It's hard to overstate how much influence this film had on me as a boy. I was 7 in the summer of 1964 when my aunt took me to a double feature - From Russia With Love followed by Goldfinger. I had never heard of James Bond. The action and exoticness of FRWL was something I had never seen before, the belly dancers, the women fighting each other, the briefcase with a sniper's rifle, the fight on the train. I liked this movie better than Goldfinger and to this day it is still my favorite. I became a James Bond devotee. I begged for the toy James Bond briefcase for Christmas that year, and when I opened that present on Xmas morning I was so excited. James Bond became my role model as I grew up, even into my 20s. It turns out my dad did have a connection to Ian Fleming from WWII. Fleming was an officer in British Naval Intelligence during the war. It is said he developed the Bond character based on the commandoes he worked with. Fleming during the war cooked up a scheme to "pinch" a German cipher machine, the Enigma, and my father was part of the raid that was sent into to get it in occupied France in Aug 1942. The raid was unsuccessful and my dad was captured, spending the rest of the war in various German stalags. The Russian cipher machine in RFWL is of course a take on the German Enigma. I've seen all the Bond films, except for Daniel Craig's last one. The film series doesn't really interest me anymore, they're mostly just mindless violence and CGI special effects today, not very appealing to me. My second favorite movie in the franchise is 1981's For Your Eyes Only. One last thing - Ian Fleming was a raging alcoholic, that is well documented. But I knew it from the first time I saw his picture, which was on the cover of the book From Russia With Love that I bought in 1977. The pic was taken just before he died in 1964. And he looked exactly like my dad shortly before he died in 1973, a face wrinkled and ravaged by binging on alcohol and cigarettes, which was the fate of so many men who served in WWII.
I also love For Your Eyes Only. Such an amazing Bond film, and yet practically forgotten today. Thank you so much for your post. Very interesting stuff! And I agree. I was very disappointed by No Time To Die. Excellent start, but the ending truly angered me.
In 1964, I emigrated to Canada with my family on Cunard’s Carinthia. I was seven at the time. From Russia With Love was playing in the cinema on board and I watched it alone. I became a Bond addict from then on. A couple of years later my dad dropped me off at a movie theatre to see a double feature with Dr. No and Goldfinger. I think these films had a huge effect on my life. The set designs inspired me to study design and make it my life’s career.
I love your comments and identify with a lot of what you say. I have always thought this was the greatest Bond film of all and it also influenced me a lot. I have never seen a superior fight sequence.
I saw From Russia With Love at the theater in 1963. Yes, the train fight got my 10-year-old attention. I was a bit uncomfortable with the claustrophobic brutality, I had never seen such a realistic fight on the big or little screen. The fight scene is indeed iconic and bloody well done.
Thank you so much. It's always nice to meet a fellow Bond fan. I hope you enjoy this series. Goldfinger is next and we'll eventually discuss all of them! 😀
@@TotallyAwesomeFilmsPodcast - Goldfinger. I have no words. Seeing that in the theaters in 1964 when the Beatles were conguering the world? James Bond, that night, became the coolest human to walk the Earth. thank you.
FRWL has always been my favorite Bond film. Goldfinger is #2 and only for the reason that I think that’s the film where the fan-favorite gadgetry increases to the point where it crosses the line into gimmickry that would plague the franchise for decades. I feel that FRWL strikes the perfect balance with “practical” realistic gadgets that reflect actual spy craft instead of comic book superheroes. Add in the realism of the train fight and the nods to Hitchcock (I’m also a huge fan of trains and all of Hitchcock’s films) and this one is the perfect Bond. My only quibble is I wish they would could have had a better female lead than Daniella Bianchi. The rest of the casting is unquestionably A+ while, other than A+ beauty, she is only a C- actress. And thank you for giving props to editor Peter Hunt. I like the proliferation of TH-cam videos that educate viewers on the importance of editing and how often films are actually “saved by the edit” while the director goes on to get all the glory.
My pleasure. People don't give Peter Hunt enough credit. I frequently debate which movie I like more, Goldfinger or From Russia with Love. It's always close, but FRWL tends to win more often. Thank you so much for your post.
Great video! This has always been one of my favorite Bond movies. And thanks for pointing out the Terence Young commentary. Found it on TH-cam, looking forward to listening.
Lotte Lenya was fantastic in this movie. Her life story is fascinating, it would explain her "cameo" mention in the song Mack the Knife to anyone who loved that song and wondered who she was
FRWL was the first Bond movie I saw in the theaters. My dad took me. Great movie, a real excellent spy thriller. It is my favorite Bond film of all time.
@@TotallyAwesomeFilmsPodcast I guess I am. One advantage of being an old fart! We also saw Goldfinger in the movie theaters. Seeing the DB5 on the big screen...WOW!!!
My favourite Bond film too, of all time. The end of the boat chase was filmed in the tank at Pinewood, the smoke and explosions disguising the fact that they were no longer up in Scotland.
Yes, I can still remember that fight scene to this day. Robert Shaw was so believable, I never knew that was him later in later roles. But those knife shoes were even more scary. She was pure evil. Some of my best boyhood memories.
Daniela Bianchi was not the first choice to play Tatiana, it was German actress Elga Andersen who would later co-star with Steve McQueen in 1971's Le Mans. This is how director Terence Young tells the story: Many actresses were tested for the part but Elga was our first choice. She was in a film called Bird of Paradise, and she got the part on those merits. She was going to be announced the next day, but there was a disastrous screening of a new Judy Garland film ( I Could Go on Singing ) and no one was in the mood for announcing anything. Then a top United Artists executive who had been trying to climb in the sack with Elga told us plainly that we couldn't use her because of her reputation. It was completely untrue. I found out later that she was a woman of impeccable character, but between the bad taste in everyone's mouth at UA about the Judy Garland film and this character's unfounded accusations, I couldn't get anyone to approve her casting. Daniela Bianchi, whom I liked very much, but at the time I thought she was a very limited actress. The role, of course, didn't call for much, but Elga would have been better.
I was born in 1962 which used to make me young when compared to these movies Lol! I have just gotten into Bond at 62. I have read and re-read Fleming's books. Connery and Creig are my favs.
That's amazing thay you only recently became a James Bond fan. I hope this 007 series reinforces your love of the James Bond franchise. Thank you for your post.
I was 8 at the time and I saw every Bond film opening from Dr No through the Craig years. I still believe that From Russia with Love was the best all around - perfect Cold War spy thriller.
That's incredible! My first Bond movie was Moonraker and I've seen every James Bond movie on opening night since. From Russia With Love is in my top 5. 🙂 Thank you for your post.
14:15 All the fight scenes in the Bourne trilogy were very well done, but I especially think of the fight between Bourne and Desh in the second film. The grisly nature of strangling someone to death is not bowdlerised, neither glamorised. I think it was the quality of the acting that really made those films stand out.
One of my favourite Bond films. I like the casting, especially for Kerim Bey and Tatiana Romanova; Red Grant is also well cast. It has a fairly good, face-paced plot and although it's a bit dated (it was made in the early 60s), it's still a great film. Ad infinitely better than some of the films that followed it
@TotallyAwesomeFilmsPodcast yes! Again. The following scenr and dialog wasn't pithy or just a perfectly delivered one liner highlighting how the baddie died by the infallible hero who doesn't have a scratch on him. Good stufg
Fight scenes, Tarantino always gets them brutally correct, in particularly the fight between Beatrix and Elle Driver in KB1 or Anton Chigurh escaping custody in No Country.
Connery was 6'2", Shaw was 5'10"....but they seemed the same size, thanks to camera angles, etc. Shaw and Connery were good friends. Mr. Shaw was actually better known as being a Shakespearean actor. Unfortunately, he was a heavy drinker, and this led to his fatal heart attack. He looked "very fit" in this movie, right?
You had to see the train fight scene in the theater to get the scary impact. Contemporary fight scenes are stupid. They do indeed seem like cheap Kung Fu movie fights. The train fight seems incredibly realistic. Additionally, it put the audience on edge with the sense that either character could win.
You said it! That train fight scene is so amazing. I am jealous. It must have been amazing to see it on the big screen when it first camr out. You were a part of cinema history!
Thank you so much. Yes. That's a very deep cut. But Robert Shaw did indeed play Doyle Lonnegan in The Sting. 🙂 Thank you for your post. Goldfinger is coming next.
Couple of good fight scenes in the film Hell Drivers 1957 between Patrick Mcgoohan and Stanley Baker and the end of the film Greed in the sun from 1964 , I recommend them both
@@TotallyAwesomeFilmsPodcast Both well worth a lot , Hell Drivers lots of famous names in it including a young Shaun C Greed In the Sun is in French but I got a copy with English subtitles
I hate to split hairs, but Desmond Llewelyn was captured on the beach by the German Army at Dunkirk ,June of 1940 and spent almost 5 years in a POW. In The Spy Who Loved Me “ Barbara Bach says”Hello Major Boothroyd” before entering the Lotus in Sardinia. Pedro Armendariz SR. Was a huge film star in Mexico before coming to the USA. Pedro was a favorite of John Ford as noted his best film with Ford are :Fort Apache,Three Godfathers with John Wayne and Harry Carey JR and The Fugitive with Henry Fonda cast as a Mexican Rebel leader. I’m the bloke who gave you Sean Connery s early work history ,actually Sean was a boy when he delivered milk by Horsedrawn cart in Edinburg in the 1930 s and 40 s. An older man drove the cart and Sean would run it up to the homes and flats( apartments). Robert Shaw also played Irish gangster “Doyle Lonegan” in the Oscar Winning film The Sting where he gets stung by Paul Newman and Robert Redford. Shaw also played Lord Churchill in Young Winston and was nominated for an Oscar for A Man For All Seasons- 1966. Eunice Gayson-“Sylvia Trench” was supposed to be a recurring role but when Guy Hamilton was hired for Goldfinger she was dropped and Terence Young didn’t cast her in Thunderball. Ken Adam if I’m not mistaken was polish and was a fighter pilot in the RAF in W W2 and Terence young was a Tank Commander. Robert Shaw was interviewed by Dick Cavett in the early 1970 s. Shaw was up to about 3 packs of ciggies a day. No wonder he had a heart attack in his early 50 s. Shaws dad was a doctor who literally would sometimes have to swim from a boat to a windswept Scottish Island to make a house all to deliver a baby or some medical emergency. Sadly Shaws father took his own life at a very young age, as noted Shaws mother moved the family to Cornwall. Pedro Armendariz was great friends with Writer Ernest Hemingway who a few year’s earlier while dying from cancer shot himself. I hate to end on a downer vDaniella Bianchi would appear with Sean’s brother Neal in a film called “Operation Kid Brother” a Bond spoof around 1966-67?? Bernard Lee andLois Maxwell also appear in the film. Ian Fleming and Pedro Armendariz became great friends in a short time while Fleming visited the set in Istanbul.Sean Connery s first wife Australian actress Dianne Cilento would be nominated for an Oscar that same year 1963 for a supporting Role in the film Tom Jones. She didn’t win but Tom Jones won a Best Picture Oscar.Lionel Bart wrote the words and music to From Russia With Love,Matt Monro sang the song which you can hear over the end credits ( Bond and Tatiana on the boat in Venice.
Thank you for the excellent addition of information. Sone very interesting facts. Please continue ti add information like this to my future James Bind videos. Thank you so much!
Wikipedia says Llewelyn was captured attempting to retreat to Dunkirk from Lille in 1940. He as a 2nd Lt. and was imprisoned at Colditz for most of his imprisonment. Five years was such a long time to be a POW. My dad was a POW for just under 3 years after being captured at the Dieppe Raid (which Fleming supposedly had a hand in developing) in 1942. It took such a toll of my dad, the PTSD he suffered for the rest of his life. I don't know how the Dunkirk POWs like Llewelyn were able to function after the war.
@ Thanks for the corrections about Desmond Five years is an terribly long time. I don’t think I would have lasted five weeks. And thank you for sharing the story about your father. Dieppe was a bloodbath mostly Canadian Casualties but British also.
@@buddyvilla7393 Just for clarification, my dad was born in Britain but mostly raised in the U.S. After the fall of France he wanted to get into the fighting, so he went north and enlisted in the Canadian army - the Essex Scottish - in July 1940.
Another great James Bond fight scene is the one in the elevator in Diamonds Are Forever with Joe Robinson playing Peter Franks! In the ‘making of’ Joe Robinson quotes Connery would have said, “one of these days they’ll have us fighting in a phone booth”
The Bentley was Bond’s personal car not that of MI6. Major Boothroyd was introduced as the armorer not Q in Dr. No. Grant was described in the book as being a psychopath who enjoys killing in the book and so he made the perfect assassin. From Russia With Love is my favorite Bond movie and book. It is a spy story and film. It followed the book fairly well. It also didn’t have the ridiculous gadgets that came along in the subsequent movies.nor was it campy as the Rodger Moore movies. The acting was better in the Connery movies than the rest until Danial Craig took over.
My favourite Bond Film, closely followed by "On Her Majestys Secret Service" and "Dr. No." I know this will be controversial, but I am a Bond Book fan and these movies come closest to the books. The Roger Moore and later incarnations have only the title and the main characters in common. I challenge anyone to read "The Spy who Loved me" and compare it to the movie... Not that all of this bothers me, of course, I can enjoy any Bond film, but these three remain firm in my personal top 3.
As well as the Star Trek series of video essays, this continuation of the Bond films has been entertaining & informative. Die-hard Bond fans will know the vast majority of the details, but nonetheless the videos will go down well with long term & new fans alike. I’m looking forward to the 3rd in the series as well as the rest of the 25.
Thank you so much for the kind words. And I'm glad you enjoyed the Star Trek videos as well. I have so many videos planned. I hope you stick around for all of them. 🙂
Loved Lotte Lenya playing Rosa Klebb. She got the whole look, style and everything (even the black leather coat from the great Lydia St. Clair in the WWII spy film "House on 92nd Street". They even look alike! Poor Lydia was an outstanding actress but never got important roles because she wasn't 'pretty'.
For me, Bobby Darin did the best version of 'Mack the Knife', he really nailed it and, at the age of 70,I still play it and love it, but I suppose that most of those watching this video won't even know who Bobby Darin was?
Wow. Bobby Darin. You might be right. I'm going to bet that less than 50% of my audience will know who he is until you say, "He's the Splish Splash guy." And the young ones may know him as the "Beyond the Sea" guy. His Mack The Knife is awesome! Such a great singer and taken from us way too soon at the tragic age of 37 over a bizarre dental incident that affected his artificial heart valves.
@@TotallyAwesomeFilmsPodcast I have a lot of Bobby Darin songs on my media player and I think his version of 'Things' is just a nose in front of Dean Martin's.
I agree. It doesn’t really need the headline grabbing “Unbelievable” as its well researched & nicely presented. Bond fans will find it especially when they share the link via fan groups on Social Media.
Spectre was introduced in the book Thunderball (1961) not On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1963). Also the Thunderball novel was based on a screen treatment that was co-written by Ian Fleming, Kevin Mcclory, and Jack Whittingham.
Thanks for the correct. Totally mispoke. I was thinkkng OHMSS because that was the first time Bond met Blofed. Actually, I talked a little bit about the McClory situation in my Dr No video, and will talk about the whole story in depth in my Thunderball episode. (And of course again when I talk about Never Say Never Again.) Thanks for your help!
This is my favourite of the James Bond films, but there are problems with the following of the train. They must have used films of at least three trains, so when I first saw it, i was saying that the train on the level crossing, was not the same train, as the wooden wagons on the back of the train, would not have been used on a train of that nature. When they show the train, with the map, showing where they are going, the train is made up of British Railways Mk1 carriages. But whenever you see them getting on or off the train, it is the carriages which would possibly be used for a train such as the Orient Express. That is the only problem that I have with this film.
From Russia With Love was, at least amongst the 60’s to 70’s era James Bond Films, the only actual Spy movie. No nefarious plots at world domination or other cartoonish plots. Just an attempt to get a cryptography machine. Also, it is the only Bond movie I know of (I haven’t seen the more recent ones) that has a McGuffin.
Thanks for the reply. The main evidence against it is a scene in William Manchester's Death of a President in which Arthur Schlesinger Jr., the historian who was a Special Assistant to JFK, arranged a screening of FRWL at the White House theater the night before the assassination. Kennedy was going to see the movie after he came back from Texas. FRWL had recently premiered in London but wasn't set for release in the US until the spring of 1964.
I love deep dives and this one about one of my favorite film series is excellent. I loved every Bond film with Connery except Diamonds, which is where the tone of the movies changed dramatically for the worse. I never accepted Moore as Bond. Connery is the one and only while the rest vary in quality. Dalton probably was the best. Not a fan of the dour last Bond. You Only Live Twice was great, with a volcano set that cost an unprecedented $1 million. And the theme song rivals Goldfinger as my favorite, despite the problems they had getting the vocals in tune from Nancy Sinatra. Great job!
@TotallyAwesomeFilmsPodcast I can't wait to see it. I hope you go into the problems the producer had getting Sinatra's vocals on tape. My understanding is that she had to sing it line by line. Still a great song and performance, though!
@@TotallyAwesomeFilmsPodcast Hi! The game is Boris Spassky (world champion 1969-1972) vs David Bronstein (tied world championship 1950), Soviet championship Leningrad 1960. For some reason, two pawns from the actual game are missing in the movie.
JUST TOO MEET A BEAUTIFUL WOMAN??????? NONSENSE!!!!!!..... BOND TRULY WAS A PATRIOT HER MAJESTIEY....... AND THE SERVICE. 🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧🇬🇧
It's hard to overstate how much influence this film had on me as a boy. I was 7 in the summer of 1964 when my aunt took me to a double feature - From Russia With Love followed by Goldfinger. I had never heard of James Bond. The action and exoticness of FRWL was something I had never seen before, the belly dancers, the women fighting each other, the briefcase with a sniper's rifle, the fight on the train. I liked this movie better than Goldfinger and to this day it is still my favorite. I became a James Bond devotee. I begged for the toy James Bond briefcase for Christmas that year, and when I opened that present on Xmas morning I was so excited. James Bond became my role model as I grew up, even into my 20s. It turns out my dad did have a connection to Ian Fleming from WWII. Fleming was an officer in British Naval Intelligence during the war. It is said he developed the Bond character based on the commandoes he worked with. Fleming during the war cooked up a scheme to "pinch" a German cipher machine, the Enigma, and my father was part of the raid that was sent into to get it in occupied France in Aug 1942. The raid was unsuccessful and my dad was captured, spending the rest of the war in various German stalags. The Russian cipher machine in RFWL is of course a take on the German Enigma. I've seen all the Bond films, except for Daniel Craig's last one. The film series doesn't really interest me anymore, they're mostly just mindless violence and CGI special effects today, not very appealing to me. My second favorite movie in the franchise is 1981's For Your Eyes Only. One last thing - Ian Fleming was a raging alcoholic, that is well documented. But I knew it from the first time I saw his picture, which was on the cover of the book From Russia With Love that I bought in 1977. The pic was taken just before he died in 1964. And he looked exactly like my dad shortly before he died in 1973, a face wrinkled and ravaged by binging on alcohol and cigarettes, which was the fate of so many men who served in WWII.
I also love For Your Eyes Only. Such an amazing Bond film, and yet practically forgotten today. Thank you so much for your post. Very interesting stuff! And I agree. I was very disappointed by No Time To Die. Excellent start, but the ending truly angered me.
In 1964, I emigrated to Canada with my family on Cunard’s Carinthia. I was seven at the time. From Russia With Love was playing in the cinema on board and I watched it alone. I became a Bond addict from then on. A couple of years later my dad dropped me off at a movie theatre to see a double feature with Dr. No and Goldfinger. I think these films had a huge effect on my life. The set designs inspired me to study design and make it my life’s career.
I love your comments and identify with a lot of what you say. I have always thought this was the greatest Bond film of all and it also influenced me a lot. I have never seen a superior fight sequence.
I saw From Russia With Love at the theater in 1963. Yes, the train fight got my 10-year-old attention. I was a bit uncomfortable with the claustrophobic brutality, I had never seen such a realistic fight on the big or little screen. The fight scene is indeed iconic and bloody well done.
Thank you so much. It's always nice to meet a fellow Bond fan. I hope you enjoy this series. Goldfinger is next and we'll eventually discuss all of them! 😀
Lovely anecdote, would love to see it in a theater in London, some day. It is my favorite Bond film. And Connery my favorite Bond actor.
@@TotallyAwesomeFilmsPodcast - Goldfinger. I have no words. Seeing that in the theaters in 1964 when the Beatles were conguering the world? James Bond, that night, became the coolest human to walk the Earth. thank you.
Here's the plan...we kidnap Mark Kermode's hair, hold it for ransom until he uses his enormous influence to bring Bond to the Odeon.
FRWL has always been my favorite Bond film. Goldfinger is #2 and only for the reason that I think that’s the film where the fan-favorite gadgetry increases to the point where it crosses the line into gimmickry that would plague the franchise for decades. I feel that FRWL strikes the perfect balance with “practical” realistic gadgets that reflect actual spy craft instead of comic book superheroes. Add in the realism of the train fight and the nods to Hitchcock (I’m also a huge fan of trains and all of Hitchcock’s films) and this one is the perfect Bond. My only quibble is I wish they would could have had a better female lead than Daniella Bianchi. The rest of the casting is unquestionably A+ while, other than A+ beauty, she is only a C- actress. And thank you for giving props to editor Peter Hunt. I like the proliferation of TH-cam videos that educate viewers on the importance of editing and how often films are actually “saved by the edit” while the director goes on to get all the glory.
My pleasure. People don't give Peter Hunt enough credit. I frequently debate which movie I like more, Goldfinger or From Russia with Love. It's always close, but FRWL tends to win more often.
Thank you so much for your post.
One of my top three Bond movies. I watch it ever time it’s on TV
I agree!
Great video! This has always been one of my favorite Bond movies. And thanks for pointing out the Terence Young commentary. Found it on TH-cam, looking forward to listening.
Thank you! And I'm glad you're enjoying the Terrence Young commentary. It's wild!
Ok, so I just finished watching this essay, and now you have a NEW subscriber. Excellent research, writing, and presentation! THANKS!!
Thank you so much for the kind words. Welcome to my channel!
Lotte Lenya was fantastic in this movie. Her life story is fascinating, it would explain her "cameo" mention in the song Mack the Knife to anyone who loved that song and wondered who she was
She was amazing!
FRWL was the first Bond movie I saw in the theaters. My dad took me. Great movie, a real excellent spy thriller. It is my favorite Bond film of all time.
From Russia With Love is such a great film. It's amazing you were there to see it in the theaters when it came out. You were a part of history.
@@TotallyAwesomeFilmsPodcast I guess I am. One advantage of being an old fart! We also saw Goldfinger in the movie theaters. Seeing the DB5 on the big screen...WOW!!!
My favourite Bond film too, of all time. The end of the boat chase was filmed in the tank at Pinewood, the smoke and explosions disguising the fact that they were no longer up in Scotland.
It is one of favorites as well. And you are right about the boat scene moving to Pinewood. You know your James Bond trivia.
Thanks for the video.
Regarding the editing, the music during the boat chase was perfect.
My absolute pleasure. Thank you for the kind words.
Hey - great job.
I'm a Bond fan and this is my favourite Bond film. There was loads here I didn't know before!
Thank you for the kind words!
Yes, I can still remember that fight scene to this day. Robert Shaw was so believable, I never knew that was him later in later roles.
But those knife shoes were even more scary. She was pure evil. Some of my best boyhood memories.
Thanks for the homage to Lotte Lenya.
My pleasure! 🙂 I'm glad you enjoyed it!
A+ documentary. Very well done. From Russia and Goldfinger are my favourite Bond films.
Thank you so much for the kind words. I just released Goldfinger today. I hope you enjoy it.
i love od bond. This is one of my favorites
I agree. It's one of greatest Bond movies of all time.
Daniela Bianchi was not the first choice to play Tatiana, it was German actress Elga Andersen who would later co-star with Steve McQueen in 1971's Le Mans. This is how director Terence Young tells the story: Many actresses were tested for the part but Elga was our first choice. She was in a film called Bird of Paradise, and she got the part on those merits. She was going to be announced the next day, but there was a disastrous screening of a new Judy Garland film ( I Could Go on Singing ) and no one was in the mood for announcing anything. Then a top United Artists executive who had been trying to climb in the sack with Elga told us plainly that we couldn't use her because of her reputation. It was completely untrue. I found out later that she was a woman of impeccable character, but between the bad taste in everyone's mouth at UA about the Judy Garland film and this character's unfounded accusations, I couldn't get anyone to approve her casting. Daniela Bianchi, whom I liked very much, but at the time I thought she was a very limited actress. The role, of course, didn't call for much, but Elga would have been better.
Wow! Thank you so much for that amazing bit of information. Totally Awesome! 😀
Your movie reviews are excellent and very informative. Subscribed.
Thank you so much! Welcome! And enjoy!
I was born in 1962 which used to make me young when compared to these movies Lol! I have just gotten into Bond at 62. I have read and re-read Fleming's books. Connery and Creig are my favs.
That's amazing thay you only recently became a James Bond fan. I hope this 007 series reinforces your love of the James Bond franchise. Thank you for your post.
I was 8 at the time and I saw every Bond film opening from Dr No through the Craig years. I still believe that From Russia with Love was the best all around - perfect Cold War spy thriller.
That's incredible! My first Bond movie was Moonraker and I've seen every James Bond movie on opening night since. From Russia With Love is in my top 5. 🙂 Thank you for your post.
14:15 All the fight scenes in the Bourne trilogy were very well done, but I especially think of the fight between Bourne and Desh in the second film. The grisly nature of strangling someone to death is not bowdlerised, neither glamorised. I think it was the quality of the acting that really made those films stand out.
The Bourne films were great and the fight scenes were awesome. I need to watch the Bourne films again. Hmmm... maybe make videos on them....
No doubt, the fight scene in FRWL is a very high point in ALL 007 movies!!!😮
Yes, it is such an amazing fight scene. It still holds up as one of the best many decades later.
One of my favourite Bond films. I like the casting, especially for Kerim Bey and Tatiana Romanova; Red Grant is also well cast. It has a fairly good, face-paced plot and although it's a bit dated (it was made in the early 60s), it's still a great film. Ad infinitely better than some of the films that followed it
I agree with you. It's amazing how this still remains one of thr best James Bond films. Thank you for your post.
Bond’s fight with the sumo henchman in You Only Live Twice in the office of Osaka Chemicals is a close second as far as movie fight scenes.
That's a great scene, as well!
My favorite Bond film.
Mine as well!
It is definitely in my top 5. 😀
The Story Behind From Russia With Love (1963) 12.11.24 1413pm just sayin'...
The elevator fight scene in a following movie was epic. You really felt it and Connery sold it well
The fight scene in Diamonds Are Forever. That is a great fight scene.
@TotallyAwesomeFilmsPodcast yes! Again. The following scenr and dialog wasn't pithy or just a perfectly delivered one liner highlighting how the baddie died by the infallible hero who doesn't have a scratch on him. Good stufg
Fight scene at the end of Thunderball was great as well.
Fight scenes, Tarantino always gets them brutally correct, in particularly the fight between Beatrix and Elle Driver in KB1 or Anton Chigurh escaping custody in No Country.
Excellent choices! Those are great fight scenes.
A great film, for the simple reason that it’s Ian Fleming’s finest novel.
Such a great book and such a great movie.
Connery was 6'2", Shaw was 5'10"....but they seemed the same size, thanks to camera angles, etc. Shaw and Connery were good friends. Mr. Shaw was actually better known as being a Shakespearean actor. Unfortunately, he was a heavy drinker, and this led to his fatal heart attack. He looked "very fit" in this movie, right?
Wow! You know your Robert Shaw trivia. Thank you for your post.
You had to see the train fight scene in the theater to get the scary impact. Contemporary fight scenes are stupid. They do indeed seem like cheap Kung Fu movie fights. The train fight seems incredibly realistic. Additionally, it put the audience on edge with the sense that either character could win.
You said it! That train fight scene is so amazing. I am jealous. It must have been amazing to see it on the big screen when it first camr out. You were a part of cinema history!
Great research work here. I agree with the fight scene. Very raw and real.
Thank you for the kind words.
That was a fascinating video. Enjoyed it. Is the Robert Shaw mentioned here the same man who played Doyle Lonagan in the movie "The Sting?"
Thank you so much. Yes. That's a very deep cut. But Robert Shaw did indeed play Doyle Lonnegan in The Sting. 🙂 Thank you for your post. Goldfinger is coming next.
Uhhh… The fight scenes in the Jason Bourne movies are amazing. Probably now considered among THE best fight scenes in modern movie history.
Couple of good fight scenes in the film Hell Drivers 1957 between Patrick Mcgoohan and Stanley Baker and the end of the film Greed in the sun from 1964 , I recommend them both
Ooo. I'll have to check them out. Thank you!
@@TotallyAwesomeFilmsPodcast Both well worth a lot , Hell Drivers lots of famous names in it including a young Shaun C
Greed In the Sun is in French but I got a copy with English subtitles
I hate to split hairs, but Desmond Llewelyn was captured on the beach by the German Army at Dunkirk ,June of 1940 and spent almost 5 years in a POW. In The Spy Who Loved Me “ Barbara Bach says”Hello Major Boothroyd” before entering the Lotus in Sardinia. Pedro Armendariz SR. Was a huge film star in Mexico before coming to the USA. Pedro was a favorite of John Ford as noted his best film with Ford are :Fort Apache,Three Godfathers with John Wayne and Harry Carey JR and The Fugitive with Henry Fonda cast as a Mexican Rebel leader. I’m the bloke who gave you Sean Connery s early work history ,actually Sean was a boy when he delivered milk by Horsedrawn cart in Edinburg in the 1930 s and 40 s. An older man drove the cart and Sean would run it up to the homes and flats( apartments). Robert Shaw also played Irish gangster “Doyle Lonegan” in the Oscar Winning film The Sting where he gets stung by Paul Newman and Robert Redford. Shaw also played Lord Churchill in Young Winston and was nominated for an Oscar for A Man For All Seasons- 1966. Eunice Gayson-“Sylvia Trench” was supposed to be a recurring role but when Guy Hamilton was hired for Goldfinger she was dropped and Terence Young didn’t cast her in Thunderball. Ken Adam if I’m not mistaken was polish and was a fighter pilot in the RAF in W W2 and Terence young was a Tank Commander. Robert Shaw was interviewed by Dick Cavett in the early 1970 s. Shaw was up to about 3 packs of ciggies a day. No wonder he had a heart attack in his early 50 s. Shaws dad was a doctor who literally would sometimes have to swim from a boat to a windswept Scottish Island to make a house all to deliver a baby or some medical emergency. Sadly Shaws father took his own life at a very young age, as noted Shaws mother moved the family to Cornwall. Pedro Armendariz was great friends with Writer Ernest Hemingway who a few year’s earlier while dying from cancer shot himself. I hate to end on a downer vDaniella Bianchi would appear with Sean’s brother Neal in a film called “Operation Kid Brother” a Bond spoof around 1966-67?? Bernard Lee andLois Maxwell also appear in the film. Ian Fleming and Pedro Armendariz became great friends in a short time while Fleming visited the set in Istanbul.Sean Connery s first wife Australian actress Dianne Cilento would be nominated for an Oscar that same year 1963 for a supporting Role in the film Tom Jones. She didn’t win but Tom Jones won a Best Picture Oscar.Lionel Bart wrote the words and music to From Russia With Love,Matt Monro sang the song which you can hear over the end credits ( Bond and Tatiana on the boat in Venice.
Thank you for the excellent addition of information. Sone very interesting facts. Please continue ti add information like this to my future James Bind videos. Thank you so much!
Please feel free to split hairs anytime. The information you provided is totally awesome. 😀
Wikipedia says Llewelyn was captured attempting to retreat to Dunkirk from Lille in 1940. He as a 2nd Lt. and was imprisoned at Colditz for most of his imprisonment. Five years was such a long time to be a POW. My dad was a POW for just under 3 years after being captured at the Dieppe Raid (which Fleming supposedly had a hand in developing) in 1942. It took such a toll of my dad, the PTSD he suffered for the rest of his life. I don't know how the Dunkirk POWs like Llewelyn were able to function after the war.
@ Thanks for the corrections about Desmond Five years is an terribly long time. I don’t think I would have lasted five weeks. And thank you for sharing the story about your father. Dieppe was a bloodbath mostly Canadian Casualties but British also.
@@buddyvilla7393 Just for clarification, my dad was born in Britain but mostly raised in the U.S. After the fall of France he wanted to get into the fighting, so he went north and enlisted in the Canadian army - the Essex Scottish - in July 1940.
I wish you had said more about "Sylvia Trench", played by the divine Eunice Gayson.
Eunice Gayson is so beautiful. Weird to think she could have been Moneypenny.
The DVD behind the scenes is out the gate.
Really> I need to check it out!
Another great James Bond fight scene is the one in the elevator in Diamonds Are Forever with Joe Robinson playing Peter Franks! In the ‘making of’ Joe Robinson quotes Connery would have said, “one of these days they’ll have us fighting in a phone booth”
The Bentley was Bond’s personal car not that of MI6.
Major Boothroyd was introduced as the armorer not Q in Dr. No.
Grant was described in the book as being a psychopath who enjoys killing in the book and so he made the perfect assassin.
From Russia With Love is my favorite Bond movie and book. It is a spy story and film. It followed the book fairly well. It also didn’t have the ridiculous gadgets that came along in the subsequent movies.nor was it campy as the Rodger Moore movies. The acting was better in the Connery movies than the rest until Danial Craig took over.
It's such a great movie. Thank you so much for the extra trivia.
Good job. I enjoyed that.
Thank you so much for kind words. I'm working on Goldfinger today, and should have it released soon.
My favourite Bond Film, closely followed by "On Her Majestys Secret Service" and "Dr. No."
I know this will be controversial, but I am a Bond Book fan and these movies come closest to the books.
The Roger Moore and later incarnations have only the title and the main characters in common. I challenge anyone to read "The Spy who Loved me" and compare it to the movie... Not that all of this bothers me, of course, I can enjoy any Bond film, but these three remain firm in my personal top 3.
I heard that On Her Majestys Secret Service is the most accurate to the books.
As well as the Star Trek series of video essays, this continuation of the Bond films has been entertaining & informative. Die-hard Bond fans will know the vast majority of the details, but nonetheless the videos will go down well with long term & new fans alike.
I’m looking forward to the 3rd in the series as well as the rest of the 25.
Thank you so much for the kind words. And I'm glad you enjoyed the Star Trek videos as well. I have so many videos planned. I hope you stick around for all of them. 🙂
The fight scene is Grosse Pointe Blank is very underrated.
John Cusack vs Benny The Jet Urquidez! And the poison assassination scene is an homage to You Only Live Twice.
At the beginning of the film Bond doesn't know he's fighting against Spectre he thinks it's Smersh..
Great point.
Robert Shaw was born in Westhoughton, a civil parish in Bolton in Lancashire, Northwest England not Northeast as the narrator describes.
Thank you for the correction.
I really love the action in Grosse Pointe Blank but specifically the fight in high school with Benny Urquidez
You're right. Such a great action sequence.
Mexican actor Pedro Armendariz Sr. was cast as Ali Kerim Bay. He had a part in some John Wayne movies.
Yes. It is so sad what happened to him. 😥 I hope you enjoyed the video.
"None of the cameras were rolling"
Same for the bridge in "The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly"
I know! Ooo. I might have to do the Sergio Leone Man With No Name series some time in the future.
Loved Lotte Lenya playing Rosa Klebb. She got the whole look, style and everything (even the black leather coat from the great Lydia St. Clair in the WWII spy film "House on 92nd Street". They even look alike!
Poor Lydia was an outstanding actress but never got important roles because she wasn't 'pretty'.
She was great as Rosa Klebb. And she had such an interesting life. 🙂 Thank you for your post.
For me, Bobby Darin did the best version of 'Mack the Knife', he really nailed it and, at the age of 70,I still play it and love it, but I suppose that most of those watching this video won't even know who Bobby Darin was?
Wow. Bobby Darin. You might be right. I'm going to bet that less than 50% of my audience will know who he is until you say, "He's the Splish Splash guy." And the young ones may know him as the "Beyond the Sea" guy. His Mack The Knife is awesome! Such a great singer and taken from us way too soon at the tragic age of 37 over a bizarre dental incident that affected his artificial heart valves.
@@TotallyAwesomeFilmsPodcast I have a lot of Bobby Darin songs on my media player and I think his version of 'Things' is just a nose in front of Dean Martin's.
The original was best. It got the correct mood.
The only fight scene that comes closet is the elevator scene in Avengers: The Winter Soldier (?) with Cap and those henchmen surrounding him.
The fight scene in Captain America: Winter Soldier were definitely awesome!
Great vid, thanks....I would like to point out that Lancashire is in the NW (North West) of England...Sorry, I come from Lancashire....All the best...
Thank you for the correction. And thank you for the kind words. I hope you enjoy my Goldfinger video which I am working on at the moment.
@@TotallyAwesomeFilmsPodcast Will watch it when you have put in all the hard work that you do & wishing you all the best....
20:15
'Here's an interesting bit of trivia...'
The _whole freakin' video_ is interesting trivia!!
Haha! 😂 Thank you for the kind words!
The climax in Jackie Chan's Dragon Lord(1982) was brutal and violent.
That movie had crazy action. I need to make a video on Jackie Chan.
Why no mention of Vladek Sheybal and his "Kronsteen" character - one of the coolest and most bad-ass characters in the film?
I should have mentioned it.
Perhaps the title could have been "The Story Behind the Making of 'From Russia With Love'."
I agree. It doesn’t really need the headline grabbing “Unbelievable” as its well researched & nicely presented. Bond fans will find it especially when they share the link via fan groups on Social Media.
I might change it. Thank you for the recommendation.
I really hope someone would share this video. That would be great! 😀
My favorite fight scene in films is the dudgeon scene in Enter the Dragon where Bruce Lee fights the guards.
Oh Yes! An excellent choice. In fact, I might have to agree with you. That was the greatest fight scene of all time.
Louis Armstrong hated being called Louie. Great video otherwise. Iconic film.
I didn't know that. Good info! Thank you for your post.
@@TotallyAwesomeFilmsPodcast called him that myself before I learned
Spectre was introduced in the book Thunderball (1961) not On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1963). Also the Thunderball novel was based on a screen treatment that was co-written by Ian Fleming, Kevin Mcclory, and Jack Whittingham.
Thanks for the correct. Totally mispoke. I was thinkkng OHMSS because that was the first time Bond met Blofed. Actually, I talked a little bit about the McClory situation in my Dr No video, and will talk about the whole story in depth in my Thunderball episode. (And of course again when I talk about Never Say Never Again.) Thanks for your help!
@TotallyAwesomeFilmsPodcast No problem, I appreciate the thanks
You missed a comedic opportunity in NOT continuing the red arrow, when Shaw was the only one in the frame.
😂🤣
This is my favourite of the James Bond films, but there are problems with the following of the train. They must have used films of at least three trains, so when I first saw it, i was saying that the train on the level crossing, was not the same train, as the wooden wagons on the back of the train, would not have been used on a train of that nature.
When they show the train, with the map, showing where they are going, the train is made up of British Railways Mk1 carriages. But whenever you see them getting on or off the train, it is the carriages which would possibly be used for a train such as the Orient Express.
That is the only problem that I have with this film.
That is amazing attention to detail! I also love this movie. It still holds up so well.
From Russia With Love was, at least amongst the 60’s to 70’s era James Bond Films, the only actual Spy movie. No nefarious plots at world domination or other cartoonish plots. Just an attempt to get a cryptography machine. Also, it is the only Bond movie I know of (I haven’t seen the more recent ones) that has a McGuffin.
Are you sure FRWL was the last movie JFK saw before his death?
I read that it was Tom Jones, which he watched in Palm Beach the previous weekend.
Hmmm. That's what my research says, but I'll have to look into more. Thank you.
Thanks for the reply. The main evidence against it is a scene in William Manchester's Death of a President in which Arthur Schlesinger Jr., the historian who was a Special Assistant to JFK, arranged a screening of FRWL at the White House theater the night before the assassination. Kennedy was going to see the movie after he came back from Texas. FRWL had recently premiered in London but wasn't set for release in the US until the spring of 1964.
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Lancashire is in North West England..
I love deep dives and this one about one of my favorite film series is excellent. I loved every Bond film with Connery except Diamonds, which is where the tone of the movies changed dramatically for the worse. I never accepted Moore as Bond. Connery is the one and only while the rest vary in quality. Dalton probably was the best. Not a fan of the dour last Bond.
You Only Live Twice was great, with a volcano set that cost an unprecedented $1 million. And the theme song rivals Goldfinger as my favorite, despite the problems they had getting the vocals in tune from Nancy Sinatra.
Great job!
Thank you! I agree that Diamond are Forever is one of the weaker Bond films. I can't wait to make the video on You Only Live Twice!
@TotallyAwesomeFilmsPodcast I can't wait to see it. I hope you go into the problems the producer had getting Sinatra's vocals on tape. My understanding is that she had to sing it line by line. Still a great song and performance, though!
It's second to best to the fight between King Arthur and the Black Knight.
Haha. "It's just a flash wound!" "The Black Knight always triumphs!" 🤣🤣🤣
Lancashire on the northeast coast of England? Clearly, you haven't bothered to look at a map. Please do some proper research for posting
I've never been to that area and google totally let me down.
Fails to mention the Spassky vs Bronstein chess game.
You're right. I shoild have mentioned it.
@@TotallyAwesomeFilmsPodcast Hi! The game is Boris Spassky (world champion 1969-1972) vs David Bronstein (tied world championship 1950), Soviet championship Leningrad 1960. For some reason, two pawns from the actual game are missing in the movie.
48 years. 😂
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