Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #6448 in DVD
• Released on: 2006-07-17
• Rating: Parental Guidance
• Aspect ratio: 1.66:1
• Formats: Box set, PAL, Widescreen
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: Greek, Dutch, Norwegian, Finnish, English, Danish, Swedish, Hindi
• Number of discs: 2
• Running time: 110 minutes

Special Features
THE ULTIMATE EDITION CONTAINS: NEVER BEFORE RELEASED ON DVD: DECLASSIFIED: MI6 VAULT Ian Fleming: The CBC Interview • Ian Fleming & Raymond Chandler Ian Fleming on Desert Island Discs • Animated Storyboard Sequence 007 MISSION CONTROL Interactive Guide Into the World of From Russia With Love THE COMPLETE SPECIAL FEATURES LIBRARY: MISSION DOSSIER Audio Commentary Featuring Director Terence Young and Members of the Cast and Crew Inside From Russia With Love • Harry Saltzman: Showman MINISTRY OF PROPAGANDA Original Trailers, TV Spots, Photo Gallery & Radio Communications

Synopsis
Secret agent James Bond battles the all-enveloping tentacles of an international crime syndicate called SPECTRE. The organisation's mad plan for world supremacy unfolds with the icy efficiency of a chess master's complex strategy and if they succeed the antagonism of the cold war will be pushed from deep-freeze to the supernova of atomic oblivion. But our man Bond dispatches sultry spies, madmen, and double agents with the same coolness he displays while downing martinis and making love to beautiful blondes. In this--the second of the series--Bond travels to Turkey to meet a mysterious Russian woman who claims to have fallen in love with his photograph. She offers him a secret translating device if he will join her, although he does not know that she has been put up to the task by Rosa Klebb--formerly of the KGB--who has gone to work for SPECTRE. It's Bond's assignment to get the girl and the machine back to England, and to do it--of course--in style. Digitally restored.

Customer Reviews

The Best of Bond
The Bond films vary in quality even more widely than the books, but this is still, hands-down, the best Bond film. It's more concerned with espionage than stunts, with character than supposedly cool one-liners, it has that gorgeous look of the best 60s films, it's not remotely self-referential and it doesn't have to struggle against competing spy/action franchises because it's so far ahead of the few rivals it had back then anyway. This DVD set makes FRWL look freshly-minted and is a significant step up from all previous editions. It looks good enough to eat - in fact, it's hard to imagine that hi-def could look significantly better.

Sean becomes Bond
In only his second outing as the worlds most famous spy Connery commands the screen now in a way only hinted at in Dr No. Not only is Connery's acting much better he seems to have grown in much the same way Bond does in the books. The malevolence and boredom which Flemmings Bond has when not engaged on a mission is evidently present as is his belief in putting the Job before all else. Taking Daniel Craig aside Connery in From Russia With Love is the only other Bond to have what Craig described as a physical presence capable of the acts he portrays on screen. The final fight scene would be unbelievable without this, given the menace and physicality of his opponent brilliantly built up throughout the film, much in keeping with Flemming's original novel.

The remastering as with others in the series is completed very well, a much better experience than the Christmas day cuts of days gone by. The surround sound track is particularly engaging and really does add to the action movie experience.

A highly recommended movie and probably one of the best Bond films made. It has it all great action, menacing intelligent villains and a very possible plot. Flemmings knowledge of the scale of an intelligence section required to achieve the aims of the plot really adding to the story-line.

Quick Reviews!
Another dark outing for Connery, FRWL sees Bond lured by SPECTRE into their territory as revenge for his interference with Dr. No. Along for the ride is Donald Grant (The cooly ruthless Shaw) who is not what he seems. Naturally Bond realises what is happening just in time and, in a brilliant fight sequence (one of the best in the series) he takes one Grant, who may be his match in every way. However, SPECTRE will not give up so easily and will stop at nothing to make the Secret Agent pay.


This has probably one of the best scripts for a Bond film, full of twists and surprises, not pandering to any audience, and before the time when every Bond film had to have very certain themes planted into it. It seems like a thriller with strong action elements, rather than an action with strong comic elements as the series would progress to, but unfortunately the film is not as good as it should have been. The Bond girls are instantly forgettable, the theme song is awful, and there are few good set pieces. What lifts it though is Rosa Klebb (another strong performance, by Lotte Lenya), helped by a couple of shoe gadgets, and the pre-title sequence which, although not one of the best, would continue in all following Bond movies. The introduction of Q, rather than Boothroyd sparks the beginning of Bond's use of gadgets and another good relationship in the films. Not memorable enough, difficult when Goldfinger was next, but scores points for being gritty and realistic.

This DVD has a wonderful restoration job in terms of sound and picture quality, making the film seem like a modern action flick. The extras include interviews and commentaries, and are equally as interesting as each other in the series.