Dr. No

"You believe in living dangerously. I can see that."

After the murder of one of the operatives, Strangways (Timothy Moxon), in Jamaica, MI-6 sends James Bond (Connery) to investigate.  Strangways ran the Kingston station of MI-6 and was working with the American CIA on a case.  He had hired boatman Quarrel (Kitzmiller) to take him to collect rock samples from the surrounding islands.  Quarrel also worked with CIA Agent Felix Leiter (Lord).  The last island Quarrel and Strangways visited was Crab Key.

Crab Key is a private island with tight security and owned by Dr. No (Wiseman).  Bond and Quarrel travel by night to check out the island.  In the morning, they stumble across Honey Ryder (Andress) who is collecting large shells from the beach.  Can they defeat No and his island of secrets?


This is the film that launched the James Bond film franchise.  It is based on the 6th novel in Ian Fleming's James Bond series.  Fleming created the character in the early 1950s.  Producers Harry Saltzman and Albert Broccoli purchased the film rights and launched two companies specifically designed to make the Bond films (Danjaq to own the film rights and Eon Productions to produce the films).

They hired Terence Young to direct the film.  Young would direct 2 more Bond films: From Russia wtih Love and Thunderball.  Monty Norman was hired as the composer for the film, and is best known for writing the now iconic "James Bond Theme".

The film also launched the career of star Sean Connery.  Connery started acting in the early 1950's in theater and TV, and started making films in 1957.  Bond was his big breakthrough role, and he played played the character in 6 more films (From Russia with Love, Goldfinger, Thunderball, You Only Live Twice, Diamonds Are Forever, and Never Say Never Again).  Every actor that takes on the role is compared to Connery, and how they differ from him.

It is a solid start to the franchise, introducing the suave spy to the world.  Many of the tropes of the series began with this film, but were finessed in later films (the opening credits, the "James Bond Theme", etc).  The film does not feature the gadgets found in later films and does not feature Q (Desmond Llewelyn originated the character in the sequel, From Russia with Love).  It introduced the idea of SPECTRE and Bond's CIA counterpart, Felix Leiter.

It isn't the best Bond film, but it is still a great start to the franchise that is still going strong 40+ years later.

Dr. No (1962) 109 minutes
Director: Terence Young
Starring: Sean Connery as James Bond
Ursula Andress as Honey Ryder
Joseph Wiseman as Dr. No
Jack Lord as Felix Leiter
Bernard Lee as M
Anthony Dawson as Professor Dent
John Kitzmiller as Quarrel
Zena Marshall as Miss Taro
Eunice Gayson as Sylvia Trench
Lois Maxwell as Miss Moneypenny