From Russia with Love (James Bond) [Blu-ray]

Let's face it: Sean Connery IS James Bond. Those other guys couldn't carry his Walther PPK. In this movie, Connery proves it. He's cool, smart, every woman's dream, and smoothly deadly. For any aficionado of red-blooded spy fiction, it doesn't get much better.

This is the second of the bond films and it is as good as they get. It has everything we expect in a Bond film (sex, adventure, and humor) so you can't be disappointed. Best of all, there is also the great Lotte Lenya with the deadliest shoes in the spy business.

One of the best Connery Bond films along with "Goldfinger", "From Russia with Love" focuses more on story and less on the gadgets that came to dominate the Bond films. Fox and MGM (Fox is now marketing MGM/UA films even though MGM is owned by Sony)have done a good job of upgrading this classic film.

The Blu-ray looks extremely good with a good digital scrubbing that still manages to retain the film grain and has plenty of detail, texture. Colors are good but could be stronger. Skin tones look quite good throughout.

The special features are comprehensive. Director Terence Young does a nice job recalling the making of teh film in the commentary track, a CBC interview with author Ian Fleming, Ian Fleming discussing Desert Island discs (with some interesting although not too surprising selections), "Inside from Russia with Love", a featurette on Ian Fleming and noir author Raymond Chandler, animated storyboard sequence. Trailers, radio, TV spots are also included. There is also a nice featurette on co-producer Harry Saltzman and image datatbase and an interactive "007 Mission Control" into the world of "From Russia with Love".

Terence Young ("Dr. No", "Thunderball")directs this classic Bond film with flair using the opening as a teaser to catch your attention and throw you off. Richard Maiubaum's screenplay is top notch taking the elements of Ian Fleming's novel and brilliantly using them in the context of the film.

Pacing of the film is typical for era although fans that have grown used to more recent Bond films may find this a bit slow going at times.

Bond (Sean Connery)tries to obtain a Russian decoding device from a woman who believes her mission is to "defect" to the west. Bond's got competition for the device--Spectre's agent (Robert Shaw playing a ex-con killing machine). The fight sequence at the conclusion of the film between Connery and Shaw is terrific.

5 stars for the film, 5 stars for the digital clean up, 4 stars for the digital clean up/transfer (could have been 5 with stronger colors).

You all know how good a Bond movie this is (second only to "Goldfinger"). The picture quality is very good. I just wish the studio had left it to the viewer to zoom the picture to get rid of black bars. Fortunately (because of the 1.66:1 aspect ratio), the loss is minimal (1/16th of the height of the frame). The second DVD contains three short interviews with Ian Fleming (only one of which has video), and is hardly worth the extra $4.

I watch this and do enjoy it; but for some reason I always fall asleep during THIS film. The other bond movies are no problem for me.