Search - James Bond Ultimate Collector's Set on DVD

One of the Best James Bond Films

gobirds2 | New England | 01/02/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"There is not much more that can be added to what has already been written or said about FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE. It is considered to be one of the better Bond films in the series.

Before I get on to the main point of what I have to add, I do want to comment on the widescreen versions that have been issued. I am not sure what the proper aspect ratio of this film is. In a comparison of the DVD to the Laser Disc, the DVD appears to have been cropped at the top and bottom to give it a wider effect. The proportions of the prints I saw in several theaters all resembled the Laser Disc.

My more important note of curiosity however is the content of the film itself. I still have not seen any version on VHS, Laser or DVD as the ones I have seen in the theater for FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE.

It appears that on video two scenes contain cuts.

Cut # 1: When Red Grant has Bond on his knees at gunpoint aboard the Orient Express, he editorializes in a most graphic manner about the roll of film that was shot of Bond and Tatiana in the boudoir. For its time, this was a rather risqué piece of dialogue. By today's standards it is somewhat timid. Bond's comeback is still intact on the video, responding to Grant how it took a collection of pretty sick minds to dream up such a scheme. That was a direct response to Grant's cut line and gives us an insight into Bond's moral standards that there is a line that even he would not cross given his flare for the more amorous pursuits.

Cut # 2: This cut line is more obvious and comes at the end of the film when Bond and Tatiana are floating down the canals of Venice. Bond holds up the reel of film seized from Grant. Again, Bond makes a direct reference to Grant's cut line from the train in a droll throwaway remark to a puzzled looking Tatiana. You can actually see this cut because the music jumps. Once more, this cut line of dialogue gives us another glimpse into the James Bond mystique as it was still being formed and honed for the screen. I am sure Bond is probably saying to himself, "Take all the dirty pictures you want. I'm the one with the girl and Grant, "old boy," you're the one six feet under."

As for the film itself, it is one of the classic James Bond films and will remain so for all time. The tone of the series would be altered slightly from what director Terence Young had established in DR. NO and in this film. The next film, GOLDFINGER directed by Guy Hamilton, would retain the style established by Terence Young yet he would refine the character of James Bond with a more tongue-in-cheek approach. In FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE James Bond is the dedicated civil servant with a licence to kill and he uses it in the assassination of Krilencu (Fred Haggerty) just as coldly and objectively as he had eliminated Professor Dent (Anthony Dawson) in DR. NO. For these reasons I believe there are two distinct camps in the ranks of Bond loyalists. One prefers the style or more specifically the portrayal of James Bond found in FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE, while the other faction favors that established in GOLDFINGER. The James Bond found in FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE is a much tougher fellow not to be seen again until ON HER MAJESTY'S SECRET SERVICE and LICENCE TO KILL.

Another specific point about FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE is the score composed by John Barry. Barry's score in this film is not as complex or melodically constructed as in his subsequent Bond scores. Yet, Barry's score is as old school as is Sean Connery's approach to the role and that is exactly the way it should have been. Barry's no-frills score compliments Connery's no nonsense Bond. In essence FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE is a product of its time and a very good one at that."