I saw OHMSS for the first uncut and uninterrupted in many years, I think HBO, about 25 years ago, showed them all one time only.
My Observations
1) Sean Connery could have never pulled this movie off. Lazenby might not have the best actor to play Bond (he might have been too young for this particular film), but of the three Bonds at the time, he was the best for this film. This film was more a “Fleming” James Bond movie not a “Cubby” Broccoli James Bond movie.
2) Diana Rigg was stunning in this movie. I think she did a good acting job, eventhough the novel had Tracy Draco as a blond. In the Bond novels, there is a lot of sybolism regarding the hair color of a woman. Her role on the Avengers probably made people think less of her as a Bond woman than others.
3) Telly Savalas did fine as Bloefeld. Maybe it just seemed odd that Bloefeld had an american accent. He did a better job than Charles Grey in DAF.
4) Angela Scoular was H-O-T-T (as Ruby).
I don’t know, that was always a great debate on the James Bond newsgroup as to whether Connery could pull off the emotionalism required for OHMSS. It is a real shame that he didn’t stick with the franchise to see him do it. But I think he might’ve been able to do it, and it would’ve made Bond less superhero and more human. Witness his breakdown in “The Offence” and you can see his range. The one scene I could’ve seen him having a problem with however is after he’s gone down the mountain from Piz Gloria down to the village and he looks genuinely scared, a moment before Tracy skates right up to him. That worked for Lazenby just fine, but Connery would’ve been awkward and out of character.
Rigg’s Tracy was almost about as tough a Bond girl as we had seen to that point (with Honor Blackman just about as good, another former Avenger). You could actually see her as an equal, and could walk away from Bond without breaking a sweat.
Yeah, well, as I said with respect to Telly, a “New Yorker Blofeld” was just a little too peculiar. It wasn’t that he didn’t necessarily look the part, his being American was too much a distraction (and I kept expecting him to walk over to Lazenby and say, “Who loves ya, baby ?”). Charles Gray was a caricature of Blofeld. I think Donald Pleasance was the definitive one. Ice cold, no schtick, brutal and evil. Pleasance had an excellent range as an actor, which helped, too.
Can’t agree on Angela Scoular. I thought she was a bit too... eh... English (and not in a good way). Her friendly exchange with Lazenby (their chatty discussion) was a little odd, too. It worked for Lazenby as Bond, but it would’ve been, again, awkward were the scene with Connery. I read Scoular was battling bowel cancer as of earlier this year, something similar to Farrah Fawcett’s, I believe.