Dr. No (1962), directed by Terence Young

Sean Connery as James Bond

So begins a lighting-paced series counting down to the release of No Time to Die on November 20th. I love James Bond, and will be reviewing every film ever made about the character (yes, every film) in chronological order, trying to consider both its place in the broader Bond canon and how it holds up from a contemporary perspective. We’re kicking it off today with Dr. No, the movie that launched two dozen sequels and the career of Sean Connery. It’s easy to see why the series was an immediate success looking back at this sterling first entry.

The opening notes of the Bond theme song are some of the most recognizable film music in the world. I feel like we sometimes forget how iconic that little piece of music is. Most people can name it in only a couple of notes, or can hum it on command. It feels entirely of a piece with its 1960s origin, but also curiously timeless. All this is to say that, despite not having one of the bombastic “Bond songs” to start it off, this movie still makes an excellent first impression. At the tail end it transitions into a lovely little calypso tune perfectly in keeping with the movie’s Jamaica setting, and we are off to the races. The movie starts with British agents being brutally gunned down by awesome blind (but not really) assassins. In short order, Bond is dispatched to find out who killed the agents and why. The introduction to the characters (M, Moneypenny, Bond) are effortless. Thanks to some light sprinkling in of ideas from other Bond books, the world feels very lived in, as if we’re catching a single event in a much broader story.

The narrative of the film is nothing too particularly exceptional. Supervillain Dr. No is attempting to sabotage an American rocket launch with a radar gun, and Bond has to stop him. The overall tone or feel of the movie is excellent, however. This is a far sight from the more zany and exaggerated Bond films we will get in another decade. This is stripped down spy stuff: detective work, brutal fistfights, car chases (and maybe a flamethrower tank thrown in for good measure). There’s a noted lack of weird spy gadgets and not really any huge setpieces (the movie was made on a small budget, even for the time). This gives the movie a much more down-to-earth tone that works well as an introduction to the character and the world. The low budget does give the movie a few rough patches. Bond’s interminable crawl through what seems like 10 miles of air ducts springs to mind, or the way-more-detailed-than-they-need-to-be nuclear reactor instructions. But the high points significantly outweigh the stumbles. Dr. No is a great Bond villain, walking the line between supervillain extravagance and actual menace quite well.

Speaking of menace, it’s easy to forget how dark this entry in the series is. Most people remember Ursula Andress from this movie (for pretty obvious reasons), but I’m not sure that everyone clearly recalls that her character’s origin is a rape/revenge story. It’s pretty grim stuff for a series that will eventually be known for its silliness (and then go right back to being grim, but that’s still quite far off). This movie’s Bond girls (there are three in this outing) are all around a pretty good bunch. Eunice Gayson as Julia Trench (the only Bond girl character to appear in a second movie) is fun as an actual rival/love interest who can keep up with Bond. Her role as the ‘woman back home’ is honestly a bit redundant with the existence of Moneypenny, though, so I can see why she was phased out after only a couple of movies. Miss Taro (Zena Marshall) is less interesting, but fulfills the frequent stock role of the ‘bad one’ who betrays Bond. Andress is excellent in this, however, and really sets the standard by which all future Bond girls will be judged. I’m not sure that she’s my favorite of the entire series, but it would be insane not to place her very high on the list. She gets actual material to work with in the script, as well as being meaningfully involved in the plot of the movie. In truth, though, I’m not sure how to divide my praise between Andress and her voice actress (her accent was so strong that they overdubbed her with Nikki van der Zyl’s voice, an often unsung hero of the Bond movies who continued doing dubbing work all the way through Moonraker). Both turn in excellent performances, and the two together make for one of the most memorable characters in the ever-revolving series of Bond Girls.

For the most part, this movie is a pretty timeless spy classic; there are, however, definitely some colonial elements to it that might be off-putting to the modern viewer. I only bring it up because it ends up being a surprisingly common thread throughout this series. With the emphasis on exotic locales and world travel, there are inevitably going to be some touchy representation issues in these movies, although this is far, far from the worst offender. As just a single example, the fake-blind assassins are black Jamaican men, and their brutal killings are supposed to read as scary, but a little corner of my mind kept whispering, “Yeah, screw those colonizers!” during their major scenes. James Bond is frequently a white man moving through non-white spaces and killing everyone he finds there, which is a narrative that hasn’t exactly aged well today. This entry is relatively benign on that front, and is mostly down to some of the enemies being locals, but it’s something that you might notice when watching. It’s certainly nothing compared to some of the Orientalism and racial othering that we’re going to see down the line. This entry still really holds up well. The production team do a lot with relatively little, and craft a world that somehow already feels ready for the two dozen sequels we now know were waiting in the wings.

Best Bond Line: “It’s a Smith and Wesson, and you’ve had your six.” Effortlessly cool and confident super spy talk.

Bond’s Licensed to Kill Count: 8 individual (one takes cyanide and one may only be passed out, but I’m counting them). Bonus: one entire facility with heaven knows how many people inside.

Final Score: