Bond Films: From Russia with Love

From Russia with Love is the second EON Bond film, well-regarded and generally highly-ranked among Bond films. It's easy to see why - the style elements are in place, the plot is more or less believable, and while there is spycraft to be had, it isn't overwhelmed with gadgetry. In short, it's about characters.

The plot of From Russia with Love is: In an effort to play the West and East off each other, and to gain revenge against Bond for killing thwarting Dr. No, SPECTRE utilizes a former Soviet agent to encourage a Russian spy to feign love for Bond and an interest to defect. She promises him access to an encryption machine, and while suspicious, MI6 dispatches Bond to Istanbul to check it out. There, he meets the most ridiculous character casting ever in the form of a local Turkish spymaster played by a North American hispanic. Bond parties with gypsies, spies on Russians from Byzantine cisterns, and breaks into the local Russian spy headquarters, all the while stalked by an agent of SPECTRE. Eventually, they have a showdown on a night train and Bond makes use of two secret gadget suitcases. In a denouement, he is almost killed by one of the villains, played by Lotte Lenye, who escapes.

The last bit is actually rather charming. Lotte Lenye was the wife of Kurt Weill and performed in Berlin cabaret in works by Weill and Brecht. Given that she saw the rise of the Nazis and the subjugation of the East, one has to wonder what she made of this James Bond character.

Compared to later Bond films, this one is pretty awesome. The chemistry between Bond and the girl is all the more remarkable considering their characters are both faking it - it's fake, but real, which is ironic considering the purposes for which SPECTRE set them up. Bond isn't impossibly superhuman - his bacon is saved on more than once occasion when it should have been cooked. Of all the films I've watched so far, this is the most realistic, and the most compelling. I wanted to see these characters succeed.

I'd rate From Russia with Love as a must-see Bond film. It's a good film on its own; if this had been the only Bond film, it's be worth seeing.