James Bond 007 - Liebesgrüße aus Moskau

After the success of Dr. No, the movie going public could not get enough of Sean Connery as James Bond. From Russia With Love was almost demanded to be made and it's proved to be one of the most durable of the Bond series in popularity.

That infamous third echelon SPECTRE is after a new Russian decoding machine that the West would certainly like to lay its mitts on as well. But SPECTRE has something additional in mind. Knowing that MI5 will send its best in 007 after the decoder, they have it in mind to kill James Bond. And the alluring bait will be Daniela Bianchi, their agent.

Of course as always no woman can resist the sex appeal of James Bond as packaged by Sean Connery. Personally I've always liked Roger Moore best in the part, I like Sean Connery as well, but more for his non-Bond roles. That I'm sure will be appreciated by Sean Connery should he ever get to read this review.

The cinematography in a story that takes place in Istanbul and along the Mediterranean Sea is gorgeous. Connery gets a really outstanding cast in support including Pedro Armendariz for whom this was a final performance as Bond ally Ali Kerim Bey.

Robert Shaw has a part of few words as the paid assassin SPECTRE has trained for the purpose of killing James Bond. Shaw is terrifying in his role and the fact he did it without much use of a voice that was one of the best in the English language, testifies to his ability as an actor. His confrontation with Connery on the Orient Express is one of the great fight scenes ever done on film.

However I have a warm spot in my heart for Lotte Lenya as Rosa Klebb, the Russian defector now working for SPECTRE, the woman with those killer orthopedic shoes. Kenneth Cole never designed better.

From Russia With Love has everything you want in a James Bond film, action, sex, and exotic locations. And Sean Connery, who could complain.

Hard to believe, but the movie is actually an improvement on Fleming's novel. Rather than have the Lektor operation be a simple Russian scheme to discredit Bond as Fleming did, SPECTRE takes a hand here in their first on-screen appearance as an organization. The plot is improved considerably because of this. The movie thrives on its supporting actors and Sheybal. Connery is somewhat outshone by these greater lights, but gives a credible performance. From Russia... is a different pace of movie: no one here is intent on wiping out the world's population, or destroying the gold supply, or stealing submarines. Basically, it's a quiet little plot focusing on an elaborate "sting" operation. Until the end, the pace is kind of slow, and might lose more "modern" audiences, particularly those used to incredible stunt sequences every 20 minutes.

A chess genius by the name of "Kronsteen" (played by Vladek Sheybal) is also the #5 ranked member of the secret criminal organization known as SPECTRE. He has come up with a foolproof plan which includes: (1) stealing a top secret Russian decoding machine called a "Lektor". (2) Increasing tension between NATO and the Warsaw Pact to the point of a possible war and (3) Killing "James Bond" (Sean Connery) in retaliation for the death of one of their operatives named "Dr. No". Kronsteen convinces #1 ("Ernst Blofeld") of his plans and #3 "Rosa Klebb" (Lotte Lenya) is ordered to assist him. Thinking that Colonel Klebb is still a member of SMERSH (the Russian secret service), the beautiful Russian intelligence analyst "Tatiana Romanova" (Daniela Bianchi) is pressed into luring James Bond to Istanbul so that he can acquire the Lektor from the Russian consulate. Once this is accomplished a ruthless assassin named "Grant" (Robert Shaw) is ordered to take the Lektor on behalf of SPECTRE and kill both James Bond and Tatiana Romanova. Obviously, the plot is very intricate and there are twists and turns throughout the movie, but for the sake of brevity I thought it best to end here. Overall, this is a remarkable movie which has nice cinematography, splendid acting, well-written scripts and good direction (Terence Young). Sean Connery is once again excellent as Agent 007. Pedro Armendiaz, who plays "Kerim Bey" (the head of Turkish intelligence), also performs admirably as does Robert Shaw. Likewise, Daniela Bianchi (a former Miss Rome and 1960 Miss World runner up) is a ravishing addition to this film as well. In short, it has the scenery, talent, script and direction that you need to make a good film and it is used to the utmost. A good James Bond film.

'From Russia With Love' is the second and last of the Bond films to be made without a rigid formula. With 'Goldfinger', the expected elements of the later films would all accrue in a single film, setting a template the series would struggle to escape from (and, for the most part, would not bother trying to). So, like 'Dr. No', there's only a single sex interest (let's not use the term 'love' too lightly), rather than the good-girl-survives, bad/tragic-girl-dies dichotomy that would later structure all the films (bar OHMSS and, interestingly, the Dalton films), and unlike 'Dr. No', the villainous plot is rather small beer and resolutely real-world - to steal a code machine and humiliate the British Intelligence community in the process. There's also no bombastic theme song, although Matt Monro provides an easy-listening version of the theme tune at the end (it's not half bad, actually, although Shirley Bassey's brassy 'Goldfinger' makes it seem antediluvian in comparison).

Effectively, this means that it's the last Bond film in which the makers were trying to make a film, not a Bond film. It didn't matter if the motifs were all there or not, it only mattered if it was a good film. Unsurprisingly, it has a good claim to being the best film of the series, and it's certainly the least self-conscious (compare with 'Thunderball', an artificial attempt to replicate 'Goldfinger' but making everything bigger).

So, Daniela Bianchi isn't really just the latest 'Bond Girl', but the character at the heart of this thriller - she pretty much is the story. Ursula Andress might have had an iconic entrance in 'Dr. No', but she was so much window-dressing, irrelevant to the plot, arriving late and with almost no agency in the events that unfold around her. By contrast, the crucial pivot of 'From Russia With Love' is whether Bianchi's Tanya will side with Bond or SMERSH - the age old 'love or duty' dilemma.

The film also takes time with detours that have little to do with the main plot - as in the sequence at the gypsy camp. There is a real feeling of a functioning world around Bond's escapades, rather than just colourful 'exotic' backdrops.

There also isn't an undue emphasis on big action set pieces - Bond's encounter with a helicopter (very 'North by Northwest' - in fact Hitchcock's influence is detectable throughout this film, from the Cathedral sequence, to the cool Blondeness of Bianchi, to the train setting of the second half) and the climactic speedboat chase are well-executed, but miniature next to those of later films. Tellingly, the best remembered action sequence is the fight between Connery and Robert Shaw on the train, and the series would never better this intimate, brutal struggle.

Shaw is by far the best of the series' bull-necked heavies - he's intelligent and charismatic as well as forceful, almost a Bond-equivalent. Lotte Lenya and Pedro Armendariz are both excellent in their supporting turns, reminders of a time when the series actually featured fully developed supporting characters, and Bianchi is good - she may lack the overt sex appeal of Andress, but she's a better actress, playing innocent without being either stupid or dull. Connery really grows into the role here, a long way from the pork-pie hatted clod he was in the first film but still untamed and prickly enough to be an exciting screen presence. It was a long slow decline from here to the tubby jobsworth of 'Diamonds Are Forever'.

The early Bond films often escape the critical gaze, and when they are subjected to it, it is usually through rose-tinted spectacles. 'Dr. No' is dull and poorly acted, 'Goldfinger' fun but rather shapeless, and 'Thunderball' just tries too hard altogether. 'From Russia With Love' is a polished little gem, a cold-war thriller done with great style, and a minor masterpiece, irrespective of the series around it.

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