From Russia with Love 1963

     This is the second James Bond film adapted from a novel by Ian Fleming.  The Russians have a decoding machine known as Lektor.  James Bond is sent to search for this machine to obtain it for Britain before SPECTRE is able to acquire it first.  Bond becomes romantically involved with a Russian woman, Tatiana Romanova.  SPECTRE has sent an agent to eliminate Bond before he can obtain Lektor.  Donald ‘Red’ Grand and an ex-KGB agent Rosa Klebb are determined to stop Bond from getting Lektor first.

     I thought Dr. No was better than this film.  Dr. No seems to have a steadier and more believable plot.  Ursula Andress as the Bond girl is more attractive than Daniela Bianchi as well, in my opinion.  A lot of new standards are set in this film that continue on in the future films.  This is the first appearance of Q as a character.  Q stands for Quatermaster in the same way that M is a job title rather than a name.  He is head of Q Branch or Q Divison in the research and development section of the British Secret Service.  Q briefs Bond on the latest gadgets engineered for his latest mission.  Q would like at least some of the devices returned in at least reusable condition but this does not always happen much to his distress!!

115 min, Action directed by Terence Young with Sean Connery, Robert Shaw, Lotte Lenya, Daniela Bianchi, Pedro Armendariz, Bernard Lee, Eunice Gayson, Walter Gotell, Francis De Wolff, George Pastell, Nadja Regin.

Note:  Imdb 7.5 out of 10, 96% critic 83% audience on Rotten Tomatoes, Amazon 4.6* out of 5* with 465 reviews.

Special Note:  This movie was filmed in Turkey, Scotland, Wales, England, Italy and Spain.  Broccoli thought this was one of the best Ian Fleming stories.  This film also started the beginning array of gadgets used in the Bond films.