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Location Guide - From Russia With Love
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London, UK
007 is lunching on the river with the charming and sophisticated Sylvia Trench in Berkshire before receiving an emergency call to report to M's office. The Secret Service Head meets Bond at MI6 HQ in Regent's Park to discuss the latest assignment. Bond is to depart immediately for Istanbul in the hopes of seducing a KGB cipher clerk into defecting with the Russian Lektor encoding device. Bond is given an assignment of charm and wit, but is warned to tread carefully.
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Istanbul, Turkey
Bond is met by employees of Kerim
Bey at Istanbul airport and is transported to Station
T headquarters located in the heart of the Spice
Market held in central Istanbul. Kerim, a loyal employee
of MI6 and a warm-hearted ally for 007, guides him during
his reconnaissance of the Turkish capital. After an attack
on Kerim's offices, the pair retire to the countryside
and a friendly gypsy clan. Bond obtains the blueprints
for the Russian Consulate at St. Sophia Mosque and cross-examines
the lovely Tatiana on the Bosphorus River Ferry before
making off with the girl and the Lektor onboard the luxury
Orient Express.
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Belgrade & Zagreb, Yugoslavia*
With the Russians and SPECTRE in toe, Bond has to act fast to keep the girl safe and selvage the mission. On the express train, Kerim Bey captures the Russian agent following the pair, but when both he and the Russian are found dead, Bond must make a call to MI6 and gather support. At the train station in Zagreb, the SPECTRE assassin, Donald 'Red' Grant murders Captain Nash - Bond's would-be counterpart from Section Z - and poses as an ally for 007 in order to gain his trust and complete the perfect SPECTRE plan.
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Trieste, Yugoslavia**
After unmasking Grant as a SPECRE agent and a violent
battle on the train, 007 and Tatiana make an unscheduled
stop in Trieste - originally Grant's escape
route. After overwhelming the SPECTRE agent expecting
to meet Red Grant, Bond sets off by road. With SPECTRE
now hot on their tail, the pair are somewhat sidetracked
by helicopter attack before escaping by boat for Venice.
On the water they are sidetracked by a small entourage
of SPECTRE boats before 007 sinks them in a fiery
gasoline-fuelled end.
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Venice, Italy
Bond and Tatiana can
assumedly rest easy having fought off a variety of hostile
attacks from SPECTRE agents. However SPECTRE #3, Colonel Rosa
Klebb, poses as a hotel maid in one last-ditch effort to
reclaim the Russian Lektor and assassinate the troublesome
007. At a local hotel Bond fends off the manic Colonel
before a leisurely gondola ride through the Venice canals...
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*Belgrade is now the capital of Serbia whilst Zagreb is the capital of Croatia.
**Trieste is now part of Italy.
Shooting From Russia With Love
The production of the second James Bond adventure shot scenes between March and August 1963, with the first unit arriving in Istanbul on the 20th of April 1963.
Ian Fleming joined the production two days later while they were shooting at the Hagia Sophia Mosque and at Sirkeci Train Station that sat in for all three of the train stations on the Orient Express line.
Right: "From Russia With Love" casts the spotlight on Eastern Europe, particularly the famous route of the Orient Express... |
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While Fleming was reportedly delighted by the
progress and the atmosphere on set, Istanbul proved a tough shoot.
The production suffered from the lack of experience in the Turkish
film workers and many were mere labourers. Nevertheless, all
concerned worked hard to capture the needed scenes.
Above: Bond jet-sets his way from
London to Istanbul, but opts for the slower, less conspicuous
route home... |
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During the later months
of the shoot, June and July, the From Russia With Love
crew canned scenes in Argyll, Scotland, which doubled for
many of the Trieste scenes. The production shot much of
the helicopter and boating sequences here. The jet boat
sequence had begun in Turkey, however bad weather and pyrotechnic
mishaps meant that the period at Argyll had to be extended.
Switzerland may also be credited with providing some of
the rolling landscape seen when 007 faces off against the
grenade-wheeling helicopter pilot. On the 6th of July 1963,
while location scouting in Scotland, Terence Young's helicopter
suffered engine failure and crashed into the waves. All
occupants escaped unharmed and the director insisted that
work continue as normal.
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Pinewood was again home to many of the interiors, including onboard the orient express and even large portions of the SPECTRE Island sequence.
Above: Bond's route on board the Orient Express: from Istanbul to Belgrade and on until an unscheduled stop in Trieste; making their way by truck and then boat, 007 and Tatiana wind up in Venice... |
Fan Facts
In a recent survey conducted by MI6, Bond's second screen adventure
ranked in 3rd place, thanks to the charming, bustling nature
of Istanbul and the exotic train ride through Eastern Europe. Istanbul as depicted
by 007-filmmakers received 14.6% of the vote, placing it just
behind Switzerland ("On
Her Majesties Secret Service") and The
Bahamas ("Thunderball" / "Casino
Royale").
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