Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
"You may know the right wines, but you're the one on your knees.", 3 Nov 2008
With an embryonic and not entirely successful Robert Brownjohn title sequence of credits projected onto body of belly dancer (some great spelling mistakes here, as `Monte' Norman and `Martin' Beswicke's agents probably pointed out!), Barry's first official Bond score and Blofeld's first (off-screen) appearance, the formula is clearly beginning to fall into place. This was also the first of the series to have a pre-title sequence, one of the few that relates directly to the film's plot, and it is still by far the most successful of any of them.
The gadgets that were to eventually get so out of hand make first appearance in form of Bond's ingenious attaché case, but at least here they are still entirely credible - nothing more extravagant than a well kitted-out briefcase and a breakaway sniper's rifle. Series regular Walter Gotell also makes his first appearance, though not as General Gogol but as the head of a S.P.E.C.T.R.E. training school. Unlike the cute and lovable old Russian bear at SMERSH in the Moore films, here he is cheerfully ruthless and businesslike, using live targets in training courses.
Bond's snobbery is much to the fore here. "Red wine with fish, that should have told me something," he tells Robert Shaw's working class homicidal paranoiac, the best and most genuinely threatening of the Bond heavies ("You may know the right wines, but you're the one on your knees."). It also establishes the sexual deviancy of the villains in Rosa Klebb's lesbian tendencies (very apparent as her hand wanders onto Daniella Bianchi's knee). With Bond such an amoral figure, the villains had to be even more immoral and perverse: always bastions of authority, usually millionaires they get their kicks planning global crimes, so depravity is simply foreplay to them. Even Vladek Sheybal's chess master Kronstein, looking for all the world like Vladimir Putin with mild indigestion, seems at a remove from mere mortal pleasures.
It's still the best of the series and most convincingly plotted, an excellent crane shot of the chequered setting for a chess tournament sets the scene for the chess-like nature of the plot as factions co-existing in uneasy truces are set off against each other. Indeed, directorially this is considerably more ambitious and assured than its predecessor, evident in the skilfully handled church scene and a beautifully blocked scene as Bond is followed along a train platform by Shaw inside the train.
Sadly, while pitched as the `Ultimate Edition,' the transfer on this repackaged two-disc edition is still problematic. The picture quality is certainly improved over the original single-disc issue, but rather than the original British 1.66:1 ratio, it's presented in the cropped 1.85:1, but worse still, the ending is still missing footage of Bond examining the reel of compromising 8mm film in the gondola before the end title. As with Dr No there's not a huge amount of new extra material over the extras from previous release, all of which are carried over here, but it's pretty good - extracts from Ian Fleming on radio show Desert Island Discs, a TV interview with the author and a featurette on Fleming and Raymond Chandler.
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12 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Absolutely brilliant, 19 Oct 2008
My favourite bond film From Russia with love is a timeless classic now 45 years old it remains as taught and thrilling as it ever was.
Bond is dispatched to pick up a Russian defector who has apparently fallen in love with him and more importantly get his hands on the lecktor a code breaking device vital to British intelligence pursued by a ruthless assassin bond makes his way across the country to get the lecktor into safe hands.
This is the ultimate spy thriller no volcano lairs or laser guns or invisible cars in sight. An intelligent script with great performances, particularly from Connery as the suave 007 created a masterpiece an intricate story of betrayal and violence blended the film with a gritter edge more in keeping with Ian Fleming's novels, the brawl between red grant and bond on the train still remains one of the best fight sequences in the bond franchise which is saying something after 21 films.
Crystal clean picture and sound as well as plenty of extras such as audio commentary, insightful documentaries on Fleming, making of, plus the original marketing to name a few which give a comprehensive look into from Russia with love.
Exotic locations, beautiful girls, menacing adversaries,thrilling action sequences everything associated with bond can be seen being put to outstanding use and its just in time for the release of Quantum of solace. fancy that. A cash in though it may be if you don't have from Russia with love what are you waiting for?
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5 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Setting the standard to come, 19 May 2009
As if Dr No wasn't good enough, Bond returns to London on a more topical note with his outing 'From Russia With Love', which I'll always argue is not only the most interesting Bond film of the series, but also the most influential for latter films.
Because the films were not produced in the order of the Books (contrary to popular belief), it would make more sense for F.R.W.L to be the first Bond outing on film, given as 'M' suggests himself that he (Bond) isn't really required for the case, given it's less active nature. However, this may be the catalyst for what is the best representation of Bond, the Spy, in the entire series of film.
Ian Flemmings day's at the MoD seep right through this story, even down to Bond's clever briefcase that eventually spares his life in the second half the film. The plot is satisfyingly simple; no-one is trying to take over the world, and the gadgets are kept to the minimum. Being in the second-decade of the 'cold war', it's Bond's job to recover a decoding machine from Russia after a tip off of it's location. However, SPECTRE are behind the trap as to lure Bond and the machine into their own hands.. For Blowfelt, it's also vengance for the late Dr No who was boiled alive in radioactive water (previous film).
Their are few action scenes in this film, but the excellent dialogue and progression of scenes makes this a highly enjoyable outing that's totally believable. For probably the only outing in the series, F.R.W.L actually looks and feel's like a real cat and mouse game, as the Spy not only keeps running away, but has a considerable amount of charm that was only matched in Thunderball.
What's painfully obvious is the amount of scenes that have been used again over the years in Bond films too; particularly the Roger Moore era, and they've all come from this film. The train fight at night and the boat chase are two examples of scenes that set have been re-formed some 15 years later; such as Live and Let Die, The Spy Who Loved Me, The Man With The Golden Gun, and more.
Another interesting element is the soundtrack and mixing down, which is a lot more ambitious and forced than other titles, because theirs more progression to the film. Note how many of the same songs are repeatedly just faded in to try to add dramatic effect to certain scenes when it's actually unnecessary; interestingly in the scene where Bond check's over his first Hotel room thats bugged. It was only in latter titles, such as Thunderball, were the orchestra conducted a wider range of material for the events in the film. The title song by Matt Monro is lovely, yet again interestingly it was kept to the end of the film rather than the start.
Like any of other film recorded pre-High Definition era, I would further advise potential buyers not to be led into buying old films like this on Blu-Ray DVD thinking that it will look outstanding. What people forget is that it's not possible to take Standard Definition film and magically turn it into High Definition by 'adding' more lines... The image may appear sharper, but that's about all, and it's a shame reputable companies are marketing these products as literally jumping out of your T.V.
In summary, F.R.W.L may not be as technically astounding as any of it's brothers, but this is basically it's charm. Although I love the mysterious nature of Dr No, this film puts more focus on the topic and characters, making it incredibly engaging.
If you like gags, watch the scene were Bond is hiding under the rock from the helicopter. When he fires the sniper rifle, his hat is on. When it cuts back to him a second later, it's gone!
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