Reviewing Bond: Dr. No

What can be better than the one which started it all? Unlike a lot of series or franchise firsts, Dr. No remains very highly regarded and ranked. It not only sets the formula for all films to follow, it’s also a very entertaining and engaging film. Where does it rank among my subjective favorites? Is it a lock for the coveted top five?

Ratings analysis:

Setting & Story
Gadgets & Vehicles
Action Sequences
Villains & Bond girls
Wildcard!

Setting & Story

Set almost entirely on location in Jamaica, the film does a terrific job incorporating the tropical paradise in immersive ways. We don’t just get confined to the beach, viewers are able to escape to mid-century Jamaica, from Kingston to “Crab Key.” That forbidden key is where we find our series first villain lair, and boy does it set the template. We’ve been invited to dinner with Dr. No and his one million dollar aquarium. We’ve got a hotel alongside crew quarters and a reactor room equipped with a laser/radio beam (because of course we do). Mostly filmed on a sound stage at Pinewood, the interior of Dr. No’s lair still remains one of the most iconic locations apart from Blofeld’s volcano base in You Only Live Twice. For its iconic settings, and escapist portrayal of the Caribbean, this portion of the category gets a perfect 10/10.

Our very first Bond outing is of course based on the novel of the same name (the sixth book in Fleming’s James Bond series). I have not referred to the novels throughout my retrospective reviews, so I will focus only on the film adaptation. Our super spy gets his Walther PPK, and is sent on his way to Jamaica to investigate the disruption of the American space program. Once in Jamaica, he teams up with CIA counterpart, Felix Leiter, and his local ally, Quarrel. After the presumed murder of British Agent John Strangways, Bond follows his lead to a geologist working for whoever is up to no good on Crab Key. Quite a lot of the local residents are helping the mysterious “Chinese man” who owns the reclusive and forbidden portion of the island. Locals are even convinced there’s a dragon! Not Honey Ryder (Ursula Andress), who has regularly visited the island to collect valuable shells. She helps lead Bond around the island along with Quarrel before they are captured (& Quarrel is rudely killed!). Bond and Ryder are invited to dinner with the reclusive Dr. No (Joseph Wiseman). Convinced Bond is in fact persuadable, Dr. Julius No offers Bond the opportunity to join SPECTRE, before concluding he is actually just “a stupid policeman,” as Bond refuses to be swayed by the offer of world domination. It’s a good moral introduction to this character, showing his loyalty is indeed to the mission.  While he may not be a nuclear scientist, he is nonetheless able to escape captivity and destroy Dr. No’s facility and ending this SPECTRE threat before it can do further harm.

A conventional story for sure, it’s a straight forward spy-intrigue story. Certainly not as complicated as others in the long running series, but well-paced enough to earn it quite a decent bit of respect.

Stand outs in this outing include Bond’s allies. I think Bond is best when he has other great actors around him to work with. This is why it’s such a shame that Quarrel is killed midway through the films runtime. I think he’s an enjoyable part of the movie, offering some humorous levity, and he has great chemistry with Bond. Fun fact: Quarrel is the father of Quarrel Jr., the Jamaican agent featured in Moore’s Live & Let Die. I’ll get to Ursela Andress later on when I speak in greater detail about Bond girl rankings, but she’s also got great chemistry with Connery. It’s a fun time watching the trio work their way through Crab Key.

The other aspect of this film’s story which works really well, is that despite not many surprising villain conspirator reveals (most are not exactly surprising), the film does a really good job of keeping the viewer in suspense. Even if you know Bond is heading to a trap (as with his meeting with Miss Taro), you are on the edge of your seat waiting to see what will unfold. You know someone is going to come for Bond at her home, and still we wonder how he will handle it (“you’ve had your six!”). From the moment we land in Jamaica, we see the 00-agent show why he earned his license to kill, uncovering his driver’s plot to eliminate him. There is peril all across this island for Bond, and it is his instincts which keep him alive.

So with a memorable setting, and iconic villain lair coupled with a very engaging and well paced story, there’s not a lot to subtract for ratings-wise. But it misses a perfect score only for the fact that it could have benefitted from a polish pass of the script, particularly the dialog which feels rather dumbed down. The reveals of Dr. No’s conspirators were also very obvious. So this category earns an overall 8/10.

Gadgets & Vehicles

The film series has yet to introduce Q. Instead we get a mission briefing scene where armorer “Boothroyd” provides 007 with his signature Walther PPK (replacing his heavier Beretta). 

Whilst in the field Bond uses his spy training to great effect. So while he may not have gadgets, he does have that signature craftiness to him. I like how we see Bond use his environment to his advantage, employing tricks like taping a hair to a door so he knows whether someone than him has been inside. Little things like this do help compensate for the lack of gadgets, because they still provide that immersion in spy games.

The vehicles in this outing are not especially memorable. A few American models appear that do more to represent its setting than any association with the franchise. The car chases are cinematically straight forward, using a lot of dated backdrops and close ups. It’s not great, but it was 1962. 

So this category isn’t going to ding the film’s overall rating, because this part of the series template had yet to be set or established at this point. So I am not going to assign it a rating at all, out of respect to it being first.

Action Sequences

As with gadgets and vehicles, the elaborate and creative, if not bombastic, Bond action set-piece was not formally created yet. Instead we get Bond in one vs. one situations, or using his cleverness to exploit situations to his advantage. We have a few chase sequences, and escape sequences. Then we get our explosive finale, where Bond makes use of impersonation to trigger a reactor meltdown.

The standout in the action for this film has to be the brief but final showdown between Bond and Dr. No. Struggling for supremacy on a rapidly sinking platform, Bond and Dr. No each try to shove the other towards the boiling radioactive water below. Of course since Dr. No has mechanical hands, Bond uses that against him, pinning him down, and watching as he is unable to climb out using his prosthetics. Dr. No is shown boiling to death, his prosthetics sticking out from the steamy kill.  It’s a great scene and an extremely satisfying ending to our villain.

So while the film lacks any memorable set pieces the way some later installments have, I never felt bored at any time during this film due to a lack of action. At no point did I feel like any segment dragged. There was enough espionage intrigue, and smaller clashes between Bond and his enemies to keep me engaged. So overall, this category gets a respectable for its era 6/10, if only because some of the action direction feels a bit uninspired or lacking in visual aesthetics or personality. The action/direction definitely has a bit of a workman quality feel to it, and not that of an individual director or creative team’s vision.

Villain and Bond Girls

Dr. No, played by Joseph Wiseman remains one of the most memorable villains across the entire series. What I love about him is that not only is he a prototypical lair-dwelling member of SPECTRE hell-bent on world domination, he also has some unique identifiers. Most of the best villains and henchmen have a physical or personal trait/quirk that becomes their defining signature. Dr. No’s iconic black-clad metallic prosthetics are a core part of his physical appearance, but also contributes to his undoing. Like some of the Blofeld reveals, I disagree with folks who say he deserved more screen time. I think the mystery, and suspense brilliantly led up to his reveal in a very satisfying way. Just like horror movies shouldn’t over-show their monster, Bond films shouldn’t over-show their villain. I think films like Diamonds Are Forever and OHMSS overuse Blofed to the point where he becomes less menacing. Whereas From Russian with Love and You Only Live Twice make him feel more mysterious because he is not always present. The same effect is achieved here with Dr. No, with him talking through a loud-speaker in his lair long before we ever see him. This creates the creepiness factor that makes him so compelling. 10/10, no question.

We technically have two Bond girls in this one, including the very first. Sylvia Trench is canonically considered a Bond girl, albeit not in the traditional sense (because she doesn’t consummate the deed with Bond in this outing). She does return as a bit of comedic  presence who does eventually seal the deal with him, as seen in the beginning of From Russia with Love. She’s a fun character with good chemistry with Sean Connery. For that reason many fans including myself look at her fondly.

The most memorable part of this film is of course Honey Ryder emerging from the sea, collecting her shells while singing Underneath the Mango Tree. This is not only an iconic shot for the series, it is an iconic shot for cinema history overall. While Honey may not have the complexity of some other Bond girls who would come later, she does have purpose and agency. She of course has the lay of the land due to her time hunting shells and marine life with her late father (believed to have been killed on Crab Key). It’s not much to work with, but she is helpful to Bond in this adventure, certainly more helpful than many morons who make up this series. While she may be the very first, I changed my mind about that needing to be rated 10/10. Apart from her reveal, she’s pretty bland and uninteresting. 6/10.

8/10 for both iconic villain and Bond girl.

Wildcard!

This category today has less to do with any single aspect of the film and more to do with how I view the series overall. It’s the first, it sets the mark and while many films will more successfully build upon its formula, it gets the party started in a memorable way. When I sit down to determine which Bond I want to watch, this is always in consideration. It’s just a super solid outing for Bond and every aspect of it is enjoyable, even if the filmmaking and scriptwriting  can feel a bit workman quality at times. Regardless that doesn’t affect my overall enjoyment and its simplicity is what allows it to be such a great and accessible foray into the franchise. So the fact that this film is (with a few others) what I consider to be perennial Bond, has to on its own be given a rating. So I give this wildcard a 8/10. It’s not a perfect film, nor is it even a perfect Bond film, but it is absolutely one of the few I think of as being Bond. 

Conclusion

Some films may indeed perfect the formula. Dr. No is over sixty years old now, and has aged but not in a way that makes it unwatchable. It holds up really well since it does aim for simplicity. It sets the mark for what the franchise will be. While some fans rate this well outside their top ten (mainly because it’s not a stellar piece of filmmaking), it’s still a great and immersive Bond outing. I don’t need Sam Mendes and Roger Deakins giving me an Oscar-looking film. I want a good Bond story, with all the elements at play. I recognize this is a franchise built off the success of a pulp fiction series of novels. I don’t want my Bond films to take themselves too seriously. Dr. No doesn’t. It gets the balance just right for its era, and I feel like I can escape into Bond world and just lose all my worries for two hours. It still leaves a bit to be desired since it’s from 1962. We have yet to really build on the formula, so while it scratches that itch, it’s also not the first one I would pop into my Blu-Ray player. 7/10 overall.