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Post by ant-mac on Nov 6, 2018 23:00:54 GMT
FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE (1963) 5/5.
A British spy film and the second in the JAMES BOND film series produced by Eon Productions. The screenplay is by Johanna Harwood, Richard Maibaum and Berkely Mather and is based on Ian Fleming’s 1957 novel of the same name. This time, the film soundtrack is by John Barry, the film is one again produced by Albert R Broccoli and Harry Saltzman and it’s directed by Terence Young again.
FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE stars Sean Connery as James Bond, Daniela Bianchi as Tatiana Romanova, Pedro Armendáriz as Ali Kerim Bey, Lotte Lenya as Rosa Klebb, Robert Shaw as Donald "Red" Grant, Bernard Lee as M, Desmond Llewelyn as Major Boothroyd - AKA Q - Lois Maxwell as Miss Moneypenny and Anthony Dawson as Ernst Stavro Blofeld. The film also features Walter Gotell, Vladek Sheybal, Francis de Wolff, George Pastell and Eunice Gayson as Sylvia Trench.
James Bond is sent to assist in the defection of Soviet consulate clerk Tatiana Romanova in Turkey, where SPECTRE plans to avenge 007's killing of Doctor Julius No in the previous film. Although it’s the second of the books to be made into a film, FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE is actually the fifth JAMES BOND novel. Despite some major alterations from the book, the film is still a fairly reasonable portrayal of the source material. Then film has a smoother and more professional finish than its immediate predecessor. It also marked the debut of Desmond Llewelyn as Q, a role he would play for 36 years until THE WORLD IS NOT ENOUGH in 1999.
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Post by politicidal on Nov 7, 2018 0:14:51 GMT
9/10. Connery's best.
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Post by Nalkarj on Nov 7, 2018 0:34:53 GMT
The best Bond movie of them all. It’s fantastic.
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Post by FridayOnElmStreet on Nov 7, 2018 5:43:05 GMT
10/10 Excellent film that gets better with each viewing.
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Post by ant-mac on Nov 7, 2018 6:48:46 GMT
It has been eons since I saw this. Not a big fan of Connery Bond films, but this one is generally regarded as his best. I like Sean Connery as an actor, but I think Timothy Dalton captured the essence of the literary character best on screen.
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Post by ant-mac on Nov 7, 2018 9:33:48 GMT
I like Sean Connery as an actor, but I think Timothy Dalton captured the essence of the literary character best on screen. Roger Moore and the 2 that Dalton did are my favs. I am not overly sold on Moore's first 2, but from The Spy Who Loved Me - 77', right through to the end of the 80's, all the 007 films were something I looked forward too. Once Brosnan came on board, I started to loose interest or find them ho-hum. I really liked Roger Moore and thought he was brilliant as THE SAINT, Lord Brett Sinclair in THE PERSUADERS! and in certain other film roles, but I thought he was the second worst James Bond after George Lazenby, who I also liked in general.
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Post by ant-mac on Nov 7, 2018 10:53:16 GMT
I really liked Roger Moore and thought he was brilliant as THE SAINT, Lord Brett Sinclair in THE PERSUADERS! and in certain other film roles, but I thought he was the second worst James Bond after George Lazenby, who I also liked in general. I guess if one if referencing Bond to the original books by Flemming, then perhaps I can see why Moore would not appeal to hardcore fans. I like Moore as 007, just because he was Moore. I thought in The Spy Who Loved Me, he was really in his element. Connery is the better actor. Lazenby was one of the first Bonds I saw, along with Dr. No. Didn't like No, but loved OHMSS and I was only about 7. OHMSS is one of my favourite Ian Fleming novels, along with FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE.
However, George Lazenby nearly ruined the film for me, along with Telly Savalas, another actor I like but who was miscast as Ernst Stavro Blofeld.
Thankfully the rest of the cast pretty much saved the day, especially Gabriele Ferzetti as Marc-Ange Draco, Diana Rigg as Countess Tracy di Vicenzo and Ilse Steppat as Irma Bunt.
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Post by ant-mac on Nov 8, 2018 9:28:54 GMT
OHMSS is one of my favourite Ian Fleming novels, along with FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE.
However, George Lazenby nearly ruined the film for me, along with Telly Savalas, another actor I like but who was miscast as Ernst Stavro Blofeld.
Thankfully the rest of the cast pretty much saved the day, especially Gabriele Ferzetti as Marc-Ange Draco, Diana Rigg as Countess Tracy di Vicenzo and Ilse Steppat as Irma Bunt.
Dr. No and OHMSS was a double feature that my parents took us too around 75'. Lazenby had big shoes to fill, but I also feel he was able to project a vulnerability that wasn't present in other Bonds. I loved the setting in Switzerland and until I saw it again years later, all I could recall about it was that I had a little boy man crush on him, the scene when he was dressed in a Kilt with the pretty ladies; when he was trapped in the cable car mechanics room and when his wife got killed at the end. I was just devastated.
I often wonder how OHMSS would have turned out if Connery had returned. I wonder if he regrets it, because in spite of the flack that Lazenby gets, it is still considered one of the more solid and better 007's.
The fact that it managed to survive the miscasting of both the main hero and the main villain is a testament to just how good the original story was, not to mention the talent and effort put in by everyone else involved in the project.
And I expect the filmmakers missed Sean Connery's presence a lot more than he missed them.
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Post by ant-mac on Nov 8, 2018 9:58:02 GMT
The fact that it managed to survive the miscasting of both the main hero and the main villain is a testament to just how good the original story was, not to mention the talent and effort put in by everyone else involved in the project.
And I expect the filmmakers missed Sean Connery's presence a lot more than he missed them.
I think his return for Diamonds was part of his regret at not doing OHMSS and Diamonds ended up perhaps being the worst Connery 007, if not one of the worst overall. Yes, DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER is a rather disappointing entry in the JAMES BOND film series, as are the rest of them until NEVER SAY NEVER AGAIN or THE LIVING DAYLIGHTS in the 1980s.
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Post by ant-mac on Nov 8, 2018 10:26:41 GMT
Yes, DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER is a rather disappointing entry in the JAMES BOND film series, as are the rest of them until NEVER SAY NEVER AGAIN or THE LIVING DAYLIGHTS in the 1980s. I liked Never Say Never Again when I first saw it, but felt that something was missing from it as well and found it a bit drawn out towards the end. Once Fatima got blown up, I was missing her presence. I was refusing to see Octopussy which came out the same year 1983, because I was getting a bit over 007 by then as well. I dragged myself to it, when I had exhausted everything else to see and found that Octopussy was a terrific fun ride and had a certain pizazz and spark that was missing from NSNA. Yes, 1983 was quite a year for James Bond.
Three separate productions that featured a former James Bond actor in a role as the British secret agent.
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Post by ant-mac on Nov 8, 2018 11:43:35 GMT
Yes, 1983 was quite a year for James Bond.
Three separate productions that featured a former James Bond actor in a role as the British secret agent.
What was the third one ant?
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