'm doing a disservice to comics as a lot of comic book villains are more than just a deformity.

    The Fleming Blofeld was an enigma, a force of nature. The early Dawson/Pohlman version embodied this. Think about how threatening he is in that seminal scene opposite Klebb and Kronsteen, or how ruthless he is in the TB meeting. Pleasance doesn't come close to this level. He's a visual icon, but not a character.

    Agreed. Blofeld was basically the Satan of the Bond universe. Like Tanaka said (and I paraphrase), a demon with a human face. The novels were great to depict him, a monster with a superior intellect and perfectly capable of being a physical match for Bond, in spite of his age.
  • LudovicoLudovico
    Posts: 15,125
    SirHilaryBray wrote: »
    Donlad Pleasence (You Only Live Twice) So Iconic in his Volcano layer. He will always be who I envisage when I think of Blofeld. Blofeld when it came to it was a corward with a mad mind and money,that's why he had henchmen to do his fighting for him, and would rather attempt to get away than stay for a fight. I don't think Blofeld was ever meant to be physical threat, film or novels.

    False. In the novels Blofeld can get into a fist fight with Bond, a trained 00 agent, and reasonably expect to get on top. Blofeld is an experienced weightlifter and very strong, he himself executed some traitors in his organization, including at least once by garrot. For a man of his age, he is very much a physical threat.
  • ForYourEyesOnlyForYourEyesOnly In the untained cradle of the heavens
    Posts: 1,984
    The unseen one was easily the most intimidating. Pleasance was good at first, but after his introduction he loses his intimidation and he looks absolutely pitiful when he stands in comparison to Bond. Telly Savalas was closer to the novel description but I didn't think much of his performance in OHMSS. Charles Gray's Blofeld was just poor.
  • ThunderpussyThunderpussy My Secret Lair
    Posts: 13,384
    I loved Telly Savalas as Blofeld. He gave a great performance of power and
    Menace. Sadly Charles Gray got the " campy" Blofeld, no disrespect to him
    He was a fine actor and could be really nasty, when called upon, but I think
    Both script and Director with DAF, were going for laughs and fun.
  • ForYourEyesOnlyForYourEyesOnly In the untained cradle of the heavens
    Posts: 1,984
    Regarding Savalas - to each their own, I guess. He was good in some scenes but I just never bought him as menacing like the previous versions. I'm with the group that believes Blofeld weathered as each incarnation went by. By the time we got to FYEO, he was a pitiful shade of his former self.

    That seems to describe Moonraker more than anything else. It makes no sense to go for laughs and fun right after Bond's wife dies and the series is set up for one of the best revenge movies of all time. Don't know how intentional it was, but they really introduced the camp that Roger Moore often gets blamed for.
  • ThunderpussyThunderpussy My Secret Lair
    Posts: 13,384
    Yes, I've read many times that DAFwas the first of the " Moore" Bonds, he just
    Wasn't in it. :)) As for actors playing characters, we all have our favourites and
    Perhaps, that helps cloud our judgement. ;) as I love Savalas in anything. :)
  • ForYourEyesOnlyForYourEyesOnly In the untained cradle of the heavens
    edited October 2015 Posts: 1,984
    The thing is, DAF just doesn't work for Connery. Moore worked in all of his Bonds, including FYEO, but The Spy Who Loved Me and Octopussy were his best performances. Connery needs a From Russia With Love or Goldfinger style Bond.
  • ThunderpussyThunderpussy My Secret Lair
    Posts: 13,384
    Agreed, Connery's Bond suits " Dark humour" the insults he delivers in the
    Early films are fantastic, Infact I think Craig needs the same type of " Cruel"
    One liners, not the "fun" humour of Roger Moore.
  • ForYourEyesOnlyForYourEyesOnly In the untained cradle of the heavens
    Posts: 1,984
    Not all of Connery's one-liners were cruel, they just didn't make a joke out of the killings, which made him more credible as Bond. But yeah, Connery's Bonds seemed to degrade with time, with the exception of Dr No which was an experimental run, so it's forgivable. But by NSNA, he just doesn't even work as Bond anymore. Roger Moore, in my opinion, is the opposite. He didn't quite make Bond his own in the first two films, though you could argue it was due to the disrupted directing and the producer conflict and what not. From TSWLM onwards, he really makes Bond his own and actually gets better with age (yes, even in Moonraker, he was very distinctly his own Bond).
  • ThunderpussyThunderpussy My Secret Lair
    Posts: 13,384
    :)) I'm agreeing with you again, Moore did his own thing with the character,
    No other actor has.
  • jake24jake24 Sitting at your desk, kissing your lover, eating supper with your familyModerator
    Posts: 10,591
    Bump
  • IGUANNAIGUANNA
    Posts: 1,296
    Ring me up on the Tally Savalas.
  • Lancaster007Lancaster007 Shrublands Health Clinic, England
    Posts: 1,874
    SirHilaryBray wrote: »
    Donlad Pleasence (You Only Live Twice) So Iconic in his Volcano layer. He will always be who I envisage when I think of Blofeld. Blofeld when it came to it was a corward with a mad mind and money,that's why he had henchmen to do his fighting for him, and would rather attempt to get away than stay for a fight. I don't think Blofeld was ever meant to be physical threat, film or novels.

    DP is a pantomime Blofeld -
    prefer the unseen Blofeld. Was hoping that SPECTRE Blofeld would be closer to Fleming's ideal, but no, they had to reference YOLT
    - hate DP's delivery of 'Kill. Bond. Now!'
  • JNOJNO Finland
    Posts: 137
    The name is Savalas, Telly Savalas.
  • Agent007391Agent007391 Up, Up, Down, Down, Left, Right, Left, Right, B, A, Start
    Posts: 7,854
    I have to go with Savalas. When I think of Blodeld, two things come to mind:

    1) A cat
    2) Telly Savalas

    I love his FRWL and TB portrayal, but Telly takes the cake every time.
  • jake24jake24 Sitting at your desk, kissing your lover, eating supper with your familyModerator
    Posts: 10,591
    1) Christoph, Christoph, Christoph! (I may be in the minority here.)
    2)Telly Savalas in a very close second.
  • MurdockMurdock The minus world
    Posts: 16,351
    jake24 wrote: »
    1) Christoph, Christoph, Christoph! (I may be in the minority here.)
    2)Telly Savalas in a very close second.

    Not at all. I share the same opinion. :)
  • bondsumbondsum
    Posts: 3,333
    For me, Telly Savalas is still the best Blofeld. Christoph Waltz is tucked nicely behind him as the 21st century rendition but I just love Telly's style and quirks that much more, such as the way he holds a cigarette and his flat delivery of lines such as: "It takes more than a few props to turn 007 into a Herald." Brilliant.
  • Problem_EliminatorProblem_Eliminator Ojai, CA
    Posts: 613
    Murdock wrote: »
    jake24 wrote: »
    1) Christoph, Christoph, Christoph! (I may be in the minority here.)
    2)Telly Savalas in a very close second.

    Not at all. I share the same opinion. :)

    Im with you guys on this one.
  • GeneralGogolGeneralGogol
    Posts: 928
    Ah, Blofeld time! Re-reading the trilogy over the last couple of years, I couldn't help but picture Savalas, who not surprisingly many also choose as the best.

    1. Savalas
    2. Waltz
    3. Dawson/Pohlmann/Wiseman
    4. Pleasance
    5. Von Sydow
    6. Gray
    7. Hollis/Rietty
  • Lancaster007Lancaster007 Shrublands Health Clinic, England
    Posts: 1,874
    Birdleson wrote: »
    By the way everyone, I was under the impression that it was now long and well established that Joseph Wiseman never was Blofeld in either voice or form. That had just been an erroneous rumor. It was Dawson and Polman in both FRWL and TB. You only really need listen to both back-to-back to convince yourself of that.
    That's what I thought, the same two actors.
  • FoxRoxFoxRox
    Posts: 12,474
    My ranking:

    1. Telly Savalas (OHMSS)
    Savalas' Blofeld is my personal favorite on-screen Bond villain. He matches 007's cool, and also isn't afraid to get his hands dirty! I love that Telly's Blofeld is the most hands-on; I'm glad we got an actual brawl between Bond and Blofeld in OHMSS. Anyways, great voice, great look, and certainly a force to be reckoned with - Savalas' Blofeld tops my list!
    2. Anthony Dawson/Eric Pohlman (FRWL, TB)
    The original, unseen Blofeld is a darn good one. The voice is really good, and the whole mystery factor is extremely beneficial. You don't have to see his face to know this guy means busines. There aren't many, but his scenes from FRWL and TB are some of the best in the two movies.
    3. Christoph Waltz (SP)
    Waltz provides a solid, new Blofeld for a new century. Though I prefer a cooler, more menacing Blofeld (sorry but I thought Waltz lacked menace), this incarnation is still good in its own right. Waltz's quirkiness made it unique, while still presenting the character as a major threat. Not quite my favorite, but still a good one.
    4. Donald Pleasence (YOLT)
    I think Pleasence used to be my favorite Blofeld a long time ago. Anyway, I've placed him in the middle, which definitely reflects my current opinion of him. The scene where is face is finally revealed is excellent; they definitely got the look right. Unfortunately, he's just not intimidating; his voice is meh, and he just isn't remarkable other than the look.
    5. Max Von Sydow (NSNA)
    Really forgettable. If I'm not mistaken NSNA barely gave this Blofeld any scenes, right? I've only watched it once.
    6. Charles Gray (DAF)
    Didn't care for Gray's Blofeld at all. He wasn't remotely menacing or interesting to me. Having him dress in drag is just a big face-palm moment for me, and all of his other humor fell flat to me. Can't really think of any redeeming qualities.
    7. John Hollis/Robert Rietty (FYEO)
    This one is last pretty much by default, if nothing else than for the constant annoying laughter. Mind you I still really enjoy FYEO's PTS; if anything, making Blofeld obnoxious here made it more enjoyable when Bond finally offed him. Still, the actual character is just made ridiculous here. From the dumb laughs to the delicatessen line, it just has to be last place. On the bright side, the cat they got for this scene is my favorite of Blofeld's cats.
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