Film Diet Hitchcock is Still Pretty Close
The sequel to Dr. No made the interesting choice to work backwards through the book series. Of course, when JFK says one of his favorite novels is from the very series you’re adapting, you’re pretty likely to try and make that particular one your priority. The filmmakers smartly build off of what they built in Dr. No by making the villains agents of S.P.E.C.T.R.E. rather than Russians like in the novel. This not only makes the revenge plot make sense, it also makes the film more palatable for the Eastern audiences of the time and keeps the film from feeling too dated to viewers watching the film after the end of the Cold War. While some elements of the time still bleed through, the depiction of the ‘gypsy camp’ in particular, for the most part this feels like a film that could have been made in any decade.
There’s a lot to praise about this movie. Once again, the scenery is beautiful. So is Daniella Bianchi, who brings a solid presence to Tatiana Romonava that personally, I felt Ursula Andress lacked. The villains are all fun in their own unique ways as well, with Kronsteen being deliciously hateable, Red Grant enormously intimidating (and intimidatingly enormous!), and Rosa Klebb is perfectly rotten. On the hero’s side Pedro Armendáriz is a delight as Kerim Bey, imbuing him with a roguish charm that compliments Bond very well. It’s a real shame the character was killed off, he could have been a fun recurring ally. Sean Connery has settled into the role of Bond nicely, delivering one of his best performances as the character in this film. It’s one of the few movies where Bond feels genuinely in danger at points.
Indeed, this film is so apt at suspense, one gets the feeling director Terrance Young was trying to imitate the master himself, Alfred Hitchcock. Unfortunately those similarities don’t stop at Hitchcok’s strengths. After an edge-of-your-seat climax on the Orient Express the film tacks on an extended chase sequence where Bond runs from a helicopter and then gets into a speedboat chase. It’s not bad, but it does drag the film’s pacing down and feels unsatisfying after the solid fight between Grant and Bond. The movie definitely inherits Hitchcock’s issue of not knowing how to end the story.
Tatiana’s redemption also feels rather hazy and rushed. It’s unclear when exactly she turns and why, making her shooting of Klebb at the end feel strange. She feels less like a character in the script and more like a plot device. It will be a while in this series before we get a truly fleshed out female character.
All that being said, this is a solid spy adventure and its reputation as a can’t-miss entry in the series is well earned. While I don’t love it quite as much as others seem to, it’s a very good movie nevertheless.
Film A Solid Sequel with Some Issues
I know I'm in the vast minority when I say this, but From Russia with Love isn't quite in my personal upper echelon of Bond movies, and the reasons for that are as follows. Ignoring the obvious question of why Russia is named in the title when most of the film takes place in Istanbul (not Constantinople), I have one main problem with the movie: it is FAR longer than it needs to be. A decent chunk of the movie’s first half could have been pared down or cut out entirely with no ill effect; the entire scene at the Romani camp was particularly pointless and chock full of cringeworthy ethnic stereotypes. The film also has problems with pacing; the front half of the film is far too padded out with Bond touring Istanbul (not Constantinople) and seeing the Cold War violence and unrest up close before he even gets close enough to Tatiana to get the LEKTOR; most of the exciting stuff is relegated to the last half hour or so, with the boat chase and final fight with Rosa Klebb taking place in the last five minutes.
Don't misunderstand me; there are a number of positives! Many of the scenes taking place in Istanbul (not Constantinople) are beautifully shot and establish the series’ trend of showing off their exotic locales; Matt Munro's Title Theme Tune lacks the bombast of its successors, but is sweet and soulful in a Sinatra-esque way. The film's biggest plus, of course, is the characters: Connery is cool and suave as always; it was hilarious to watch Bond Gal Tatiana overplay her role as the lovesick femme fatale while Bond mostly brushed her off and just tried to get down to business; Bond ally Kerim Bey was a charming and likable guy (and an impressive performance, considering his actor was dying of cancer while playing him); Red Grant was an "evil Bond" done right, barely hiding his insatiable bloodlust behind a veneer of urbane pleasantry; Klebb and Kronsteen had potential to be interesting villains (the former as a no-nonsense control freak and the latter as a weaselly, arrogant schemer), but they’re not given nearly enough screen time, and Blofeld commands a powerful and threatening presence despite never being named or shown onscreen.
From Russia with Love is a solid 7/10 for me. Perhaps not the masterpiece long-time fans see it as, but there are far worse movies Kennedy could've seen as his last.