- From Russia With Love contains the best shot, best actor, and best scene in any of the James Bond films. When you're talking about a series that has thus far spanned 22 movies (give or take), that's quite a set of accomplishments. But lest we immediately decide that this must therefore be the best Bond film, we must note that it also contains a scene in which two scantily clad gypsies wrestle in the mud. Whether that places the film higher or lower in the Bond pantheon I'll leave as a matter of speculation. The bottom line is that this is unquestionably a great, if not quite the greatest, entry in the Bond film series.
- The common thread linking this film's many successes is the fearsome character Red Grant, portrayed by the incomparable Robert Shaw. Shaw is one of the few actors from the 1960's (or, for that matter, ever) who could successfully wrest command of the screen away from Sean Connery, and in From Russia With Love he does precisely that. Kicking things off by garroting a Bond impostor, Grant spends most of the film stalking the genuine article from the shadows, only emerging from time to time to kill off the competition. Meanwhile, Bond's attention is otherwise occupied as he tries to nab a Russian cypher machine with the help of supposed defector Tatiana Romanova (Daniela Bianchi). "Obviously it's a trap," observes the ever-dispassionate M (Bernard Lee), but neither the Russians nor the British realize that they are but pawns in SPECTRE's larger game.
- But back to Grant, who's the real star of this show. In the film's best shot, a homage to the famous canyon scene in The Searchers, the camera tracks Grant as he haunts Bond from the shadows of a darkened train. Bond is looking for his British contact, but the audience knows he'll never find him. Finally, the two super-spies meet face-to-face, and Grant is allowed some dialogue. His speech and mannerisms are oddly stilted, "old man," yet he knows the right passwords. As they dine together Bond starts to become suspicious, but it's only after Romanova is drugged that Grant reveals his true colors. With the intensity that Shaw would later use to describe the fate of the USS Indianapolis, Grant quietly elaborates on Bond's fate: "The first one won't kill you, not the second, not even the third...not 'til you crawl over here and you kiss my foot!" Thankfully, an earlier visit to Q Branch, hosted by series mainstay Desmond Llewelyn, provided Bond with a versatile attache case for just such an occasion. But how to convince Grant to open it?
- After such an outstanding set of scenes on the train, the remainder of the film feels slightly anticlimactic. That is, until the dastardly Rosa Klebb (Lotte Lenya) ends things on a memorable note with her infamous poison-tipped switchblade shoe. That's not to say, however, that the scenes without Grant or Klebb are bad. The film is generally fast-paced and enjoyable, featuring a thrilling gypsy shootout, an explosive boat chase, and a decent helicopter scene that was admittedly better with a crop duster in North by Northwest. While Bianchi is not terribly convincing as a Russian agent, Shaw, Connery and a stable of talented character actors, including Pedro Armendáriz, Fred Haggerty, Walter Gotell, and Vladek Sheybal, the last of whom portrays an enjoyably sinister chess player, are sufficient to ensure that James Bond would return in...Goldfinger.
- They go out of their way to establish series continuity, mentioning that Dr. No was an operative of SPECTRE.
- I'll probably stop mentioning series regulars, like Lois Maxwell as Miss Moneypenny.
