From Russia with Love (film)
**From Russia with Love (Film) Overview**
"From Russia with Love" is the second film in the iconic James Bond series, featuring Sean Connery as the charismatic British Secret Service agent, 007. Released in 1963, it follows Bond as he is lured to Istanbul by Tatiana Romanova, a Soviet clerk who claims she wants to defect, bringing with her a valuable Soviet encryption device called the Lektor. However, this defection is part of a plot orchestrated by the criminal organization SPECTRE, aiming to eliminate Bond and seize the Lektor for themselves. The film was significant for establishing key Bond franchise elements, such as the pre-title sequence, a memorable theme song with lyrics sung by Matt Munro, and the introduction of the character Ernst Stavro Blofeld, SPECTRE's enigmatic leader.
"From Russia with Love" is notable for its reflection of Cold War tensions, with careful storytelling choices that aimed to avoid exacerbating anti-Soviet sentiments. The film's production featured thrilling action sequences, including a helicopter chase and an elaborate boat escape, although these scenes sometimes led to safety risks during filming. Critically acclaimed for its inventive style and humor, the film surpassed its predecessor at the box office, becoming the highest-grossing film in Britain in 1963. Overall, "From Russia with Love" not only captivated audiences with its espionage thrills but also set a standard for future entries in the genre.
From Russia with Love (film)
- Release Date: 1963
- Director(s): Terence Young
- Writer(s): Richard Maibaum
- Principal Actors and Roles: Sean Connery (James Bond); Daniela Bianchi (Tatiana Romanova); Walter Gotell (Morzeny); Bernard Lee (M); Lotte Lenya (Rosa Klebb); Desmond Llewelyn (Major Boothroyd); Lois Maxwell (Mis Moneypenny)
- Book / Story Film Based On: From Russia With Love by Ian Fleming
From Russia with Love is the second in the series of films featuring James Bond, Agent 007 of the British Secret Service. Together with the first Bond film, Dr. No, and the third, Goldfinger, it comprises a trilogy of escapades between Bond and a rogue Soviet organization of former KGB agents, called SPECTRE. It was From Russia with Love that established the signature elements that became hallmarks of the Bond film franchise. Among these are an introductory scene that occurred before the opening credits, known as a pre-title sequence, and the soundtrack scored by John Barry. In From Russia with Love, Sean Connery solidified his character as a man who was as stylish and sophisticated as he was skilled at spy craft. These traits were further developed in subsequent Bond films. Another recurring element established in this film was Bond’s archenemy, SPECTRE head Ernst Stavro Blofeld, known as "Number 1." Other conventions introduced in From Russia with Love were a helicopter chase scene, and an action scene that takes place after the credits. It was this film that gave audiences the hallmark Bond gadget scene, in which Agent Q presents 007 with a gadget invented by the British Secret Service’s research and development division. In From Russia with Love, the gadget was an attaché case equipped with a folding rifle, ammunition, a dagger, and 50 gold sovereigns. The case also contained a tear gas bomb set to go off if the case was not opened properly. Although it was the second Bond film, From Russia with Love was the first to include a theme song with lyrics. Composed by Lionel Bart, the song "From Russia with Love," sung by Matt Munro, was nominated for a Golden Globe for best original song.
Plot
Bond is in London when he learns that Tatiana Romanova, a Soviet embassy clerk in Istanbul, wants to defect to Britain—taking with her the Soviet encryption device Lektor. She will only defect to him, so Bond jets off to Turkey.
However, all is not as it seems. Romanova’s defection has been arranged by SPECTRE to lure Bond overseas and trap him into stealing the Lektor. Then they will eliminate Bond and acquire the decoder for themselves. Former KGB agent Rosa Klebb leads the mission, and has enlisted Romanova as an unwitting accomplice.
Bond arrives in Istanbul and meets with Kerim Bey, another British agent. Meanwhile, SPECTRE assassin Red Grant kills a Russian government agent who has been tailing Bond. Then Grant parks the agent’s car—with the body—in front of the Russian embassy, framing Britain for the murder. This pits the two countries against each other, leaving SPECTRE free to carry out its scheme.
The strategy works. The next morning, Russian and British agents try to kill each other—first at Bey’s office, then at a gypsy camp where Bey and Bond have fled. Returning to his hotel the next day, Bond meets Romanova in his room. After their tryst, Bond tries to obtain the Lektor against a backdrop of murders, smoke-bombs, and chase scenes as Russian and British agents continue to clash.
Finally, Bond and Romanova escape with the Lektor on the Orient Express, tailed by Grant. When a flower truck hired by the assassin stops on the tracks, Bond and Romanova evade Grant by fleeing in the truck. A helicopter chase ensues, and Bond commandeers a speedboat. SPECTRE agents give chase, but Bond hurls fuel barrels into the water and ignites them with a flare gun, engulfing the SPECTRE boats in flames.
Bond and Romanova flee to a Venice hotel. Disguised as a maid, SPECTRE agent Klebb holds the couple at gunpoint and takes the Lektor. Romanova kicks her gun away, and when Klebb tries to kill Bond with a poisoned shoe spike, Romanova shoots her. The film ends as the couple kisses in a gondola.
Significance
From Russia with Love was released during the Cold War, an era of political hostility between the Soviet Union and Western powers, especially the United States. A year before the film’s release, the Cuban Missile Crisis almost pushed the diplomatic aggression of the Cold War into military conflict. Though the film reflected these international tensions, its producers made certain changes to the story to avoid inflaming anti-Soviet animosity. So while Ian Fleming’s book pitted Bond against Soviet government spies, the film made the criminal agency SPECTRE the villain instead.
Moviegoers who flocked to see From Russia with Love reflected a world in transition. Nations had recovered from World War II and were on the cusp of a surge in technology, productivity, and prosperity. While most people were not international jetsetters, transatlantic air travel was now available, with images of the sleek new jets familiar to the average consumer. The Mercury Seven, America’s first astronauts, were introduced to the world, which thrilled to the possibility of new technological advances around every corner. It was this world that audiences glimpsed in From Russia with Love as 007 crisscrossed Europe, staying in lavish hotels and fleeing his pursuers in glamorous new modes of transportation.
The elaborate chase scenes in From Russia with Love may have excited audiences, but they wreaked havoc with production schedules and risked participants’ lives. While scouting locations for the boat chase scene, the director’s place crashed into the water; he and two others survived. During filming, the on-water explosions bloomed out of control, injuring three stuntmen. And obtaining aircraft to shoot the helicopter chase proved impossible, so the scene used a radio-controlled model.
Even with these delays, production wrapped in time for the opening. Overall, critics praised the film for its excitement, humor, and inventiveness. Bosley Crowther of The New York Times called it a "mad melodramatization . . . fictional exaggeration on a grand scale and in a dashing style, thoroughly illogical and improbable, but with tongue blithely lodged in cheek."
Its first release doubled the box office take of the first Bond film, earning 12.5 million worldwide. In Britain, it became the most popular film of 1963.
Awards and nominations
Nominated
- Golden Globe (1963) Best Song
Bibliography
Bradshaw, Peter. "My Favorite Bond Film: From Russia with Love." The Guardian, Guardian News and Media, 24 Sept., 2012. Web. 15 June, 2015. <http://www.theguardian.com/film/filmblog/2012/sep/24/favourite-bond-from-russia-with-love>.
Crowther, Bosley. "James Bond Travels the Orient Express." The New York Times Archive, 9 April, 1964. Web. 15 June 2015. <http://www.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=9E05EEDA1330E033A2575AC0A9629C946591D6CF>.
DK Publishing. The Book of Bond. London: Dorling Kindersley, 2010. Print.
Dougall, Alastair. James Bond: The Secret World of 007. New York: Dorling Kindersley, 2000. Print.
Kamp, David. "The Birth of Bond." Vanity Fair Magazine. Conde Nast, Oct. 2012. Web. 15 June 2015. <http://www.vanityfair.com/culture/2012/10/fifty-years-of-james-bond>.
Pfeiffer, Lee, and Dave Worrall. The Essential James Bond. London: Macmillan, 2003. Print.
Rubin, Stephen Jay. The Complete James Bond Movie Encyclopedia. New York: McGraw Hill, 2003. Print.