Bond #2: From Russia With Love (1963)

From Russia With Love is the second James Bond outing with Sean Connery playing 007. Released just one year after Dr. No, this follow-up further introduces some of the series trademark such at the risqué opening credits featuring close up shots of scantily cladded women, and the title theme song. Matt Monro sang the song From Russia With Love and it became a classic and an iconic reference to the movie in the years to come.

For me, From Russia With Love sadly failed to stand out. Although it appears to have a stronger espionage element than Dr. No, and was more ambitious with its international settings (Venice! Istanbul!), and production values, this outing seems a bit more serious and less fun. Once again, the villains are portrayed as being from the mysterious organisation SPECTRA whose head is kept a mystery as all we see are his lap and hands caressing a mean looking cat! Robert Shaw is almost unrecognisable as the hunky villain Grant. However, like all villains, he talked too much and patiently explained the plan and plot to James Bond while holding him captive at gun point with James on his knees!! Indeed the villains all come across as being pompous self confident idiots making them look a little bit like laughing stock.

Daniela Bianchi who plays the leading Bong girl here, Tatiana may have a longer screen time than Ursula Andress in Dr. No, but she is no Ursula Andress. Her Tatiana comes across as a one dimensional bimbo who falls in love with James Bond almost immediately and seem to have only one thing in her mind - sex! I suppose I cannot really blame her for this, given that the movies in that era seems to treat women that way, so she is merely portraying the values or lack of it, during that time of civilisation.

All in all, this second outing for me still suffers from feeling dated and hence the unintentional humour is very much still apparent. Nevertheless it still manages to entertain and provide an interesting insight on the movies in the 1960's. Not as much fun as Dr. No, but still worthy of a viewing.