Dr No - Review
Well this was a bit unexpected. If 2020 had just decided to settle down and not throw nightmare after nightmare at us, the review you would be reading at this point in time would have been No Time to Die. But 2020 and COVID-19 had other ideas, with the film being one of the first, if not the first, major film to get ahead of the curve and knock back the release date from early April to November.
Coupling this lack of my Bond fix, and my new found isolation, I've decided to take my reviews back to the start of Bond. So over the next 24 weeks, pandemic ending or not, I'll be rewatching the Bond films in order and reviewing each one.
Dr No was actually the sixth Bond novel published by Ian Fleming, releasing to less than glowing reviews by British press (infamously being labelled "Sex, snobbery, and sadism"). At first glance, it may be curious as to why producers Harry Saltzman and Cubby Broccoli chose this over the first novel, Casino Royale but then you look at the subject matter. Exotic locations (the Caribbean), secret hideouts (underground lair on paradise island Crab Key), a maniacal mastermind (Dr No wielding metallic hands), henchmen with a gimmick (the three blind mice), and the first in a long line of "Bond girls" with ridiculous names (Honey Ryder played by the equally innuendo laden named Ursula Andress [say it aloud and you should get it]). Even from film one, the Bond blueprint was laid down. There are however notable core elements missing, for example whilst the gun barrel sequence is present, there's no theme song credit sequence opting instead for a purely instrumental number, there's a mission briefing by M and "flirting" (read: sexual harassment in the workplace between Bond and Moneypenny) but no Q in sight.
However, what is present and correct is James Bond, effortlessly played by Sean Connery. Ian Fleming himself was not a fan of Connery in the role initially. Rumour has it that upon watching Connery walk out of the audition, Fleming described his walk as "panther" like, exhibiting the right amount of predatory confidence that Fleming wrote into the character (Alan Davies in QI memorably joked that this meant Connery presumably walked out on all fours...).
It is Connery who has set down the gauntlet for all subsequent Bonds to match, with none quite playing Bond in the same manner. Wisely, all future Bonds have instead tried to carve out their own impression of the character. And one can see why they would want to aim away from what Connery put to screen in his time as Bond. From his iconic introduction playing cards at a casino, his face kept hidden from the camera for as long as possible, before taking a drag of his cigarette and purring the immortal line "Bond, James Bond," to his gallows humour one-liner after taking out henchmen driving a Hurst "I think they were on their way to a funeral" it is incredible how much of the cornerstones of the character are put to screen so effortlessly on the first try.
And for this Bond's first outing, he is assigned to the Caribbean, to investigate the disappearance of a fellow British agent. In doing so, Bond uncovers a plot by the evil mastermind Dr Julius No to topple US rockets from his secret underground base on desert island, Crab Key.
With the titular doctor, the template for all future Bond masterminds is laid down. As is tradition with Fleming's villainous creations, the good doctor comes with a physical deformity. Here, it is the loss of his hands through experiments with radiation. The ingenious doctor simply builds himself obsidian black crushing metallic hands (which poetically play into his eventual doom which is still a more dignified death than his counterpart in the novel where his a crushed by a mound of bat guano). Joseph Wiseman plays Dr No with icy confidence, that like later villains has become simultaneously iconic and parodic. He takes great pleasure in wining and dining Bond, divulging his plans, and letting slip that he works for SPECTRE (Special Executive for Counter-Intelligence, Revenge, and Extortion), the shadowy global crime syndicate that will cause much drama for Bond in future instalments.
The look of the Bond film is also set down here, particularly through the work of set designer Ken Adams, who brought a wonderfully expansive 50's "space age" look to the world of Bond, particularly when it comes to the villain's lair. One only needs to take a glance at Dr No's control room and see echoes of its design down the ages, most notably in The Incredible's and Syndrome's island base.
And as is par for the course, Bond also encounters a glamorous "Bond girl" - here it is Honey Ryder. Her appearance has also become iconic for the series, emerging from the sea in a white bikini, diver's knife strapped to her waist (so iconic that the series would go on to remix this scene twice, first with Halle Berry's Jinx in Die Another Day, and inverting it with Daniel Craig in some very short shorts in Casino Royale). Whilst Honey starts off as a fairly strong willed and independent character, with a personal motivation for wanting to interfere with Dr No's plans, she does unfortunately quickly become nothing more than a damsel in distress to be rescued and seduced by Bond. It shouldn't come as any surprise that any progressive steps for female characters in these early Bond films are slight or insignificant against a tidal wave of inappropriate sexist comments from Bond and other characters, at best, to sexual assault coloured as consensual sex at worst.
I suppose the big question for each of these reviews going forward would be do these films still hold up for a modern audience, and with Dr No I would say yes. It ticks all the blockbuster tropes, and clips along at a brisk pace, and it is buoyed by a magnetic central performance by Connery. Yes, the following films get more confident in explosive set pieces and cinematic flair but the sheer confidence of this first outing is likely to win you over. You can watch Dr No now and hopefully agree with me that it is no surprise that this was the start of a series that has now spanned 24 films over a 50 year period. What I can't promise going forward is that each and every entry is going to hit the highs of Connery's first outting, but we've got 23 more weeks to ponder that.
Coupling this lack of my Bond fix, and my new found isolation, I've decided to take my reviews back to the start of Bond. So over the next 24 weeks, pandemic ending or not, I'll be rewatching the Bond films in order and reviewing each one.
Dr No was actually the sixth Bond novel published by Ian Fleming, releasing to less than glowing reviews by British press (infamously being labelled "Sex, snobbery, and sadism"). At first glance, it may be curious as to why producers Harry Saltzman and Cubby Broccoli chose this over the first novel, Casino Royale but then you look at the subject matter. Exotic locations (the Caribbean), secret hideouts (underground lair on paradise island Crab Key), a maniacal mastermind (Dr No wielding metallic hands), henchmen with a gimmick (the three blind mice), and the first in a long line of "Bond girls" with ridiculous names (Honey Ryder played by the equally innuendo laden named Ursula Andress [say it aloud and you should get it]). Even from film one, the Bond blueprint was laid down. There are however notable core elements missing, for example whilst the gun barrel sequence is present, there's no theme song credit sequence opting instead for a purely instrumental number, there's a mission briefing by M and "flirting" (read: sexual harassment in the workplace between Bond and Moneypenny) but no Q in sight.
It is Connery who has set down the gauntlet for all subsequent Bonds to match, with none quite playing Bond in the same manner. Wisely, all future Bonds have instead tried to carve out their own impression of the character. And one can see why they would want to aim away from what Connery put to screen in his time as Bond. From his iconic introduction playing cards at a casino, his face kept hidden from the camera for as long as possible, before taking a drag of his cigarette and purring the immortal line "Bond, James Bond," to his gallows humour one-liner after taking out henchmen driving a Hurst "I think they were on their way to a funeral" it is incredible how much of the cornerstones of the character are put to screen so effortlessly on the first try.
And for this Bond's first outing, he is assigned to the Caribbean, to investigate the disappearance of a fellow British agent. In doing so, Bond uncovers a plot by the evil mastermind Dr Julius No to topple US rockets from his secret underground base on desert island, Crab Key.
The look of the Bond film is also set down here, particularly through the work of set designer Ken Adams, who brought a wonderfully expansive 50's "space age" look to the world of Bond, particularly when it comes to the villain's lair. One only needs to take a glance at Dr No's control room and see echoes of its design down the ages, most notably in The Incredible's and Syndrome's island base.
I suppose the big question for each of these reviews going forward would be do these films still hold up for a modern audience, and with Dr No I would say yes. It ticks all the blockbuster tropes, and clips along at a brisk pace, and it is buoyed by a magnetic central performance by Connery. Yes, the following films get more confident in explosive set pieces and cinematic flair but the sheer confidence of this first outing is likely to win you over. You can watch Dr No now and hopefully agree with me that it is no surprise that this was the start of a series that has now spanned 24 films over a 50 year period. What I can't promise going forward is that each and every entry is going to hit the highs of Connery's first outting, but we've got 23 more weeks to ponder that.
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