From Russia With Love

Rating:
Summary: Classic Bond; Classic Connery; Classic Spy Movie
Review: The follow-up movie to "Dr. No" introduced many of the recurring elements of the James Bond genre: Desmond Llewelyn as Q; gadgets; multiple locales; more tongue in cheek; a larger variety of vehicles; an expanding number of Bond women. All of this works very well. The production values are higher in this movie than in Dr. No. The story moves along faster. There is much more action, including a very believable fight scene on a train between Robert Shaw and Sean Connery.

This Bond movie ranks as one of my favorites. The story is serious, with more tongue-in-cheek than Dr. No, but not obtrusive. This movie is much more in the style of Ian Fleming's books than the later Bond films, particularly those of Roger Moore. Desmond Llewelyn enters as Q for the first time, bringing with him a lovely brief case just brimming with all kinds of interesting things, including gold sovereigns, a throwing knife, a folding rifle (which wouldn't get through any security checkpoint in the world today), and a tear gas canister in your face if you open the brief case wrong. Oh, and the brief case will also hold paperwork or a change of underwear!

The locations for this movie were expanded over Dr. No as well. In this movie, we spend a fair amount of time in Turkey, but also on The Orient Express and several other miscellaneous locations. Watching the train was nearly worth the price of the movie (did you get that I'm something of a train buff?).

Okay, a quick list of other interesting things from this movie. There were a lot of vehicles, cars, boats, trains, and even a helicopter. The scenes under the Soviet embassy are very cool, particularly the scene with the rats. I wondered how they trained those little guys to do their stuff. The references to Dr. No were interesting and provided additional continuity with the Bond series. If you haven't seen Dr. No the references would be lost on you, but for avid Bond fans the references are fun. Lastly, Robert Shaw always plays bad guys well.

Two more obscure interesting things I saw.

During the scene in the gypsy camp when Kerim Bey (played by Pedro Armendariz) is shot, if you go through the scene in slow motion or pause at the right point, you can see the blood bag that he used to simulate being shot.

In the scene where Tatiana Romanova (played by Daniela Bianchi) jumps into James Bond's bed in the hotel room at night, you suddenly realize that she appears to be totally naked. Under normal motion the glimpse is so quick you can get little detail, but with a DVD player you can go through the scene nearly frame by frame.

This movie is a classic in every sense. A classic 60s movie, a classic spy movie, a classic Sean Connery movie. No matter how many times you watch you see something new and interesting. A must-have for any James Bond or Sean Connery fan.

Rating:
Summary: "My orders are to kill you and deliver the Lektor." 2
Review: Synopsis(NOVEL): SMERSH selects the British Secret Service as the target for a 'konspiratsia' - their agent James Bond is to be implicated in a scandal, and then killed. M hears of a Russian woman wishing to defect, and the trap is set.

Synopsis(MOVIE): SPECTRE attempts to take revenge for the killing of their operative, Dr No, by setting a fatal trap for Bond. The bait is the Lektor decoding device and the beautiful Tatiana Romanova, whilst Donovan Grant is the brutal assassin sent to humiliate and kill Bond.

Note: In the novel the Lektor decoder was called the Spektor, can you guess why it`s name was changed?

Rating:
Summary: "My orders are to kill you and deliver the Lektor."
Review: Sean Connery returns to what he (and many others) consider to be the best James Bond movie ever! SPECTRE has assembled a ruthless team to kill James Bond in a most humiliating way. Rosa Klebb, Kronsteen, Morzeny and Red Grant cause 007 so much trouble and bait it with a Lektor decoding machine and a beautiful girl. The new Bond girl is Tatiana Romanov, that 007 eventually wins over to the side of good. The movie has helicopter and boat chases, a gypsy camp battle, a classic train battle and the most loveable 007 characters of all- Kerim Bay. Matt Munro sings the title song and Terence Young directs. A stunning masterpiece that no 007 collection should be without!

Rating:
Summary: More about love than about Russia.
Review: Since this highly touted espionage movie is regarded by many as the best of the James Bond series along with "Goldfinger", I figured it would be a good place for me to be introduced to Sean Connery's legendary Agent 007, aka James Bond. Based on Ian Fleming's novel of the same name, "From Russia With Love" opens with a suspenseful bang. The setting is the cold war, and the ongoing conflict in Instanbul between the Russians and the British. Using the woman Tatiana Romanova as bait, the secret SPECTRE organization tries to pit the two cold-war enemies against each other ("You've been playing us off against each other haven't you), in order to capture a secret Russian "Lector" decoding device in the ensuing confusion. Their strategy is introduced in the beginning with an image of two fish fighting, as a third fish jumps in to claim the spoils when the other two have exhausted each other.

Certainly there is a lot of espionage and action, including a bar fight, a gun battle in a gypsy camp, the cold-blooded killing of enemy agents ("She should have kept her mouth shut") and several improbable chase sequences with a helicopter and boats. And there are some fancy gimmicks, including an exploding briefcase, and switchblade shoes. The ending is rather implausible, as an enemy agent captures Bond on the Orient Express but then instead of immediately shooting him, tells him the entire enemy plot, giving him the opportunity to turn the tables and make the predictable heroic comeback.

But in the end, this movie is just as much about love as it is about Russian espionage. The female double agent (played by Miss Universe 1960, Daniela Bianchi) used to set the trap turns out to be a bit of a bimbo who promptly falls in love with Bond. She has no real character except for a mad obsession for love ("Oh James,will you make love to me all the time in England?"), and to see love conquer professionalism in a trained espionage agent is hardly believable, let alone respectful to women. But this is what the movie is all about: love at first sight, dancing, lots of female flesh and sensuous women, sexual innuendo, and frequent implied promiscuity as James Bond has no problem getting on with all the beautiful ladies he wants. It has some overtones of North by Northwest, but never comes close to matching its counterpart. The success of the movie probably owes something to the fact that John F. Kennedy included the novel in his top ten, and the fact that it is probably the best of all the James Bond movies. Fans of the James Bond are entitled to their opinion that this is one of the best in the genre, but I've just discovered that I don't care for the genre at all, because I was hoping for more Russia than love.

Rating:
Summary: James Bond battles Donald "Red" Grant on the Orient Express
Review: Hey, I heard that the guy who played Kerim Bay in this film committeed suicide after filming for this film was complete.

But any way this film is GREAT! This film`s got everything, great plot, cool charactors, etc. One of the best Bond films of all TIME!

Rating:
Summary: The classic.. which would lead to "Goldfinger"
Review: This movie is filled with a lot of action, whereas Dr. No was a low budget movie(only because no one had any idea their would even be a "James Bond movie Franchise"). The studio knew this movie was sure to be a megahit in which it was, it was Sean Connery's 2nd outing as 007 and you can sort of see a campiness being introduced but the suaveness, sexual remarks, and joking of 007 wouldn't be done until the next motion picture "Goldfinger" which to many fans is the most amazing James Bond film ever made. This movie is filled with lots of action, and great acting, it's also got Q! He would provide 007 with many of his famous weapons, this movie is an improvment over "Dr.No" because of its budget and the style of the movie, not only is 007 more human but the villian is more human over Dr. No who had mechanical hands and worked with radiation, a great rental.. in fact buy it!

Rating:
Summary: Telling Another Action Story
Review: This was the first James Bond film to become a smash hit in America. It had higher production values than "Dr. No" and more than enough action and adventure. A lot of exotic scenery to entertain as well. A formula for success. The plot is a staple of counter-intelligence. Dangle a lure to attract an enemy agent. Capture him, then double or neutralize him. Alternately, pass on information that is mostly true but contains misleading information for a purpose. Does this sound like a plot for a novel?

The movie starts with James Bond being paged, then answering on a car phone. Commonplace now, but far out 40 years ago. JB checks out his hotel room, and finds it bugged. I wonder if this is still common in certain hotels today? The pot is stirred up to provoke a feud (like COINTELPRO?). The film tells how tribes (Gypsies and Bulgars) are used as substitute fighters; not too different from third world wars today. The action at the Gypsy camp is full of sound and fury, but is just a sideshow to pad out the film.

Another sideshow distracts people at the Embassy, and the coding machine is captured. They make a quick getaway to a train to skip the country. All seems to go well, but Tanya is seen boarding the train. Not seen boarding the train is 'Red Grant' the professional killer (or 'Tom Nash', a pun in Russian). The stop in Zagreb shows the need to avoid tardiness! Or a recurring password. In the dining car 'Red Grant' makes a faux pas that betrays his non-U background. After getting the upper hand, 'Red Grant' is betrayed by his greed, and James Bond wins again (its all in the script). The train, which carried them away, must now be abandoned for a new escape route. A Bell helicopter shows up to attack their Chevrolet truck (a technical flaw?). They reach the motor boat to make their escape across the sea. (This scene was popular enough to be repeated in another film.) A final attack occurs at the hotel, but Tanya saves Bond and the machine by shooting Rosa Khleb. Was James Bond ever saved this way in any other film?

Are the Bond films full of violence? Not really. Violence has always been a staple of gangster films. You should understand 007 as the top troubleshooter for a ruling gang (the Imperialists) who squashes upstarts and rivals. Originally the enemy was SMERSH, but changing politics meant a new enemy (SPECTRE) in this film.

Ian Fleming based his stories on his experiences as an agent for British Intelligence. He brought Dusko Popov to warn J Edgar Hoover of Pearl Harbor in July 1941. Robert Shaw may have been picked to play the part of 'Red Grant' because of his resemblance to a real professional agent, as described in the book. Around June 1969 the newspapers printed the picture of a "Lee Harvey Oswald" who resembled the 'Red Grant' character more than the alleged lone gunman of Dallas. Did Hollywood tell us more that we could understand at the time?

Rating:
Summary: from russia with love is the best loved
Review: From russia with love is the best bond film ever and ever will be. Dr. No is a great film and one of the best bonds but is lesser to this one. It is unbelievable how much they perfected the bond series on just the 2nd film, it took the beatles their 3rd album to make a masterpiece of the same time period and the same origion being england. Connery is much more smooth and Eunice Gayson beautifull as ever is more relaxed, wish she was in all the Connery bonds. Top are Pedro Armendariz and Robert Shaw and the beautifull Daniela Bianchi even in a dark nude scene as she meets Connery. Robert Shaws suntan lotion applier is a brief but not to be missed lady in the bathing suit at spector island. From beginning to end this film moves with action. John Barrys score is one of the best and Terence Young gives his best direction in a bond film. The gypsy scene is top as well as the shooting in the ladys mouth as Pedro gets even. The train fight scene with Connery and Shaw is the best scene of the whole series and Shaw at the films teaser at the beginning is remarkable. Even Pedros ladyfriend who returns in goldfinger in another role is to be watched, her outfit and bed settings, colors are very nice and to be admired in the films selection of great taste. And i like the yellow helacopter as well as the last room setting with Connery and Bianchi. And a film of bond in bed with Bianchi, i would not have thrown it into the water.

Rating:
Summary: My personal Favorite, and DVD extras are great
Review: Maybe it is because television stations always seem to run Dr. No or Goldfinger, but I found From Russia With love to be my favorite Sean Connery/Bond film. Maybe it is because of the newness of it.

The James Bond DVDs all have great documentaries and audio commentary. Upgrade your collection now.

Rating:
Summary: Probably The Best James Bond Movie Ever!
Review: FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE is a gem of an action film. The movie is set pretty much in a realistic fashion. Before the series got bogged down with gadgetry, the series relied on excellent storytelling complete with great characterizations. And FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE represents the best of a bygone era of filmaking. Sean Connery is magnetic as James Bond 007, who is licensed to kill. Complete with great scenarios, excellent compelling action, magnifincetly colored scenery, sexy women, & great, but believable gadgets, FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE delivers with a lot of gisto. Highly recommended!