From Russia With Love, Sean Connery's second outing as 007, has to me always been the best James Bond movie, so I was almost worried about rewatching it in case I changed my mind.
I needn't have worried, From Russia With Love, first released in 1963, has all the right ingredients to make a brilliant Bond film, including Sean Connery at the very height of his powers. Indeed, Connery ranked From Russia with Love as his favorite and who am I to argue?
The plot, easily the most engrossing of the series, is a perfect Cold War spy thriller. Bond heads to Istanbul to meet a Russian cipher clerk, Tatiana Romanova (Daniela Bianchi), who promises a Lektor decoding machine in exchange for help with defecting.
But unbeknown to either the British or the Russians is that this is a trap set up by chess grandmaster and SPECTRE agent Kronsteen (Vladek Sheybal). Blofeld, making his debut in the Bond films although his face remains unseen, asks his operative why he believes the British will walk into his trap. "For the simple reason that this is so obviously a trap. My reading of the British mentality is that they always treat a trap as a challenge," replies Kronsteen.
The plot then draws you in like no other Bond film does with neither 007 nor Tatiana realizing that they’re now working for SPECTRE. Their agent Donald "Red" Grant (Robert Shaw) — handpicked by former Russian military officer Rosa Klebb who Tatiana thinks is still working for the Russians — is always lurking in the background.
Only speaking in the final third of the film, Grant makes sure that nothing stops Bond from acquiring the Lektor from the Russians so he can later deliver it on a plate to SPECTRE.
Bond finds a real friend in Kerim Bey
The Istanbul setting and Bond's friendship with Kerim Bey, the head of Station T in the Turkish city, also lift the movie to another level. Bond doesn't have many friends in the franchise, it's a lonely life being an assassin, but for once he finds someone he genuinely enjoys being with. There's a wonderful rapport between Connery and Pedro Armendáriz, who plays Bey.
Among the many memorable scenes, the pair share is when Bey leads Bond into an underground reservoir that had been built by the Romans. The boisterous Turkish host takes Bond on a small boat where they arrive underneath the Russian Consulate building and spy on the Russians via a periscope from the British navy that he’s somehow managed to have installed.
Bond also lends his shoulder to an injured Bey so he can rest his sniper rifle on it to shoot dead his arch-enemy Krilencu.
There's a particular poignancy to all this as Pedro Armendáriz was desperately ill during the filming of From Russia With Love. The Mexican actor, who had terminal cancer, was determined to make the movie to provide for his family and his scenes had to be moved forward on the production schedule. He died by suicide in 1963.
The villains
From Russia with Love has four great villains — Kronsteen, Blofeld, Rosa Klebb and Donald Grant. Any one of these would make for a great film but to have all of them together is a treat. Blofeld is actually scary. You don't see he his face on screen as he plots and tells his agents they know the price of failure.
Kronsteen is on screen only briefly but he is in one of my all-time favorite Bond scenes when he's playing a chess tournament in Venice near the beginning of the film. Summoned by Blofeld with the message "You are required at once" on a coaster hidden under his glass, he proceeds to cooly defeat his opponent in one move.
Klebb (Lotte Lenya) is seen throughout the movie, notably at the end where she famously tries to dispatch Bond using a poison blade in her shoe. When Tatiana shoots her dead and brands her a "horrible woman" it allows Sean Connery to deliver one of his wittiest lines: "Yes, she's had her kicks."
But the best baddie of them all is Grant.
The Orient Express fight
For two-thirds of the film, Grant is in the shadows making sure Bond first gets the Lecter and then delivers it to him. Unlike so many of Bond's foes, Grant is careful, meticulous, and chillingly cold. Finally, the pair meet when Bond requests back up from Station Y and Grant poses at Zagreb station as agent Nash having bumped off the real Nash.
At dinner, "Nash" enjoys a glass of red wine with his fish — Bond later observes he should have known he was a wrong'un for his odd wine choice — before slipping Tatiana a sleeping drug, which Bond spots. Bond confronts him but he says: "My escape route’s only for one." Bond accepts this, but as he looks at a map Grant takes his chance and strikes Bond.
Grant then delights in telling "bloody fool" Bond the whole of SPECTRE's plan and how he intends to make 007's death slow and painful. But Bond tricks Grant. He shows him the 50 gold sovereigns in his case — provided by Q (Desmond Llewelyn making his first appearance] — and greedy Grant believing there are 50 more in Nash's case opens it, but in the wrong way, setting off teargas.
Bond takes his chance and the pair fight to the death as the Orient Express roars on. The fight is so brilliant because it doesn't feel choreographed like so many movie fights do. It looks like a genuine fight to the death with both men desperately lunging at each other until Bond ultimately turns Grant's own wire watch weapon on him to kill him.
Apparently, both actors trained with wrestlers in Istanbul to prepare for the epic fight sequence.
From Russia With Love is a very unusual Bond movie in many ways not least because for once there is no underground lair for 007 to infiltrate. Instead Bond must rely on his wits and with Grant he finds himself dangerously close to being completely outmaneuvered. There's a touch of class about this movie, from the Istanbul backdrop to the Orient Express to the countless great performances. There are flashier Bond movies, but there aren't any better ones in my opinion.
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