From Russia With Love was the second Bond film and was made on a budget of 2.2 million dollars (twice that of Dr.No). The film was an immediate success and made back it's production cost before ever being released in America. Sean Connery returns as James Bond and plays the character in a lighter manner than in Dr.No. However the film is not a comedy and Connery does a good job of showing the change of moods from somebody on a simple yet potentially dangerous mission to that of someone who is confused and attempting to comprehend the enormity of the affair.

Rosa Klebb (Lotte Lenya) and Red Grant (Robert Shaw) share the position of the major villains in this film. Klebb is militant in nature, Red Grant is reasonably intelligent but his advantages lay in his strength and sadistic attitude towards his work. Both Robert Shaw and Lotte Lenya interpret their characters well. Lenya has a more demanding role but poses very well as both an ominous military officer and a harmless elderly maid.

Though the part is small it is also effective. We see that he is ruthless in his murder of Kronsteen for a single failure, and this must be common practice judging from the fear visible on Klebb's face after reporting the outcome of her mission. Blofeld's philosophy of his agents being expendable is evident on the SPECTRE training island where death is most common during training.

Daniella Bianchi is impressive and alluring as Tatiana Romonava, one of the most interesting love interests of the series, she is a trained and loyal member of Mother Russia, but succumbs not just to Bond but to the confusion of the situation. Pedro Armendez plays Kerim Bey, Bey isessentially an older version of Bond himself. Kerim Bey proves that he is an extremely intelligent person on several occasions. Desmond Llewelyn makes his first appearance as Q and immediately produces one of the best Gadgets of the series, the attache case. In this film their is no hostility between Q and Bond but this will change in the next movie Goldfinger at the urging of Goldfinger director Guy Hamilton.

This film posses some of the best cinematography of the early films, in particular the two scenes with Blofeld and the Helicopter attack (especially the way the camera moves across the truck before the explosion). From Russia With Love managed a balance of great plot, characters, and action. It is due to these reasons that From Russia With Love is among the greats!

Rating: 7.9 (10)