From Russia With Love
  • From Russia With Love

From Russia With Love

Synopsis

James Bond is assigned by his superior M to help a young Russian girl Tatiana Romanova, who has declared her desire to defect from her job as a clerk in the Russian embassy in Istanbul with an invaluable Lektor cipher machine. Believing herself a willing tool of her government, Tatiana is actually the pawn of SPECTRE, a group of international criminals who plan to use the beautiful Russian girl to lure Bond to his death and to confound both the British and Russian Secret Service agencies.
In the intriguing atmosphere of Istanbul, Bond is aided by Kerim Bey, the Turkish agent for the British Secret Service, whom Bond comes to respect and admire. After eluding several death traps in Istanbul, Bond and Tatiana escape aboard the Orient Express. SPECTRE has assigned their cold-blooded killer, Grant to kill and discredit the famed British agent, in hand-to-hand combat Bond triumphs over Grant in the close quarters of his train compartment, but the attempts on his life are by no means over. He later fights an unequal battle against a SPECTRE helicopter and makes a desperate dash across the Gulf of Venice in a speedboat chased by a horde of enemy agents. In Venice, he faces the final attempt on his life when Rosa Klebb, the master planner of the SPECTRE murder organisation, makes a personal bid to kill him.

Cast

Sean Connery, Daniela Bianchi, Pedro Armendáriz, Lotte Lenya, Robert Shaw, Bernard Lee, Eunice Gayson, Walter Gotell, Francis De Wolff, Lois Maxwell, Aliza Gur, Martine Beswicke, Vladek Shyebal, Anthony Dawson, Desmond Llewelyn, Leila

Producers

Harry Saltzman
Albert R. Broccoli

Director

Terence Young

Release Date

10 October 1963 (UK)
8 April 1964 (USA)

World Premiere

10 October 1963, Odeon Leicester Square, London

Locations

Istanbul, Turkey; Venice, Italy; Scotland and Pinewood Studios, UK

Vehicles

James Bond’s derby green Bentley MK IV (circa 1936); Rosa Klebb arrives at training camp in Hiller UH -12 “Raven” helicopter; Bulgarian agents Citroën 11 Legere; Kerim Bey’s Rolls-Royce Silver Wraith; Orient Express train; Chevrolet C30 flatbed flower truck; Spectre Hiller UH-12 helicopter; Bond commandeers a Fairey Huntress 23 powerboat; SPECTRE men in Fairey Huntsman 28 powerboats

Music

“From Russia With Love” – performed by Matt Munro, written by Lionel Bart

Gadgets/Weapons/Technology

  • Walther PPK 7.65mm
  • Trick Attaché Case – it contains 40 rounds of .25 calibre ammunition in tubes hidden beneath two of the feet studs. Built into the lower section of the top is a flat throwing knife, released by a button concealed beneath the right latch. Inside the case is a modified ArmaLite AR-7 folding sniper’s rifle with infrared telescopic scope. In the base of the case are 50 gold sovereigns. A tear-gas cartridge disguised as a tin of talcum powder attaches magnetically to the top of the case. The latches must be turned horizontally before opening or the cartridge will explode
  • Pager and in-car radio phone. This is the first time a pager is used on screen in a real world situation rather than in science fiction
  • Bug detector
  • Lektor decoder
  • Poison-tipped blade hidden in shoe
  • Wristwatch/piano wire garrotte
  • Camera/tape recorder issued to Bond by Q Branch which looks like an ordinary box camera but conceals reel-to-reel tape recorder
  • Periscope
  • Verey pistol flare gun

Trivia

Director Terence Young’s wife makes a cameo as the lady who appears on a bridge in Venice filming Bond and Tatiana as they pass beneath in a water taxi

Location Manager Bill Hill was pressed into making his screen debut in Turkey when the actor chosen to play the ill-fated MI6 agent Captain Nash proved unavailable at the last minute. Hill suddenly found himself in Nash’s clothes for his tragic encounter with Red Grant

Fleming’s novel From Russia With Love was considered a personal favourite of President John F. Kennedy

Filming on location in Istanbul attracted such huge crowds of onlookers Director Terence Young decided to create a diversion for the scene where Bond runs to the station. Just before shooting the scene Young signalled with his handkerchief for a stunt man to appear on a 3rd floor balcony opposite shouting and teetering precariously – the crowd shifted their attention to him leaving Bond to run free to the station

Mrs. Harry Saltzman and her mother are seen looking out of the train window when it pulls into Zagreb and Bond stops to look out the window between them

Trailer