I Need to Rant About From Russia with Love for a Minute...

[00:00:00]Out of all the classic James Bond movies, there are some good ones, there are some questionable ones, and I want to know, how does From Russia with Love hold up? Welcome back everyone. We are here today to talk about From Russia with Love. Obviously, 007 First Light came out recently and I was loving the game. And if you don't know this about me, I'm a big James Bond fan. So, on my Patreon last month, I decided to do a poll to see what movie we should watch from some of my favorites. And the one that people voted for and they picked was From Russia with Love. Now, this is one of my favorite Bond films of all time. So, I was very excited to go back and rewatch it. And I was curious to see how it would hold up. And we're going to answer this question. But before we get into it, I want to know what is your favorite Bond movie? Let me know down in the comments below. I think as we're talking about this film, we have to start off with one of my absolute favorite characters, not just within this movie, but within the larger James Bond universe. We got to talk about Money Penny. I love Money Penny. And a huge part of the reason why I love this character is actually because of From Russia with Love. Lois Maxwell playing her, I just think she's absolutely amazing. She's also Canadian. Fun fact for those that didn't know. And her chemistry here with Shan Connory is James Bond. It's just it's unparalleled.

[00:01:32]And every time Money Penny shows up anywhere, the reason I get excited is because of Lois Maxwell. So, first of all, just want to say love Money Penny.

[00:01:43]love her in this movie. There is never enough of her, but the little bit of a scene that we get with her and Bond at the top of the movie is absolutely superb. Something that I did forget about this movie, I feel like I willfully forget this, is that the whole premise for the plot here is that we're using a woman who we're trying to convince is an actual spy for Russia when she's not actually working for the Russian government. She doesn't know this at the time. She's being used to ensnare James Bond. And I mean, she's really being used by Spectre. Ah, the thing that I guess is interesting about that is, of course, that this is James Bond. So, every woman that falls into James Bond's path pretty much falls in love with him instantly.

[00:02:42]And our Bond girl in this movie, Tatiana, is no exception to that rule.

[00:02:48]Tatiana Romanova. And I actually wondered to myself, was this any kind of inspiration for Black Widow? Because Tatiana does feel kind of Black Widow coded. And of course, From Russia with Love came out in 1963. And I think Black Widow made her first comic book appearance in 1964. So maybe either way, I do really like Tatiana's character in this. And although she starts off not having much agency, well, she doesn't get a ton of agency to be honest with you. I can't I can't argue for that. But there are some good things about the film. Even though we have this, you know, female character who becomes a fem fatal and is misled a lot of the way through the movie, she she still is a cool character. I still like her. And there's other things about this film that I absolutely adore. So, let's talk about some of those things.

[00:03:42]One of the highlights for me with From Russia with Love is Shan Connory himself. He does such a great job as James Bond. He is not my favorite James Bond. That's Pierce Brozin for me. But Shan Connory really is a great Bond. I mean, the cool thing with James Bond as a character is that I don't think we've really had a bad actor take on the role or someone that just didn't suit it at all. Everyone I've seen play the character I've liked, but I think different people have their favorites based on different things. Now, Shan Connory does an amazing job as Bond. And one of the things I appreciate about him the most in this film is actually the physicality. And physicality is very important when you're playing a character like James Bond. He is an action hero. He's a charming man. There is a certain romantic quality to him.

[00:04:36]And he's like this character that every woman is supposed to want to be with and every man wants to be. And maybe also every man wants to be with. And maybe also every woman wants to be. I don't know. Why not? I would love to be James Bond. He's just so cool. However, there are also moments in this film that are once again I do need to say a little a little problematic, but that's in a modern lens. And we do need to remember that this film came out in 1963. It was a different time and people uh behaved differently then. One of my favorite things about Bond actually is the oneliners that he has and I think they did a good job of capturing some of that in the game as well. And from Russia with Love has some of the best ones. She should have kept her mouth shut being one of my favorite even though I acknowledge that kind of what it can represent. Yeah, it's it's problematic. One of the things that watching older movies always gives me is an appreciation for the technology of today because there's a lot of ADR in this film, a lot of people chatting. And you'll notice when people are outside, I don't think the mics were good enough for them to pick up people's dialogue.

[00:05:52]So instead, everyone when they're outside is pretty much just dubbing over their own lines. [music] And to be honest with you, we also have a whole character that's dubbed over in this, which is wild. And I think they did a really good job with that dubbing actually, and that is Tatiana. Tatiana, in terms of her appearance, is played by Daniela Biani, but her voice, they actually recorded over Daniela because she had an Italian accent that I think they felt got in the way of the film.

[00:06:22]So, Barbara Jeffford, who's a British actress, does the voice for Tatiana. So, she's played by two women. And I don't think I've known that until this watch along. This was the first time I picked up on that and I looked it up and I looked into it and then I was like, "Oh, that makes a lot of sense. I understand." But still, that's how good the dubbing is. It took me a few watches before I even noticed that. The other thing that I appreciate when it comes to Bond films in general and that I think from Russia with Love showcases quite well is the style, the elegance. I mean, the costumes in this, the costumes alone. Everyone is looking so good, so fashionable, and so in character. I also feel like I miss projectors from watching this film because they're using a lot of uh projectors when they're in cars and things like that and and there's a train and we're on a boat.

[00:07:21]We're we're all over the place. Planes, trains, automobiles. Well, no planes, but trains, cars, boats that we have.

[00:07:28]There are also some really really beautiful shots in this film. Like just absolutely gorgeous. One example that I have, one of my favorites is when Red Grant is following James Bond in the train and we're following James Bond and you can just see Red Grant like along the side. That shot is absolutely masterful. Also, this movie does a great job of nighttime scenes. Imagine a scene at night where I can see things. What happened to modern film? Why does nighttime always have to be so dark that I can barely make anything out?

[00:08:07]Sometimes that works in movies, but I feel like in the modern age of film, so often that is how everybody does nighttime. And the reality is when you are a person and you're walking around at night, that's not what it feels like to be in the nighttime. Like you can see things, your eyes adjust. So when we actually light nighttime scenes, well, it doesn't break anything for me. It just makes me feel like I am a person in the scene seeing things unfold as I would if I were actually in the nighttime and my eyes adjusted. They do a really good job, too, of matching up a lot of things in this. Like the motion of the train, I think, is great. you you get a sense for being on the train. Even though I know that probably all of this was stationary and they're adding motion to it or the actors are adding motion to it. The whole concept of spies who are undercover think they're working as spies but are being played. Someone being pulled into a spy plot like with James, he's being pulled into this but he doesn't know. The whole point is to kind of ensnare him in this plot. This film is really good because there's a lot of layers to what's going on with the characters to the point that sometimes I think when we were having the watch along, there were people that were just like, "Man, there's a lot going on when we were watching it." And yes, my friends, I agree with you.

[00:09:36]That's why I love this movie, though. It is intricate. It's well woven. It doesn't hold your hand. And it lets you explore all the little intricacies of what's going on in a scene. you got to read between the lines in terms of some of the expressions and the cues and there are so few films that do that now in the modern age. So, this movie, going back to it, it it it made me want to go back and watch a lot of older films. And not only do we get Shan Connory in this movie, who's doing a great job of sort of weaving in all of these layers, and of course, Tatiana's character played by two actresses who managed to still sync up quite well to give us a character who feels like there's a lot going on with what she is doing in this story and her place in it. But we also get Red Grant who's played by Robert Shaw. And I just feel like seeing Robert Shaw and Shan Connory act opposite one another is wonderful. And Red Grant is another character who has so many layers. He's pretending to be one thing and he's not.

[00:10:39]And it's just ultimate spy movie. It's ultimate spy movie. You can't believe anything. I also really love the imagery in this film. There's a lot of powerful thematic imagery. Like for example, the fighting fish that we see in the tank and this idea of how you can manipulate people into fighting one another so they don't notice that you are the master manipulator behind the scenes. Also, we set up a ton of smoking guns at the beginning of the movie, all these gadgets that were given and all of them come back and in a very satisfying way.

[00:11:14]I think the suitcase is probably my favorite gadget in the entire film. It's also a prop in one of my favorite fight scenes in all of Bond history, and that is the train fight between Red Grant and James Bond. It is so desperate. It is so chaotic, and you can tell, I think, in this film that there are a lot of fight scenes that feel less choreographed.

[00:11:41]Although, sometimes I am a little worried that people are legitimately just getting hurt in these in these fights. And the train fight has one of the best lines in all of cinematic history. Kiss my foot.

[00:11:55]Kiss my foot. Well said. Well said. And while the film overall has a beautiful look to it, we've talked about the elegance and [music] the power of some of these shots. The cinematography is fantastic. The lighting, not all of it is good. Near the end of the movie, we do get some day fornight when they're off the train, and [snorts] that still looks pretty rough. Day for night is impossible to do, though. I don't even know why people try it. I guess sometimes you just you got to do what you got to do. You got to film a night scene and it's day. It's the only time you have. It's not the worst day for I've ever seen in film, but it's not very good either. Overall, what I've learned from watching From Russia with Love, is that spies are not usually trustworthy, which I guess we already knew. Unless they're James Bond, who overall is a pretty good guy, or maybe Tatiana, she seems overall she's trying to do what she thinks is right for her country, for her people. And um Spectre is an absolute mess because at the end of this movie it's everyone attacking everyone and I don't know how they get anything done to be honest with you with the level of incompetence that they have in their ranks. And if you're wondering if Spectre returns, if this is the only film that you've watched and you watched it maybe even in preparation for my review of it, uh yes, Spectre does come back. And what I like about this movie too is it kind of plugs in to a larger worldbuing narrative. That's something that I appreciate about James Bond in general. How we can have so many different versions of Bond. Kind of like we have with Doctor Who. How there's many different doctors. In that case, it's because of regeneration and the doctor takes on a new physical form. But in James Bond, it's that every actor is still James Bond. They've completely changed in terms of their appearance.

[00:13:46]But a lot of the villains and a lot of the story arcs even and characters carry forward. So even though things may change, there is this kind of universal constant and spectre is a big part of that. And I love that we get some Spectre in this film because if you're watching later films, then you know that Spectre can resurface and come back up.

[00:14:07]And I'll leave you with one of my favorite James Bond oneliners.

[00:14:12]Where there's smoke, there's fire. as we see everything blowing up with fire in this movie. What a great way to end it because this movie also, I think, is fire. And is it the greatest Bond movie of all time? For me, it is not, but it is up there. It is one of my favorite Bond films ever for so many reasons. I think the visuals being a huge part of that, the acting as well, and of course, the story in it, I think, is is quite good. It's not perfect, but it's pretty darn good. It is near perfect on Rotten Tomatoes. This film still has 97%.

[00:14:52]That's a near-perfect score. And does it hold up in the modern day? Some of the stuff with women in this movie is questionable. But overall, the appearance of the film, the story, those things I think hold up quite well. And I even think visually this film looks better than a good number of modern films that I've seen in recent years.

[00:15:17]That's all I have for this one. Thank you for taking the time out of your day to watch my review of From Russia with Love. I love doing these retro reviews for you. If you ever want to catch one of these movies with me and watch them live and in action, uh you can do so by heading over to the Patreon. We do a watch along once a month. This month is actually going to be a Spider-Man. So, if you want to watch some Spider-Man with me, we're going to be going back and watching something older and talking about it as we get ready for the new Spider-Man movie coming out at the end of July. That's all I have. I'll see you in the next one. And until next time, friends, as always, stay nerdy. Bye. And if you like hearing me talk about movies, you can check more of that out by clicking over here.

[00:16:02]Do