This movie is the second Bond film released. In my humble opinion, it is the best Bond film.
In this adventure, Bond is sent to recover a Lektor decoding device from defecting Tatiana Romanova who works at the Soviet Counselate in Istanbul. Bond knows that it is a trap, but does not realize SPECTRE rather than SMERSH (the Soviet counter-espionage agency) is behind it. Blofeld's agent Kronsteen (a brilliant chess player) devised the plan and the recently defected Col. Klebb runs the operation. She selected Red Grant to kill 007 and retrieve the Lektor. Along the way, Bond is assisted by Kerim Bey (a Turk working for the British).
The cast in this film is excellent. Connery, Daniela Bianchi, Pedro Armendariz, and Robert Shaw make this film a good one. Shaw is particularly menacing as Grant. The interplay between him and Connery on the train is very memorable and probably the best Bond/villain encounter in the whole Bond series. The other great part about this movie is that the story draws the viewer in. Bond is a little more human (in that he makes mistakes) than in the other films. It also didn't seem to rely on all the gadgets that the later Bond films sometimes employ (although he does have a pretty neat briefcase with sniper rifle).
The other thing that makes this movie good is that it follows the novel. Granted, there was some deviation (there usually is), but the producers kept pretty close to Fleming's book. In addition, Sean Connery may not have been the first choice to play Bond, but his portrayal of Bond is certainly iconic. This film is a show case of not only Connery, but also the James Bond persona in total.
In this adventure, Bond is sent to recover a Lektor decoding device from defecting Tatiana Romanova who works at the Soviet Counselate in Istanbul. Bond knows that it is a trap, but does not realize SPECTRE rather than SMERSH (the Soviet counter-espionage agency) is behind it. Blofeld's agent Kronsteen (a brilliant chess player) devised the plan and the recently defected Col. Klebb runs the operation. She selected Red Grant to kill 007 and retrieve the Lektor. Along the way, Bond is assisted by Kerim Bey (a Turk working for the British).
The cast in this film is excellent. Connery, Daniela Bianchi, Pedro Armendariz, and Robert Shaw make this film a good one. Shaw is particularly menacing as Grant. The interplay between him and Connery on the train is very memorable and probably the best Bond/villain encounter in the whole Bond series. The other great part about this movie is that the story draws the viewer in. Bond is a little more human (in that he makes mistakes) than in the other films. It also didn't seem to rely on all the gadgets that the later Bond films sometimes employ (although he does have a pretty neat briefcase with sniper rifle).
The other thing that makes this movie good is that it follows the novel. Granted, there was some deviation (there usually is), but the producers kept pretty close to Fleming's book. In addition, Sean Connery may not have been the first choice to play Bond, but his portrayal of Bond is certainly iconic. This film is a show case of not only Connery, but also the James Bond persona in total.