23. Dr. No (1962)
DR. NO (1962)
Cary Grant IS James Bond
“I’m not doing another one of these. (Pauses) Why not?
They got me fighting a giant squid, for chrissakes!”
(A telephone conversation between
Cary Grant and his agent, c. 1962)
Cary Grant IS James Bond
“I’m not doing another one of these. (Pauses) Why not?
They got me fighting a giant squid, for chrissakes!”
(A telephone conversation between
Cary Grant and his agent, c. 1962)
In many ways, that Albert Broccoli and Harry Saltzman ever met was something of an accident, a curious – if ultimately unfortunate - quirk of fate. Broccoli had long wanted to buy the film rights to James Bond, going as far as attempting to acquire the rights of Casino Royale from the widow of their last owner. Saltzman had actually bought option rights to most of the novels a few months ago, but time was fast running out without anyone who’d back the project and give it sufficient buoyancy. That both men found each other was said to be the work of their mutual friend and writer Wolf Mankowitz, and after some intense talks – and a good deal of bluffing – neither man relented on their respective opening position. At the final moment, they decided to work together on producing them, and set upon the task of finding studio backing. Both men toured London and Hollywood with remarkable persistence, only to get the door slammed on their face several times. Much as the books sold well, the studios wanted nothing to do with them. They were alternatively too British, too sadistic, and even too sexual.
Close to exhausting their options, they exploited personal connections to get Columbia Pictures to take a serious look at their offer. Despite some initial confusion – the executives allegedly confused Ian Fleming with a series of different writers -, Columbia finally decided to take on a gamble. In June of 1961 they announced that they would greenlight the Bond project, but with a limited budget. Taking it as a win, Saltzman and Broccoli immediately created their own companies in order to produce: Danjaq and EON, and set upon the task of deciding on their first project. Not having the rights to Casino Royale, they had their initial scriptwriter – and female trailblazer - Johanna Harwood work on adapting Thunderball. As this fell apart due to rights issues and an eventual trial, Goldfinger came next. Once Columbia made it clear they did not have the budget for it, they ultimately settled on Dr. No. While controversial, the novel’s limited locations made the potential shoot all the easier and cheaper. Following Harwood’s first draft, a straightforward adaptation of the novel, Broccoli and Saltzman then asked their friend Mankowitz – working alongside Richard Maibaum – to deliver another take on the project.
As Mankowitz and Maibaum wrote as fast as humanly possible to meet their deadlines, two key decisions had to be made: hiring a director, and just as crucial, casting James Bond. Oddly enough, one of those decisions led to the other. Having been discouraged from hiring American director Phil Karlson due to his high directorial fee, the producers then circled around countless British alternatives, going through options like Guy Hamilton and Terence Young and being disappointed at the lack of interest in taking on Dr. No. Thus they found their leading man before the director. Although many at Columbia and EON expected a long debate regarding whether it was preferable to have a younger actor to “mold” into Bond, or a more established veteran, this was rendered moot the moment Cary Grant showed interest in the role. Having triumphed in the spy thriller North by Northwest, and being well acquainted with Broccoli – Grant had been best man at his wedding – he also happened to like the Fleming books, and was therefore willing to be cast.
An enthusiastic Columbia Pictures – sensing box office gold – promised to raise the budget should Grant be hired, the only stumbling block being his reluctance to accept Broccoli and Saltzman’s insistence on a three-picture contract. Both parties negotiated for a while, until the producers finally accepted that, already aged 58, Grant might grow too old for playing the role for a long period of time. Ultimately, the promise of a higher budget proved too attractive, and Grant was signed on for two appearances as Bond. Having thus gained the money to upgrade the picture from extremely low budget into a more “respectable” affair, Broccoli and Saltzman were then able to go back to Karlson and pay his fee. They now had a director and an established star. To their frustration, the script then became a problem. Mankowitz and Maibaum had delivered a new script, tossing out Harwood’s efforts and most of the novel itself in order to follow a story of their own, replacing Dr. No with their own villain and – in an act that infuriated both producers – pursuing some rather unorthodox creative choices.
The producers would have told them to start again from scratch, were it not for the fact that being beholden to Columbia meant they could not do as they liked. And to their remarkable bad luck, some of the executives at the studio actually liked the Mankowitz-Maibaum angle, remarking that the novel needed to be made more “exotic” to catch the attention of audiences. Saltzman and Broccoli won the battle of getting the bulk of Harwood’s script back on board, but they lost the war over the overall concept of the film. It would not be a spy film particularly grounded on reality, and not even Grant and Fleming’s later protests could change that fact. Keen to turn the tables on Columbia, the EON team moved into casting the other roles, and planned for a coup by offering the main villain role to Max von Sydow – who chose to take another offer – and then to Noël Coward, who also dismissed the film. In despair, the producers were saved by Fleming himself, who suggested his cousin for the role. And since that relative of his just happened to be Christopher Lee, who had gained notoriety for Dracula (1958), they signed him up on the spot.
By December 1961 most of Dr. No’s cast had been assembled. Besides Grant and Lee, Eunice Gayson, Martine Beswick and Talitha Pol were all brought on board on various female supporting roles, and accomplished character actors like Kenneth More, Anthony Dawson and John Kitzmiller entered the fray as Bond’s allies and/or foes. But the female heroine continued to evade them until just a few days before shooting began, dozens of actresses and models being paraded before Broccoli, Saltzman and director Karlson and then dismissed by various reasons. Then Broccoli suggested Swedish model and actress Anita Ekberg, whom he had worked with in the past. Ekberg – already famous from La Dolce Vita – dazzled the creative team, who felt they had certain “sex appeal” in their hands. The movie then immediately started shooting in January 1962 all the way into April, alternatively filming in Jamaica, and at Pinewood Studios in England.
Despite their best efforts, it was a difficult experience for all those involved, over extending the deadline for three weeks and going significantly over budget due to the special effects involved in the climax. Grant was cavalier enough despite the harsh demands on the role, but depended heavily on a stunt double due to the physical demands involving the second half of the film. He was, however, not without apprehension and frustration at some aspects of the script, which he felt also went too far. Other scenes could only be filmed after extensive debate and consultation with Columbia, including the planned cold-blooded killing of Mr. Dent by Bond which had to be changed into self-defense, intense debates over humor in the film – which had to be toned down so it wouldn’t “lose its edge” -, and Broccoli and Saltzman’s attempts to shift the villain back into the Harwood version. Lee, a consummate professional, impressed many with his commitment, but he himself was said to feel “ridiculous” with the character he was saddled with. In the end, production pushed through. As a final concession to Columbia, the originally planned theme for the film – an instrumental one – was replaced late into the process with an original song by Mel Tormé.
After opening credits and the main theme by Tormé, Dr. No opens up in Kingston (Jamaica), where MI6 Station Chief Strangways (Michael Goodliffe) and his secretary are brutally murdered by three assassins (credited as the “Three Blind Mice”). In London, MI6 agent James Bond (Cary Grant) is acquainted with socialite Sylvia Trench (Martine Beswick) at a game of baccarat, and after she introduces herself in his apartment they spend the night together. Summoned to meet M (Kenneth More), head of MI6, by his secretary Loelia Ponsonby (Eunice Gayson), Bond is informed of Strangways’ sudden disappearance, and is tasked with investigating the matter. After another encounter with Sylvia Trench, 007 flies to Jamaica.
Landing in Kingston, Bond starts his search by reaching out to Quarrel (John Kitzmiller), a local boatman who was helping Strangways travel across the neighboring small islands. Learning that the missing agent was investigating a certain Dr. No, the mysterious owner of Crab Key, Bond starts to suspect Strangways might have been murdered. 007’s actions – and his rough methods – soon attract the attention of Mr. Dent (Anthony Dawson), Dr. No’s main contact in Kingston. Told by the faceless No to disrupt Bond’s efforts, Dent attempts to do so by introducing himself and trying to lead the investigation in the wrong direction. Unfortunately for him, Dent’s increasingly frantic efforts prove a failure as Bond proves equally smarter and more ruthless than he expected. He then resorts to murder, setting the Three Blind Mice against Bond in a car chase in which the operatives meet a fiery death. Dent follows up by having his associate Miss Taro (Talitha Pol) seduce the agent, only for Bond to turn the tables and have her arrested.
Under intense pressure – and threats – by No’s voice, Dent finally ambushes Bond and shoots him, only to realize the agent has set up a trap. 007 then kills his enemy in self-defense. Convinced No is at the bottom of the matter, Bond has Quarrel take him all the way to Crab Key, where they meet shell diver Honey Rider (Anita Ekberg). Surprised by armed guards, the three attempt an escape, only for Quarrel to meet a horrible death after being burned to death by No’s “dragon” (a sand buggy equipped with flamethrower. Bond and Ryder are captured by the island’s natives, who bring them to a shrine which honors “No”, revealed to be the monkey god of Crab Key. Once the natives summon their god, the couple is introduced to the eccentric criminal scientist Professor Buchwald (Christopher Lee), a Fu-Manchu-style character armed with metal hands. Buchwald, as it happens, carries with him the capuchin monkey Lee Ying, having convinced the natives that the monkey is No in order to gain their loyalty and establish a base of operations without being bothered.
Bond and Ryder are subsequently brought there to dine with Buchwald, the professor revealing himself as an agent of the SPECTRE secret organization. By manipulating Buchwald’s ego, Bond is able to get him to reveal his nefarious plan to blow up the Panama Canal using a nuclear-powered weapon he’s spent his life designing. Confessing to ordering Strangways’ death and impressed with Bond’s physical prowess, Buchwald forces him to go through a tortuous obstacle course to save Ryder, who’s been chained and left to be eaten alive by crabs. Despite experiencing immense pain, 007 successfully overcomes all of Buchwald’s obstacles and traps that culminate on a giant squid. After killing the squid and releasing Ryder, both sabotage the power source to Buchwald’s weapon, causing an overload. As the SPECTRE operatives flee the area, Buchwald takes on Bond and initially overpowers him, only to fall to his death in the boiling reactor pool.
Escaping on the “dragon” with Buchwald’s monkey pet, Bond and Ryder survive the explosion and hand over the monkey to the natives. In return, the natives hand over one of the SPECTRE boats, which they both use to sail towards Jamaica. The movie ends as Bond and Ryder share a passionate kiss. Highlights of the film include the Three Blind Mice car chase, Bond’s confrontation with Dent, Honey Rider and Buchwald’s introductions, and the Buchwald obstacle course sequence.
Dr. No premiered in the United Kingdom first in November 1962, and it was immediately torn to pieces by the critics, who seemed to criticize the film from different yet devastating angles. Many took issue with the violence and the sexual overtones of the film, comparing it with the highly controversial Peeping Tom (1960) – which had destroyed the career of director Michael Powell - and dismissing it as “entertainment of the most immoral kind”. Others felt the plot and its execution was ridiculous, if not outright offensive given the depiction of Buchwald as a “cheap Fu-Manchu clone” and the portrayal of the Crab Key natives. And yet others felt Grant was just too old to be believable in a role with such physical involvement, and/or dismissed Ekberg’s Ryder as little more than an “seductive air-head”. Audiences weren’t particularly enthused, strong opening numbers slowly dying off as word of mouth spread and some even reportedly laughed at a number of sequences meant to be serious.
Thus condemned on its initial release, Columbia faced the daunting challenge of having to present the film in the United States, and/or cutting their losses at great financial expense. They chose the latter, leading them to want to kick themselves once the severely under-promoted film actually started doing better than in Britain, audiences seemingly more willing to buy into the whole concept and experience. However, reviews were only slightly less harsh, with many speaking of a “cinematic disaster”. The scant praise offered for the film often went to some of the action sequences and, in some cases, for Christopher Lee, with it being argued he had saved an already cartoonish character from descending entirely into unintentional parody. Grant subsequently made it very clear he did not want to play the character once again, and Columbia raced to wash their hands from the whole affair. The dreams of a franchise suddenly collapsed as Dr. No, while actually profitable, was written off by many as cinematic poison, if not either boring or immoral.
Saltzman and Broccoli would try again a final time by recasting Bond and attempting to improve on earlier mistakes in From Russia, With Love, with equally disappointing results despite the significantly higher quality of the film. Breaking off their partnership, both men had the solace that other planned adaptations of Bond novels – in this case, Casino Royale (1964) and Thunderball (1968) – didn’t attract audiences either, or didn’t do well enough to justify sequels. The film rights were sold shortly after Ian Fleming’s untimely death, and with James Bond having been played by four different men – in three rival would-be franchises – in six years left little room for the character to establish itself within the public consciousness as anything other than a British spy with interchangeable traits and settings. And once Jean-Paul Belmondo shot into international stardom as Hubert Bonisseur in the OSS 117 films, Bond was soon forgotten.
During the 1990’s and early 2000’s, Dr. No underwent a limited measure of cinematic rehabilitation, with some critics arguing the movie, while flawed, was nowhere near the disaster it was pronounced during its time. While still very dismissive of a number of elements, it was argued Grant’s performance was far more nuanced and effective than once believed, and that even Ekberg acquitted herself well with a degree of magnetism that went overlooked. Praise regarding Lee continued, even if the actor himself always denounced the film and his role as something best forgotten. More recently, Dr. No has also been held as an example of prejudices in early 1960’s Hollywood, it being argued that the Buchwald character could be construed as offensive, and the portrayal of the Crab Key inhabitants and the Jamaican characters – other than Quarrel – should be considered outright racist. Still, the film is obscure enough that such arguments only come forward between movie aficionados.
Author’s Notes: I struggled for a while on whether Dr. No was worth exploring, until it suddenly dawned on me the question: what if it had been a disaster? Thus the original pod has Columbia Pictures and not United Artists distributing the film, ensuring butterflies fly all over the place. Their more “hands-on” approach ensures the survival of the bizarre Mankowitz pitch, Grant agrees to do it and the producers lower their demands, and so on. There is still something of a “spy-craze” due to Belmondo and OSS 117 – it occurred to me as a fun gag, it’s not meant to be a realistic outcome -, but more French-inspired and nowhere near close Bondmania. That aside, this should be our antepenultimate entry. After the coming entry – yet another take on GoldenEye – we will have the big finale.
Close to exhausting their options, they exploited personal connections to get Columbia Pictures to take a serious look at their offer. Despite some initial confusion – the executives allegedly confused Ian Fleming with a series of different writers -, Columbia finally decided to take on a gamble. In June of 1961 they announced that they would greenlight the Bond project, but with a limited budget. Taking it as a win, Saltzman and Broccoli immediately created their own companies in order to produce: Danjaq and EON, and set upon the task of deciding on their first project. Not having the rights to Casino Royale, they had their initial scriptwriter – and female trailblazer - Johanna Harwood work on adapting Thunderball. As this fell apart due to rights issues and an eventual trial, Goldfinger came next. Once Columbia made it clear they did not have the budget for it, they ultimately settled on Dr. No. While controversial, the novel’s limited locations made the potential shoot all the easier and cheaper. Following Harwood’s first draft, a straightforward adaptation of the novel, Broccoli and Saltzman then asked their friend Mankowitz – working alongside Richard Maibaum – to deliver another take on the project.
As Mankowitz and Maibaum wrote as fast as humanly possible to meet their deadlines, two key decisions had to be made: hiring a director, and just as crucial, casting James Bond. Oddly enough, one of those decisions led to the other. Having been discouraged from hiring American director Phil Karlson due to his high directorial fee, the producers then circled around countless British alternatives, going through options like Guy Hamilton and Terence Young and being disappointed at the lack of interest in taking on Dr. No. Thus they found their leading man before the director. Although many at Columbia and EON expected a long debate regarding whether it was preferable to have a younger actor to “mold” into Bond, or a more established veteran, this was rendered moot the moment Cary Grant showed interest in the role. Having triumphed in the spy thriller North by Northwest, and being well acquainted with Broccoli – Grant had been best man at his wedding – he also happened to like the Fleming books, and was therefore willing to be cast.
An enthusiastic Columbia Pictures – sensing box office gold – promised to raise the budget should Grant be hired, the only stumbling block being his reluctance to accept Broccoli and Saltzman’s insistence on a three-picture contract. Both parties negotiated for a while, until the producers finally accepted that, already aged 58, Grant might grow too old for playing the role for a long period of time. Ultimately, the promise of a higher budget proved too attractive, and Grant was signed on for two appearances as Bond. Having thus gained the money to upgrade the picture from extremely low budget into a more “respectable” affair, Broccoli and Saltzman were then able to go back to Karlson and pay his fee. They now had a director and an established star. To their frustration, the script then became a problem. Mankowitz and Maibaum had delivered a new script, tossing out Harwood’s efforts and most of the novel itself in order to follow a story of their own, replacing Dr. No with their own villain and – in an act that infuriated both producers – pursuing some rather unorthodox creative choices.
The producers would have told them to start again from scratch, were it not for the fact that being beholden to Columbia meant they could not do as they liked. And to their remarkable bad luck, some of the executives at the studio actually liked the Mankowitz-Maibaum angle, remarking that the novel needed to be made more “exotic” to catch the attention of audiences. Saltzman and Broccoli won the battle of getting the bulk of Harwood’s script back on board, but they lost the war over the overall concept of the film. It would not be a spy film particularly grounded on reality, and not even Grant and Fleming’s later protests could change that fact. Keen to turn the tables on Columbia, the EON team moved into casting the other roles, and planned for a coup by offering the main villain role to Max von Sydow – who chose to take another offer – and then to Noël Coward, who also dismissed the film. In despair, the producers were saved by Fleming himself, who suggested his cousin for the role. And since that relative of his just happened to be Christopher Lee, who had gained notoriety for Dracula (1958), they signed him up on the spot.
By December 1961 most of Dr. No’s cast had been assembled. Besides Grant and Lee, Eunice Gayson, Martine Beswick and Talitha Pol were all brought on board on various female supporting roles, and accomplished character actors like Kenneth More, Anthony Dawson and John Kitzmiller entered the fray as Bond’s allies and/or foes. But the female heroine continued to evade them until just a few days before shooting began, dozens of actresses and models being paraded before Broccoli, Saltzman and director Karlson and then dismissed by various reasons. Then Broccoli suggested Swedish model and actress Anita Ekberg, whom he had worked with in the past. Ekberg – already famous from La Dolce Vita – dazzled the creative team, who felt they had certain “sex appeal” in their hands. The movie then immediately started shooting in January 1962 all the way into April, alternatively filming in Jamaica, and at Pinewood Studios in England.
Despite their best efforts, it was a difficult experience for all those involved, over extending the deadline for three weeks and going significantly over budget due to the special effects involved in the climax. Grant was cavalier enough despite the harsh demands on the role, but depended heavily on a stunt double due to the physical demands involving the second half of the film. He was, however, not without apprehension and frustration at some aspects of the script, which he felt also went too far. Other scenes could only be filmed after extensive debate and consultation with Columbia, including the planned cold-blooded killing of Mr. Dent by Bond which had to be changed into self-defense, intense debates over humor in the film – which had to be toned down so it wouldn’t “lose its edge” -, and Broccoli and Saltzman’s attempts to shift the villain back into the Harwood version. Lee, a consummate professional, impressed many with his commitment, but he himself was said to feel “ridiculous” with the character he was saddled with. In the end, production pushed through. As a final concession to Columbia, the originally planned theme for the film – an instrumental one – was replaced late into the process with an original song by Mel Tormé.
After opening credits and the main theme by Tormé, Dr. No opens up in Kingston (Jamaica), where MI6 Station Chief Strangways (Michael Goodliffe) and his secretary are brutally murdered by three assassins (credited as the “Three Blind Mice”). In London, MI6 agent James Bond (Cary Grant) is acquainted with socialite Sylvia Trench (Martine Beswick) at a game of baccarat, and after she introduces herself in his apartment they spend the night together. Summoned to meet M (Kenneth More), head of MI6, by his secretary Loelia Ponsonby (Eunice Gayson), Bond is informed of Strangways’ sudden disappearance, and is tasked with investigating the matter. After another encounter with Sylvia Trench, 007 flies to Jamaica.
Landing in Kingston, Bond starts his search by reaching out to Quarrel (John Kitzmiller), a local boatman who was helping Strangways travel across the neighboring small islands. Learning that the missing agent was investigating a certain Dr. No, the mysterious owner of Crab Key, Bond starts to suspect Strangways might have been murdered. 007’s actions – and his rough methods – soon attract the attention of Mr. Dent (Anthony Dawson), Dr. No’s main contact in Kingston. Told by the faceless No to disrupt Bond’s efforts, Dent attempts to do so by introducing himself and trying to lead the investigation in the wrong direction. Unfortunately for him, Dent’s increasingly frantic efforts prove a failure as Bond proves equally smarter and more ruthless than he expected. He then resorts to murder, setting the Three Blind Mice against Bond in a car chase in which the operatives meet a fiery death. Dent follows up by having his associate Miss Taro (Talitha Pol) seduce the agent, only for Bond to turn the tables and have her arrested.
Under intense pressure – and threats – by No’s voice, Dent finally ambushes Bond and shoots him, only to realize the agent has set up a trap. 007 then kills his enemy in self-defense. Convinced No is at the bottom of the matter, Bond has Quarrel take him all the way to Crab Key, where they meet shell diver Honey Rider (Anita Ekberg). Surprised by armed guards, the three attempt an escape, only for Quarrel to meet a horrible death after being burned to death by No’s “dragon” (a sand buggy equipped with flamethrower. Bond and Ryder are captured by the island’s natives, who bring them to a shrine which honors “No”, revealed to be the monkey god of Crab Key. Once the natives summon their god, the couple is introduced to the eccentric criminal scientist Professor Buchwald (Christopher Lee), a Fu-Manchu-style character armed with metal hands. Buchwald, as it happens, carries with him the capuchin monkey Lee Ying, having convinced the natives that the monkey is No in order to gain their loyalty and establish a base of operations without being bothered.
Bond and Ryder are subsequently brought there to dine with Buchwald, the professor revealing himself as an agent of the SPECTRE secret organization. By manipulating Buchwald’s ego, Bond is able to get him to reveal his nefarious plan to blow up the Panama Canal using a nuclear-powered weapon he’s spent his life designing. Confessing to ordering Strangways’ death and impressed with Bond’s physical prowess, Buchwald forces him to go through a tortuous obstacle course to save Ryder, who’s been chained and left to be eaten alive by crabs. Despite experiencing immense pain, 007 successfully overcomes all of Buchwald’s obstacles and traps that culminate on a giant squid. After killing the squid and releasing Ryder, both sabotage the power source to Buchwald’s weapon, causing an overload. As the SPECTRE operatives flee the area, Buchwald takes on Bond and initially overpowers him, only to fall to his death in the boiling reactor pool.
Escaping on the “dragon” with Buchwald’s monkey pet, Bond and Ryder survive the explosion and hand over the monkey to the natives. In return, the natives hand over one of the SPECTRE boats, which they both use to sail towards Jamaica. The movie ends as Bond and Ryder share a passionate kiss. Highlights of the film include the Three Blind Mice car chase, Bond’s confrontation with Dent, Honey Rider and Buchwald’s introductions, and the Buchwald obstacle course sequence.
Dr. No premiered in the United Kingdom first in November 1962, and it was immediately torn to pieces by the critics, who seemed to criticize the film from different yet devastating angles. Many took issue with the violence and the sexual overtones of the film, comparing it with the highly controversial Peeping Tom (1960) – which had destroyed the career of director Michael Powell - and dismissing it as “entertainment of the most immoral kind”. Others felt the plot and its execution was ridiculous, if not outright offensive given the depiction of Buchwald as a “cheap Fu-Manchu clone” and the portrayal of the Crab Key natives. And yet others felt Grant was just too old to be believable in a role with such physical involvement, and/or dismissed Ekberg’s Ryder as little more than an “seductive air-head”. Audiences weren’t particularly enthused, strong opening numbers slowly dying off as word of mouth spread and some even reportedly laughed at a number of sequences meant to be serious.
Thus condemned on its initial release, Columbia faced the daunting challenge of having to present the film in the United States, and/or cutting their losses at great financial expense. They chose the latter, leading them to want to kick themselves once the severely under-promoted film actually started doing better than in Britain, audiences seemingly more willing to buy into the whole concept and experience. However, reviews were only slightly less harsh, with many speaking of a “cinematic disaster”. The scant praise offered for the film often went to some of the action sequences and, in some cases, for Christopher Lee, with it being argued he had saved an already cartoonish character from descending entirely into unintentional parody. Grant subsequently made it very clear he did not want to play the character once again, and Columbia raced to wash their hands from the whole affair. The dreams of a franchise suddenly collapsed as Dr. No, while actually profitable, was written off by many as cinematic poison, if not either boring or immoral.
Saltzman and Broccoli would try again a final time by recasting Bond and attempting to improve on earlier mistakes in From Russia, With Love, with equally disappointing results despite the significantly higher quality of the film. Breaking off their partnership, both men had the solace that other planned adaptations of Bond novels – in this case, Casino Royale (1964) and Thunderball (1968) – didn’t attract audiences either, or didn’t do well enough to justify sequels. The film rights were sold shortly after Ian Fleming’s untimely death, and with James Bond having been played by four different men – in three rival would-be franchises – in six years left little room for the character to establish itself within the public consciousness as anything other than a British spy with interchangeable traits and settings. And once Jean-Paul Belmondo shot into international stardom as Hubert Bonisseur in the OSS 117 films, Bond was soon forgotten.
During the 1990’s and early 2000’s, Dr. No underwent a limited measure of cinematic rehabilitation, with some critics arguing the movie, while flawed, was nowhere near the disaster it was pronounced during its time. While still very dismissive of a number of elements, it was argued Grant’s performance was far more nuanced and effective than once believed, and that even Ekberg acquitted herself well with a degree of magnetism that went overlooked. Praise regarding Lee continued, even if the actor himself always denounced the film and his role as something best forgotten. More recently, Dr. No has also been held as an example of prejudices in early 1960’s Hollywood, it being argued that the Buchwald character could be construed as offensive, and the portrayal of the Crab Key inhabitants and the Jamaican characters – other than Quarrel – should be considered outright racist. Still, the film is obscure enough that such arguments only come forward between movie aficionados.
Author’s Notes: I struggled for a while on whether Dr. No was worth exploring, until it suddenly dawned on me the question: what if it had been a disaster? Thus the original pod has Columbia Pictures and not United Artists distributing the film, ensuring butterflies fly all over the place. Their more “hands-on” approach ensures the survival of the bizarre Mankowitz pitch, Grant agrees to do it and the producers lower their demands, and so on. There is still something of a “spy-craze” due to Belmondo and OSS 117 – it occurred to me as a fun gag, it’s not meant to be a realistic outcome -, but more French-inspired and nowhere near close Bondmania. That aside, this should be our antepenultimate entry. After the coming entry – yet another take on GoldenEye – we will have the big finale.
THE DEATH COLLECTORS will return in
“GOLDENEYE”
“GOLDENEYE”