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Dr. No (film)
Encyclopedia
Dr. No is a 1962 spy film
, starring Sean Connery
; it 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
and was directed by Terence Young. The film was 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 was not 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.
Dr. No was produced with a low budget, but was a financial success. While critical reaction at release was mixed, over time the film received a reputation as one of the franchise's best instalments. The film was the first of a successful series of 22 Bond films; a 23rd is planned for release in 2012. Dr. No also launched a successful genre of "secret agent" films that flourished in the 1960s
. The film also spawned a spin-off comic book and soundtrack album as part of its promotion and marketing.
Many of the iconic aspects of a typical James Bond film were established in Dr. No: 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
. Production designer
Ken Adam
established an elaborate visual style that is one of the hallmarks of the Bond film series.
(SIS) Station Chief in Jamaica, is ambushed and killed, and his body taken by a trio of assassins known as the "Three Blind Mice". In response, MI6 agent James Bond
– Agent 007 is summoned to the office of his superior, M
. 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 by two men. He is picked up by a chauffeur, whom 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 then kills himself with a cyanide
-embedded cigarette.
During his investigation in Strangways' house Bond sees a photograph of a boatman with Strangways. Bond locates the boatman, named Quarrel, but finds him to be un-cooperative. Bond also recognises Quarrel to have been the driver of the car that followed him from the airport. Bond follows Quarrel and is about to be beaten by him and a friend when the fight is interrupted by the second man who followed Bond from the airport: he reveals himself to be CIA agent Felix Leiter
and explains 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 vicinity of Jamaica, but aerial photography cannot determine the exact location of its origin. Quarrel reveals that he has been guiding Strangways around the nearby islands to collect mineral samples. He also talks about the reclusive Dr. No, who owns the island of Crab Key, on which there is a bauxite
mine: the island, and mine, are rigorously protected against trespassers by an armed security force and radar.
During a search of Strangways' house, Bond found a receipt, signed by Professor R. J. Dent, concerning rock samples. Bond meets with Dent who says he 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 tarantula
. Bond survives and after a final attempt on his life, sets a trap for Dent, whom 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; the scientist is pushed into the reactor's cooling vat, in which he boils to death. Bond finds Honey and the two escape in a boat just as the entire lair explodes.
gained the rights for the James Bond book, he initially did not go through with the project. Instead, Albert R. 'Cubby' Broccoli
wanted the rights to the Bond books and attempted to buy them from Saltzman. Saltzman did not want to sell the rights to Broccoli and instead they formed a partnership to make the James Bond films. A number of Hollywood film studios did not want to fund the films, finding them "too British" or "too blatantly sexual". Eventually the two received authorisation from United Artists
to produce Dr. No, 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 them. 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 the 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 Dr. No 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. Young also decided to inject much humour, as he considered that "a lot of things in this film, the sex and violence and so on, if played straight, a) would be objectionable, and b) we're never gonna go past along the censors; but the moment you take the mickey out, put the tongue out in the cheek
, it seems to disarm."
The producers asked United Artists for financing, but the studio would only put up $1 million ($ million in dollars). Later, the UK arm of United Artists provided an extra $100,000 to create the climax where Dr. No's base explodes. As a result of the low budget, only one sound editor was hired (normally there are two, for sound effects and dialogue), and many pieces of scenery were made in cheaper ways, with M's office featuring cardboard paintings and a door covered in a leather-like plastic, the room where Dent meets Dr. No costing only £745 (£ in pounds) to build, and the aquarium in Dr. No's base being magnified stock footage of goldfish. Furthermore, when 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 the credits again.
and his friend Wolf Mankowitz
to write Dr. Nos screenplay, partly because of Mankowitz’s help in brokering the deal between Broccoli and Saltzman. An initial draft of the screenplay was rejected because the scriptwriters had made the villain, Dr. No, a monkey. Mankowitz left the movie, and Maibaum then undertook a second version, more closely in line with the novel. Johanna Harwood and Berkely Mather
then worked on Maibaum's script, with Harwood in particular being described as a script doctor
who helped put elements more in tune with a British character. Mankowitz eventually had his name removed from the credits after viewing early rushes, as he feared it would be a disaster.
During the series' forty-year history only a few of the films have remained 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 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. Elements of the novel that were significantly changed for the film include the use of a (non-poisonous) tarantula spider instead of a centipede
; Dr. No's secret complex being disguised as a 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 US missile testing on Turk's Island; the method of Dr. No's death by drowning in reactor
coolant rather than a burial under a chute of guano, and the introduction of SPECTRE, an organisation absent from the book. Components absent from the novel but added to the film include the introduction of the Bond character in a gambling casino, the introduction of Bond's semi-regular girlfriend Sylvia Trench, a fight scene with an enemy chauffeur, a fight scene to introduce Quarrel, the seduction of Miss Taro, 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.
Sometimes episodes in the novel retained in the film's altered narrative introduce elements of absurdity into the plot. Bond's "escape" from his cell via the air shaft, for instance, originally conceived as a ruse of Dr. No's to test Bond's skill and endurance, becomes an authentic breakout in the film. Features carried over from the novel's obstacle course, however, such as the torrent of water and scalding surface, have no logical justification in the script. Such incongruities would recur in subsequent Bond films.
for the role, they discarded the idea as Grant would be committed to only one feature film, and the producers decided to go after someone who could be part of a franchise. Richard Johnson
has claimed to have been the first choice of the director, but he turned it down because he already had a contract with MGM and was intending to leave. 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
.
There are several apocryphal stories as to whom Ian Fleming personally wanted. Reportedly, Fleming favoured actor 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 until 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. 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 screen tested 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. When Connery was invited to meet Broccoli and Saltzman he appeared scruffy and in unpressed clothes, but Connery “put on an act and it paid off” as he acted in the meeting with a macho devil-may care attitude. When he left both Saltzman and Broccoli watched him through the window as he went to his car, both agreeing that he was the right man for Bond. After Connery was chosen, Terence Young took the actor to his tailor and hairdresser, and introduced him to the high life, restaurants, casinos and women of London. In the words of Bond writer Raymond Benson
, Young educated the actor "in the ways of being dapper, witty, and above all, cool".
Honey Ryder, Julie Christie
was considered, but discarded as the producers felt she was not voluptuous enough. Just two weeks before filming began, Ursula Andress was chosen to play Honey after the producers saw a picture of her taken by Andress' then-husband John Derek
. To appear more convincing as a Jamaican, Andress had a tan painted on her and ultimately had her voice dubbed over due to her heavy Swiss German accent. For Bond's antagonist Dr. Julius No, Ian Fleming wanted his friend Noel Coward
, and he answered the invitation with "No! No! No!" Harry Saltzman picked Joseph Wiseman because of his performance in the 1951 film Detective Story, and the actor had special make-up applied to invoke No's Chinese heritage.
The role as the first Felix Leiter was given to Jack Lord. This is Bond and Leiter's first time meeting each other on film and 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, Casino Royale
, Leiter and Bond are seen meeting one another again for the first time. This was Lord's only appearance as Leiter, as he asked for more money and a better billing to return as Leiter in Goldfinger
and was subsequently replaced.
The cast also included a number of actors who were to become stalwarts of the future films, including Bernard Lee, who played Bond's superior M for another ten films, and Lois Maxwell, who played M's secretary Moneypenny in fourteen instalments of the series. Lee was chosen because of being a "prototypical father figure", and Maxwell after Fleming thought she was the perfect fit for his description of the character. Maxwell was initially 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. Eunice Gayson was cast as Sylvia Trench and it was planned that she would be a recurring girlfriend for Bond throughout six films, although she only appeared in Dr. No and From Russia with Love
. She had been given the part by director Terence Young, who had worked with her in Zarak
and invited Gayson saying "You always bring me luck in my films", although she was also cast due to her voluptuous figure. One role which was not given to a future regular was that of Major Boothroyd, the head of Q-Branch, which was given to Peter Burton. Burton was unavailable for the subsequent film, From Russia with Love, and the role was taken by Desmond Llewelyn
.
Anthony Dawson, who played Professor Dent, met director Terence Young when he was working as a stage actor in London, but by the time of the film's shooting Dawson was working as a pilot and crop duster in Jamaica. 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 Eric Pohlmann
. Zena Marshall, who played Miss Taro, was mostly attracted by the humorous elements of the script, and described her role as "this attractive little siren, and at the same time I was the spy, a bad woman", who Young asked to play "not as Chinese, but a Mid-Atlantic woman who men dream about but is not real". The role of Taro was previously rejected by Marguerite LeWars, the Miss Jamaica 1961 who worked at the Kingston airport, as it required being "wrapped in a towel, lying in a bed, kissing a strange man". LeWars appeared as a photographer hired by Dr. No instead.
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 the filming with friends. On 21 February, production left Jamaica with footage still unfilmed due to a change of weather. Five days later, filming began at Pinewood Studios
, Buckinghamshire, England with sets designed
by Ken Adam
, which included Dr. No's base, the ventilation duct and the interior of the British Secret Service headquarters. The studio would later be used on the majority of later Bond films. Adam's initial budget for the entire film was just £14,500 (£ in pounds), but the producers were convinced to give him an extra £6,000 out of their own finances. After 58 days of filming, principal photography wrapped on 30 March 1962.
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 did not like the final results, so the scenes were interlaced with new footage featuring the tarantula over stuntman Bob Simmons
. Simmons, who was uncredited for the film, described the scene as the most frightening stunt he had ever performed. The book features a scene where Honey is tortured by being tied to the ground along with crabs, but since the crabs were sent frozen from the Caribbean, they did not move much during filming, so the scene was altered to have Honey slowly drowning. Simmons also served as the film's fight choreographer, employing a rough fighting style. The noted violence of Dr. No, which also included Bond shooting Dent in cold blood, caused producers to make adaptations in order to get an "A" rating - allowing minors to enter accompanied by an adult - from the British Board of Film Classification
.
When he is about to have dinner with Dr. No, Bond is amazed to see Goya
's Portrait of the Duke of Wellington
. The painting had been stolen from the National Gallery
by a 60 year-old amateur thief in London just before filming began. Ken Adam 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.
Editor Peter R. Hunt
used an innovative editing technique, with extensive use of quick cuts, and employing fast motion and exaggerated sound effects on the action scenes. Hunt said his intention was to "move fast and push it along the whole time, while giving it a certain style", and added that the fast pacing would help audiences not notice any writing problems. 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. Binder also designed a highly stylised main title sequence, a theme that has been repeated in the subsequent Eon-produced Bond films. Binder's budget for the title sequence was £2,000 (£ in pounds).
plays "and creates an indelible link between music and character." In the short scene introducing Bond, there are portrayed "qualities of strength, action, reaction, violence - and this elegant, slightly brutal gambler with the quizzical sneer we see before us who answers a woman when he's good and ready." Raymond Benson
, author of the continuation Bond novels, has stated that as the music fades up on the scene, "we have ourselves a piece of classic cinema".
Following the release of Dr. No, the quote "Bond ... James Bond," became a catch phrase
that entered the lexicon
of Western popular culture: writers Cork and Scivally said of the introduction in Dr. No that the "signature introduction would become the most famous and loved film line ever". In 2001 it was voted as the "best-loved one-liner in cinema" by British cinema goers. 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
.
was invited to write the soundtrack because Broccoli liked his work on the 1961 theatre production 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 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 theme, as written by Norman and arranged by Barry, was described by another Bond film composer, David Arnold
, as "bebop-swing vibe coupled with that vicious, dark, distorted electric guitar, definitely an instrument of rock 'n' roll...it represented everything about the character you would want: It was cocky, swaggering, confident, dark, dangerous, suggestive, sexy, unstoppable. And he did it in two minutes."
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 song "Jump Up", played in the background, and the traditional Jamaican calypso "Under 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
. Lee and other Jamaican musicians who appear in soundtrack were introduced to Norman by Chris Blackwell
, the owner of then-small label Island Records
who worked in the film as a location scout. The original soundtrack
album
was released by United Artists Records
in 1963 as well as several cover version
s of "The James Bond Theme" on Columbia Records
. A single of the "James Bond Theme" entered the UK Singles Chart in 1962, reaching a peak position of number thirteen during an eleven week spell in the charts.
", the gun barrel sequence, his initial mission briefing with M, "Bond girl
s", the criminal organisation 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, and weaponry.
Dr. No also establishes the oft-repeated association (in this case, Project Mercury
) between the Bond series and the US manned space programme—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 programmes in GoldenEye
, Tomorrow Never Dies
, and Die Another Day
).
, depicting Sean Connery and four scantily clad women. The campaign also included the 007 logo
designed by Joseph Caroff with a pistol as part of the seven.
Dr. No had its worldwide premiere at the London Pavilion
, on 5 October 1962, expanding to the rest of the United Kingdom three days later. The North American premiere on 8 May 1963 was more low-profile, with 450 cinemas in Midwest
and Southwest
regions. On May 29 it opened in both Los Angeles and New York City - in the former as a double-bill with The Young and the Brave
and the latter in United Artists' "Premiere Showcase" treatment, screening in 84 screens across the city to avoid the costly Broadway cinemas.
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 did not like Connery, or the Fleming novels. The Vatican condemned Dr. No 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 it was "full of submerged self-parody". The Guardian’s
critic called Dr. No "crisp and well-tailored" and "a neat and gripping thriller."
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 2005 American Film Institute
's '100 Years' series also recognised the character of James Bond himself in the film as the third greatest film hero
. He was also placed at number eleven on a similar list by Empire. Premiere
also listed Bond as the fifth greatest movie character of all time.
, to compensate the fact that the next Bond movie
would only come out in the following year. The total gross of Dr. No ended up being $59,600,000 worldwide. IGN
listed it as sixth-best Bond film ever, Entertainment Weekly
put it 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. Dr. No 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 2001 at an auction for US$61,500. Entertainment Weekly and IGN ranked her first in a top ten "Bond babes" list.
adaptation of the screenplay, written by Norman J. Nodel, was published in the United Kingdom as part of the Classics Illustrated
anthology series. It was later reprinted in the United States by DC Comics
as part of its Showcase anthology series, in January 1963. This was the first American comic book appearance of James Bond and is noteworthy for being a relatively rare example of a British comic being reprinted in a fairly high-profile American comic. It was also one of the earliest comics to be censored on racial grounds (some skin tones and dialogue were changed for the American market).
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
. The first spoof films happened relatively soon after Dr. No, with the 1964 film Carry on Spying
showing the villain Dr. Crow being overcome by agents who included James Bind (Charles Hawtry
) and Daphne Honeybutt (Barbara Windsor
).
A further legacy saw the sales of Fleming’s books rise sharply after the release of Dr. No and the subsequent Bond films. In the seven months after Dr. No was released, 1.5 million copies of the novel were sold. Worldwide sales of all the Bond books rose throughout the sixties as Dr. No and the subsequent films – From Russia with Love
and Goldfinger – were released: in 1951 500,000 books had been sold, which rose to six million in 1964 and seven million in 1965. Between the years 1962 to 1967, a total of nearly 22.8 million Bond novels were sold.
The film had an impact on ladies' fashion, with the bikini worn by Ursula Andress proving to be a huge hit: "not only sent sales of two-piece swimwear skyrocketing, it also made Andress an international celebrity". Andress herself admitted that the "bikini made me into a success. As a result of starring in Dr No as the first Bond girl I was given the freedom to take my pick of future roles and to become financially independent". It has been claimed that the use of the swimwear in Dr. No led to "the biggest impact on the history of the bikini".
Spy film
The spy film genre deals with the subject of fictional espionage, either in a realistic way or as a basis for fantasy . Many novels in the spy fiction genre have been adapted as films, including works by John Buchan, John Le Carré, Ian Fleming and Len Deighton...
, starring Sean Connery
Sean Connery
Sir Thomas Sean Connery , better known as Sean Connery, is a Scottish actor and producer who has won an Academy Award, two BAFTA Awards and three Golden Globes Sir Thomas Sean Connery (born 25 August 1930), better known as Sean Connery, is a Scottish actor and producer who has won an Academy...
; it is the first James Bond film
James Bond (film series)
The James Bond film series is a British series of motion pictures based on the fictional character of MI6 agent James Bond , who originally appeared in a series of books by Ian Fleming. Earlier films were based on Fleming's novels and short stories, followed later by films with original storylines...
. Based on the 1958 Ian Fleming
Ian Fleming
Ian Lancaster Fleming was a British author, journalist and Naval Intelligence Officer.Fleming is best known for creating the fictional British spy James Bond and for a series of twelve novels and nine short stories about the character, one of the biggest-selling series of fictional books of...
novel of the same name, it was adapted by Richard Maibaum
Richard Maibaum
Richard Maibaum was an American film producer, playwright and screenwriter best known for his adaptations of Ian Fleming's James Bond novels....
, Johanna Harwood, and Berkely Mather
Berkely Mather
Berkely Mather was a British author who published fifteen novels and a book of short stories. He also wrote for radio, television and the movies....
and was directed by Terence Young. The film was produced by Harry Saltzman
Harry Saltzman
Harry Saltzman was a Canadian theatre and film producer best known for his mega-gamble which resulted in his co-producing the James Bond film series with Albert R...
and Albert R. Broccoli
Albert R. Broccoli
Albert Romolo Broccoli, CBE , nicknamed "Cubby", was an American film producer, who made more than 40 motion pictures throughout his career, most of them in the United Kingdom, and often filmed at Pinewood Studios. Co-founder of Danjaq, LLC and EON Productions, Broccoli is most notable as the...
, a partnership that would continue until 1975.
In the film, James Bond is sent to Jamaica
Jamaica
Jamaica is an island nation of the Greater Antilles, in length, up to in width and 10,990 square kilometres in area. It is situated in the Caribbean Sea, about south of Cuba, and west of Hispaniola, the island harbouring the nation-states Haiti and the Dominican Republic...
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 was not the first of Fleming's novels, Casino Royale
Casino Royale (novel)
Casino Royale is Ian Fleming's first James Bond novel. It paved the way for a further eleven novels by Fleming himself, in addition to two short story collections, followed by many "continuation" Bond novels by other authors....
being the debut for the character; however, the film makes a few references to threads from earlier books.
Dr. No was produced with a low budget, but was a financial success. While critical reaction at release was mixed, over time the film received a reputation as one of the franchise's best instalments. The film was the first of a successful series of 22 Bond films; a 23rd is planned for release in 2012. Dr. No also launched a successful genre of "secret agent" films that flourished in the 1960s
1960s in film
The decade of the 1960s in film involved many significant films.----Contents1 Events2 List of films: # A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z.Hundreds of full-length films were produced during the 1960s....
. The film also spawned a spin-off comic book and soundtrack album as part of its promotion and marketing.
Many of the iconic aspects of a typical James Bond film were established in Dr. No: the film begins with an introduction to the character through the view of a gun barrel
James Bond gun barrel sequence
The James Bond gun barrel sequence is the signature device that features in every one of the James Bond films. Shot from the point-of-view of a presumed assassin, it features British agent James Bond walking, turning and then shooting directly at camera, causing blood to run down the screen.The...
and a highly stylised main title sequence, both created by Maurice Binder
Maurice Binder
Maurice Binder was a film title designer best known for his work on 14 James Bond films including the first, Dr. No in 1962 and for Stanley Donen's films from 1958. He was born in New York City, USA, but mostly worked in Britain from the 1950s onwards...
. Production designer
Production designer
In film and television, a production designer is the person responsible for the overall look of a filmed event such as films, TV programs, music videos or adverts. Production designers have one of the key creative roles in the creation of motion pictures and television. Working directly with the...
Ken Adam
Ken Adam
Sir Kenneth Adam, OBE, born Klaus Hugo Adam , is a motion picture production designer most famous for his set designs for the James Bond films of the 1960s and 1970s.-Childhood in Germany:...
established an elaborate visual style that is one of the hallmarks of the Bond film series.
Plot
John Strangways, the British IntelligenceSecret Intelligence Service
The Secret Intelligence Service is responsible for supplying the British Government with foreign intelligence. Alongside the internal Security Service , the Government Communications Headquarters and the Defence Intelligence , it operates under the formal direction of the Joint Intelligence...
(SIS) Station Chief in Jamaica, is ambushed and killed, and his body taken by a trio of assassins known as the "Three Blind Mice". In response, MI6 agent James Bond
James Bond (character)
Royal Navy Commander James Bond, CMG, RNVR is a fictional character created by journalist and novelist Ian Fleming in 1953. He is the main protagonist of the James Bond series of novels, films, comics and video games...
– Agent 007 is summoned to the office of his superior, M
M (James Bond)
M is a fictional character in Ian Fleming's James Bond series, as well as the films in the Bond franchise. The head of MI6 and Bond's superior, M has been portrayed by three actors in the official Bond film series: Bernard Lee, Robert Brown and since 1995 by Judi Dench. Background =Ian Fleming...
. Bond is briefed to investigate Strangways' disappearance and to determine whether it is related to his cooperation with the American Central Intelligence Agency
Central Intelligence Agency
The Central Intelligence Agency is a civilian intelligence agency of the United States government. It is an executive agency and reports directly to the Director of National Intelligence, responsible for providing national security intelligence assessment to senior United States policymakers...
(CIA) on a case involving the disruption of Cape Canaveral
Cape Canaveral
Cape Canaveral, from the Spanish Cabo Cañaveral, is a headland in Brevard County, Florida, United States, near the center of the state's Atlantic coast. Known as Cape Kennedy from 1963 to 1973, it lies east of Merritt Island, separated from it by the Banana River.It is part of a region known as the...
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 by two men. He is picked up by a chauffeur, whom 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 then kills himself with a cyanide
Cyanide
A cyanide is a chemical compound that contains the cyano group, -C≡N, which consists of a carbon atom triple-bonded to a nitrogen atom. Cyanides most commonly refer to salts of the anion CN−. Most cyanides are highly toxic....
-embedded cigarette.
During his investigation in Strangways' house Bond sees a photograph of a boatman with Strangways. Bond locates the boatman, named Quarrel, but finds him to be un-cooperative. Bond also recognises Quarrel to have been the driver of the car that followed him from the airport. Bond follows Quarrel and is about to be beaten by him and a friend when the fight is interrupted by the second man who followed Bond from the airport: he reveals himself to be CIA agent Felix Leiter
Felix Leiter
Felix Leiter is a fictional CIA agent created by Ian Fleming in the James Bond series of novels and films. In both, Leiter works for the CIA and assists Bond in his various adventures as well as being his best friend. In further novels Leiter joins the Pinkerton Detective Agency and in the film...
and explains 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 vicinity of Jamaica, but aerial photography cannot determine the exact location of its origin. Quarrel reveals that he has been guiding Strangways around the nearby islands to collect mineral samples. He also talks about the reclusive Dr. No, who owns the island of Crab Key, on which there is a bauxite
Bauxite
Bauxite is an aluminium ore and is the main source of aluminium. This form of rock consists mostly of the minerals gibbsite Al3, boehmite γ-AlO, and diaspore α-AlO, in a mixture with the two iron oxides goethite and hematite, the clay mineral kaolinite, and small amounts of anatase TiO2...
mine: the island, and mine, are rigorously protected against trespassers by an armed security force and radar.
During a search of Strangways' house, Bond found a receipt, signed by Professor R. J. Dent, concerning rock samples. Bond meets with Dent who says he 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 tarantula
Tarantula
Tarantulas comprise a group of often hairy and often very large arachnids belonging to the family Theraphosidae, of which approximately 900 species have been identified. Some members of the same Suborder may also be called "tarantulas" in the common parlance. This article will restrict itself to...
. Bond survives and after a final attempt on his life, sets a trap for Dent, whom 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
White bikini of Ursula Andress
The White bikini of Ursula Andress was a white bikini worn by Ursula Andress as Honey Ryder in the 1962 James Bond film, Dr. No...
, 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
SPECTRE
SPECTRE is a fictional global terrorist organisation featured in the James Bond novels by Ian Fleming, the films based on those novels, and James Bond video games...
(SPecial Executive for Counter-intelligence, Terrorism, Revenge, and Extortion) and plans to disrupt the Project Mercury
Project Mercury
In January 1960 NASA awarded Western Electric Company a contract for the Mercury tracking network. The value of the contract was over $33 million. Also in January, McDonnell delivered the first production-type Mercury spacecraft, less than a year after award of the formal contract. On February 12,...
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; the scientist is pushed into the reactor's cooling vat, in which he boils to death. Bond finds Honey and the two escape in a boat just as the entire lair explodes.
Cast
- Sean ConnerySean ConnerySir Thomas Sean Connery , better known as Sean Connery, is a Scottish actor and producer who has won an Academy Award, two BAFTA Awards and three Golden Globes Sir Thomas Sean Connery (born 25 August 1930), better known as Sean Connery, is a Scottish actor and producer who has won an Academy...
as James BondJames Bond (character)Royal Navy Commander James Bond, CMG, RNVR is a fictional character created by journalist and novelist Ian Fleming in 1953. He is the main protagonist of the James Bond series of novels, films, comics and video games...
: A British MI6 agent, codename 007. - Ursula AndressUrsula AndressUrsula Andress is a Swiss actress and a sex symbol of the 1960s. She is known for her roles as Bond girl Honey Ryder in Dr...
as Honey Ryder (spoken voice by Nikki van der ZylNikki van der ZylNikki van der Zyl is a German voice-actress most famous for providing the voice of Ursula Andress in the movie Dr. No She also revoiced all the other female voices in that same movie, except that of Miss Moneypenny and that of a Chinese girl...
and singing voice by Diana CouplandDiana CouplandBetty Diana Coupland was an English actress best remembered for her role as Jean Abbott on Bless This House, which she played from 1971 to 1976.-Early life:...
): A native Jamaican shell diver, making a living by selling Jamaican seashells to dealers in Miami. - Joseph WisemanJoseph WisemanJoseph Wiseman was a Canadian theater and film actor, best known for starring as the titular antagonist of the first James Bond film, Dr. No, his role as Manny Weisbord on Crime Story, and his career on Broadway...
as Dr. Julius No: Main antagonist and a reclusive member of SPECTRE. - Jack LordJack LordJohn Joseph Patrick Ryan , best known by his stage name Jack Lord, was an American television, film, and Broadway actor. He was known for his starring role as Steve McGarrett in the American television program Hawaii Five-O from 1968 to 1980. Lord appeared in feature films earlier in his career,...
as Felix LeiterFelix LeiterFelix Leiter is a fictional CIA agent created by Ian Fleming in the James Bond series of novels and films. In both, Leiter works for the CIA and assists Bond in his various adventures as well as being his best friend. In further novels Leiter joins the Pinkerton Detective Agency and in the film...
: A CIA operative sent to liaise with James Bond while he is in Kingston. - Bernard LeeBernard LeeJohn Bernard Lee was an English actor, best known for his role as M in the first eleven James Bond films.-Life and career:...
as MM (James Bond)M is a fictional character in Ian Fleming's James Bond series, as well as the films in the Bond franchise. The head of MI6 and Bond's superior, M has been portrayed by three actors in the official Bond film series: Bernard Lee, Robert Brown and since 1995 by Judi Dench. Background =Ian Fleming...
: The head of the British Secret Service. - Anthony DawsonAnthony DawsonAnthony Dawson was a Scottish-born actor, best known for his supporting roles in British films.Born in Edinburgh, he made his film debut in 1943's They Met in the Dark, going on to appear in such classic British films as The Way to the Stars , The Queen of Spades , and The Wooden Horse , before...
as Professor R. J. Dent: A geologist with a practice in Kingston, who also secretly works for Doctor No. - John KitzmillerJohn KitzmillerJohn Kitzmiller was an African-American actor. Born in Battle Creek, Michigan, Kitzmiller participated in the liberation of Italy during World War II. He began acting while stationed in this country, and appeared in Italian neorealist films...
as Quarrel: A Cayman Islander who was employed by John Strangways to secretly go to Crab Key to collect rock samples; he also worked with Felix Leiter before Bond's arrival. - Zena MarshallZena MarshallZena Moyra Marshall was a British actress of film and television.She attended St Mary's, Ascot and trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art...
as Miss Taro: The secretary to Mr. Pleydell-Smith at Government House in Kingston. - Eunice GaysonEunice GaysonEunice Gayson is a British actress best known for playing Sylvia Trench, James Bond's girlfriend in the first two Bond films...
as Sylvia TrenchSylvia TrenchSylvia Trench is a fictional character in two James Bond films, portrayed by Eunice Gayson. In the first of Sean Connery's outings as British secret agent 007, Dr. No, he meets Trench from across a Baccarat table at the London club Le Cercle...
(spoken voice by Nikki van der Zyl): Trench first meets Bond from across a Chemin de Fer table at the London club Le Cercle. - Lois MaxwellLois MaxwellLois Maxwell was a Canadian actress.Maxwell began her film career in the late 1940s, and won a Golden Globe Award for the New Actress of the Year for her performance in That Hagen Girl...
as Miss MoneypennyMiss MoneypennyJane Moneypenny, better known as Miss Moneypenny, is a fictional character in the James Bond novels and films. She is secretary to M, who is Bond's boss and head of the British Secret Service...
: The secretary to M. - Peter BurtonPeter BurtonPeter Burton was an English film and television actor born in Bromley, England. His biggest claim to fame is being the first actor to portray Major Boothroyd, better known as Q, in the first James Bond film, Dr. No...
as Major BoothroydQ (James Bond)Q is a fictional character in the James Bond novels and films. Q , like M, is a job title rather than a name. He is the head of Q Branch , the fictional research and development division of the British Secret Service...
: The head of Q-BranchQ (James Bond)Q is a fictional character in the James Bond novels and films. Q , like M, is a job title rather than a name. He is the head of Q Branch , the fictional research and development division of the British Secret Service...
, Boothroyd is brought in by M to replace Bond's Beretta M 1934 with a Walther PPKWalther PPKThe Walther PP series pistols are blowback-operated semi-automatic pistols.They feature an exposed hammer, a double-action trigger mechanism, a single-column magazine, and a fixed barrel which also acts as the guide rod for the recoil spring...
. - Timothy Moxon as John Strangways (voiced by Robert RiettyRobert RiettiRobert Rietti , usually credited as Robert Rietty, is a Italian actor and director.- Biography :Born of Italian heritage, Lucio Rietti was “discovered” at the age of 8 by his father Vittorio who noticed the boy had completely memorized a copy of a script he had given Lucio having wanted help from...
): Strangways is the head of the Kingston station for the British Secret Service, murdered by Dr. No's henchmen, the 'Three Blind Mice'. - Reggie Carter as Mr. Jones: A henchman of Dr. No that was sent to pick up 007 at the Palisadoes Airport.
- Marguerite LeWarsMarguerite LeWarsMarguerite LeWars is a Jamaican former beauty pageant titleholder who was crowned Miss Jamaica. While serving in that capacity, she played the role of the Dr. No's photographer in the first ever James Bond film Dr No, in 1962...
as Dr. No's photographer "Freelance": One of Dr. No's operatives who trails Bond.
Production
When Harry SaltzmanHarry Saltzman
Harry Saltzman was a Canadian theatre and film producer best known for his mega-gamble which resulted in his co-producing the James Bond film series with Albert R...
gained the rights for the James Bond book, he initially did not go through with the project. Instead, Albert R. 'Cubby' Broccoli
Albert R. Broccoli
Albert Romolo Broccoli, CBE , nicknamed "Cubby", was an American film producer, who made more than 40 motion pictures throughout his career, most of them in the United Kingdom, and often filmed at Pinewood Studios. Co-founder of Danjaq, LLC and EON Productions, Broccoli is most notable as the...
wanted the rights to the Bond books and attempted to buy them from Saltzman. Saltzman did not want to sell the rights to Broccoli and instead they formed a partnership to make the James Bond films. A number of Hollywood film studios did not want to fund the films, finding them "too British" or "too blatantly sexual". Eventually the two received authorisation from United Artists
United Artists
United Artists Corporation is an American film studio. The original studio of that name was founded in 1919 by D. W. Griffith, Charles Chaplin, Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks....
to produce Dr. No, 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 them. The partnership between Broccoli and Saltzman lasted until 1975, when tensions during the filming of The Man with the Golden Gun
The Man with the Golden Gun (film)
The Man with the Golden Gun is the ninth spy film in the James Bond series and the second to star Roger Moore as the fictional MI6 agent James Bond...
led to an acrimonious split and Saltzman sold his shares of Danjaq to United Artists.
Initially Broccoli and Saltzman had wanted to produce Thunderball
Thunderball (film)
Thunderball is the fourth spy film in the James Bond series starring Sean Connery as the fictional MI6 agent James Bond. It is an adaptation of the novel of the same name by Ian Fleming, which in turn was based on an original screenplay by Jack Whittingham...
as the first film, but there was an ongoing legal dispute between the screenplay
Screenplay
A screenplay or script is a written work that is made especially for a film or television program. Screenplays can be original works or adaptations from existing pieces of writing. In them, the movement, actions, expression, and dialogues of the characters are also narrated...
's co-author, Kevin McClory
Kevin McClory
Kevin O'Donovan McClory was an Irish screenwriter, producer, and director. McClory was best known for the 1983 James Bond film Never Say Never Again, which was the result of a long legal battle between McClory and Ian Fleming over the writing credits and later the film rights to...
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 Dr. No to Guy Green, Guy Hamilton
Guy Hamilton
Guy Hamilton is an English film director.Hamilton was born in Paris, France where his English parents were living. Remaining in France during the Nazi occupation, he was active in the French Resistance...
, Val Guest
Val Guest
Val Guest was a British film director, best known for his science-fiction films for Hammer Film Productions in the 1950s, but who also enjoyed a long, varied and active career in the film industry from the early 1930s up until the early 1980s.-Early life and career:He was born Valmond Maurice...
and Ken Hughes
Ken Hughes
Ken Hughes was a British film director, writer, and producer.-Personal history:Wife Charlotte Hughes living in LA...
to direct, but all of them turned it down. They finally signed Terence Young who had a long background with Broccoli's Warwick Films
Warwick Films
Warwick Films was the name of a film company founded by film producers Irving Allen and Albert R. Broccoli in London in 1951. The name was taken from the Warwick Hotel in London...
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. Young also decided to inject much humour, as he considered that "a lot of things in this film, the sex and violence and so on, if played straight, a) would be objectionable, and b) we're never gonna go past along the censors; but the moment you take the mickey out, put the tongue out in the cheek
Tongue-in-cheek
Tongue-in-cheek is a phrase used as a figure of speech to imply that a statement or other production is humorously intended and it should not be taken at face value. The facial expression typically indicates that one is joking or making a mental effort. In the past, it may also have indicated...
, it seems to disarm."
The producers asked United Artists for financing, but the studio would only put up $1 million ($ million in dollars). Later, the UK arm of United Artists provided an extra $100,000 to create the climax where Dr. No's base explodes. As a result of the low budget, only one sound editor was hired (normally there are two, for sound effects and dialogue), and many pieces of scenery were made in cheaper ways, with M's office featuring cardboard paintings and a door covered in a leather-like plastic, the room where Dent meets Dr. No costing only £745 (£ in pounds) to build, and the aquarium in Dr. No's base being magnified stock footage of goldfish. Furthermore, when art director Syd Cain
Syd Cain
Sidney B. "Syd" Cain was a British production designer who worked on more than 30 films, including four in the James Bond series in the 1960s and 1970s....
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 the credits again.
Writing
Broccoli had originally hired Richard MaibaumRichard Maibaum
Richard Maibaum was an American film producer, playwright and screenwriter best known for his adaptations of Ian Fleming's James Bond novels....
and his friend Wolf Mankowitz
Wolf Mankowitz
Cyril Wolf Mankowitz was an English writer, playwright and screenwriter of Russian Jewish descent.-Early life:...
to write Dr. Nos screenplay, partly because of Mankowitz’s help in brokering the deal between Broccoli and Saltzman. An initial draft of the screenplay was rejected because the scriptwriters had made the villain, Dr. No, a monkey. Mankowitz left the movie, and Maibaum then undertook a second version, more closely in line with the novel. Johanna Harwood and Berkely Mather
Berkely Mather
Berkely Mather was a British author who published fifteen novels and a book of short stories. He also wrote for radio, television and the movies....
then worked on Maibaum's script, with Harwood in particular being described as a script doctor
Script doctor
A script doctor, also called script consultant, is a highly-skilled screenwriter, hired by a film or television production, to rewrite or polish specific aspects of an existing screenplay, including structure, characterization, dialogue, pacing, theme, and other elements...
who helped put elements more in tune with a British character. Mankowitz eventually had his name removed from the credits after viewing early rushes, as he feared it would be a disaster.
During the series' forty-year history only a few of the films have remained 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 from the film include Bond's fight with a giant squid
Giant squid
The giant squid is a deep-ocean dwelling squid in the family Architeuthidae, represented by as many as eight species...
, and the escape from Dr. No's complex using the dragon-disguised swamp buggy. Elements of the novel that were significantly changed for the film include the use of a (non-poisonous) tarantula spider instead of a centipede
Centipede
Centipedes are arthropods belonging to the class Chilopoda of the subphylum Myriapoda. They are elongated metameric animals with one pair of legs per body segment. Despite the name, centipedes can have a varying number of legs from under 20 to over 300. Centipedes have an odd number of pairs of...
; Dr. No's secret complex being disguised as a bauxite
Bauxite
Bauxite is an aluminium ore and is the main source of aluminium. This form of rock consists mostly of the minerals gibbsite Al3, boehmite γ-AlO, and diaspore α-AlO, in a mixture with the two iron oxides goethite and hematite, the clay mineral kaolinite, and small amounts of anatase TiO2...
mine instead of a guano
Guano
Guano is the excrement of seabirds, cave dwelling bats, and seals. Guano manure is an effective fertilizer due to its high levels of phosphorus and nitrogen and also its lack of odor. It was an important source of nitrates for gunpowder...
quarry; Dr. No's plot to disrupt NASA
NASA
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is the agency of the United States government that is responsible for the nation's civilian space program and for aeronautics and aerospace research...
space launches from Cape Canaveral using a radio beam instead of disrupting US missile testing on Turk's Island; the method of Dr. No's death by drowning in reactor
Nuclear reactor
A nuclear reactor is a device to initiate and control a sustained nuclear chain reaction. Most commonly they are used for generating electricity and for the propulsion of ships. Usually heat from nuclear fission is passed to a working fluid , which runs through turbines that power either ship's...
coolant rather than a burial under a chute of guano, and the introduction of SPECTRE, an organisation absent from the book. Components absent from the novel but added to the film include the introduction of the Bond character in a gambling casino, the introduction of Bond's semi-regular girlfriend Sylvia Trench, a fight scene with an enemy chauffeur, a fight scene to introduce Quarrel, the seduction of Miss Taro, 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.
Sometimes episodes in the novel retained in the film's altered narrative introduce elements of absurdity into the plot. Bond's "escape" from his cell via the air shaft, for instance, originally conceived as a ruse of Dr. No's to test Bond's skill and endurance, becomes an authentic breakout in the film. Features carried over from the novel's obstacle course, however, such as the torrent of water and scalding surface, have no logical justification in the script. Such incongruities would recur in subsequent Bond films.
James Bond
While producers Broccoli and Saltzman originally sought Cary GrantCary Grant
Archibald Alexander Leach , better known by his stage name Cary Grant, was an English actor who later took U.S. citizenship...
for the role, they discarded the idea as Grant would be committed to only one feature film, and the producers decided to go after someone who could be part of a franchise. Richard Johnson
Richard Johnson (actor)
Richard Johnson is an English actor, writer and producer, who starred in several British films of the 1960s and has also had a distinguished stage career. He most recently appeared in The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas.-Life and career:...
has claimed to have been the first choice of the director, but he turned it down because he already had a contract with MGM and was intending to leave. Another actor purported to have been considered for the role was Patrick McGoohan
Patrick McGoohan
Patrick Joseph McGoohan was an American-born actor, raised in Ireland and England, with an extensive stage and film career, most notably in the 1960s television series Danger Man , and The Prisoner, which he co-created...
on the strength of his portrayal of spy John Drake in the television series Danger Man
Danger Man
Danger Man is a British television series that was broadcast between 1960 and 1962, and again between 1964 and 1968. The series featured Patrick McGoohan as secret agent John Drake. Ralph Smart created the program and wrote many of the scripts...
: McGoohan turned down the role. Another potential Bond included David Niven
David Niven
James David Graham Niven , known as David Niven, was a British actor and novelist, best known for his roles as Phileas Fogg in Around the World in 80 Days and Sir Charles Lytton, a.k.a. "the Phantom", in The Pink Panther...
, who would later play the character in the 1967 satire
Satire
Satire is primarily a literary genre or form, although in practice it can also be found in the graphic and performing arts. In satire, vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, ideally with the intent of shaming individuals, and society itself, into improvement...
Casino Royale
Casino Royale (1967 film)
Casino Royale is a 1967 comedy spy film originally produced by Columbia Pictures starring an ensemble cast of directors and actors. It is set as a satire of the James Bond film series and the spy genre, and is loosely based on Ian Fleming's first James Bond novel.The film stars David Niven as the...
.
There are several apocryphal stories as to whom Ian Fleming personally wanted. Reportedly, Fleming favoured actor Richard Todd
Richard Todd
Richard Todd OBE was an Irish-born British stage and film actor and soldier.-Early life:Richard Todd was born as Richard Andrew Palethorpe-Todd in Dublin, Ireland. His father, Andrew William Palethorpe Todd, was an Irish physician and an international Irish rugby player who gained three caps for...
. In his autobiography When The Snow Melts, Cubby Broccoli said Roger Moore
Roger Moore
Sir Roger George Moore KBE , is an English actor, perhaps best known for portraying British secret agent James Bond in seven films from 1973 to 1985. He also portrayed Simon Templar in the long-running British television series The Saint.-Early life:Moore was born in Stockwell, London...
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 until 1973, for Live and Let Die
Live and Let Die (film)
Live and Let Die is the eighth spy film in the James Bond series, and the first to star Roger Moore as the fictional MI6 agent James Bond. The film was produced by Albert R. Broccoli and Harry Saltzman...
. In the event, Moore appeared as Simon Templar
Simon Templar
Simon Templar is a British fictional character known as The Saint featured in a long-running series of books by Leslie Charteris published between 1928 and 1963. After that date, other authors collaborated with Charteris on books until 1983; two additional works produced without Charteris’s...
on the television series The Saint
The Saint (TV series)
The Saint was an ITC mystery spy thriller television series that aired in the UK on ITV between 1962 and 1969. It centred on the Leslie Charteris literary character, Simon Templar, a Robin Hood-like adventurer with a penchant for disguise. The character may be nicknamed The Saint because the...
, 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. 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 screen tested 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
Gregory Peck
Eldred Gregory Peck was an American actor.One of 20th Century Fox's most popular film stars from the 1940s to the 1960s, Peck continued to play important roles well into the 1980s. His notable performances include that of Atticus Finch in the 1962 film To Kill a Mockingbird, for which he won an...
quality, but proved unable to cope with the role. When Connery was invited to meet Broccoli and Saltzman he appeared scruffy and in unpressed clothes, but Connery “put on an act and it paid off” as he acted in the meeting with a macho devil-may care attitude. When he left both Saltzman and Broccoli watched him through the window as he went to his car, both agreeing that he was the right man for Bond. After Connery was chosen, Terence Young took the actor to his tailor and hairdresser, and introduced him to the high life, restaurants, casinos and women of London. In the words of Bond writer Raymond Benson
Raymond Benson
Raymond Benson is an American author best known for being the official author of the adult James Bond novels from 1997 to 2003. Benson was born in Midland, Texas and graduated from Permian High School in Odessa in 1973...
, Young educated the actor "in the ways of being dapper, witty, and above all, cool".
Secondary cast
For the first Bond girlBond girl
A Bond girl is a character or actress portraying a love interest, of James Bond in a film, novel, or video game. They occasionally have names that are double entendres or puns, such as "Pussy Galore", "Plenty O'Toole", "Xenia Onatopp", or "Holly Goodhead"...
Honey Ryder, Julie Christie
Julie Christie
Julie Frances Christie is a British actress. Born in British India to English parents, at the age of six Christie moved to England, where she attended boarding school....
was considered, but discarded as the producers felt she was not voluptuous enough. Just two weeks before filming began, Ursula Andress was chosen to play Honey after the producers saw a picture of her taken by Andress' then-husband John Derek
John Derek
John Derek was an American actor, director and photographer.-Career:His matinee-idol good looks quickly got him supporting roles, most notably as Broderick Crawford's son in All the King's Men , but he also enjoyed leads such as "Nick Romano" in Knock on Any Door opposite Humphrey Bogart John...
. To appear more convincing as a Jamaican, Andress had a tan painted on her and ultimately had her voice dubbed over due to her heavy Swiss German accent. For Bond's antagonist Dr. Julius No, Ian Fleming wanted his friend Noel Coward
Noël Coward
Sir Noël Peirce Coward was an English playwright, composer, director, actor and singer, known for his wit, flamboyance, and what Time magazine called "a sense of personal style, a combination of cheek and chic, pose and poise".Born in Teddington, a suburb of London, Coward attended a dance academy...
, and he answered the invitation with "No! No! No!" Harry Saltzman picked Joseph Wiseman because of his performance in the 1951 film Detective Story, and the actor had special make-up applied to invoke No's Chinese heritage.
The role as the first Felix Leiter was given to Jack Lord. This is Bond and Leiter's first time meeting each other on film and 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, Casino Royale
Casino Royale (2006 film)
Casino Royale is the twenty-first film in the James Bond film series and the first to star Daniel Craig as fictional MI6 agent James Bond...
, Leiter and Bond are seen meeting one another again for the first time. This was Lord's only appearance as Leiter, as he asked for more money and a better billing to return as Leiter in Goldfinger
Goldfinger (film)
Goldfinger is the third spy film in the James Bond series and the third to star Sean Connery as the fictional MI6 agent James Bond. Released in 1964, it is based on the novel of the same name by Ian Fleming. The film also stars Honor Blackman as Bond girl Pussy Galore and Gert Fröbe as the title...
and was subsequently replaced.
The cast also included a number of actors who were to become stalwarts of the future films, including Bernard Lee, who played Bond's superior M for another ten films, and Lois Maxwell, who played M's secretary Moneypenny in fourteen instalments of the series. Lee was chosen because of being a "prototypical father figure", and Maxwell after Fleming thought she was the perfect fit for his description of the character. Maxwell was initially 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. Eunice Gayson was cast as Sylvia Trench and it was planned that she would be a recurring girlfriend for Bond throughout six films, although she only appeared in Dr. No and From Russia with Love
From Russia with Love (film)
From Russia with Love is the second in the James Bond spy film series, and the second to star Sean Connery as the fictional MI6 agent James Bond. Released in 1963, the film was produced by Albert R. Broccoli and Harry Saltzman, and directed by Terence Young. It is based on the 1957 novel of the...
. She had been given the part by director Terence Young, who had worked with her in Zarak
Zarak
Zarak is a 1956 British Warwick Films CinemaScope action film based on the 1949 book The Story of Zarak Khan by A.J. Bevan. It was directed by Terence Young with assistance from John Gilling and Yakima Canutt...
and invited Gayson saying "You always bring me luck in my films", although she was also cast due to her voluptuous figure. One role which was not given to a future regular was that of Major Boothroyd, the head of Q-Branch, which was given to Peter Burton. Burton was unavailable for the subsequent film, From Russia with Love, and the role was taken by Desmond Llewelyn
Desmond Llewelyn
Desmond Wilkinson Llewelyn was a Welsh actor, famous for playing Q in 17 of the James Bond films between 1963 and 1999.-Early life:...
.
Anthony Dawson, who played Professor Dent, met director Terence Young when he was working as a stage actor in London, but by the time of the film's shooting Dawson was working as a pilot and crop duster in Jamaica. Dawson also portrayed Ernst Stavro Blofeld
Ernst Stavro Blofeld
Ernst Stavro Blofeld is a fictional character and a supervillain from the James Bond series of novels and films, who was created by Ian Fleming and Kevin McClory. An evil genius with aspirations of world domination, he is the archenemy of the British Secret Service agent James Bond and is arguably...
, head of SPECTRE, in From Russia with Love and Thunderball
Thunderball (film)
Thunderball is the fourth spy film in the James Bond series starring Sean Connery as the fictional MI6 agent James Bond. It is an adaptation of the novel of the same name by Ian Fleming, which in turn was based on an original screenplay by Jack Whittingham...
, although his face was never seen and his voice was dubbed by Eric Pohlmann
Eric Pohlmann
Eric Pohlmann was an Austrian theatre, film and television character actor.Born Erich Pollak in Vienna, Austria-Hungary, he was a classically trained actor who studied under the renowned director Max Reinhardt...
. Zena Marshall, who played Miss Taro, was mostly attracted by the humorous elements of the script, and described her role as "this attractive little siren, and at the same time I was the spy, a bad woman", who Young asked to play "not as Chinese, but a Mid-Atlantic woman who men dream about but is not real". The role of Taro was previously rejected by Marguerite LeWars, the Miss Jamaica 1961 who worked at the Kingston airport, as it required being "wrapped in a towel, lying in a bed, kissing a strange man". LeWars appeared as a photographer hired by Dr. No instead.
Filming
Dr. No is set in London, England, Kingston, Jamaica and Crab Key, a fictional island off Jamaica. Filming began on location in Jamaica on 16 January 1962. The primary scenes there were the exterior shots of Crab Key and Kingston, where an un-credited Syd CainSyd Cain
Sidney B. "Syd" Cain was a British production designer who worked on more than 30 films, including four in the James Bond series in the 1960s and 1970s....
acted as art director
Art director
The art director is a person who supervise the creative process of a design.The term 'art director' is a blanket title for a variety of similar job functions in advertising, publishing, film and television, the Internet, and video games....
and also designed the Dragon Tank. They shot a few yards from Fleming's Goldeneye
Goldeneye (estate)
Goldeneye was the name given by Ian Fleming to his estate in Oracabessa, Jamaica. He purchased the land next door to Golden Clouds estate and built his house on the edge of a cliff, overlooking a private beach. The original house was a modest structure consisting of three bedrooms and a swimming...
estate, and the author would regularly visit the filming with friends. On 21 February, production left Jamaica with footage still unfilmed due to a change of weather. Five days later, filming began at Pinewood Studios
Pinewood Studios
Pinewood Studios is a major British film studio situated in Iver Heath, Buckinghamshire, approximately west of central London. The studios have played host to many productions over the years from huge blockbuster films to television shows to commercials to pop promos.The purchase of Shepperton...
, Buckinghamshire, England with sets designed
Production designer
In film and television, a production designer is the person responsible for the overall look of a filmed event such as films, TV programs, music videos or adverts. Production designers have one of the key creative roles in the creation of motion pictures and television. Working directly with the...
by Ken Adam
Ken Adam
Sir Kenneth Adam, OBE, born Klaus Hugo Adam , is a motion picture production designer most famous for his set designs for the James Bond films of the 1960s and 1970s.-Childhood in Germany:...
, which included Dr. No's base, the ventilation duct and the interior of the British Secret Service headquarters. The studio would later be used on the majority of later Bond films. Adam's initial budget for the entire film was just £14,500 (£ in pounds), but the producers were convinced to give him an extra £6,000 out of their own finances. After 58 days of filming, principal photography wrapped on 30 March 1962.
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 did not like the final results, so the scenes were interlaced with new footage featuring the tarantula over stuntman Bob Simmons
Bob Simmons (stunt man)
Bob Simmons was an English actor and stunt man, best known for his work in many British made films, most notably the James Bond series.-Biography:...
. Simmons, who was uncredited for the film, described the scene as the most frightening stunt he had ever performed. The book features a scene where Honey is tortured by being tied to the ground along with crabs, but since the crabs were sent frozen from the Caribbean, they did not move much during filming, so the scene was altered to have Honey slowly drowning. Simmons also served as the film's fight choreographer, employing a rough fighting style. The noted violence of Dr. No, which also included Bond shooting Dent in cold blood, caused producers to make adaptations in order to get an "A" rating - allowing minors to enter accompanied by an adult - from the British Board of Film Classification
British Board of Film Classification
The British Board of Film Classification , originally British Board of Film Censors, is a non-governmental organisation, funded by the film industry and responsible for the national classification of films within the United Kingdom...
.
When he is about to have dinner with Dr. No, Bond is amazed to see Goya
Francisco Goya
Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes was a Spanish romantic painter and printmaker regarded both as the last of the Old Masters and the first of the moderns. Goya was a court painter to the Spanish Crown, and through his works was both a commentator on and chronicler of his era...
's Portrait of the Duke of Wellington
Portrait of the Duke of Wellington (Goya)
The Portrait of the Duke of Wellington is a painting by the Spanish artist Francisco Goya of the British general Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington during the latter's service in the Peninsular War...
. The painting had been stolen from the National Gallery
National Gallery, London
The National Gallery is an art museum on Trafalgar Square, London, United Kingdom. Founded in 1824, it houses a collection of over 2,300 paintings dating from the mid-13th century to 1900. The gallery is an exempt charity, and a non-departmental public body of the Department for Culture, Media...
by a 60 year-old amateur thief in London just before filming began. Ken Adam 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.
Editor Peter R. Hunt
Peter R. Hunt
Peter R. Hunt was an English film editor, television producer and director. Hunt was known for his work on the James Bond films with his innovative editing style.-Career:...
used an innovative editing technique, with extensive use of quick cuts, and employing fast motion and exaggerated sound effects on the action scenes. Hunt said his intention was to "move fast and push it along the whole time, while giving it a certain style", and added that the fast pacing would help audiences not notice any writing problems. As title artist Maurice Binder
Maurice Binder
Maurice Binder was a film title designer best known for his work on 14 James Bond films including the first, Dr. No in 1962 and for Stanley Donen's films from 1958. He was born in New York City, USA, but mostly worked in Britain from the 1950s onwards...
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
Pinhole camera
A pinhole camera is a simple camera without a lens and with a single small aperture – effectively a light-proof box with a small hole in one side. Light from a scene passes through this single point and projects an inverted image on the opposite side of the box...
inside an actual .38 calibre gun barrel, with Bob Simmons playing Bond. Binder also designed a highly stylised main title sequence, a theme that has been repeated in the subsequent Eon-produced Bond films. Binder's budget for the title sequence was £2,000 (£ in pounds).
The introduction of James Bond
The character James Bond was introduced towards, but not at, the beginning of the film in a "now-famous nightclub sequence featuring Sylvia Trench", to whom he makes his "immortal introduction". The introduction to the character in Le Cercle at Les Ambassadeurs, an upmarket gambling club, is derived from Bond's introduction in the first novel, Casino Royale which Fleming had used because "skill at gambling and knowledge of how to behave in a casino were seen...as attributes of a gentleman". After losing a hand of Chemin de Fer to Bond, Trench asks his name. There is the "most important gesture [in]...the way he lights his cigarette before giving her the satisfaction of an answer. 'Bond, James Bond'." Once Connery says his line, John Barry's Bond themeJames Bond Theme
The "James Bond Theme" is the main signature theme of the James Bond films and has featured in every Eon Productions Bond film since Dr. No. The piece has been used as an accompanying fanfare to the gun barrel sequence in almost every James Bond film....
plays "and creates an indelible link between music and character." In the short scene introducing Bond, there are portrayed "qualities of strength, action, reaction, violence - and this elegant, slightly brutal gambler with the quizzical sneer we see before us who answers a woman when he's good and ready." Raymond Benson
Raymond Benson
Raymond Benson is an American author best known for being the official author of the adult James Bond novels from 1997 to 2003. Benson was born in Midland, Texas and graduated from Permian High School in Odessa in 1973...
, author of the continuation Bond novels, has stated that as the music fades up on the scene, "we have ourselves a piece of classic cinema".
Following the release of Dr. No, the quote "Bond ... James Bond," became a catch phrase
Catch phrase
A catchphrase is a phrase or expression recognized by its repeated utterance. Such phrases often originate in popular culture and in the arts, and typically spread through a variety of mass media , as well as word of mouth...
that entered the lexicon
Lexicon
In linguistics, the lexicon of a language is its vocabulary, including its words and expressions. A lexicon is also a synonym of the word thesaurus. More formally, it is a language's inventory of lexemes. Coined in English 1603, the word "lexicon" derives from the Greek "λεξικόν" , neut...
of Western popular culture: writers Cork and Scivally said of the introduction in Dr. No that the "signature introduction would become the most famous and loved film line ever". In 2001 it was voted as the "best-loved one-liner in cinema" by British cinema goers. In 2005, it was honoured as the 22nd greatest quotation in cinema history by the American Film Institute
American Film Institute
The American Film Institute is an independent non-profit organization created by the National Endowment for the Arts, which was established in 1967 when President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the National Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities Act...
as part of their 100 Years Series
AFI's 100 Years... 100 Movie Quotes
Part of the AFI 100 Years... series, AFI's 100 Years... 100 Movie Quotes is a list of the top 100 movie quotations in American cinema. The American Film Institute revealed the list on June 21, 2005, in a three-hour television program on CBS...
.
Soundtrack
Monty NormanMonty Norman
Monty Norman is a singer and film composer best known for being credited with composing the "James Bond Theme".-Biography:...
was invited to write the soundtrack because Broccoli liked his work on the 1961 theatre production Belle, a musical about murderer Hawley Harvey Crippen
Hawley Harvey Crippen
Hawley Harvey Crippen , usually known as Dr. Crippen, was an American homeopathic physician hanged in Pentonville Prison, London, on November 23, 1910, for the murder of his wife, Cora Henrietta Crippen...
. 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
James Bond Theme
The "James Bond Theme" is the main signature theme of the James Bond films and has featured in every Eon Productions Bond film since Dr. No. The piece has been used as an accompanying fanfare to the gun barrel sequence in almost every James Bond film....
", which appears in a calypso medley over the title credits, and was written by Norman based on a previous composition of his. John Barry
John Barry (composer)
John Barry Prendergast, OBE was an English conductor and composer of film music. He is best known for composing the soundtracks for 12 of the James Bond films between 1962 and 1987...
, 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 theme, as written by Norman and arranged by Barry, was described by another Bond film composer, David Arnold
David Arnold
David Arnold is an English film composer best known for scoring five James Bond films, the 1994 film Stargate, the 1996 film Independence Day, and the television series Little Britain.-Film and television career:...
, as "bebop-swing vibe coupled with that vicious, dark, distorted electric guitar, definitely an instrument of rock 'n' roll...it represented everything about the character you would want: It was cocky, swaggering, confident, dark, dangerous, suggestive, sexy, unstoppable. And he did it in two minutes."
The music for the opening scene is a calypso version of the nursery rhyme
Nursery rhyme
The term nursery rhyme is used for "traditional" poems for young children in Britain and many other countries, but usage only dates from the 19th century and in North America the older ‘Mother Goose Rhymes’ is still often used.-Lullabies:...
"Three Blind Mice
Three Blind Mice
Three Blind Mice is an English nursery rhyme and musical round. It has a Roud Folk Song Index number of 3753.-Lyrics:The modern words are:-Variations and uses:Amateur music composer Thomas Oliphant noted in 1843 that:...
", with new lyrics to reflect the intentions of the three assassins hired by Dr. No. Other notable songs in the film are the song "Jump Up", played in the background, and the traditional Jamaican calypso "Under the Mango Tree", famously sung by Diana Coupland
Diana Coupland
Betty Diana Coupland was an English actress best remembered for her role as Jean Abbott on Bless This House, which she played from 1971 to 1976.-Early life:...
(then Norman's wife), the singing voice of Honey Ryder, as she walked out of the ocean on Crab Key. Byron Lee & the Dragonaires
Byron Lee & the Dragonaires
Byron Lee and the Dragonaires are a Jamaican ska, calypso and soca band. The band played a crucial pioneering role in bringing Caribbean music to the world...
appeared in the film and performed most of the music on the later soundtrack album
Soundtrack album
A soundtrack album is any album that incorporates music directly recorded from the soundtrack of a particular feature film or television program. In some cases, not all the tracks from the movie are included in the album; however there are rare cases of songs in the trailers that do not appear in...
. Lee and other Jamaican musicians who appear in soundtrack were introduced to Norman by Chris Blackwell
Chris Blackwell
Christopher Percy Gordon "Chris" Blackwell is a British record producer and businessman, who was the founder of Island Records, acknowledged as the most successful and groundbreaking independent record company in history. Blackwell has been a music industry mogul for over fifty years...
, the owner of then-small label Island Records
Island Records
Island Records is a record label that was founded by Chris Blackwell in Jamaica. It was based in the United Kingdom for many years and is now owned by Universal Music Group...
who worked in the film as a location scout. The original soundtrack
Soundtrack
A soundtrack can be recorded music accompanying and synchronized to the images of a motion picture, book, television program or video game; a commercially released soundtrack album of music as featured in the soundtrack of a film or TV show; or the physical area of a film that contains the...
album
Dr. No (soundtrack)
Dr. No is the original soundtrack for the first James Bond film of the same name.Composer Monty Norman was selected by producer Albert R. Broccoli after Broccoli backed a musical of Norman's Belle or The Ballad of Dr. Crippen written by Wolf Mankowitz a frequent collaborator with Norman and an...
was released by United Artists Records
United Artists Records
United Artists Records was a record label founded by Max E. Youngstein of United Artists in 1957 initially to distribute records of its movie soundtracks, though it soon branched out into recording music of a number of different genres.-History:...
in 1963 as well as several cover version
Cover version
In popular music, a cover version or cover song, or simply cover, is a new performance or recording of a contemporary or previously recorded, commercially released song or popular song...
s of "The James Bond Theme" on Columbia Records
Columbia Records
Columbia Records is an American record label, owned by Japan's Sony Music Entertainment, operating under the Columbia Music Group with Aware Records. It was founded in 1888, evolving from an earlier enterprise, the American Graphophone Company — successor to the Volta Graphophone Company...
. A single of the "James Bond Theme" entered the UK Singles Chart in 1962, reaching a peak position of number thirteen during an eleven week spell in the charts.
Themes
Dr. No introduced the many recurring themes and features associated with the suave and sophisticated secret agent: the distinctive "James Bond ThemeJames Bond Theme
The "James Bond Theme" is the main signature theme of the James Bond films and has featured in every Eon Productions Bond film since Dr. No. The piece has been used as an accompanying fanfare to the gun barrel sequence in almost every James Bond film....
", the gun barrel sequence, his initial mission briefing with M, "Bond girl
Bond girl
A Bond girl is a character or actress portraying a love interest, of James Bond in a film, novel, or video game. They occasionally have names that are double entendres or puns, such as "Pussy Galore", "Plenty O'Toole", "Xenia Onatopp", or "Holly Goodhead"...
s", the criminal organisation SPECTRE
SPECTRE
SPECTRE is a fictional global terrorist organisation featured in the James Bond novels by Ian Fleming, the films based on those novels, and James Bond video games...
, narrow escapes, Bond's luck and skill, his signature Walther PPK
Walther PPK
The Walther PP series pistols are blowback-operated semi-automatic pistols.They feature an exposed hammer, a double-action trigger mechanism, a single-column magazine, and a fixed barrel which also acts as the guide rod for the recoil spring...
and the licence to kill
Licence to kill (concept)
Licence to kill is a literary device used in espionage fiction. It refers to the official sanction by a government or government agency to a particular operative or employee to initiate the use of lethal force in the delivery of their objectives...
, 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
Shaken, not stirred
"Shaken, not stirred" is a catchphrase of Ian Fleming's fictional British Secret Service agent James Bond, and his preference for how he wished his martini prepared. The phrase first appears in the novel Diamonds Are Forever , though Bond does not actually say the line until Dr...
", love interests, and weaponry.
Dr. No also establishes the oft-repeated association (in this case, Project Mercury
Project Mercury
In January 1960 NASA awarded Western Electric Company a contract for the Mercury tracking network. The value of the contract was over $33 million. Also in January, McDonnell delivered the first production-type Mercury spacecraft, less than a year after award of the formal contract. On February 12,...
) between the Bond series and the US manned space programme—which would be repeated with Project Gemini
Project Gemini
Project Gemini was the second human spaceflight program of NASA, the civilian space agency of the United States government. Project Gemini was conducted between projects Mercury and Apollo, with ten manned flights occurring in 1965 and 1966....
in You Only Live Twice
You Only Live Twice (film)
You Only Live Twice is the fifth spy film in the James Bond series, and the fifth to star Sean Connery as the fictional MI6 agent James Bond. The film's screenplay was written by Roald Dahl, and loosely based on Ian Fleming's 1964 novel of the same name...
, Project Apollo
Project Apollo
The Apollo program was the spaceflight effort carried out by the United States' National Aeronautics and Space Administration , that landed the first humans on Earth's Moon. Conceived during the Presidency of Dwight D. Eisenhower, Apollo began in earnest after President John F...
in Diamonds Are Forever
Diamonds Are Forever (film)
Diamonds Are Forever is the seventh spy film in the Eon Productions James Bond series, and the sixth and final Eon Productions film to star Sean Connery as the fictional MI6 agent James Bond. The film is based on Ian Fleming's 1956 novel of the same name, and is the second of four James Bond films...
, and the space shuttle
Space Shuttle
The Space Shuttle was a manned orbital rocket and spacecraft system operated by NASA on 135 missions from 1981 to 2011. The system combined rocket launch, orbital spacecraft, and re-entry spaceplane with modular add-ons...
in Moonraker
Moonraker (film)
Moonraker is the eleventh spy film in the James Bond series, and the fourth to star Roger Moore as the fictional MI6 agent James Bond. The third and final film in the series to be directed by Lewis Gilbert, it co-stars Lois Chiles, Michael Lonsdale, Corinne Clery, and Richard Kiel...
(not to mention several outer space sequences involving fictional satellite programmes in GoldenEye
GoldenEye
GoldenEye is the seventeenth spy film in the James Bond series, and the first to star Pierce Brosnan as the fictional MI6 agent James Bond. The film was directed by Martin Campbell and is the first film in the series not to take story elements from the works of novelist Ian Fleming...
, Tomorrow Never Dies
Tomorrow Never Dies
Tomorrow Never Dies is the eighteenth spy film in the James Bond series, and the second to star Pierce Brosnan as the fictional MI6 agent James Bond. Bruce Feirstein wrote the screenplay, and it was directed by Roger Spottiswoode. It follows Bond as he tries to stop a media mogul from engineering...
, and Die Another Day
Die Another Day
Die Another Day is the 20th spy film in the James Bond series, and the fourth and last film to star Pierce Brosnan as the fictional MI6 agent James Bond; it is also the last Bond film of the original timeline with the series being rebooted with Casino Royale...
).
Promotion
As soon as late 1961, United Artists started a marketing campaign to make James Bond a well-known name in North America. Newspapers received a box set of Bond's books, as well as a booklet detailing the Bond character and a picture of Ursula Andress. Eon and United Artists made licensing deals revolving around the character's tastes, having merchandising tie-ins with drink, tobacco, men's clothing and car companies. The campaign also focused on Ian Fleming's name due to the minor success of the books. After Dr. No had a successful run in Europe, Sean Connery and Terence Young did a cross-country tour in March 1963, which featured screening previews for the film and press conferences. It culminated in a well-publicised premiere in Kingston, where most of the film is set. Some of the campaign emphasised the sex appeal of the film, with the poster artwork, by Mitchell HooksMitchell Hooks
Mitchell Hooks is an American artist and illustrator renowned for his artwork for paperback books and magazines ....
, depicting Sean Connery and four scantily clad women. The campaign also included the 007 logo
Logo
A logo is a graphic mark or emblem commonly used by commercial enterprises, organizations and even individuals to aid and promote instant public recognition...
designed by Joseph Caroff with a pistol as part of the seven.
Dr. No had its worldwide premiere at the London Pavilion
London Pavilion
The London Pavilion is a building located on the corner of Shaftesbury Avenue and Coventry Street on the north-east side of, and facing, Piccadilly Circus in London...
, on 5 October 1962, expanding to the rest of the United Kingdom three days later. The North American premiere on 8 May 1963 was more low-profile, with 450 cinemas in Midwest
Midwestern United States
The Midwestern United States is one of the four U.S. geographic regions defined by the United States Census Bureau, providing an official definition of the American Midwest....
and Southwest
Southwestern United States
The Southwestern United States is a region defined in different ways by different sources. Broad definitions include nearly a quarter of the United States, including Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Texas and Utah...
regions. On May 29 it opened in both Los Angeles and New York City - in the former as a double-bill with The Young and the Brave
The Young and The Brave
The Young and The Brave is a classic feature film released in 1963 by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. The film has been recognized by Turner Classic Movies as an historical representation of the war film genre and in 2006, the network executives selected the film for preservation in their archives...
and the latter in United Artists' "Premiere Showcase" treatment, screening in 84 screens across the city to avoid the costly Broadway cinemas.
Critical response
Upon release, Dr. No received a mixed critical reception. TimeTime (magazine)
Time is an American news magazine. A European edition is published from London. Time Europe covers the Middle East, Africa and, since 2003, Latin America. An Asian edition is based in Hong Kong...
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
The New Republic
The magazine has also published two articles concerning income inequality, largely criticizing conservative economists for their attempts to deny the existence or negative effect increasing income inequality is having on the United States...
said that he felt the film "never decides whether it is suspense or suspense-spoof." He also did not like Connery, or the Fleming novels. The Vatican condemned Dr. No because of Bond’s cruelty and the sexual content, whilst the Kremlin
Moscow Kremlin
The Moscow Kremlin , sometimes referred to as simply The Kremlin, is a historic fortified complex at the heart of Moscow, overlooking the Moskva River , Saint Basil's Cathedral and Red Square and the Alexander Garden...
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
The Observer
The Observer is a British newspaper, published on Sundays. In the same place on the political spectrum as its daily sister paper The Guardian, which acquired it in 1993, it takes a liberal or social democratic line on most issues. It is the world's oldest Sunday newspaper.-Origins:The first issue,...
said it was "full of submerged self-parody". The Guardian’s
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
critic called Dr. No "crisp and well-tailored" and "a neat and gripping thriller."
In the years that followed its release it became more popular. Writing in 1986, Danny Peary
Danny Peary
Danny Peary is an American film critic and sports writer. He has written many books on cinema and sports-related topics.-Biography:...
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 2005 American Film Institute
American Film Institute
The American Film Institute is an independent non-profit organization created by the National Endowment for the Arts, which was established in 1967 when President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the National Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities Act...
's '100 Years' series also recognised the character of James Bond himself in the film as the third greatest film hero
AFI's 100 Years... 100 Heroes and Villains
AFI's 100 Years... 100 Heroes and Villains is a list of the 100 greatest screen characters chosen by American Film Institute in June 2003. It is part of the AFI 100 Years… series. The series was first presented in a CBS special hosted by Arnold Schwarzenegger...
. He was also placed at number eleven on a similar list by Empire. Premiere
Premiere (magazine)
Premiere was an American and New York City-based film magazine published by Hachette Filipacchi Media U.S., published between the years 1987 and 2007. The original version of the magazine, Première , was started in France in 1976 and is still being published there.-History:The magazine originally...
also listed Bond as the fifth greatest movie character of all time.
Popular reaction
In the United Kingdom, playing in 168 cinemas, Dr. No grossed $840,000 in just two weeks. The box office results in mainland Europe were also positive. The film ended up grossing $6 million, making it a financial success compared to its $1 million budget. The original North American gross was $2 million, doubling after its first reissue in 1965, as a double feature with From Russia with Love. The following reissue was in 1966 paired with GoldfingerGoldfinger (film)
Goldfinger is the third spy film in the James Bond series and the third to star Sean Connery as the fictional MI6 agent James Bond. Released in 1964, it is based on the novel of the same name by Ian Fleming. The film also stars Honor Blackman as Bond girl Pussy Galore and Gert Fröbe as the title...
, to compensate the fact that the next Bond movie
You Only Live Twice (film)
You Only Live Twice is the fifth spy film in the James Bond series, and the fifth to star Sean Connery as the fictional MI6 agent James Bond. The film's screenplay was written by Roald Dahl, and loosely based on Ian Fleming's 1964 novel of the same name...
would only come out in the following year. The total gross of Dr. No ended up being $59,600,000 worldwide. IGN
IGN
IGN is an entertainment website that focuses on video games, films, music and other media. IGN's main website comprises several specialty sites or "channels", each occupying a subdomain and covering a specific area of entertainment...
listed it as sixth-best Bond film ever, Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly is an American magazine, published by the Time division of Time Warner, that covers film, television, music, broadway theatre, books and popular culture...
put it at seventh among Bond films, and Norman Wilner of MSN
MSN
MSN is a collection of Internet sites and services provided by Microsoft. The Microsoft Network debuted as an online service and Internet service provider on August 24, 1995, to coincide with the release of the Windows 95 operating system.The range of services offered by MSN has changed since its...
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. Dr. No 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 2001 at an auction for US$61,500. Entertainment Weekly and IGN ranked her first in a top ten "Bond babes" list.
Comic book adaptation
Around the time of Dr. No's release in October 1962, a comic bookComic book
A comic book or comicbook is a magazine made up of comics, narrative artwork in the form of separate panels that represent individual scenes, often accompanied by dialog as well as including...
adaptation of the screenplay, written by Norman J. Nodel, was published in the United Kingdom as part of the Classics Illustrated
Classics Illustrated
Classics Illustrated is a comic book series featuring adaptations of literary classics such as Moby Dick, Hamlet, and The Iliad. Created by Albert Kanter, the series began publication in 1941 and finished its first run in 1971, producing 169 issues. Following the series' demise, various companies...
anthology series. It was later reprinted in the United States by DC Comics
DC Comics
DC Comics, Inc. is one of the largest and most successful companies operating in the market for American comic books and related media. It is the publishing unit of DC Entertainment a company of Warner Bros. Entertainment, which itself is owned by Time Warner...
as part of its Showcase anthology series, in January 1963. This was the first American comic book appearance of James Bond and is noteworthy for being a relatively rare example of a British comic being reprinted in a fairly high-profile American comic. It was also one of the earliest comics to be censored on racial grounds (some skin tones and dialogue were changed for the American market).
Legacy
Dr. No was the first of 22 James Bond films produced by Eon, which have grossed just over $5 billion in box office returns alone, making the series one of the highest-grossing 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. The UK Film Distributors' Association have stated that the importance of Dr. No to the British film industry cannot be overstated, as it, and the subsequent Bond series of films, "form the backbone of the industry".NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
series The Man from U.N.C.L.E.
The Man from U.N.C.L.E.
The Man from U.N.C.L.E. is an American television series that was broadcast on NBC from September 22, 1964, to January 15, 1968. It follows the exploits of two secret agents, played by Robert Vaughn and David McCallum, who work for a fictitious secret international espionage and law-enforcement...
, 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
Austin Powers (film series)
The Austin Powers series is a series of action-comedy films written by and starring Mike Myers as the title character, directed by Jay Roach and distributed by New Line Cinema...
. The first spoof films happened relatively soon after Dr. No, with the 1964 film Carry on Spying
Carry On Spying
Carry On Spying is a 1964 film, the ninth movie in the Carry On film series. It marks Barbara Windsor's first appearance in the series. Series regulars Kenneth Williams, Charles Hawtrey and Jim Dale are present. Bernard Cribbins makes the second of his three Carry On appearances...
showing the villain Dr. Crow being overcome by agents who included James Bind (Charles Hawtry
Charles Hawtrey (film actor)
George Frederick Joffre Hartree , known as Charles Hawtrey, was an English comedy actor and musician.Beginning at a young age as a boy soprano, he made several records before moving on to the radio...
) and Daphne Honeybutt (Barbara Windsor
Barbara Windsor
Barbara Ann Windsor, MBE , better known by her stage name Barbara Windsor, is an English actress. Her best known roles are in the Carry On films and as Peggy Mitchell in the BBC soap opera EastEnders....
).
A further legacy saw the sales of Fleming’s books rise sharply after the release of Dr. No and the subsequent Bond films. In the seven months after Dr. No was released, 1.5 million copies of the novel were sold. Worldwide sales of all the Bond books rose throughout the sixties as Dr. No and the subsequent films – From Russia with Love
From Russia with Love (film)
From Russia with Love is the second in the James Bond spy film series, and the second to star Sean Connery as the fictional MI6 agent James Bond. Released in 1963, the film was produced by Albert R. Broccoli and Harry Saltzman, and directed by Terence Young. It is based on the 1957 novel of the...
and Goldfinger – were released: in 1951 500,000 books had been sold, which rose to six million in 1964 and seven million in 1965. Between the years 1962 to 1967, a total of nearly 22.8 million Bond novels were sold.
The film had an impact on ladies' fashion, with the bikini worn by Ursula Andress proving to be a huge hit: "not only sent sales of two-piece swimwear skyrocketing, it also made Andress an international celebrity". Andress herself admitted that the "bikini made me into a success. As a result of starring in Dr No as the first Bond girl I was given the freedom to take my pick of future roles and to become financially independent". It has been claimed that the use of the swimwear in Dr. No led to "the biggest impact on the history of the bikini".
See also
- Differences between James Bond novels and filmsDifferences between James Bond novels and filmsThe James Bond novels, written by English author, journalist and World War II intelligence officer Ian Fleming, and the later James Bond films, often differ in tone and detail, a trend which increased with each new movie production. The James Bond novels, written mainly in the 1950s and early...
- List of henchmen in Dr. No
- List of Bond's allies in Dr. No