From Russia with Love (film)

For other uses of this film's title, see From Russia with Love (disambiguation).

Template:Infobox Film Bond 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.

Plot summary

Spoiler warning: This article contains spoilers! Plot and/or ending details follow.

SUMMARY

Background Notes

Original Versions

• 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 villian, 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 villianous 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 & Continuity

• The criminal organization SPECTRE was previously introduced in Dr. No by the title villian in that film, Dr. Julius No. That movie also establishes the villian'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).

Soundtrack

• From Russia with Love is the first of the James Bond films to have John Barry as the primary soundtrack composer. He had previously arranged Monty Norman's "James Bond Theme" that was first heard in Dr. No, but his work had been uncredited, except for the credit of his orchestra playing the final piece, making this film the first of the series in which his work was acknowledged in that way.

• In this film, Barry introduced the percussive "007 Theme", action music that came to be considered the "secondary James Bond Theme" and would be later reused in the Sean Connery and Roger Moore films.

Critical Reception

• 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 Trivia

• 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.

Cast & characters

• 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

Crew

• 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

Locations

Film locations

• 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 locations

• Pinewood Studios
• Switzerland
• Argyll, Scotland
• Istanbul, Turkey

External links

• From Russia with Love (1963) at IMDb
• MGM's site on the film
• Ian Fleming Bibliography of James Bond 1st Editions