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FEATURE
DVD
&
BD
DVD
&
BD
SPECTRE –
SPecial Executive for
Counter-intelligence,
Terrorism, Revenge
and Extortion –
made
its first appearance in
Ian Fleming’s 1959 novel
Thunderball
.
The author, who had
worked in the Naval
Intelligence Division
during World War II,
invented SPECTRE after
genuinely believing that
the Cold War would
be over by the time
Thunderball
hit cinemas
in 1962, consequently
dating the film.
SPECTRE consists
of an amalgamation of
criminal organisations
including the Soviet
SMERSH, the Gestapo
and the Mafia.
Fleming based the
name of Ernst Stavro
Blofeld on a friend with
whom he attended Eton.
ON HER MAJESTY’S SECRET SERVICE
(1969)
From a lair in the Swiss Alps, Blofeld holds the world to ransom again. Threatening to wipe out agriculture
with toxic bacteria deployed by brainwashed women, he demands a pardon for his past crimes. A side
scheme involves him being recognised as the true heir to the title ‘Comte Balthazar de Bleuchamp’.
DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER
(1971)
In his final confrontation with SPECTRE (until 2015), Bond goes undercover to investigate a diamond
smuggling ring and discovers that Blofeld requires the gems to power a giant orbital laser, aimed at
the world’s nuclear weapons and giving him the upper hand in the arms race.
FOR YOUR EYES ONLY
(1981)
A wheelchair-bound Blofeld finally
meets his end in the opening
sequence, when Bond hooks him
with a helicopter skid and drops
him into an industrial smokestack.
Telly Savalas
as Blofeld
Charles Gray
as Blofeld
NEVER SAY NEVER AGAIN
(1983)
Blofeld gets some screen time –
and hair – in this “unofficial” Bond
film, which is an unofficial remake
of
Thunderball
. Yes, that's Max Von
Sydow as SPECTRE #1.
SPECTRE
(2015)
The title reveals who Bond is
up against, but who is in charge
of SPECTRE these days? Is
the sinister Franz Oberhauser
(Christoph Waltz) actually… Ernst
Stavro Blofeld?