Review 93: From Russia with Love

From Russsia with Love is an amazing sequel in almost every possible and a great way to follow up such a classic spy movie,

The evil SPECTRE organization has hatched a plan to steal a decoding machine, known as Lektor. that will access Russian state secrets and irrevocably unbalance the world order and to extract revenge for the death of its operative Dr No and sets a trap to lure British agent James Bond to his death. James Bond 007 is sent on the search for the machine and needs to find this machine, before the evil SPECTRE organization discovers it first. Whilst being romantically linked with Russian girl, Tatiana Romanova (Daniela Bianchi) , Bond sneaks his way around Istanbul, whilst each SPECTRE agent tries to pick him off, including the over powering Donald 'Red' Grant (Robert Shaw) and ex-KGB agent Rosa Klebb (Lotte Lenya) who knows all the tricks in the books and even possesses an incredible poison tipped shoe!

The plot is a beautifully written and clever spy thriller and really takes us back to the hard tension filled times of the cold war also the concept of the loss of British power is also present here and the Romanova's dilema of which side shes on adds the drama of the film and there's some top notch detective work in this film. We worry about them and hope their relationship will work out.

the cinematography is gorgeous and brilliantly captures the tone of the film, the score by John Barry is sensational, Terence Young's directing is stylish, the opening teaser is suspenseful, there great moments of suspense, it's well paced, there's never a dull moment, the production design is beautiful, the costume design is majestic, Bond gets his first gadgets, and the locations are breathtaking. Another aspect I'd like to praise is the costume design which I think beautifully captures the flare and the colour of Turkey. Also I love the title song by Matt Monro.

There are also some great moments of intensity e.g. the part were 007 is being held at bay by the SPECTRE agent Red Grant (Robert Shaw), it plays very authenticaly and it really looks like Bond has had it and their fight is just brutal.

The actions scenes are also a major improvement e.g. theres this really cool ariel fight between Bond and a SPECTRE helicopter, a boat chase and a fight between Bond and the main villain of the film Rosa Klebb (Lotte Lenya).

The acting is brilliant, Sean Connery is cool once again as 007

 

Daniela Bianchi is luminous and honest as Tatiana

 

Pedro Armendáriz is extreamly likeable as Bonds contact in Turkey Kerim Bay

 

we get our first apperance from the MI6 gadget master Q played wonderfully by Desmond Llewelyn

 

Lotte Leny and Robert Shaw make for a simply inspired pair of villains playing SPECTRE agent Rosa Klebb and henchman Red Grant.

From Russsia with Love is just as a classic as Dr. No is and comes off beautifully written, clever, ingenious spy thriller and great romance and superb villains and is one of my personal favourite James Bond movies, 5/5.

The Anonymous Critic