From Russia With Love in Review

If 'Dr. No' ushered in the ingredients of the Bond blockbuster, it was 'From Russia With Love' which provided the construction template for future instalments.

Many of it's elements were taken up as templates for the later films - a pre-titles action sequence, a sweeping theme song, a memorable John Barry music score, helicopter action, powerboat chase, brawl with brutal henchman, etc.

The story? Bond is sent to Istanbul to scoop up beautiful Russian defector Tatiana Romanova, unaware that SPECTRE villains Lotte Lenya and Robert Shaw are behind the scheme in an attempt to avenge the death of their operative, Dr. No, at the hands of Bond.

Lenya's attack on Bond with a pair of killer heels is an iconic piece of villainy, but Shaw and Sean Connery's fight in a cramped carriage on the Orient Express is as spectacularly choreographed and genuinely brutal as any in cinema. These are just two of the many excellent set-pieces that enliven what is arguably the best film of the series.

Chosen to follow 'Dr No' partly because newly-installed JFK had named Fleming's book as one of his top ten reads, 'From Russia With Love' remains Connery's favourite Bond film and still thrills audiences to this day.

(Adam Lee Davies)

Use this thread to post your formal reviews of From Russia With Love. Here's mine:
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From Russia With Love (1963)

After the incredible success of the first James Bond film Dr.No, producers Albert R. Broccoli and Harry Saltzman, upon hearing that American president John F. Kennedy’s top ten novels included From Russia With Love, decided that that novel would be their next film.

Adapted by Johanna Harwood and scripted by Richard Maibaum from Ian Fleming’s novel, From Russia With Love became the second official James Bond film, and it is among aficionados and the general public, arguably the best. Part of its storyline derived from the death of SPECTRE’s operative of the title character in Dr.No, the previous Bond film. The rest was essentially adapted from the novel, but how thought out and meticulously written each character is always strikes me. The plot is utterly engaging and the characters were all different and had depth. But some credit also goes to the actors.

So much credit goes to each actor who portrayed a character in the 1963 film. Sir Sean Connery is, once again, brilliant for the suave yet ruthless secret agent. Daniela Bianchi was introduced to the world as the innocent cipher clerk, Tatiana ‘Tania’ Romanova, and she was marvellous, as was Vladek Sheybal (Kronsteen) and Walter Gotell (Morzeny). Notable actors that brilliantly portrayed their respective characters are Lotte Lenya as the lesbian villainess of Rosa Klebb, Pedro Armendariz, as the faithful and intelligent ally of Kerim Bey and Robert Shaw as the chilling blonde henchman of “Red” Grant – All these actors well and truly exceeded the heightened expectations one could hope for in terms of convincing performances. Supporting regulars were top notch too, but this wasn’t a first in the Bond films.

New things that began in From Russia With Love include the pre-titles sequence (PTS) which has remained to this date, an icon of the series. This is a scene before the opening credits to tease the audience of what is to follow, but ironically, the PTS is usually one of the most anticipated and liked parts about the Bond films as well as many other things introduced in From Russia With Love.

Desmond Llewelyn debuted as the equipment officer in From Russia With Love (the character would evolve into ‘Q’ by the next Bond movie, Goldfinger). He appeared with a ‘nasty little Christmas present’ that ultimately saved Bond’s life – the attaché case. Llewelyn would remain a much loved favourite in the series, appearing in seventeen of twenty two Bond films, linking five of the six Bond actors.

John Barry scored the film with an excellent array of compositions, particularly the song in the opening credits. His music is fitting to each scene and it just adds to the excitement and exoticness of it all. This would be repeated in several Bond outings, and the Bond theme’s renditions worked extremely well.

One thing I want to stress is that this movie is one of the definitive Bond films. There are many moments in this film where there are several ‘Bondian’ scenes in a row, for example, the gypsy scenes, followed by the assassination of Krilencu, followed by Bond and Tatiana’s first meeting. It’s just one Bondian scene after another.

All in all, this cold war thriller is one of the definitive James Bond films. All of the actors performed brilliantly and convincingly and it was the introduction of many things to follow in other Bond epics. It just shows on screen how much effort was put into the making of this film. People say that Shakespeare is perennial which is true, but audiences back then and now must understandably think that James Bond is too.

My FRWL review, courtesy of the MI6 Archives:

Suppose You Happened to be a Film Star
A Review of From Russia With Love by Fairbairn-Sykes

Everyone's favourite. My favourite. Not perfect, but good on all levels. The benchmark all should follow, but fail to live up to. Ian Fleming's Bond on screen. Connery's best performance as Bond. EON Productions second Bond picture, From Russia With Love. Building and improving on their first effort, Dr. No, EON wisely retained the same team. Director Terrance Young continued to build the world of Bond as played by Connery and adapted from Fleming by Ricard Maibaum. Bernard Lee and Lois Maxwell returned as the only M and Moneypenny we ever gave a damn about. Desmond Llewelyn replaces Peter Burton as Major Boothroyd, the first step of transforming the minor role an armourer into the major role of Q.
SPECTRE, hinted at in Dr. No, makes its full debut and the head of the organization, Ernst Stavro Blofeld, makes his first, and most effective, film appearance -- faceless, intelligent, menacing. Stroking a white Persian cat and handing out death in exchange for failure. Eric Pohlmann is Ernst Stavro Blofeld, and after Thunderball the character would never be quite as believable a threat, unfortunately.
Gyspy camp. Orient Express. Helicopter sequence. This are scenes Bond fans remember. The scene where Bond meets Tatiana is still the standard screen test for potential Bonds and Bond girls.
Okay.
Let's rate this f*cker.
PHYSICAL EXERTION (ACTION): FRWL has more action than its cinematic predecessor, and certainly with John Barry doing the music that action is better scored. Connery, however, seems less strained by it. He seems to go through all the fights and excitement unaffected, as if invincible. Is this a fault? No. It's the point. This is not because Bond is superman, it is because Grant is protecting Bond. When Grant fights Bond -- ah, then Bond has encountered something he cannot grapple with, and we have a match of abilities, and we have the best fight scene in the series. Before this we have the gypsy camp fight, after it the helicopter scene and the battle with Rosa Klebb. With the exception of the fairly weak boat chase sequence near the end, all of FRWL's action is intense, tension-driven, and visceral. Like a Fleming action sequence.
9 out of 10.
MYSTERY (PLOT): What genre do modern Bond films belong to? Without a doubt, action movie. When From Russia With Love was released, this was not a genre. What is the genre of From Russia With Love? Thriller. Espionage thriller. The spiritual sucessor to North by Northwest, FRWL fits the spy genre like a glove, as opposed to Dr. No, which feels more like a somewhat sensationalized police drama. From Russia With Love puts Bond in danger without him realizing it. That's brilliant, and that's from Fleming. What Maibaum has changed is who is placing Bond in danger. And, in hindsight, it actually makes more sense that SPECTRE would develop an elaborate plot to play the British and Russians against one another to get a decoding machine, rather than that SMERSH would develop an elaborate plot just to kill James Bond. Be that as it may, Maibaum's script has some issues, not the least of which was his decision to add more fight scenes following Bond's battle with Grant on the train. That fight is the movie's climax, so the helicopter and boat chases feel like they're just drawing out the movie's running time and providing an excuse for explosions. Which they are.
FRWL's plot gets it an admirable 9 out of 10 as well.
A RUTHLESS ENEMY (DRAMA): Okay, now what about FRWL's ruthless enemy? Well, there are four. Red Grant is the perfect expression of the Anti-Bond -- Bond as he fears he might be, a cold, ruthless killer. Bond's match. Kronsteen is the perfect schemer, the analytical mind turned to an evil end. Rosa Klebb is the perverse Russian masculine woman, everything Bond hates in one body. The irony is Kronsteen is not the chessmaster -- Ernst Blofeld is. He brings these forces together, places them on the board, and moves them as he pleases. In addition to these vicious villains, we get amiable allies -- Tanya is one of the most gorgeous Bond girls, the gang at MI6 are assembled in forms lasting for the next twenty years, and Kerim Bey is the greatest onscreen Bond ally, feeling like he stepped directly out of Fleming's novel in the form of Pedro Armendariz, who gives a fantastic performance despite his illness at the time. Into this is swept Sean Connery as James Bond, playing every moment exactly as it should be played -- from palling around with Kerim to despising Grant to never really believing Tanya for an instant. It's not THE most dramatic Bond film, but everything that it tries to do it succeeds at, and that's worth something.
FRWL's four ruthless enemies must earn it a 9 out of 10 again!

Is From Russia With Love the greatest James Bond film ever made? In my opinion, it shouldn't be. That honour should've gone to On Her Majesty's Secret Service, or maybe Thunderball. But TB gets pulled down by it's bloated nature and OHMSS has too many technical eccentricites and FRWL wins because nothing really is wrong here at all. I would've preferred six or seven Bond films with Connery in the role and Young at the helm than the 22 entries and forty-eight years of up and down mediocrity with flashes of excitement we ended up receiving.

In the final analysis, FRWL works because it works. It's an effective thriller on every level, instead of worrying about having to top its predecessor or some other film at the box office at the time. It's just doing its best, and doing it well. And so it must be called the best Bond film of all time, with the best Bond and the best director, and the best cast...

In the novel, M justifies Tanya's odd fixation on Bond's photo by saying, "suppose you were a film star", since girls fall in love with their photoes all the time. After the premiere of From Russia With Love, James Bond didn't have to suppose any longer.

From Russia With Love (1963) -- 9 out of 10.

From Russia With Love (1963) - 9.5/10
When the casual filmgoer thinks James Bond, they might not immediately think “realism”. But From Russia With Love is just that, a realistic spy thriller. And a thriller it is: Sean Connery is as great as Bond as he was in Dr. No. Bond girl Tatiana is a little more than a girl Bond picked up for the ride (like in Dr. No) which is a nice change. From Russia With Love had double the budge Dr. No had and it shows; the cinematography and locations are incredible. Kerim Bay should also go down as Bond’s best ally; his death is truly a powerful moment. Oh, and the fight on the Orient Express with Grant? Bond’s best fist fight of the entire series. Not only is From Russia With Love a fantastic Bond film, but a marvelous and thrilling spy caper as well.

"Now about that lunch" has to be one of the most brilliant flying-crap-under-the-radar lines from the entire series.

Take that "cunning linguist"!

I revisited FRWL a few days ago. I'm as convinced as ever that Cold War-era Istanbul was the best Bond setting ever. You got the Brits using the Turks, the Turks using the gypsies, the Russians using the Bulgars... throw in SPECTRE and a playful Tanechka into the mix and you got one fine thriller.

GeneralGogol wrote:

I revisited FRWL a few days ago. I'm as convinced as ever that Cold War-era Istanbul was the best Bond setting ever. You got the Brits using the Turks, the Turks using the gypsies, the Russians using the Bulgars... throw in SPECTRE and a playful Tanechka into the mix and you got one fine thriller.

Well said. This and Doctor No were easily the most realistic Bond movies with OHMSS and FYEO following closely. There was actually genuine suspense and believable action in FRWL as well as convincingly despicable villains and a fine Bond girl. May I say as well that Sean Connery gave his best ever performance as 007 in this movie. No wonder he cites it as his favourite.

Just a couple of observations from a viewing last night.

FRWL inaugurated the "docent scene," which later cropped up in Spy and MR. Specifically, I'm talking about the razzmataz about the alabaster urn and the ablution fountain in the Hagia Sophia. In Spy, there is the narration of the pyramids at Giza--pitched stubbornly against sand and wind--and Anne Lomborg rabbiting on about General Menotti's sword in the Venini Glassworks. I would love to see another of these docent scenes in the next Bond film, if there is another Bond film.

Also, there is another tie-in with MR, specifically a shot of the Doge's Palace alongside Venice's Grand Canal with the campanile bonging in the background. We get the campanile doing its thing also in MR. And, having heard that bell ring in person--as it were--I can tell you it is one of the most impressive--and sinister--sounds to be heard on earth.

Perilagu Khan wrote:

FRWL inaugurated the "docent scene," which later cropped up in Spy and MR...

Interesting pick up.

I suspect a quantum of culture along those lines would get in the way of nuBond making his latest TikTok, but one can live in hope.

DAF has something like this with a voice going on about the skinny bridge around the time the old lady gets fished out of the drink.

Not that I'm a big fan of Tom M's work, but does anybody else hunger for something new along the lines of Le Rochewhoosis coming up in DAF? You can't tell me that the guy playing nuBlofeld wouldn't have chomped at the bit to have something like that to play, even if it was to just throw it away.

trevanian wrote:

DAF has something like this with a voice going on about the skinny bridge around the time the old lady gets fished out of the drink.

That's right. And wasn't there something similar in Gun with the shipwreck in Kowloon Bay?

I should remember that, because I really remember liking that matte shot of the ship, but I've probably seen GG less than most of these films. Though I could hum the music from the scene, and from the aerial approach to Mr. S's island ...