ITV is showing From Russia with Love today, which star Sean Connery described as his favourite of the James Bond films he made.
Connery made seven Bond movies, including the unofficial Never Say Never Again, but it was his 1963 second outing that he enjoyed making the most.
Talking about From Russia With Love, which is being shown today, Sunday, May 25, on ITV1 from 4.20 pm to 6.30 pm, Connery once said: "The first one [Dr. No] I think was shot very well under the circumstances [in the] the time we had. I think Terence Young directed it marvellously. I think the second one is the best of them all. That's my opinion."
Connery felt that after the first two movies, the Bond films became more formulaic and less fun to make. Interestingly, he also only read two of Ian Fleming's novels, "Dr. No" and "From Russia With Love".
There's plenty of humour in From Russia with Love, especially between Connery and actor Pedro Armendáriz, who plays Kerim Bey, the head of Station T in Istanbul whom Bond teams up with. Connery spoke about how he told Fleming he wanted to get humour into the films.
"I felt there was a lack of humour about them and I raised this point with Ian, who I became quite friendly with and admired tremendously. What I admired about Fleming more than anything else was his curiosity. He had a tremendous curiosity about everything.
"When I mentioned the business of humour, he was quite surprised because he felt he was quite humorous. He was as a man, humorous himself. But in writing the character of Bond, he wasn't. One of the first things one had to do was imbue a humorous aspect on a realistic basis. Therefore, one would get an upbeat ending to scenes and situations, therefore they [the audience] could acknowledge and accept the violence.”
From Russia With Love, which is also in our opinion the best Bond movie, sees 007 sent to steal a top-secret Soviet decoding machine and ends up helping its operator defect to the West. However, he eventually discovers the mission is really a trap set by the international crime syndicate SPECTRE, and struggles to evade his would-be assassins.
Among the many great scenes is Connery's fight with SPECTRE agent Donald "Red" Grant (Robert Shaw) on the Orient Express. It's raw, powerful, and one of the best fight scenes you’ll ever see.
If you’ve never seen From Russia with Love or just want to enjoy it again, it’s on ITV1 today at 4.20 pm (see our TV guide for full listings).
