Many movies have been made about spies. Probably the most well known fictional spy is James Bond. He first appeared in a series of books before making the jump to the big screen and launching a very successful, long running series with Dr. No.
A British agent and his secretary stationed in Jamaica were killed. It was decided to send agent James Bond to see exactly what was going on. Once on the island, James meets CIA agent Felix Leiter and the two worked together on the investigation. James decides that he needs to investigate Crab Key, a private island owned by Dr. No. Once on the island, James encountered Honey Ryder, a woman collecting sea shells. She believed that Dr. No had her father killed.
Dr. No was based on the book of the same name written by Ian Fleming. He wrote several books and short stories featuring Bond. I know Dr. No wasn’t the first Bond book, but I’m not sure where it fit in the series of books. I haven’t read the book, so I don’t know what might have been changed or left out for this movie. It did launch a successful movie series that included twenty-one movies with the twenty-second movie due out in November of 2008.
The plot for Dr. No wasn’t overly complicated even though there were several things going on. I had no trouble keeping track of what was happening. The majority of the plot was focused on what was going on in Jamaica and if Dr. No was someone connected. I thought that the plot was interesting and made for an entertaining movie. I have seen many of the Bond movies numerous times over the years and I had thought I had seen at least some of this one. I didn’t remember anything while watching the movie, so I think I was wrong about that. Some of the elements that I came to expect to be part of the Bond movies, like his preferred drink and his way with women, were present in this movie. It laid a good foundation for things that were carried in the later movies.
Dr. No did have some action scenes that involved James fighting with different characters. They were very mild and tame compared to what turns up in movies now and the violence was almost nonexistent. The action scenes do look a bit dated. James was already established as an agent with a license to kill when the movie started. He did kill people he saw as enemies over the course of the movie. Those things weren’t graphic, but the circumstances surrounding at least one of the killings might bother some viewers.
It was established very early in the movie that James had a way with women. He was with one woman before he left on the mission and then hooked up with another woman he barely knew shortly after he arrived in Jamaica. By the end of the movie, he was romancing Honey as well. Only kissing was shown, but it was made clear that he was having sex with all of them. That would carry into the later movies as well with James getting involved with different women in every movie. He was shown without his shirt a few times and Honey was in a bikini when she first appeared. There wasn’t anything too offensive in the movie, but some may not care for how he jumped from woman to woman.
James received the most attention throughout the movie. He had been a secret agent for several years who was good as his job but didn’t stop from taking time with women he found attractive. He didn’t have any issues with killing people while working on an investigation and he frequently got into some fights. He did have a bit of class, preferring stylish suits and other fine things. Sean Connery handled the part really well, creating one of the most well known movie characters.
James’s boss at MI6 was only identified as M. He was only around in a short scene early in the movie, so Bernard Lee really didn’t have much to do. Miss Moneypenny was M’s secretary and also only shown briefly at the beginning of the movie. She had a huge crush on James and while he flirted with her a bit, he wasn’t taking it further. Lois Maxwell was fine in the part. Felix Leiter was the CIA agent that was also investigating what was going on in Jamaica. Felix was around to help James a bit, but he didn’t play that important a part in the movie. Jack Lord was fine in the part.
Quarell was a local man in Jamaica that ended up helping James a bit with the investigation. James came into contact with some other people while on the island that were briefly involved in the investigation. Honey Ryder was the beautiful young woman who became pulled into what James was doing on Crab Key. She also became romantically involved with James. Ursula Andress was fine in the part. Dr. No, even though he was the main villain, wasn’t actually seen until late in the movie. He had control over the island of Crab Key and was very protective of whatever he was doing. He was a member of an organization called SPECTRE. Joseph Wiseman handled the part well.
Main Cast
Ursula Andress - Honey Ryder Sean Connery - James Bond Bernard Lee - M Jack Lord - Felix Leiter Lois Maxwell - Miss Moneypenny Joseph Wiseman - Dr. No
Terence Young - Director
DVD Information
Dr. No has been released on DVD a few times. I have the two disc version that was part of the Ultimate James Bond DVD Collection that was released a few years ago. I think that some of the extras were created specifically for this version of the DVD. There was a short booklet that shared some information connected to the movie. There was a commentary that I haven’t listened to on the first disc and the rest of the extras were on the second disc. 007: License to Restore focused in on the process that was used to restore the Bond movies for the Ultimate Edition DVD set. Several things were mentioned specifically about Dr. No since it was the oldest movie, but there were also things pointed out about some of the other movies as well. Some examples where shared that showed a bit of a movie before and after the restoration process. The restoration gave the movies beautifully flawless pictures. I did think it was interesting to learn more about how that was done.
The Guns of James Bond had black and white footage of Sean Connery on the set of Goldfinger talking about how the character of Major Boothroyd had been based on a real person. The real Boothroyd was a gun collector who had written to Ian Fleming about some issues concerning the gun Bond was using in the books. Fleming then changed the gun that Bond used. The real Boothroyd was also featured in the footage talking about different guns. Premiere Bond: Opening Nights had one of the producers talking about the openings of the first twenty Bond movies. Many pictures as well as some actual film footage from the different premieres were included. When talking about the premier of On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, it was said that George Lazenby had already decided that he didn’t want to play Bond again. It was also discussed how the premieres had raised money for many different charities. The Interactive Guide Into the World of Dr. No had several menus that would show clips from the movie associated with different topics. Like one on the weapons would show the clip when M had Maj. Boothroyd issue James a different gun.
Inside Dr. No shared all kinds of information on the making of the movie. Different people involved in making the movie talked about the process. There were a few short bits from Sean Connery and Lois Maxwell. It was mentioned how the producers originally wanted Roger Moore for the part of Bond but he was committed to a television show and unavailable, so they eventually cast Sean Connery. The casting of some of the other characters was also discussed along with how it was decided to get someone else to redo Honey’s lines because of Andress’s strong accent. The composer talked about creating the music, including the Bond theme. I thought this extra was very interesting.
Terence Young: Bond Vivant was focused on the director of Dr. No and how he was credited with creating the style for James that has carried into the later movies. Young was described as being very elegant and always dressed well, things that he felt were right for the character of James. Several cast and crew members talked about working with Young. There were many photographs from the sets shared. I thought the featurette was also very interesting. There was also a featurette made in 1963 about Dr. No that had a man talking about Bond and different elements of the movie. Everything in this featurette, including a few clips from the movie, was in black and white. It was mentioned how Fleming had worked in Naval intelligence during World War II, so some of the things from the Bond books were supposed to have at least some basis in fact. Ministry of Propaganda included the original trailers and tv spots for the movie.
I really enjoyed Dr. No and think it started off the James Bond movie series well. Some things from the movie are a bit dated now, but it is still very entertaining. Fans of other Bond movies should give this one a chance.
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