James Bond Marathon: From Russia with Love

I like to compare this one to films like Aliens, or The Empire Strikes Back, in which the sequel is far superior to the first film.

Bond's new mission is to make contact with the girl of the week Tatiana Romanova, played by Daniella Bianchi. Romanova is a cipher clerk at the Russian consulate in Istanbul, who claims to have fallen in love with Bond's file photo, and is offering to defect with a highly sought after decoding machine used by the Russians. However, both are unaware that the defection is a scheme by the terrorist organisation SPECTRE, who seek revenge for the death of Dr No. SPECTRE's 'Number One' assigns the mission to Colonel Rosa Klebb, a former Soviet Intelligence officer played by Lotte Lenya, who manipulates Tatiana into thinking it is a mission to provide false intelligence to the British. Also recruited is the SPECTRE assassin Donald 'Red' Grant, played by Robert Shaw, whose mission is to monitor Bond until he acquires the decoder, then kill him and steal it so SPECTRE can sell it back to the Russians, thereby profiting from the revenge.

From Russia with Love sees the introduction of Desmond Llewellyn as Q, the MI6 inventor. Granted, Q had appeared in the previous film, played by Peter Burton, but was referred to as Major Boothroyd (named after a gunsmith who recommended the Walther PPK to Fleming), and all he ever issued was Bond's standard issue sidearm. This time around, he issues bond with an attaché case with a collapsible sniper rifle, a throwing knife. and a booby trap which detonates a tear gas cannister if opened incorrectly. Other gadgets include a watch with a concealed garrotte favoured by Grant, and a shoe with a poisoned toe-spike used by Klebb and a SPECTRE trainer (played by Walter Gottell, who would have a recurring role in the Moore films, but I'll get to that).

Set pieces include a brawl at Roma camp, a scuffle in a train car, and a boat chase. The action is kept down at first in favour of the espionage, but I have no problem with that. In fact, I think it works to the film's advantage.

The film's higher production value and more down-to-earth story and setting make this one of the best films of the Connery era, and one of my favourite films in the franchise.

I'll see you again soon for the next film.