BONDATHON: DR. NO

In 1951 a man was about to be married. Like many people he had cold feet. He trudged up and down the beach trying to work up the nerve to go through with it. To this effect, he created an alter-ego, and went on to write a book about him. The man’s name was Ian Fleming and the alter ego was James Bond. The books became successful, particularly after John F. Kennedy named them as  favorites. The first book Casino Royale was made into a relatively forgettable TV production, but eventually a proper film emerged from producing partners Harry Saltzman and Albert (Cubby) Broccoli. Based on the sixth novel in the series Doctor No. While the film was not without precedent (the films of Alfred Hitchcok, particularly North By Northwest had an enormous influence on the Bond films), it’s success spawned the longest running franchise in film history, and helped solidify the formula of the modern action movie. In anticipation of the latest film in the series Skyfall, g-blatt’s dreams will be reviewing all 23 official Bond films (one per week) as well as some "unofficial" entries. Also, where relevant, I will be comparing them to the books in order to gain a more definitive take on the films.

As a film Dr. No is a mediocre thriller. MI6’s man in Jamaica is assassinated along with his secretary before a check in. With lines of communication broken, MI6 head, known only as M (Bernard Lee), sends James Bond (Sean Connery) to investigate. Bond is not an ordinary agent, he is designated 007. 00’s are special agents with the license to kill when they please, whom they please, where they please. When he gets to Jamaica there is an immediate attempt on his life, which he foils with the smooth, yet ruthless aplomb that will become the characters trademark. Along the way, he meets CIA agent Felix Leiter (Jack Lord), and his assistant, a local fisherman named Quarrel (John Kitzmiller). Looming over the proceedings are rumors about strange happenings on a nearby island called Crab Key and its owner Dr. Julius No. (Joseph Wiseman). After way too many attempts on Bond’s life, including a ridiculous incident where someone attempts to poison Bond with a tarantula (they’re poisonous, but by no means deadly), he eventually figures out that the guy who owns a mysterious island with radioactive rocks is the villain (HUGE SHOCK!). On the island, Bond meets a sexy shell diver with the improbable name of Honey Ryder (Ursula Andress). Together they make their way to No’s island base, where the doctor reveals himself to be an agent of a terrorist group known as SPECTRE out to disrupt the American Space Program. SPECTRE is one of the more pulpy acronyms in fiction. It stands for (SPecial Executive for Counter-intelligence, Terrorism, Revenge and Extortion).

Whatever shortcomings the plot has, it’s a great character introduction. Bond was a new kind of hero for a new age, reflecting the changing morays of the time. The film was one of a line of more explicit films that started to appear in the waning days of the Hayes Code. Bond doesn’t just have premarital sex, he has premarital sex with 3 different women. There is an implied rape and some actual blood is shown, all of this would have been unthinkable in a mainstream film a few years before.

Also, there the depiction of Bond as an anti-hero. At one point in the film a man enters his room at night and shoots at his bed until the gun is empty. Bond then reveals that he was not in the bed, but hiding in the corner. He coldly remarks that the assassin has a nice gun, but he’s had his 6 shots and then shoots him dead. In 1962 it was unusual and shocking for the hero of a movie to shoot an unarmed man in cold blood. Bond isn’t the first movie anti-hero, but he’s one of the best, and his appearance marks an escalation of how far their non-heroic qualities can go.

There are other results of the film being made in 1962 that are not as admirable. Being 50 years old, the film is not at its best when depicting women and non-whites. As this is a male fantasy, the women of the film all desire Bond, obviously. But they are all either feral, animistic creatures or somehow sinister.  More problematic are the Jamaican characters, who are depicted as a superstitious lot, impervious to physical pain. There is a sequence near the end where we are expected to believe that Honey and Quarrel mistook a painted tank for a dragon.

Pictured: Obviously not a dragon, but it would make a bitchin' Mad Max car.

These are people who would know better. Honey has lived all over the world. Quarrel is an experienced boat captain who works closely with the CIA. Surly they know what a tank looks like and can tell the difference between tire treads and footprints? It’s not the low-point of intolerance in 60’s cinema (or even of the Bond series) but it’s not good. At best it’s a badly executed idea, at worst it’s casual racism and sexism. Also, as good and menacing as Joe Wiseman is as Dr. No, he doesn't have the character's Chinese origin and plays the part in "yellow-face."

Being the first film in the series, not all of the formula elements are set yet. Bond will eventually become a genre unto itself, but for now it's still evolving. Dr. No has no gadgets, no prologue and no Bond Song (unless you count Under the Mango Tree, a "local" tune that recurs through the film to give "flavor"). It does have the famous James Bond Theme by Monty Norman. Also the film features sets by Ken Adam, who's incredible work on the series will make him a legend and the only production designer most people can name. The futuristic sets, particularly Dr. No's lair, really help make the film look classier than it is. Other tropes Dr. No introduces include the, "shaken not stirred," the flirtation with Moneypenney (Lois Maxwell), Bond girls, and the Mad Scientist who should really kill Bond instead of explaining his plan and making it easy for him to escape. Also, Bond's propensity for making jokes after people die. For now it's an amusing statement of Bond's blaze toughness, but eventually will start to devolve into a series of groan-inducing puns in later films.

Unlike later films, Dr. No is actually a fair adaptation of the novel. The movie has more chases, and more women for Bond to seduce but follows the arc well. The soviet agency behind the novel’s proceedings, SMERSH, was a real organization (although how faithfully it was portrayed is debatable) and the substitution of Russian villains for the politically neutral SPECTRE was an attempt by the producers to not add to tensions with the USSR.

Another of the major changes has to do with continuity. The previous book, From Russia With Love (which would be adapted next), ended with (spoiler alert) Bond’s apparent death (end spoilers). As a result, Fleming’s novel takes time to concern itself with Bond’s recovery, and subsequently his physical and mental health. An MI6 physician wonders if Bond can mentally handle another tough assignment. This is a major difference in the way Fleming depicts Bond and the way the film does. In the novel’s (or at least, these middle entries) is that Bond, in addition to being the things we expect him to be, is allowed to have doubts, to be flappable, vulnerable and human, which has the strange effect of making him more of a badass. The cinematic Bond was supposedly based, at least partially, on the personality of the films director, Terrence Young (particularly his dress sense and physicality). But also closely resembles the cool, confident persona of Cary Grant.

Bond, Terrence Cary Bond

In fact, producer Cubby Broccoli, a friend of Grant, asked him to play Bond. Grant agreed, but insisted it would only be for one film. As amazing as a Cary Grant James Bond would have been, it was for the best. Even if Grant could be persuaded to do more films, he was nearing 60 at the time and was a little old to be doing Judo flips.

Dr. No the film, is not the best of the Bond films, but it's not a bad one by any means. What it lacks in strong plotting and political correctness, it makes up for in style. It's full of iconic moments and characters and serves as a good introduction to the series.

Grade: B

Bondathon entries:
Dr. No
From Russia With Love
Goldfinger
Thunderball / Never Say Never Again
You Only Live Twice
On Her Majesty's Secret Service
Diamonds are Forever
Live and Let Die
The Man With The Golden Gun 
The Spy Who Loved Me
Moonraker
For Your Eyes Only
Octopussy
A View To A Kill 
The Living Daylights  
Licence to Kill 
Goldeneye 
Tomorrow Never Dies 
The World Is Not Enough  
Die Another Day 
Casino Royale 
Quantum of Solace
Skyfall