10 Times James Bond Films Were Better Than The Books

8. Characters’ Fates In From Russia With Love

From Russia with Love is another one of Fleming’s best books, being a wonderful game of chess between the Russians and the British in a classic Cold War tale. As a result, we have one of the more faithful adaptations in the film (The last President Kennedy would watch before his death in Dallas), which somehow improved upon its source material by clearly resolving the fates of some of the central characters.

For example, Chessmaster Kronsteen, the man who puts together the plot against Bond, is never seen or heard from again in the book once the wheels are set in motion whereas in the film, we see SPECTRE’s small policy of punishment for failure being lethally demonstrated on him.

Bond’s love interest for the adventure, Tatiana Romanova, isn’t around for the climactic showdown between Bond and Rosa Klebb, having been supposedly dumped off at an embassy into British custody. The film changes this and she chooses to save Bond’s life by shooting Klebb dead, becoming only one of two Bond girls to get the honour of killing off the main villain.

Lucky, because in the book, Klebb apparently kills Bond. No, really. Fleming had intended From Russia with Love to be the last Bond book and had Klebb poison Bond with the infamous blade-in-the-shoe. Can you imagine if the producers had tried ending the film with the same cliffhanger as the book, with Bond seemingly dropping dead?

Connery probably wouldn’t have minded.