Customer Reviews

From Russia With Love THX Edition

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FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE is one of the better Bond films in the series. It is probably Sean Connery's best depending if you prefer his performance here before he redefined his performance permanently in GOLDFINGER. In FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE Sean Connery continued his portrayal of the character in the Fleming literary mold. It follows the directorial style of DR. NO. In FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE Connery refined his performance adding more depth to the character's worldliness, intellect, social graces and wry humor. The film's story and plot are very good. S.P.E.C.T.R.E. returns and we are introduced to Blofeld. This time the villains' plot is twofold as it lures James Bond and the Soviets into a tangled web of espionage from Istanbul to Venice as it unfolds like a travelogue of intrigue and adventure. There are so many superlatives to this film. The characters have real depth. The acting is excellent. The locations and sets breathe real life into the story. The fight scene in the gypsy camp is a triumph of choreography, cinematography and editing which is only equaled by the death struggle between Red Grant and Bond on the Orient Express. John Barry's first complete score brings a highly recognizable sound to the Bond series with his unique musical style. It works very well in this film as it works on both an intellectual and emotional level. I don't think Ian Fleming could not have asked for more.

There is not much more that can be added to what has already been written or said about FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE. It is considered to be one of the better Bond films in the series.

Before I get on to the main point of what I have to add, I do want to comment on the widescreen versions that have been issued. I am not sure what the proper aspect ratio of this film is. In a comparison of the DVD to the Laser Disc, the DVD appears to have been cropped at the top and bottom to give it a wider effect. The proportions of the prints I saw in several theaters all resembled the Laser Disc.

My more important note of curiosity however is the content of the film itself. I still have not seen any version on VHS, Laser or DVD as the ones I have seen in the theater for FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE.

It appears that on video two scenes contain cuts.

Cut # 1: When Red Grant has Bond on his knees at gunpoint aboard the Orient Express, he editorializes in a most graphic manner about the roll of film that was shot of Bond and Tatiana in the boudoir. For its time, this was a rather risqué piece of dialogue. By today's standards it is somewhat timid. Bond's comeback is still intact on the video, responding to Grant how it took a collection of pretty sick minds to dream up such a scheme. That was a direct response to Grant's cut line and gives us an insight into Bond's moral standards that there is a line that even he would not cross given his flare for the more amorous pursuits.

Cut # 2: This cut line is more obvious and comes at the end of the film when Bond and Tatiana are floating down the canals of Venice. Bond holds up the reel of film seized from Grant. Again, Bond makes a direct reference to Grant's cut line from the train in a droll throwaway remark to a puzzled looking Tatiana. You can actually see this cut because the music jumps. Once more, this cut line of dialogue gives us another glimpse into the James Bond mystique as it was still being formed and honed for the screen. I am sure Bond is probably saying to himself, "Take all the dirty pictures you want. I'm the one with the girl and Grant, "old boy," you're the one six feet under."

As for the film itself, it is one of the classic James Bond films and will remain so for all time. The tone of the series would be altered slightly from what director Terence Young had established in DR. NO and in this film. The next film, GOLDFINGER directed by Guy Hamilton, would retain the style established by Terence Young yet he would refine the character of James Bond with a more tongue-in-cheek approach. In FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE James Bond is the dedicated civil servant with a licence to kill and he uses it in the assassination of Krilencu (Fred Haggerty) just as coldly and objectively as he had eliminated Professor Dent (Anthony Dawson) in DR. NO. For these reasons I believe there are two distinct camps in the ranks of Bond loyalists. One prefers the style or more specifically the portrayal of James Bond found in FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE, while the other faction favors that established in GOLDFINGER. The James Bond found in FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE is a much tougher fellow not to be seen again until ON HER MAJESTY'S SECRET SERVICE and LICENCE TO KILL.

Another specific point about FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE is the score composed by John Barry. Barry's score in this film is not as complex or melodically constructed as in his subsequent Bond scores. Yet, Barry's score is as old school as is Sean Connery's approach to the role and that is exactly the way it should have been. Barry's no-frills score compliments Connery's no nonsense Bond. In essence FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE is a product of its time and a very good one at that.

FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE has always been my favorite James Bond film. Why? I can't say for sure. Being adversaries in the film, both Sean Connery and Robert Shaw both possessed enough masculinity and virility to square off against each other very convincingly in a highly dramatic and very physical display of fisticuffs in their ultimate confrontation aboard the Orient Express. Connery not only possessed enough polish, sophistication and wit as James Bond but he looked like he was more than capable of handling himself in any scrape. The enigmatic and chameleon-like Robert Shaw, though lacking social refinement, was probably Bond's greatest equal when they came face to face. Dramatically it was a duel between two blunt instruments. Philosophically the confrontation represented more than good against evil. The world's social hierarchy of the superiority of the sophisticated and cultured class opposed to the unrefined lower classes was at stake. FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE is full of emotion and energy. In a modern world filled with criminal minds living behind a veneer and facade of refinement it was just good to know that a worldly man like James Bond was on our side. Sean Connery embodied all those qualities.

Another strong asset to this film was Pedro Armendáriz performance as the very worldly and weary Kerim Bey, Bond's counterpart and head of the Turkish station of British Intelligence. He is an older and perhaps wiser operative that Bond mutually befriends. Pedro Armendáriz performance makes this film all the more alluring and very rational. The Turkish locales also had a sense of authenticity, mystery and intrigue.