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From Russia With Love (1963) is the second film in
the EON Productions James Bond series, and is directed by
Terence Young. The film stars Sean Connery as James Bond,
and co-stars Desmond Llewelyn, Bernard Lee, Lois Maxwell,
Lotte Lenya, Robert Shaw, Pedro Armandariz, Walter Gotell,
Anthony Dawson, and Dan iela Bianchi. ***
From Russia with Love is James Bond’s second big-screen
adventure. This time around, the SPECTRE terrorist agency
is out for revenge for James Bond defeating one of their
lead operatives, Dr. No. Ex-SMERSH agent Rosa Klebb devises
a plan with Ernst Stavro Blofeld, the leader of SPECTRE,
to strike back at British Secret Service. Their scheme involves
using a beautiful young woman to seduce and disgrace Bond,
who will then be killed by a psychotic killer from SPECTRE’s
training island. Bond, allying himself with Istanbul’s British
Intelligence station chief, soon finds himself in an adventure
even larger and more dangerous than his first. ***
From Russia=2 0With Love is not only the rare sequel
that tops the series’ original film, it’s one of the greatest
James Bond films ever made. I will not hesitate to call
this my favorite film in the series. An all-star cast, exotic
locales galore, and Terence Young, the series’ finest director,
come together to create a classic for the ages. ***
From Russia With Love is noteworthy for introducing
a number of firsts to the James Bond series. The now-standard
pre-title “teaser” sequence, the standard opening credits
sequence every film since has used, Desmond Llewelyn’s first
appearance as Q/Major Boothroyd, and of course, the obligatory
scene in which he gives Bond a gadget or two. As the movie
progresses, a number of other classic elements in the series
make their first appearance, as well. ***
The actors in this film are amongst the finest ensemble
of actors ever assembled for a James Bond film. Sean Connery
gives arguably his finest performance as Bond (and some
years later, Connery would call this film his finest performance
as Agent 007.) Robert Shaw is great as Red Grant, the deadly
assassin SPECTRE enlists to hunt down and kill Bond – he’s
arguably my favorite Bond villain. Also noteworthy is Pedro
Armandariz as Kerim Bey, the British Intelligence station
chief in Istanbul. This was his final film performance,
has he was dying of cancer during the filming and took his
own life after he could film no more scenes. It’s tragic
he didn’t live long enough to see the theatrical release,
as his performance is amongst the finest supporting roles
in the franchise. ***
Every James Bond scene has its share of memorable moments.
From Russia With Love has more of them than normal, even.
The SPECTRE Island training scenes, the train fight, the
helicopter and boat chase scenes, Blofeld’s first appearance,
the list goes on. This movie is widely revered as one of
the finest in the series, and with these classic scenes
it isn’t hard to see why. ***
This was the first film to be primarily scored by John
Barry, and his first Bond film score is one of the best.
He creates beautiful pieces of music that suit these exotic
locales and events like no one else could have. It’s also
the first film to feature a title song, in this case, From
Russia With Love by Matt Munro (although it’s played over
the end credits instead of the intro credit sequence.) Barry
would be the series’ preferred composer for over two decades.
His score here will show you why. ***
James Bond’s second adventure is also his finest. Although
Goldfinger, its immediate successor, was a more popular
film, I believe From Russia With Love slightly edges it
out as a better film. Agent 007 is in top form here, with
Sean Connery giving one of his most memorable performances.
It’s a film that stays close to the feel of the Fleming
novel, with only a few slight changes from the source material
(most of which are for the best.) 5 stars out of 5. As close
to perfect as Bond films get. ---
Image and Sound:
Several years ago, the James Bond movies (which had
seen a ton of home video releases already) underwent an
extensive, frame-by-frame restoration. A good deal of print
damage and dirt were removed in an effort that took several
years to complete. ***
The end result is, to put it simply, well worth it.
***
Lowry Digital Images knows how to restore movies. Their
restoration of the James Bond back catalogue is, hands down,
the greatest restoration job this reviewer has EVER seen.
This film is no exception. They have taken movies, that
are in some cases, nearly half a century old, and made them
look as good as they day when they premiered in theatres,
if not better. The image is clear throughout, without any
sort of issue. From what I can tell, no DNR was used in
these transfers, and there is a staggering amount of detain
not noticeable in any standard-def release of the movie.
Lowry did one hell of a job restoring this franchise. ***
As if the image restoration wasn’t enough, the films
now have lossless audio tracks. If you’ve got a speaker
set, you’ll be able to experience these films (both audio
and visual-wise) like you never have before.
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