From Russia With Love (1963)
 From Russia With Love was the second Bond film, with
Sean Connery as the dapper spy dashing through several countries
to avoid being assassinated.
As in the best Bond films, the
villains are the leading characters, and Lotte Lenya and Robert
Shaw make a formidable couple of enemies.
This movie also set the formula for the rest of the series -
glamour, travel, beautiful backgrounds, girls and a high lifestyle
that few governments today would commend. But what the hell - it's
fun and fantasy at its finest!
From Russia With Love introduced one of the prettiest
Bond girls in Daniela Bianchi who plays Tatiana Romanova.
Although
Ursula Andress and Honor Blackman have received much more
attention over the years, Bianchi is unquestionably the loveliest
of the bunch.
Actually, were it not for the stunning double-bill of Claudine
Auger and Luciana Paluzzi in Thunderball, Bianchi would be
the best Bond girl of the Sixties and arguably ever.
Unfortunately, the character isn't terribly strong, so she's left
to her looks and little else.
The villains this time around are some of the best ever, with
Lotte Lenya providing one of the most unusual and powerful Bond
baddies as Rosa Klebb (the very obvious inspiration for Frau
Farbissina in the Austin Powers films).
From Russia With Love was the first of the Bond series
to feature a couple of new components that would become staples of
the series; It presented the first pre-title sequence as we see
the apparent death of Bond.
It also offered the first appearance
of Desmond Llewellyn as Q. (Actually, he's unnamed in this film
and is only called the "equipment officer from Q
Branch", though the credits refer to him as Major Boothroyd.
Pedro Armendariz (who played Kerim Bey) was dying as he filmed From
Russia With Love. The actor became seriously ill during the
shoot and would be dead before its release.
Despite being
seriously ill, Armendariz conveyed so much life and vitality in
his role, and capped his career with an excellent performance in
what would become his signature role.
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