From Russia with Love is a 1963 spy thriller directed by Terence Young and the second official James Bond film, with Sean Connery returning as 007. In the story, Bond is sent to Istanbul to retrieve a Soviet decoding device, only to find himself caught in a trap engineered by SPECTRE as revenge for the death of Dr. No. Compared with the more flamboyant Bond films that followed, this one has a colder and more grounded espionage feel, leaning heavily on surveillance, train travel, betrayals and Cold War tension. It is often seen as one of the key films that established Bond as a major global franchise.
The film was shot in a mix of real locations and studio-built environments, and that balance is a big part of its appeal. Much of the location work was done in Istanbul, where the production used places such as Hagia Sophia, the Basilica Cistern, the Grand Bazaar and Sirkeci railway station, the latter doubling for multiple stops on the Orient Express route. The closing scenes were filmed in Venice, giving the film a more elegant Mediterranean finish, while many interiors, including parts of the train, the Venice hotel material and other controlled sets, were completed at Pinewood Studios in England. Some of the travel and action material was also shot in Argyll in Scotland, which helped stand in for stretches of the route through south-eastern Europe. Altogether, the film moves through mosques, bazaars, underground cisterns, railway platforms, canals and studio recreations in a way that gives it a far richer sense of place than a simple country list would suggest.
Basilica Cistern
Basilica Cistern has appeared in From Russia with Love, The International and Brotherhood of Tears. It is also strongly associated with Inferno.
Bridge of Sighs
Bridge of Sighs appears in From Russia with Love, The Avenger of Venice, A Little Romance, A Haunting in Venice, and Madonna’s music video for “Like a Virgin”.
Hagia Sophia
Hagia Sophia has appeared in several international films, including "From Russia with Love" (1963), "Argo" (2012) and "Inferno" (2016).
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