- As difficult as it now is to imagine, there was a time when James Bond must have seemed pretty original. It was nearly 50 years ago or, in more relevant units, 21 films ago (give or take) that Ian Fleming's creation first burst onto the screen in Dr. No. It's astonishing just how consistent the character has remained over the years. As Bond, Sean Connery's impressive mix of intelligent suaveness and physical fortitude served as an obvious template for his successors, even if none of them would quite surpass the original. The jazzy theme music, the location shooting, the maniacal villains, the guns, and the girls are all there from the start, as are some of the famous supporting characters, including the austere spymaster M (Bernard Lee) and the flirtatious Miss Moneypenney (Lois Maxwell). Bond's famous gadgets would show up a bit later -- in this film, he sticks mainly to watches and talcum powder -- but the character arrives on the scene almost fully formed.
- The story, another pattern that would be frequently repeated, follows Bond's brave attempts to prevent a madman from taking over the world. The madman in this case is a disgruntled Chinese scientist named Dr. No (Joseph Wiseman), whose missile-toppling nuclear reactor threatens the future of the manned space program. For most of the film, however, No remains an unseen threat, either the source of legends that terrify local fishermen like the redoubtable Quarrel (John Kitzmiller) or a faceless voice that commands weak-willed minions like the corrupt Professor Dent (Anthony Dawson). So pervasive is No's influence in the Caribbean that it seems like nearly every cab driver, photographer, and seductive secretary (Zena Marshall) in Jamaica is in his employ. Bond's allies, on the other hand, are limited to the aforementioned Quarrel, the Aphrodesian beauty Honey Ryder (Ursula Andress), and the cagey American CIA man Felix Leiter (Jack Lord!). Perhaps needless to say, it is ultimately Bond's own strength and wits that carry the day.
- To fully appreciate the influence of Dr. No and the series it launched, I invite you to name a good spy film made before 1962. Okay, now name one that wasn't directed by Alfred Hitchcock. Personally, I can't do it. Before Bond, what celluloid spies there were existed mostly as throw-away villains (remember All Through the Night?) or Hitch's myriad, and often agreeably bumbling, "men who knew too much." Enter James Bond, an occasionally ruthless but always debonair professional who outwits and outmuscles the enemy at every turn and who always gets the girl in the end (and usually a few others in the beginning and middle). His equally memorable opponents, of whom Dr. No is an excellent example, are drawn from a stable of eccentrics who tend to sport physical deformities and/or mandarin collars. Despite these many oft-imitated motifs, however, Dr. No is different from the rest of the pantheon in one respect. When Bond and friends are creeping along the shores of Crab Key or snooping through Dr. No's underground lair, the film is terrifically quiet and the action much more understated than it would be in most of the later entries. By the time the sequels arrive, John Barry's excellent score has swollen to fill up any such moments of reserved suspense.
- Though she is almost completely inessential to the plot, Eunice Gayson plays Sylvia Trench, who is technically the first Bond girl and the only one to show up in multiple films.
- For the record, the films and Ian Fleming's books are set in different order.
