Posted 17:00 by Grote 0 comments

The Great James Bond Project:

From Russia With Love

Here we are again with From Russia with Love. This is one of my personal favorite Bond movies. Let’s see how she stacks up.

1. Pre Credits: We open with Bond stealthily walking through the grounds of a mansion. He’s being stalked by Red Grant who we see much more of in this film. Finally Red catches Bond and garrotes him with a wire hidden in his watch winder. Oh noes! James Bond is dead! Except the lights come on in the mansion and we see trainers run out and congratulate Red. The trainer removes the convincing Sean Connery mask to reveal that it wasn’t Bond. Whew. 4 points

2. Credits: The credits are the instrumental version of “From Russia with Love” later sung in the movie by Matt Munro. More importantly the credits are displayed on a belly dancers body in various places. This is probably the first time anyone has paid VERY close attention to the credits. 4

3. Villain: This is a take your pick here. You have a) Number 1 a.k.a. Ernst Starvo Blofeld head of SPECTRE 2) Rosa Klebb former SMERSH agent working for SPECTRE who carry out the plan and 3) Kronsteen the developer of the plan. 3 points (one for each member)

4. The Plan: Step one: Find a young and beautiful Russian girl to convince to pretend to defect to the British with a cipher machine called the Lecktor. Step two: Kill both the girl and the British agent. Step three: Get the Lektor and ransom it back to the Russians. Bonus: James Bond (who disposed of their Dr. No and deserves a death that is “unpleasant and humiliating”). It’s a good plan. 5

5. Other Bond Girls: The return, for the final time, of Sylvia Trench. She and Bond are doing their thing next to a river or a stream. Later in a gypsy camp after the fight with the Bulgarians, Bond stops a fight between to gypsy girls and helps settle their fight overnight (If you know what I mean). 4 points, one for Sylvia and 3 for Bond getting two chicks at once with out a million bucks.

6. Titular Line: It’s heard on the radio just before we see Bond and Ms. Trench and later, Bond gives the picture of Tatiana back to Moneypenny and signs it “From Russia with Love.” 4

7. Bond: Connery’s second turn as Bond, and he really steps into the roll. He looks a little harder and more seasoned than he did in Dr. No. 5

8. The Office: Both Bond and M are assuming that this is a trap but it’s too good to pass up a chance to get a Lektor. Bond gets his new attaché case (see below) and Bond and Moneypenny share a cute moment where she pines for Bond and he almost begins nibbling on her ear when interrupted over the intercom by M. 4

9. Q and his gadgets: We see Desmond Llewellyn for the first time as “Q”. He presents Bond with a case that wouldn’t make it past the TSA. Then again, it just might. The case contains 50 gold sovereigns, 20 rounds of ammunition, concealed throwing knife, an AR-7 Folding Sniper’s Rifle with an infrared scope. Finally the case is designed to hold a canister of tear gas. If the catches aren’t opened properly the canister explodes in the openers face. Bond also has a pager and car phone, both unheard of in the early 60s. 5

10. The Car: Um, well, no car. 0

11. Allies: Ali Kerim Bey is Bond’s contact in Istanbul (not Constantinople). Bey explains that the Allies and the Soviets have an uneasy truce but a stable one. Bey takes Bond to the Gypsy camp and helps Bond bomb the Russian consulate so they can steal the Lektor. He makes arrangements for Bond, Tatiana and himself to leave Turkey. Also played with great courage by a dying Pedro Armednariz. (He committed suicide shortly after his filming was finished. 4

12. The Deathtrap: The deathtrap isn’t your run-of-the-mill deathtrap. Grant, Tatiana and Bond are all on the Orient Express. Tatiana is knocked out by the sleeping pill Grant gave her, and Bond is on his knees in the adjoining room while Grant is lording over Bond about how stupid he is. Bond works it out that Grant isn’t working for SMERSH but SPECTRE and tricks Grant into opening the attaché case that he stole from the British agent. The ensuing fight is probably one of the best close quartered fights on film. 5

13. The Chase: No car chase in this film, but there is a boat chase where Morzeny is leading 2 other boats trying to trap Bond and take the Lektor from him. Unfortunately the henchmen Morzeny is leading don’t follow orders to well (insert “I said ‘Across her nose’ not ‘Up it!’” joke here). The result is Bond’s extra fuel being riddled with bullet holes and leaking. Bond subsequently dumps them into the water waits for the SPECTRE boats to get close enough and lights them all on fire via flare gun. The villains ineptitude cause all the boats to catch fire and explode. 3

14. Henchmen: Red Grant. This is the quintessential Bond henchman. Tough, emotionless, he would make a great villain in his own right. He alone stacks up the body count. He saves Bond’s life during the gypsy fight (so to forward the plans of SPECTRE of course) and kills a British Agent so he can get the Lektor. The only downside to having henchmen is that they can be so stupid sometimes. Exhibit A is the boat chase near the end of the film. The boats get too close together (despite warnings from Morzeny) and catch fire when Bond lights the fuel barrels he dumped into the water on fire. 4 (It was a five until that scene came on).

15. HQ: Blofeld’s HQ is a boat somewhere. Probably Venice or something like that. There’s nothing special about the boat; it’s just a boat. It does have Siamese Fighting Fish, so it’s got that going for it. 1

16. Quips: The best line in the film has to be as the Bulgarian leader, Krilencu, was shot by Bey, climbing out of a secret window of his flat. The window is hidden by a movie poster that takes up a side of the building. More specifically it’s hidden in her mouth. The mouth opens he climbs out and Bey shoots him. Bond quips, “She should have kept her mouth shut.” 4

17. Good Girl: Tatiana Romanova portrayed by the beautiful Daniela Bianch. She has this naitvitee about her, yet it’s not overwhelming or overt. Her best scene is when she’s being interviewed by Bond about the Lektor and she keeps digressing about when they can make love again and such things. Yet, Bond keeps cool (probably knowing he’s being recorded too) and answers in a monitone, dry voice. 5

18. Disposal: Klebb has cornered Bond with a pistol and in a Venice hotel room and has told Tatiana to leave the room. Tatiana hits Klebb’s arm with her coat and Bond uses the opportunity to knock the gun out of Klebb’s hand. They fight, Bond using a chair to keep Klebb’s poison tipped shoe at bay. Tatiana takes the gun on the floor, trying to decide whether to shoot Bond or Klebb. Fortunately for Bond, she shoots Klebb, Bond quips “She’s had her kicks”. 4

19. Last Line(s):One of Bond’s last lines was “He was right, you know”. Which is a good line if you know what he’s talking about. In a deleted scene, Klebb and Grant are filming Bond and Tatiana’s love making in the bridal suite and Grant comments “Magnificent, simply magnificent.” This validates Bond’s comments when he’s viewing the film. Without it, though, the comment is meaningless. 1

20. Extra Credit: Two point for it being really, really good. One point for the fight seen on the train. One point for Tatiana. One point for SPECTRE Island (who knew that there’s a henchman training ground) and for the line “Yes, we use live targets as well.” 5

Total Score: 73 points.

So there you have it; From Russia with Love scores a respectable 73 points, which is quite good considering there were 2 ‘1’s and a ‘0’. Next up: Goldfinger