Death of Kronsteen – We know very little about SPECTRE at this point, but this scene highlights how brutal and unforgiving SPECTRE is, and we get a glimpse of # 1, albeit from shoulders down, as he is stroking a white cat, as we flashback to the cat that walked by Tania as she was on her way to meet Klebb for the first time. SPECTRE wants the Lektor as they have made arrangements with the Russians to return it to them, for a price.

So, the atmosphere this scene creates is one of terror – terror for # 3 and # 5, but terror and tremendous tension for the viewing audience.   We realize the SPECTRE will stop at nothing, does not tolerate failure, and, as Blofeld says, SPECTRE always delivers what it promises.

Death of Kronsteen – Poison Kills . . . in . . . listen to it . . . 12 seconds

Here we see for the first time, the poison blade that pops out of the shoe of the assassin here, as he kicks # 5 with it. How long does it take for Kronsteen to die? 12 seconds, and # 1 is not happy that it takes that long. Notice the musical dings – there are 12 counting down his death!  Bond is up against an evil organization!  The death of Kronsteen shows how evil SPECTRE is.   The only way out of SPECTRE seems to be death.

There are many real-life incidents in the spy business where poison is used to try to eliminate the enemy.  From this,  many scenes in spy novels and movies take their origin.  Remember, Ian Fleming was a Naval Intelligence office and very involved with secret agents, plots, and plans in World War – II.  It has happened often in real life.   Listen to our podcast about How Real Life Events Affect What Goes Into Spy Movies.

We will see the poison shoe blade again.  In the novel, “From Russia With Love,” there were poison knitting needles as well.