From Russia with Love

Terence Young’s second Bond film walks Bond into a trap built around the Soviet cipher machine Lektor, by way of Istanbul. John F. Kennedy listed this Fleming title among his ten favourite books in Life in 1961, and the producers picked it next. Part of its Istanbul really is Istanbul: the Basilica Cistern, Hagia Sophia and Sirkeci station, which also doubles for Belgrade and Zagreb. The gypsy camp went up on the Pinewood backlot instead: British funding rules then required at least seventy per cent of a film to be shot in Britain or the Commonwealth. Pedro Armendáriz, who plays Ali Kerim Bey, was diagnosed with inoperable cancer during the Istanbul shoot; his scenes were moved up and a double and Young stepped in for the rest. Editor Peter Hunt and Young moved Grant’s training scene ahead of the main titles; later films kept the pre-title opening. Desmond Llewelyn first appeared as Q. The train fight with Robert Shaw’s Grant took three weeks. A good fit if you know the Basilica Cistern and Sirkeci station and want to sort out what was shot where. Not for viewers expecting the action at the end: the hardest scene is on the train, and the chases after it were invented for the film and shot in Scotland.