Did you have any misunderstandings about Bond films ?
John from Cork
Posts: 111MI6 Agent
As a kid when I first saw all the 60s bonds, I didn't understand that the FRWL/TB Blofeld and the YOLT Blofeld were the same character.
Comments
that actually seems reasonable. He was played by a different actor, and was never called Blofeld in those two earlier films. It could be two different men doing the same job, we just assume it was Blofeld all along because we've read Fleming.
maybe Anthony Dawson/Eric Pohlman was playing the Connery-era version of Mr White? and for some reason got replaced by Blofeld between films?
you know if you watch the Bond knock-off Operation Kid Brother/O.K. Connery, Anthony Dawson also plays the head of that films evil organisation, and Adolfo Celi his second in command. There are so many Bond alumni in this film playing almost the exact same roles, it could almost be in continuity, and therefor could explain why theres a different man in charge of SPECTRE in You Only Live Twice!
I gotta think about this question, its a good one: I'm sure there was a lot of stuff I misunderstood, especially during my first year of BondFandom when the films came on teevee maybe once a year.
I got one: before I saw the film again and took note of his name, I assumed the big baddy in The Spy Who Loved Me must be the same big baddy as in all the old films, eg he was Blofeld. He basically had all the same moves, so why give him a different name?
Copyright, as I'm sure you now know, caractacus. A certain Mr McClory and his many lawsuits are behind that.
actually @Barbel I'm confused as to all the behind the scenes history leading up to The Spy Who Loved Me we got.
I know there was an original draft with the return of Blofeld, but I thought that was quite different: the film wouldve begun with SPECTRE overrun by a coalition of real life mid70s leftist terrorist organisations who then take control of evil in the world, and Blofeld and SPECTRE wouldve disappeared after the first few scenes. (sort of like this new film?)
so when that idea got abandoned were they still considering a more conventional plot involving Blofeld as main villain? did they write Stromberg as Blofeld until lawyers told them they couldnt use that name, so they crossed out the name Blofeld and wrote Stromberg in its place?
It may explain why Stromberg is an underwritten villain, some complain - if he were supposed to be Blofeld then not much is needed to know about his motivation, a bit like having Nazis in an Indy movie. Bond meets Stromberg just once before it all kicks off, a potential Sir Hilary Bray moment I guess (how come they don't recognise each other?) possibly added in in a later draft.
Roger Moore 1927-2017
Caractacus, your second paragraph is one of many drafts by many different writers. There's a whole story there. Richard Maibaum was the one who came up with the draft you mention, if memory serves.
Blofeld remained as villain until late in the pre-production phase, by which time Christopher Wood was writing on the suggestion of Lewis Gilbert (they'd worked together before). Broccoli wanted to avoid giving McClory another excuse, sorry I mean reason, for suing so told Wood to change the name of the villain.
A misunderstanding I had for years and that is shared by many of my countrymen is that Goldfinger (the character) is German.
This is mostly due to the fact that the actor Gert Fröbe is German, and very well-known in the German-speaking world. In the dubbed version, which is unfortunately the only one many people see both in cinemas and on TV, Fröbe did his own voice with a Saxonian accent, leading to a lot of people mis-remembering (Mandela effect?) him to have the same in the English version.
It also helps that the name "Goldfinger" could be made up from English or German words in the exact same way.
"- That is something to be afraid of."
When I first saw Octopussy as a teenager in the 90s, I thought the story Bond tells her about his encounter with her father was part of a previous movie that I had not seen yet.