LIVE AND LET DIE

Guy Hamilton, 1973

Starring: Roger Moore, Yaphet Kotto, Jane Seymour, David Hedison

Live and Let Die is a truly bizarre entry in the Bond series. First, there is the introduction of new star Roger Moore, who would appear in six more Bond films through the '70s and early '80s. Moore’s start is shaky at best and follows the campier, more comedic tone of Diamonds Are Forever. The real issue is this film is essentially blaxploitation, using familiar tropes like afros, gangs and racial slurs and stereotypical locations like Harlem, the Caribbean and New Orleans. I absolutely love a lot of blaxploitation films, but much of what occurs here feels unabashedly racist, particularly the voodoo rituals and agent Rosie Carver. Carver, played by blaxploitation star Gloria Hendry, is the first African American character to sleep with Bond and is unfortunately one of the most annoying female double agents to do so. 

Several MI6 agents investigating Dr. Kananga, the dictator of a Caribbean island, are killed and Bond is sent to New York investigate. He immediately plunges into an absurdly extensive network of spies and gang members who are also being observed by the CIA and Bond’s long-time ally Felix Leiter. Bond and Leiter team up to investigate Mr. Big, a Harlem gangster and drug lord. Bond meets Solitaire, Big's virginal, talented tarot card reader, before narrowly escaping Big’s thugs and heading to the Caribbean. There he rendezvous with double agent Rosie Carver. He seduces her and wins her loyalty, but Kananga has her killed before she can reveal anything. Bond also seduces Solitaire and forces her to help him defeat Kananga. They return to New Orleans, where it is revealed that Big and Kananga are one and the same and Kananga’s plans include selling tons of heroin to the locals. An enraged Kananga suspects that Bond and Solitaire have slept together (nullifying her occult power) and sets Bond up to be eaten by alligators and intends to sacrifice Solitaire during a voodoo ritual. Can Bond save himself in time to save her?

Though Live and Let Die is one of the lesser entries in Moore’s string of Bond films, there are plenty of fun moments. My favorite character is Kananga’s voodoo master, Baron Samedi, whimsically played by enormous Trinidadian actor Geoffrey Holder. The un-killable Samedi represents the series only involvement with the occult, furthered by a very young Jane Seymour’s lovely but irritatingly priggish Solitaire. Kananga’s henchmen, the giggling, metal hook-handed Tee Hee is a welcome addition to the list of of menacing Bond villains. Julius Harris obviously had a great time with this role and other Moore-era henchmen, especially those with physical deformities/enhancements, seem based on him. Yaphet Kotto is great in his duel roles of Big and Kananga, though his make up is a little ridiculous. There are also nice appearances from David Hedison, who plays a lighter, more jovial Felix Leiter and from Hammer film star Madeline Smith who has a memorable, early role as an Italian agent who gets her dress unzipped by Bond’s magnetic watch. 

Speaking of memorable, don’t forget about the alligator farm and the amazing alligator jumping stunt, which is real. The farm is owned by a man named Ross Kananga, whose last name is used for the main villain and who performed the stunt himself. Another of my favorite set pieces, which reoccurs through the film, is the Olympia Brass Band leading a traditional jazz funeral march. The trick is that the coffin is empty and they are waiting to fill it with recently assassinated MI6 and CIA agents. Their killer in waiting is played by band member and trumpet player Alvin Alcorn. 

Despite these fun elements, Live and Let Die unfortunately feels like an overly long live action cartoon, with action sequences jammed in around the plot. The absurd speedboat chase and double-decker bus scene fortunately do not take themselves seriously, but would also match perfectly with the theme music from Benny Hill. Goldfinger director Guy Hamilton returns, but leaves his former glory behind. The ending is particularly bad and involves Kananga’s death-by-exploding-gas-pellet. Both Tee Hee and Baron Samedi are given vastly superior death scenes. I wish there had been more to go around. The absolute worst element of this film is the character Sheriff J.W. Pepper, the incredibly stupid and racist comic relief in the form of a white, redneck Sheriff. Unfortunately he returns again in The Man with the Golden Gun. 

So far I’ve failed to mention the famous opening song by Paul McCartney. Though it won an Academy Award, I find it incredibly grating and it remains one of my least favorite Bond songs. The opening sequence, while ridiculous, is colorful, fun and clues you in about what to expect from the rest of the film. Though flawed, Live and Let Die is still a worthy Bond effort and should be seen at least once. There’s a nice double-disc Ultimate Edition DVD, also included in the Ultimate Edition box set volume 3. The Blu-ray release contains much of these special features, including a commentary track from writer Tom Mankiewicz, director Guy Hamilton and Roger Moore, and a documentary about the film narrated by the wonderful Patrick Macnee (The Avengers).

SKYFALL

Sam Mendes, 2012

Starring: Daniel Craig, Judi Dench, Javier Bardem, Ralph Fiennes, Naomie Harris

The 23rd Bond film came to theaters just in time for the 50th anniversary of the series and I’m happy to say that this is the best possible anniversary present. Skyfall includes elements that make you remember why you fell in love with the iconic, early entries of the series, not just the gritty new Bond beginning with Casino Royale. There are numerous references to past films, a welcome reappearance from the original Aston Martin DB5, and new incarnations of Moneypenny and Q. 

Bond is sent to Turkey to retrieve a stolen hard drive that has a list of all undercover NATO agents. While he is fighting the mercenary who has stolen the drive, he is accidentally shot by junior MI6 agent Eve and believed dead. M, meanwhile, is being pressured to retire by Intelligence Committee Chairman Gareth Mallory when MI6 is hacked and partially blown up. This prompts a weakened, injured Bond to come out of retirement. He is sent to Shanghai to pursue Patrice, the mercenary who stole the hard drive. Bond accidentally kills him without obtaining any information, but follows the trail to a casino in Macau, where he meets Sévérine. She agrees to help him on the condition that he kill her employer, but they are both kidnapped and brought to an abandoned island owned by Raoul Silva. Once a celebrated agent, the computer savvy Silva is determined to end M and, as a result, MI6. Bond must do everything in his power to stop Silva, even if it means returning to his roots. 

I simply cannot say enough good things about what may well be the best Bond film. There is incredible cinematography from Roger Deakins, making for some of the greatest set pieces in Bond history. With beautiful locations in Britain, Turkey and China, this fortunately sheds Quantum of Solace’s desperate attempt to cram as many locations as possible into one shoot. The wonderful score from Thomas Newman is one of the best parts of the film, combining elements of past Bond themes with a thoughtful, understated, electronic score. The nice opening song from Adele more than makes up for the dreadful past two efforts from Chris Cornell (Casino Royale) and Jack White and Alicia Keys (Quantum of Solace), to say nothing of the horrific Pierce Brosnan opening songs. 

Skyfall moves away from the gritty, violent tone of Casino Royale and the serious, almost depressing revenge theme of Quantum of Solace and instead finds a delicate balance between theatrical grandeur, gritty action and a deeply personal plot. Bond returns home, both figuratively and literally, as this film focuses on MI6 itself and, later, Bond’s childhood home, Skyfall Lodge in Scotland, the setting of the conclusion. While the new Bond films all had talented, charismatic actors playing flawed villains (Mads Mikkelsen’s Le Chiffre and Mathieu Amalric’s Dominic Green), Javier Bardem does a wonderful job with the mercurial Silva, a villain with smaller, though perhaps more rational and achievable aims. Bardem and Craig are particularly well matched. The departure of old characters and the introduction of some new ones is expertly handled, if bittersweet. Ben Whishaw’s Q is a welcome addition, though he is unlikely to ever fill the shoes of the beloved Desmond Llewelyn. I’m excited to see more of Ralph Fiennes in the next two Bond films, which Daniel Craig has already signed up for and will hopefully be joined by the new principal cast members. 

There are some flaws in Skyfall, but most of these are forgettable. The script glosses over Bond’s death and puts a heavy handed emphasis on things being old and out of date. Though the opening sequence is an improvement over the enraging Casino Royale credits, it is certainly bizarre and has an almost gothic, horror movie feel. Some moments of the script are overly long or repetitive. This may be due to the lengthy screen time, which should be expected from all new Bond films and recent action films in general. The lack of Bond girls is also a little disappointing, though it fits with the plot of the film and Bond's attempt in Quantum of Solace to get over the death and betrayal of Vesper. Naomie Harris’s Moneypenny is smug and annoying, but she has little screen time. I wish more script material was devoted to the absolutely beautiful and glamorous Bérénice Marlohe (Sévérine), a French actress of French, Chinese and Mongolian heritage who plays Silva’s mistress and victim. There is also a brief appearance from Greek model Tonia Sotiropoulou, who plays Bond’s unnamed lover early in the film while he is retired. 

Skyfall is currently in theaters. It is the first Bond film to be screened in IMAX theatres (though it was not filmed with IMAX cameras), which is where I saw it and strongly recommend that you do the same. The film comes highly recommended and so far has received positive critical reviews and has already set a number of financial records around the world. 

DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER

Guy Hamilton, 1971

Starring: Sean Connery, Jill St. John, Charles Gray, Lana Wood

The last and campiest of Connery’s Bond films, Eon should have accepted his retirement, but wooed him back with a then astronomical salary to squeeze out this last ditch effort before turning to Roger Moore to continue the series. Bond discovers an operation producing Blofeld lookalikes and kills what he thinks is the real Blofeld, as well as a stand in. M later sends Bond to track down a ring of diamond smugglers. He locates his contact in Amsterdam, Tiffany Case, and the two smuggle a shipment of diamonds to Los Angeles where Bond secretly rendezvous with CIA agent Felix Leiter. Bond is almost killed by assassins Mr. Wint and Mr. Kidd, but he has fooled them all by hiding the real diamonds and shipping the fakes. Bond discovers Blofeld is behind the smuggling ring, intending to create a massive laser satellite out of the diamonds. Bond searches for his base of operations, determined to destroy him once and for all. 

Connery is obviously tired of the franchise here, dragging himself through the action scenes. He even gets his ass kicked by two scantily clad ladies, Bambi and Thumper. A lot of the action sequences are downright silly, namely a ridiculous moonbuggy chase in the desert. We unfortunately have the third actor in a row to play Blofeld. Charles Grey has his moments, but is an odd, sort of prissy version of Blofeld and the absurdly complicated plot is yet his next attempt to take over the world. Fortunately this is the last appearance of Blofeld or SPECTRE, allowing later entries to move away from the now tired formula. The second credits song from Shirley Bassey and the return of director Guy Hamilton makes it seem like Eon was trying to recreate Goldfinger’s magic. If that was the case, they absolutely failed.

Though full of flaws, this comic book-like entry in the Bond series certainly has its moments. The almost surreal, over the top Las Vegas setting prevents the film from taking itself too seriously, as do Bond girls like sarcastic diamond smuggler Tiffany Case (Jill St. John) and the stupidly named Plenty O’Toole. There is a nice car chase across Vegas and an unexpected elevator battle. The real reason to see this film are the two assassins, Mr. Kidd and Mr. Wint, comic, but also incredibly creepy. They succeed as two of the best villains in the entire series. Pay particular attention to Mr. Wint, who is played by Bruce Glover, father to the equally wonderful and weird Crispin Glover. 

“If at first you don't succeed, Mr. Kidd? Try, try again, Mr. Wint.”

There are several DVD editions of Diamonds Are Forever. I’m reviewing the two disc Ultimate Edition, which is also included in volume 1 of the Ultimate Edition box set. There’s also a lovely Blu-ray, which includes most of the special features in the Ultimate Edition. There’s a nice audio commentary from several members of the cast and crew, interviews, deleted footage, behind the scenes, trailers and more. The best two features are the documentary "Inside Diamonds Are Forever," narrated by the wonderful Patrick Macnee (The Avengers) and another, lengthier documentary, "Cubby Broccoli: The Man Behind Bond."

YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE

Lewis Gilbert, 1967

Starring: Sean Connery, Mie Hama, Donald Pleasance, Karin Dor, Akiko Wakabayashi

The fifth entry in the Connery run of Bond films, You Only Live Twice is really the first to engage in full scale ridiculousness, the sort normally restricted to Roger Moore. Connery, who wanted to retire from the franchise at this point, is clearly phoning in his performance, and the plot is so formulaic that Bond feels largely irrelevant. 

Bond fakes his own death and is sent to Tokyo to investigate the recent hijacking of an American spacecraft. He teams up with Japanese secret service leader Tiger Tanaka and his beautiful assistant Aki. Bond discovers a connection between SPECTRE and local company Osato Chemicals. Mr. Osato predictably tries to have Bond killed by his foxy assistant, Helga Brandt. Bond survives and rushes to locate Osato and SPECTRE’s Number 1, Blofeld, who are holed up in a secret underground base, trying to instigate war between the United States and the Soviet Union. 

You Only Live Twice is an odd mixture of entertainment and absurdity that will irritate fans of more serious Bond fare or delight fans of the more comical, whimsical later films. Even though I do enjoy it, my biggest issue with the film is that by this point the series feels tired. The far fetched plot, penned by the incredible Roald Dahl, is the first script to disregard most of Fleming’s source novel, which Dahl claimed to be unfilmable. The plot unfortunately relies on a sort of comic laziness to move events forward. Why come up with flawed, incredibly elaborate plans to kill Bond when you could just as easily shoot him in the head? There are a number of dull actions sequences, including the downright boring scenes with “Little Nellie,” the gyrocopter. Not every Bond film needs an aerial fight sequence. The film also has a dated, racist approach to Japanese culture, which culminates in a ridiculous, offensive attempt to disguise Bond as a Japanese man. 

There is plenty to like about the film, namely some wildly entertaining scenes that refuses to allow plot to get in the way. Though a lot of the action is a bit dull, it will never not be satisfying for me to see a film with a ninja training school, ninja army or sumo wrestler henchmen. We finally get to see Blofeld in action and Donald Pleasance is fantastic, though he clutches that clearly terrorized white persian cat for dear life. Helga Brandt is, probably surprisingly, one of my favorite Bond girls, even though she eventually gets chucked into a pool of piranha. The delightful Mie Hama stoically endures her fake marriage to Bond. There are wonderful sets from Ken Adams and lively direction from Lewis Gilbert, who would return for the later Roger Moore efforts The Spy Who Loved Me and Moonraker. There is a great score from John Barry, as always, and the theme song from Nancy Sinatra is also enjoyable, if a bit silly. 

If you can suffer past the slow bits, You Only Die Twice is incredibly fun. It is available as a single-disc or 2-disc Ultimate Edition DVD, in the Ultimate Edition box set volume 4 and on Blu-ray. There are some nice special features, including a documentary (that sadly lacks input from the Japanese cast), a commentary track and much more. 

THUNDERBALL

Terence Young, 1965

Starring: Sean Connery, Claudine Auger, Adolfo  Celi, Luciana Paluzzi

Thunderball, the fourth and most financially successful film in the series, was the first to give Bond a more comic book feel and a heavier reliance on gadgetry. It is also the most controversial, due to the legal battle surrounding writer Kevin McClory, who wrote one of the first Bond screenplays. He claimed Ian Fleming’s later novel, Thunderball, was based on his script and Fleming settled with him out of court. To appease McClory, Albert R. Broccoli and Harry Saltzman (Eon producers of the Bond series), granted McClory partial rights to avoid rival Bond films, though McClory later used the story to make a second, failed Thunderball adaptation, Never Say Never Again. 

Bond attends the funeral of SPECTRE’s Number 6, who is actually disguised as his own widow. Bond fights and kills him, then flees using a jetpack. Later, while he is at a health clinic, he runs into another SPECTRE agent with a mysterious, bandaged man in his hotel room. Bond soon finds the bandaged man dead. He turns out to be NATO pilot Francois Derval, who is now being impersonated by a SPECTRE agent who received extensive plastic surgery. The fake Derval hijacks a Vulcan plane carrying two atomic bombs, intended to be a training mission. All aboard are killed and SPECTRE’s Number 2, Emilio Largo, hides the plane underwater in the Bahamas and steals the bombs. SPECTRE demands £100 million in diamonds from the world’s governments, or else they will begin destroying major cities. Bond tracks down Derval’s sister, Domino, who is living in Nassau with Largo and uses her to make a connection with Largo and to hopefully find the bombs before it is too late. 

If the plot seems lengthy and complicated, it is. This was the first Bond film with a running time of over two hours, much of which is unfortunately made up of long underwater scenes where it is difficult to tell what is happening. The final showdown between CIA/MI6 agents and Largo’s men is particularly frustrating. This marks a sort of transition for the Bond films. It is the last to be directed by Terence Young and the first to rely heavily on gadgets. Q (Desmond Llewelyn) is on location in Nassau to assist Bond and provides him with an assortment of tools, including an underwater infrared camera, an emergency breathing tube and a flare gun. These gimmicky elements unfortunately only serve to take attention away from Connery’s performance. Though I love parts of this film, there is a reason Thunderball makes up the majority of jokes in Austin Powers. 

Though there are plenty of lovely women, this is one of the least sexy Connery productions. Bond’s assistant Paula (Martine Beswick) is completely wasted with scant screen time and he essentially blackmails his spa therapist (Molly Peters) into having sex with him. SPECTRE agent Fione Volpe (Luciana Paluzzi) seduces Bond, but he postcoitally denounces her and claims to have taken no pleasure from their time together. This scene left a bad taste in my mouth (no puns here, I swear) and felt even more misogynistic than Bond’s treatment of Patricia. Main Bond girl Domino (Claudine Auger) is absolutely lovely, but sadly unmemorable and the big sex scene between she and Bond is hidden underwater.  

There are still some strong elements, like the Tom Jones theme song and John Barry’s wonderful score. Maurince Binder returns for the opening sequence, which he re-filmed to meet the wide-aspect demands, allowing for Connery to appear instead of a stunt double. His credits sequence featuring silhouettes of naked women underwater is the best, next to Goldfinger’s gold-painted intro. The tagline claims this is the “Biggest Bond of All,” which cannot be denied. Adolfo Celi is quite good as Largo, the eye patch-wearing, shark-owning, bomb-stealing villain. Blofeld reappears and his scenes are always entertaining, particularly in these early films. 

While Thunderball isn’t for everyone, it is still a fun and worthwhile entry in the series. There is a nice Blu-ray of Thunderball that takes most of the extras from the wonderful Ultimate Edition DVD, which is also available in volume 2 of the Ultimate Edition box sets. Special features include a number of nice featurettes, including Inside Thunderball, The Making of Thunderball and The Thunderball Phenomenon, as well as two commentaries, the first from various cast and crew members, the second from director Terence Young and Luciana Paluzzi. 

My second favorite Bond credits sequence:

GOLDFINGER

Guy Hamilton, 1964

Starring: Sean Connery, Honor Blackman, Gert Fröbe, Shirley Eaton, Harold Sakata

"Do you expect me to talk?"

"No, Mr. Bond, I expect you to die."

Though Dr. No was first and From Russia With Love is a popular favorite, Goldfinger will always be the quintessential Bond film for me. This is the first Bond film with a solid formula where all the beloved franchise elements are in place: girls, cars, gadgets, dastardly villains, insurmountable odds and 007 keeping his cool all the while. 

Based on the novel Goldfinger, Bond blows up a drug lab in Latin America in a truly wonderful sequence, before hitting up Miami Beach for some relaxation. There he observes Auric Goldfinger, a gold dealer and jeweler with a suspicious background. He steals Goldfinger's assistant, the lovely Jill, but after Jill and Bond get better acquainted, Goldfinger has her killed. She is suffocated to death with gold paint in the beautiful, iconic scene that made it all the way to the cover of Time Magazine. (In case you were wondering, you can't actually suffocate someone to death that way.)

Bond follows Goldfinger around Europe to spy on his smuggling operation. Jill's sister Tilly arrives and attempts to kill Goldfinger, but is killed by Goldfinger's manservant, Oddjob, the same man who presumably killed Jill. Bond overhears Goldfinger discussing Operation Grand Slam and gets kidnapped. Goldfinger almost kills Bond with a giant laser, but spares his life to trick MI6 and the CIA into thinking everything is running smoothly. They move to Fort Knox, where Goldfinger plans to steal from the US treasury. Bond meets the inscrutable Pussy Galore, who resists his many attempts at seduction. He alerts the CIA to his presents and continues spying on Goldfinger, hoping to disrupt his plans. But is it that simple?

Goldfinger has a number of fantastic elements: Honor Blackman as Pussy Galore, a dead, naked Jill Shirley Eaton (playing Jill) covered in gold and Gert Fröbe’s excellent Auric Goldfinger. He is one of the first villains to appear more powerful than Bond and almost kills Bond several times, sparing him only because he is more useful alive than dead. Fröbe, despite his total inability to speak English at the time, gave a powerful performance. Yes, that is overdubbing you hear. He said all his lines phonetically, which still wasn't convincing enough. Even more incredibly, the part was supposed to go to Orson Welles, but he was too expensive. 

Goldfinger was the first Bond film to reach blockbuster status and, according to the Guinness Book of World Records, it is the fastest grossing film of all time. This is probably due to a combination of Robert Bronjohn’s excellent opening sequence, where he projected clips of the first two Bond film on Margaret Nolan’s naked, gold-painting body. This is Shirley Bassey’s first time singing the theme song; she would return for Diamonds are Forever and Moonraker, though possibly no Bond theme is as memorable as Goldfinger. The tricked out Aston Martin DB5 is the first time Q-branch gadgets, as we typically think of them, were used and the first time this particular car came to be associate with Bond. Some of the change in direction is likely due to the introduction of director Guy Hamilton, who would return for four more films. 

Goldfinger comes highly, highly recommended. It’s only flaw is that some of the elements feel a little dated, like Harold Sakata's Oddjob or the name of Operation Grand Slam, which just makes me think of a breakfast special at Denny's. There are plenty of ways to see the film on DVD, including the Special Edition DVD from MGM and the Blu-ray, though I'm reviewing the two-disc Ultimate Edition, which also comes in volume one of the Ultimate Edition box set.

FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE

Terence Young, 1963

Starring: Sean Connery, Daniela Bianchi, Lotte Lenya, Pedro Armendáriz, Robert Shaw

SPECTRE plots elaborate revenge on Bond for killing Dr. No and also intends to steal the Lektor, a Soviet cryptography machine. Spectre’s Number 3 in charge, Rosa Klebb, hires Red Grant, an assassin, and Tatiana Romanova, a naive Soviet cipher clerk at the embassy in Istanbul. Klebb orders Tatiana to contact to MI6, declaring she is in love with Bond (via his photo) and will defect, bringing the Lektor with her. M sends Bond to Turkey to rendezvous with the Istanbul station head, Ali Kerim Bey, and collect Tatiana and the device, but SPECTRE has other ideas. 

From Russia, one of the best in the series and alleged favorite of several Bond actors, is similar to Dr. No in the sense that it is one of the only films not to follow a prescribed formula. It also remains mostly faithful to Fleming’s source novel. Many elements from Dr. No reappear - Monty Norman’s classic theme music, opening gun-barrel sequence, director Terence Young, star Sean Connery, Bernard Lee as M and Lois Maxwell as Moneypenny.  From Russia introduces a few new elements that would stay with the series - multiple exotic locales, more action sequences, Desmond Llewlyn as head of Q branch and a fantastic score from John Barry. Robert Brownjohn’s credit sequence with the titles projected over scantily clad dancers also inspired all future Bond credits. 

From Russia is marked with a number of great performances. Daniela Bianchi is one of my favorite Bond girls and her mixture naivety and resoluteness is supported with a solid performance. Tatiana is allegedly based on real-life Polish WWII spy Krystyna Skarbek aka Christine Granville, recruited by the British mid-war and famous for her military espionage exploits. Bond’s ally Kerim Bey is played by the wonderful Pedro Armendáriz, whose delightful performance here is particularly amazing, considering he was dying of cancer and was in tremendous pain during shooting. He took his own life before the production finished and director Terence Young acted as his stand in for his final scenes. The villains and SPECTRE also take on more of a robust presence. We get our first glimpse of Blofeld, SPECTRE’s Number 1, played by Anthony Dawson but cleverly listed as “?” in the credits. The great Lotte Lenya nearly steals the show as ball-buster Rosa Krebb, and Robert Shaw’s (Jaws) Red Grant is one of the most capable and threatening henchmen in the entire series.

The plot has a much quicker pace than Dr. No and mostly places Bond on the defensive. While there are some lengthy sequences in Istanbul and at the gypsy camp, the latter foreshadows the fun, comic-book feel of later films like Thunderball. The Gypsy camp has one amusing sequence after another - belly dancing, a cat fight, a surprise shoot out and two rival gypsy girls that Bond has to “handle.” Once Bond, Bey and Tatiana board the Orient Express, the film moves at a breakneck pace. The fight scene on the train with Red Grant is one of the finest in the series, mainly because Grant is portrayed as a potential equal to Bond. This follows with a helicopter attack (lifted from Hitchcock’s North by Northwest) and a speedboat chase before Bond and Tatiana can peacefully sail down the canals of Venice. Again, the film concludes with Bond and the heroine in a boat, sinking out of sight in order to presumably have sex.

Highly recommended, From Russia is a superior film to Dr. No simply because it ramps up the action, sex and espionage and, outside of the franchise, succeeds on its own as a capable Cold War thriller. There are, as always, many DVD options. I’m reviewing the Ultimate Edition, which can be found in the third box set or as a double-disc DVD set. There’s also the fantastic Blu-ray, which includes all the special features. There’s a commentary track from Terence Young and various members of the cast and crew. There are a number of featurettes, including the documentary Inside From Russia With Love, Ian Fleming: the CBC Interview, Ian Fleming & Raymond Chandler, Ian Fleming on Desert Island 007 and more.