20 Things You Didn't Know About From Russia With Love (1963)
These facts about the second James Bond film fly to you From Russia With Love.
The second official James Bond film is often regarded as one of the very best, combining a genuinely thrilling Cold War espionage plot with all of the action, gadgetry, and witty one-liners that have become synonymous with the franchise.
Russian cypher clerk, Tatiana Romanova (Daniela Bianchi) claims to have fallen in love with Double-0 Seven (Sean Connery) from a photograph in his file and offers the British Secret Service a Lektor decoding machine if James Bond flies out to Istanbul, Turkey to help her to defect.
Whilst Bond and M (Bernard Lee) suspect that this is a trap, the opportunity to obtain such a highly sought-after device makes the risk worthwhile. Little do they know that, rather than being a SMERSH plot, this is actually an intricate scheme crafted by criminal organisation, SPECTRE to kill Double-0 Seven and to humiliate MI6 in revenge for the death of their operative, Dr. No.
A classic James Bond film, From Russia With Love has many imitators (even in the Bond franchise), but has rarely been equalled. Indeed, many of those involved with the series have claimed that this is their favourite Bond film, including both Sean Connery and Daniel Craig.
The many twists and turns in the plot also help to conceal what was happening behind the scenes, some of which will be explored in this list.
20. A Very British Affair
Whereas Dr. No (1962) had focused on Jamaica as a primary setting, the filmmakers had hoped that From Russia With Love would be a showcase for Europe.
However, alongside the political tensions of the Cold War, which prevented filming behind the Iron Curtain, the film also needed to qualify for the British film funding available at the time to ensure that the production expenses could be met. In order to qualify, at least 70% of the film needed to be shot either in the UK or in the Commonwealth. Therefore, key overseas locations were filmed in the UK instead.
One prominent example is the gypsy camp. Whilst an actual gypsy encampment had been found in Topkapi in Turkey, the funding requirements led to it being recreated by production designer, Syd Cain on the backlot at Pinewood Studios in Buckinghamshire.
Other key sequences were also shot in the British Isles, making it remarkable to think that only 30% of the scenes in the finished film were actually shot in Istanbul, The Balkans, and Venice.