007: The Sean Connery James Bond 6-Film Collection Limited Edition SteelBook Box Set 4K - From Russia With Love (1963)

Details: By Loron Hays; 15 October 2025

From Russia With Love (1963)

“Once more into the breach, dear friends.”

From the deadly opening minutes as a familiar-looking spy is killed to the brutal, claustrophobic brawl aboard the Orient Express, the second James Bond film - while longer - is a tightly-wound vehicle of espionage and complicated entanglements as Bond (once again played by Sean Connery) finds himself in the middle of Cold War Era revenge as the criminal organization known as SPECTRE seeks revenge for the death of their agent Dr. No.

From Russia With Love, directed by Terence Young, is smartly written and expertly filmed, bringing all sorts of action to the forefront of the spy formula as raw tension and practical effects prove to be a more grounded and deliberate (read as focused) starting point for the franchise in its early stages. With some clever villains included, thanks to East German spy Rosa Klebb (Lotte Lenya), who hides a deadly switchblade in her shoe; and Red Grant (Robert Shaw), an assassin posing as a fellow British agent, Bond’s trip to Istanbul is going to prove to be most dangerous.

"absolutely delivers the gold standard for the series as it blends romance with betrayal"

The point here is that From Russia With Love, complete with an erotic title sequence designed by Robert Brownjohn which features a belly dancer moving against a dark background while the film’s credits are projected directly onto her body, absolutely delivers the gold standard for the series as it blends romance with betrayal and some heavy espionage with some beautiful scenery and establishes a far more complex villain network than anyone would have guessed from Dr. No’s humble beginnings.

The earlier Bond films were far more grounded as the character’s resourcefulness has yet to give way to gadgetries . . . although, it would be coming soon enough as Desmond Llewelyn is introduced here with a briefcase for Bond which is equipped with tear gas, gold sovereigns, and a hidden knife. Obviously, his hook-up with the beautiful Russian clerk, Tatiana Romanova (Daniela Bianchi, an Italian actress and former beauty queen) is not MI6’s endgame here.

Secretly led by the cat-stroking might of Ernest Blofeld, SPECTRE devises a plan to lure 007 into a trap using a Soviet decoding device called the Lektor and the beauty of a Russian cipher clerk, who is manipulated into believing she’s helping her country by seducing Bond and offering the Lektor as bait . . .

. . . and nothing is as it seems as Bond joins forces with local ally Kerim Bey to navigate the political tension and espionage and ends up in the middle of a gypsy camp and, later, piloting a Fairey Huntress speedboat while trying to outmaneuver and - by using onboard fuel drums as makeshift explosives - outsmart his pursuers in Turkey (but, really, Scotland!!) From Russia With Love (1963)

Watching it on 4K HD as part of the newly released 007: The Sean Connery James Bond 6-Film Collection Limited Edition SteelBook Box Set 4K is certainly a hi-def treat for the eyes and the ears. The film, soaked in the vibrancy of the early 1960’s color palette, looks incredible as the native 4K transfers offer HDR10/Dolby Vision elements for crystal-clear image quality, leaving little to the imagination when it comes to just how this film became an international success.

The arrival of Sean Connery as James Bond is as foundational to action films as SPECTRE is to the 007 film franchise. There is nothing quite like it. Directed by Terence Young and featuring another fun and dangerous performance from Connery as Bond, the film remains a groundbreaking film for the action genre, building a whole lot of suspense in the wake of the Cold War’s gritty realism.

Go back to the beginning of Mr. Kiss Kiss Bang Bang’s legacy with From Russia With Love, now in 4K, which allows the dye-transfer printing process gives new depth to the film’s characteristic vibrant and glossy look!

5/5 stars

Dr. no

4k details divider

007: The Sean Connery James Bond 6-Film Collection Limited Edition SteelBook Box Set 4K

Home Video Distributor: Warner Bros.
Available on Blu-ray - June 10, 2025
Screen Formats: 1.85:1
Subtitles: English SDH; French; German; Italian; Spanish; Dutch
Audio: English: Dolby Atmos; English: Dolby TrueHD 7.1; English: DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Mono; )French: Dolby Digital 5.1; Spanish: Dolby Digital 5.1; German: Dolby Digital 5.1; Italian: Dolby Digital 5.1
Discs: 4K Ultra HD
Region Encoding: 4K region-free

Sean Connery returns as Secret Service agent James Bond in the second of the series, once again saving the world from the terrorist threats of the SPECTRE organisation. Bond is sent to Istanbul to steal a Russian coding machine, but comes up against two fearsome opponents also interested in the device: East German spy Rosa Klebb (Lotte Lenya), who hides a deadly switchblade in her shoe; and Red Grant (Robert Shaw), an assassin posing as a fellow British agent.

VIDEO

The brand-new 4K transfer of the original camera negatives for each of these films is monumentally beautiful. Sony has outdone themselves. Truly, the results are as incredible as you can expect. Using state of the art technology, a new 8K 16-bit scan of the original Technicolor camera negative became the basis for the 4K UHD scan. In a word: perfection. I cannot use enough adjectives to express how flawlessly beautiful these films look in their native 4K scan. This is not hyperbole. Film grain is fine and intact and adds detail to the picture - the likes you have never seen.

Colors, especially with the HDR enhancements, are deeper and punchier than they ever were before in the land of all things 007, without sacrificing their intended looks and atmosphere. In fact, the overall detail and depth of these pictures cannot be overstated. The 4K Blu-ray discs feature the DOLBY VISION HDR that dramatically expands the color palette and contrast range and uses dynamic metadata to automatically optimize the picture for every screen — frame by frame.

AUDIO

The DTS-HD Master Audio are ideal for these releases.

Supplements:

Commentary:

Featuring Director Terence Young and cast and crew

Special Features:

Explore the making of and release of the films as never before, with commentaries, special features, behind the scenes footage, TV commercials and trailers. The six Blu-Rays are presented with a numbered certificate of authenticity and silver metal limited edition case. The James Bond Sean Connery Six Film Blu-Ray Collection Steelbook features a wealth of special features!

Here is the breakdown for From Russia With Love: