From Russia with Love (film)

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From Russia with Love

From Russia With Love film poster
James Bond Sean Connery
Also starring Daniela Bianchi
Lotte Lenya
Robert Shaw
Directed by Terence Young
Produced by Harry Saltzman
Albert R. Broccoli
Novel/Story by Ian Fleming
Screenplay Richard Maibaum
Johanna Harwood
(adaptation)
Cinematography by Ted Moore
Music by John Barry
Main theme From Russia With Love
Composer Lionel Bart
Performer Matt Monro
Editing by Peter R. Hunt
Distributed by United Artists
Released October 10, 1963 (UK)
April 8, 1964 (USA)
Running time 115 min.
Budget $2,000,000
Worldwide gross $78,900,000
Preceded by Dr. No (1962)
Followed by Goldfinger (1964)
IMDb profile

From Russia with Love, released in 1963, is the second film in the James Bond series, and the second to star Sean Connery as MI6 agent James Bond. The film was produced by Albert R. Broccoli and Harry Saltzman, and directed by Terence Young. It is based on the 1957 novel of the same name by Ian Fleming. In the film, James Bond is sent to Turkey to assist in the defection of Corporal Tatiana Romanova, where SPECTRE plans to avenge the killing of Dr. No.

From Russia with Love is considered the best film in the James Bond series by many critics and by Connery himself, and is still highly regarded more than 40 years after its release. Michael G. Wilson, the current co-producer of the series, 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 it the ninth-greatest British film of all time.[1]

In 2005, the film was adapted into a video game, James Bond 007: From Russia with Love. Produced by Electronic Arts, the game featured all-new voice work by Sean Connery as well as his likeness and those of several of the film's supporting cast.

Contents

[edit] Plot

In a mansion garden late at night, James Bond is alternately stalking and being stalked by a tall, blond assassin. Bond is captured and strangled violently to death by the man named Red Grant, using a garrote wire hidden in a watch. Suddenly, huge floodlights switch on and the dead person turns out to be a man wearing Bond's disguise. This completes SPECTRE's training exercise.

Rosa Klebb approves of Red Grant.
Rosa Klebb approves of Red Grant.

Kronsteen, a chess grandmaster and SPECTRE's planner has devised a plot to steal a Lektor decoding device from the Russians, sell it back to them, and teach the British Secret Service a lesson for foiling their operative Dr. No's plans. Ex-SMERSH operative Rosa Klebb is placed in charge of the mission by the megalomaniac Blofeld and has already chosen a female operative, a Russian cypher clerk at the Istanbul embassy. Klebb departs to SPECTRE Island, the organisation's secret training base, and approves Red Grant as an assassin.

In London, M tells Bond that Tatiana Romanova, the cypher clerk at the Istanbul embassy, has contacted their "Station 'T'" in Turkey, asking to defect with a Lektor cryptographic device, which both MI6 and the CIA have been after for years. She has stipulated that she will only defect to Bond, whose photo she has allegedly found in a Soviet intelligence file. Bond flies to Istanbul to meet station head Ali Kerim Bey, and he is followed from the airport both by an unkempt man in glasses, and by Red Grant.

The next day, after Kerim Bey's office is bombed, Bond and Kerim Bey spy on the Russian embassy using a periscope from an underground tunnel beneath the consulate. Seeing rival agent Krilencu, Kerim Bey takes Bond to a rural gypsy settlement, where Kerim Bey plans to lay low while deciding how to deal with Krilencu. However the camp is attacked by Krilencu's henchmen, who trigger gunfire and struggles with knives. Grant, lurking nearby, shoots a man who is about to kill Bond. Although he is wounded in the attack, Bey kills Krilencu the next night with Bond's sniper rifle. When Bond returns to his hotel suite, he finds Romanova in bed waiting for him. Bond and Romanova make love, unaware that they are being filmed by Grant and Klebb.

The next day, Romanova heads off for a pre-arranged rendezvous at the Hagia Sophia. Bond follows her and stalks the spectacled man who had followed him at the Istanbul airport. But unknown to Bond, the man is killed by Grant. When Bond finds the body, he finds the floor plans for the Russian Consulate that Tatiana was smuggling out for him. Bey and Bond plan to the day to steal the Lektor and smuggle it back to England. On the appointed day, Bond enters the consulate lobby. Immediately, Bey sets off an explosive charge in the chamber beneath the building releasing tear gas. In the resulting chaos, Bond is able to find Romanova and flee with the Lektor on the Orient Express. Bey and a Soviet security officer named Benz, who recognises Romanova, also board the train, but Grant stealthily kills both of them.

Kerim Bey gives Romanova and Bond their forged passports aboard the Orient Express.
Kerim Bey gives Romanova and Bond their forged passports aboard the Orient Express.

The train continues on its journey across southern-central Europe, arriving at Belgrade where Bond arranges for an agent Nash from "Station 'Y'" to meet him at Zagreb. Grant intercepts the real Nash first, boards the train, and meets Bond while impersonating the British operative. He drugs Romanova at dinner with a knock out pill, then overcomes Bond in their cabin. Grant taunts him that SPECTRE has been pitting the Russians and the British against each other. Bond offers to buy his last cigarette for 50 gold sovereigns, luring Grant to open his attaché suitcase, which releases tear gas. In the ensuing fight, Bond stabs Grant with the throwing knife hidden in the attaché case, and then uses Grant's own garrote wire against him. At dawn, Bond and Romanova leave the train, hijack Grant's getaway truck and drive to a dock, eventually boarding a powerboat. Soon, they are chased by a fleet of SPECTRE's boats. When stray bullets puncture several barrels of fuel stored on his boat, Bond throws them overboard. Pretending to surrender, he fires a signal flare into the fuel, engulfing all the enemy boats in flames.

Bond and Romanova reach Venice and check into a hotel where Rosa Klebb, disguised as a maid, attempts to steal the Lektor. In the climax, Klebb has Bond held at gunpoint but the gun is intercepted by Romanova. Resorting to another plan, she releases her poison tipped toe-blade. Bond takes a dining chair and pins her to the wall with it, narrowly dodging the poison blade. Finally, Romanova takes aim with the gun and fires it at Klebb, killing her. Riding in a gondola, Bond throws the illicit film of him and Romanova into the canal, and they sail away.

[edit] Cast

The film features the first appearance of Desmond Llewelyn as Major Boothroyd, known as Q, the character he would play in all but two of the series' films until his death in 1999. However, screen credit for Llewelyn was omitted at the opening of the film and is reserved for the exit credits. The Q character appeared in the previous film, Dr. No, portrayed by actor Peter Burton, and addressed by M initially as "Armourer," and as Major Boothroyd by Bond.

[edit] Production

As President John F. Kennedy had named Fleming's novel From Russia with Love among his ten favourite books of all time in Life magazine,[4] producers Broccoli and Saltzman chose this as the follow-up to the cinematic debut of James Bond, Dr. No. Ian Fleming's novel was a Cold War thriller, however the producers named the crime syndicate SPECTRE instead of the Soviet undercover agency SMERSH so as to avoid controversial political overtones.[4]

The film introduced several "firsts" to the series which would become canonized as essential formula elements: the standard pre-title sequence, the Blofeld character, a secret weapon gadget for Bond, a helicopter sequence (repeated in every subsequent Bond film except "The Man With The Golden Gun"), a postscript action scene after the main climax, a theme song with lyrics, and the line "James Bond will return/be back" in the credits.

Although uncredited, the actor who played Ernst Stavro Blofeld, was Anthony Dawson, who had played Professor Dent in the previous Bond film, Dr. No. Blofeld's voice was provided by Viennese actor Eric Pohlmann.[4] In the end credits, Blofeld is credited with a question mark. It is rumoured that author and James Bond creator Ian Fleming plays a cameo in a location train scene, standing outside the train, wearing grey trousers and a white sweater.[5]

The scene in which Bond finds Tatiana in his hotel bed was used for Daniela Bianchi's screen test, with Dawson standing in, this time, as Bond.[4] The scene later became the traditional screen test scene for prospective James Bond actors. This screen test forms part of the Ultimate Edition DVD series, showing potential candidates auditioning for the role down the years: James Brolin, Sean Bean and Sam Neill along with future 007 Pierce Brosnan. The scene has also been used to audition several James Bond leading ladies, including Maryam D'Abo and Maud Adams.[6][7]

Director Terence Young's eye for realism was evident throughout production. For the opening chess match, Kronsteen wins the game with a reenactment of Boris Spassky's victory over David Bronstein in 1960.[8] Production Designer Syd Cain built up the "chess pawn" motif in his $150,000 set for the brief sequence. A noteworthy gadget featured was the attaché case issued by the Q-Branch containing a tear gas bomb that detonates if it is improperly opened, and a folding AR-7 sniper rifle with twenty rounds of ammunition. It also had a flat knife and fifty gold sovereigns, the latter being described by Bond so as to lure Grant and detonate the tear gas bomb. A boxer at Cambridge, Young choreographed the fight between Grant and Bond along with stunt co-ordinator Peter Perkins, a scene which took three weeks to film and was violent enough to worry some on the production. Yet, Robert Shaw and Connery did most of the stunts themselves.[4][2] The fact that there was not as much light thrown on gadgets and vehicles as in future films has been critically appreciated, since it benefitted the storyline.

Pedro Armendariz was recommended to Young by director John Ford to play the role of Kerim Bey. After experiencing increasing discomfort on location in Istanbul, Armendariz was diagnosed with inoperable cancer. Filming in Istanbul was terminated, the production moved to England, and Armendariz's scenes were brought forward so that he could complete his scenes without delay. Though visibly in pain, he continued working to film his portions of scenes and post-production sound recording. After returning home, Armendariz took his life while under treatment at the UCLA Medical Center.[4] Remaining shots after Armendariz left London had a stunt double and Terence Young himself as stand-ins.[2]

After the unexpected loss, production proceeded, experiencing complications from rewriting by Richard Maibaum during filming. Editor Peter Hunt set about editing the film while key elements were still to be filmed, helping to restructure the opening scenes. Hunt and Young conceived of moving the training exercise on a Bond double to preface the main title, a signature feature that has been an enduring hallmark of every Bond film since. The briefing with Blofeld was rewritten, and back projection was used to refilm Lotte Lenya's lines.[4]

Behind schedule and over budget, the production crew struggled to complete production in time for the already-announced premiere date that October. On July 6, 1963, while scouting locations in Argyll, Scotland, for that day's filming of the climactic boat chase, Terence Young's helicopter crashed into the lake with Art Director Michael White and a cameraman aboard. The craft sank into 40–50 feet of water, but all escaped with minor injuries. Despite the calamity, Young was behind the camera for the full day's work. A few days later, Bianchi's driver fell asleep during the commute to a 6 a.m. shoot and crashed the car; the actress' scenes had to be delayed two weeks while her facial contusions healed.[4]

Most of the film was based in Istanbul including the Basilica Cistern and Hagia Sophia, with the initial MI6 office in London, England. SPECTRE Island and the interior scenes of the Orient Express were filmed at Pinewood Studios with some footage of the train. In the film, the train journey was set in Eastern Europe. The journey and the truck ride were shot in Argyll, Scotland, and Switzerland. The end scenes for the film were shot in Venice.[4]

See also: List of James Bond vehicles, List of James Bond gadgets, and James Bond locations

[edit] Music

See also: From Russia with Love (soundtrack)

From Russia with Love is the first Bond film in the series with John Barry as the primary soundtrack composer.[9] The theme song was composed by Lionel Bart of Oliver! fame and sung by Matt Monro,[10] although the title credit music is a lively instrumental version of the tune (segueing into the "James Bond Theme"). Monro's vocal version is later played during the film (as source music on a radio) and properly over the film's end titles.[10]

In this film, Barry introduced the percussive theme "007" – action music that came to be considered the 'secondary James Bond Theme'. The arrangement appears twice on the soundtrack album; the second version, entitled "007 Takes the Lektor", is the one used during the gunfight at the gypsy camp and also during Bond's theft of the Lektor decoding machine.[4][11] The completed film features a holdover from the Monty Norman-supervised Dr. No music; the post-rocket-launch music from Dr. No is played in From Russia with Love during the helicopter and speedboat attacks.[11]

[edit] Release and reception

From Russia with Love premiered on October 10, 1963 at the Odeon, Leicester Square in London. The following year, it was released in 16 countries worldwide. It grossed $24 million at the North American box office,[12] and $78 million worldwide.[13] It is Sean Connery's favourite Bond film,[2] and was received positively by critics. James Berardinelli considers it his favourite Bond,[14] Neil Smith of BBC Films called it "a film that only gets better with age",[15] and Jay Antani of Filmcritic praised the "impressive staging of action scenes".[16] Norman Wilner of MSN chose From Russia with Love as the best Bond film,[17] while IGN listed it as second.[18] Entertainment Weekly, however, put the film at ninth, criticizing the slow pace.[19] On July 29, 2007, it became the first James Bond film to be broadcast on BBC.[20]

The film's cinematographer Ted Moore won the BAFTA award and the British Society of Cinematographers award for Best Cinematography.[21] At the 1965 Laurel Awards, Lotte Lenya stood third for Best Female Supporting Performance, and the film secured second place in the Action-Drama category. The film also received a Golden Globe nomination for the song "From Russia with Love".[22]

[edit] Video game adaptation

Main article: From Russia with Love (video game)
Sean Connery as James Bond in the From Russia with Love video game.
Sean Connery as James Bond in the From Russia with Love video game.

The From Russia with Love video game was developed by Electronic Arts and released on November 1, 2005 in North America. It follows the storyline of the book and film, albeit adding in new scenes, making it more action-oriented. One of the most significant changes to the story is the replacement of the organization SPECTRE to OCTOPUS because the name SPECTRE constituted a long-running legal dispute over the film rights to Thunderball between United Artists/MGM and the late writer Kevin McClory. Most of the cast from the film returned in likeness. Connery not only played Bond, but also recorded his voice to the character. Featuring a third-person multiplayer deathmatch mode, the game depicts several elements of the earlier Bond films such as the Aston Martin DB5 from Goldfinger (1964) and the rocketbelt from Thunderball (1965).

The game was penned by Bruce Feirstein who previously worked on the film scripts for GoldenEye, Tomorrow Never Dies, The World Is Not Enough, and the 2004 video game, Everything or Nothing. Its soundtrack was composed by Christopher Lennertz and Vic Flick.[23]

The game begins with a standard pre-title sequence in which Elizabeth Stark, the British Prime Minister's daughter, is kidnapped by OCTOPUS while attending a party. Fortunately, Bond was assigned to attend the party; he defeats OCTOPUS' henchmen and rescues Stark. Soon, OCTOPUS conceives a plan to avenge the death of Dr. Julius No. The plan involves the theft of a Soviet encoding machine known as the Lektor with the help of a defecting Soviet agent, Romanova, being used by OCTOPUS to lure Bond into a trap; their ultimate goal is to let him obtain the Lektor and then ambush and kill him. Romanova is sent by Rosa Klebb, a KGB agent who has secretly defected to OCTOPUS. Her immediate subordinate, Red Grant, protects Bond through the first half of the game and attacks him in the second. The game ends with a final assault on OCTOPUS headquarters.

[edit] References

  1. ^ Get Carter tops British film poll. BBC News (2004-10-03). Retrieved on 2007-07-28.
  2. ^ a b c d (2006) Album notes for From Russia with Love Ultimate Edition DVD.
  3. ^ FILMFAX Magazine Oct 2003-Jan 2004
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Martine Beswick, Daniela Bianchi, Dana Broccoli, Syd Cain, Sean Connery, Peter Hunt, John Stears, Norman Wanstall. (2000). Inside From Russia with Love [DVD]. MGM Home Entertainment Inc.. Retrieved on 2007-08-04.
  5. ^ Krofchok, Bryan (March 1995). Does Ian Fleming have a cameo appearance in the film From Russia With Love?. Shaken, Not Stirred. Ian Fleming Foundation. Retrieved on 2007-07-28.
  6. ^ (2000). Inside Octopussy [DVD]. MGM Home Entertainment Inc.. Retrieved on 2007-08-04.
  7. ^ (2000). Inside The Living Daylights [DVD]. MGM Home Entertainment Inc.. Retrieved on 2007-08-04.
  8. ^ The name is Spassky – Boris Spassky. ChessBase.com (2004-09-02). Retrieved on 2008-02-16.
  9. ^ "From Russia With Love" (1963) at Soundtrack Incomplete. Loki Carbis. Retrieved on 2007-07-28.
  10. ^ a b Listology: Rating the James Bond Theme Songs. Listology.com. Retrieved on 2007-07-28.
  11. ^ a b (2000). The Music of James Bond [DVD]. MGM Home Entertainment Inc.. Retrieved on 2007-08-04.
  12. ^ From Russia, with Love (1964). Box Office Mojo. Retrieved on 2007-07-28.
  13. ^ From Russia With Love. The Numbers. Nash Information Service. Retrieved on 2008-03-16.
  14. ^ Berardinelli, James. Top 100 Runner Up: From Russia with Love. Reelviews. Retrieved on 2008-03-16.
  15. ^ From Russia With Love (1963). BBC. Retrieved on 2008-03-16.
  16. ^ Antani, Jay. From Russia With Love. Filmcritic.com. Retrieved on 2008-03-16.
  17. ^ Norman Wilner. Rating the Spy Game. MSN. Retrieved on 2008-03-04.
  18. ^ James Bond's Top 20. IGN (2006-11-17). Retrieved on 2008-03-04.
  19. ^ Benjamin Svetkey, Joshua Rich (2006-11-15). Ranking the Bond Films. Retrieved on 2008-03-16.
  20. ^ "From Russia With Love" to make BBC TV debut Mi6.co.uk URL accessed July 30, 2007
  21. ^ Awards at Yahoo Movies. Retrieved on 2007-07-30.
  22. ^ Awards won by From Russia with Love. Retrieved on 2007-08-01.
  23. ^ Electronic Arts. From Russia with Love. (in English). (2005-11-01)

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