20 Things You Didn't Know About From Russia With Love (1963)
17. Trimming The Voyeurism
It’s hard to imagine that the early Bond films were considered quite risqué for certain audience members. After all, many modern viewers introduce their children to the Double-0 Seven films from an early age. However, at the time of its release, From Russia With Love was regarded as being quite racy, with numerous reviewers noting both its absurdity and its sadism.
Nevertheless, the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) gave the film an “A” certificate, which meant that the film was more suitable for adults, but that cinema goers under the age of 11 could see the film if they were accompanied by a parent or guardian.
However, one scene almost swayed the BBFC towards giving the film a notorious “X” rating, which would have meant that only cinema patrons over the age of 16 could be admitted due its supposedly graphic content. The scene in question sees James Bond and Tania being filmed from behind a one-way mirror by Rosa Klebb (Lotte Lenya) and a SPECTRE cameraman.
Originally, the cameraman was visibly sweating, no doubt due to the studio lights, but the BBFC ruled that this could make the film seem too voyeuristic. The filmmakers were told to trim the sequence so that the cameraman was seen as briefly as possible and they chose to follow this guidance, rather than risk the film being X-rated.