October 10 2020  — From Russia with Love is the second in the James Bond film series produced by Eon Productions, as well as Sean Connery’s second role as MI6 agent James Bond. The film premiered on October 10 1963 at the Odeon Leicester Square in London. Follow us on Twitter: @INTEL_TODAY

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“Fleming found he had a love for espionage, and combined with his support for all things British, provided purpose to his life. But after WWII ended, he found himself at loose ends, and took a job with a newspaper. He hated the drudgery that went with the position, and often found himself daydreaming while admiring a picture of Jamaica near his desk. After several vacations to the island, he decided to move there permanently and, drawing on his family’s income, built a home for himself. He called it ‘Goldeneye.’ Fleming told friends he had always wanted to write a spy novel…and now with time on his hands, he did exactly that.”

Ian Fleming: The Man Behind the Most Famous Spy — CIA Website (May 2018)

This film marked the debut of Desmond Llewelyn as Q, a role he would play for 36 years until The World Is Not Enough in 1999.

Albert Broccoli listed it with Goldfinger and The Spy Who Loved Me as one of his top three favourites, explaining that he felt “it was with this film that the Bond style and formula were perfected”.

The film introduced several conventions which would become essential elements of the series: a pre-title sequence, the Blofeld character (referred to in the film only as “Number 1”), a secret-weapon gadget for Bond, a helicopter sequence (repeated in every subsequent Bond film except The Man with the Golden Gun), a postscript action scene after the main climax, a theme song with lyrics, and the line “James Bond will return/be back” in the credits.

In October 2018, speaking to the Guardian, 007’s executive producer Barbara Broccoli ruled out any Doctor Who-style gender reinvention for Ian Fleming’s super-spy.

“Bond is male. He’s a male character. He was written as a male and I think he’ll probably stay as a male.

And that’s fine. We don’t have to turn male characters into women.

Let’s just create more female characters and make the story fit those female characters. (…)

Bond cannot be considered a feminist property, but mostly because people tend to reference those early movies.

It was written in the 50s, so there’s certain things in [Bond’s] DNA that are probably not gonna change.

But look at the way the world has changed. And I think Bond has come through and transformed with the times. I’ve tried to do my part, and I think particularly with the Daniel [Craig] films, they’ve become much more current in terms of the way women are viewed.”

Sean Connery, Michael G. Wilson, Barbara Broccoli, Timothy Dalton and Daniel Craig consider From Russia With Love their favourite Bond film.

From Russia With Love (1963) —  Official Trailer

From Russia with Love Theme Song – James Bond

REFERENCES

From Russia with Love (film) — Wikipedia

Ian Fleming: The Man Behind the Most Famous Spy — CIA Website (May 28 2018)

James Bond on film – 007’s best and worst movies ranked!  — Guardian

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On This Day — James Bond “From Russia With Love” Premiere in London (October 10 1963)

On This Day — James Bond “From Russia With Love” Premiere in London (October 10 1963) [2019]

On This Day — James Bond “From Russia With Love” Premiere in London (October 10 1963) [2020]