Woodyanders Review of Inside 'from Russia with Love'

Inside 'from Russia with Love' (2000 Video)

An excellent and informative retrospective documentary

[9/10 · 18 August 2009]

This extremely enjoyable and engrossing 34 minute documentary offers an illuminating portrait on the making of the second James Bond action spectacle "From Russia With Love." The movie was made on twice the budget of "Dr. No" and the filmmakers did their best to either match or possibly surpass the quality of the first 007 outing (they certainly succeeded in surpassing "Dr. No" and thus raised the bar for all subsequent Bond flicks). Actress Lotte Lenya in reality was a total sweetheart and hence nothing like the evil character she played. Lovely leading lady Daniela Bianchi and her equally fetching co-stars Martine Beswick and Alizu Gur were all beauty pageant winners. Beswick and Gur trained for three weeks for their big catfight scene. Actor Pedro Armendarez was diagnosed with terminal cancer during the shooting of the film, but insisted on finishing his part and died shortly after completing his role. Actor Anthony Dawson was Blofield's hands in the picture. The script was being constantly rewritten throughout the course of the shooting. Sean Connery and Robert Shaw did almost all of their own stunts for their major rough'n'ready physical confrontation on the Orient express. Although the film went over budget and over schedule, director Terence Young's unbreakable enthusiasm kept morale up despite all the production problems. Editor Peter Hunt's innovative techniques added an extra visceral quality to the picture. This movie introduced the now popular pre-credit teaser. Of course, the final finished film proved to be a massive international box office smash. Patrick Macnee handles the narrator duties with perfectly smooth élan. Essential viewing for fans of the movie.