One of the rules of this project is that I'm not allowed to start writing one review until I've finished the previous one. An exception to that is if I've written something but in the editing process decide it'd fit in better elsewhere. Kind of like Sylvia Trench showing up again at the start of this one.
She is an odd artifact of Dr. No, the last vestige of "we don't exactly know what a Bondfilm is yet" in the first film with Desmond Llewellyn and the last one before the Aston shows up. In their defense, Dr. No was insanely profitable (made back its meager budget more than 50 times over). As I hinted in the previous one, a couple of the key players had worked together before, but Bond isn't Yer Typical Action Movie (or at least, it shouldn't be... looking at you, Skyfall*).
*And Tomorrow Never Dies. And Licence to Kill. And...
There are times to take risks and times to play it safe, and bless 'em, most times the Bond people know what time is what. From Russia With Love isn't The White Album - you don't make an album like The White Album as your sophomore offering - it's With the Beatles. A worthy follow-up that doesn't muck too much with what works, but there are still a lot of covers.
