Dr. No (film)

Name	Dr. No
Caption	American Dr. No film poster designed by Mitchell Hooks with 007 logo designed by Joseph Caroff
Starring	Sean ConneryJoseph WisemanUrsula AndressJack LordJohn Kitzmiller
Writer	Ian Fleming
Screenplay	Richard MaibaumJohanna HarwoodBerkely Mather
Cinematography	Ted Moore
Director	Terence Young
Producer	Harry SaltzmanAlbert R. Broccoli
Music	Monty Norman
Editing	Peter R. Hunt
Studio	EON Productions
Distributor	United Artists
Released
Runtime	109 minutes
Country
Followed by	From Russia with Love
Budget	$1 million
Gross	$59.6 million

Dr. No (1962), starring Sean Connery, is the first James Bond film. Based on the 1958 Ian Fleming novel of the same name, it was adapted by Richard Maibaum, Johanna Harwood, and Berkely 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, James Bond is sent to Jamaica on an investigation into the death of a fellow British agent. The murder trail leads him to the underground base of Dr. Julius No, who is plotting to disrupt an early American manned space launch with a radio beam weapon. Although the first of the Bond books to be made into a film, Dr. No wasn't the first of Fleming's novels, Casino Royale being the debut for the character. However, the film makes a few references to threads from earlier books, such as M mentioning that Bond's current gun gave him problems, before presenting him with his more well known Walther PPK.

Dr. No was produced with a low budget, but was a financial success, leading 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. 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. The film begins with an introduction to the character through the view of a gun barrel, and a highly stylised 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 one of the hallmarks of the Bond film series.

Plot

John Strangways, the British Intelligence Station Chief in Jamaica, is ambushed, killed, and his body taken by three assassins known as the "Three Blind Mice". In response MI6 agent James Bond (007) is summoned to M's (his superior's) office. Bond is briefed to investigate Strangways' disappearance and to determine whether it is related to his cooperation with the American Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) on a case involving the disruption of Cape Canaveral rocket launches by radio jamming.

Upon his arrival at Kingston Airport, a female photographer, tries to take Bond's picture and he is shadowed from the airport. He is picked up by a chauffeur, who Bond determines to be an enemy agent. Bond instructs him to leave the main road and, after a brief fight, Bond starts to interrogate the driver, who kills himself with a cyanide-embedded cigarette.

During his investigation Bond sees a picture of a boatman named Quarrel with Strangways. Bond locates Quarrel but finds him to be un-cooperative when he interviews him. Bond also recognises Quarrel to have been the driver of the car that chased him from the airport. Bond follows Quarrel and is about to be beaten up by him and a friend when the fight is interrupted by the man from the airport who has been following Bond: he reveals himself to be CIA agent Felix Leiter and that not only are the two agents on the same mission, but also that Quarrel is helping Leiter. The CIA has traced the mysterious radio jamming of American rockets to the Jamaica vicinity, but aerial photography cannot see the exact location of its origin. Quarrel reveals to have been guiding Strangways around the nearby islands to collect mineral samples. He also tells about the island of Crab Key, owned by the reclusive Dr. No, who operates a bauxite mine which is rigorously protected against trespassers by an armed security force and low-scan radar.

After finding a receipt in Strangways' house about mysterious rocks naming, Professor R.J. Dent, Bond meets with Dent who says he had assayed the samples for Strangways and determined them to be ordinary rocks. This visit makes Dent wary and he takes a boat to Crab Key where Dr. No expresses displeasure at Dent's failure to kill Bond and orders him to try again, this time with a large venomous spider. Bond survives and after a final attempt on his life, sets a trap for Dent, who he captures, interrogates and then kills.

Having detected radioactive traces in Quarrel's boat, where Strangways' mineral samples had been, Bond convinces a reluctant Quarrel to take him to Crab Key. There Bond meets the beautiful Honey Ryder, dressed only in a white bikini, who is collecting shells. At first she is suspicious of Bond but soon decides to help him, leading them all inland to an open swamp. After nightfall they are attacked by the legendary "dragon" of Crab Key which turns out to be a flame-throwing armoured tractor. In the resulting gun battle, Quarrel is incinerated by the flame-thrower whilst Bond and Honey are taken prisoner. Bond and Honey are decontaminated and taken to quarters before being drugged.

Upon waking they are escorted to dine with Dr. No. He reveals that he is a member of SPECTRE (SPecial Executive for Counter-intelligence, Terrorism, Revenge, and Extortion) and plans to disrupt the Project Mercury space launch from Cape Canaveral with his atomic-powered radio beam. After dinner Honey is taken away and Bond is beaten by the guards.

Bond is imprisoned in a holding cell but manages to escape through a vent. Disguised as a worker, Bond finds his way to the control centre, a multi-level room full of high-tech instrumentation with an atomic reactor set into the floor, overseen by Dr No from a command console. Bond overloads the nuclear reactor just as the American rocket is about to take off. Hand-to-hand combat ensues between Bond and Dr. No, with the scientist being pushed into the reactor's cooling vat, in which he boils to death. Bond then finds Honey, releases her and the two escape in a boat just as the entire lair explodes.

Cast

Sean Connery as James Bond: A British MI6 agent, number 007, is sent to Jamaica to investigate the disappearance of the local MI6 station chief and to scrutinize a possible link to an ongoing joint investigation with the CIA. (See also the process which resulted in the selection of Connery as Bond.)

Ursula Andress as Honey Ryder (1) Spoken voice by Nikki van der Zyl; (2) Singing voice by Diana Coupland. A native Jamaican shell diver, making a living selling seashells in Miami.

Joseph Wiseman as Dr. Julius No: Main antagonist and a reclusive member of SPECTRE, he is using the island of Crab Key and his brilliance in the field of nuclear power 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 in film: Leiter does not appear in the novel. 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. This was Lord's only appearance as Leiter.

Zena Marshall as Miss Taro: The secretary to Mr. Pleydell-Smith at Government House in Kingston.

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.

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.

Anthony Dawson as Professor R. J. Dent: A geologist with a practice in Kingston, whilst also secretly works for Doctor No. Dawson also portrayed Ernst Stavro Blofeld, head of SPECTRE, in From Russia with Love and Thunderball, although his face was never seen and his voice was dubbed by provided by Eric Pohlmann.

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 his girlfriend, reappearing in From Russia with Love; like Maud Adams, only one of a few Bond girls appearing in multiple 007 films.

Lois Maxwell as Miss Moneypenny: The secretary to M. This is Maxwell's first of fourteen appearances in the role. Initially Maxwell was offered a choice between the roles of Moneypenny or Sylvia Trench and opted for Moneypenny as she thought the Trench role, which included appearing in immodest dress, was too sexual. Peter Burton as Major Boothroyd: The head of Q-Branch, Boothroyd is brought in by M to replace Bond's Beretta M 1934 with a Walther PPK. Boothroyd is not described as Q either in the film, or the credits, but only as 'The Armourer'. (See also List of James Bond gadgets) Timothy Moxon as John Strangways (voice d by Robert Rietty): Strangways is the head of the Kingston station for the British Secret Service. He is murdered by Dr. No's henchmen, the 'Three Blind Mice', prompting SIS to send Bond. Reggie Carter as Mr. Jones: A crafty goon of Dr. No that was sent to pick up 007 at the Palisadoes Airport. Carter, a journalist, was the first on-air announcer at the Jamaica Broadcasting Corporation. Marguerite LeWars as Dr. No's photographer "Freelance": One of Dr. No's operatives who trails Bond. LeWars was a winner of the Miss Jamaica competition in 1961.

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. A number of Hollywood film studios did not want to fund the films, finding it "too British" or "too blatantly sexual". Eventually the two received 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. The partnership between Broccoli and Saltzman lasted until 1975, when tensions during the filming of The Man with the Golden Gun led to an acrimonious split and Saltzman sold his shares of Danjaq to United Artists.

Initially Broccoli and Saltzman had wanted to produce Thunderball as the first film, but there was an ongoing legal dispute between screenplay's co-author, Kevin McClory and Ian Fleming. As a result Broccoli and Saltzman chose Dr. No: the timing was apposite, with claims that American rocket testing at Cape Canaveral had problems with rockets going astray.

The producers offered the film to Guy Green, Guy Hamilton, Val Guest and Ken Hughes to direct, but all of them turned it down. They finally signed Terence Young who had a long background with Broccoli's Warwick Films 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.

The producers asked United Artists for financing, but the studio would only put up $1 million. As a result, only one sound editor was hired (normally there are two, for sound effects and dialogue), and many scenarios were made in cheaper ways, with M's office featuring cardboard paintings and a door covered in a leather-like plastic, and the room where Dent meets Dr. No costing only £745 to build. Also, as art director Syd Cain found out his name was not in the credits, Broccoli gave him a golden pen to compensate, saying that he did not want to spend money making those credits again.

Writing

Broccoli had originally hired his friend Wolf Mankowitz to write Dr. No's screenplay. After viewing early rushes, Mankowitz feared the film would be a disaster and damage his reputation, and had his name removed from the film's credits. Richard Maibaum, who would write for twelve more Bond films, wrote the final draft. Several writers collaborated on the script with Johanna Harwood and Berkely Mather receiving credits alongside Maibaum.

Search for an actor

Since 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. Another actor purported to have been considered for the role was Patrick McGoohan on the strength of his portrayal of spy John Drake in the television series Danger Man: McGoohan turned down the role. Another potential Bond included David Niven, who would later play the character in the 1967 satire Casino Royale.

introduces James Bond to the cinematic world with his trademark statement, "Bond, James Bond."]] There are several stories as to whom Ian Fleming personally wanted. Fleming wanted his friend Noel Coward for the role of Dr. Julius No, to which he answered "No! No! No!". Another actor favoured by Fleming was Richard Todd. In his autobiography When The Snow Melts, Cubby Broccoli said Roger Moore had been considered, but had been thought "...too young, perhaps a shade too pretty." In his autobiography, My Word Is My Bond, Moore says he was never approached to play the role of Bond unitl 1973, for Live and Let Die. In the event, Moore appeared as Simon Templar on the television series The Saint, airing in the United Kingdom for the first time on 4 October 1962, only one day before the premiere of Dr. No.

Ultimately, the producers turned to 30-year-old Sean Connery for five films. 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, Buckinghamshire, England with sets designed by Ken Adam. Adam's budget for the entire film was just £14,500. The majority of shooting for later Bond films also took place at Pinewood. Ken Adams had contacted the National Gallery in London to obtain a slide of the picture, painting the copy over the course of the weekend, prior to filming commencing on the Monday.

As title artist Maurice Binder was creating the credits, he had an idea for the introduction that would appear in all subsequent Bond films, the James Bond gun barrel sequence. It was filmed in sepia by putting a pinhole camera inside an actual .38 calibre gun barrel, with Bob Simmons playing Bond. Norman was busy with musicals, and only accepted to do the music for Dr. No after Saltzman allowed him to travel along with the crew to Jamaica. The most famous composition in the soundtrack is the "James Bond Theme", which appears in a calypso medley over the title credits, and was written by Norman based on a previous composition of his. 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.

Release and reception

Dr. No premiered in London on 5 October 1962 and on 5 October 1962 in the US. The film received mixed critical reception. Time called Bond a "blithering bounder" and "a great big hairy marshmallow" who "almost always manages to seem slightly silly". Stanley Kauffmann in The New Republic said that he felt the film "never decides whether it is suspense or suspense-spoof." He also didn’t like Connery, or the Fleming novels. The Vatican condemned the film because of Bond’s cruelty and the sexual content, whilst the Kremlin said that Bond was the personification of capitalist evil – both controversies helped increase public awareness of the film and greater cinema attendance. However Leonard Mosely in The Daily Express said that "Dr No is fun all the way, and even the sex is harmless", whilst Penelope Gilliatt in The Observer said the film was "full of submerged self-parody". The Guardian’s critic called Dr. No "crisp and well-tailored" and "a neat and gripping thriller." . Her introduction to the film has been judged one of cinema's sexiest moments.]]

In the years that followed its release it became more popular. Writing in 1986 Danny Peary described Dr. No as a “cleverly conceived adaption of Ian Fleming’s enjoyable spy thriller… Picture has sex, violence, wit, terrific action sequences, and colorful atmosphere… Connery, Andress and Wiseman all give memorable performances. There’s a slow stretch in the middle and Dr. No could use a decent henchman, but otherwise the film works marvelously." Describing Dr. No as "a different type of film", Peary notes that "Looking back, one can understand why it caused so much excitement.”

The 1963 American advertising campaign first included the 007 logo designed by Joseph Caroff with a pistol as part of the seven.

Following the release of Dr. No, the quote "Bond ... James Bond," became a catch phrase that entered the lexicon of Western popular culture: in 2005, it was honoured as the 22nd greatest quotation in cinema history by the American Film Institute as part of their 100 Years Series. As part of the same series, the character of James Bond himself in the film was recognised as the third greatest movie hero. He was also placed at number eleven on a similar list by Empire Magazine. Premiere Magazine also listed Bond as the fifth greatest movie character of all time.

The film had a budget of $1,000,000, and grossed a total of $16,067,035 in US domestic box office and $59,600,000 worldwide, making it a financial success.

IGN listed it as sixth-best Bond film ever, Entertainment Weekly put the film at seventh among Bond films, and Norman Wilner of MSN as twelfth best. All the rankings considered the film modest, but effective, with Connery's charisma overcoming flaws of the plot and the low budget. The film currently has a 98% rating at Rotten Tomatoes. President John F. Kennedy was a fan of Ian Fleming's novels and requested a private showing of Dr. No in the White House.

In 2003, the scene of Andress emerging from the water in a bikini topped Channel 4's list of one hundred sexiest scenes of film history. The bikini was sold in an auction for US$61,500. Entertainment Weekly and IGN ranked her first in a top ten "Bond babes" list.

Legacy

}} Dr. No was the first of twenty two James Bond films produced by EON, which have grossed just over US$ 12 billion, making it one of the highest-grossing film series ever. It is estimated that since Dr. No, a quarter of the world's population have seen at least one Bond film. Dr. No also launched a successful genre of "secret agent" films that flourished in the 1960s.

Dr. No – and the Bond films in general – also inspired television output, with the NBC series The Man from U.N.C.L.E., which was described as the "first network television imitation" of Bond. The style of the Bond films, largely derived from Production Designer Ken Adam, is one of the hallmarks of the Bond film series, and the effect of his work on Dr No’s lair can be seen in another film he worked on, Dr. Strangelove.

As the first film in the Bond series, a number of the elements of Dr. No were contributors to subsequent films, including Monty Norman’s Bond theme and Maurice Binder’s gun barrel sequence, variants of which all appeared in subsequent Bond films. These conventions were also lampooned in spoof films, such as the Austin Powers series.

Comic book adaptation

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. It sold disappointingly, its interior art being very different from the typical DC comics. DC has not published another James Bond comic since.

Broadcast television versions

Some TV prints shorten the opening scenes to speed up Bond's introduction. In particular, the scene featuring a fellow agent arriving at the casino in search of Bond is cut. Plus, the card game with Sylvia Trench begins just prior to the famous "Bond, James Bond" introduction from Sean Connery (thus, omitting the lengthy lead-up in the original, theatrical cut).

During the Dent execution, most TV prints omit Bond's second gunshot into Dent's back. Some foreign prints simply omit the scene entirely, as it was considered controversial at the time (when it was unusual for a movie hero to kill an unarmed man in cold blood).

See also

Differences between James Bond novels and films

White bikini of Ursula Andress

Dr. No, the novel by Ian Fleming

References

Bibliography

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External links

Category:1962 films Category:British films Category:English-language films Category:James Bond films Category:Pinewood films Category:Films shot in Jamaica Category:Films set in Jamaica Category:Films directed by Terence Young