|
|
|
|
Dr. No (film)
|
| |
|
| |
Dr. No (1962) is the first James Bond film, and the first to star Sean Connery as the fictional MI6 agent James Bond. 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.
Discussion
Ask a question about 'Dr. No (film)' Start a new discussion about 'Dr. No (film)' Answer questions from other users |
Encyclopedia
Dr. No (1962) is the first James Bond film, and the first to star Sean Connery as the fictional MI6 agent James Bond. 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 space launch with a radio beam weapon.
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-0 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
In sunny Jamaica, British Intelligence Station Chief John Strangways (Timothy Moxon) is ambushed while departing a bridge game at the exclusive Queen's Club by the Three Blind Mice, a trio of black Jamaican assassins disguised as beggars. The body is bundled into a waiting hearse (a La Salle model) and driven away by an accomplice.
The three henchmen then break into "Station J" (Strangeway's home/office), murder his secretary, Mary (Dolores Keator), and steal all files related to Dr. No. Hence the Jamaica Station fails to call in its daily radio report to British Intelligence headquarters.
An MI6 messenger soon arrives at the Le Cercle casino in London, looking for British Secret Service agent James Bond (007) (Sean Connery). The super-spy is thus introduced during a high-stakes game of Chemin de Fer with the beautiful sophisticate Sylvia Trench (Eunice Gayson). Bond is called away, but not before winning in style and making a pass at Sylvia (offering a date and leaving her with his card).
At British Intelligence headquarters, Bond does some office flirtation with his secretary, Moneypenny (Lois Maxwell), Bond is briefed by his chief, "M", with orders to investigate Strangways' disappearance, and to determine whether it is related to his cooperation with the American CIA on a case involving the disruption of Cape Canaveral rocket launches by radio jamming. Bond is also issued with his trademark Walther PPK sidearm by MI6 armourer Major Boothroyd (Peter Burton).
Before leaving on his mission, however, Bond stops by his flat, where he is surprised to find Sylvia Trench (having broken in, somehow) practicing her golf putt on his living room carpet, dressed only in one of his shirts. She proceeds to seduce him in the few minutes before he has to go.
Upon his arrival at Kingston Airport Bond is shadowed by a mysterious man in sunglasses, Felix Leiter (Jack Lord) and a female photographer (Marguerite LeWars), who tries to snap his picture (only to be foiled by a timely tip of Bond's hat). He is picked up by Mr. Jones (Reggie Carter), a chauffeur, supposedly sent from Government House, whom Bond suspects (having specifically requested no official reception) to be an enemy agent.
The car is tailed along an isolated beach road by an unidentified vehicle, which Jones quickly loses. Bond then orders his chauffeur to pull over at gunpoint. After a brief fight Bond subdues Jones and attempts to interrogate him, but his subject refuses to talk - instead choosing suicide by means of a cyanide capsule concealed in his cigarette filter.
Proceeding on to Government House, Bond meets Principal Secretary Pleydell-Smith, who sets him up with a local Police liaison and arranges an interview with other members of his bridge four (who were the last to see Strangways alive).
The policeman takes his new charge to the crime scene at "Station J", where Bond finds a geology book containing a receipt from the Dent metallurgy lab and a photo of Strangways with a local fishing guide (whom he recognizes as the driver of the tail car on the beach road).
Checking into a Kingston hotel, Bond fixes several tell-tales (a hair across a closet doorway and talcum powder on a briefcase) in his room, before leaving again.
At his Queen's Club interview with the other bridge players Bond meets Professor Dent (Anthony Dawson) (a local British metallurgist), who seems to suggest that Strangways might have become romantically involved with his secretary and run off with her. Retired General Potter (Colonel Burton), however, gives the name of Strangways' fishing guide as Quarrel (John Kitzmiller), a native of the Cayman Islands.
Bond goes to interview Quarrel at the Kingston docks, but finds the suspicious Cayman Islander to be uncooperative. Persisting with his questions in the nearby Pussfeller's bar, Bond finally persuades his subject to talk in the privacy of a back storeroom. There, however, the nosey Englishman is jumped by Quarrel and Pussfeller (Lester Prendergast). Bond rapidly subdues them in a brief fight - only to be held at gunpoint by the mystery man from the airport, who suddenly appears in the doorway behind him. This turns out to be CIA agent Felix Leiter. Noticing that they both carry Western intelligence issued weaponry, the two men quickly sort things out and recognize that they are both on the same side. Quarrel, who had been working with Strangways, is now assisting Leiter.
Later, the place is alive with Calypso music and dancing as Bond, Leiter and Quarrel compare notes at a bar table. The CIA has traced the mysterious radio jamming of American rockets to the Jamaica vicinity, but aerial photography cannot pinpoint the exact location of its origin. Quarrel had been guiding Strangways around the nearby islands to collect mineral samples (though he doesn't know why). One island in particular, Crab Key, seems to frighten him, as several buddies have never returned from fishing in those waters. It is a private island: owned by the reclusive Dr. No (Joseph Wiseman), who operates a Bauxite mine which is rigorously protected against trespassers by an armed security force and low-scan radar. All this piques Bond's interest, as his photo is snapped again by the camera girl from the airport. She is intercepted by Quarrel and brought back to the table for questioning - but refuses to talk, despite some discreet arm twisting. Nothing too rough can be done in such a crowded public room, so she is eventually released (minus her camera film), leaving Bond to wonder who could inspire so much fear in his employees that they would endure such pain and even commit suicide before answering questions about him.
As he returns to his hotel that night, the Three Blind Mice wait in ambush across the street, but are prevented from taking a shot at Bond by a passing car.
Next morning Bond goes to interview Professor Dent at his laboratory about the receipt found at "Station J". It turns out that Strangways had the mineral samples he had collected analyzed there, but Dent seems evasive about the results (claiming them all to be worthless rock).
Immediately upon Bond's departure, the rattled professor takes a boat to Crab Key (in violation of a standing order never to do so in daylight), which is, indeed, heavily guarded by security forces - all of whom seem to be Chinese or native Jamaican. Dent is taken to a spartan interrogation room at the bauxite mine, where he is harshly questioned by the disembodied voice of Dr. No (seeming to strike fear into the professor's heart). Accused of incompetence for his failure to eliminate Bond, he is given a chance to try again with a caged tarantula spider (which is supposedly - though erroneously - deadly poisonous).
That night Bond arrives back in his hotel room to find that it has been searched (as all of his spy-craft tell-tales have been disturbed). Later he is awakened in his bed with the tarantula crawling up his arm. He keeps his cool, though, allowing the spider to reach his pillow, before flicking it to the floor and smashing it with a shoe.
Next morning Bond returns to Government House to view the official file on Crab Key, but finds that it has been lost by Playdell-Smith's beautiful Eurasian secretary, Miss Taro (Zena Marshall). Bond also catches her listening at the keyhole and suspects her to be an enemy agent, but nevertheless asks her out on a date. On his way out he picks up a geiger counter that has been delivered by diplomatic pouch.
Meeting with Leiter and Quarrel at the docks, Bond detects radioactive traces on the floor of Quarrel's boat (right in the spot where Strangways' mineral samples had been), thus giving the lie to Dent's assertion that they had been unremarkable rocks. The next step in their plan is to reconnoitre Crab Key, but Quarrel seems reluctant - fearing the dragon that is rumoured to inhabit the place. Despite his misgivings, however, Quarrel agrees to serve as Bond's guide.
Upon returning to his hotel again, Bond takes a call from Miss Taro, accepting his date. Along the mountain road to her house, however, his car (a Sunbeam Alpine, Series III roadster) is pursued by the Three Blind Mice, who try to run him off the road in their hearse. But Bond's compact sports car is able to maneuver beneath a piece of road working equipment that blocks the route. The big hearse is not, and ends up getting run off the road to plummet over a cliff in a fiery explosion.
At Miss Taro's house Bond finds his date emerging from the shower, trying to conceal her surprise at his still being alive. She takes a mysterious phone call in her bedroom before Bond (knowing that another set-up is in the works) barges in and proceeds to seduce her. After their tryst, Bond calls a cab to take them both out for dinner, but it arrives carrying a policeman to take the woman away, under arrest. Now alone in the house, Bond arranges the pillows under the bedsheets to look like he is asleep and waits behind the door with his silenced pistol at the ready. Professor Dent soon shows up and empties his own silenced pistol into the bed - only to be shot dead by Bond (who has been counting his enemy's shots) in cold blood.
Late that night Bond and Quarrel depart for Crab Key in Quarrel's tiny boat, careful to lower their sail upon final approach to avoid radar detection. Once ashore they hide the boat and find sleeping places on the beach.
Bond wakes the next morning to an unexpected sight: Honey Ryder (Ursula Andress), a stunning blonde nature girl, rises from the surf (like the Venus De Milo in a white bikini) where she has been diving for seashells. The defensive, knife-wielding beauty is equally surprised to see Bond, who soon wins her trust as a fellow trespasser. As it turns out, Honey is a self-educated orphan girl, who ekes out a living by selling the shells she collects. The fiercely independent (though somehow vulnerable) young woman often visits Crab Key and has become adept at evading Dr. No's security force - but she has neglected to lower her boat sails to avoid the radar this time. Soon a patrol boat full of security men (in khaki, para-military fatigue uniforms) arrives off shore to straffe the beach with machine gun fire. Bond, Honey, and Quarrel hide in the tree-line until the threat passes, but the girl's boat is riddled with bullet holes to prevent her departure. She must now remain with the two men until their mission is complete.
Wading up a tropical stream, Honey leads the two men inland, where they are pursued through the mangrove forest by a security foot patrol, this time equipped with search dogs. The three trespassers hide underwater, however, breathing through snorkels made from cut reeds to evade the guard force - except for one straggling member, who must be dispatched by Bond in a knife ambush.
During a rest stop beside a lush waterfall, Honey reveals more of her back-story. She once had to avenge her own rape by killing the offender with a black widow spider. Initially raised by a single father (a marine biologist), she was orphaned when he disappeared on a research trip to this very island. Though never proven, she feels certain that he was murdered by Dr. No and wants Bond to repay the mysterious Doctor in kind.
Just after nightfall, the three trespassers reach an open swamp where they are attacked by the legendary dragon of Crab Key. It turns out to be a flame-throwing armored tractor, mocked up (none too convincingly) to resemble such a monster. In the resulting gun battle, Quarrel is incinerated by the flame-thrower, but Bond and Honey are taken captive by the tractor's radiation-suited crew.
The two prisoners are taken back to the bauxite mine, where they enter a futuristic de-contamination room, operated by other technicians in radiation suits. Forced to strip, they are scrubbed down and provided with robes before being passed through a vault-like door into a secret underground complex.
In the main corridor of the installation, Bond and Honey are greeted by two Chinese receptionists, Sister Rose and Sister Lilly, who show the captives to their quarters with impeccable courtesy.
The two guests are locked into a comfortable bedroom suite which, despite the luxurious appointments and first-class room service, amounts to a prison cell, all the same. They sample the contents of a complimentary beverage cart, but the coffee turns out to be drugged and they are both collapse to the floor, unconscious.
Later, the comatose Bond has been tucked into bed by someone, as Dr. No (seen only in silhouette) slips into the room to get a good look at his adversary. He pulls the bedsheets back with a pair of metal prothstetic hands.
The two prisoners eventually wake up and dress in the fashionable clothing that has been provided for them. Arriving with a dinner invitation from Dr. No, one of the receptionists escorts them to an elevator that takes them deep into the underground base.
Bond and Honey end up in Dr. No's private study, a tasteful blend of antique and ultra-modern design with an attached dining room. One wall is dominated by a huge window looking out on the ocean floor with a convex magnifying effect. Even as the two guests marvel at the expensive feat of architectural engineering, their host (along with a couple of guards) appears from the elevator behind them. Bond finally comes face to face with the Nehru-suited Dr. Julius No, a megalomaniacal evil genius of Chinese/German descent. Having once served as treasurer for a Chinese crime tong, he absconded with their money and, after being rejected by the scientific communities of both East and West, is now a member of the very fictional private criminal/espionage organisation SPECTRE (SPecial Executive for Counter-intelligence, Terrorism, Revenge and Extortion), where his experiments with radioactivity have resulted in the loss of his hands. A cold, calculating, emotionless man, he explains over a formal dinner his plan to demonstrate SPECTRE's power by disrupting a highly publicised Project Mercury space launch (Nasa's first manned program, erroniously described as the first moon-orbital shot) from Cape Canaveral with his atomic powered radio beam. He even considers the idea of offering the determined, resourceful British agent a position with SPECTRE, but is put off by his guest's constant witty provocations. The pleasantries end abruptly, as Bond is subjected to a beating by the guards and Honey is dragged off to her own separate fate.
A bruised and disheveled Bond is then locked into a spartan holding cell, but manages to escape through the ventilation system, which is frought with unexpected obstacles. Grate covers are electrified, metal surfaces heat up like griddles and ducts flush out with water. Even so, the tough, resiliant super-spy suffers through it all to reach an exit vent.
Bond emerges into the de-contamination room, where he encounters a lone technician. The lethal secret agent jumps his enemy from behind, kills him with a strangle-hold, and helps himself to the dead man's radiation suit.
Thus disguised, Bond finds his way to the base control center, a cavernous, multi-level room full of high-tech instrumentation, with an atomic reactor set into the floor. From his command console, Dr. No oversees a small army of technicians, all in radiation suits, as they prepare to execute the final stage of their SPECTRE plot. The NASA space launch is monitored on a television panel and the radio beam is calibrated for firing as the Cape Canaviral countdown approaches zero.
Bond overloads the nuclear reactor that powers the complex, just as the American space craft is about to take off. A hand-to-hand fight ensues between Bond and Dr. No on a descending platform in the heart of the reactor. Bond manages to push Dr. No into the lift, which collapses into the reactor's cooling vat and, despite, trying to save himself, Dr. No is unable to get a grip with his prosthetic hands and disappears under the water. As the whole of Dr. No's complex is in chaos with a full-scale evacuation taking place, Bond searches for Honey. He finds her chained to the floor of a loading bay which is flooding with water and manages to release her. When she stands up it's revealed that her pants have been removed. They escape in a boat, just as the entire lair explodes.
Bond and Honey float on open water in the boat, which has run out of fuel. Felix Leiter arrives on a British Navy ship and they are thrown a rope to be towed to safety. Bond lets go of the tow rope, setting them adrift once again. He passionately kisses Honey before disappearing with her into the depths of the boat.
Cast
- 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 secretly working for Dr. No.
- 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 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.
- Peter Burton as Major Boothroyd (Q): The head of Q-Branch, Boothroyd is brought in by M to replace Bond's Beretta with a Walther PPK. (See also List of James Bond gadgets)
- 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, prompting SIS to send Bond.
- Marguerite LeWars as Dr. No's photographer "Freelance": One of Dr. No's operatives who trails Bond.
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. The two received authorization 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 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.
As the producers asked about financing to United Artists, the studio lent only $1 million for them to spend. 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 didn't want to spend money making those credits again.
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. Richard Johnson was the first choice of the director, but he turned it down because he already had a contract with MGM and was intending to leave. 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 the character in the 1967 satire Casino Royale).
There are several apocryphal 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 claim are disputed by the fact that the series did not begin airing in the United Kingdom until 4 October 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.
Ultimately, the producers turned to Sean Connery 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.
Themes
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" (although he seems to be mimicking Sylvia Trench who introduces herself first as "Trench. Sylvia Trench"), to his taste for vodka martinis "shaken, not stirred", love interests, weaponry, and a closing scene with Bond finally alone with the girl (generally in a boat). Also, this film establishes the oft-repeated association (in this case, Project Mercury) between the Bond series and the U.S. manned space program - which would be repeated with Project Gemini in You Only Live Twice, Project Apollo in Diamonds Are Forever, and the space shuttle in Moonraker (not to mention several outer space sequences involving fictional satellite programs in Goldeneye, Tomorrow Never Dies, Die Another Day and Casino Royale).
Writing
Broccoli had originally hired his friend Wolf Mankowitz to write Dr. Nos screenplay. After viewing early rushes, Mankowitz feared the film would be a disaster and damage his reputation, and had his name removed from the films credits. Richard Maibaum, who would write for twelve more Bond films, wrote the final draft, which had the collaboration of many writers, with two receiving credits: Johanna Harwood, and Berkeley Mather.
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 notable omissions. Major elements from the novel that are missing entirely from the film include Bond's fight with a giant squid, and the escape from Dr. No's complex using the dragon disguised swamp buggy.
Several elements of the novel were significantly changed for the film, as well. These include the use of a tarantula spider instead of a centipede, Dr. No's secret complex being disguised as a legitimate bauxite mine instead of a guano quarry, Dr. No's plot to disrupt NASA space launches from Cape Canaveral using a radio beam instead of disrupting U.S. missile testing on Turk's Island, and the method of Dr. No's death by drowning in reactor coolant rather than a burial under a chute of guano.
In addition, some major elements were absent from the novel, but added to the film. These include the introduction of the Bond character himself in a gambling casino, the introduction of Bond's semi-regular girlfriend Sylvia Trench, a car chase from the airport, a fight scene with an enemy chauffeur, a fight scene to introduce Quarrel, Bond's recurring CIA ally Felix Leiter, Dr No's partner in crime Professor Dent, and Bond's controversial cold-blooded killing of this character.
When Major Boothroyd replaces Bond's Beretta, he claims that it has no stopping power. He states the replacement gun's 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. However it should be noted that the Beretta M1934 replaced in the film is actually a higher caliber (.380 ACP/9mm short) with much more stopping power.
In the novel it is a very small .25 (6.35mm) caliber Beretta that is replaced by the larger .32 (7.65mm) caliber PPK. Major Boothroyd's remarks originally referred to the .25 Beretta, not the .380 shown in the film.
Filming
The film is set in the London, UK, Kingston, Jamaica
and Crab Key, a fictional island off Jamaica. Some of the scenes were shot on location in Jamaica, primarily the exterior scenes of Crab Key and Kingston where an uncredited Syd Cain acted as art director and also designed the Dragon Tank. They shot a few yards from Fleming's Goldeneye estate, and the author would regularly visit with friends. 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 with sets designed by Ken Adam credited as production designer. The majority of shooting for later Bond films also took place at Pinewood.
The scene where a tarantula walks over Bond was initially shot by pinning a bed to the wall and placing Sean Connery over it, with a protective glass between him and the spider. Director Young didn't like the final results, so the scenes were intercalated with new footage featuring the tarantula over stuntman Bob Simmons. The book features a scene where Honey is tortured by being tied to the ground along with crabs, but since the crabs were sent frost from the Caribbean, they didn't move much during filming, so the scene was altered to have Honey slowly drowning.
When he is about to have dinner with Dr. No, Bond is amazed to see Goya's painting of the Duke of Wellington. The portrait had been stolen from the National Gallery allegedly by a 60-year-old amateur thief in London just before filming began.
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.
Soundtrack
Monty Norman was invited to write the soundtrack because Broccoli liked his work on Belle, a musical about murderer Hawley Harvey Crippen. Norman was busy with musicals, and only accepted to do the music for Dr. No after Saltzman offered 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. Other notable songs in the film are the Bouyon music song Jump Up, played in the background, and the traditional Jamaican calypso Underneath the Mango Tree, famously sung by Diana Coupland then Norman's wife, the singing voice of Honey Ryder, as she walked out of the ocean on Crab Key. Byron Lee & the Dragonaires appeared in the film and performed most of the music on the later soundtrack album.
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. 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 American release for the film was in 1963, a year later than its British release. The American teaser trailer displayed a sense of humour absent from the original British trailer. The American advertising campaign first included the 007 logo designed by Joseph Caroff with a pistol as part of the seven. An original soundtrack album was released in 1963 as well as several cover versions of the "The James Bond Theme".
In Japan the film was titled "We Have No Need of a Doctor" when promotional materials sent to Japan by United Artists mistakenly featured a question mark instead of a full stop/period following the "Dr.".
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 21 June 2005 it was honoured as the 22nd greatest quotation in cinema history by the American Film Institute as part of their 100 Years Series.
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.
In 2003 the scene of Andress emerging from the water in a bikini topped Channel 4's list of 10 sexiest scenes of film history. The bikini was sold in an auction for US $61,500. Entertainment Weekly and IGN ranked her as Top in a Top 10 Bond Babes list.
In popular culture
Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me features a scene in which Mike MyersAustin Powers , and Shrek...
emerges from the sea wearing a bikini.
Jeopardy! once had a category called "Dr. No...guchi", about Los Angeles coroner Tom Noguchi.
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.
External links
|
| |
|
|
