'''Dr. No''' is a
1962 spy film. It is the first
film in the
James Bond series, and the first to star
Sean Connery as
British Secret Service agent
James Bond. Based on the 1958 novel ''
Dr. No'' by
Ian Fleming, it was adapted by
Richard Maibaum, Johanna Harwood, and Berkeley Mather. The film was directed by
Terence Young, and produced by
Harry Saltzman and
Albert R. Broccoli, a partnership that would continue until 1975.
In the film, Bond is sent to
Jamaica to investigate the death of a
British agent. The trail leads him to the island home of reclusive
Dr. Julius No. Bond uncovers Dr. No's plot to disrupt
American rocket tests, and scuttles his operation.
''Dr. No's'' success, as the first major film adaptation of Ian Fleming's James Bond novels, led to a series of films that continues to this day. ''Dr. No'' also launched a successful genre of "secret agent" films that flourished in the
1960s. It does not show Bond earning his double-O status which grants him a
licence to kill, instead it presents Bond as a seasoned veteran. Many of the iconic aspects of a typical James Bond film were established in ''Dr. No'', beginning with what is known as the
gun barrel sequence, an introduction to the character through the view of a
gun barrel, and a highly stylized main title sequence, both created by
Maurice Binder. In his work on film,
production designer Ken Adam established a unique and expansive visual style that is the hallmark of the Bond film series.
Plot
The film begins in
Jamaica, where British agent Commander
John Strangways and his secretary are murdered by the
Three Blind Mice. James Bond is sent by his boss "
M", armed with a standard issue
Walther PPK[1] to Jamaica to investigate their disappearances and determine whether it is related to the disruptions of American rocket launchings at
Cape Canaveral.
Through
Pleydell-Smith, the
Governor of Jamaica, and General Potter, who regularly played cards with Strangways, Bond learns that Strangways had hired a man named Quarrel to guide him while fishing. Bond visits Quarrel, who initially is uncooperative because he is unsure of Bond's true allegiance. After Bond overcomes an attack by Quarrel and his friends, Felix Leiter of the
CIA vouches for Bond being from the British Secret Service.
When investigating Strangways' home, Bond finds a receipt from a local metallurgist named Professor Dent who helped Strangways by identifying rock samples from a nearby island called Crab Key. Dent claims the rocks are ordinary pyrites, but Bond quickly identifies the rocks to be radioactive. Dent is actually a henchman of Dr. Julius No, the resident of Crab Key, ordered to kill Bond. Following an unsuccessful attempt by releasing a
tarantula in Bond's bungalow, Dent bribes the Governor's secretary, Miss Taro, to lure him into her home. However, an already suspicious Bond foils Dent's plan and kills him after learning that Strangways had been murdered.
Bond and Quarrel set sail to Crab Key where they meet Honey Ryder, a seashell collector. Soon after, they are chased by several armed men and forced to flee into the deep forest of the island. Being pursued till dusk, Quarrel is burned alive by Dr. No's "dragon tank", while Bond and Honey are captured. Once inside the lair, they are imprisoned in a luxury guest suite and requested to await dinner with Dr. No. During the meal it is revealed that Dr. No lost his hands in an unspecified manner and uses two powerful prosthetic replacements. Additionally, No informs Bond that he is a member of
SPECTRE, and has come to Crab Key for disrupting American rocket launches at the nearby Cape Canaveral.
When the meeting concludes, Bond is briefly tortured by No's henchmen and imprisoned until he can be further interrogated. Before No meets him however, he escapes from his prison cell and overloads the nuclear reactor that powers No's complex. After a hand-to-hand fight on a descending platform in the heart of the reactor, Bond manages to push No into the lift that collapses into the reactor's cooling vat. Bond then escapes with Honey in a boat, which runs out of fuel, and is soon picked up by his allies. They throw a rope, but he unties it while being towed away and passionately kisses Honey.
Cast
★ '
Sean Connery' as '
James Bond'.
★ '
Ursula Andress' as '
Honey Ryder' (1) Spoken voice by
Nikki van der Zyl); (2) Singing voice by
Diana Coupland: An independent woman who regularly trespasses onto the island of Crab Key looking for seashells.
★ '
Joseph Wiseman' as '
Dr. Julius No': A reclusive member of
SPECTRE, he is using the island of Crab Key and his brilliance in the field of
atomic energy to get revenge on the
Western world by disrupting American rocket launches at the nearby Cape Canaveral.
★ '
Jack Lord' as '
Felix Leiter': A
CIA operative sent to liaise with James Bond while he is in Kingston. This is Bond and Leiter's first time meeting one another. Leiter returns for many of Bond's future adventures and in the 2006 reboot of the film series, Leiter and Bond are seen meeting one another again for the first time.
★ '
Bernard Lee' as '
M': The strict head of British Secret Service. He sends Bond to Kingston to investigate the disappearances of John Strangways and his secretary. This was the first of eleven appearances by Lee in the role throughout the official EON Productions series.
★ '
Anthony Dawson' as '
Professor R. J. Dent': A metallurgist in Kingston, he is a henchman of Dr. No's who is sent to kill Bond before he can learn more of Strangway's disappearance.
★ '
Zena Marshall' as '
Miss Taro': The secretary to Mr. Pleydell-Smith at Government House in Kingston.
★ '
John Kitzmiller' as '
Quarrel': A local islander who was employed by John Strangways to secretly go to Crab Key to collect rock samples. Quarrel later helps Bond trespass onto Crab Key as well.
★ '
Eunice Gayson' as '
Sylvia Trench': Trench first meets Bond from across a
Chemin de Fer table at the London club Le Cercle. Later she becomes a semi-girlfriend of Bond's appearing in ''
From Russia with Love''. She is the only Bond girl character to appear in more than one film.
★ '
Lois Maxwell' as '
Miss Moneypenny': The secretary to M. This is Maxwell's first of fourteen appearances in the role.
★ '
Peter Burton' as '
Major Boothroyd' (Q)
[2]: The head of Q-Branch, Boothroyd is brought in by M to replace Bond's Beretta with a Walther PPK. (See Trivia section below)
★ 'Timothy Moxon' as '
John Strangways' (voiced by
Robert Rietty): Strangways is the head of the Kingston station for the British Secret Service. He is murdered by Dr. No's henchmen which forces the Secret Service to deploy Bond.
★ '
Marguerite LeWars' as '
Dr No's photographer Freelance'
★ '
Stanley Morgan' as '
The Concierge.'
Production
Background
When Harry Saltzman gained the rights for the James Bond book, he initially did not go through with the project. Instead, Albert R. Broccoli wanted the rights to the Bond books and attempted to buy them off Saltzman. But Saltzman did not want to give the rights to Broccoli so they formed a partnership to make the James Bond films. They got authorisation from United Artists to produce the film, to be released in 1962. Saltzman and Broccoli created two companies. Danjaq, which was to hold the rights to the films and EON Productions, which was to produce the films.
[3]
The producers offered
Guy Green,
Guy Hamilton and
Ken Hughes to direct the film, but all of them turned it down. They finally signed
Terence Young as the director. Broccoli and Saltzman felt that Young would be able make a real impression of James Bond and transfer the essence of the character from book to film. Young imposed many stylistic choices for the character which continued throughout the film series.
''
Thunderball'' was originally intended to be the first Bond film, but there was a
legal dispute with the
screenplay's co-author,
Kevin McClory. As a result, ''Dr. No'' was chosen.
[4]
Search for an actor
Because Ian Fleming's series of James Bond novels was not widely popular in 1961, producers Albert R. Broccoli and Harry Saltzman originally sought to have a popular film actor portray James Bond.
Cary Grant was initially chosen for the role, but was not selected due to his commitment of only one feature film;
it is also said that Grant refused the part because, age 58 at the time, he felt he was too old for it.
[5] Other actors purported to have been considered for the role include
Patrick McGoohan (on the strength of his portrayal of spy
John Drake in the TV series ''
Danger Man''; it is frequently reported in histories of his later TV series ''
The Prisoner'' that he turned the role down on moral grounds),
James Mason, and
David Niven (who would later play an unofficial version of the character in the
1967 satire ''
Casino Royale'').
[6]
There are several stories as to whom Ian Fleming personally wanted. Some sources, specifically Albert R. Broccoli from his autobiography ''When The Snow Melts'', claim that he favoured
Roger Moore, having seen him as
Simon Templar on the
television series ''
The Saint''. However, the details of this issue are disputed by the fact that the series did not begin airing in the United Kingdom until
October 4,
1962, only one day before the premiere of ''Dr. No''. It was known that Fleming wanted
Noel Coward for the role of the evil Dr. Julius No and David Niven for the role of Bond. Moore was not linked publicly to the role of 007 until 1967 in which Harry Saltzman claimed he would make a good Bond, but also displayed misgivings due to his popularity as Simon Templar. Moore was selected later as Bond in
1973 for ''
Live and Let Die''.
[7]
Ultimately, the producers turned to
Sean Connery, a relatively unknown actor at the time, to play agent 007 for five films.
It is often reported that Connery won the role through a contest set up to 'find James Bond'. While this is untrue, the contest itself did exist, and six finalists were chosen and screentested by Broccoli, Saltzman, and Fleming. The winner of the contest was a 28-year-old model named Peter Anthony, who, according to Broccoli, had a
Gregory Peck quality, but proved unable to cope with the role.
[8]
Themes
The
Walther PPK given to Bond established a trend in the entire series
''Dr. No'' introduced the many recurring themes and features associated with the suave and sophisticated secret agent: the distinctive
James Bond Theme, the
gun barrel sequence, "
Bond girls," the criminal organization
SPECTRE, narrow escapes, Bond's luck and skill, his signature
Walther PPK and the
licence to kill, over-ambitious villains, henchmen, and allies. Many characteristics of the following Bond films were introduced in ''Dr. No'', ranging from Bond's introduction as "Bond, James Bond.", to his taste for
vodka martinis "
shaken, not stirred", love interests, and weaponry.
During the series' forty-year history, only a few of the films would remain substantially true to their source material; ''Dr. No'' has many similarities to the novel and follows its basic plot, but there are a few differences. Notably, a
tarantula spider replaces the novel's
centipede and the fight with a
giant squid is excluded.
When Major Boothroyd replaces Bond's
Beretta, he claims that it has no stopping power. He states the caliber as "7.65 mil with a delivery like a brick through a plate glass window." The
Walther PPK given to Bond established a trend in the entire series as the secret agent's signature weapon.
Filming
The film is set in the
London, UK,
Kingston, Jamaica
and
Crab Key, a fictional island off Jamaica.
[9] Some of the scenes were shot on location in
Jamaica, primarily the exterior scenes in Crab Key and Kingston. Most interior shots of Dr No's base, the ventilation duct and the interior of the British Secret Service headquarters were shot at
Pinewood Studios, London, England. The majority of shooting for later Bond films also took place at Pinewood.
Soundtrack
Dr. No marked the introduction of the famous James Bond theme, in a calypso medley over the title credits. The original James Bond theme was written by
Monty Norman, who has received
royalties since 1962.
John Barry, who would later go on to compose the music for eleven Bond films, arranged the Bond theme, but was uncredited - except for the credit of his orchestra playing the final piece. It has occasionally been suggested that Barry, not Norman, composed
The James Bond Theme. This argument has been the subject of two court cases, the most recent in 2001.
The music for the opening scene is a calypso version of the
nursery rhyme Three Blind Mice, with new lyrics to reflect the intentions of the three assassins hired by Dr No. Other notable songs in the film are the
Bouyon music song ''Jump Up'',
[10] played in the background, and the traditional Jamaican calypso ''Underneath the Mango Tree'', famously sung by
Diana Coupland, the singing voice of Honey Ryder, as she walked out of the ocean on Crab Key.
Release and reception
''Dr. No'' premiered on
5 October 1962, and received mixed critical reception. Bad reviews came from the direction that the sardonic humour was not appropriate, and some did not think that
Ursula Andress was particularly attractive. But in the years that followed its release, it became more popular amongst critics and fans. The American release for the film was a year later, in 1963.
[11]
Following ''Dr. No's'' release, the quote "Bond ... James Bond," became a
catch phrase that entered the
lexicon of Western popular culture as the epitome of polished machismo. On
June 21,
2005 it was honoured as the 22nd greatest quotation in cinema history by the
American Film Institute as part of their
100 Years Series.
[12]
The film had a budget of US$1,000,000, and grossed a total of US$16,067,035 in U.S. domestic box office and US$59,600,000 worldwide, making it a financial success. When adjusted for inflation, ''Dr. No's'' gross is $388,037,628. This places it as the 4th lowest grossing film in the Bond series.
[13]
Comic book adaptation
Main articles: Dr. No (comic)
Around the time of the film's release, a
comic book adaptation of the screenplay was published in ''British Classics Illustrated'', and later reprinted in ''European Detective'' and in early 1963 in the
United States by
DC Comics as part of its ''
Showcase'' anthology series, before being refused by Independent News, since they did not own the rights to publish an American edition and label it as a DC Comic. The comic was drawn by Norman Nodel and was originally intended to be published as an issue of the anthology ''
Classics Illustrated''.
[14] It sold disappointingly, its very cover being totally different from the typical DC comics. DC has not published another James Bond comic since
[15]
References
1. Walther PPK replaces Beretta M1934, which had jammed on a previous mission
2. The character of Major Boothroyd is better known in subsequent films as Q.
3.
4. Cork, John & Scivally, Bruce (2002). ''James Bond: The Legacy''. Boxtree, 29.
5. James Bond phenomenon, a look back!
6. Dr. No Production Notes
7. P. Notes
8. Cork and Scivally, 31.
9. Cork and Scivally, 305.
10. Lyrics to "Jump Up", "Three Blind Mice" and "Underneath the Mango Tree"
11. Dr. No at Rotten Tomatoes
12. "Bond. James Bond" 22nd greatest line in cinema history
13. Dr No at Box Office Mojo
14. Dr. No at James Bond Comixs
15. Secrets behind Comics ''Newsfromme.com'' URL accessed July 20, 2007
External links
★
★
★
★
★
MGM's page on the movie
★
'Dr.No' page on The Ultimate James Bond Community
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