The film that started it all, without Dr. No not only wouldn’t we have a series that’s still going strong well into its fifth decade, but we’d also be without Derek Flint, Matt Helm and those two men from U.N.C.L.E. Napoleon Solo and Illya Kuryakin (all of whom will be making an appearance here in the coming weeks) along with numerous others over the years.
That’s not to say Dr. No is a perfect film, far from it. While it features many things that would become staples of the series (the egomaniacal villain, the hidden base, the beautiful women) they’d all be improved on in later entries. Some things are absent though, Dr. No has no lead henchman and goes mano-a-mano with the super spy in the climactic confrontation. There’s also no Q, but as the gadgets that came with him would lead the series into silliness that’s not such a bad thing.
Even two of the series most famous features aren’t firing on all cylinders first time out. Maurice Binder’s opening credits sequence is eye catching but compared to what he’d create for subsequent films it almost feels dull. Then there’s the music. Monty Norman’s Bond theme is a fantastic piece of music that would be used to punctuate the action sequences in later films, you heard that theme and you knew something good was coming. Here it’s used as accompaniment for Bond walking into a hotel lobby, amongst other equally banal moments, and it just doesn’t sit right.
All this probably makes it sound like I don’t like the film which isn’t true at all. Connery is terrific, really making the part his own and bringing a ruthless quality to Bond that wouldn’t really return until Daniel Craig took on the role in Casino Royale. Also making a great first impression is Bernard Lee as M, in fact Bond’s meeting with M in his office (the first of many) is among my favourite moments in the film.
It’s often been said that a Bond film is only as good as its villain and Joseph Wiseman got things off to a great start. A clean shaven Fu Manchu with metal hands, he oozes evil even before we see him, his voice over the intercom giving Professor Dent his orders to kill Bond…or else. “Unfortunately I misjudged you, you are just a stupid policeman…whose luck has run out” he tells Bond during the memorable dinner scene that first introduced us to SPECTRE the evil organisation that would feature in many of the Connery films.
If Dr. No got the Bond films off to a great start things got even better with the next film. James Bond will return in From Russia with Love.
