From Russia with Love
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 Film ♠ Novel ♣ Comic ♦ Soundtrack ♥ Song ♠ DVD ♣ Blu-ray ♦ Video Game
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| From Russia with Love Film Poster. | |
| From Russia with Love | |
| James Bond | Sean Connery |
|---|---|
| Directed By | Terence Young |
| Written By | Ian Fleming |
| Screenplay | Richard Maibaum Johanna Harwood (adaptation) |
| Editing by | Peter R. Hunt |
| Music By | John Barry |
| Budget | $2 million |
| Gross | $78,900,000 |
| Distributed By | United Artists |
| Released | 1963 (UK) 1964 (USA) |
| Running Time | 115 min. |
| Preceded By | Dr. No |
| Followed By | Goldfinger |
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Main Title Theme | |
| Song | "From Russia with Love" |
| Composer | Lionel Bart |
| Performer | Matt Monro |
James Bond is sent to Istanbul on a mission to obtain a highly sought-after Lektor decoder device from stunning Russian defector Tatiana Romanova, but the spy's predicament is actually a ruse devised by crime cartel SPECTRE as an attempt to gain revenge for his previous killing of their operative, Dr. No.
Contents |
Plot summary
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Late one night, British Agent James Bond 007 sneaks through a graveyard trailing a dangerous blonde assassin. The assassin eventually gets the jump on him and garrotes him to death with a wire concealed in his watch. As the garden lights up, it is revealed that this "Bond" is actually a man wearing a prosthetic mask - It was all a training exercise by S.P.E.C.T.R.E. - the criminal organization revealed by Dr.No.
At Venice, a climatic chess match is being played by two masters: Kronsteen and his opponent MacAdams. Kronsteen is secretly delivered a message on a napkin under his glass of water and quickly trumps MacAdams. Arriving on a luxury yacht, he meets with his superior - A man cradling a white cat, amusing himself and a Soviet Assassin. He is none other than the dreaded Number One of S.P.E.C.T.R.E. and introduces Kronsteen as "Number Five". Kronsteen explains the manipulative plan he has prepared to steal the new Russian decoding machine 'LEKTOR', which will require a female member of the cryptographic section in Turkey and the "help of the British Secret Service". The Soviet assassin is actually Colonel Rosa Klebb - The former head of operations for the deadly Russian counter-intelligent division SMERSH, who has secretly defected and is now Number Three. Klebb has already picked out a woman whose "loyalty to the state is beyond question" and is most likely unaware Klebb has switched sides. Kronsteen further explains that the British will see the whole affair as a challenge they can't resist, as they wanted a LEKTOR for years. They will most likely pick James Bond for the assignment which will give them revenge for the killing of Dr.No.
Klebb flies to S.P.E.C.T.R.E. Island - the training facility and meets with the blonde assassin - a psychotic who escaped from Dartmoor, Donovan "Red" Grant. He has been chosen for this assignment and, after testing him, Klebb agrees to include him.
In Istanbul, a woman named Tatiana Romanova, nicknamed "Tania" heads off to secretly meet with Klebb. Klebb asks if she knows who she is and maintains her cover. She has chosen Tania for a "most important assignment" and asks her questions concerning love. She hands her a picture of a man and informs her that he must do anything he says no matter what to give false information, and threatens that if she speaks about this, she will be shot immediately.
Bond arrives in London after some fun with Sylvia Trench. M tells him about Romanova and that she has contacted them in Station T(Turkey) - lead by agent Kerim Bay. She claims to have fallen in love with Bond after seeing a photograph of him and wants to defect, and will even bring the new LEKTOR decoding machine, but only if Bond personally brought them both himself. Bond and M both are both suspicious about the whole thing, but the LEKTOR is too important to pass up and Bond agrees to go anyway. The equipment officer from Q Branch brings his equipment: "an ordinary black leather case" with an array of gadgets, including a folded snipers rifle, ammunition, 50 gold sovereigns, a knife, and a tear gas cartridge that will explode if the case isn't opened the right way.
Bond departs for Istanbul and is already being followed by Bulgarians working for the Russians, including Grant. Bond meets with Kerim Bey whose staff seemed to be comprised of his sons. Bey tells him that Romanova is making the arrangements and the only thing they can do now. As Bond is driven to his hotel, the Russian guard checks the car that was tailing him to find the Bulgarian dead - killed by Grant. Grant meets with Klebb who informs them that the only one the Russians can suspect now are the British, things are about to heat up.
Bond finds his hotel room entirely bugged and asks to be moved to the only other room available, the bridal suite. As Bey relaxes himself in his room, he and his mistress are nearly killed by a limpet mine trap. Bond meets with him and Bey is confused why the Russians would suddenly go so far. They go down to his cellar to a secret room with a periscope to peek in the Russian conference room in the consulate. Leading Russian agents are meeting and Bey recognizes the dangerous Krilencu, a Bulgarian assassin who "kills for pleasure", the one who laid the limpet mine trap. Romonava then walks in and Bond gets his first look at her. He asks for surveillance plans of the consulate, Bey opts for both of them to escape to a gypsy camp where they can escape from Krilencu.
Bond clearly enjoys himself at the camp, and even watches two women try to kill each other for falling for the same man. The camp is then attacked by Krilencu's men leading to a huge gunfight. Grant lurks in the background and saves Bond from anybody who tries to kill him. Bond is hailed a hero and is later paid a visit that night by the two women.
The next morning, Bey is determined to finish off Krilencu. They track him to a hotel room as he tries to escape through a giant advertisement of "Call me Bwana", Bey manages to finish him off with the folded snipers rifle. Bond returns to the bridal suite to find none other than Romanova. Bond seduces her and immediately makes plans for getting the LEKTOR out. Neither are aware that they are being filmed through the other side of the mirror by Klebb and Grant.
Bond and Tania meet at mosque and are followed being followed. Before either of them can do anything, the man is killed by Grant and Bond finds the surveillance plans on him. Bey is confused on who could have killed him and is wary that things seem to be going to easy for them and to be distrustful of Romanova.
Bond and Tania then meet on a ferry and discuss the LEKTOR, their conversation recorded and sent to London, listened to by M, Q, and leading agents. Although Bond embarrasses M, they agree to go ahead with the deal. He gets access to the consulate and Bey and Bond prepare themselves. Bey sets off a tear gas bomb underneath the building and Bond and Tania manage to escape with the LEKTOR in the chaos. They board the Orient Express train, but are being tailed by security man Benz who knows Romanova. All of them are unaware that Grant is already on board.
Bey has already prepared visas and false ID's for them. Bey knows the conductor and manage to prepare to have the train stopped, where they will drive with Bey's sons secretly across the border. Bey and Bond confront Benz on the train, and everything finally seems to be under control.
As Bond heads for the restaurant car, a train guard gives him bad news - Bey and Benz are both dead, apparently killing each other. Bond is manages to convince him not to stop the train now, and confronts Romanova. He demands answers and knows she's doing all this under orders. Tania weeps that "even if you kill me, I can say nothing.", and says she has truly has fallen in love with him. Bond isn't satisfied at all.
The train continues it's journey and stops at Beograd. One of Bey's sons is there and asks why the train didn't stop, Bond gives the bad news. He tells him to send a message to M to have an agent from Zagreb meet up with him to help get the LEKTOR through. When the train gets there, Grant gets to the agent first and kills him. Posing as the agent "Nash", Grant finally formally meets with Bond. Bond is suspicious and attaches the tear gas cartridge to his briefcase.
"Nash" meets with Tania and Bond in the restaurant car. He slips a drug into Tania's drink and Bond confronts him at gunpoint. "Nash" tells him that the escape route is only for one, "who are you after, the girl or the LEKTOR?". Bond concedes and as "Nash" explains his plan, he knocks Bond out and disarms him. Grant taunts him as he awakens, calling him "old man" and Bond asks if that's what SMERSH agents call each other, but Grant just smiles. Only now does Bond realize that S.P.E.C.T.R.E. is behind everything, not the Russians, and they've been playing both sides against each other. Bond guesses that is was Grant who killed the agent in the mosque, Kerim and Benz, and Nash. Grant tells him that they are professionals and they've been keeping Bond alive until he could get them the LEKTOR for them, saving his life at the gypsy camp. Bond questions if Tania is working for them too, but Grant reveals she knows nothing and is under orders from Klebb who is now with S.P.E.C.T.R.E, she simply doesn't know that. Grant further explains the embarrassing cover, that they've already recorded a film of the two in the bridal suite and created a letter from her, supposedly threatening to give the film to the press unless she marries him for helping him get the LEKTOR, making the whole thing look like blackmail and revenge.
Bond understands now and says "Must be a pretty sick collection of minds to dream up a plan like that.", and tries tempting Grant with the 50 gold sovereigns in his briefcase. Grant has the tear gas cartridge explode in his face, and they both have a brutal fight onboard the train, eventually leading to Bond stabbing him with the hidden knife in his case and garotting Grant with his own wire. The train stops at Grant's escape point, and Bond and Romanova escape in the contact's truck. They are eventually discovered by a S.P.E.C.T.R.E. helicopter which nearly kills Bond by ramming at him at high speeds and dropping grenades. Bond manages to kill the pilot by shooting him as he holds a grenade, blowing them up. Bond and Tania continue till then reach a boat, heading for Venice.
Number One is disappointed with Kronsteen and Klebb after hearing about Grant's death. He does not tolerate failure and has henchman Morzeny show off his poison-tipped knife hidden in his shoe. He presumably aims for Klebb but then kills Kronsteen. Klebb assures him they can still take the LEKTOR.
As Bond travels by boat, they are attacked by Morzeny with a fleet of boats trying to stop them. They shoot at fuel canisters, which Bond them dumps in the water. He takes out a flare gun from the boat and shoots them, exploding the canisters and taking out the fleet.
They eventually arrive in Venice to rest and prepare for the last leg of their journey. Klebb, disguised as a maid, attempts to steal the LEKTOR from under Bond, but Tania sees her and she silences her. Klebb holds Bond at gunpoint and demands that Romanova help her take the LEKTOR out. Tania is unsure, but eventually has a change of heart and fights back. Klebb tries to kill Bond with her own poison-tipped shoe, but is eventually shot by Tania.
The two of them at last peacefully enjoy themselves on a gondola ride. They passionately kiss as Bond pulls out the recorded film and remarks that it was quite a performance, and throws it in the water.
Background NotesEdit
Original VersionsEdit
- This film follows the plot of Ian Fleming's fifth Bond novel almost to the letter, with several lines of dialogue taken directly from the book.
- The major change between the cinematic and literary versions of the story is the villain, which is the Russian organization SMERSH in the book. This alteration was made because the Cold War was at its height at the time of this film's production and release, and EON Productions felt it inadvisable to cast the Russians as villains.
- This film features several minor changes from the book that were made in an attempt to integrate SPECTRE into the storyline, so that villainous henchman Red Grant is responsible for actions that are committed by other characters in the novel. Other than these topical changes, the film's plot is the same as the novel's.
- The valuable decoder device, a LEKTOR, is named Spektor in the novel. The change was made to avoid confusing the audience with the similarly named SPECTRE.
- Alfred Hitchcock was originally considered as director for the film version in 1958, with Cary Grant as Bond and Grace Kelly as Tatiana Romanova, but the deals fell through when the Hitchcock movie Vertigo performed badly at the box office. The helicopter scene in this film mimics a famous scene from the movie Hitchcock did instead, North by Northwest, in which the main character, played by Cary Grant, is chased by a cropduster.
Firsts & ContinuityEdit
- The criminal organization SPECTRE was previously introduced in Dr. No by the title villain in that film, Dr. Julius No. That movie also establishes the villain's position as an operative of SPECTRE. In From Russia with Love, SPECTRE's pursuit of revenge upon James Bond for killing Dr. No makes this film a sequel to the previous James Bond film.
- This film features the first appearance of Desmond Llewelyn as Major Boothroyd, known as Q, the character he would play in nearly all of the series' films, until his death in 1999. The Q character appeared in the previous film, Dr. No, but was portrayed by actor Peter Burton, and was never referred to as "Q" by M, who addressed the character as both "Armourer" and "Major Boothroyd".
- This film features the first appearance of Ernst Stavro Blofeld, leader of SPECTRE, although he wouldn't directly confront Bond until You Only Live Twice, the fifth film in the movie series.
- Though From Russia with Love was filmed in the 1960s, before the invention of the pager, Bond carries one in this film, enabling MI6 to immediately contact him.
- Years after this film's release, the scene in which Bond first encounters Tatiana in his hotel room would often be used to screen-test actors for the James Bond and leading lady roles. While Sam Neil was being considered for the role of Bond in 1987's The Living Daylights, he acted in the scene with Maryam d'Abo as Tatiana Romanova (even before she won the role of Kara Milovy).
SoundtrackEdit
See: From Russia with Love (soundtrack)
Critical ReceptionEdit
- From Russia with Love is frequently considered the best of the James Bond film series by many fans and critics, and by actor Sean Connery (although even critical opinion varies greatly). The film is also often considered the ideal Bond film that each film strives to aim for. Michael G. Wilson once stated, "We always start out trying to make another From Russia with Love and end up with another Thunderball." In 2004, Total Film magazine named From Russia with Love the ninth-greatest British film of all time.
Other TriviaEdit
- Reportedly, author and James Bond creator Ian Fleming makes a cameo in the Istanbul train scene (following Bond's stealing the LEKTOR decoder), standing outside on the right of the train, wearing grey trousers and a white sweater; some sources deny Fleming's appearance.
- Pedro Armendáriz, who played Kerim Bey, was sick with cancer during the production, and committed suicide after filming was completed. His son, Pedro Armendáriz Jr., later portrayed the President of the Republic of Isthmus in Licence to Kill, the 1989 James Bond film.
- Lotte Lenya's character, Colonel Rosa Klebb, often is cited as prototype of the Frau Farbissina character in the Austin Powers spy spoof series. Klebb would be the first of several Bond villains with ambiguous sexuality. Lotte Lenya was the widow of Kurt Weill. In the film "Undercover Blues" starring Dennis Quaid and Kathleen Turner, in the mock-torture scene, Dennis Quaid refers to Kathleen Turner (who was pretending to be a Russian doctor specializing in pain) as "Dr Lottelenya," a clear tribute to Lotte Lenya's portrayal of Rosa Klebb.
- The Bulgarian assassin Krilencu tries to escape from his apartment through a secret window in a billboard advertising Call Me Bwana, the only non-James Bond film produced by EON Productions.
- The "007" theme (the song played during the gunfight at the gypsy camp and also during Bond's theft of the LEKTOR) was used as part of the Eyewitness News format on Philadelphia television station KYW-TV.
- A version of the haunting "Stalking" track -- from the pre-credit sequence of From Russia with Love involving Connery and Shaw -- appears in The Spy Who Loved Me, when Bond (Roger Moore) and Anya Amasova (Agent XXX, played by Barbara Bach) confront Richard Kiel's Jaws character at a historic site in Egypt. Ironically, Spy was scored not by Barry but Marvin Hamlisch, one of only four times Barry did not helm the Bond music arrangements in the first 16 United Artists installments.
Sylvia Trench (Eunice Gayson), the girlfriend who first appeared in Dr. No, is referred to by Bond as 'an old case.' It is possible this is a reference to the book that preceded FRWL which was Diamonds Are Forever in which the Bond girl is called 'Tiffany Case.'
Cast & charactersEdit
- James Bond — Sean Connery
- M — Bernard Lee
- Miss Moneypenny — Lois Maxwell
- Q — Desmond Llewelyn
- Tatiana Romanova — Daniela Bianchi
- Rosa Klebb — Lotte Lenya
- Donald 'Red' Grant — Robert Shaw
- Sylvia Trench — Eunice Gayson
- Ali Kerim Bey — Pedro Armendariz
- Morzeny — Walter Gotell
CrewEdit
- Directed by: Terence Young
- Produced by: Albert R. Broccoli, Harry Saltzman
- Written by: Ian Fleming
- Screenplay: Richard Maibaum
- Music composed by: John Barry
- Cinematography by: Ted Moore
- Film editing by: Peter R. Hunt
- Production design by Syd Cain
LocationsEdit
Film locationsEdit
- London, England
- Istanbul, Turkey
- Belgrade, Yugoslavia
- Zagreb, Yugoslavia
- Venice, Italy
- Aboard the Orient Express
- S.P.E.C.T.R.E. Island (location unknown)
Shooting locationsEdit
External linksEdit
- From Russia with Love (1963) at The Internet Movie Database
- MGM's site on the film
- Ian Fleming Bibliography of James Bond 1st Editions
| The James Bond films |
|---|
| Connery Dr. No | From Russia with Love | Goldfinger | Thunderball | You Only Live Twice | ... | Diamonds Are Forever |
| Lazenby On Her Majesty's Secret Service |
| Moore Live and Let Die | The Man with the Golden Gun | The Spy Who Loved Me | Moonraker | For Your Eyes Only | Octopussy | A View to a Kill |
| Dalton The Living Daylights | Licence to Kill |
| Brosnan GoldenEye | Tomorrow Never Dies | The World Is Not Enough | Die Another Day |
| Craig Casino Royale | Quantum of Solace | Skyfall |
| Unofficial films Casino Royale (1954 TV) | Casino Royale (1967 spoof) | Never Say Never Again |
