From Russia With Love (1963) dir. Terence Young
James Bond (Sean Connery) is being stalked through a garden maze by a mysterious figure. The stalker manages to get the jump on Bond and strangle him with a wire garotte concealed in his watch. Our hero is dead! But no, we swiftly learn that this was another man disguised as Bond as a test for Donald “Red” Grant (Robert Shaw), who we will formally meet later.
A chess master named Kronsteen (Vladek Shaybel) is called away from a championship match, but stays just long enough to checkmate his opponent. His summoner, Blofeld (?) is the head of the freelance espionage group SPECTRE. He expects Kronsteen to come up with a plan to destroy James Bond in retaliation for 007’s defeat of their agent Dr. No. The field commander for the operation will be Rosa Klebb (Lotte Lenya), formerly commander of the Soviet counterintelligence agency SMERSH. She recruits Red Grant from SPECTRE Island as the muscle, and Tatiana “Tanya” Romanova (Daniela Bianchi), a clerical worker at the Russian embassy in Istanbul, as the bait. Tatiana is unaware that Klebb has switched allegiance, so believes she is working in the interests of the Soviet Union.
At last we see the real Bond, who’s called away from a picnic with his current lady friend to confer with his boss M (Bernard Lee). Tatiana has sent a communication claiming that she has fallen in love with 007 based on his dossier and photograph, and that she wants to defect, bringing a Lektor coding device with her, but only if James himself comes to pick her up. It’s clearly a trap, but the bait is excellent, and Bond is sure he can outwit the KGB. He flirts with Miss Moneypenny (Lois Maxwell) and gets a gimmicked briefcase from gadgeteer Boothroyd (Desmond Llewelyn), codename Q.
In Istanbul, Bond meets up with local spy chief Kerim Bey (Pedro Armendáriz), an affable fellow who has a relatively relaxed relationship with both Western and Eastern agents. Red Grant works behind the scenes to stir hostilities up between the various spies as part of the SPECTRE plan. bond is temporarily caught up with Kerim Bey’s feud with the Bulgarian agents.
Finally, it’s time for James Bond and Tatiana Romanova to meet. 007 has entered the trap–can he find a way out?
This was the second “official” James Bond movie, rushed into production to come out only a year after Dr. No. One of the biggest changes from the book version is changing the villains from SMERSH to SPECTRE, having the third party manipulate the national agencies against each other. The main plan is to have Bond steal the coding device with Tatiana’s help, film their sex scenes, and then make it appear that they have killed each other in a sordid murder/suicide scandal. As a bonus, SPECTRE will be able to ransom the Lektor back to the Soviets.
Good: Lots of exciting action, excellent scenery in Istanbul, a strong base story. The cast is strong, and Blofeld is suitably sinister and mysterious. The confrontation with Grant on the Orient Express is a classic of suspense and brutal hand to hand combat.
Less good: There’s a lot of setup, so the main plot doesn’t get going until about halfway through the movie. While all the scenes are good in and of themselves, I got a bit impatient for Tatiana and Bond to finally be on screen together, and this means the “falling in love” part is seriously rushed.
Content note: Action movie violence, often lethal, but very little blood. Rosa Klebb is implied to be sexually attracted to Tatiana (this is explicit in the book) and acts creepy about it (bad touch!) Female nudity (blurred), shirtless men. A scene at a “Gypsy” encampment has the traditional exotic dancer, and a less typical “scantily clad women’s professional wrestling” bout. (In the book this is a naked wrestling bout.) Bond is implied to have extramarital sex with multiple women. Karim has a mistress, though they don’t get far before action interrupts. Karim also has multiple sons but no mention of a wift. Fish are forced to fight each other to the death. Late teens and up should be able to handle it, younger viewers may need adult guidance.
This is one of the top Bond movies; the formula isn’t fully settled yet, but Sean Connery has grown into his role. Lotte Lenya is awesome as Rosa Klebb, and the rest of the cast also does a good job. Highly recommended to action movie fans able to handle some outdated cultural notions.
