From Russia with Love spoilers explained

What is the main twist in From Russia with Love?

The entire plot is orchestrated by SPECTRE, not the Russians. Tatiana Romanova (Daniela Bianchi) is a bait, not a genuine defector, and the real enemy is Red Grant (Robert Shaw), a SPECTRE assassin posing as a British agent. The Lektor cipher machine is a lure to kill Bond and discredit British intelligence.

What happens in From Russia with Love?

James Bond is enjoying a quiet boating trip in England when M (Bernard Lee) summons him to headquarters. M, along with Moneypenny and the new weapons expert Q (Desmond Llewelyn), briefs Bond on a lead from the British intelligence station in Istanbul: a Russian cipher clerk named Tatiana Romanova claims she wants to defect and bring with her a Lektor decoding machine, a top-secret Soviet device. Bond is skeptical but M orders him to Istanbul to retrieve the Lektor and the defector. Bond is given a briefcase from Q containing a folding sniper rifle and a tear gas disguise.

In Istanbul, Bond meets his contact, Ali Kerim Bey (Pedro Armendáriz), the head of MI6 there. Kerim Bey has been monitoring Russian activities. A SPECTRE agent posing as a Russian, Red Grant, is also in Istanbul, having been ordered by the organization’s leader, Number One (voiced by Anthony Dawson, with Blofeld’s identity hidden), to kill Bond and retrieve the Lektor. Grant is a cold, efficient killer who has been trained to mimic Bond’s methods.

Bond and Kerim Bey investigate the Russian consulate. They witness a Russian agent named Krilencu being killed, and Kerim Bey shoots him through a painting. That night, Bond and Kerim Bey go to a gypsy camp where a violent fight erupts between two gypsy women over a man. Kerim Bey explains it is a local custom. During the fight, Russian agents attack the camp, but Bond and Kerim Bey fight them off with the help of the gypsies. They escape with a gypsy girl.

Later, Bond meets Tatiana Romanova in her hotel room. She pretends to be in love with him, claiming she saw his file and wanted him. She shows him a photograph of the Lektor machine and promises to bring it to him. They spend the night together, but Bond is wary. Grant, meanwhile, positions himself to observe them.

The next day, Bond and Kerim Bey plan the extraction of Tatiana and the Lektor. They stage a fake riot in the Russian consulate to create a distraction. Bond climbs through a window and meets Tatiana, who gives him the Lektor. They escape through a tunnel, but Kerim Bey is killed by a SPECTRE bomb planted in his office. Bond and Tatiana board the Orient Express to leave Istanbul.

On the train, Bond and Tatiana navigate a series of traps. They are joined by a fellow passenger, a British intelligence agent named Captain Nash, who is actually Red Grant in disguise. Grant has killed the real Nash and taken his place. He drugs Bond’s drink and then attempts to strangle Bond with a garrote. Bond wakes up just in time and fights Grant in a cramped, violent struggle. Bond uses his briefcase’s tear gas and a hidden knife to kill Grant, then throws him off the train.

Bond and Tatiana continue the journey, but they are pursued by a helicopter that attacks the train. Bond uses his sniper rifle to shoot down the helicopter. They eventually arrive in Venice, where they plan to deliver the Lektor to MI6. However, SPECTRE operative Rosa Klebb, a former SMERSH agent, is waiting for them. Klebb confronts them in a hotel room, demanding the Lektor. She attacks Bond with a poisoned blade hidden in her shoe. Bond struggles with her, and Tatiana, now truly loyal to Bond, grabs a gun and shoots Klebb dead. Bond and Tatiana escape in a boat, and the film ends with them kissing as they head into the Venetian canals. The Lektor is safely in British hands.

Quick, non-spoiler context

Agent 007 is back in the second installment of the James Bond series, this time battling a secret crime organization known as SPECTRE. Russians Rosa Klebb and Kronsteen are out to snatch a decoding device known as the Lektor, using the ravishing Tatiana to lure Bond into helping them. Bond willingly travels to meet Tatiana in Istanbul, where he must rely on his wits to escape with his life in a series of deadly encounters with the enemy.