Review of From Russia with Love (1963) - The Astonishing Encore
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- Опубликовано: 13 окт 2024
- Note: I finally got a full video version through the bots! So, here's the original version of my From Russia with Love review as it was intended to be posted.
Considered the favorite Connery film of many fans (unless they pick Goldfinger), From Russia with Love features a classic story of duplicity and espionage. James Bond is a stranger in a strange land, accosted on all sides by those who should be allies. Little does Bond know they have all entered into a chess match orchestrated by a vengeful SPECTRE, who may just get the drop on 007. Is the film too dated for modern audiences or does it stand against the test of time?
Next in the series: Goldfinger
"You won't be needing this. Old Man !" - James Bond to Red Grant
From Russia with Love (1963) is such a brilliant Film.
Simply Bond's best. And yet only a sophomore effort. Absolute perfection if there is any such thing. It is my top in the series since a long time.
Just watched my 40-year-old copy of a video rental a friend at work supplied me with back then. Slightly fuzzy and in fullscreen, of course. The end credits JUMP as "James Bond will return in..." was removed while the end song plays uninterrupted.
I only ever saw this in widescreen ONCE-- at the Wooodcrest Cinema in 1980, on a double-bill with GOLDFINGER. That was the night RUSSIA became my favorite Connery Bond film.
This really is a FANTASTIC movie, one of the best of its kind EVER, EVER MADE.
I was remembering... if memory serves... I actually did read the book not too long before seeing the film for the first time. And what really brought back this memory... was thinking about reading the sequence on The Orient Express. When "Nash" showed up in the book... I had NO IDEA it was GRANT!!! Something I finally noticed this time... in the book, Bond tricks Grant by asking if he can have a cigarette. In the movie, they deliberately screwed with fans of the book when Grant says, "NO CHANCE." So instead, Bond offers to pay for it with the gold sovereigns. That part I remembered. What I hadn't quite noticed before was... earlier, Bond checks Nash's suitcase to confirm it's legit and Nash is who he says he is. During the tense later scene, Bond opens HIS OWN case. Grant then asks, "Any more in the other case?" Bond says probably, they're standard issue, and is about to open it, when Grant stops him. Then... GRANT opens it... FWOOSH!!!! So it was Nash's case that helped do Grant in.
I know they has no way of confirming this... but when Number One confronts Klebb & Kronsteen, Kronsteen says, "It was HER choice." HE WAS RIGHT!!! Grant IS the one who SCREWED UP big-time, by deciding, "How I do it is MY business." He could have shot Bond DEAD while he was face-down on the floor. NO, instead, he had to make a grandstand play. Kronsteen did NOT screw up-- KLEBB did. Oh well, they BOTH wound up dead anyway.
I think Morzeny escaped death by fire and went back to the Russians. We next saw him in THE SPY WHO LOVED ME. Heh. There's NO reason it can't be the same guy!
OH yeah-- that "continuity" glitch that inspired them to cut out the car crash scene? I once again confirmed the other glitch they didn't fix. When Bond, Tania & Kerim arrive at the train station, Benz is there and gets on the train after them. But before he does, guess who's standing RIGHT NEXT to him??? KRILENCO. I'm certain of it. And Kerim SHOT Krilenco dead several scenes earlier. I guess nobody noticed. Heh.
Yeah, the production of this movie was such a mess that I'm not surprised major things like that slipped through the cracks.
I must also say, I really appreciate reading your comments on my videos. It's fun to hear a unique perspective from someone who clearly loves this series as much as I do.
I always felt this was the strongest overall movie of the Connery era. Even if Thunderball is the one where Connery himself seems most at ease with being James Bond.
Your clarification of Barbara Jefford dubbing Romanova was an education for me. I believed for years that Nikki Van Der Zyl looped all the girls in the 60's. I was wrong (although Van Der Zyl dubbed the hotel receptionist in this film). In point of fact, much of this "opinion" piece is very educational.
I watched a version of FRWL on ABC television (US) some years ago that was a variation that I haven't seen since. It had subtitles for the Russian dialogue and a scene with Klebb and Romanova that had Rosa being creepy and coming on to Tanya until Tanya burst from the room terrified running away at top speed, leaving Klebb amused. It's all of about twenty seconds that showed Klebb as a lecherous deviant to compound her villainy, a cliched trope that was popular until 30 years ago. Ah, stereotypes.
The observation you made about not all of the gadget's features being used is a subversion of the Chekhov's Gun trope. Good call.
I'm surprised that in your comments about the soundtrack, you didn't remark that the helicopter showdown near the end reused a musical interlude from Dr. No (the destruction of Dr. No's base and the evacuation), one of the few times that happened in the series.
Oh, and very good call on the Gypsy Camp Fight music being too long and the music volume levels going too high in the hotel scene.
I really loved the piece, 007, that Barry created to have something distinct from Monty Norman's James Bond Theme. When I got this soundtrack as a boy, I really enjoyed it. Did *not* understand which scene "The Golden Horn" was written for, but that was before I learned that some films had several released versions depending on the location, or that films got edited to death sometimes.
Fleming was at the train station but I am pretty sure you won't spot him in the crowd.
Good stuff, Stephen.
What is the Chekhov's Gun trope?
@@odysseusrex5908 Anton Chekhov was a famous Russian playwright who posited that if you use a gun in the third or fourth act of the play, you must place the gun on the wall for all to see in the first act. Basically, it means plot devices that aren't foreshadowed are jarring and often leave an audience with an impression of bad storytelling.
@@NealKlein Ah ha! Thank you. I had heard of Chekhov of course, but not about the gun. He was right, of course.
I saw this film in the movie theater. My dad took me to see it, my first Bond film. Great film. It is my all time favorite Bond film. It is a really excellent spy thriller. In fact, imo, FRWL, Goldfinger, Thunderball were such a superb 3 in a row run of films that the Bond film series has never equaled since. And yes, Connery is my favorite.
Connery and Maxwell had a very long discussion before Dr. No began filming as to how they would portray the Bond-Moneypenny dynamics. They discussed and rehearsed several approaches before deciding on how they would eventually portray it. Their prep work proved dividends. With the approval and encouragement of Terence Young, I think they hit an excellent note.
There's something that ought to be mentioned. I think a lot of the success of the Bond series especially to get it off on the right foot and up and running is Terence Young. He was an excellent director, took Connery under his wings and made him Bond. (BTW, the scene where you see a man's hand signing the postcard in FRWL - that's Young's hand).
Shaw and Connery would again work together later in the film Robin and Marian. I rate Grant as the best henchman in the series. Though playing different characters, we are introduced to Walter Gotell who would go on to appear in more Bond films later on (Moore primarily).
I also prefer the instrumental version of the theme song. Nothing against Munro's vocals, but it is more suitable for nightclub entertainment. The tempo too slowed down.
The return of Eunice Gayson as Sylvia Trench was to be a recurring character, as Bond's girlfriend, but for some reason, this was dropped and never fully developed. Pity. I like Eunice. I liked her character and she was beautiful. Martine Beswick, who played one of the fighting girls, returned as Paula in Thunderball.
I think so too. I enjoyed watching it again at RUclips especially during the lockdown because of the Covid Pandemic
Connery's favorite Bond film and next to Goldfinger mine as well Old Man
Possibly the strongest Bond film ever made, the entire train sequence is absolutely perfect in every way, Red Grant is terrifying, and Kerim Bey rocks
The Aston Martin DB5 was a truly great Bond gadget, but somehow, Bond, seemed more like a true secret agent before he got that ultrashowy conveyance.
With "Dr No" breaking box office records (most likely it was doing so when production began with the second movie) being the first ever 007 movie - written in 1958 and second movie, 1957.
I'd say this is the most influential and best ever 007 movie (along with Connery's all time favourite he was in) it has everything: excellent work!.
Yeh, one of the best ever bond films...
Agree with almost everything in your review except the Kronsteen part (the chess player). He is important to set the trap theme of the movie. He devises a trap for Bond using the girl and the Lecter which he thinks cannot fail because he has calculated every possible move and countermove. But Bond escapes with his own trap of 50 gold sovereigns for just one last cigarette.
Also Kronsteen's death shows the ruthlessness of SPECTRE. Fail and you die. This is even move evident in later movies, especially Thunderball.
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Close as you can get to the perfect Bond movie. Best ally, best or close to best henchman, great villains in shadow organization unknown to all the principal good guys until the end. Also, good villain plan reflecting two of the goals included in the acronym of the of the organization's name, that is revenge against Bond and MI6 for whacking Dr. No and extortion of the Soviets for their own decoding machine. Best individual fight to the death, functional, believable gadgetry which actually impacts the plot (good for Bond that Q's assertion the briefcase would be standard issue was accomplished so that the Nash's briefcase would blow up in Grant's face). It's sexy without being smutty and dryly humorous without being slapstick or in poor taste. Add in a big combat scene at the gypsy camp, the helicopter attack, and the boat chase and big bang explosions, all well done, and you've got a near perfect Bond film. My favorite.
From Russia with Love is certainly my favorite film of the series.
Grant was not a SMERSH agent in the movie, he was strictly SPECTER. He didn't really have Communist ideals in the book. He was just a sociopath who enjoyed killing people and SMERSH used that to their advantage. This isn't gone into in nearly as much detail in the book, but is suggested when Klebb reads his record where he is described as a paranoid schizophrenic, which is in the book. Given that he is working for SPECTER in the movie, I don't think he would have Communist ideals anyway.
That's SPECTRE, UK English spelling.
@@mjhbuckeye Ah yes, you're right. I never can remember which comes first, extortion or revenge.
Brilliant Film From Russia With Love ❤
Something I noticed over repeat viewings is that most of the scenes in this film smoothly fade from one to the other. EXCEPT when Bond meets Tanya on the boat. It's a sudden JUMP-cut there. That's because there was a scene with 4 cars en route cut, because during a preview, some kid in the audience noticed someone killed in an earlier scene was in the scene they wound up cutting. This is what happens when you film a story out of sequence. But this annoys me, as how do we know it wasn't supposed to be 2 brothers? And at the train station, I saw another actor who'd been killed earlier, but they left that in.
I believe "The Golden Horn" was probably played during the missing car scene. Bond & Kerim are being followed, but for once, want to ditch their tail. So they stop in a narrow alley, causing the tailing car to crash into them. A 3rd car crashes in behind, pinning the Bulgars. A 4th car drives up, Bond & Kerim get into it. But before driving off, Kerim drops cigar ash on the trapped driver and says, "That, my friend, is life!"
Thanks to another fan, I was able to determine the in-film running order of the soundtrack and put together a more authentic CD. And I noticed something else interesting. There was a piece of music written for the train fight! But they left it out of the film-- and apparently, the fight became MORE intense without any music. But the piece is on the album, as HALF of one longer track (I forget which one just now).
The issue that a lot of sequels have is that they are just warmed over versions of the previous movie. They are basically recreating the previous story with some things changed to try to make the sequel look different. With From Russia with Love, this wasn't done. The didn't make another Dr. No that was slightly different to capitalize on the fact that Dr. No was a success, they made a completely different story. This is why sequels are generally inferior to the originals. I also don't consider movies that are part of a planned trilogy as sequels either, they are continuations of a story that wasn't finished in the first installment.
Hey my friend! I hope you have been able to fix all the problems with RUclips so we can enjoy your content in peace 😅
Here's hoping. I should have Goldfinger up by Tuesday if this current version passes the manual copyright check. Consider these three videos my apology for the inconvenience.
@@stephenjarvis534 no apologies necessary! Just keep making your awesome content!
I think I may have read the novel before seeing the movie, and so the first time around, I found the film a bit confusing! I came in in the 70s watching these on ABC. It was only when I got to see a double-bill of FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE and GOLDFINGER on a big screen that RUSSIA became my favorite Connery Bond film (while GF began to suffer in my eyes ever since). I've only ever seen it in widescreen once, that time back in 1980. I'm sure I'll be getting it on Blu-Ray... one of these days.
The only Connery film I like more than this is WRONG IS RIGHT (1982). The rumor has always been that it was yanked from theatres after one week on orders of the Federal Government. The author was an ex-CIA agent who apparenlty knew his stuff too well (heh). It not only predicted the 2nd invasion of Iraq 20 years later, but, 20 years after that, predicted the Biden administration (with Rosalind Cash more-or-less playing Kamala Harris-- and Leslie Nielsen doing Donald Trump). HOW is that even possible? But it's there in the film.
I'm confused about you saying Bond doesn't use all the gadgets in the Q-issued attaché case. Of course, the gas canister is utilized in initiating the fight with Grant, but Bond also produces the gold sovereigns in an attempt to bribe Grant and uses the hidden dagger to stab Grant in the arm during the fight. Later it is the portable sniper rifle, presumably with the ammunition secreted in the brief case which Bond uses to down the helicopter in pursuit of him. I think that was all the gadgets Bond was briefed on. Am I missing something?
The sniper rifle normally wouldn't fire that kind of ammunition (AR-7s fire .22 Long Rifle cartridges), though I suppose Q modified it to take the ammunition we see (.25 ACP), in which case, Bond does use all the gadgets. My point was that whenever we see Bond with rifle, we never see him use the extra ammunition.
Something I've learned since the video is that the .25 ACP rounds are less appropriate for snipers. They drop off quicker, they have 50% less penetration power, and are more rare to find in the real world than .22. So, I'm now curious why Q would make that modification.
@@stephenjarvis534 Interesting point. I just read on the Commando Bond website that the movie version with Q describing the secreted .25 rounds comes directly from Fleming's text in the book From Russia With Love. However, in the book sequence, Bond was still using a Berretta Model 418, not yet superseded by the Walther PPK .380, which used .25 ACP ammo. The book description goes on to recount a shaving cream dispenser which contained silencers for the Berretta, an item not included in the movie. It appears that the screenwriters in lifting verbatim dialog from the book forgot their own movie timeline which had Bond retiring the Berretta in the previous film, Dr. No, but did not substitute .380 Auto rounds in the briefcase (if meant for Bond's pistol) or .22 Long Rifle ammo (if meant for the AR). I guess we'll have to go with Q modifying the AR to take .25 pistol rounds as they clearly wouldn't have worked in the PPK (which was replacing the Berreta because the .380 rounds had more stopping power and higher muzzle velocity than the .25 ACP). In either event or with either ammo, the AR-7 was not an ideal sniper rifle but was prized for its portability, concealability, ease of assembly by hand alone and light weight. And it comes straight from Fleming.
Another fine sequel is Aliens, sequel to Alien.
Yes one of the greatest sequels indeed.