268 replies to this topic

[Colossus]

Great summary Pushkin.

I think it and Dr. No are both equal, even though i like Dr. No more but that's only because of nostalgic purposes since i only saw FRWL years later. DN and FRWL both have a nice contrast, in DN everything is a calm and relaxing setting while in FRWL it's very hectic and frantic, they complement one another really good.

[Gogol Pushkin]

Great summary Pushkin.

I think it and Dr. No are both equal, even though i like Dr. No more but that's only because of nostalgic purposes since i only saw FRWL years later. DN and FRWL both have a nice contrast, in DN everything is a calm and relaxing setting while in FRWL it's very hectic and frantic, they complement one another really good.

Thanks for that Colossus. Got to say, never thought of it that way before, but I get what you're saying about the contrast in both movies. I have just finished watching DN there and it does have a nice relaxed way with it whilst FRWL has a more full speed ahead mentality. Both fantastic films. Vintage Bond all the way through.

[Janus Assassin]

Watched it the other night.. definately my favorite Connery film and around 4 or 5 on my Bond film list

[DaveBond21]

It's a real "seal the deal" movie FRWL. There is so much I love and adore about this film. The PTS with the fake 007, Robert Shaw's performance, Daniela Bianchi, Klebb and her shoes, the debut of Blofeld and his cat, the first appearance of the Q we all know and love, the Orient Express sequence and of course Connery himself. There are moments in Dr No where I think he is still finding his feet, but here (and I know many critics and commentators say it happens in Goldfinger) is the movie where Connery becomes the Bond we truly know and love, the cool cat, the suave gentleman, the elegant spy capable of being funny, romantic but dangerous. Look at how he goes from being all charm with Tatania but then quite brutal. It's probably his finest two hours in the role. And then there's the whole sequence on the Orient Express. Most action movies nowadays can't go ten minutes without blowing something up, someone getting shot or a massive fight scene, but FRWL goes a good twenty minutes, possibly longer with Bond, Kerim, Grant and Tatania on that train, building and ratcheting up the tension as Grant muscles in on Bond, approaches him as an ally, shows his true colours before indulging in one of cinema's best ever fight scenes and this is before we get the SPECTRE copter and the boat chase. Damn, I want to run of and watch this film now.

Excellent comments, Gogol Pushkin.

The Orient Express scenes are wonderful. It's all passwords and secret knocks, tablets in drinks and suspicious looks.

[Gogol Pushkin]

Thanks for that Dave.

I agree so strongly about your comments on the Orient Express sequence. It's possibly the one sequence in all the Bond movies were a Bond film feels very much apart of the spy genre. Yes, I know Bond is a spy, but the character and movies are more classifiable as action adventure movies, but here we get a whole section where espionage and spying is key. It's a bravado sequence and not only one of the best thirty minutes in a Bond film, but possibly one of the best thirty minutes to ever appear in a film.

Edited by Gogol Pushkin, 18 July 2010 - 12:15 AM.

[007.5]

"Red wine with fish. Well that should have told me something."

[elizabeth]

FRWL is a close, close second behind GF for me. I absolutely love it.

[onthetracksof007]

Tatiana's choker!

I agree.. It's the choker that does it..

[DaveBond21]

FRWL is a close, close second behind GF for me. I absolutely love it.

I know alot of people who would talk about FRWL in this way.

[smudge76]

From Russia With Love one my top three Bond films. The scrap with Robert Shaw has to be one the best filmed fights within 007 universe.Along with George Lazenby fight in hotel suite and Daniel Craigs stair well punch up.

[DaveBond21]

From Russia With Love one my top three Bond films. The scrap with Robert Shaw has to be one the best filmed fights within 007 universe.Along with George Lazenby fight in hotel suite and Daniel Craigs stair well punch up.

Agreed. It's one of the great fights of movie history.

[Melack]

My favorite Bond movie along with Thunderball.

- The best Bond in Sean Connery also at his best

- Fantastic villains. Blofeld, Kronsteen, Klebb and last but not least Grant.

- Tatiana is beautiful and a great Bond girl. She has this kind of innocence and naivety to her that I like.

- Karim is such a likeable character and a great ally. "Back to the salt mines..."

- Terrence Young direction. Train fight scene says it all. Best Bond director ever.

- Music. Barry is brilliant here. Main theme is lovely.

- The plot. Love the way SPECTRE play the russians and english against eachother. It is a smart plot that still seems plausible.

I could go on forever really.

"My friends call me James Bond" - <3

[TCK]

Always loved this one. It should be in my top three Bond films, and perhaps in my top two, behind the unbeatable Daylights. My top changes according to my moods, quite often then, but From Russia with love is always among the front runners. I think everything is perfect in this movie.

But the ranking is not so important, the most important is the movie, and this one is wonderful. Probably one of the most faithful to Fleming's novel too.

[DR76]

Just watched this recently. It's still a fabulous movie . . . up until the last 20 to 25 minutes. However, the Bond/Klebb/Tania confrontation in Venice is first-rate.

I have a question. Before Klebb made her appearance in the Venice hotel room,Tania mentioned something about a plane to catch. Yet, after Klebb was killed, Bond and Tania are enjoying a boat ride on the Canal. What happened to the urgent need to catch a plane?

[The Shark]

I have a question. Before Klebb made her appearance in the Venice hotel room,Tania mentioned something about a plane to catch. Yet, after Klebb was killed, Bond and Tania are enjoying a boat ride on the Canal. What happened to the urgent need to catch a plane?

Klebb had her kicks. I assume that Tania planned to catch the plane, because she wanted to escape the grasps of SPECTRE, who mostly operated in mainland Europe. Once Klebb was killed, the immediate threat subsided. One imagines they took a plane back to London soon afterwards.

[DR76]

I have a question. Before Klebb made her appearance in the Venice hotel room,Tania mentioned something about a plane to catch. Yet, after Klebb was killed, Bond and Tania are enjoying a boat ride on the Canal. What happened to the urgent need to catch a plane?

Klebb had her kicks. I assume that Tania planned to catch the plane, because she wanted to escape the grasps of SPECTRE, who mostly operated in mainland Europe. Once Klebb was killed, the immediate threat subsided. One imagines they took a plane back to London soon afterwards.

This doesn't make sense to me. One would think that Tania was more concerned with Soviet intelligence . . . especially after Bond managed to get her to Venice in relative safety. And two, Tania's remark hinted that she and James had already made plans to catch a plane for London. I don't think SPECTRE was on their minds by that time, judging from both Bond and Tania's expression when Klebb appeared at their hotel room.

[Miles Miservy]

I love From Russia with Love.

It's a great Bond movie and probably my favourite.

Here are the elements I love about it:-

Connery - he is on top of his game here.

Blofeld - the scariest Bond villain, just from his voice. Look how scared Klebb and Kronstein are of him!

The Cold War plot - realistic and down-to-earth. This is a real espionage film.

The chess match

Kerim Bey - probably Bond's greatest ally

Tatiana's choker!

The Gypsy Camp battle

The fight with Grant on the Orient Express

The boat chase

The helicopter terrorising Bond

Rosa Klebb's shoe


Who else loves FRWL? Name your favourite elements of this movie. Please fans only, let's celebrate this classic film!!

I found it interesting to learn that the "duel" between 007 & the SPECTRE helicopter was inspired by a similar scene w/ Cary Grant & a biplane in North By Nothwest; also that the actual location was not Yugoslavia, but the Scottish Highlands.

[DaveBond21]

I love From Russia with Love.

It's a great Bond movie and probably my favourite.

Here are the elements I love about it:-

Connery - he is on top of his game here.

Blofeld - the scariest Bond villain, just from his voice. Look how scared Klebb and Kronstein are of him!

The Cold War plot - realistic and down-to-earth. This is a real espionage film.

The chess match

Kerim Bey - probably Bond's greatest ally

Tatiana's choker!

The Gypsy Camp battle

The fight with Grant on the Orient Express

The boat chase

The helicopter terrorising Bond

Rosa Klebb's shoe


Who else loves FRWL? Name your favourite elements of this movie. Please fans only, let's celebrate this classic film!!

I found it interesting to learn that the "duel" between 007 & the SPECTRE helicopter was inspired by a similar scene w/ Cary Grant & a biplane in North By Nothwest; also that the actual location was not Yugoslavia, but the Scottish Highlands.

North by Northwest is a classic and was so popular that the similarities would not have been lost on FRWL viewers in 1963.

[DaveBond21]

I am going to try to watch it again tonight to get a fresh perspective. It has been over 3 years since I last did.

[hilly]

I think it's a great film and it still stands up well, 50-odd years on. With a few tweaks, Craig could easily be Bond in FRWL.

 

The only things that really date it

1) The East/West conflict

2) Bond slapping Tanya following by her professing her love for him

3) Bond speculating that Tanya may be "mental"

[DaveBond21]

I'm going to throw one out there and say that FRWL has the best final 35 minutes of all the Bond films.

[dtuba]

"You might know the right wines...but you're the one on your knees."

[quantumofsolace]

http://www.denofgeek...ussia-with-love

[DaveBond21]

"You might know the right wines...but you're the one on your knees."

 

Great line.

[AMC Hornet]

I think it's a great film and it still stands up well, 50-odd years on. With a few tweaks, Craig could easily be Bond in FRWL.

 

The only things that really date it

1) The East/West conflict

2) Bond slapping Tanya following by her professing her love for him

3) Bond speculating that Tanya may be "mental"

What about:

All those cars, which were already old in 1963;

The Lektor, already obsolete in the book;

Hiding the tape recorder in a Brownie camera;

Call Me Bwana.

 

Don't get my wrong - I don't dislike FRWL. I agree it's a classic and I enjoy watching it when I've had enough of spectacle and breakneck pacing, but it would take more than a few tweaks to bring it into the 2010s. It was a product of the sixties and if you take that away it diminishes its appeal. The same could be said of Dr. No (which I personally prefer), with its quaint experimental rocket-toppling plot.

[SecretAgentFan]

FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE  (re-watching it in 2015)

 

I always liked and enjoyed this.  Together with GOLDFINGER it has always been one of my most watched Connery Bonds.

 

Now, for my first time watching it on blu-ray (which again is such a magnificent transfer), I was absolutely entertained.  Time flew by.  I enjoyed every moment.  This really remains one of the best Bond films and will be very high up in my revised ranking.

 

The story, the cinematography, the acting, the casting, the editing, the score - top notch all around.

 

Some details I could not remember or missed before:

 

- that door in M´s office is amusingly creaky

 

- Blofeld does have a full head of dark hair!

 

- when Bond leaves the train to tell Bey´s son what happened, we see Grant behind him in the train following him - a great tracking shot, creepy and foreboding

[DaveBond21]

Yes, Blofeld has hair and was going to have hair in YOLT - Jan Werich was cast as Blofeld first.

 

To me, Blofeld DOES have hair. Pleasance and Savalas were the only bald ones.

 

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

[Double-Oh Agent]

Don't forget the immortal John Hollis in For Your Eyes Only.

 

Also Blofeld appeared to have graying hair in Thunderball and did in Never Say Never Again.

 

In the novels he was a chameleon and in the movies as well.

[quantumofsolace]

http://www.gq-magazi...love-james-bond