Is 'Skyfall' the Best James Bond Film? Defending 'From Russia with Love' as 007's Top Adventure

Skyfall is winning over a new generation of James Bond fans, especially as the film series celebrates the 50th anniversary of its inception with Dr. No. Some of this new generation of Bond fans are calling Skyfall the best in the series. I can't agree with that.

From Russia with Love, the second film in the series, has been long regarded as one of the strongest Bond films. The 1963 release starred Sean Connery and featured few of the gimmicks that would eventually became staples of the series. Unlike Goldfinger and Thunderball, the film that would follow, From Russia with Love relied on a straightforward trap for our hero.

Flashback to the early 1960s, where Dr. No was easily able to make back its modest $1 million budget in little time. Producers Cubby Broccoli and Harry Saltzman were looking for the next film to keep the attention of their Bond audience. They settled on From Russia with Love after learning that it was one of President John F. Kennedy's favorite books. The film would once again be another hit and firmly establish the film series as the popular culture touchstone that it remains to this day.

I admit bias. I love From Russia with Love. If you compare it to the other Bond films, it seems like it was cut from a different cloth. While the Roger Moore era of the franchise tended to favor farfetched plots featuring cartoonish villains and extraordinary stunts, this film played out more like Fleming's novels. Bond was portrayed as a person, rather than a character, caught in a simple premise to survive a trap for an encryption machine.

Terence Young, the director who created Connery's James Bond style, returned to helm this production. Robert Shaw played SPECTRE assassin and Bond's guardian angel, Red Grant. Shaw's overpowering presence helps build up the sinister cat-and-mouse game, as his organization sought to enact revenge for killing Dr. No. Daniela Bianchi is Tatiana Romanova, the woman used to set up Bond. Grant must protect Bond in order for him — with the help of Tatiana — steal a lektor machine from a Russian Consulate. The heist and return to England lead to Bond and Grant staging a classic confrontation on the Orient Express, propelling us to a dramatic finish.

John Barry delivered a brilliant score, which captured the suspense and heightened the excitement during critical scenes. Whether it was the gypsy camp ambush, the helicopter chase (inspired by North by Northwest) or the ride on the Orient Express, Barry's score reaffirms his mastery. I always felt it was the one of his strongest scores.

While the film suffers from some lag and some easy-to-spot "special effects" (during the gypsy camp battle, you can clearly see Pedro Armendariz rubbing a blood pack on his jacket), From Russia with Love is the best James Bond film.

However, this isn't to say that I don't accept the reboot of the Bond series, since they're doing a much better job of following the tone of Fleming's novels. Maybe it was a wakeup calling following the last two Pierce Brosnan critical bombs (The World Is Not Enough and Die Another Day), but Daniel Craig's Bond captures a realism not seen since Timothy Dalton donned the tuxedo.

Rather than try to outdo the last film, the Bond series is turning to continuity, trying to compete with the success of the Bourne series. James Bond is not snowboarding (A View To a Kill), swinging like Tarzan (Octopussy) or flipping cars on edge (Diamonds Are Forever). James Bond is finally dealing with consequences of being a government agent, facing the plague of death that surrounds the job. While this provides more realism than From Russia with Love, the series needed a simpler film, for a simpler time to achieve the success to get to the present.

Hopefully, this will continue the gimmick-free James Bond era. Skyfall is a breath of fresh air to what was becoming a stale series, but From Russia with Love, Connery's sophomore effort is still the top Bond film in this James Bond fan's eyes.