From Russia With Love (1963)

From Russia With Love

ADDITIONAL BACKGROUND ON FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE

The story of “From Russia With Love” is an interesting example of an all too typical Hollywood story.. a seemingly sure thing, turning into a disaster – but with the satisfying end conclusion which looks like it was just how they planned it. It was 1956 the novel was written, becoming a bestseller in 1957 and then propelled into the stratosphere by appearing on JFK’s Top 10 favourite books list in 1961 (interestingly, the movie of the book was the last film he saw before his assassination). The studio saw it as a safe bet. Sean Connery back in the role, same director that had made the first a success, proven formula, and double the budget. Richard Maibaum was brought in again to rewrite the initial screenplay, simplifying what had become an increasingly complex and mystifying story. Also in the writing process, some key changes were made from the book. SPECTRE were invented as the bad guys, instead of the Russian agency SMERSH as in the book. It was seen as un-P.C. to have the Russians playing the bad guys so overtly. With noted actor Robert Shaw joining the cast as a villain who would serve as a template for many Bond villain henchmen to come, and former German cabaret star Lotte Lenya eating up her role as Rosa Klebb, things were on track.. they even had not one, but three beauty pageant winners in the cast.. the leading lady and ex-model Daniela Bianchi, and the two gypsy women who fight in a key scene. One of the missing elements was Ken Adams, who was off making Dr Strangelove and so unavailable, but instead they got Syd Cain, who if you are familiar with Bladerunner may be a name you are familiar with, as art director / production designer. Also joining the team were Desmond Llewellyn as Q, and Peter Hunt as editor.

Shooting started on April 1st, 1963, with a script still in flux. The film was daring, with some scenes of nudity and innuendo which were, for their time, quite daring. Filming in Istanbul was eventful, when the bomb scene went off, the crew had neglected to tell anyone, and the ambulances and fire engines which subsequently arrived were the real thing. The weather played havoc too, and the climax boat scene had to be scrapped, and reshot in Scotland.

The crew really hit a low when the discovered Pedro Amindales, who had been recommended by John Ford no less, was terminally ill with cancer. So ill was he, that crew had to stand behind him and support him in many scenes, and filming was halted and moved to UK to film all his scenes up front while he was still able, at his request.

After the final scene, he went to his hotel, pulled out a gun and shot himself. He had wanted to make sure he finished the film, in order to provide the money for his wife and child. Incidentally, his son went on to appear as the dictator in “License to Kill”. The director also almost died in a freak helicopter accident in Scotland. The helicopter landed side on to the water and sank like a stone 30 feet down. 35 minutes later, with scratches and bruises bandaged up, Terence Young was back in the director’s chair directing the next scene.
The story however, was not working. It was too complicated, and the rewrites for later scenes did not match earlier scenes. A disaster loomed, and this was the time for editor Peter Hunt to shine – his radical editing moved whole scenes around to make better sense, and one or two scenes were reshot and revoiced. It was this re-ordering of scenes that left one scene – of Bond’s double being killed, being left over, and Hunt came up with the idea of having it before the titles.. and a Bond tradition was born.

Additionally, his rapid cutting which broke the rules by cutting across action and not waiting for motion and actions to stop before cutting to the next, heightened excitement.. you only have to study the Orient Express fight with Red Grant to admire what he did. Finally, on October 10th 1963, the movie was released, and the pain turned out to be worthwhile. It was a triumph – rave reviews followed, and the Bond phenomenon was consolidated.

But how does it stand, 49 years later for a different generation? Does its style still last, or have tastes moved on too much? Does it still have its sense of daring or in a new age is it too tame? Watch it again, and make up your own mind..

Trivia

During the helicopter sequence towards the end of the film, the inexperienced pilot flew too close to Sean Connery, almost killing him.

"Q"/ Major Boothroyd played by Desmond Llewelyn appears for the first time. This character was played by Peter Burton in Dr. No. When Burton was unable to return for this film, the role was recast with Llewelyn in the part. Llewelyn would reprise the role of "Q" in 16 subsequent Bond films (17 performances in all, but he didn't appear in Live and Let Die. Q is referred to by his real name, "Major Boothroyd," only in Dr. No, this movie, and The Spy Who Loved Me.

The love scene between Sean Connery and Daniela Bianchi caused censorship problems in Britain. In the scene, a sweating SPECTRE cameraman films James Bond and Tatiana Romanova in bed from a cabinet de voyeur. The British Board of Film Censors mandated to producers Albert R. Broccoli and Harry Saltzman that the voyeurism in the scene was too explicit and to keep the footage of the cameraman as minimal as possible or face risking having the whole sequence censored.

In 1950, a US naval attaché was assassinated and thrown from the Orient Express train by a Communist agent. This story inspired Ian Fleming's novel "From Russia With Love". Fleming's own experience at an Interpol Conference in Istanbul, Turkey provided the setting. The film To Paris with Love provided the tile.

The film's storyline deals with the Lektor Decoding Machine, the name of which was called the Spektor Decoding Machine in the original Ian Fleming novel. Its name was changed because of its similarity with the name of the fictitious criminal spy organization "Spectre". He based this device on his knowledge of the Enigma Decoding Machine from World War II. Fleming was involved with the Ultra Network who cracked the Enigma Code in 1939. The Ultra Network's activities were not released until 1975 in a book called A Man Called Intrepid. Fleming's friend Sir William Stevenson wrote the book which was published at the time when the closed period on wartime secrets expired and the records were finally declassified.

In the books, Bond often drives his beloved Bentley. The car appears in this film for the only time in the regular series.

Two actresses with bit parts would reappear in later films: Nadja Regin, who plays Kerim's girl, would play the dancer at the start of Goldfinger, and Martine Beswick (called Martin Beswick in the credits), one of the Gypsy girls, returned as Paula in Thunderball.

The collapsing rifle given to Bond isn't a gimmick, but was an Armalite AR-7 survival rifle which was a production item which actually does disassemble and fit into its stock. However it fires the .22 long rifle cartridge, not .25 caliber as was stated in the film. As of 2005, it is still in production, although not by Armalite. It is one of very few firearms that will float when dropped into water.

On the Istanbul ferry journey, the Maiden's tower can be seen in the distance behind Bond. This was Renard's lair in The World Is Not Enough.

Much of the film was shot on location, with only a bare minimum of back projection used. Something quite unusual for a film of 1963.

Sean Connery said that this movie was his personal favorite out of the Bond films he did.

Lois Maxwell (Miss Moneypenny) named this as her favorite 007 film.

From Russia with Love marks the last appearance of the Sylvia Trench (Eunice Gayson) character, who also appeared in Dr. No. (1962) The original plan was for Sylvia to appear in each film as Bond's regular girlfriend, continually frustrated when Bond is called away for his next assignment. This idea was, obviously, scrapped.

Though he isn't shown actually taking it, it is implied that Bond keeps Grant's garrote watch, as the watch appears in On Her Majesty's Secret Service when Bond cleans out his desk, as well as in a deleted scene in A View to a Kill when the Paris police return Bond's property. Cameo

Bob Simmons: The series regular stuntman is the actor appearing in the gun barrel sequence at the beginning of the film. The same footage was used for the first three James Bond movies, the others being Dr. No and Goldfinger.

Nikki Van der Zyl voiced (uncredited) a Receptionist. She dubbed other actresses' voices as Honey Ryder in Dr. No and Domino Derval in Thunderball.

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