From Russia with Love (1963), directed by Terence Young

Sean Connery as James Bond

From Russia with Love is a big jump forward for the Bond franchise. After the runaway success of the first film on a middling budget, Eon threw everything they had at continuing the series, and everything in this sequel is bigger, louder, and crazier than Dr. No. But does more actually mean better, and does this sequel surpass its predecessor or turn into a sophomore slump? I think the additions work out as a net gain for the series, but not without a few issues along the way.

The plot this time around concerns a Cold War Russian defector named Tatiana Romanova (Daniela Bianchi), whom Bond has to extract in order to obtain a Lektor decryption unit that she can provide. It’s a setup, obviously, but the prize is too great to abandon. Simultaneously, he has to deal with the fallout of his killing of Dr. No at the end of the previous film, as SPECTRE’s top man, known only as “Number One” has now taken notice of him. The evil organization begins training and sending deadly agents to avenge the killing, led by “Red” Grant (Robert Shaw, most famous as Quint from Jaws), a deadly Irish assassin who hounds Bond through most of the film, and provides one of my favorite examples of an antagonist actually protecting the hero so that only he can be the one to take down Bond. The rogues’ gallery is rounded out with Kronsteen (Vladek Sheybal), a Czech chess grandmaster, and Rosa Klebb (Lotte Lenya), an ex-SMERSH colonel and the rare female villain who isn’t just a henchman or an assassin. The extraction drags our heroes all over Europe, allowing for some truly amazing on-location filming, most notably in the Hagia Sophia in Turkey for one of the film’s most memorable and tense scenes of cat and mouse. The production team (much of which was carried over from the previous film) really shows what they can do with their doubled budget throughout the film, and the whole experience just feels a little higher-class; a little more Bond, really.

This film is notable for the number of Bond trends that it establishes or codifies. This is the first movie where the opening credits are projected onto the writhing bodies of nearly naked ladies, for example, a Bond trend of questionable merit that will, if nothing else, continue basically forever. It was also the first film to feature Q (Desmond Llewelyn, who would reprise the role for over 30 years) and his increasingly bizarre array of awesome spy gadgetry. This time around it’s a superspy valise, complete with sniper rifle and explosives. Rather quaint as the series goes, but definitely a big step towards the more fantastic elements of the series. I like my classic Bond a bit silly, and I view this as a step in the right direction. The inclusion in nearly every film of a Chekov’s spy tool is engaging and fun. Recognizing the moment when it’s finally going to come in handy is a high point of almost every movie in the entire series, and this one is no exception. Overall, this movie is an interesting middle ground between the almost zero-frills experience of Dr. No and the eventual slide of the series into outright silliness. This is many people’s favorite Bond movie, and I think that’s because it strikes that balance so well. No one’s playing a type yet, and there aren’t a bunch of previous entries to one-up, which lets this movie be itself: a slightly heightened spy thriller that is played almost completely straight.

And it’s that straight-faced presentation that wins me over too. Even when it’s introducing ex-SMERSH hidden-knife-booted killers, it doesn’t wink at the camera about it. This is still pretty nuts and bolts spy stuff with just a few fun hints of the exotic or bizarre to spice up the proceedings. Of particular note is Tatiana Romanova, a Bond girl whom I was astonished to find often languishes around the middle (or heaven forbid even lower) of Bond girl rankings. Obviously much of this comes down to personal preference, but she’s easily one of the best and most interesting characters ever to be paired with the super-spy. Her fish-out-of-water schtick is cute but not belabored to the point of annoyance, and her patriotism and political status in general are interesting and give her a legitimate arc. Her general goodness also shows what a cold-hearted, ruthless operator Bond could be at times, with her generally coming off far more sympathetically than he does in most scenes. It’s definitely not the traditional setup for a Bond romance: she really is a (relatively) naive innocent and he is the one using or betraying her. Watching her progress from that naivete to getting one of the best kills in the series is a delightful journey, and this is as much her movie as it is Connery’s. She’s one of the only Bond Girls that I want to actually stick around after the credits. There are technically other Bond girls in this movie, but they don’t meaningfully add to the movie in any way (Eunice Grayson is here again for a token scene, and the less said about the needless and really really problematic ‘girl fight’ gypsy scene the better). Ultimately, I love this movie for giving us one of the few Bond girls who gets to be cute or funny sometimes, as opposed to one-dimensionally oozing sex constantly.

It’s really easy to see on rewatch why this is so many people’s favorite Bond movie. It provides a real and meaningful step forward for the series, and doesn’t ever really set a foot wrong (still not going to talk about the two gypsies fighting for the right to bed Bond, nope). Gone are the drawn-out, stripped-down scenes covering up for a limited budget, replaced with sumptuous photography of Istanbul in the 60s that is still a pleasure to watch, and forms a kind of living document of that time and place. Our villains increase in complexity and number, with multiple memorable assassins and masterminds (I didn’t even mention Kronsteen yet!). The action is punchier, the gear is cooler, and you get another all-time great Bond girl performance. What’s not to like? While I can’t say that this is my favorite film in the franchise, I certainly couldn’t object to anyone choosing it; it’s excellent throughout. The series is clearly on the way up in the world, and we’ll see that progress continue (before it’s inevitably brought crashing down).

Best Bond Line: “She’s had her kicks.” Trust me, it works in context. This is the perfect level of ridiculousness: a little silly and certainly flippant for the situation, but not absurd.

Bond’s License to Kill Count: 10 for sure, plus an entire fleet of motorboats filled with assassins. He also lets his buddy and his girlfriend have one each, which is nice of him.

Final Score: