Bond In Review: Dr. No

I really like the James Bond franchise. This is part one of a bimonthly, 24-part series of me watching James Bond movies and providing a stream of consciousness style commentary for a given film. I will also rank the movies so stay tuned for that at the bottom of the piece. Today we begin with Dr. No, the 1962 movie that started it all. It is actually the sixth James Bond novel written in 1958 by Ian Flemming.

· Ah Harry Saltzman and Albert Broccoli. This movie starts in a truly science fiction way with odd sound effects and the iconic circles crossing the screen stopping to show them before the “gun barrel” sequence.

· Goodness that is clearly not Sean Connery doing this. Incredible stuntman Bob Simmons takes the time to jump and shoot us

· Oh, this James Bond theme is so good with such simple credits over the top. Colors and circles and names. Simple but different. Maurice Binder will take it up another level so quickly

· Ken Adam, production design. This may be the most important person in franchise. He is a wizard with the grandiose sets he creates

· Silhouettes of women dancing — Oh Maurice is just getting warmed up

· It’s nice to hear calypso music but somewhat jarring after the booming Bond theme.

· Really cool how the “three blind mice” carry on from the title sequence. And that they are committed to their bit.

· I know how to play poker so watching later movies with card games is easy. When you don’t know the rules of a card game, the reveal in the movie of any action is meaningless. That’s going to be an issue later

· And the three blind mice kill Strangways. And they shoot him a ton of times. Pretty brutal.

o Blowing in the silencer is always cool.

o Silencers don’t work to suppress sound so that shots are silent. My understanding is that they muffle sound so you won’t know what direction a shot is coming from but that it would still be loud. Ehh, movies.

· When I see people with large book cases with old books, I hope there is a secret compartment behind them.

· Three blind mice are maximumly effective.

· MI6 agent is murdered. Don’t know why. File is missing. We’ve got a mystery to solve

· Le Cercle in London, the stuffiest place in the old Empire

· It’s a small thing but I love that Sylvia Trench is the one to start the weird “[last name], [first name], [last name]” greeting.

· Sexual tension is through the air despite Mr. Bond stacking up big wins all night long

· NOTE: Don’t raise the stakes. Never double the limit you can go. It’s a recipe for disaster. Or a good time. Depends on your sex mostly.

· Bond theme kicking up for simply walking around. It’s a horrible thing they do but it’s the only real song they have to use

· Sylvia Trench is a golf fan

· James Bond making plans with women by giving them his card. Weak move.

· It’s Moneypenny is not pleased to see Bond but is really pleased to see him.

o Hat toss. Won’t see that in the modern films

· Good gawd I love that double door. It looks the absolute business.

· M! Same disposition at 3am as 3pm.

· Armorer is requested. We didn’t have a Quartermaster at this point in time but the armory is in good form.

· M takes the Beretta — a gun for a “lady’s handbag.”

o He makes a reference to it jamming and Bond being in a hospital. In the books, Bond’s last mission was in From Russia With Love where he is stabbed by Col. Klebb and is hospitalized. Gun shouldn’t have jammed.

o M protecting his 40% drop in Double-0 casualties. Not the evil queen of numbers but knows the score

o Walther PPK — the gun endorsed by the CIA

· M catching Bond trying to sneak away with the Beretta is so amusing and foreshadows his poor palming skills later

· How did Sylvia Trench get into his room? Seems like a problem that a spy’s home can be broken into without any problem. Looks like her chipping it pretty good

· Photographer at the airport! It comes up later but its easy to miss.

· Felix Leiter, it must be said, is wearing some sort of women’s sunglasses. They are utterly ridiculous and would stand out in a painfully obvious way.

· Bond checking to see if a car was sent for him is excellent and the small detail of the photographer conferring with the driver is also good. Small details set this story up nicely

o This movie is a good example of why the franchise was so great in the beginning. The movies were more mysteries that required sneaky, clever James Bond

· Dirt road shows signs of that big turn attempted before

· Driver should say in his lane and fightless

· Bond lets him have a cigarette! It’s sort of amazing how often a cigarette gets someone out of trouble. Here, From Russia with Love, You Only Live Twice. Smoking just messes up everything.

· James Bond just blurting out security protocols left and right

· Medium dry vodka martini, not stirred. No name for the drink but it’s his first drink so celebrate.

· Hair over the door is a good look — plenty of it with that wig he has on throughout the movie

· Bond refers to Strangways as “Commander Strangways” which is the first time any type of naval designation is mentioned.

· “Under The Mango Tree” by Diana Couplan.

· Quarrel is a great companion to Bond in the books. They speak as equals, Bond takes and trusts his advice and Quarrel isn’t portrayed as so foolish like he in in the movie.

· I mean just look at these sunglasses!!!!

· “Jump Up” — Byron Lee and the Dragonaires

· Leiter calls James Bond a “lymie” which I guess is some type of slang for a British person.

· The photographer scratches Quarrel’s face with a broken lightbulb and doesn’t react at all. That just makes me uncomfortable — gives off the impression that this Black man is so powerful.

· WOAH Dr. No is referenced beginning a long line of shoehorning the title into the movie.

· Failed assassination attempt by our blind mice. Shame

· Professor Dent looks like the archetypal middle level bad person for every movie today — he is a pioneer is mucking things up

· Can we get any more shots of Dent walking around this structure.

· So this set is awesome. Ken Adam wanted to create the illusion of a spider’s web with the opening at the top of the ceiling — nice foreshadowing

· Small point about tarantulas — they hurt like hell when they bite but they are not venomous

o The book had a very colorful centipede as the insect of choice which would’ve been better

· HARD CUT to Bond walking in a hotel. You know what that means? Bond theme!

· You can see the glass between Connery and the tarantula but its still intense. A stuntman is doing the other shots

· Good music cue with Bond’s smashing of the spider

· Diplomatic pouch — package. Diplomatic bag — body.

· Quarrel is afraid of Crab Key because of a dragon. But he ends up going along with it without much prompting. It’s so weird.

· Ms. Taro gives exact instructions to get to her house. The entire point was to have people intercept Bond to kill him. Ok, but why give the exact directions in case they fail?

· Tires screeching like on asphalt but definitely on gravel.

· Connery earning the big bucks with this rear projection driving

· Why does the car burst into flames while traveling down the hill? It’s one of my least favorite things in action movies

· Ms. Taro opens the door and thinks “oh darn, I should’ve given him directions elsewhere.”

· Forceful Bond is always uncomfortable to watch

· Connery’s Bond does a good job of alluding to bad people being bad. The line about her living dangerously but referring to her wet hair. Clever

· This is straight up novel James Bond. Playing cards, drinking, and waiting for an attempt on his life. Its not glamourous but it is the job

· Dent really does put six shots into that pillow — a bit of overkill.

· Two shots is enough for Bond but the original cut had him shooting Dent more times. Overkill for the hero

· Bond saying Crab Key is relaxing from being a clay pigeon is funny only if you know about target practice shooting

· Yo Felix Leiter is a real jerk to Quarrel with his comment about drinking if he sees the dragon…especially because of how Quarrel dies

o Crap plot development as Quarrel spends more time drinking in the dark

· Honey Ryder emerges from the ocean. It’s an iconic scene but isn’t as dramatic as women reveals much later in movies.

· Bond sings. He should never sing again

· Honey Ryder is rightfully nervous of Bond — best instinct any woman can have around Bond

o She is dubbed. Many people are dubbed in these movies early in the franchise. Sorta sad.

· What is this boat captain’s accent? It is irregular for the area.

· Mongoose, scorpion, preying mantis — Honey Ryder has seen some things in her brief time on this earth

· Rubbing water over the skin to keep get the mosquitos off is not something I’ve seen that works with mosquitos

· I can’t tell if Bond stabs the person to death or snaps his neck. Either way, both Honey Ryder and Quarrel are disturbed.

· The dragon storyline is disappointing

· Sylvia Trench wouldn’t be a fan of this conversation between Bond and Ryder

o Is Sylvia Trench a double entendre?

· A flamethrower is a really impractical weapon but would be immediately devastating if you are caught in the line of fire…I am proud of that one

· I like the use of the warning shot to establish the seriousness of the henchmen. It’s underused. We see people miss shots all the time but the intentional miss so close is effective.

· Contaminated by being in the swamp, the only thing to decontaminate them from notable levels of radiation is a conveyor belt shower. Dr. No is a bit reckless indeed

· Bond is taking the initiative in calling shots in a way that is effective but non-sensical.

o I wonder what the difference is between pink uniforms and green uniforms

· At 80 minutes into the movie, we still have not seen the villain at all. It’s a good conceit and pretty amazing in retrospect

· Safe door mechanism looks like something that would be used in Goldfinger

· Dr. No’s hotel is fairly elaborate which makes one wonder: How many people get to this point of the island? Lots of precautions are taken to keep people away. It doesn’t make much sense

· “I hope they fit, we didn’t get you sizes until last night.” — How did they get their sizes?

· World class secret agent is aware the room is probably bugged for sound but they eat the food and drink the drugged coffee. Shame on you.

· I NEVER COULD UNDERSTAND DR. NO LOOKING AT JAMES BOND WHILE HE WAS SLEEPING

· James Bond dressed like a classic Bond villain — meta!

o That Nehru jacket does look really good

· The projection of fish and turtles is an interesting story. The studio only got aces to footage of fish that was already magnified. So they added the line about minnows posing as whales to address it

o Depends on which side of the glass you’re on is a nice retort

· The picture Bond stops and gawks at is of the Duke of Wellington. Apparently this was stolen from a national gallery in 1961 and was still missing. It’s a pretty dated joke.

· Bond lying to say he sent a complete report about Dr. No is entertaining. He is such a tough guy but his greatest asset is threatening Dr. No with “I told my bosses what you did.”

· At the dinner scene there is less than 20 minutes of movie left. They have the confrontation, escape, plan foiling, and epilogue in under 20 minutes. That’s wild

· Bond, again, needs work on his palming skills.

· SPECTRE — coolest name but worst acronym

o SPecial

o Executive for

o Counterintelligence

o Terrorism

o Revenge

o Extortion

· The camera shot following Dr. No leaving while Bond is beaten up is a small but nice touch

· So the ventilation shaft is electrified once but not a second time?

· I NEVER understand why Bond decides to go down the tube instead of up. Like you don’t know where down goes but you know that there has to be some way to escape up. Going down puts you potentially under the island.

· Connery hair piece holds up to intense, random water test

· Ken Adam is doing the most with this set. It’s outstanding!

· Bond going undercover in a suit and holding a folder of papers. Making it up as he goes and it looks that way. Not cheesy but seems understandable.

· So the danger wheel controls the glowing light that appears to be the same as in “It”?

· There is a soft set of beeps that is melodic through the end of the system checks. It’s ominous but beautiful

· The final showdown with Dr. No is pretty underwhelming. No is a fantastic villain until he has to do something beyond sit and talk. The fight is lackluster and his hands don’t really intimidate when fighting. Meh

· Originally (and in the book), Honey Ryder is nearly eaten by a bunch of crabs. They tried to recreate this but the crabs ended up dying and killing themselves. Being tied up in a room is a bit of a bummer from what could’ve been

· Honey is still missing and there is 4 minutes between now and when the film ends! They wrap this up so quickly

· Yeah so it just ends with Bond being unable to contain himself that he makes out with Honey on a boat and loses their tow. Near what is likely a radioactive explosion. (Also kicks off a long tradition of Bond ending movies in boats with women).

Quality story that is punctuated by a strong villain in a weak fight scene. It also introduces wonderful sets and sets Bond out to be more detective than killing machine. Current Bond movie ranking:

1) Dr. No