From Russia With Love (1963)

Besides GOLDFINGER (1964), I have probably watched FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE (1963) more than any other James Bond film.  In high school, I owned GOLDFINGER and FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE on RCA Video Disc (before consumers could own video cassettes) and would invite my high school buddies over for a James Bond night. I would have six or seven guys crammed into our small family room, digging James Bond scoring with exotic foreign women, driving kick-ass foreign cars, and fighting bad ass villains around the world. But I don't think I fully appreciated FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE back in high school. The Bond girl (Daniela Bianchi) never did much for me.  The Istanbul, Turkey location was too obscure. The MacGuffin (a Lektor decoder) wasn't very sexy as an object of interest.  But a revisit and reviewing of FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE after several years has changed my tune. RUSSIA is a very strong sophomore effort in the Bond series.

FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE is the second in the Bond series, following the successful introduction of James Bond to movie audiences in DR. NO (1961). In most cases, the second in a film series usually doesn't live up to the original. But what RUSSIA had going for it is most of the same creative people who worked on DR. NO.  Back to direct a second time was Terence Young who really developed and understood the James Bond mystique. Sean Connery reprised the role of James Bond which he would become internationally famous for.  The excellent producing team of Albert "Cubby" Broccoli and Harry Saltzman maintained the high standards that the first film set. Screenwriters Richard Maibaum and Johanna Harwood returned to adapt author Ian Fleming's novel and make it a tight, suspenseful narrative.

In FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE, the international crime syndicate SPECTRE makes its first appearance. SPECTRE Agent #2 Kronsteen (Vladek Sheybal) hatches a plan with the help of ex-KGB Chief and SPECTRE Agent #3 Rosa Klebb (Lotte Lenya) to offer a Russian Lektor decoding machine as bait to lure James Bond (Sean Connery) into trying to grab it. SPECTRE's plan is to pit the Russians against the English, with SPECTRE swooping in to grab the decoding machine and kill James Bond at the same time. Klebb enlists the naive but beautiful Tatiana Romanova (Daniela Bianchi), a Russian cypher clerk to contact the British Secret Service that she wishes to defect with the Lektor decoding machine over to the West but only to James Bond. Tatiana doesn't know that Klebb has defected from the Russians to SPECTRE and is using her to trap Bond.

To make sure that the Russians don't kill Bond before SPECTRE can, Klebb enlists the help of white haired killer Donald "Red" Grant (Robert Shaw) to make sure their plan runs smoothly. Grant runs interference behind the scenes as Bond with the assistance of Turkish minister Kerim Bey (Pedro Armenderiz) make contact with Tatiana and set up a plan to steal the Lektor. Bond and Karim battle SMERSH/Russian agents intent on killing them. After Russian agent Krilencu (Fred Haggerty) ambushes them at a gypsy camp wounding Karim, Bond and Karim seek payback as they stake out Krilencu's hide out and Karim, using a rifle with a scope, kills Krilencu as he tries to flee. It's a nice Cold War touch. Krilencu tries to kill Karim and fails. Karim retaliates and succeeds. Bond and Karim set off a bomb as a diversion at the Russian embassy and Bond and Tatiana grab the Lektor and escape underneath Istanbul and quickly catch the Orient Express where they plan to jump off at the Yugoslavian border with the help of Karim's sons.

But Grant is one step ahead as always and awaits on the train, drugging Tatiana and preparing to kill Bond and steal the Lektor. Bond prevails with the help of his gas rigged briefcase and strangles Grant with his garrote after a fierce battle in his cramped compartment.  Bond and Tatiana improvise their escape, as SPECTRE teams converge on them, ending with a high speed boat chase.

One of the strengths of FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE'S is director Young's casting choices. The supporting cast is made up of an eclectic group of actors. Lotte Lenya is inspired casting as the nefarious Rosa Klebb. She may be small and mousy looking but watch out for her poisonous knife tipped boot. Lenya performed primarily in musicals and operas including THE THREE PENNY OPERA but never had she played such an evil person. Robert Shaw as the blonde assassin Grant is another wonderful choice. Shaw was a theater actor and novelist before turning to movie acting.  Shaw's other memorable performance would be as Quint in Steven Spielberg's JAWS (1975). Both Klebb and Grant are memorable villains who belong in the Hall of Fame of Bond Baddies. I mentioned that Daniela Bianchi as Tatiana never was a favorite of mine but as I've grown older, I found her excellent as the innocent, beautiful doe-eyed Russian clerk (Bianchi is actually Italian and a former Miss World contestant)  who must fall in love with a British spy for her country. She's fresh, sexy, and I can't get that black ribbon tied around her throat as she seduces Bond out of my my mind. Pedro Armendariz as Kerim Bey, the Turkish Minister is another interesting casting choice, serving as Bond's Istanbul tour guide and confidante, helping Bond maneuver through the politics of the Cold War. Armendariz acted in several Westerns for famed director John Ford. Director Young also introduced us for the first time to Q played by Desmond Llewelyn, the mastermind behind all of M-6's gadgets.

The characters in RUSSIA have interesting layers and subtexts that make them more than just cardboard characters.  There is a hint that Rosa Klebb may be a lesbian as she strokes Tatiana's hair during her recruitment. Klebb even directs the secret filming of Bond and Tatiana making love behind a two way mirror at Bond's hotel room. Grant, although a sociopath, is almost the opposite of Klebb.  He seems asexual.  Early in the film, at SPECTRE ISLAND, he's given a massage by a beautiful masseuse, yet he seems ambivalent to her. The only thing that turns Grant on is killing people. Grant is Bond's doppelganger. In RUSSIA'S opening scene, Grant tracks down and kills an agent wearing a James Bond mask during a training exercise, a premonition of his mission. He follows Bond, mirroring his movements but always from a distance until the fateful train fight. Grant is Bond's guardian angel, saving Bond's life surreptitiously at the gypsy camp, later killing a Bulgarian agent who threaten to disrupt SPECTRE's subterfuge at a Turkish mosque. But Grant reveals a crack as he holds Bond at gunpoint on the train.  A hint of vanity and greed prove to be Grant's undoing.

Interestingly, FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE, whether intentional or not, has a lot of Alfred Hitchcock like characters and set pieces in it. Grant is very much a Hitchcockian psychopath (think Joseph Cotten in SHADOW OF A DOUBT), charming and good looking with a patented style of killing, a wire garrote that he pulls out from his sleeve.  There is a long train sequence on the Orient Express (think Hitchock's THE LADY VANISHES) culminating in one of the classic fight scenes in film history as Bond and Grant grapple in a cramped train compartment.  The staging of the fight is realistic, as the struggle is awkward and violent and doesn't seem choreographed. The finale echoes NORTH BY NORTHWEST as Bond is pursued not by a crop duster but a helicopter that buzzes him again and again. Ironically, Sean Connery would star in an Alfred Hitchock film a year later in MARNIE (1964) with Tippie Hedren.  Hitchcock liked to use the MacGuffin as a plot device to propel the story.  It might be microfilm or a treaty memorized by a foreign minister.  FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE's MacGuffin is the Lektor decoding machine.  We never see what it does but it's what brings Bond to Istanbul and all the spy and crime organizations wish to obtain it.

Many critics have suggested that the James Bond series owes its origins to Hitchcock's NORTH BY NORTHWEST (1959) which had an unsuspecting hero being chased from famous location to famous location by erudite bad guys. The Bond filmmakers just substituted Bond for the unsuspecting hero but continued to have Bond chase villains from country to country. The early Bond films, with Fleming's novels as a great source, mixed up the story and locations very nicely, with an emphasis on character and plot. Later Bond films seemed to quickly explain the plot and spend more time coming up with exotic locations to send Bond to and spectacular stunts for him to perform.

But FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE stands out for its excellent action scenes.  Director Young kicks it off early with Klebb getting a tour on SPECTRE island of the the spy organization's training grounds , a SPARTACUS like outdoor set with agents in hand-to-hand combat and trainees having to dodge live flamethrowers. It's a creatively juicy scene. Young also stages a nice battle at the gypsy camp where Kerim Bey takes Bond to hide out, only to be attacked by Russian agent Krilencu and his men, the sequence punctuated by a great John Barry musical score. The before mentioned train fight scene between Bond and Grant set the standard for many future Bond fights.  Young ends the film with two exciting climaxes: Bond being chased by the helicopter and later, Bond and Tatiana fleeing by boat with the Lector decoder, chased by SPECTRE's boats and men, ending in lots of pyrotechnics.

There is lots of good trivia that comes from FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE. Actress Eunice Grayson makes her second appearance in a Bond film in RUSSIA as Bond's some time flame Sylvia Trench. Actor Walter Gotell makes his first of seven appearances in a Bond film but his only time as Morzeny, a SPECTRE heavy. Subsequently, he will play Russian General Anatoly Gogol in THE SPY WHO LOVED ME (1977) through THE LIVING DAYLIGHTS (1987). Martine Beswick who plays beautiful gypsy Zora in RUSSIA will also appear in THUNDERBALL (1965). One character who does not make an appearance in FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE is American CIA agent Felix Leiter. Kerim Bey takes his place in RUSSIA as Bond's accomplice in stopping the bad guys. Felix Leiter would be played by a variety of actors throughout the Bond series including actors Jack Lord, David Hedison, and Everett McGill.

I have a new found respect and love for FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE. It's probably a superior effort than DR. NO which can be partly credited to a bigger budget.   But the filmmakers took great care and effort to build upon the success of DR. NO and develop the world of Bond. For me, the filmmakers experience and success with DR. NO and FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE would culminate in probably the best Bond film of the franchise a year later -- GOLDFINGER (1964).

Woman of the Year (1942)

For all those men with wives or girlfriends who don't know a thing about sports and for all those women with husbands or boyfriends who don't know a thing about international affairs, director George Stevens comedy WOMAN OF THE YEAR (1942) might be the film for both sexes to watch. Starring Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn, WOMAN OF THE YEAR was the first of nine films that Tracy and Hepburn would make together starting with WOMAN in 1942 all the way to 1967's GUESS WHO'S COMING TO DINNER? Just like the characters that Tracy and Hepburn play in the film, the two stars would fall in love during the making of their first film together even though Tracy was married and never did divorce his wife.  The chemistry between Tracy and Hepburn is one of the strongest parts of this film and it's easy to see how Tracy fell for Hepburn. Her sultry glances and dazzling smile made me almost fall in love with her.

WOMAN OF THE YEAR wants to be a screwball comedy like HIS GIRL FRIDAY (1939) with its newspaper setting and witty dialogue and WOMAN is most entertaining during its first act.  Sam Craig (Spencer Tracy), a sports columnist for the New York Chronicle sits in Pinky's bar with "Pinky" Peters (William Bendix), a former boxer turned bar owner, listening to the radio when he hears political columnist Tess Harding (Katharine Hepburn) make a disparaging remark about baseball.  Both Sam and Tess work at the Chronicle but have never met. Sam writes a scathing article in his column Manabout Sports toward Tess. Tess fires back in her column Now. Their editor Mr. Clayton (Reginald Owen) calls both into his office, requesting a cease fire.  When Sam sees Tess, it's love at first sight.

Sam invites Tess to a New York Yankee baseball game.  She gets to sit in the press box with him despite cries of "No women in the press box" from his fellow male sports writers. Tess knows nothing about baseball but Sam patiently explains the game to her. Tess invites Sam back to her apartment after her weekly radio broadcast. Sam thinks it's an intimate evening with just the two of them but when he arrives, Sam discovers a big party in full swing with lots of international guests speaking French or Russian. These two scenes are a wonderful introduction for Sam and Tess to each other as well as a fish out of water feeling in the other's world.

All Sam wants is to be alone with Tess but she's busy attending parties, interviewing dignitaries, and giving speeches. Sam pursues her like a love sick puppy. When Sam goes to a university to pick up Tess after another speaking engagement, he stumbles into a Women's Rights rally with Tess honoring her aunt Ellen Whitcomb (Fay Bainter). Comically, Sam is the only man on stage sitting with a panel of feminists.  Sam finally gets Tess alone and proposes to her. Tess wants to get married quickly and they find an available church in South Carolina. When Sam and Tess finally have what looks to be their honeymoon night, their romantic evening is once again interrupted, this time by Tess's friend, the Yugoslavian statesman Dr. Lubbeck (Ludwig Stossel), recently escaped from a Nazi concentration camp. Another party breaks out in Tess's apartment with Lubbeck and his entourage. This time Sam invites Pinky and his bar friends to mingle with Tess's European friends.

WOMAN OF THE YEAR loses its momentum as Sam and Tess's marriage stalls. Sam grows frustrated with such an independent woman as Tess. He wants to come home to just his wife and not her work or her assistant Gerald (Dan Tobin) taking dictation. One night, Sam comes home to find Tess has adopted a young Greek refugee child without asking him.  When Tess is named "Woman of the Year", she attends the award ceremony alone as Sam stays home with the young Greek boy Chris (George Kezas), returning him to the Greek Children's Home that night. Sam moves out of their house. Tess's aunt Ellen surprises her with the announcement that she's marrying Tess's father Senator William J. Harding (Minor Watson). Tess arrives at the impromptu wedding alone.  As she watches how happy Ellen and her father are, Tess realizes that a marriage means being a team, being involved with one's spouse. Tess races home, deeply changed.  She tries to prove to Sam she can be a home maker but her attempt at making Sam's favorite waffles for breakfast comes off with I LOVE LUCY like disastrous results. Sam gives Tess and marriage another chance but the spontaneity that WOMAN OF THE YEAR started with seems forced by the end.

The screenplay by Ring Lardner, Jr and Michael Kanin is at its best when it plays off the opposites attract plot lines. Tess trying to learn about baseball or Sam frantically searching for someone who speaks English at Tess's apartment party are priceless. WOMAN OF THE YEAR loses steam after Sam and Tess are married. Like most films about a man and a woman with completely different interests, the fun is in the foreplay, the flirting, the early stages of courtship. Director Stevens does such a good job showing Tess's sexy, independent side that it's a let down when she has to tone it down to win Sam back, almost becoming domesticated. 

Although director George Stevens is a capable director having directed classics like GUNGA DIN (1939), SHANE (1953), and GIANT (1956), WOMAN OF THE YEAR could have benefited from a more seasoned comedy director like Preston Sturges or Frank Capra. Apparently Hepburn wanted her favorite director George Cukor who directed her in THE PHILADELPHIA STORY (1940) two years earlier but settled on Stevens for this film. Cukor would eventually work with Hepburn and Tracy in ADAM'S RIB (1949) and PAT AND MIKE (1952).

Yet director Stevens and his writers Lardner and Kanin stage many great comic scenes. Besides the baseball scene and League of Nations party scene, my other favorite scene is Sam believing he's alone with Tess and finding Lubbeck and Tess together in her bedroom. The surprised look on Sam's face and the shock on Tess's face is wonderful. Then, Lubbeck's bodyguards come in and Pinky and his friends and suddenly Tess's room is as crowded as the stateroom scene in the Marx Brothers A NIGHT AT THE OPERA (1935).

Katharine Hepburn is a joy to watch as Tess Harding, handling comedy and romance with equal aplomb. Spencer Tracy's performance as Sam Craig is a bit more complicated. It's fun to watch him transition from a no nonsense sports writer to a softer, loving side but I never got a good handle on him in the second half of the film.  I kept waiting for him to give Tess a second chance and even at the very end of the film, Sam still doesn't seem completely convinced Tess can be devoted to him and her career. Any comedy needs some good supporting players and one of my favorite character actors William Bendix fulfills that role in WOMAN OF THE YEAR as "Pinky" Peters, Tracy's pugilistic bar buddy who's never tired of telling a stranger his boxing tales of yesteryear.

WOMAN OF THE YEAR is a fine film to initiate a film lover to the great screen duo of Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn.  I look forward to viewing ADAM'S RIB soon to see how these two progressed as acting partners. I just wish the filmmakers had come up with a little less male chauvinistic ending to the film.