Movies - From Russia with Love

Home > Listing Index > Movies > From Russia with Love

	Movies - From Russia with Love

From Russia with Love, published in 1957, is the fifth James Bond novel written by Ian Fleming. It is also the second James Bond film in the official EON Productions series, and the second to star Sean Connery as the suave and sophisticated British Secret Service agent James Bond. The cinematic From Russia with Love was released in 1963, produced by Albert R. Broccoli and Harry Saltzman, and directed by Terence Young.

From Russia with Love is considered both the best James Bond novel, and the best of the James Bond film series by many fans and critics, and by actor Sean Connery (although even critical opinion varies greatly). The novel is credited with launching the James Bond craze, and leading to the film series. Its biggest boost came four years after From Russia with Love was published from an article in Life magazine on March 17, 1961 in which U.S. President John F. Kennedy included it in a list of his favorite books; the James Bond novel was the only work of fiction in the list of ten.

Though the film's low-key tone contrasts with the popular outlandishness of Goldfinger
and Thunderball
, From Russia with Love is often considered the ideal Bond film that each film strives to aim for. Michael G. Wilson, the current co-producer of the series with his half sister Barbara Broccoli, has stated "We always start out trying to make another From Russia with Love and end up with another Thunderball." In 2004, Total Film magazine named it the ninth-greatest British film of all time.

In 2005 it was adapted into a video game by Electronic Arts and featured all new voice work by Sean Connery as well as his likeness and the likeness of a number of the supporting cast from the film.

The title of the book sometimes is printed with a comma, as From Russia, with Love, depending upon the publisher. It is more commonly printed without the punctuation.

The novel

Plot summary

From Russia with Love differs from Fleming's previous Bond novels in that the first one third of the novel revolves around SMERSH's executioner, Red Grant as well as the organization, SMERSH, itself. This is also the first novel in which Bond receives a gadget from Q-Branch, although Q is not in the novel.

The novel is a series of elaborate plots and counterplots, between the British and the Russian intelligence agencies. It begins with SMERSH, the Soviet assassination agency, seeking to redeem itself from a series of failures that have made some within the Soviet government begin to criticize the organization. SMERSH plans to commit a grand act of terrorism in the intelligence field. For this, SMERSH has targeted British secret service agent, Commander James Bond. Due in part to Bond's defeat of Le Chiffre detailed in Casino Royale and Mr. Big in Live and Let Die
, Bond has been declared as an enemy of the Soviet state and has been issued a "death warrant" for immediate execution ("To be killed with ignominy").

Mainly through the agency of Kronsteen, the chess-playing master planner, and Colonel Rosa Klebb, SMERSH lays a trap for Bond, by setting pretty young cipher clerk, Corporal Tatiana Romanova, to pretend to defect from her post in Istanbul, claiming to have fallen in love with Bond, from a photograph. As an added incentive, Tatiana will provide the British agent with a Spektor decoder, a prize much coveted by MI6. The ultimate goal is to set up James Bond for assassination, and cause a scandal, but SMERSH doesn't count on Tatiana actually falling in love with 007. The confrontation between Bond and Grant takes place on board the Orient Express on the journey from Istanbul to Paris, when Grant is shot by Bond. Later, after successfully delivering Tatiana to the West, Bond has a final encounter with Rosa Klebb which leaves her dead and 007 poisoned.

Comic strip adaptation

Fleming's novel was adapted as a daily comic strip published in the British Daily Express newspaper, and syndicated worldwide. The adaptation ran from February 3 to May 21, 1960, and was written by Henry Gammidge, and illustrated by John McLusky. The James Bond 007 Fan Club published a reprinting of the strip in 1981. From Russia with Love was reprinted again in 2005 by Titan Books in the Dr. No collection, which in addition to Dr. No, also included Diamonds Are Forever
.

[ Visit the complete Wikipedia entry for From Russia with Love ]

This page is based on the copyrighted Wikipedia article From Russia with Love; it is used under the GNU Free Documentation License. You may redistribute it, verbatim or modified, providing that you comply with the terms of the GFDL.

Movies - From Russia with Love

The novel

Plot summary

Comic strip adaptation

Searches on eBay

Related searches on eBay