From Russia With Love
1964 Directed by Terence Young
Synopsis
The world's masters of murder pull out all the stops to destroy Agent 007!
James Bond is back and on the loose in exotic Istanbul looking for a super-secret coding machine. He's involved with a beautiful Russian spy and has the SPECTRE organization after him, including villainess Rosa Klebb - she of the killer shoe. Lots of exciting escapes but not an over reliance on the gadgetry of the later films. The second James Bond feature, thought by many to be the best.
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Dr. No-vember or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bond FilmsI hope you're not... disappointed.
-James BondWhile Dr. No did the initial groundwork and created a truly great spy thriller, From Russia With Love follows it up by perfectly melding all the already established components together with new ones. It's also a sequel in every sense of the word as the events in the previous film have some relevance.
Sean Connery comes off as even more confident in the role then the previous film, and has some really witty dialogue. Daniela Bianchi is not only stunning, but incredibly charming as Tatiana Romanova a more then worthy successor to the title of Bond Girl.…
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Countdown to Skyfall continues with From Russia with Love.
This Bond was always a tricky one. Like the later Quantum of Solace, From Russia with Love is a direct sequel to Dr. No. It's also unlike most other Bond films, and that's part of what helps make it great. Capitalizing on his portrayal in Dr. No, Connery starts to exude the cold confidence of Bond that the character is. What's even better about it is that this film is more about Bond using his wits, rather than his brawn. The train showdown between Red Grant and Bond is one of the most suspenseful moments in the franchise.
Bond Essentials Review:
Bond: Even better here than Dr. No.
Bond Girl(s): While…
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Continuing with the Bond Film Marathon, the second film in the franchise:
From Russia With LoveFrom Russia with Love to some people is the definitive Sean Connery James Bond film. I can agree with that, but for the definitive Connery Bond film is Thunderball, but I'll get into that one later.
In <From Russia With Love</i>, James Bond 007 finds himself being sent to Istanbul to assist in the defection of the beautiful Tatiana Romanova, a Soviet Consulate and secret undercover agent for SPECTRE. It is there in Istanbul, where SPECTRE plans to avenge the death of Dr. No. SPECTRE hires the deadly, Red Grant, a SPECTRE assassin to locate Bond and eliminate him for good
It's one of…
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Continuing my journey to see every single 007 film before the release of Skyfall, I just got finished watching the second Bond film, From Russia With Love.
It is a direct sequel to Dr. No. With most films in the franchise being standalone, I think this and Quantum of Solace (a direct sequel to Casino Royale) are the only Bond films to make such a feat. Anyway, in comparison to Dr. No, this is a huge step up from it's predecessor.
Sean Connery returns to the role that made him an icon. Hell, the whole reason the character of James Bond is such an icon is because of Connery. He again brings that charm and self confidence from the last…
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A much better film than Dr. No. They cast actual actors around Connery's badassness. Makes for a well-rounded good time. Yes! Robert Shaw! The plot remains mostly free-form hopping from location to location but the characters are great and the Bond is one badmotherfucker.
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"You may know your wines, but you're the one on your knees."
It just goes to show how much Dr. No exceeded expectations at the box office and with critics that with From Russia With Love the Bond series was comfortable enough, even in just its second outing, to play around with Sean Connery's likeness in a superb pre-credits scene that also gives us a pretty hefty clue as to just how superb a villain the great Robert Shaw was.
Then again, he could have been even better. He only really gets to shine in the train scene, and his pre-fight confrontation with Connery has to rank as one of the great all-time scenes in the series, especially when it…
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A truly great film. As an action movie, it's incredibly thrilling, particularly in the second half. Sean Connery charms as Bond while Robert Shaw intimidates as Red Grant, the assassin sent for him. There is a great fight scene and numerous memorable chases.
The first half is much more slow-moving but still every bit as compelling. This is unquestionably the most serious of the Connery Bond films and it pulls off the tone quite well.
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Seems Letterboxd have the dates wrong with these Bond films - 1963 was the date 'From Russia With Love' hit cinemas.
To most people it is seen as the greatest of the Sean Connery Bond movies if you want the most faithful adaptation of an Ian Fleming adventure. It's a pure spy Cold War thriller at it's best.
SPECTRE want revenge against the British for the death of operative Doctor No and so plan to lure their best agent, 007, for a valuable piece of equipment - the Lektor decoder, that will be a useful asset in the intelligence community. Agent Rosa Klebb (Lotte Lenya) and assassin Red Grant (Robert Shaw) wait for the chance to strike against 007 as…
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Continuing with the Bond Film Marathon, the second film in the franchise:
From Russia With LoveFrom Russia with Love to some people is the definitive Sean Connery James Bond film. I can agree with that, but for the definitive Connery Bond film is Thunderball, but I'll get into that one later.
In <From Russia With Love</i>, James Bond 007 finds himself being sent to Istanbul to assist in the defection of the beautiful Tatiana Romanova, a Soviet Consulate and secret undercover agent for SPECTRE. It is there in Istanbul, where SPECTRE plans to avenge the death of Dr. No. SPECTRE hires the deadly, Red Grant, a SPECTRE assassin to locate Bond and eliminate him for good
It's one of…
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3rd Movie in the James Bond Challenge
"The first one won't kill you; not the second, not even the third... not till you crawl over here and you KISS MY FOOT!" - Donald "Red" Grant
This film begins with another classic pre-title sequence where it appears that James Bond is being hunted down in a hedge maze and is killed by the Russian agent Grant (Robert Shaw); death by wire-to-throat. But we soon find out that it really isn’t Bond, as floodlights turn on and a S.P.E.C.T.R.E (Special Executive for Counter-intelligence, Terrorism, Revenge and Extortion) agent takes a Bond mask off of the dead man. It was just a training exercise, but it shows you that S.P.E.C.T.R.E is dead-set on…
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fine
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James Bond's (Sean Connery) assignment is to make contact with a beautiful Russian defector (Daniela Bianchi) who has promised to help the British obtain a top secret Soviet encryption device, even though it is almost sure to be a trap.
This excellent film shows the budding franchise still searching for its tone. Such campy elements as Dr. No's secret island stronghold are gone, and director Terence Young presents a gritty spy drama that one could imagine happening in the real world. For better or worse, the more cartoonish Bond would win out. Robert Shaw and Lotte Lenya make memorable Bond villains, but Bianchi is not very impressive as the second Bond girl, especially coming on the heels of Ursula Andress. Connery plays Bond as more of the wise-cracking, cheerfully smooth chauvinist he would ultimately become.
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Thanks to starting off with the spymaster planning and setting it in a place where the various agents can engage in back-and-forth actions with ease, the film has a fair amount of spy action in it. This isn’t always big explosive stuff, but the gamesmanship keeps the film moving at a brisk pace; it’s a lot of fun to watch, and there are few slow moments. James Bond even has the first of his familiar complex gadgets. I’m not prepared to call From Russia With Love an all-time great film, but the James Bond franchise is definitely starting to show how its reputation is built. Read full review.
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This review reportedly contains spoilers. I can handle the truth.