Title: From Russia With Love (1963)
Time: 111 Minutes
Studio: MGM Fox
Rating: PG
SRP: $34.98

FEATURE: A+

In the second film of the long-running franchise, SPECTRE sets out to exact revenge on James Bond (Sean Connery) for killing Dr. No. They’ve trained a new assassin, Red Grant (Robert Shaw) a towering brute and armed with a garrote in his watch. Trained and approved by SPECTRE Number Three, the vile Rosa Klebb (Lotte Lenya), Grant’s only mission is to wipe out 007.

MI6 sends Bond to Istanbul to retrieve a Russian Lektor cryptograph and a cypher clerk by the name of Tatiana Romanova (Daniela Bianchi) at the consulate. She has made a deal to defect with the Lektor as long as Bond is the agent to pick her up. Unknown to Bond is that Romanova is acting undercover against her will (by SPECTRE) and is leading Bond to his death. British Intelligence Chief Ali Kerim Bey assists Bond in stealing the Lektor and flee on the Orient Express with Romanova, where Grant is waiting for them. Plenty more action ensues and Bond suspects Romanova is working as a spy for Russia, (not SPECTRE) and a deadly climax awaits them all in Venice.

While Dr. No had a plot with a much larger scope, director, Terence Young came back with a stealthy reconnaissance mission showing the wide array of missions in 007′s world. The importance of an enemy cypher was a very real thing. Any edge could be the difference in a global war and a mission like this was a plausible story viewers could buy. The gypsy theme and Venice channels gave it a warm Mediterranean flavor–a great contrast to the bigger threat, the cold, Eastern Bloc looming in the back. The Bond family was established with the return of Bernard Lee as M, Lois Maxwell as Miss Moneypenny and Desmond Llewelyn as Q and Rosa Klebb and Red Grant became legendary adversaries in the 007 lore. If blondes are your thing, Bianchi doesn’t disappoint as the resident Bond girl and balanced by his womanizing and flirting, Connery steps up the physical action in memorable fist fights and explosive chase scenes. Everybody goes home happy. Track down From Russia with Love, it’s one of the very best Bond films ever made, and lives on in high-end form on blu-ray.

PRESENTATION: B+

Packaging is a standard case in a shiny, cardboard slipcase. There are two stickers that cover the slipcase, one of which is a promotion for e-Movie Cash towards the new Quantum of Solace film. The problem though is when you pull the label off to reveal the redemption code, part of the ink of the code and the adhesive stays behind. I wound up using the the adhesive of the other sticker to clean up the case, a tedious and unnecessary annoyance.

As in all of the newer James Bond releases, the same menu design is carried through with a modern and sleek appearance. A spiraling gun barrel frames the screen as silhouettes of shapely women and clips scroll by. The navigation has a spy theme with choices like “Language Decryption” for “Audio”, and “Initiate Mission” for “Play.” Moving within each selection like the extras can be a little cumbersome moving up and down and then to the left to get out of that nav bar, and “Play All” is only an option that shows up some of the time. Once you’ve viewed a special it automatically moves down the menu when your natural instinct is to move to the next selection. Another awkward default is that in the commentary selections it starts at the last track and you have to move up to see the rest. White Subtitles are available in English and Spanish.

AUDIO: A–

A new, 5.1 DTS-HD lossless Master Audio track is one of the major upgrades for the blu-ray. The rear channels get a decent spin with music, explosions, and train effects traveling back to them. The scene where Bond goes at it with a helicopter is one of the better immersive scenes in the film. Dialogue is clear from conversations to the grunts of hand-to-hand combat. Also present is original English and Spanish Mono tracks and a French 5.1 Dolby Digital soundtrack.

VIDEO: A+

From Russia gets a new 1080p transfer that’s AVC MPEG-4 encoded and with the Lowry Restoration Process it looks like it’s ready to hit theaters tomorrow! The original ratio is 1.66:1 has preserved and details like the frescos are completely visible now. The title sequences are sexy and alluring using the gypsy dancers and projecting the names onto their bodies. I can’t rave about these title sequences enough as their rich hues in high definition are like ripe fruit. These transfers show no sign of age or artificial enhancement, just a very clean image.

EXTRAS: A+

Like all of the Bond blu-rays, they’ve transplanted all of the extras from the recent DVD releases. They are in standard definition, widescreen and sport a 2.0 Dolby Stereo mix. Each of these Bond films have a different degree of strength concerning the extras. Some have a literal vault of archival footage, which can be nice, but also can be dull. From Russia with Love has a great Audio Commentary hosted by John Cork of the Ian Fleming Foundation and interviews with director, Terence Young and cast members that weave in and out of scenes they contributed to.

Two excellent featurettes in the Mission Dossier menu are the Inside From Russia With Love (33:46) and Harry Saltzman: Showman (26:42). The former talks about Harry Saltzman and Cubbie Broccoli knows the formula. Release James Bond every year and produce another in between but knowing it and implementing it were two different things. The feature on Saltzman revealed him to be a big showman, and always tried to think big, and tried to take Bond to that big level. His daughter Hilary, and son Steven recollect fondly personal stories of their father, and his peers and friends on his storied career.

Open up the MI6 vault to get to know Ian Fleming in The CBC Interview (7:42) in which he answers questions on his approach to writing the novels and denies that they are corrupting the young boys in school. Two BBC Audio Clips are heard with black and white photo montages. One is with Raymond Chandler (5:11) where the two popular writers converse on their differences, and the other, DESERT Island Discs (5:12) explains how intelligence organizations really work. And if that’s not enough, there’s an Animated  Storyboard (1:28) of the boat chase sequence.

007 Mission Control is the throw-away extra which allows users to access all of the major elements of film strung together in different branches: opening credits, women, allies, villains, mission combat manual, Q branch, and exotic location. The best purpose I see for this is to showcase the action scenes for reference material or to pull out the great Binder opening credits. In the “Ministry of Propaganda” four theatrical trailers (7:41), three TV spots (1:35) and three radio commercials (1:38). An extensive gallery full of promotional and behind-the-scenes images closes out the extras.

FROM ERNIE WITH LOVE –- OVERALL SHOCK VALUE: A+

As much as I enjoy all of the Sean Connery Bond films, From Russia with Love sticks out as a big favorite of mine. Sometimes the spy missions that lean on the espionage and reconnaissance intrigue me more than the threat of yet another nuclear weapon. The casting was filled with inspiring choices. Like Thunderball, this film balances out the playful banter with up-close violence. Bond continues to carry a mean streak in his character but is strong enough to take the foot off the throat at any moment. And as the body count in Bond’s wake rises, so do the number of reasons to add this blu-ray to your shelf.