DVD Review: From Russia With Love (1963)

From Russia With Love (1963)
based on a novel by Ian Fleming (DVD From)

Mad at Bond (Sean Connery) for taking out Dr No, members of SPECTRE devise a plan to lure him out. They trick a Russian agent named Tatiana Romanov (Daniela Bianchi) into claiming she wishes to defect and will also turn over a Russian decoder machine called a “Lektor” as part of the deal. MI6 and Bond know this is a trap but as it’s too good to be true they send him anyway. Bond meets Tatiana in Istanbul where they break into the Russian Consulate and steal the Lektor. They then board a train posing as a married couple. A Soviet Secret Agent (Robert Shaw) is also aboard the train. Bond kills him and jumps off the train with Tatiana. Following that there is a boat chase scene where the bad guys try to throw explosives at him from their boats. Bond releases fuel barrels which were on his boat and then shoots at them with a flare gun, alighting the fuel and the bad guys. It seems that Bond and Tatiana have succeeded and make it all the way to Venice when Rosa Klebb (Lotte Lenya), the SPECTRE Agent in charge of this plan, shows up at the hotel and holds Bond at gunpoint. Tatiana knocks the gun out of her hands, Bond kills Klebb, and as always, the movie ends with Bond and the Babe getting together.

 

There were a lot of random moments in the one, including a whole scene where Bond hid at a Gypsy camp and was forced to pick a woman to marry another man…but it also had its moments and with a few good one-liners it was a worthy addition to the Bond collection.

[If you enjoy this, you may also wish to try any of the James Bond movies or books — check out our exhaustive The Name is Bond…James Bond list here on BookGuide!]

[Also available in traditional print format.]

[ Internet Movie Database entry for this film ] | [ official James Bond web site ]

 

Recommended by Carrie R.
Bennett Martin Public Library — Public Service

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