A Real Labor of Love

Things Are Shaping Up Nicely...

Piece of spectacular From Russia With Love art
by Dick Bobnick

From Russia With Love is just the second appearance by Ian Fleming's James Bond 007 on the bigscreen.

Many fans of Fleming's original works have cited it as their favorite Bond film.

The audience is officially introduced to the headquarters of the SPECTRE crime syndicate, including the first visual of "Number One" (aka Bloefeld) as a shadowy figure petting a cat.

The film also gave us SPECTRE Operative Rosa Klebb - Famously spoofed as henchwoman Frau Farbissina in the Austin Powers series.

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   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/   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   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   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/   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   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.

JAMES BOND

WILL RETURN IN THE NEXT
IAN FLEMING THRILLER...

"GOLDFINGER"

The Midas Touch...

 "What's Your Game, Mr. Bond?"

The iconic movie Goldfinger stands up as an all-round fan favorite James Bond film.
Many Bond cliches have their roots in this third installment of the 007 franchise.

Even the mute henchman Oddjob regularly appears on lists of best all-time Bond villains.

Golden Girl

The film's "Cover Girl" Jill Masterson (portrayed by actress Shirley Eaton) was a tragic character who met her fate being asphyxiated in gold paint.

Lore often misstates that the character was completely nude - Some art depicts her as such.

It's also been said that she wore a thong (technically I'd consider it to be a tanga).

MI6 DOSSIER - GOLDFINGER  [JAMES BOND 007 MOVIE FILE]   GOLDFINGER [film] 1964 [Bond #3] BACKGROUND "Sean Connery returns as Agent 007 and faces off with a maniacal villain bent on destroying all the gold in Fort Knox - and obliterating the world economy! Goldfinger is 'the best... of all the Bonds' - Roger Ebert" -Goldfinger 2008 DVD "...A fully-armed Aston Martin DB-5, a nude woman painted from head to toe in gold paint, the mute Korean manservant -- Oddjob -- with his steel-rimmed bowler, Bond's near-emasculation by a laser beam atop a gold table... This third adventure brought cinema's James Bond to a new level of popularity. 'Bond is Back' touted all the ads, and indeed he was... Shirley Bassey's powerful rendition of Goldfinger not only added a rich shimmer to this third James Bond movie, it created the first American hit song out of a Bond title theme." -The Best of Bond... James Bond Movie Soundtrack "The classic title song was performed by Shirley Bassey , whose powerful vocals helped propel [the] soundtrack album to number eight on Billboard... The song makes a subtle reappearance in On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1971) when a janitor whistles the tune...Goldfinger" theme sung by Shirley Bassey" -James Bond Special Edition DVD "Ian Flemming died shortly before the film's release, never knowing how popular the films based on his novels were eventually to become" -The Official James Bond 007 Movie Book by Sally Hibbin CAST James Bond SEAN CONNERY Auric Goldfinger GERT FROBE Pussy Galore HONOR BLACKBMAN Jill Masterson SHIRLEY EATON Tilly Masterson TANIA MALLETT Oddjob HAROLD SAKATA "M" BERNARD LEE Solo MARTIN BENSON Felix Leiter CEC LINDER Miss Moneypenny LOIS MAXWELL   GOLDFINGER [villain] BACKGROUND "Obsessed to the point of madness with gold... in love with its color and brilliance all his life... He has amassed his wealth through a crafty method of smuggling... Goldfinger has elaborately planned 007's death by means of a laser beam slowly cutting its way between the legs of Bond, who asks Goldfinger if he expects him to talk... The incorrigible villain replies, 'No Mr. Bond, I expect you to die'." -The Official James Bond 007 Movie Book by Sally Hibbin   ODDJOB [villain] BACKGROUND "A diminutive villain sporting a bowler hat. He's small and deadly." -GoldenEye 007 Instruction Booklet We're led to believe that Oddjob is from Korea... "...Actor Harold Sakata was a Hawaiian wrestler billed as 'The Great Togo' before he worked on Goldfinger... Won a silver medal for the USA weightlifting in the 1948 Olympics... Knowledge of judo and karate... Renowned for his coldly unexpressive countenance - a feature which obviously stood him in good stead for the equally unresponsive Oddjob." -The Official James Bond 007 Movie Book by Sally Hibbin   MASTERSON, JILL BACKGROUND "Jill Masterson finds a novel way of playing Goldfinger's game - using binoculars and a miniature radio to spy on the opposition card hand." "He pays me... And to be seen with him - Just seen."   "The film's most indelible image is undoubtedly Jill Masterson's gold-painted corpse, which required actress Shirley Eaton to undergo two hours of make-up... a patch of skin over her stomach was left uncovered to prevent the epiderman asphyxiation that her character suffered" -James Bond Special Edition DVD (circa 2000)   "Shirley wasn't completely naked during the gold paint scenes, she wore a thong and just to be safe the makeup artist, Paul Rabiger left a small patch of skin about 6-inches long on her abdomen as a safety precaution and the studio even had doctors on standby for Miss Eaton's safety." -https://morleymakeupartistry.weebly.com/   GALORE, PUSSY BACKGROUND GoldenEye 007 Controller Setting 2.3 Galore is of course named after one of the most memorable Bond Girls. "The unforgettably named Pussy Galore is played by Honor Blackman... Ms. Galore is first and foremost an ace pilot, indeed Goldfinger's personal one, who is training a squad of female aviatrix to spray a deadly nerve gas around the fort Knox area..." -The Official James Bond 007 Movie Book by Sally Hibbin

Keep On Truckin'

Standard Operating Procedures...

 

Promotional image scanned from the GoldenEye Special Edition DVD.

Natalya's lower back may distract one's attention from the legion of troops at the bottom portion of this "mini-poster".

Pair of trucks in photo with a backdrop that closely resembles the Dam/Runway of Arkangel(sk).
Can't seem to find these vehicles in the movie.
Two different trucks can be briefly seen parked outside the Archives in St. Petersburg.

Definitely perplexed by this image... Was it part of a scene?
It looks a bit to complex to be just a promotional still.

Pretty sure I don't recognize the central figure...
He's a bit heavier-set than the others (so I can only assume he's the ranking Officer).


The tank is obviously familiar military hardware.
In the movie, the soldiers definitely had Jeeps (or something similar, apparently called UAZ 31514).

Although with cardboard cut-outs, bluescreen and other effects, it's hard to say what's actually real.

(A moving Jeep was also something that was intended for the game, and was either never finished nor implemented completely)


It's the pair of trucks has caught my attention....


Of course there's a lone truck at the beginning of the Dam mission in the GoldenEye game. It may help "guide" a new player further into the level, and can be used as cover.

But was the truck completely invented for the game?
Or was it based on something from the movie?



The background of the photo appears to be a snowy landscape with trees - Closer to the Dam and Runway.

Re-watched the GoldenEye movie just to be sure, and couldn't spot a truck anywhere in the Dam-Runway sequences.


Right after Bond breaks out of the Archives, he subsequently steals a tank and takes to the Streets.
A couple of trucks can actually be seen parked in the yard (visible onscreen for about two seconds). These trucks outside the Archives appear different than the ones in the above photo.

The trucks are not part of the chase, but may very well have been the inspiration behind the truck model used in the Dam mission.

Familiar green military truck from the Dam mission.

Following on the heels of a daunting tanker truck chase scene in the previous Bond film License to Kill (Timothy Dalton's Bond versus Drug Lord Franz Sanchez), a truck scene in GoldenEye could have been tough to match...




EDITOR'S NOTE: Stumbled on a page where they've documented practically every single car or truck that's appeared in the entire 007 franchise... Even if the particular vehicle wasn't involved in the action.

https://www.007museum.com/goldeneye.htm


Just browsed the GoldenEye page on a whim, not expecting to find out truck - But there it is!
Parked right outside the Military Intelligence Archives or "Hall of Records".
(In the very same yard that James Bond steals a tank)


The truck in question is apparently a 1977 Ural 4320.

These trucks are often equipped with the big canopy/tarp/shelter/cover on the back - Which definitely changes the overall look of the truck. With this in mind, the pair of trucks on that poster could feasibly be the same trucks parked outside the Archives...



https://findblueprints.com/catalog/cars/ural/ural-4320-truck-1977

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X-Ray Document Scanner

Also of interest:

"Other GoldenEye gadgetry from "Q" banch includes a leather belt with a 75-foot rappelling cord built into the buckle; a gun that fires a piton attached to a power-retractable high tensile wire designed to support Bond's weight; a silver tray which doubles as an X-ray document scanner; a pen that becomes a class-four grenade, and a laser-emitting watch that also serves as an arming device."

-GoldenEye Special Edition DVD Booklet



Mentioned only by name in the GoldenEye movie.
"X Ray Document Scanner"

Q doesn't explain much beyond that, but the viewer gets a brief demonstration.
The device appears to scan an envelope containing Bond's plane ticket to St. Petersburg.


Of particular interest, because this item was mentioned just once - And never mentioned again...
Normally, 007 manages to find a use for every single gadget that Q equips him with.

That's My Little Octopussy...

Quick collection of notes on possibly one of the most under-rated Bond films - Octopussy.
(Even Homer Simpson thought it was great enough to see it twice)

A significant GoldenEye item from this movie was of course the Throwing Knife...

MI6 DOSSIER - OCTOPUSSY  [JAMES BOND 007 MOVIE FILE]   OCTOPUSSY [film] 1983 [Bond #13] BACKGROUND "The movie earns high marks with a teriffic scene in which a British agent [009], disguised as a circus clown, is stalked by assassins." -The Best of Bond... James Bond Movie Soundtrack "... Roger Moore portrays the immortal action hero... [Agent 007] investigates the murder of a fellow agent [009] who was clutching a priceless Fabergé Egg at the time of his death." -2007 DVD Release "Octopussy is actually lightly based on two of Ian Flemming's short stories. One, The Property of a Lady concerns the sale of a Fabergé Egg while in the other, Octopussy, Bond uncovers the corruption of Maj. Smythe who is mentioned briefly in the film as Octopussy's father. Like most of the Bond films by this time, Octopussy takes little more from Flemming than a few ideas, some characters and a title." -The Official James Bond 007 Movie Book by Sally Hibbin BRIEFING [Fabergé Egg] "These priceless and rare antiques are jewelled eggs made by Carl Fabergé in 1987 [as a gift] for the Russian royal family..." A realistic fake turns up in the dead hands of Agent 009 (who was working undercover as a circus clown) in East Germany." -The Official James Bond 007 Movie Book by Sally Hibbin "Octopussy's traveling circus is being used as a cover for a plot to explode an atomic bomb at a U.S. airforce base - the first step in a plan for a Soviet invasion of Western Europe. Starring Maud Adams in the title role and Robert Brown as the new M... Notably, the movie's provocative title - Octopussy - is never uttered in the lyrics to the theme song (the only Bond movie in which this ocurs). The title tune is instead called 'All Time High' performed by Rita Coolidge." -The Best of Bond... James Bond Movie Soundtrack CAST James Bond ROGER MOORE Octopussy MAUD ADAMS Kamal Khan LOUIS JORDAN Magda KRISTINA WAYBORN Gobinda KABIR BEDI General Orlov STEVEN BERKOFF Vijay VIJAY AMRITRAJ M ROBERT BROWN General Gogol WALTER GOTELL Q DESMOND LLEWELYN Minister of Defence GEOFFREY KEEN Sadruddin ALBERT MOSS Miss Moneypenny LOIS MAXWELL   THROWING KNIFE [weapon] Throwing Knives in GoldenEye 007 (Bunker 2) circa 1995. James Bond has experience with Throwing Knives, after infiltrating Octopussy's Circus (1983). A pair of professional knife-throwers dazzle audiences with their amazing skills. The deadly duo also moonlight as assassins. After taking a knife to the arm, Agent 009 was able to Karate chop one of the assassins in the back. While attempting to escape, 009 was hit in the back with a throwing knife. Fatally wounded, the Agent arrived at the British Embassy, collapsing down dead. Rolling out of his dead hands, is the clue that kickstarts James Bond's mission.   MISS MAGDA BACKGROUND "Kamal's beautiful accomplice Magda is played by blonde-haired Swedish actress Kristina Wayborn. She seduces Bond (never a difficult task) in order to recover the real Fabergé Egg..."   OCTOPUSSY [character] BACKGROUND "Maud Adams becomes the only leading female player to appear in two Bond movies when she returns as Octopussy. (Her previous role was as Andrea Anders, Scaramanga's girlfriend in The Man With The Golden Gun. With her bevy of specially trained acrobatic women, Octopussy is the brains behind the jewel-smuggling operation...". -The Official James Bond 007 Movie Book by Sally Hibbin

Just Looking...

MI6 DOSSIER - DR. NO  [JAMES BOND 007 MOVIE FILE]   DR. NO [film]   1962 [Bond #1] BACKGROUND "...Albert R. Broccoli and Harry Saltzman joined forces to bring novelist Ian Fleming's phenomenally popular superagent to the big screen..." "...Thus were born two more-or-less standard elements of Bond movies - the cataclysmic explosion of the villain's headquarters at the climax of the film and the subsequent escape of Bond and his chosen companion to relish their victory somewhere undisturbed..." BRIEFING [RE: Sean Connery:] "...Brocolli admiring the "right hint of threat behind that hard smile and faint Scottish burr" "...Connery's combination of personal magnetism, roguish charm and deadly intensity." " Several studios rejected the idea of a James Bond film, calling the character and stories 'too British' and 'too blatantly sexual.' But on June 20, 1961, United Artists agreed to fund the production for a modest $1 million." "The painting noticed by Bond in Dr. No's headquarters is Goya's The Duke of Wellington, chosen by the producers because it had attracted real-life international attention when it was stolen from a museum shortly before production begain." James Bond Special Edition DVD (circa 2000) CAST James Bond SEAN CONNERY Honey Ryder URSULA ANDRESS Dr. No JOSEPH WISEMAN Felix Leiter JACK LORD M BERNARD LEE Professor Dent ANTHONY DAWSON Quarrel JOHN KITZMILLER Miss Taro ZENA MARSHALL Sylvia Trench EUNICE GAYSON Miss Moneypenny LOIS MAXWELL   DR. NO [villain] BACKGROUND "...Operating from Crab Key off the coast of Jamaica, Dr. No is the brains behind the misguided missiles operation... Dr. [Julius] No is ruthless - his subordinates prefer to die than talk. The scriptwriters toyed with many ideas to bring Fleming's villain to the screen - including the bizarre notion of making Dr. No a monkey - before giving him metal hands, his distinguishing mark in the movie.... An engineer of note (he designed his headquarters himself) he is, of course, working for SPECTRE and the rocket interference is part of an unspeficied plan for world domination." -The Official James Bond 007 Movie Book by Sally Hibbin   RYDER, HONEY BACKGROUND GoldenEye 007 Controller Setting 1.1 Honey, is named after the very first Bond girl, Honey Ryder (Ursula Andress). "Ursula Andress will always be remembered as one of the most esquisite 'Bond Girls'... ...As Honey, Andress cut such a stunning figure in her two-piece bathing suit that bikini sales skyrocketed in the wake of Dr. No's release" -James Bond 007 Special Edition DVD BRIEFING "She emerges from the sea, clad in a skimpy white bikini with a hunting knife tucked in one side singing 'Underneath the Mango Tree'." -The Official James Bond 007 Movie Book by Sally Hibbin