From Russia With Love (4 Stars)

This is the second James Bond film, made in 1963. The James Bond films weren't made in the same order as the novels written by Ian Fleming. "Dr. No" (the first film) was the sixth novel, and "From Russia With Love" (the second film) was the fifth novel. A partial change in order was necessary, because the rights to the first novel, "Casino Royale", had been purchased by another company, but I see no reason why the other novels were shuffled. There might be an answer in an interview that I've yet to read. The change in order means that some details of the plot had to be changed. For instance, in this film the criminal organisation SPECTRE wants revenge for the killing of Dr. No, but in the novels he wasn't yet dead. I can't say much more about the changes to the plot, because I've not yet read the Ian Fleming novels. I really ought to. Way back in the early 1980's one of my work colleagues told me I should read the novels because they're much better than the films. It's about time I take his advice.

Like all of the James Bond films based on Ian Fleming's novels, the stories are complex, with multiple layers of deception. SPECTRE wants to steal a Russian Lektor message encryption device, not to use it against Russia, but to sell it back to the Russians. Combining their plans with taking revenge on James Bond, they want to use him to steal the device for them. A loyal Russian spy, Tatiana Romanova is given an assignment to assist James Bond. She thinks she's working for the official Russian intelligence agency, SMERSH, but she's actually working for SPECTRE.

All I can say is that Tatiana is very foolish. She should be suspicious when she's told to give a highly important Russian espionage device to a British agent, but she doesn't ask questions. This means that she's working against her superiors in the Russian Embassy in Istanbul, while believing that she's acting on a secret mission for their superiors.

This is the first film in which Desmond Llewellyn appears as Q, the weapons genius. He's the most longserving of all actors in James Bond films, appearing in 17 of the 20 Classic James Bond films from 1963 to 1999. In this first film he's called Boothroyd from the MI6 Q Branch, but this is shortened to Q from the next film onwards.

Lois Maxwell returns as Miss Moneypenny, for the second of 14 films from 1962 to 1985. In all those films, this is the closest she ever got to James Bond: rubbing cheeks in the office.

This is the first film in which we see Ernst Blofeld, one of James Bond's major enemies in the novels. At least, the credits list him as Ernst Blofeld. In the film itself he's not named, and he's only called Number One. In the books he didn't appear until "Thunderball", the ninth James Bond novel. The studios were in a hurry to please the fans by showing this important character, or at least his hands. And his cat.

Most of the James Bond films have two Bond Girls, one good and one bad, but this film only has one Bond Girl, Russian agent Tatiana Romanova, played by Daniela Bianchi. It's difficult to classify her as good or bad, she's a middle case. She's a Russian spy, which makes her bad, and she's working on a mission for SPECTRE, which also makes her bad, but her mission doesn't involve her harming James Bond in any way, which makes her good. She falls for James Bond's charms, but this doesn't compromise her mission.

Success Rate:  + 37.5

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