From Russia With Love

United Kingdom: 1963
Running Length: 115min
MPAA Classification: PG (Violence, sexual innuendo)
Theatrical Aspect Ratio: 1.75:1
Cast: Sean Connery, Daniela Bianchi, Pedro Armendariz, Lotte Lenya, Robert Shaw, Bernard Lee, Lois Maxwell
Director: Terence Young
Producers: Harry Saltzman and Albert R. Broccoli
Screenplay: Richard Maibaum and Johnanna Harwood, based on the novel by Ian Fleming
Cinematography: Ted Moore
Music: John Barry
U.S. Distributor: United Artists

After Dr.No a better Bond was found in From Russia With Love. This movie of Sean has still remained a wall, yet to be crossed by his successors as James Bond. Ian Fleming’s 007 saw the acme of its being along with a well-knit plot, the paced up action scenes and those unforgettable villains topped altogether by the sophisticated charm.

From Russia With Love proved to be richer in the ‘Bond’ substance in it with tauter action sequences that really keep one glued to the seat till the end. And John Barry’s music is simply mind-blowing..

The villains in From Russia With Love are not conceiting like those in the later Bond films. A Russian decoding device is all what they want. SPECTRE’s top two private investigators namely #3, former KGB agent Rosa Klebb (Lotte Lenya), and #5, Kronsteen (Vladek Sheybal), a chess master make the essential moves to scheme the whole thing out. The reports are duly made to a senior officer whom we could see for the first time in You Only Live Twice only.

Bond and the coder Tatiana Romanova are the hocks used by Kronsteen. The British agents incur the decoding device from Tatiana, which is then snatched away by a criminal young man Red Grant (Robert Shaw) at the cost of a cadaver. The spice in the story lies in the labyrinth, which finely takes the viewer to the end point. The beautiful blonde Tatiana was too hot to be refused by our chipper Bond who flies to Istanbul to see her.

As a more easier and conversant Bond, Sean was aptly accompanied by his co-stars inclusive of Miss Universe, 1960, Daniela Bianchi and Lotte Lenya, a depraved rival of Bond. Pedro Armendariz played a rather balanced husky and witty role of a burly Turkish friend of Bond as Kerim Bay.

From Russia With Love is a wholesome tasteful movie treat to the viewers with all the varieties like machination, romance and action present in their right proportions. The hair-raising fight sequence in an enclosed train compartment and the challenging chamfer between Bond and a helicopter really take out one’s breath.
After all, From Russia With Love stands out as a branded one of all the James Bond series movies. The following Bond movies had a, but diluted essence of the whole thing altogether.