From Russia
With Love
60th Anniversary
1963–2023

Due to the various delays in Turkey due to the weather and large crowds that gathered to watch filming, the production was 18 days over schedule, and three action sequences were yet to be completed – the helicopter chase, the boat chase, and Bond’s fight with Grant on board the Orient Express. The brutal fight was filmed over five days in early June 1963 back at Pinewood Studios, with stunt arranger Peter Perkins (who doubled Sean Connery) and Jackie Cooper (doubling Robert Shaw), with the two lead actors performing much of the action themselves. Lotte Lenya then completed her part in the film after returning to the UK on June 19, 1963. The climactic scenes in the Venice hotel were followed by her arrival at the SPECTRE training camp sequence, which was filmed on the backlot at Pinewood Studios with Walter Gotell, Robert Shaw, and Jan Williams as Grant’s masseuse.

The previously abandoned helicopter chase was then filmed in Scotland in early July, with another accident almost claiming the life of director Terence young as he scouted locations for the boat chase. The helicopter carrying him and assistant art director Michael White plunged into Crinan Harbour, with the pilot having the foresight to flip the chopper on its side as it hit the water. As divers rushed to their aid, Young and White managed to escape from the Plexiglas dome which only had one door operational as the left-hand side was blocked by the camera mount. All three men were largely uninjured, and Young was back at work half-an-hour after the near catastrophe with an arm in a sling. Further accidents happened during the filming of the boat chase in Scotland, when the driver of the car bringing Daniela Bianchi to the location fell asleep at the wheel, causing the car to crash through the wall of a bridge and into a ravine, narrowly missing the river. The actress suffered from a swollen face which delayed shooting for two weeks. The climax of the boat chase also had to be re-filmed after a crew member misheard an instruction and ignited the fuel supposedly detonated by Bond’s ‘Very pistol’ (the flare gun named after Edward Wilson Very [1847-1910]) - although the model used by Sean Connery on location was actually a Webley & Scott Mark III 1” flare pistol. The sequence was being rehearsed when the sea suddenly burst into flames, with no cameras actually turning to capture the action. Special Effects supervisor John Stears hastily arranged for more gas and explosives to be sent overnight so the scene could be re-mounted the following day.

At the end of filming in late July/early August 1963 Terence Young re-shot the Istanbul bridal suite scenes with Sean Connery and Daniela Bianchi after she recovered from the facial bruising sustained during the accident in Scotland. The dialogue in the scene had been given a polish by an uncredited Berkely Mather (one of the three credited screenwriters of Dr. No). A scene from Tania’s first meeting with Klebb was also re-shot, along with various insert shots, close-ups and back-projection sequences needed to complete the film. The main unit completed their work on August 2, 1963; with the climax of the boat chase sequence finished in the Paddock Tank at Pinewood Studios on August 23rd to obtain close-ups of the SPECTRE boat crewmen on fire. Although filmed in a more controlled environment, the sequence still proved very dangerous for the actors and stuntman Peter Perkins, who doubled for Walter Gotell as Morzeny. The same day saw actors Robert Shaw (as Grant) and Francis de Wolff (as gypsy leader Vavra) complete their post-synching work in Pinewood’s Theatre 5. Eric Pohlmann (as Blofeld) and English actress Barbara Jefford (who provided the complete voice performance for Daniela Bianchi as Tatiana Romanova) also completed their re-voicing sessions, although Jefford had been present on set for several scenes with Italian starlet Bianchi.

By the end of production From Russia With Love was 40 days over schedule, and editor Peter Hunt had just over a month to complete his work on the film in order to be ready for the London premiere on October 10, 1963. Perhaps Hunt’s most innovative contribution to the shaping of a sequence can be seen in the introduction of Rosa Klebb aboard Blofeld’s yacht as the main plot of the film is established. The sequence on Blofeld’s yacht was filmed very early on in production on the 10th and 11th of April, 1963 – but later rewrites to consolidate the involvement of SPECTRE made the scene no longer make sense when certain dialogue was changed. The first shot of Lenya is actually from footage used later in the scene and played in reverse. Hunt also filmed the insert shots of the Siamese fighting fish and cleverly used jump cuts to speed up the somewhat lethargic aquatic performers so they actually appeared to be fighting. Insert shots of Blofeld’s white cat reacting to the fish also breaks up the scene. The editor was also responsible for adding Eric Pohlmann’s voice as Blofeld over Anthony Dawson’s body as the unseen head of SPECTRE. With the re-ordering of scenes to make Klebb’s motives clearer, her recruitment of Tatiana Romanova and Grant as pawns in SPECTRE’s game finally focussed the storyline. The audience was completely aware of SPECTRE’s plans, but Bond is not, thereby heightening the suspense. As the set of Blofeld’s yacht had been dismantled and the rest of the cast released, Peter Hunt came up with the clever idea of making a background projection plate of Lotte Lenya from the original shoot to give the impression of the same set, and then have the actress speak new lines in front of it while covering her own image on the projected plate behind her.

Another innovation was the introduction of a pre-credit sequence to start the film with a jolt. In this instance the sequence does relate to the rest of the storyline, but in later films this would often be a standalone teaser generally used to showcase a spectacular stunt. Dr. No (1962) main title designer Maurice Binder did not work on From Russia With Love (1963) or Goldfinger (1964) due to a dispute over money, and instead noted London-based American graphic designer Robert Brownjohn was hired to create the title sequence. Working with animator Trevor Bond, and cinematographer David Watkin (with camera operator Robin Wood), Brownjohn came up with the idea of projecting the titles onto the body of a belly-dancer, and the sequence was filmed over three weekends in late August/early September. According to Robert Brownjohn’s notebooks three dancers were employed for the sequence. Actress and model Julie Mendez (1938-2013) provided most of the background body gyrations needed for the sequence; with two other performers from the famed Omar Khayyam nightclub in London (which showcased Turkish dancers) also employed for the filming. Robert Brownjohn's notebook records one of the dancers as ‘Jamilla’, with another unnamed artiste being used only for shots of her face and upper body onto which Brownjohn projected ‘007’ to precede Sean Connery's credit. London-born Lisa Guiraut, who appears as the Turkish belly dancer in From Russia With Love credited as ‘Leila’, had also appeared in cabaret at the Omar Khayyam.

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