MI6
DOSSIER - FROM
RUSSIA WITH LOVE | [JAMES
BOND 007 MOVIE FILE]
| FROM
RUSSIA WITH LOVE [film] |
1963 [Bond
#2]  BACKGROUND
"A
cold War thriller involving Bond's mission to acquire a valuable Russian decoding
machine... balances danger, romance, suspense, story, character development and
action. A train car battle between Bond and S.P.E.C.T.R.E. assassin Red Grant
(Robert Shaw) stands as, arguably, one of the best 'fight scenes' in movie history.
The famed 'gypsy camp' scene - sexy, tense and violent - is one of the most memorable
in the series.
RUSSIA is the first Bond story to introduce clever espionage gadgetry. This film is also the first to feature series mainstay Desmond Llewelyn
as Major Boothroyd - Better known as Q - the supplier of 007's special equipment."
-The
Best of Bond... James Bond Movie Soundtrack
"Bond,
himself, doesn’t even appear in the novel until chapter 11, and appearing this
late in the story would never work in a James Bond film.
One scene had
been shot that could introduce 007 in the opening minutes without jeopardizing
the story.
The scene never appears in the novel, and involved killing James
Bond in the first few minutes.
Bond’s death is pure misdirection. Moments
later, a face mask is removed from the corpse to reveal someone else entirely.
The glimpse of Sean Connery keeps the focus on James Bond.
The problem
was how to open the movie with the scene. The decision was to place the Gunbarrel
logo at the start, and then finish this scene with the opening credits and musical
score.
Separating the scene from the rest of the film made the scene impactful.
The
now iconic pre-title sequence would not exist if there hadn’t been a problem with
introducing James Bond earlier in From Russia With Love."
-Daniel
Rennie
https://boldentrance.com/
[Following
the intro, Connery doesn't appear onscreen again until nearing the 18-minute mark]
"The
pre-title sequence in From Russia With Love is dark, in a maze, in a garden
and Bond is stalking or being stalked by a shadowy figure...
Bonds's opponent
catches him in a grip, draws a cord from his watch and proceeds to garotte our
hero. As Bond falls down dead, massive lights go up and a man walks forward from
the audience watching the scene. He bends down and removes a mask from the dead
body, making it clear that it is not 007 who has bitten the dust. It has all been
a rehearsal...
...The next new element follows immediately - The
titles. The credits are projected onto the undulating body of a female dancer.
It is a striking prelude to the main action which captures the dangerous and exciting
feel of the Bond movies.
In addition, From Russia With Love is
funnier than its predecessor. It has not yet quite developed into the distinctive
Bond humor that audiences have grown to know and love...
The humor largely
consists of Bond throwing in witty one-liners usually delivered fairly dead-pan
by Connery immediately after some vicious act of violence."
-The
Official James Bond 007 Movie Book
by Sally
Hibbin
|
 BRIEFING
"Tatiana
Romanova, a Russian cypher clerk, has said she will defect with a valuable cypher
machine, known as a Lektor, if James Bond (with whom she has fallen in love) goes
to Istanbul to pick her up.
Unknown to M and 007, SPECTRE are behind the
scheme. They have three motives: to set the Russians and English at odds with
one another; to profit from the deal when they sell the Lektor back to the Russians;
and to lure Bond to his death in revenge for killing their operative, Dr. No.
Even
if the plot is somewhat transparent, it will work, they reason, because the British
can never resist a trap."
(They see it as a challenge)
-The
Official James Bond 007 Movie Book
by Sally
Hibbin
"The second film in the 007
series, From Russia With Love fits nicely alongside its predecessor, Dr.
No. There are many correspondences between the two films, from large structural
patterns, such as the time each film takes to introduce James Bond, to the repetition
of small events, such as Bond bedding Sylvia Trench back in England before embarking
on his mission abroad.
Many of these patterns, such as Bond's flirting
with Miss Moneypenny, eventually became the templates that James Bond films are
now largely constructed from.
The pair are lean yet muscular films, and
they are both more concerned with actual spying than other Bond movies...
...The
film enters a superb half-hour sequence aboard the Orient Express. These are among
the very best in the Bond canon. The confined setting aboard the luxurious train
and a steam-filled station creates a wonderfully tense and ominous atmosphere,
as Grant insinuates himself amongst Bond and Tatiana.
The entire train
sequence is very Hitchcockian, as the audience knows that Grant is bad, but this
information is withheld from the main characters in order to generate suspense.
Thus,
as the Bond movies were forging new ground for action filmmaking, they are were
also borrowing from the styles of the time. The sequence culminates in a two-minute,
tour-de-force fight scene between Bond and Grant.
Taking place in extremely
close quarters—a pair of attached sleeping cars aboard the train—the
fight is an explosive assemblage of fast cuts and angle changes.
In terms
of film form, the scene is years ahead of its time, and it holds up as one of
the most gritty, intense, riveting onscreen brawls in movie history. Connery and
Shaw performed most of the fight themselves, and apparently it took three weeks
to film."
-Anton Bergstrom
https://3brothersfilm.com/
|
CAST
| James
Bond | SEAN
CONNERY | | Tatiana
Romanova | DANIELA
BIANCHI | | Kerim
Bey | PEDRO
ARMENDARIZ | | Rosa
Klebb | LOTTE
LENYA | | Red
Grant | ROBERT
SHAW | | Kronsteen |
VLADEK
SHEYBAL | | Sylvia
Trench | EUNICE
GAYSON | | "M" |
BERNARD
LEE | | Major
Boothroyd / Q | DESMOND
LLEWELYN | | Miss
Moneypenny | LOIS
MAXWELL |
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| Ernst
Stavro Blofeld [Villain] |
BACKGROUND
 "From
Russia With Love introduces Ernst Stavro Blofeld, the head of SPECTRE
and always referred to as Number 1.
Although his face is not seen in this
film, he's immediately identifyable by the white cat that is always with him."
-The
Official James Bond 007 Movie Book
by Sally
Hibbin
"Dr. No (Joseph Wiseman)
was the first SPECTRE operative to face James Bond onscreen, but From Russia
With Love gave audiences their first glimpse of the organization’s sinister
leader, Ernst Stavro Blofeld.
Anthony Dawson was the physical presence
of Blofeld. (He had portrayed Professor R.J. Dent in Dr. No).
Blofeld’s
voice was provided by Austrian actor, Eric Pohlmann.
Both Dawson and Pohlmann
returned as Blofeld in Thunderball.
Blofeld’s distinctive white Persian
cat was also introduced in this film, not having featured in Ian Fleming’s Bond
novels, after screenwriters, Richard Maibaum and Wolf Mankowitz’s earlier suggestion
for Dr. No to have either had or (strangely) been a monkey was rejected. Blofeld’s
cat has since become the villain’s defining characteristic."
-Richard
Hiron
https://whatculture.com/
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| Donovan
"Red" Grant [Villain] |
BACKGROUND
 "Homocidal
Paranoia... Superb Material."
"The real villain
of the piece is Red Grant, the assassin of the pre-title sequence. He is a convicted
muderer who escaped from a British top-security jail in 1960 and was recruited
by SPECTRE two years later...
His response to SPECTRE's training has been
so satisfactory that he is chosen for the starring role to assassinate Bond."
-The
Official James Bond 007 Movie Book
by Sally
Hibbin
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| Rosa
Klebb [Villain] |
BACKGROUND
 "Blofeld's
Number 3 is Rosa Klebb, a recent ex-head of operations for Soviet Intelligence
(known as SMERSH).
Considered a beauty in her youth, Lenya gives a remarkable
performance as the frumpily dressed, red-haired SPECTRE operative."
-The
Official James Bond 007 Movie Book
by Sally
Hibbin
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| Tatiana
Romanova |
BACKGROUND
 First
seen wearing a choker collar, thigh-high stockings - And nothing else.
"My
friends call me 'Tanya'."
"Tatiana
Romanova may think she is helping her country by obeying Rosa Klebb. In fact,
she in unwittingly aiding SPECTRE."
-The
Official James Bond 007 Movie Book
by Sally
Hibbin
"Bond
spends most of the film with double-agent Tatiana Romanova, played by stunning
Italian actress Daniela Bianchi. Due to her thick accent, she was dubbed over
by Barbara Jefford.
Tatiana, ostensibly a Russian spy, is neither particularly
dangerous nor exactly a damsel in distress. Instead, she plays more a genuine
love interest for the better part of the film, also assisting in the procuring
of the cryptographic device. At the age of only 21, she was also the youngest
'leading' Bond girl."
-KJEREDMAYER
https://wordwhiskey.wordpress.com/
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| Girl-On-Girl
Action |
BACKGROUND
 "In
the girl-fight at the gypsy camp, Zora is played by former Miss Jamaica, Martine
Beswick and Vida by former Miss Israel, Aliza Gur.
The fight involves hair-pulling,
finger-bending and biting as the girls have no holds barred to win the man they
both want."
-The Official James Bond 007 Movie
Book
by Sally Hibbin
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| Belly
Dancer |
BACKGROUND
 At
the Gypsy Camp, Bond (and the audience) gets treated to the stunning visuals of
an extremely talented belly dancer.
Her hypnotic movements are observed
by the gentlemen, who sit around the table and enjoy swigs of liquor.
The
dancing girl pays particular interest to 007, who later tells the host that his
hospitality overwhelms him.
This very talented girl was apparently portrayed
by Lisa Guiraut.
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