Release Date - October 10, 1963
Plot - SPECTRE (Special Executive for Counter-intelligence, Terrorism, Revenge, and Extortion) plans to avenge their Crab Key operative, Dr. No by setting a trap for James Bond. A secret Russian decoding device know as a Lektor is the bait as OO7 weaves through a cunning web of murderous traps concocted by this evil organization.
Villains - Rosa Klebb is a former USSR Colonel who has switched sides and joined up with SPECTRE. A toad of a woman and very dangerous. She is the one who recruits Red Grant to eliminate OO7. Kronsteen is a lizard like genius who is confident his plan will not only rid the world of OO7, but embarrass the British Secret Service as well. Ernst Stavro Blofeld is only seen from behind or holding his famous white cat and the camera never shows his face. He is known as Number One in this film as well as in Thunderball. He is literally the head of a business corporation observing and approving his employees ideas. If any part of a plan goes wrong, he merely eliminates the employee who caused the mishap.
Bond-Girls - Tatiana Romanova, is a beautiful blonde who works in the Russian embassy in Istanbul as a cipher clerk. She has access to the Lektor and is a pawn in Kronsteen's plot. She is convinced she is doing this for her country.
Sylvia Trench, returns for a second and last time as Bond's girlfriend. She is seen in the arms of Bond while laying down inside a punt. The two are having a romantic picnic when Moneypenny interrupts their afternoon.
Vida and Zora are gypsy girls who fight to the death over another gypsy man. The two literally smash each other all over the gypsy camp until they are interrupted by Russian assassin Krilencu and his army. After a bloody battle scene, Bond later tells Vavra, the gypsy leader, that he would prefer that the girl fight would stop. Vavra agrees but Bond must choose which one is best. The two girls are sent to Bond's tent for him to decide.
Henchmen - Donovan 'Red' Grant, a psychotic killer who's specialty is strangling his victims with a garotte wire concealed in his wristwatch. He is the one assigned to kill James Bond in a brilliant plan by grand chess champion Kronsteen.
Krilencu, is a Russian assassin who is the arch-nemesis to Kerim Bey. Krilencu arranges a limpet mine to explode on the outside wall of Kerim Bey's home. Fortunately Kerim was with his mistress when the bomb went off.
Morzeny is the head instructor of SPECTRE island, a training ground for agents with live targets. He and his men chase after Bond in speed boats trying to force Bond into surrendering while at the same time coaching his men through a bullhorn as if this were a training exercise.
Bond's Friend - Kerim Bey, is head of Station T in Turkey. He was once a circus performer before he became a spy and he treats Bond as if he is his only son by nurturing him through historical and cultural moments throughout the film.
Minor Characters - M, Miss Moneypenny, Major Boothroyd, Captain Nash.
Highlights - There are so many but definitely the pre-credit sequence where Red Grant is hunting down James Bond is a statutory maze. The gypsy camp and the fight to the death on the Orient Express. The helicopter chase and the boat pursuit as well as the final showdown between Klebb and Bond.
Most Memorable Dialogue - After shooting Krilencu, who was trying to escape through a trap door inside Anita Ekberg's billboard size mouth, Bond asserts, "She should have kept her mouth shut."
Trivia - Pedro Armendáriz was dying of cancer when he did this film. In the gypsy camp scenes, director Terence Young doubled for Pedro because he was so sick. Before this film was released, Pedro smuggled a gun into the hospital he was staying at and shot himself. Twenty six years later his son, Pedro Armendáriz, Jr., would appear as the Latin American President who is controlled by Franz Sanchez in 1989's Licence to Kill.
Cast -
Personal Comment
About This Film - Given the track records of sequels in
Hollywood, one would think the second James Bond adventure would pale in
comparison with Dr. No. This is not the case with From Russia with Love. EON
Productions captured the flavor and style from Fleming's best book and gave us
probably the third best Bond movie ever made (Goldfinger ranks first followed by
On Her Majesty's Secret Service). Pedro Armendariz, Lotte Lenya, Robert Shaw and Vladek Sheybal all give memorable
performances as well that make this the best cast of the series.
On A Scale From 1 to 10 - I give this film an OO9
U. S. Style A Poster
The End Of From Russia with Love
But James Bond Will Return In