Film Review: From Russia With Love (1963) A-

Date Viewed: 7/14/06
Venue: DVD

In light of the impeding release of Casino Royale this Fall, I've decided to be ultra-geeky and watch (or re-watch in many cases) the available James Bond films in order. I'll be reviewing any I'd hadn't seen before. From Russia With Love is the first of these.

From Russia With Love is the second of the James Bond films, and definitely one of the best. It's a complex spy vs. spy thriller, pitting Sean Connery's Bond against the shadowy SPECTRE organization in efforts to obtain a valuable Russian decryption device.

There are very few of the usual Bond 'gadgets' in this film, and to be honest, that's quite refreshing. Bond must outhink his opponents and relies far more on cunning than any sort of nifty Q-provided gadget. And despite the film's slowish pacing, it's this cerebral element that carries the film.

That's not to say there's no action in From Russia From Love. Stand-out scenes include a gypsy camp shootout which begins with a perfectly mysogynistic girl on girl fight to the death, and a climatic battle with Red Grant (Robert Shaw) on a train.

Grant makes for a particularly satisfying villain; physically imposing but also one step ahead of Bond nearly the entire film. And Daniela Bianchi's Tatiana Romanova is most certainly in the upper echelon of Bond ladies;cooly seductive, but with a strong vulnerable side.

I enjoyed From Russia With Love quite a lot. It makes me wish many of Bond sequels had eschewed their more cartoony nature and stuck with the serious tone found here.