STACK #137 Mar 2016

DVD & BD FEATURE

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Nefarious criminal organisation SPECTRE and its megalomaniac mastermind Ernst Stavro Blofeld have been periodically haunting James Bond and MI6 since 1963. Having recently resurfaced in the 24th Bond film, out on DVD this month, what better time to take a look back at 007’s previous encounters.

First sighting of Ernst Stavro Blofeld

FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE (1963) SPECTRE is first mentioned in Dr. No , as the employer of the title character, but we don’t actually see them in action until the second Bond movie, when 007 is duped into acquiring a Russian decoding device that they intend to sell back to the Soviets. SPECTRE’s chief planner and chess master Tov Kronsteen does the dirty work, while boss Blofeld (Anthony Dawson) appears from the neck down, stroking a white cat.

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THUNDERBALL (1965) In possession of a couple of atomic weapons, SPECTRE demands £100 million in diamonds in exchange for not nuking Miami. The enigmatic Blofeld is once again pulling the strings from the shadows, leaving things to SPECTRE’s second in command and head of extortion, Emilio Largo.

SPECTRE #2 Emilio Largo

Donald Pleasance as Blofeld

YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE (1967) At last Bond meets Blofeld, who’s been hijacking US and Soviet spacecraft in an attempt to trigger a not-so-Cold war between the superpowers. Ensconced in his volcano lair with his favourite cat, the scar-faced criminal mastermind negotiates with the Japanese and rewards failure by dunking a female agent in a pool of piranha. “Kill Bond. Now!”

MARCH 2016

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