From Russia with Love

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There's a saying in England: Where there's smoke, there's fire! From Russia With Love is directed by Terence Young and adapted to screenplay by Richard Maibaum & Johanna Harwood from the Ian Fleming novel of the same name. It stars Sean Connery, Daniela Bianchi, Lotte Lenya, Robert Shaw & Pedro Armendáriz. Music is by John Barry and cinematography by Ted Moore. James Bond's second cinematic outing has 007 sent on a mission to Istanbul to try and acquire a Russian cypher machine known as Lektor. It's a trap set up by SPECTRE, who formulate a plan to upset the world order whilst murdering Bond in revenge for his killing of their agent Dr. No. Spy Hard! A certain JFK had announced From Russia With Love as being one of his favourite books, thus making the minds up of producers Broccoli & Saltzman to make Fleming's Cold War thriller the follow up to Dr. No. It's a favourite of many a Bond aficionado because it represents one of the few occasions where Bond was still down to earth as a person, a hard working agent forced to do detective work. The adaptation is very literate as well, with a high fidelity to the source material a major bonus to Fleming's fans. The story is tautly told, often with dark tints the deeper Bond gets into things, and a number of excellently constructed set pieces fill out the latter half of the picture. It's not hard to understand why Connery cites this as his favourite Bond film. Though it is mostly free of the gadget excess that would become a trademark of the franchise, it's still very much a quintessential Bond movie. Exotic locations and exotic foes, eye poppingly gorgeous ladies (Bianchi smouldering like few others can), pre-credits sequence, the snazzy title credits (here on a dancing lady), title song crooned by a big name (Matt Munro), Barry's blending of the Bond theme into the score, Blofeld (a faceless Anthony Dawson) and an impressive cast list. One of the film's big strengths is the cast assembled, Connery (firmly moving into iconic realm) is aided considerably by the presence of Lenya, Shaw and Armendáriz, while the first appearance of Desmond Llewelyn as Boothroyd (latterly to be known as Q) is a telling point in the series. With a $2 million budget in the coffers, the makers were able to really push the boat out technically, and so they were rewarded as the pic went on to gross nearly $79 million Worldwide. Crucially it became apparent that James Bond was popular outside of Britain, the template had been set, what would they do with the next Bond outing we all wondered? 8/10

_**SPECTRE agents, Istanbul, Gypsies, beautiful women and the Orient Express**_ Agent 007 (Sean Connery) is sent on a dubious mission at Istanbul to possibly acquire a Lektor cryptography device from the Soviets via their consulate. Bond meets a naïve Russian beauty (Daniela Bianchi) that SPECTRE agent Klebb (Lotte Lenya) recruits to carry out their assassination plan with the help of a brawny Irish Assassin (Robert Shaw). "From Russian with Love" (1963) is a solid sequel in the franchise highlighted by the Istanbul locations, the Gypsy sequence where two women have a catfight (Aliza Gur & Martine Beswick) and, later, a serious train scrap. In addition, Eunice Gayson returns for another cameo as Sylvia Trench and the flick closes with a thrilling clash with a helicopter and a boat chase. Unfortunately, the story’s just not as compelling as “Dr. No” (1962). It’s my least favorite in Connery’s run, although it’s still a solid entry. The film runs 1 hour, 55 minutes and was shot in Istanbul, Turkey; Pinewood Studios near London; and Crinan, Argyll & Bute, Scotland (finale helicopter and boat chase scenes). GRADE: B-

We used to have a maths teacher at school who was small in stature. When the class got a little unruly, she used to stamp her foot on the floor like a petulant child. We called her Miss "Klebb"! I don't think that she ever had a poisonous spike that protruded from her shoe, but I wouldn't have been surprised. In that role, Lotte Lenya is up there in the league of deadly protagonists faced by 007 in this franchise. Robert Shaw - always underrated, I feel - is superb as "Grant" and Pedro Armendáriz is entirely convincing as the urbane "Karim Bey". The story here is a bit of a stretch, but Terence Young keeps it moving along as Sean Connery vies with SPECTRE to pinch a secret decoder from the nasty Soviets with a lethal briefcase of gadgets and gizmos. It's great!

This is an early Bond movie, and more of a spy movie than the later hay day of 007. It's a pretty good spy movie. We do begin to see a lot of what makes 007 with the hot women, the two hottest being minor characters in a catfight scene. We see some nice locales, nice scenery, and we have some interesting gadgets on both sides. We also have the diabolical Specter leader whom I always call "Blowhard", who seems to kill more of his own employees than his opponents do. There is much going for this, but it's not as spectacular as later Bond movies, and we don't get as much exotic scenery as later movies give us. Still, it is just good enough to be in the upper half of 007 films. There isn't a lot of lull in this.

This one, while not as extravagant as some of the later Bond films, holds up surprisingly well as a solid sequel. You can tell the franchise was still finding its footing and polishing its signature style, but there’s a certain charm in that early simplicity. The pacing was steady throughout, never dragging or overstaying its welcome, which made it an enjoyable watch from start to finish. I’ve been hearing great things about the Connery 4K collection, and watching this has definitely pushed me closer to finally picking it up. It feels like the right time to upgrade and experience these in the best quality possible.