Paula: An Appraisal

I was talking to Fields and had a bit of a thunderbolt moment, now easy lads, easy.

As I glanced at wiki today, they claim she was a CIA agent so let's skip that.

Paula surely is one of the best Bond girls, way before the Craig Era.

She might not appear on screen much but she has it all. From the off she's wise to Bond's ways but doesn't seem perturbed. In her brief time, she strikes me as a better agent (in a way) than 007. Sure she's caught out by Volpe but she's quite wary of things.

Furthermore, as Bond discovers, she's quite willing to use her cyanide. In reality Largo would torture her beyond compare.

On the quiet surely or at least, Paula is one of the best characters in a Bond film. She doesn't met much go in spite of her fate and she dies having taken cyanide. Phoebe Waller-Bridge could've gone none further than Paula.

Bond's reaction somehow seals the deal.

Paula performed her duties admirably.

And who could forget "Not at all" when Bond goes off to chase some younger tail. A real trooper.

Absolutely. It's a shame she gets left behind in the wake of the film's moving around. I'm pretty positive Paula was the biggest casualty of Peter Hunt having to attack and severely cut down the second act of the film. In spite of this Martine Beswick radiates confidence and capability and charm AND the amazing quality of being able to throw Bond's BS right back at him with pleasure. This was more of the role that Young promised Beswick he would try to get her once she had gotten more experience post FRWL. It shows because she's wonderful in the few glimpses we get.

Beswick being a Young fave makes me think of Eunice Grayson. I wonder how many films she would have lasted if Hamilton hadn't come onto GF, since Young supposedly intended her to be recurring like M and MP.

Not sure if anybody remembers this story, but in the late 70s, around the time that JAMES BOND OF THE SECRET SERVICE was being talked up, Beswick had some kind of spy thriller she was trying to get off the ground, and part of the hook was that she thought she could get Connery to do a cameo as an unnamed version of 007 (sort of like what the UNCLE TV movie did with Lazenby a few years later.) My friend who subscribed to weekly Variety and THR (what else do you do with your allowance money as a teen, spend it on cars?) showed me the story immediately, and we both agreed it was never going to happen. I mean, regardless of talent, she was coming off HAPPY HOOKER GOES TO HOLLYWOOD with Adam West, and I don't think that was quite the ideal tier.

It's a shame Beswick and the other actresses of both Bond and Hammer films (quite a bit of crossover) never quite got the chance to attack meatier roles.

The Sylvia character has been described as the other recurring character to go along with Penny and Q to provide some comic relief. One one hand I wish she had stuck around but on the other I can understand why the character was dropped.