From Russia with love

Continuing my quest to watch all of the Bond films in sequence, Sharon, Jack and I watched From Russia with love on Saturday night. It stars Sean Connery as James Bond, Robert Shaw as Donald 'Red' Grant, Pedro Armendáriz as Kerim Bey, Daniela Bianchi as Tatiana Romanova and Desmond Llewelyn as Q.

The film notes the first appearance of Desmond Llewelyn as Major Boothroyd, known as Q, the character he would play in nearly all of the series' films, until his death in 1999. Pedro Armendáriz reportedly appeared while enduring great pain from cancer (he visibly limps in most scenes) in order to leave behind financial resources for his family after his impending death. He committed suicide soon after production of the film.

Released in 1963, the production values of the film are much higher than Dr. No. While watching the film, Sharon kept commenting how sexist it was. In the movie, Bond walks into an obvious trap in Istunbal in an attempt to obtain a Russia code machine. After getting the code machine, Bond, Tatiana and Kerim escape the city on the Orient Express.