From Russia with Love (1963) Review

 "Can I borrow a match?"



MI6 receives a message from Tatiana Romanova (Daniela Bianchi), a clerk at the Soviet consulate in Istanbul, saying she has fallen in love with James Bond (Sean Connery).  She is willing to defect and hand over a Soviet Lektor coding machine if Bond comes to Istanbul to escort her to England.  It's obviously a trap, but Bond accepts the mission anyway.  As Bond tries to get the machine back to England, he has to contend with Soviet spies as well as SPECTRE while trying to figure out who Tatiana is truly loyal to.


What Works:

Out of all the Bond movies, this one is more of an espionage film than any other.  This is a game of spies and it makes the movie really memorable.  It's a subtler movie, especially in the first half, and deals with people following one another around and code phrases.  This is the stuff that makes From Russia with Love so fun, and it's one thing I'm sad we've lost in the later Bond films.

Sean Connery continues to be great as Bond.  He isn't just a brute.  He has to outthink the opposition, while still being charming enough to keep Tatiana happy.  I always enjoy watching Bond pull a clever fast-one on his enemies, and we get plenty of that here.

This movie gives us a really memorable and important villain in Red Grant (Robert Shaw).  He's the first "muscle" henchmen of the series, which is an archetype that shows up in nearly every Bond movie after this.  He's a big, strong brute who will kill anyone who gets in his way.  He spends most of the movie in the shadows, just out of Bond's sight, but we the audience know how dangerous he is.  This movie does a great job of building up this character and the tension all the way up to their excellent fight to the death on the Orient Express.

We get some bigger and better action sequences as well.  The raid on the gypsy camp, the helicopter attack, and the boat chase are all a lot of fun and have a larger sense of scale than Dr. No.

Finally, we get one of the all-time great Bond allies in Kerim Bey, played by Pedro Armendáriz, who was terminally ill when he performed in this film and very close to death.  Yet, he still gives a warm and magnetic performance.  He's a jovial spy and extremely competent.  His scenes are all wonderful and he and Connery have fantastic chemistry.  He is my favorite part of this film.


What Sucks:

My only complaint with From Russia with Love comes from the Bond girl, Tatiana.  Her early scenes with Bond and Rosa Klebb (Lotte Lenya) are really good, but after that, she comes off as mostly vapid and comatose.  We're supposed to be questioning which side she is really on, but I never get that from her.  Mostly I'm annoyed by her characterization.  It was a missed opportunity to have a much more interesting and complex character.


Verdict:

From Russia with Love is a step up from Dr. No with better action, an excellent use of espionage, a massively important villain, and a wonderful performance from Pedro Armendáriz.  I think the character of Tatiana was mishandled, but this movie has definitely got it going on.

 9/10: Great 

Ranking:

#1. From Russia with Love
#2. Dr. No

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