From Russia with Love
Dovy
Posts: 206MI6 Agent
1) When No. 1 discusses Bond concerning the death of Dr. No, he made no reference at all to the entire complex built in Crab Key and everything and everyone else destroyed from their project. But at least there was a degree of continuity connecting the two films. This was my second time seeing the film and I think I liked it less this time than the first time. It seemed kind of flat, moreso even than Dr. No, although both are uncomplicated as far as plots go. That Rosa Glebb is something else. I have a feeling many of us have aunts or neighbors who were like Rosa Klebb. But it was a feather in the cap for equality for women in a film besides as a sex object that early being in the early 1960s.
2) How are enormous complexes built without the slightest possibility of exposure to any intelligence agencies at all?
3) Was the part involving the gypsy dancing and fighting just a way to fill up time?
4) Why was a powerful organization like SPECTRE going to "take revenge" merely by using a tape of Bond and Tatiana in bed?
5) How was Grant able to follow Bond so easily all over the place, and even to the train station if he had no tracking device?
6) What did the extensive romantic encounter between Bond and Tatiana Romanova on the train contribute to the flow of the story prior to the death of Kerim Bey? It just seemed to fill time.
7) Where did Bond get the high powered rifle when trying to escape from the helicopter? He was only carrying the case with the Lektor.
8) Did the briefcase with the Lektor change since Bond seemed only to have a regular briefcase when escaping from the helicopter and not the larger one containing the Lektor?
9) How were the SPECTRE agents so sure where they could find Bond and Tatiana and even do so by boat? If they COULD follow them so easily then why didn't they use helicopters again?
10) With all the techniques available to SPECTRE, why didn't they have better means at their disposal to undertake their acts of sabotage?
11) How did Klebb know where to locate Bond and find him in the hotel?
12) Where was the tape the whole time before Bond threw it in the water at the end?
13) What was expected to be the future of Tatiana? She surely wasn't going to end up with Bond.
Comments
Hi, @Dovy.
3) No, it wasn't. This scene (as many others) was transposed faithfully from the novel, which had been very popular. Readers of the book (a more important point then than later) would probably have been disappointed if it were missing, as would Fleming himself.
4) In the novel the Russians themselves are behind the plot and embarrassing the British is the whole point.
But fir SPECTRE to limit itself to doing a filmed tape seems far beneath their interest and capabilities.....
No, they're planning to steal the Lektor machine. The filmed tape is just a by-product.
Fleming was disappointed the gypsy girls didn't tear each others clothes off, as they did in the novel.
(and for those that like this sort of thing, one of the two actresses Martine Beswick also gets in a cavegirl catfight with Raquel Welch in One Million Years BC)
Fleming's books have a lot of travelogue digressions that maybe don't add to the plot, but are part of the experience. You Only Live Twice being most excessive in this regard. The year before he wrote each book, Fleming would travel and research the places Bond would visit and come up with plot ideas. In 1955 he attended an Interpol conference in Istanbul, and his time there gave him inspiration for his next novel. Maybe he visited a gypsy camp while he was there? that sequence does seem exactly like the sort of personal experience he regularly liked to write into his books.
The evil plot to embarrass the British government with a sex tape I never found credible in either version. Its not like James Bond is some celebrity or trusted authority figure; he's a spy the public has never heard of, and sleeping with shady ladies from the other side is part of the job description isnt it? The twist that is added in the film is that SPECTRE is a third party who expects this incident will exacerbate tensions between east and west and maybe lead to WWIII so that SPECTRE may stand aside and profit (Blofeld says as much in his first scene)
Once Bond and Tatiana leave the train, I think they are following the route intended for Grant. Grant talks a lot before he tries to kill Bond, in typical BondVillain manner, I'm pretty sure he said which level crossing h intended to leave the train and meet his contact, and I thought after killing Grant Bond left the train at that same point for the purpose of himself meeting this contact and finding the source of the conspiracy.
I often wonder why the villains spend so much time talking to Bond instead of just shooting him on the spot!ππ
That’s a statement that’s been raised many times before. If everyone in movies did everything logically it’s not only Bond films which would end after 10 minutes of running time!
Have you seen the first Austin Powers movie?
Hi everyone, two weeks ago I was on holiday to Istanbul. Of course I visited a number of James Bond locations while I was there. From Russia with Love took centre stage during my trip because it's one of my favourite films in the series. I visited several locations and made this 25 min video. Hope you like it! Please let me know if you have any questions or tips. Cheers ο»ΏπΈοΈ
YouTube link:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V8kRqrZl7jw
Thanks for the video! I visited Istanbul about twenty years ago myself, unfortunately before I really became a Bond fan. It's a wonderful city!
I take we arent getting a special 60th anniversary release like we got with Dr No seieng as we are just over a month away from its anniversary?
London's Prince Charles cinema is showing FRWL in October.
However, it's the smaller upstairs screen. Many seats already sold.
Roger Moore 1927-2017
But do I risk a visit to my nemesis cinema the Prince Charles? Shouldn't it be renamed the King Charles?