From Russia with Love (film) Love" is the first Bond film in the series with John Barry as the primary soundtrack composer. The theme song was composed by Lionel Bart of "Oliver!" fame and sung by Matt Monro, although the title credit music is a lively instrumental version of the tune beginning with Barry's brief "James Bond is Back" then segueing into Monty Norman's "James Bond Theme". Monro's vocal version is later played during the film (as source music on a radio) and properly over the film's end titles. Barry travelled with the crew to Turkey to try getting influences of the local music, but
From Russia with Love (film) the familiar Bond formula (action, gadgets, women, cars, etc.). "From Russia with Love" is effectively paced and plotted, features a gallery of detestable rogues (including the ultimate Bond villain, Blofeld), and offers countless thrills". In June 2001 Neil Smith of "BBC Films" called it "a film that only gets better with age". In 2004, "Total Film" magazine named it the ninth-greatest British film of all time, making it the only James Bond film to appear on the list. In 2006, Jay Antani of Filmcritic praised the film's "impressive staging of action scenes", while IGN listed it as second-best Bond film