~ ~ This was the film, by Director Terence Young, that first brought the most famous special agent, James Bond 007, to the silver screen nearly 40 years ago now, in May, 1963.
I was just coming on twelve years old at the time of its release, and was already familiar with 007 through reading ... Read review
Production Year: 1977 - Action/Adventure - Director: Clint Eastwood - Original Language: English - Classification: 18 years and over - Starring:Clint Eastwood, Sondra Locke, Pat Hingle, William Prince, Bill McKinney
Production Year: 1964 - Action/Adventure - Director: Cyril Endfield - Original Language: English - Classification: Parental Guidance - Starring:Stanley Baker, Jack Hawkins, Ulla Jacobsson, James Booth, Michael Caine, Nigel Green
Action/Adventure - Original Language: English - Classification: 12 years and over - Starring:Jack Ging, Marla Heasley, Lance Legault, Melinda Culea, Mr T, Dwight Schultz, Dirk Benedict, George Peppard, Carl Franklin
Production Year: 2002 - Action/Adventure - Director: Vincenzo Natali - Original Language: English - Classification: 15 years and over - Starring:Lucy Liu, David Hewlett, Anne Marie Scheffler, Joseph Scoren, Matthew Sharp, Jeremy Northam
Advantages: Sean Connery, Sean Connery, Sean Connery, etc Disadvantages: Not a thing, well - maybe a wee bit dated.
...the most famous special agent, James Bond 007, to the silver screen nearly 40 years ago now, in May, 1963.
I was just coming on twelve years old at the time of its release, and was already familiar with 007 through reading the books by his creator, the author Ian Fleming.
This was the stuff that a schoolboy’s dreams were made of, and I was not disappointed by the depiction of Bond on the screen by the consummate and accomplished ... ...the one and only true James Bond.
Who can ever forget the immortal line, “The names Bond, James Bond”, spoken in Connery’s distinctly Scottish brogue, and which to this day is a byword in the Bond films.
~ ~ The early Bond films had it all, and Dr. No, the very first of the series, was no exception.
Exotic locations from all over the globe, (and remember that world-wide travel was not so commonplace ... more
~ ~ This was the film, by Director Terence Young, that first brought the most famous special agent, James Bond 007, to the silver screen nearly 40 years ago now, in May, 1963. I was just coming on twelve years old at the time of its release, and was already familiar with 007 through reading the books by his creator, the author Ian Fleming. This was the stuff that a schoolboy’s dreams were made of, and I was not disappointed by the depiction of Bond on the screen by the consummate and accomplished Scottish actor, Sean Connery, who was in fact born and bred in my native Edinburgh.
~ ~ Connery was to go on and make the Bond role the one for which he will always be remembered, and although many other actors have tried to fill his shoes over the intervening years, some with more success than others, for me at least, Sean Connery is, and always will be, the one and only true James Bond. Who can ever forget the immortal line, “The names Bond, James Bond”, spoken in Connery’s distinctly Scottish brogue, and which to this day is a byword in the Bond films.
~ ~ The early Bond films had it all, and Dr. No, the very first of the series, was no exception. Exotic locations from all over the globe, (and remember that world-wide travel was not so commonplace then as it is today) lush film sets, high tech gadgetry, heavy non-stop action, beautiful people and in particular gorgeous female leads, with sexual innuendo to beat the band. How could a young and impressionable teenager fail to be impressed, especially as he sat in the back row with his girlfriend, actually living the role (or trying to!) he was watching on the big screen.
~ ~ Dr. No followed the same set formula that has become so popular in the subsequent Bond movies. As always, there was a bigger than life villain with the sole purpose in life of world domination. In Dr. No the villain is Chinese, with an underground base on a remote Caribbean island, where he has secreted a device to divert missiles off their intended target. (gasp, horror!!) Enter our hero, who makes his way out to the Caribbean to confront this scoundrel, and to save the world from the too dreadful to contemplate devastation planned by the dastardly Chinese bandit. Along the way, we are introduced to yet another character who was to become a permanent fixture in all the later films, Felix Leiter, Bond’s counterpart in the CIA in America. In this movie he was played by the famous “Hawaii Five O” star, Jack Lord. And then, off course, there was the female lead, Honey Ryder, (how DO they think up these names??) played with great style and pizzazz by the totally gorgeous and delectable Ursula Andress (later better known us “undress”) Our first view of her very obvious talents is when we see her perfectly shaped female form in a very athletic looking two-piece swimsuit rising from the ocean waves, and encasing her totally perfect tanned assets. Wow!!!!!! Honey, naturally enough, is a complete sucker for 007’s sex appeal, and joins forces with him to take on the bad guys at Dr. No’s hideout, Crab Key Island, which even the locals wont go near because of the presence of a fearsome fire-breathing dragon.
~ ~ This film has its weaknesses, not least of which were the dreadfully staged fight scenes, where if you looked closely you could actually see that no actual contact was being made, so bad was the choreography. And our hero never discards his stifling and totally immaculate grey two-piece suit, despite temperatures that would have anyone else stripping off pronto style. Unlike many of the Bond films that followed, where 007 always seems to get loads of new and amazing high tech gadgets, in this first movie all he receives is a new brand of gun, a Walther PPK fitted with a silencer, to replace his old trusty Beretta. There are no personalised cars here with built in arsenals, fog-making machines, or adapted to run underwater. And the sex scenes are very tame by today’s standards, being depicted by a long, lingering kiss with a cutaway to another scene, before the action gets too hot to handle.
~ ~ But the real star of the movie is the fantastic Mr. Connery. He thwarts every foe with grace, wit and style, and audiences all over the world simply lapped it up like cats let loose in a creamery. 007 is always quite happy to kill in cold blood even if the other guy’s gun is empty, (not a big moralist, our James!) and more than willing to take advantage of the gorgeous and voluptuous bad woman before he finally hands her over to the cops and her just desserts. All the female viewers immediately fell in love with him, and the males in the audience all dreamt of emulating his fantastic romantic successes, that became even more outrageous with each new film. Connery simply makes Bond such a totally likeable character, so that no matter how extreme and almost unbelievable his actions become, he never even seems close to overacting.
~ ~ At a time when film makers often allow this type of movie to simply become a vehicle to parade their over the top special effects, it is somehow refreshing to take a small step back in time, and to watch a simple and effective film like Dr. No. If you haven’t had the pleasure already, do so soon, and rent or buy this classic film.
Advantages: complete escapism Disadvantages: could offend the politically correct
...Bond … James Bond! Cue music.
I make no apologies for boring anyone with the amount of trivia that this review contains; I am a Bond anorak as anyone who knows me will tell you.
Ian Lancaster Fleming created Bond after retiring from British Naval Intelligence, where he achieved the rank of Commander (the same department Bond was recruited from and, strangely enough, the same rank).
He retired to Jamaica where he built his house ‘Goldeneye’. ... ...Royale’ which was made into an unofficial movie in 1954 and starred Barry Nelson. When I use the term unofficial here, I refer to the fact that this film is not an Eon production along with the remake of 'Never Say Never' and is therefore not recognised as part of the franchise set up by Harry Saltzman and Albert 'Cubby' Broccoli. I hope that appeases the pedants among us. This was remade in 1967, when Bond was firmly established as a box office ...
SparkyDeighton 27.04.2002 (04.05.2002)
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of James Bond 007 - Dr No
Advantages: Sean Connery on fine form, a good story and of course, it's the first one ever! Disadvantages: Well, it is a little bit slow at times
...Starring Sean Connery as James Bond. Co-stars Ursula Andress, Jack Lord, and Joseph Wiseman as Dr. No. And so the series begins and the world is introduced to the world of secret agent James Bond, 007. There is no conceivable way that those responsible for this film had any idea exactly what they were unleashing on the world at large, but it is possible to find elements in this film that had ‘smash hit’ written all over them.
The plot ... ...as Dr No is murdered. James Bond is sent to investigate. He discovers a plot to interfere with US missile deployment, and the involvement of terrorist organisation SPECTRE.
Sean Connery plays the role of James Bond, and to many people, Connery IS James Bond. His sophisticated charm and debonnaire attitude transfers from the pages of Ian Flemings novel to the big screen effortlessly, and Connery typifies the character here. Until Timothy Dalton’s ...
hipchickvic 09.01.2001
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of James Bond 007 - Dr No
Advantages: Wonderful acting and plot, even though it seems a bit shaky at times. Disadvantages: Sets could fall on actors at any time, and seriously injure them.
...a great start to the James Bond films. They were supposed to do Thunderball first, but they were only given a million dollers to make it. And it shows. Badly at times. The film though does manage to scrap through, without too many set pieces snapping in half or falling over. The James Bond Theme was immortallised in this film, being showed at the now imfamous start sequence. ...
Grix_Thraves 17.09.2000
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of James Bond 007 - Dr No
Advantages: The beginning of a legend, the birth of a star, the making of an icon Disadvantages: No Q.
...the now immortal line "Bond. James Bond." Connery's performance in the film at this critical moment (it is the first time we see his face) is, frankly, awesome. Producing more testosterone and charisma that can possibly be healthy for one man, it is one of cinema's magic moments and would become a necessary recurring motif for the series. "Bond. James Bond." Of course, Connery is helped somewhat by Monty Norman outrageously good theme tune.
... ... ...classic, first-ever utterance of "Bond. James Bond"). When Bond later returns to his hotel room, he bursts in to find his intruder is Miss Temple, dressed only in one of his shirts and, ahem, playing with his balls. His golf balls. Despite being on a very tight schedule he decides he has time for a 'quickie' and succumbs to the series' first sexual statistic. Miss Temple was originally planned to be a regular character in the first six adventures ...
MisterSlimm 07.12.2005
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of James Bond 007 - Dr No
Despite Crimpolene production standards, the first Bond injected the eye candy into the series. Among the glamour-girls, exotic villains and the explosive finale, the only things missing were the wisecracks, the gadgets and pre-credits set-piece. Filmed mostly in the Caribbean, Bond's task was to stop a Spectre agent jamming US ground-to-space communications using what looked like an oversized waffle iron. Dr No saw Bond at his toughest. No more ...
MarcusPerkins 26.09.2000
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of James Bond 007 - Dr No
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Advantages: suitable for most ages Disadvantages: big old (1962)
This is the film where it all started for 007's character in the movie world (of course the books were out before the film). The 3 main characters were :
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DrNo, a member of SPECTRE, (special executive for counter intelligence, terrorism, revenge and extortion.), Dr.NO was played by Joseph Wiseman
Honey Ryder, a young attractive girl whom's dad was killed by Dr.No, bond chance meets her on a beach were she was collecting shells to try to sell to survive,
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