From Russia with Love [DVD] [1963]

From Russia With Love is one of my personal favorites among the varions James Bond films. With Sean Connery at his prime, featuring a story pulled directly from an Ian Fleming novel, the film remains one of the storied series' finest achievements. MGM continues to do fine work with their restorative work on the Bond franchise; From Russia With Love looks better than could have been expected for a film of its advanced age, while sounding thoroughly updated and exciting. The set's supplemental features are also well assembled, giving a nice historical perspective on the film's production and cultural impact. Bond fans will doubtlessly line up to purchase From Russia With Love on Blu-ray. Those viewers not familiar with the film will be treated to one of the series' best; it's a film that contains a tremendous amount of legendary material that must be seen. This exceptional Blu-ray release is highly recommended.

As a James Bond fan from the very beginning, this is in my opinion the very best of the Bond films. Sean Connery, in my humble opinion, was and remains the true epitome of all the Bond portrayers. 007 is back in the 2nd installment of the James Bond series, this time battling a secret organization known as SPECTRE. The Russians are out to snatch a decoding device known as the Lektor, using the beautiful and ravishing Tatiana (Daniela Bianchi) to lure Bond into helping them. Bond willingly travels to meet Tatiana in Istanbul, where he must rely on his wits to escape with his life in a series of deadly encounters with the enemy. Also starring Robert Shaw, Bernard Lee as M, Lois Maxwell as Moneypenny, and the always amusing Desmond Llewelyn as Q. Worth every penny if you are a Bond fan or new to the series.

I am old enough to have watched all James Bond movies, this is one of the older ones. I had not seen it before, and I wanted to see the older generation Bond movies. Now I have a chance to do to the sale of these Blu-ray movies. Although I was not disappointed, it appears dated. Blu-ray version of this movie looks very good – sharp, and you can see the grains of the film. But the story almost appears to be a little corny. Character "M" did not have too many "toys" for 007 – and there were some unbelievable moments in the movie that made 007 appear almost careless. (For example, he was being followed, and he was not even aware of it.) But overall, I did not dislike it and I am planning to watch it again with friends. It does look very good on a 65 inch 4K TV with a Blu-ray upscaler

The second Bond film has a more intricate plot than Dr. No. 007 (Sir Sean) is sent to Istanbul to rendezvous with a supposed Russian defector (Daniela Bianchi) who promises to give his government access to a top secret and coveted decoding machine. Both, however, are unaware that the strings are being pulled by an organization called SPECTRE, who has sent two of its best operatives (Lotte Lenya & Robert Shaw) to kill Bond once he has the merchandise. Once again, the production values are first-rate across the board, but the best moment is the fist fight between Connery's Bond & Shaw's Grant aboard a speeding train. It remains, to this day, the most intense, best edited, and, yes, best acted fight scene in film history.

FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE is Sean Connery's second James Bond movie and his last Bond movie before the "Bond Formula" (Big Bond Battle scene, high tech devices, humor, etc.) was adopted in GOLDFINGER. The highlight of the movie is the train fight scene between Bond and assassin Red Grant played by Robert Shaw (JAWS, THE STING) which is considered by many film fans to be the best fight scene in movie history. Look for Martine Beswick, one of the fighting gypsy girls, who returned as an MI6 agent in THUNDERBALL. FROM RUSSIA FROM LOVE is a good Bond movie and serves as a good prelude to the best Bond movie ever---GOLDFINGER.

One of he best classic Bond films, From Russia With Love. This time the blu-ray comes packaged in a limited edition Best Buy-only collectible steelcase. It features artwork inside, inspired by the film's opening sequence. It comes with a free digital HD copy. The special features are all identically the same as the recent regular blu-ray release. This is simply a neat collectible for diehard fans, especially if they already own the regular version.

Regarded as one of the best classic Bond movies from the Sean Connery period, From Russia with Love makes its blu-ray debut with the AVC Mpeg-4 compression codec, framed at the film's original aspect ratio of 1.66:1 and presented in full 1080p, making the movie look as it has never before. The movie features nice black levels and contrast fitting a picture from the 60s, as well as a remarkable level of detail and an absence of additional digital artifacts and anomalies. For the fans, a must have.

I LOVE all of the early James Bond Movies, and the steelbook packaging, but I have returned and exchanged 5 (so far) of this particular title and I have YET to find one that is not damaged. ALL 5 that I have received have had DENTS (some small, some large), thus the reason for the "1" rating...the movie is a "5", and the packaging and especially the quality control is a "-4"