From Russia With Love (1963)
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From Russia With Love (1963)
BOND#2: With the Lektor on a Train to Doom
The plan of the villains is fairly complex and relies more on traditional espionage than any of the future films. There's no grand plan for world domination, let alone setting events into motion which would effect a large section of the world. Bond's mission takes him to Istanbul in this one, where he is to meet a supposed defecting Russian agent (Bianchi) and steal a special decoding machine of the Russians. It's all a plot of SPECTRE's to mess up both the Soviets and the free world at the same time - it doesn't sound all that thrilling for a typical Bond fan, but for those into actual spy games and bottomless intrigue, this is in some ways a pinnacle of the Bond oeuvre.
The master villain is partially revealed as SPECTRE-head Blofeld, seen only from the neck down, stroking his white cat, but he employs top agents #3 (an actual Soviet defector, played memorably by actress Lenya) and #5 (a chessmaster) to carry out the logistics. All this is wonderfully atmospheric for fans of wild, weird villainy and would be repeated in future films, such as Thunderball. SPECTRE agent#3, also known as Rosa Klebb, is the de-facto main villain here, doing the actual field work for the plan, and no one would soon forget her. There are even undertones of lesbianism in her scenes with the femme fatale and main Bond girl, unthinkable in those days, copying the more blatant descriptions in Ian Fleming's novel.
When I first watched this film on TV, a very long time ago, the famous fight between Bond and Grant was heavily edited; I couldn't understand what the fuss was about (this fight is often listed as among the top 10 best fights on screen). Later, I finally viewed the complete unedited version. Wow. Brutal. There's no doubt this film was influential on the entire spy genre of sixties cinema. And, Bond would return in Goldfinger.
BoG's Bond Scores: Bond:10 Villains:10 Femme Fatale:7 Henchmen:10 Fights:10 Stunts/Chases:8 Gadgets:8 Locations:9 Pace:9 overall:9
Similar topics
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» Solaris (1972 Russia)
» Stalker (1979 Russia)
» Aelita (1924 Russia)
» Cosmic Voyage (1936 Russia)
Base of Galactic Science Fiction :: SCIENCE FICTION CINEMA :: Semi-Science Fiction Films :: Super Agents - James Bond and his ilk
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