This, the second Bond film, one I never really liked that much when I was younger. It lacked the gadgets (unless you count 007’s attaché case, and I didn’t), the diabolical mastermind (unless you count Blofeld stroking his pussy, and, as we don’t even see his face, I didn’t) and said master criminal’s hidden lair (Bond’s final confrontation is with a small Russian woman in a hotel room!)
Yet it’s now one of my favourites and for many of the same reasons. Coming before the series found its formula (that would come with the next film, Goldfinger) it stands out from the rest. Things don’t really get moving until Bond boards the Orient Express in the films action packed second half. This section is one long chase, first in the claustrophobic environs of the train, then by truck, and. finally, in the first of the series spectacular boat sequences. The film has more in common here with North by Northwest than anything in the subsequent Bond films, but of course 007 is no innocent victim.
The film may lack a lead villain but it does have one of the all time great henchmen in the macho form of Robert Shaw’s SPECTRE agent Grant. With so much testosterone on display it’s hardly surprising Connery and Shaw wanted to do their own fight scene, and it gives the sequence a raw brutal quality, aided by the close confines of the confrontation, that’s never been equalled. Both stars no doubt nursed a few bruises (in private of course).
The film is a step up from Dr. No in almost every way. Director Terrance Young orchestrates some great action sequences, John Barry’s score is a big improvement on the first film (although it would get better still) and the opening credits are more in keeping with what we’d come to expect from a Bond film (they were produced, not by Robert Brownjohn not Maurice Binder).
Weak points? Well Daniela Bianchi clearly didn’t get the part Tatiana Romanova based on her acting ability (that’s nothing new), but I much prefer my Bond girls to be able to deliver their own lines as well as look pretty (Bianchi was dubbed by Barbara Jefford).
Their really isn’t much to complain about though. This is the Bond Casino Royale was aiming for, taking the character back to his roots and away from the over the top aspects of the series.
James Bond will return in Goldfinger.
