From Russia with Love
The second James Bond movie, From Russia with Love (1963), directed by Terence Young, stars Sean Connery, reprising his secret agent role first seen in Young's Dr. No. This sequel introduces the menacing organization, S.P.E.C.T.R.E., run by Ernst Blofeld, i.e. Number One (Anthony Dawson), never seen except as he pets his long-haired white cat.
This secret outfit works against the interests of both the Western powers and the Soviet Union. Bond enters into his assignment--obtaining from a low-level KGB employee (Daniela Bianchi)--a decoder called a Lektor, something the size of a typewriter. I found this aspect of the story illogical, since the KGB would likely change all of their codes if their main cryptographic instrument were stolen. MI-6, Bond's agency, would then be in a position of having to crack another code. Oh well.
Blofeld also wants the Lektor, wants to trick Bond into stealing it for S.P.E.C.T.R.E. Enlisting the aid of Rosa Klebb, an apparently lesbian KGB officer who resembles a homunculus, Blofeld orders her--she's Number 3, but retains her KGB position, thus, a double agent--to train the low-level KGB employee, Tatiana Romanova, a stunning woman working in the Soviet consulate in Istanbul, in the task of seducing Agent 007. Bond believes Romanova is an aspiring defector. He has no idea he's being used by a sinister cabal run by a man who wants to rule the world.
He gets it on with Tatiana, of course, no problem. Their lovemaking is filmed from behind a two way mirror by Rosa Klebb and her cohort, Red Grant (Robert Shaw), a brutish and sadistic S.P.E.C.T.R.E. operative. This film is to be used after Bond's death at the hands of Grant, who tracks him throughout most of the movie. Revealing the KGB employee in bed with the MI-6 man will embarrass the British and Soviet governments. The Lektor and its sophisticated technology will be Blofeld's. He'll continue to stroke his pussy and plan world domination.
The plan goes awry when Bond, confronted finally by Grant on a westbound train into the Balkans, learns of S.P.E.C.T.R.E. for the first time. Red Grant has him at gunpoint. Bond assumes at first he's a Soviet agent, but Grant denies it, adding that he will torture him with bullets, making it so that Bond will die very slowly. Here, the briefcase supplied by MI-6's Q Branch comes into play, with the fifty gold sovereigns Bond bribes Grant with to simply offer 007 a last cigarette. The case has a special lock mechanism that will explode tear gas into the face of whoever doesn't open it correctly. Red gets a big surprise, Bond goes into action. Tatiana, drugged by Grant in the neighboring compartment, sleeps through the following fight to the death.
This fight scene inside a cramped train compartment is one of the best action scenes ever filmed, in a Bond movie or otherwise. Comparing the two actors, Sean Connery is smaller in build than Robert Shaw. It's like a match between a middleweight and a heavyweight, but with no rules. Both of them wear suits, Bond is outmatched for most of the contest. Red Grant's watch has a garrote. He gets this around Bond's neck. 007 comes close to death, but the Q briefcase saves him with a concealed knife jammed into Grant's arm. Bond wins his life in the end--I can't even remember how Grant dies, finally.
Bond and Tatiana make it to Venice after two more close encounters with death. Blofeld's numbered minions involved in the operation are in trouble with the cat owner. Rosa Klebb makes one last attempt to eliminate the British agent with a poisoned shoe dagger. Tatiana kills her former supervisor with a gunshot, Bond jokes tastelessly about Klebb's demise, insensitive to his girlfriend's distress at having committed her first killing of a human being. As I've suggested before, Bond himself has sociopathic tendencies.
I've seen the movie a few times over the decades. It's not as good as Goldfinger or Thunderball, but it's entertaining, one of the highlights being the extensive Istanbul location filming. The extraordinary Hagia Sophia, one of the world's most beautiful buildings, is featured inside and out. The viewer also gets to see a massive fourth century subterranean building project from the time of Constantine the Great, thick and huge stone columns surrounded by water, extending into the darkness, the weight of ancient history living on in the present of 1963 Turkey.
Vic Neptune
The second James Bond movie, From Russia with Love (1963), directed by Terence Young, stars Sean Connery, reprising his secret agent role first seen in Young's Dr. No. This sequel introduces the menacing organization, S.P.E.C.T.R.E., run by Ernst Blofeld, i.e. Number One (Anthony Dawson), never seen except as he pets his long-haired white cat.
This secret outfit works against the interests of both the Western powers and the Soviet Union. Bond enters into his assignment--obtaining from a low-level KGB employee (Daniela Bianchi)--a decoder called a Lektor, something the size of a typewriter. I found this aspect of the story illogical, since the KGB would likely change all of their codes if their main cryptographic instrument were stolen. MI-6, Bond's agency, would then be in a position of having to crack another code. Oh well.
Blofeld also wants the Lektor, wants to trick Bond into stealing it for S.P.E.C.T.R.E. Enlisting the aid of Rosa Klebb, an apparently lesbian KGB officer who resembles a homunculus, Blofeld orders her--she's Number 3, but retains her KGB position, thus, a double agent--to train the low-level KGB employee, Tatiana Romanova, a stunning woman working in the Soviet consulate in Istanbul, in the task of seducing Agent 007. Bond believes Romanova is an aspiring defector. He has no idea he's being used by a sinister cabal run by a man who wants to rule the world.
He gets it on with Tatiana, of course, no problem. Their lovemaking is filmed from behind a two way mirror by Rosa Klebb and her cohort, Red Grant (Robert Shaw), a brutish and sadistic S.P.E.C.T.R.E. operative. This film is to be used after Bond's death at the hands of Grant, who tracks him throughout most of the movie. Revealing the KGB employee in bed with the MI-6 man will embarrass the British and Soviet governments. The Lektor and its sophisticated technology will be Blofeld's. He'll continue to stroke his pussy and plan world domination.
The plan goes awry when Bond, confronted finally by Grant on a westbound train into the Balkans, learns of S.P.E.C.T.R.E. for the first time. Red Grant has him at gunpoint. Bond assumes at first he's a Soviet agent, but Grant denies it, adding that he will torture him with bullets, making it so that Bond will die very slowly. Here, the briefcase supplied by MI-6's Q Branch comes into play, with the fifty gold sovereigns Bond bribes Grant with to simply offer 007 a last cigarette. The case has a special lock mechanism that will explode tear gas into the face of whoever doesn't open it correctly. Red gets a big surprise, Bond goes into action. Tatiana, drugged by Grant in the neighboring compartment, sleeps through the following fight to the death.
This fight scene inside a cramped train compartment is one of the best action scenes ever filmed, in a Bond movie or otherwise. Comparing the two actors, Sean Connery is smaller in build than Robert Shaw. It's like a match between a middleweight and a heavyweight, but with no rules. Both of them wear suits, Bond is outmatched for most of the contest. Red Grant's watch has a garrote. He gets this around Bond's neck. 007 comes close to death, but the Q briefcase saves him with a concealed knife jammed into Grant's arm. Bond wins his life in the end--I can't even remember how Grant dies, finally.
Bond and Tatiana make it to Venice after two more close encounters with death. Blofeld's numbered minions involved in the operation are in trouble with the cat owner. Rosa Klebb makes one last attempt to eliminate the British agent with a poisoned shoe dagger. Tatiana kills her former supervisor with a gunshot, Bond jokes tastelessly about Klebb's demise, insensitive to his girlfriend's distress at having committed her first killing of a human being. As I've suggested before, Bond himself has sociopathic tendencies.
I've seen the movie a few times over the decades. It's not as good as Goldfinger or Thunderball, but it's entertaining, one of the highlights being the extensive Istanbul location filming. The extraordinary Hagia Sophia, one of the world's most beautiful buildings, is featured inside and out. The viewer also gets to see a massive fourth century subterranean building project from the time of Constantine the Great, thick and huge stone columns surrounded by water, extending into the darkness, the weight of ancient history living on in the present of 1963 Turkey.
Vic Neptune
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