Caroline Bliss best Moneypenny ?
Barry Nelson
ChicagoPosts: 1,508MI6 Agent
The most recent poll on AJB has Caroline Bliss receiving 16 votes for best Moneypenny. What I want to know is, how in the heck can anyone say she is the best Moneypenny? Please enlighten me. She was in only two movies and actually made me lose respect for Moneypenny. I like Samantha Bond the best. But, for this thread I really want someone to tell me how Bliss is the best.
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I liked Samantha Bond, but the virtual reality bit in DAD really blew it and turned it into a whole "lust" thing which I believed was throwing away everything Maxwell had established as Moneypenny being a smart girl.
Isn't it weired how we all perceive things differently. That scene is one of the few I really liked In DAD. I just thought it was quite funny and I don't think it effected my opinion of Moneypenny at all.
I think Bond was the best actually. Maxwell was great but I just thought Bond had the right amount of prettiness and efficiency about her. Quite prim but something smoldering underneath.
As for Bliss, I don't dislike her but she was insipid. As for her appearance in LTK, that was totally unnecessary. That was one film that could have benefited from an ascent Moneypenny.
BTW, I also liked the scene in DAD with Samantha Bond and Lady Rose you described her well. I always had that sense of something smouldering underneath.
And in case you're wondering, I cast my ballot for Lois. Can't beat the classics.
But I think Caroline Bliss had plenty of potential(she didn't come up with the line about Barry Manilow in TLD or insert herself into LTK or direct herself on either occasion),and was easily the prettiest Moneypenny.She also displayed a real chemistry with Timothy Dalton.There's really nothing wrong in liking Caroline's Penny, and I wasn't a bit offended by her performances.Her Penny seemed to be teasing Bond in the conversation with Dalton in TLD,and I had no trouble imagining them engaging in an occasional hot weekend away from the offices at MI6.
I sure hope this thread doesn't exist for the sole purpose of having everyone somehow come together to agree that Bliss wasn't a very good Moneypenny--because if that is the case, then I'm the first dissenter.Frankly,I can't imagine any other Moneypenny actress being any better than Bliss was in exactly the same circumstances.I certainly didn't lose any respect for Miss Moneypenny because Caroline Bliss played her.
And in all honesty I wasn't particularly impressed with Samantha Bond's take on Moneypenny.I wanted to be,but there was nothing in her 4 performances to make me like or care about her at all.Merely because she was the most recent Moneypenny actress doesn't automatically confer a special greatness to her interpretation.
Was Pamela Salem included?
As for Moneypenny's virtual fling in DAD, I do remember one female audience member, who was sitting behind me, became quite giddy when Penny & Bond snogged.
Quite amusing, I must say.
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I most certainly do not want this to turn into a bash Caroline Bliss. I am really just curios what made them select Bliss. I have nothing against her performance, I just did not find anything noteworthy about it.
As for Maxwell, I liked her well enough in the Connery years, but by the time they got to the Moore years, she was more like somebodies nice aunt, then Moneypenny.
I liked Bliss (and have already affirmed I thinks she's very pretty) and I like the bit about the Barry Manilow invitation, because it was axactly what you said, WG: A tease. She knew Bond would never accept. It's the >sigh< that punctuates it which makes Moneypenny seemed like a schoolgirl. Maxwell was never a schoolgirl. She always conveyed a competence which made her Bond's equal, and there were times when it seemed to me that Bond's flirting with her was his way of self-assurance as an 'alpha-male' type. The only time I felt Maxwell dipped into the lovelorn Moneypenny was when she over-eagerly said she would "settle for a tulip" in DAF.
If you think Ms Bliss was nonexistent in her two stints, wait until you see the new girl in the new film...(!?) Even a weak Moneypenny is preferable to no Moneypenny, IMO...
I, too, am confused by Bliss' receiving any votes at all, but at least she's solidly in third place out of three
"I am not an entrant in the Shakespeare Stakes." - Ian Fleming
"Screw 'em." - Daniel Craig, The Best James Bond EverTM
Moore probably should have had his own Moneypenny--in fact,IMO that's really as it should be for every actor who plays 007.They should all have their own distinctive Ms as well(but I'm happy Bernard Lee--who was perfect in the part and who wasn't a wealthy man got some steady employment from Eon until his death).
But unintentional though it may be this really does look like a "let's bash Caroline Bliss" thread.That's unfortunate.
Regardless,I'm no fan of Samantha Bond's version of Penny(I've liked her in other things ). I thought she was woefully inadequate and immediately forgettable in the role(this could be the writing playing a part )-but that's only one man's opinion and it's clearly not one shared by the majority of the posters here.
And I say this as someone who much prefers Maxwell over any of the other actresses and I'm glad she wasn't moved aside for Michaela Clavell's Miss Smallbone.
But as asked,I've also told you why I liked Bliss.Was she great?No--but neither was Sam Bond,IMO.
C'est la vie.:)
I'm not surprised that Lois won hands down. Like Sir Sean, she originated her role---creating the gold standard for those who follow.
"I am not an entrant in the Shakespeare Stakes." - Ian Fleming
"Screw 'em." - Daniel Craig, The Best James Bond EverTM
My two cents: I loved the VR sequence -- one can indeed be smart and lustful.
As for Bliss, sorry I do find her moony eyed Barry Manilow (!?) loving Moneypeny quite cringeworthy. When Dalton's Bond rebuffs her she takes on the faint air of a puppy getting kicked. Not my idea of Moneypenny at all.
MBE
I agree with that completely...and it was a perfect swan song---both for her portrayal of the character, and she relationship she had with Brosnan over their four films together. It truly did 'sizzle.'
"I am not an entrant in the Shakespeare Stakes." - Ian Fleming
"Screw 'em." - Daniel Craig, The Best James Bond EverTM
I agree as well. Though I voted for Lois Maxwell, I definately think Samantha Bond deserves credit for being an excellent Bond. She filled the role very well, and I felt that instead of Moneypenny being jealous of James, James was jealous of Moneypenny.
WG, you're spot on there. Caroline didn't direct herself, or even write her own lines, and she did the best with what she was given.
Caroline had the unenviable task of trying to follow Lois, and trying to be a clone of Lois in the part would have difficult at best - obviously the writers thought so too and went for a different take on the Moneypenny role. Who knows how the Bliss/Moneypenny role would have developed had both she and Dalton continued.
Thank you Sir Miles.
While I don't dislike her I do not believe that Samantha Bond would've been recieved any more favorably than Caroline Bliss was, had she--not Bliss--played Moneypenny in TLD and LTK opposite Dalton and with the same director speaking precisely the same lines.Sam Bond would've been about the same age as Caroline at that time so such a circumstance is not unbelievable or unreasonable.
Additionally,had Caroline played Moneypenny in more movies or even(oh the horror)played Moneypenny to Brosnan's 007--she would've been about the same age as Samantha Bond was when she was Moneypenny,so it might have happened--I suspect this would now be a "let's bash Samantha Bond" thread instead of one slating Caroline Bliss.
After all,based on what's already been said about Caroline,Sam's performance would now be called insipid and she'd be held to task because her CHARACTER(who speaks lines provided by Richard Maibaum and Michael Wilson) mentions Barry Manilow records,while teasing 007 and sighs on camera.
All hypothetical but still....
Yes SB has had more screen time and more lines, but I don't think that automatically makes her a superior actress to CB.And I doubt Sam would make such a claim.
Caroline isn't my favorite Moneypenny(Lois is) but I do like her and I think it's extremely unfair to disapprove of her version of Moneypenny based primarily upon the lines she spoke.If it's a question of prefering specific body types or hair colors or accents over others,then that's different--that's a much fairer comparison.
And I don't dislike Sam Bond, but being the most recent Moneypenny doesn't- IMO anyway-confer greatness on her interpretation as much as it means that specific performer was simply the most recent person to play the part and is obviously more familiar and easier to remember.
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Which leads me to the conclusion that some asylum had access to ballots.
Surely no sane person would be involved with such absurdity...
Batman: "The Hammer Of Justice is UNISEX!"
-Batman: The Brave & The Bold -
Said perfectly, she was a classic.
Also, what about Pamela Salem (NSNA)? Or Miss Moneypenny's would be replacement Penelope Smallbone (played by Michaela Clavell), thought she wasn't too bad on the eyes either (although she surely is a schoolgirl in her role, being thoroughly briefed and all that)?