From Russia with Love was filmed in Istanbul, Turkey, Scotland, and Venice. The movie was released on 10 October 1963 in the UK.
The film is produced by Eon Productions starring Sean Connery as 007 James Bond, an MI6 agent. The movie and the character have a different level of craze and base among movie lovers.
In the James Bond series sequel, Sean Connery returns to fight SPECTRE, a covert criminal organization. Russian Rosa Klebb, played by Lotte Lenya, wants to steal the Lector, a decoding device. She uses a naive, beautiful girl named Tatiana, played by Daniela Bianchi, to convince Bond to help them.
The movie received substantial critical and commercial success. It became a blockbuster in the 1960s film industry by grossing more than $78 million worldwide, exceeding its $2 million budget—both reviewers and the general public rank the movie as one of the greatest in the series.
This part of the series was ranked as the ninth fantastic British film ever by Total Film magazine in 2004, making it the only Bond movie on the list. It was also the first Bond movie to win a BAFTA Award for Best Cinematography.
Where Was From Russia With Love Filmed?
From Russia With Love was primarily filmed in Turkey Istanbul. The locations include several venues from different European nations.
The filming began at Pinewood studios on 1 April 1963. It took about five months to complete the shooting of the film. The crew had to travel extensively since various locations were used to make the movie.
Railway stations from different places are primarily used in the shoot. Almost 70% of the movie had to have been shot in Great Britain or the Commonwealth to qualify for British film funding at the time.
Initially, the Gypsy camp was also planned to be filmed in the actual camp in Topkapi, Istanbul, Turkey but ended up being shot in its duplicate in Pinewood. Finally, the movie was released on 10 October 1963.
Other Filming Locations
The movie was shot in London, Istanbul, Scotland, and Venice.
London
The movie's opening scenes were filmed in the Pinewood studios in London. The helicopter landed in the yard of the studio. It is stated to be a Spector Island in the movie.
The rat scene was prohibited from shooting in London since Britain refused to use wild rats.
Istanbul
The first scene of James Bond is at the Yesilkoy Airport. He lands on flight PA1 in Istanbul. Many real locations of Istanbul are used in the movie. From the beginning till Bond leaves the country. All those cars running to follow Bond were shot on the highways of Edirnekapi Yolu, Istanbul, following the way of Soguk Sesame.
The locations are chronologically managed as per the demand of the plot. After road rides, the casts reach different places, such as Mollafenari Nuruosmaniye Caddesi, Kapali Carsi, Halaskargazi Caddesi, Sultan Ahmed Mosque, and many more.
Inside the Yerebatan Sarnici, Bond finds the director of military intelligence. Following the scenes in Galata Koprusu, they went for Higa Sophia Istanbul, where Bond is supposed to find a clue.
After getting the clues, Bond goes to see a beautiful girl in Dolma Bahce Saray, where she asks him if they must leave the place soon. The scaping scene with the wild rats was also tried to be shot in Turkey using the cocoa painted in the rats, but it did not work, so it finally took place in Spain.
The shots in the movie after the escape were from Basilica Cistern and Sirkeci railway station. These locations were used to denote Belgrade and Zagreb in the film.
Scotland
After getting out of the railway shoot, the From Russia with Love crew began their shooting in Scotland's beautiful mountains. The iconic fight scene from a helicopter was shot between the hills in Lochgilphead, Scotland.
James rescues himself from the attack of the gun firing by making a shield of rocks in the mountains. The most engaging climax scene of the blasts in the water was filmed in the city.
A large part of the ending scenes is recorded in Venice. The closing title song of the movie From Russia with love was shot on the Bridge of Sighs, Venice, after successfully escaping from Scotland.
From Russia with Love Cast
The 1963 movie major cast includes Sean Connery and Daniela Bianchi. Terence Young directed the movie.
Sean Connery as James Bond
Sean Connery plays the legendary character James Bond in the seven franchises of James Bond movies. He is a Scottish actor with a remarkable acting career. He is the first man to provide a face to the fictional character of a secret agent, James Bond.
Despite playing such a famous and defining role, he succeeded in escaping the fever people got with James Bond and proved himself to be the great actor of his time with numerous movies like Let's makeup, No road back, Macbeth, etc.
Daniela Bianchi as Tatiana Romanova
Daniela Bianchi is the talented Italian actress who played Tatiana Romanova in the second movie of the James Bond Franchise From Russia with Love, released in 1963. She has been recognized as the Bond girl since then.
Before getting into the film industry, she competed in the Miss Universe 1960 and succeeded in winning the title of 1st runner-up in the Pagent. Bond movie producers got to know about her through the platform, and they chose Daniela from over 200 beautiful women who were the prospects for the role.
