Dr No

 "That's a Smith and Wesson, and you've had your six".  James Bond in Dr No.

With the upcoming release of the film No Time to Die there is a lot of speculation that it may connect to the first James Bond film Dr No.  There is a clear link with the title and part of the new film is set in Jamaica, where most of Dr No is set.  Images from the trailers show similar sets and one of the taglines is “The 25^th Bond film will change everything.”  I decided it would be a good idea to revisit Dr No for the first time in many years. so that perhaps when I see No Time to Die I will be able to spot some of the references.  I watched it with my kids who like the more recent Bond films to see if it held their attention.

Some people believe that Rami Malek’s villainous character is called Dr No.  I feel if the character is compelling it does not really matter who he is.  It is risky to rework a classic villain as it can open filmmakers up to criticism but if they have an approach that is innovative and fits the story then it can be successful.  Heath Ledger’s Joker in The Dark Knight was an anarchist who wanted to test the will of society, which was very different from what Jack Nicholson or Cesar Romero did with the same character.  I thought (spoiler alert for Star Trek Into Darkness) Benedict Cumberbatch was a very impressive Khan in Star Trek Into Darkness, but the characters was not used quite as well as in Star Trek II.  Christoph Waltz was a good choice for Blofeld, a character that has had many screen interpretations.  The only mistake I feel that was done with him in Spectre was they should have revealed him by name in the scene with all the operatives much earlier in the film.

A strong part of Dr No’s identity in both the Fleming book and the original film is the fact that he is half Chinese and stole money from the Tong society.  If Malek is playing a version of him then his nationality would need to be changed and Malek’s accent in the trailers seems to be Eastern European. I think however the No Time to Die can use these as an oblique reference to the old film and setting and still tell its own tale with Malek playing an original character.  For sure I expect the villain’s objective to be far different in the new film.

Spoilers for Dr No both the book and the movie below.

“Dr No” was one of Fleming’s more harrowing stories and was in the middle of the series.  It takes place a few months after “From Russia With Love” which ended (spoiler alert) with Bond crashing to the ground after getting stabbed in the leg with a poisoned shoe knife, which might have been avoided if he had been able to draw his weapon (his silencer caught on his holster).  The poison was tetrodotoxin which is found in the inner organs in fugu which is a fish sometimes used by Japanese chefs.  Years ago I was brave/foolish enough to try a prepared fugu and fortunately the tetrodotoxin had been removed so I lived to write this blog post.  Between books Bond painfully recovered and in the start of “Dr No” M sends Bond to Jamaica on what he thinks will be an easy assignment to search for a missing officer named Commander Strangways.  The trail leads Bond to Crab Key, which is owned by the mysterious Dr No, who has a plan to topple rockets.  Bond is captured, wined and dined by No and has to go through an elaborate crawlspace designed to test his mettle and eventually kills Dr No by dumping bird guano on him.

The film, as the first in the series, has two jobs.  First, it needs to tell a story and secondly, establish enough interest in James Bond and his world that audiences would want to see more of his adventures.  The film is the first adventure we are seeing but this is not an origin story.  Bond is already a veteran agent and his habits and relationships with M and Moneypenny are well established to him.  Many actos were considered for Bond once producers Cubby Broccoli and Harry Saltzman secured the rights and made a deal with United Artists.  One of the more interesting to me is Patrick McGoohan who reportedly turned down the role on account that it was too violent.  Interestingly McGoohan later co-starred in Braveheart, a far more violent film in which his King Edward I personally threw his son’s lover out a high window to his death.

Sean Connery, who had some name recognition in the film world but was not a major star (similar to Daniel Craig did prior to Casino Royale) was selected based on his confident dark look, his movement, and likely the fact that his status meant it would be easy to sign him to several films.  Terence Young was picked as the director.  Young lived an elegant and lifestyle and had snobbish tastes.  Young taught Connery how to act more refined and had him sleep in the custom made Savile Row suit.  Broccoli and Salzman also hired key people who stayed on for several films in the series which I think helped them keep churning out these films at such a pace.  They included:

·       Production Designer Ken Adam who contributed memorable sets such the room where No gives Dent the tarantula.

·       Cinematographer Ted Moore who gives the film an energy while allowing the audience to enjoy Jamaica’s beautiful views.

·       Editor Peter Hunt who kept the pace quick by saving time with sequences like the one in which Bond is driving toward Ms. Taro’s home while we hear her directions as he follows them (into the trap). 

·       Title Designer Maurice Binder who created the title sequence which remains a highlight of each film.

·       Writer Richard Maibaum who defined the template for the suspense, action and humor of the character.

As Bond on film had no history and Connery had no star power UA gave a low budget to the film (about $1.1 million).  Dr No was picked as it was one of the few novels with a single location (Jamaica) and therefore could be made more economically. 

In order to evaluate the film the time in which the film was made must be considered in evaluating some of the decisions but I must also take into account how effective it is as entertainment today.  Dr No’s low budget, the technological limitations and reduced scale prevent it from having the epic feel of the others in the series.  Ian Fleming was an excellent descriptive writer but he also had some racist views which to the filmmakers’ credit, are toned down considerably but are not eliminated.  Joseph Wiseman is chilling and commanding as the titular character but he is also a New York actor made up to look partially Asian.  Nowadays an Asian actor would be cast instead.  Additionally some of the racist attitudes of the film are applied to Quarrel the Jamaican fisherman who is a skilled enough fighter that he helps Bond.  Fleming wrote Quarrel much more derisively, spelling out his diction phonetically.  Overall the film portrays Quarrel heroically but it is uncomfortable when Bond speaks down to him.  A photographer calls him an ape when Quarrel briefly tortures her.

One of the appeals of Sean Connery’s screen presence is that he never seems to care what people think of him.  This, combined with his dark good looks, natural charm immediately gives him a strong presence as Bond. Connery, probably more than all the other Bonds can play the ruthless and charming parts of the character simultaneously.  When his Bond kills the audience feels the anger, and that he is capable of much more, and yet though the twinkle in his eyes immediately afterwards takes the edge off. 

Bernard Lee makes a strong debut as M and has a great moment when he has Bond leave the Beretta without even looking at him and then telling Moneypenny ahead of time to not flirt with Bond.  He keeps Bond in line like a father with a wayward child.  You would not question his authority yet he is humane as he has Bond use the Walther to protect him, not as a power play.

Lois Maxwell immediately settles into the role of Moneypenny who has a crush on Bond though I never quite got the sentiment that she really expects anything to come of it, at least not with Connery’s Bond.  As I recall the character in the books never had this quality.

Anthony Dawson, who previously played the would-be killer in Hitchcock’s film Dial M for Murder, appears suspicious right away with his shifty look.  Dent signals possibly to the mice when Strangways leaves.  I think Bond suspects him further when Dent tries to brush him off by saying that it is “not geologically possible” that the radioactive rocks could have come from Crab Key.  A lot of the buildup of Dr No is done through Dent’s reaction to him in the scene in which Dr No gives him the tarantula. Dent’s fear and the disembodied voice of Dr No makes him an instantly eerie character.

Ursula Andress who makes a strong entrance onscreen coming out of the ocean singing Underneath the Mango Tree is a striking image.  I think the effectiveness of the scene also comes from the switch to daylight after several nighttime scenes and Honey’s warmer nature than most of the other characters we have been seeing on screen.

Maibaum’s adaptation is generally loyal to the book though a few excisions leave some of the remaining items making little sense.  Bond’s ordeal in the crawlspace was in the book is present but the explanation for it is not.  As such in the film alone it is not clear why No put Bond in a room that he could escape from so easily especially since the crawlspace, despite it challenges, does not lead to a greater danger such as the giant squid from the novel.  The backstory of Bond’s annoyance at being given what appears to be a petty job for almost getting killed on his last one is missing although M describes an unspecified circumstance that seems to have had a pretty similar outcome.  A lot of this is probably due to Bond not having an internal monologue.  In the novel Live and Let Die, which preceded this book, Bond worked with Strangways so when book readers got to Dr No they knew more about him.

Maibaum and Young effectively capture the creepy nature of the story and Dr No himself is built up to be a terrifying figure for the first 75 minutes or so until Wiseman finally appears on screen.  A significant change is that Bond, who was already considered a womanizer for having a different girlfriend in each book, is given three women (including a femme fatale) with whom he goes to bed, which stamps this aspect of his character.  James Bond is not a romantic hero but a man who as Vesper states in the film Casino Royale, “views women as disposable pleasures”.

Some of the tropes are established right through their specific use varies in future films.  For example, the film opens with the gun barrel with a sound effect and then the Bond theme begins after the shot (subsequently the theme starts with the opening dots) with a stuntman shooting and then the titles start right away without a pre-title sequence.  The titles capture some of the Jamaican theme of the story and use more traditional animation than most of the later title sequences. 

Monty Norman and John Barry each contributed to the Bond theme with Norman apparently doing the primary composition and signature “dum di-di dum dum” and Barry rearranging it and adding the brass touches.  Editor Peter Hunt inserted the Bond theme several times into the score which helps accentuate the danger Bond often finds himself in.

Norman did the primary score and which I feel is melodramatic and typical of films of the period.  The moment when it loudly matches Bond killing the tarantula with his shoe is comical instead of thrilling.

We meet Bond in a casino for the first time just like we do in the first books, entertaining himself by playing baccarat.  Bond’s gambling skills probably allow him to afford far more expensive items than his salary provides him and it ties in with mentality of living for the moment.  The scene establishes Bond as a charming, yet dark and dangerous character who probably gets a thrill from taking big risks.  Although this is the first time we in the audience see Bond, all the Jamaica scenes were shot first so this would have been filmed later in the schedule in the studio.  Therefore Connery would have had his interpretation pretty set this film by the time he got to this scene.

The tarantula scene (replacing a centipede scene from the book) allows Connery to show Bond’s fear without making him look weak.  The restraint in showing him going to the bathroom to vomit is nicely played and similar to Moore’s reaction after the centrifuge scene in Moonraker.  For the scene in which Bond seduces Ms. Taro he comes across as taking sexual advantage of her, even though she is working for Dr No.  Unlike say Fiona Volpe in Thunderball Ms. Taro never seems to be interested in Bond and simply goes along to keep him there.

Young does an excellent job on the wrings a lot of suspense out of the river sequence in the river makes good use of the location photography and the staging but the music undercuts the suspense. 

During the sequence when Bond and Honey are held at No’s lair there are a few interesting touches to work against the unlikely scenario.  Bond attempts to take some control in the radiation scene.  The fake hospitality is played with a nice irony. 

The scene in which Dr No looks at Bond sleeping is unnerving given how vulnerable Bond is at that moment.  Young uses the same trick as he later did with Blofeld in not showing No’s face.  The audience sees it when Bond does.  The same scene goes further in the book in which No looks at Bond’s whole body.

When Dr No enters the scene on camera for the first time Bond instinctively turns around and takes a couple of steps toward him.

Bond prods Dr No throughout the meal trying to get a rise out of him but seems to go to attack the guards because Dr No indicates that Honey will be raped.  Bond is troubled but does not want to show it.  The film does not bring it up again but when Bond finds Honey she does not have pants on.

Some of Bond’s deficits in the early section of the film stick out to me as I wonder if they are the result of careless screenwriting or deliberate to show a character flaw.  For example:

Does a secret agent really give his address to a woman he does not know at all? 

Does Bond not notice Leiter in the airport?

Why does Bond put his gun away when Jones gets out of the car?  There is an obvious editing mistake in the brief fight afterwards when Bond winds up with his right but in the reverse angle hits with his left.

When Bond faces off with Quarrel and Puss Feller he turns his back on the door twice. 

Why does Bond shoot Dent before getting the information he needs from him?  The timing of the scene in which Dent is about to give Dr No’s name as Dent attempts to shoot Bond sort of calls for Bond’s instant response.  If Dent had given Dr No’s name as he shot it would have made more sense.

The car chase with its clunky back projection leaves much to be desired, especially the shots of Bond at the wheel.

Bond’s reaction to Honey killing her attacker with a spider is much stronger than that of her being raped.  Bond did just survive a near death experience with a spider but the lack of empathy would probably be different now. 

The idea of the dragon works in the book but it is an argument for making changes to books as it is so obviously a tank that Quarrel and Honey seem foolish for believing otherwise.  Bond also seems naïve in thinking he and Quarrel could take out the drivers of the tank in the dark with a couple of pistols.  The horror of how quickly the tank kills Quarrel is sudden and fearsome.  Bond’s reaction to go and pay respects is fitting as is his reaction to defend Honey.  Honey probably could have gotten away when the two men take Bond as no one is guarding her.  Instead she runs to the tank behind them indicating the staging was not really worked out prior to filming.

Bond disrupts Dr No's plan pretty easily once he gets into the lab.

In all the Bond team successfully launched the series with this film.  Despite its flaws the template holds up and my children and I had a fun time with it. ***