From Russia With Love

Rating:
Summary: ANOTHER CONNERY CLASSIC!!!
Review: Only a year after "Dr.No" the second James Bond adventure was released. 1963's "From Russia With Love" marked the first appearance of Q as well as the first time 007 gadgets were introduced and the first time Bond faces the evil SPECTRE organization. No doubt about it that "From Russia With Love" is a classic Bond film. Although in my opinion it is not as good as it precessor "Dr.No", it is still an essential Bond film worth seeing and owning.

"From Russia With Love" has a solid plot with several awesome action scenes such as Bond's famous fight on the orient express against Red Grant as well as the Helicopter pursuing 007 and the gypsy battle. It also have several creative gadget's such as Bond's multi purpose suit case, Red Grant's wrist watch choke wire and Rosa Klebb's poison dagger tipped shoe.

The entire cast was excellent as each actor or actresses character was very colourful and had his or her own personality. Connery is wonderful as Bond as usual.
Daniela Bianchi plays the lovely Tatiana Romanova with beautiful innocence. Robert Shaw portrays the menacing assasin Donald "Red" Grant. Lotte Lenya plays the wicked Rosa Klebb and Vladek Sheybal portrays he clever Kronsteen with arrogance. All three of these characters are classic Bond villians. Pedro Armenderiz portrays Bond's comrade Kerim Bey wonderfully. Of course Bernard Lee returns as M and Lois Maxwell as Ms. Moneypenny and Desmond Llewelyn makes his debut as Q.

The plot is that SPECTRE an evil organization is after a Russian decoding device called the Lektor and make it seem as if the English have stolen it from the Russians.
It is up to Bond to stop SPECTRE from getting their hands on the Russian decoding device.

Overall "From Russia With Love" is a classic Bond film that must be seen by all Bond fans. The plot is great, the action sequences are classic and the characters are well developed. One of the finest films in the series! Highly recommended!

Rating:
Summary: "You want be needing this," ''Old man.'
Review: From Russia With Love is one of my favorite Bond films. FRWL is said to be the biggest Bond film ever made. Bond has just been given another assignment, he must find a Russian decoding device called a Lektor and a defecting Russian girl called Tonya(Daniela Bianchi), but someone else also wants to get their hands on the Lektor too...Spectre!..the secret international crime orgazation that wants nothing better than to see Bond eliminated. Spectre then sends a ruthless woman named Col. Klebb a.k.a. Number 3 and a cunning, but crazed killer called Donald 'Red' Grant to kill Bond and get the Lektor, in revenge of Bond killing Dr.No and destroying his island complex of Crabkey. Bond will need all of his wit, ablitiy, charm, courage, and a few gadgets to win over the evil forces that want him dead. Give this movie a try I recemend it to all Bond and Sean Connery fans. I hope to get the DVD soon.

Rating:
Summary: Red Wine with Fish, Old Man!
Review: The 2nd James Bond movie. Following the success of DR. NO, producers Albert R. Broccoli and Harry Saltzman immediately propose the prospect of a sequel, but the proverbial question was of which film to adapt next. Ironically the decision of FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE came from the choice of a very unlikely supporter: President John F. Kennedy! With such international tensions developing over news broadcasts, FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE introduced entirely new aspects of appeal with Sean Connery reprising the role of 007. In addition is a diverse talent of International names appearing throughout the cast; Daniela Bianchi as the girl Tatiana Romanova, Lotte Lenya as the SPECTRE villanious Rosa Klebb, and most unforgettably Robert Shaw as assassin Red Grant. The confrontation between Connery and Shaw aboard the Orient Express remains one of the greatest confrontations in cinema history.

THE ASSIGNMENT: Tatiana Romanova, a Russian Cypher clerk, is assigned to defect a valuable cypher machine, known as a Lektor - if James Bond (who she is instructed to fall in love with) adjourns to meet her at Istanbul. Unknown to M and 007, SPECTRE is behind this plot. They have three motives; 1) to set the Russians and English at odds with one another, 2) to profit from the deal when they sell the Lektor back to the Russians, and 3) to lure Bond to his death in revenge for killing their operative - Dr. No. Even if the plot is somehow transparent, it will work, and they reason because the British can never resist a trap.

THE VILLAINS: Lotte Lenya as Rosa Klebb, Robert Shaw as Red Grant, Vladek Sheybal as Kronsteen, and a very young Walter Gotell (later played General Gogol) as Morzeny.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED! BUY IT!

Rating:
Summary: Beautiful looking DVD
Review: James Bond is given the opportunity to obtain a Russian Lektor decoding machine but he needs the services of a beautiful Russian defector, Tatiana Romanova (Daniella Bianchi) to help him steal it from the Russian Embassy in Istanbul. The British think it's a trap, but one worth taking as they are desperate to get their hands on the Lektor. It is indeed too easy to be true - but the treachery and manipulation comes not from the Russians, but from a totally unexpected quarter.

The story may appear simplistic but if you let your concentration lapse you'll miss key information to understanding the plot. Because there is more dialogue it helps to own this movie so you can watch it again. Everything becomes much clearer after a repeat viewing. This was the first 007 DVD I bought because it's one of my favourite Connery Bonds. It features ice-cold assassin Red Grant (Robert Shaw), and one of the best bond girls ever ('James, will you make love to make all the time in England?'). Pedro Armendáriz fits the role of 007's ally Kerim Bey very nicely.

From Russia With Love doesn't overwelm you with a main villain's secret fortress blowing to pieces, nor does it have a heart-pounding car chase scene. The real action is between the characters and within the story.

Rating:
Summary: Among the Finest in the Series
Review: From Russia With Love ranks among the top three films in the durable James Bond series. As in many of the best films in the series, the tone is relatively serious. Rather than the fantastic schemes of some of the later Bond films, the plot is a fairly straightforward espionage story, dealing with Bond's attempts to get his hands on the obligatory MacGuffin, a coding machine. The story is believable and there is an atmosphere of genuine tension throughout the film.

From Russia With Love's greatest strength is its superb cast. Sean Connery, in his second outing as Bond, is very good, handling both dialogue and action adeptly. Daniela Bianchi is a beautiful heroine, and her onscreen relationship with Bond is very plausible. Other roles are also cast from strength--Lotte Lenya and Robert Shaw, as the principal villains, and Pedro Armendariz, as Bond's fellow MI-6 agent, are the most notable performances.

While From Russia With Love cannot be considered a classic movie--it owes too much to North By Northwest for that--it is a very enjoyable movie to view again and again. I watch it several times a year.

Rating:
Summary: Number 2 yet full of firsts
Review: The second installment of James Bonds adventures starts with the post gunbarrel pre-title chapter which in this movie sees an expert assasin take out what appears to be our intrepid agent untill it is revealed that it is a stage set up.

Q makes an apperance with the first of many gadgets that Bond will call on during his lifetime. We also get to see his Bentley before it's famous replacement in the next film. The three modes of transport (air,sea,rail) and exotic locations are to the fore and of course, the Bond Girl, this time Lotte Lyna.

Rating:
Summary: 6 out of 5 stars
Review: From Russia With Love (FRWL) is one of the 2 James Bond movies I would give 6 stars out of five if I could. Goldfinger is the other. Extremely well done movie and not just a great Bond movie but a great movie in its own right. Terence Young superbly directs an excellent cast. FRWL is only the 2nd Bond movie of the series but Connery makes it look like he's an old hand at playing 007. He has the emotions, the toughness and the dry wit down perfectly. Robert Shaw is spectacular as the henchman Red Grant. I really could believe him as a sociopath. Lotte Lenya turns in a suberb performance as Rosa Klebb, a former Soviet agent now working for the worldwide ciminal organization, SPECTRE. Pedro Armendariz almost steals the show as the larger than life Karim Bey. The train fight is perfectly choreographed and is legendary. It may be the single most famous scene in the series. Istanbul is beautifully shot. FRWL takes full advantage of the history and culture of this remarkable city which was once prized by two of the world's greatest empires. FRWL is special among Bonds not for its action but for the intangibles. All Bond movies have action but the best emphasize plot, mood, suspense, characters and class. FRWL is of one the classiest Bonds.

Rating:
Summary: the second young bond and the best of them all
Review: fighting gypseys (one of whom is the delectable martine beswick) in scantily clad clothes, a beefcake blonde assassin robert shaw, a killer old hag with poisioned shoes, the most beautiful blonde imaginable wearing a choker, and connery's ultra cool bond non chalantly smoking his way through half the fim.
what more can you ask from terence youngs second bond flick and the best bond of them all.
from russia with love.

Rating:
Summary: 60,000,007 James Bond Fans Can't Be Wrong
Review: "60,000,007 James Bond fans live in a throbbing world of hot blooded excitement!" a poster for the second James Bond film declared. "Don't you think it's time you met secret agent 007?"

Plenty of moviegoers met Bond for the first time in "From Russia With Love," the film some 007 die-hards consider the best in the series (star Sean Connery agrees). Long before 007's sophomore screen effort reached theaters, Ian Fleming's novel was already famous as one of President Kennedy's favorite books, and that endorsement guaranteed Bond would win over America as he did his native U.K.

Here we get the first pre-title teaser, but unlike most to follow, it's brief and sets up an important part of the plot (007 being targeted for assassination). The titles themselves are a knockout, all the more so thanks to Lionel Bart's striking theme, orchestrated by John Barry who, for the first of eleven times provides Bond with an exciting score that's as much a signature for the series as the famous gun-barrel sequence that opens every film.

"From Russia With Love" is slower paced by later Bond standards but smarter, too, with a comparatively modest plot involving a decoding device coveted by SPECTRE. The tongue-in-cheek humor that would come to characterize the series was pretty much introduced here in an effort to offset the charges of sadism levied against the first film, but it doesn't overtake the action, including a fight aboard the Orient Express widely hailed as one of the greatest action scenes ever staged.

If the other films in the series warrant classification in the adventure genre, "From Russia With Love" is a thriller, the only film in the series I can imagine Alfred Hitchcock directing. Hitch may have thought so, too, since the Master of Suspense frequently cited this film's helicopter fight as an example of the producers cribbing from his work (the crop-duster scene in "North by Northwest"). Terence Young, who did direct, isn't Hitchcock but he's a fine craftsman often credited, by Connery, among others, for establishing the 007 formula.

The cast is one of the best ever recruited for a Bond film with Robert Shaw's muscle bound hit-man a good match for Connery whose hair, for the last time, seems to be mostly his own. Best of all is Lotte Lenya as the wicked, androgynous Rosa Klebb whose deadly footwear may remind viewers that she earned a mention in hubby Kurt Weill's song "Mack the Knife."

Brian W. Fairbanks

Rating:
Summary: Dated and tedious movie....
Review: It took this movie so long to come to the point that by then I did not care anymore. Train fight between Shaw and Connery is underwelming and the so-called romance is butchered by a terrible script. Forget this piece of junk.