20 Things You Didn't Know About From Russia With Love (1963)

6. "She Should Have Kept Her Mouth Shut!"

From Russia With Love
MGM/UA

The scene in which Double-0 Seven helps Kerim Bey to kill Bulgarian killer, Krilencu (Fred Haggerty) with Bond’s folding sniper’s rifle was adapted from Ian Fleming’s original novel.

In the novel, Krilencu crawled out of a hatch concealed in a billboard advertising Niagara (1953), starring Marilyn Monroe with the hatch being concealed behind Monroe's mouth.

The iconic blonde bombshell had passed away by the time that the film was made, necessitating a change in the sequence. Production designer, Syd Cain saw the opportunity to use the billboard scene to market Eon Productions’ other 1963 film, Call Me Bwana, starring Bob Hope and Anita Ekberg. Krilencu famously crawled out of Ekberg’s mouth before being shot by Kerim Bey.

Call Me Bwana was the last non-Bond film that Eon Productions produced until The Silent Storm (2014).

Contributor

I started writing for WhatCulture in July 2020. I have always enjoyed reading and writing. I have contributed to several short story competitions and I have occasionally been fortunate enough to have my work published. During the COVID-19 lockdown, I also started reviewing films on my Facebook page. Numerous friends and contacts suggested that I should start my own website for reviewing films, but I wanted something a bit more diverse - and so here I am! My interests focus on film and television mainly, but I also occasionally produce articles that venture into other areas as well. In particular, I am a fan of the under appreciated sequel (of which there are many), but I also like the classics and the mainstream too.