From Russia with Love (1963)

From Russia with Love begins with a daring move – in the franchise’s first pre-credits sequence (establishing a trend of these “mini-movies”), James Bond is assassinated.  After a quick turnabout, it’s revealed that “Bond” was only an impersonator in a mask, part of an elaborate training exercise to prepare one man to kill another.  As hooks go, you don’t get much better, so it’s a fitting opener to one of the franchise’s best.

This pre-credits sequence establishes some of the film’s confidence because even though there’s only been one other movie, it’s already plausible that James Bond is dangerous enough to necessitate an entire organization dedicated to his assassination.  Fleming’s book is among the best, as well, because it both makes this plot believable as well as feasible; there are moments in the book when it seems the plot might actually succeed (never mind the fact that Fleming wanted to be done with Bond after writing From Russia with Love, like Doyle with “The Final Problem”).  The film, though, doesn’t go that route; Sean Connery is still super-cool as the world’s greatest special agent, and we never suspect the danger is more than he can handle.

Instead, the film demonstrates how well-prepared Bond is for this latest threat:  armed with a multifunctional satchel (courtesy of Desmond Llewellyn, debuting as Q) that would make Mary Poppins envious, Bond decides to spring what he knows is a trap in search of the bait – a Soviet decoding machine guarded by Tatiana Romanova (Daniela Bianchi).  What Bond doesn’t know is that the trap is part of SPECTRE’s elaborate plot for revenge, and that assassin Red Grant (Robert Shaw) and Colonel Rosa Klebb (Lotte Lenya) are following his every move...

Maybe even more than Dr. No, you can really see the filmmakers setting tonal precedents for the rest of the franchise:  the silent killer, the sexless crony (Lenya is perfect in this role), the unseen puppetmaster stroking a cat.  For a film that focuses a great deal on its villains – Bond doesn’t appear for 20 minutes, doppelganger notwithstanding – From Russia with Love has a great cast doing exceptional work, establishing archetypes that would be parodied for decades to come.

What is less convincing, unfortunately, is the set of protagonists.  Obviously, I’ve praised Connery’s work as 007, which is as convincing and entertaining at ever.  Unfortunately, he doesn’t do terribly much for the first half of the film, left to stand around as a spectator as the other characters fill in exposition for him and wait for things to happen.  The second half, though, is classic Bond, with chase scenes and explosions and gunfights galore, resulting in a tense and claustrophobic classic confrontation aboard the Orient Express.  (A more even treatment of Bond would be found in the series’ next outing.)

As Tatiana Romanova, Bianchi is attractive – one of the only requirements for a Bond girl – though the poor dubbing of her voice, as well as the mild confusion over what her role in the plot truly is, results in a bit of an uneven characterization; it’s never really clear (or, perhaps, it’s just badly performed) whether her love for Bond is genuine or a performance.  More compelling, though, is Pedro Armendáriz’s gregarious turn as Bond’s Turkish liaison Kerim Bey.  Sans Felix Leiter, Kerim Bey is a great ally for Bond, friendly in peace and a potent partner when danger’s afoot.  The sense of mutual admiration and camaraderie between the two redeems any issue with Tatiana, as does the overshadowing effect of the potent villains in the film.

The whole of From Russia with Love is truly greater than the sum of its parts, though, because all the negative points the film scores with Bond’s inaction and Tatiana’s empty presence are outweighed by the generally rousing sense of adventure one gets throughout the film.  There are many classic set pieces here and nods toward the tongue-in-cheek style we’ve come to appreciate in the franchise.  It’s not without reason that the first three Bond films are regarded as the perfect trifecta, and I couldn’t be more excited to see that “James Bond will return” teaser at the end of the credits.

From Russia with Love is rated PG.  There is minimal blood, though a few fight scenes and dead bodies are seen.  Bond is depicted in bed with one woman, whose nude silhouette is glimpsed obliquely, and a riverside picnic features both lovers in period bathing suits; faint-of-heart viewers may be scandalized by two scenes of belly dancers. 

James Bond and The Cinema King will return in a review of Goldfinger (1964), on March 7, 2013!