From Russia With Love
Director TERENCE YOUNG Producers ALBERT R BROCCOLI & HARRY SALTZMAN
Screenplay RICHARD MAIBAUM & JOHANNA HARWOOD
Director of Photography TED MOORE Editor PETER HUNT Production designer SYD CAIN
Music JOHN BARRY

Starring SEAN CONNERY James Bond ROBERT SHAW Red Grant
DANIELA BIANCHI Tatiana Romanova LOTTE LENYA Rosa Klebb PEDRO ARMENDARIZ Kerim Bay
VLADEK SHEYBAL Kronsteen FRED HAGGERTY Krilencu
? As ERNST STAVRO BLOFELD
With  BERNARD LEE As M, DESMOND LLEWELYN As Boothroyd & LOIS MAXWELL As Miss Moneypenny

Release Date: UK 10 October 1963, USA 8 April 1964
Running time: 116 Minutes
  Widely considered to be the best Bond film, From Russia With Love was a critical and financial success. The film grossed $78.9 million dollars (Magnificent for its time) worldwide. This proved that bond was not only just a British phenomenon, but Global phenomenon.The US caught on not long after President Kennedy named From Russia With Love one of his ten favorite books.

     After the success of DR.No, producers Saltzman & Broccoli chose From Russia With Love (Considered one of the best of Fleming's novels) as the follow up. United Artists gave them a budget of $1.9 Million dollars (Which was eventually exceeded). Director Terence Young returned, as did much of the original cast and crew. Much of Flemings novel was
retained, except the villains became SPECTRE instead of the soviet agency SMERSH.

   
  The Film works on every level. It has a superb cast, exciting action, and great music. Connery is at his best in this film, he portrays Bond much as Fleming wrote the character. There are moments when you almost forget Connery is only acting. One amazing scene is the confrontation between Bond and Red Grant on the Orient Express. Just before the fight (One of the best fights in cinematic history) there is a brief duel of word in which it seems Bond may have met his match. Connery, at times, seems quite nervous and seems to realize he may actually be defeated. Of course he has a trick up his sleeve and is able to
beat Grant in a brutal fight. But the scene remians as one of the most tense in all the films in the series, mainly because of Connery's and Shaw's performance.

    And speaking of Red Grant, Robert Shaw gives perhaps the best villian portrayal in all the bond films. His silence in the begining makes his character seem all the more sinister. But he really shines during Bond and Grant's encounter on the train. When he pretnds to be the british agent Nash, he is extremely beleivable and its not hard to understand why Bond, at first, trusts him. All in all, Shaw makes Red grant one of the most enduring Bond villains in the series.

    The Bond girl in From Russia With Love is Tatiana (Tanya) Romanova, a soviet assigned to the Russian embassy in Istanbul. Played by Daniela Bianchi, Tanya
is one of the most loved Bond gils in all 19 007 films. She gives a sincere and totally credible performance. A former Miss Rome, Daniela retired from acting not long after her success in From Russia With Love. She did appear in the 1967 Italian made bond spoof, Operation Kid Brother, starring none other than Neil Connery (Sean's Brother).

     Lotte Lenya is fantastic in the role of Rosa Klebb. She is extremly memorable and remains as a fan favorite Bond Villainess. She is the sort of character the audeince loves to hate.

    Another memorable performance is Pedro Armendariz as Kerim Bay. Armendariz gives such a charasmatic portrayal of Kerim Bay it is all the more tragic the way his character (and sadly himself) died. He was hospitalized soon after shooting the film because of a form of terminal cancer. It got so bad during shooting that director Young had to fill in for him in some scenes. Unfortunetly he wasnt able to see the film as he commited suicide while in hospital. He gave a great performance and will be missed forever.
   John Barry replaced Monty Norman as the composer on From Russia With love (Though many, including myself, believe he scored much of Dr no, including the legendary bond theme). And first time out he gives one of the series best scores. His use of the Bond theme and the new 007 theme is terrific. Barry soon became one of the important ingedients of a bond film, and the films without his work seem as if something is missing.

    The film is not perfect though. The main problem is that the climax comes too early and the other action scenes seem somewhat out of place. The book's climax is the fight on the train but the film adds a helicopter chase as well as a short boat chase.  Although well done and very exciting, the later chases dont fit in and cant out do the excitment of the train fight. But those are only minor flaws and they dont hurt the film overall.
                                  Rating

Teaser Sequence: Short but sweet. The first and still one of the best.
                                                      10/10

Credits: Somewhat cheesy, but good overall
                                                       7/10

Theme Song: Not really heard until the end credits, the song sung by matt Munro is good, not great
                                                       8/10

Music: One of Barry's Greatest Scores
                                                       9/10

Location: Istanbul never looked so good.
                                                       8/10

Bond Girls: Tanya remains as one of the best in the series. But She Really Is The Only One
                                                     5/10

Villain: Red Grant and Lotte Lenya are two of the best ever, not just in the Bond films either
                                                       10/10

Gadgets: Not much here, though the breifcase is cool enough to outdo even the gadget heavy films
                                                       9/10

Overall: The best. Its only true rival is the 1969 film, On Her majestys Secret Service
                                                      10/10

                                              Forgein Names

Germany: Love Greetings From Moscow
France:Hearty Kisses From Russia
Italy: To 007, From Russia With love
Belgium: Love & Kisses From Russia
Sweden: Agent 007 Sees Red
Finland: 007 In Istanbul
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