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By
NICK ZEGARAC
"From Russia with Love"
(1963) is the second Bond film in the franchise.
Chosen primarily because the novel on which the
film is based was a personal favorite of President
Kennedy, and, with a budget nearly three times the
size of Dr. No, director Terence Young dives head
first into a stylish and complex thriller; this
one about S.P.E.C.T.R.E.'s ambitions to avenge the
death of Dr. No by murdering James Bond (Sean
Connery). S.P.E.C.T.R.E. wants to steal a decoding
device from the Russian Embassy in Turkey. But why
bother to invest the manpower when they can easily
use Britain's most celebrated agent as a pawn to
get the decoder for them. S.P.E.C.T.R.E.'s
ulterior motive, killing Bond, is fleshed out in
the pre-credit sequence where an agent pretending
to be Bond is stalked and strangled by psychotic
killing machine, Red Grant (Robert Shaw).
S.P.E.C.T.R.E. furthers their ambitions by
accessing ruthless ex-KGB agent, Rosa Klebb (Lotte
Lenya), who, in turn, hires Soviet defector,
Tatiana Romanova (Daniela Bianchi) to romance Bond
on the side. In the meantime, Bond teams up with
devious special agent, Kerim Bey (Pedro
Armendariz) to hunt down and eliminate several
S.P.E.C.T.R.E. assassins.
Director Young populates this Bond thriller with
girls, guns and gadgets -- a lethal combination
that helps to build excitement at every plot
twist. From its thrilling pre-title sequence, to
the impeccable staging of the raid on a gypsy
camp, right on through the climatic boat race, and
final showdown between Bond and Klebb, the latter
sporting a poisonous foot fetish that is to die
for, From Russia With Love delivers an action
packed bit of stylish nonsense that is worthy of
the moniker, "Bond… James Bond." Only a note of
personal tragedy soured the general release of
this film; the sudden and untimely death of Pedro
Armendariz, who became ill during shooting and
died shortly before the film's premiere.
The MGM/UA DVD once again is imbued with the
hallmarks of a stunning menu and loaded extras.
But the transfer of the film itself leaves
something to be desired. Although colors can be
generally pleasing, quite often they become muddy
and slightly faded. There is a considerable amount
of film grain and age-related artifacts for an
image that is not very smooth. Some edge
enhancement and aliasing also occurs and is quite
distracting. The matte process shots in the film
are more obvious than ever, suffering from
considerably more wear and tear than the rest of
the footage. The audio is mono -- strange, since
on a previous laserdisc edition, Matt Monroe's
title track was presented in full stereo. Extras
include two extensive documentaries, audio
commentaries, some promotional junket materials
and the film's theatrical trailer -- good stuff
but with a disappointing print of the film leaving
one to ponder the question -- "who cares?" |
