James Bond Rewatch: 'From Russia With Love'

Yeah, still behind on these, and it’s only getting worse. But I’m on it. Some will have to be bunched together, but I’ll still have it all finished by the time Bond 25 comes out.

Bond: Sean Connery
M: Bernard Lee
Q: Desmond Llewelyn
Moneypenny: Lois Maxwell
Director: Terence Young
Song: “From Russia With Love” performed by Matt Monro

From IMDB

“James Bond willingly falls into an assassination plot involving a naive Russian beauty in order to retrieve a Soviet encryption device that was stolen by S.P.E.C.T.R.E.”

One thing that sticks out like a sore thumb in From Russia With Love is how low-key and simple it is. It’s not fancy or glitzy. It doesn’t rely heavily on gadgets, and there’s decidedly less action than you might expect in a spy thriller. But it works. It relies on good old-fashioned espionage. And on a rewatch that’s a refreshing change of pace. I’m all for big action set pieces, lots of fight scenes, all of that. But sometimes it’s nice to go back to something simpler. And that’s just what From Russia With Love is.

Let’s Talk Villains

A movie with this kind of set up and tone needs to rely more heavily on its characters to carry its weight. Obviously you have the MI6 side, with Bond, M, Q, and Moneypenny. But villains are equally strong. It only took two movies for the Bond series to give a major villain role to a woman, and Rosa Klebb (Lotte Lenya) immediately became an iconic character in the Bond canon. Plus, the shoe knife. I mean, incredible.

And then there’s Bond’s main foe, Red Grant (Robert Shaw). He’s basically the SPECTRE equivalent of James Bond. And he’s certainly quite the formidable foe. What makes his performance even better is that most of it is done in silence. Up until meeting Bond on the train, it’s all based on being physically imposing. And speaking of the train fight, it still remains an all-time Bond moment.

A Little Blofeld Tease

Ernst Stavro Blofeld. Not just an (and here’s that word again) iconic Bond villain, but an iconic villain in general. He’s the head of SPECTRE, a mystery man who runs everything from the shadows. We never see his face in this, his first appearance. There’s a creepy, sinister feeling with this character right from the start, and the movie does a great job setting him up as a major character down the line.

Ali Kerim Bey

There’s no Felix Leiter this time around, but Bond gets one of the more under-appreciated sidekicks in Kerim Bey. Fun-loving, jovial, familial devotion. The guy had it all.