From Russia With Love

(Here be spoilers if you are yet to see the James Bond movies...)

The Mission
SPECTRE are still smarting from the defeat of Doctor No in the previous film, so they hatch a plan to steal a prized decoding machine from the Russians that uses James Bond as an unwitting pawn. MI6 is sent word of a defecting Russian agent in Turkey who will only supply the decoder if Bond is sent to bring her in... they suspect Soviet duplicity but send Bond anyway. What neither the Russians or British know is that SPECTRE is playing them off against each other.

Jimmy Bond yo!
Bond (Connery) is introduced to us post-coital after bunting through Oxbridge. He's a bit cocky and sheepish when called in to MI6 for work but remains a resolute charmer of women. He also demonstrates his more gentlemanly qualities when he politely asks for a gypsy catfight to be stopped. Connery is more self-assured than ever throughout From Russia With Love, the stakes are raised in comparison to Dr. No but he still remains calm and confident for the most part. It's worth noting that he incapacitates quite a few of his enemies but never kills unless he's forced to.

Villainy
Blofield makes his first 'appearance' here as the enigmatic Number 1... we hear his voice and see his hands (stroking a white cat... something that has now become synonymous with the James Bond films and their knockoffs) and he is seen at the film's beginning and end - setting up a recurring supervillain for the franchise to build on.

Rosa Klebb (Lotta Lenya) features throughout the film as the main villain, a Soviet colonel who secretly works for SPECTRE as their Number 3. She stays in the background for most of the film, orchestrating the fake defection and double-crosses. It's heavily implied that she's a lesbian - she shirks from a man touching her early on in the film, but is later seen putting on a hand on Tatiana's knee, who she refers to as a 'fine-looking woman'. She also strokes Tatiana's chin, and physically fits the stereotype of a butch military lesbian despite her diminutive stature.

The other main villains are Kronsteen (Vladek Sheybal), a Russian cheessmaster who comes up with SPECTRE's plan, and Red Grant (Robert Shaw), a muscular blond henchman who poses as a British agent. Grant takes centrestage in the last portions of the film, with Shaw looking suitably imposing whilst employing a disarmingly chummy British accent.

Buddies and Babes
The main Bond-ally here is Ali Kerem Bay (Pedro Armendariz), a Turkish ex-circus strongman who works with MI6 and has a seemingly endless gallery of sons who work for him. He also has ties to the local Gypsy community, and is the kind of colourful fatman character who would turn up in later Bond films. Bernard Lee also reappears as M, and Desmond Llewelyn makes the first of 17 appearances as Q, Bond's trusty gadget-man.

Russian defector Tatiana is played Italian model Daniela Bianchi. Bianchi had trouble speaking English so all her dialogue was overdubbed, but it isn't really all that noticeable. She's clearly a better actress than Ursula Andress in the last film, and she's also suitably glamourous.

Locations
Most of the film takes place in Istanbul, Turkey, which is depicted as the point where the East (Russia) meets the West (the UK and America). The climax of the film takes place on a trans-European train that travels through Belgrade and Zagreb in the former Yugoslavia. This is followed by a boat chase off the coast of Greece and some final scenes set in Venice.

Gadgets and Tricks of the Trade
Bond gets some decent gadgets this time round - namely an unassuming-looking briefcase that conceals ammunition, a fold-up sniper rifle, a throwing knife and some gold coins. It also dispenses teargas if not opened in the correct way.

Bond also has a camera that doubles as a recording device, and he checks behind the chandelier and pictures in his hotel room for bugs. He uses a bomb attack to distract the Russian embassy whilst he singlehandedly storms it to steal the decoding device and rescue Tatiana. He also gets Red Grant to talk by flattering his brilliance once he has been captured, something that has since become a well-worn cliche of the genre.

Licence to Kill
A more impressive kill tally in this film compared to Dr. No. Bond shoots at least three Bulgarian lackeys during a full-scale battle between the Gypsies and the Soviets. He also stabs and garottes Red Grant on the train, and shoots a helicopter pilot (causing said helicopter to crash in spectacular fashion). He probably also kills some people when he blows up a series of boats by using barrels of gasoline and a flare gun.

Shag-Rate
James Bond is clearly post-the-business with Sylvia Trench (his casual girlfriend from Dr. No) when re-introduced at the film's beginning. He clearly doesn't value the relationship all that much though as he isn't shy of other girls later in the film.

He shags Tatiana almost immediately upon meeting her (it probably helps that she contacts him by disrobing and crawling into his bed). They also shag again on the train, though Bond is later somewhat disgusted when he learns that their first tryst was secretly filmed by SPECTRE. It's implied at one point that he has had a bit of a good time with the two Gypsy women he stops from fighting, but it's probably a bit far-fetched that he would risk offending the Gypsy man they are fighting over by actually shagging them.

Quotes
ALI KEREM BEY (getting Bond to look through a periscope into Russian headquarters): How does she look to you?
BOND (seeing only her legs) Well, from this angle things are shaping up nicely.

BOND (after enemy-agent Krilencu appears through the mouth of a giant film poster and is promptly shot): She should've kept her mouth shut.

How Does it Rate?
Regarded as one of the best Bond films of the franchise, it's pretty hard to argue against From Russia With Love as a prime example of Connery's James Bond at his best. Compared to the more low-budget Dr. No, it's almost like an entirely different series... the sets are grander (note the giant SPECTRE chess room at the beginning), the locations are more visually appealing, and the emphasis is placed on more serious spy business rather than the pseudo sci-fi fluff that characterised the previous film.

From Russia With Love memorably starts out by showing things from SPECTRE's point-of-view, contrasting the previous film's low-key introduction of MI6 with a broader scale of enemy-planning via fierce training exercises and dour-faced Russian-styled intellectualism. Despite being a lot more realistic than Dr. No it's still not without humour (such as M and his cronies listening to Bond's meandering recording of Tatiana) or excitement (courtesy of an exploitative girl-on-girl Gypsy fight), and it plays out as an entertaining game of traps and counter-plays.

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DIRECTOR: Terence Young
WRITER/SOUCRE: Richard Maibaum and Johanna Harwood, based on the novel From Russia With Love by Ian Flemming.
KEY ACTORS: Sean Connery, Lotta Lenya, Robert Shaw, Pedro Armendariz, Daniela Bianchi, Bernard Lee

RELATED TEXTS:
- The novel From Russia With Love, which ends a bit differently to the film!
- A lot of Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery takes it's cues from this film - Dr. Evil is heavily based on Blofield, Frau Farbissina is clearly based on Rosa Klebb, the use of 'Number 2' as a designation in Evil's organisation, even the climax with Random Task is modelled after the hotel scene near the of From Russia With Love.
- It's probably worth mentioning that Dr. Claw, the villain from the animated series Inspector Gadget, seems to be a cross betweeb Blofield (unseen and always stroking a cat) and Dr. No (metal hands).
- The train sequences are more than a little remniscent of The Lady Vanishes.

AWARDS:
The cinematography won a BAFTA and British Cinematography award.

The theme song was nominated for a Golden Globe.