From Russia with Love (1963)    United Artists/Action-Adventure    RT: 115 minutes    No MPAA Rating (violence, mild sexual content)    Director: Terence Young    Screenplay: Richard Maibaum and Johanna Harwood    Music: John Barry    Cinematography: Ted Moore    Release date: October 11, 1963 (UK)/May 27, 1964 (US)    Cast: Sean Connery, Pedro Armendariz, Lotte Lenya, Robert Shaw, Bernard Lee, Daniela Bianchi, Eunice Gayson, Walter Gotell, Francis de Wolff, George Pastell, Nadja Regin, Lois Maxwell, Aliza Gur, Martine Beswick, Vladek Sheybal, Leila, Desmond Llewelyn.    Theme song: “From Russia with Love” by Matt Munro (closing credits)    Box Office: $24.7M (US)

Rating: *** ½

 After the success of Dr. No, United Artists gave producers Harry Saltzman and Albert Broccoli the go-ahead to make From Russia with Love, the second movie featuring Ian Fleming’s super-spy James Bond of the British Secret Service. They also gave the producers twice the budget of the first movie to work with, $2M to be exact. They got their money’s worth. It’s even better than the first movie.

 This is when the Bond movies began to take on their own unique shape. Terence Young returns as director for From Russia with Love, the first 007 film to feature a pre-title action sequence, a cinematic appetizer if you will. It’s also the first to have its own theme song, but it’s heard at the end not over the opening credits like all the subsequent Bond films. It’s also the one that introduced the character of Q (here referred to as “Major Boothroyd”), the irritable gadget guy whose patience is continuously tested by Bond’s playful attitude towards his work. He was played by Desmond Llewelyn until his death in 1999. In his first appearance, he presents Bond with a special briefcase containing a concealed knife and a canister that will dispense tear gas if opened incorrectly.

In From Russia with Love, the people at SPECTRE aren’t happy about losing one their own, the maniacal Dr. No. The unseen head of the criminal organization Blofeld, played here by an uncredited Anthony Dawson who previously appeared in Dr. No as the geologist, demands retaliatory action against Bond. Two of his operatives, chess grandmaster Kronsteen (Sheybal, Billion Dollar Brain) and ex-SMERSH head Rosa Klebb (Lenya, The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone), devise a plan to lure 007 into a trap where he will be taken out by a hulking assassin named Grant (Shaw, Jaws).

 The idea is to get Bond to come to Istanbul to collect a Lektor cryptography device from the Soviet embassy. Everybody, especially British intelligence, would love to get their hands on one. Klebb recruits cipher clerk Tatiana Romanova (Bianchi, Code Name: Tiger) to pose as a potential defector willing to help Bond in exchange for safe passage to England. Aided by local MI6 head Ali Kerim Bey (Armendariz, The Conqueror), they grab the device and board the Orient Express to make their escape with Grant right behind them.

 From Russia with Love is Cold War espionage on the sillier end of the spectrum at its finest. One of the greatest thing about the Bond films is they never take themselves seriously. It’s all in good fun with the gadgets, big action scenes and comic book villains. The plot, while a bit more involved than the previous installment, is never too complex or needlessly complicated. There’s more action this time around too including a thrilling chase scene involving Bond trying to evade a helicopter filled with baddies trying to shoot him. Ah, here’s another Bond motif. Every movie except The Man with the Golden Gun has a helicopter scene. There’s also a goodly amount of suspense with Bond and Tatiana, posing as a married couple, trying to stay one step ahead of Grant on the train.

 Connery firmly establishes himself as Ian Fleming’s character in this second outing. He’s a tough guy, clever spy and ladies man all rolled into one. Of course, he sleeps with Tatiana shortly after meeting her for the first time. This is a guy who loves to sleep with danger. In the role, the former Miss Universo Italia does a fine job. It doesn’t hurt that she’s easy on the eyes. Klebb is GREAT as the diminutive deadly villain whose preferred instrument of death is a poison-tipped blade concealed in one of her shoes. She’s gleefully cold and evil. Shaw is similarly great as the seemingly indestructible killer who speaks mostly with action rather than words.

 From Russia with Love is the one where we first meet the enigmatic Blofeld, the evil megalomaniac in charge of SPECTRE. Here, we only see his lower body as he sits stroking his cat. We don’t get a full view of him until 1967’s You Only Live Twice. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves here. No, that won’t do at all. Instead, let’s talk about something relevant to the movie we’re discussing. This is the one where John Barry took over scoring duties (he worked on Dr. No too but didn’t receive credit). His music for the films is iconic and an essential component. He worked on most of the Bond movies until 1987’s The Living Daylights.

 From Russia with Love is one of my favorite early Bond films. It’s fun and entertaining without being too silly. It has plenty of action which is always a good thing. What else can I say? It’s a great spy flick! It’s one of the best of its ilk. I think that says it all.