Age Rating (UK/US): PG/PG
Dr. No is the first movie in the James Bond movie franchise, released back in 1962. It follows Bond as he tries to stop Dr. No from ruining the US space program.
The movie begins with three seemingly blind men walking through Kingston in Jamaica, it quickly becomes apparent they are in fact assassin’s who shoot Commander Strangways and his secretary as they are about to make radio contact with London. This sparks a crisis at MI6 and M sends Bond to investigate what happened to him. It appears Strangways was in Jamaica investigating radio jamming for the CIA, which had been used to topple their missiles in the space program at Cape Carneval and knock the missiles off course.
As Bond arrives, he accepts a lift from an enemy agent and is spotted by a mysterious photographer who tries to take his photograph on a few occassions. As he investigates Strangways movements further he finds out that he was looking into the islands in the area, in particular one called Crab Key which is owned my the mysterious Dr. No, which is generally off-limits and appears to have nothing more than a bauxite mine. His investigations however attract the attention of various assassins working for Dr. No who try to kill him.
As Bond decides to go to Crab Key on the cover of the night with local fisherman Quarrel, the two meet Honey Ryder, a shell diver on the sea shore. As they allude capture from various armed guards they get closer to discovering the truth of Dr. No’s plans…
This movie is iconic for launching one of cinema’s most famous and long-running franchises and heroes, James Bond and it is surprising that many elements of the franchise are birthed even here in the original.
The movie has an exotic location in Jamaica that is shot as a glamorous and beautiful destination for Bond’s first adventure. The movie also has beautiful women, starting the traditional Bond Girl trope with Eunice Gayson, Zena Marshall and of course Ursula Andress starting the tradition. The movie doesn’t necessarily have gadgets although the space race plot is fairly technologically driven for its time.
Probably the most important part of this movie is who played Bond Sean Connery is often seen as the best Bond and though in this movie he can at times be appearing to find his feet in the part it is apparent he is perfectly cast for the part. He was obviously very handsome and suave for the scenes involving dialogue, whilst having the physicality for the action scenes and set the template which every actor following has tried to emulate and it is worth watching this movie alone to see him launch the character we all know for the next 62 years.
Ursula Andress is also of course the main Bond Girl in this movie and that scene where she emerges from the sea is one of the most famous in movie history, she is stunningly beautiful and also very capable of the action scenes with a great chemistry on screen with Sean, even though her voice in the movie was dubbed by Nikki van der Zhyl you wouldn’t be able to tell as she plays well of Sean on screen.
Joseph Wiseman is for me ok as the villain, he does have some sinister moments especially when he says that Bond is just a “stupid policeman” which I’ve always loved the way he snarls that line at Bond. However the prosthetic hands are a bit silly and he can at times seem a bit hammy as a megalomanical villain (although this maybe more because he falls into the spy movie villain that has often been parodied in movies such as Austin Powers in the decades since, rather than the performance itself).
The plot of the movie is also engaging and fairly grounded compared to later entries in the series where plots have included space weapons and diamond satellites, although with references to the space race and the US space program it is very of it’s time which may be dated for younger viewers who might not know the context when the movie was made.
Unfortunately where the movie falls down for me is in it’s pacing. It is definitely a much slower burner than any of the other Bond movies, with for me quite a large lull around the first half an hour which can make it very hard to stick with. Also probably because the movie had a $1m budget some of the action seems fairly small scale in this first half of the movie, with it opting for short bursts of action with fairly long scenes of espionage and exposition in the first half which can verge on boring at times.
Indeed for me it is when Bond arrives on Crab Key that the movie picks up somewhat, with more consistent action and some interesting scenes that almost borderline psychological thriller as Dr. No keeps Bond and Honey captive in a seemingly luxury hotel, with wardrobes of clothes that are perfectly sized to them and the trade off of wits between Bond and Dr. No is interesting to watch.
Also the movie has some very odd use of music in certain places, the famous Bond theme was created and used in this movie but there are a couple of scenes where it is used in places that don’t make much sense, such as Bond walking into a hotel with the theme playing. This maybe due to later entries using it at more grandiose moments than when it is used here.
Overall, the movie did launch one of cinema’s most enduring franchises and it is definitely worth a look for that reason, although some elements may now be showing their age but it is still an enjoyable movie to watch.
If you have seen this movie or are a fan of the franchise, let me know in the comments down below what your thoughts are.
