Dr No (1962, Terence Young)
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| Courtesy of MGM |
"World domination. The same old dream."
Once
upon a time, many years ago, when Sean Connery still had most of his hair,
audiences saw a James Bond film for the very first time. Nowadays most people
have their favourite Bond actor, or movie, or Bond girl, but they went to see
Dr No without any of the baggage modern audiences bring to the franchise.
Though it is rougher than later Bond movies Dr No remains of huge interest not
just for starting the franchise, but for its contribution to the action movie.
Barry Nelson had played an Americanised version of James Bond in a TV version of Casino
Royale in
1954 but it was not a success. Producers Albert ‘Cubby’ Broccoli and Harry
Saltzman considered a number of actors for the role of James Bond. Novelist and
Bond creator Ian Fleming wanted David Niven, while Cubby and Saltzman courted
Danger Man star Patrick McGoohan. Dana Broccoli, Cubby’s wife, saw a
rugged-looking actor in the slightly barmy musical Darby O’Gill and the Little
People (Robert Stevenson 1959) and told her husband she'd found his 007.
Until Mrs Broccoli clapped her eyes on him Sean Connery was a
bit-part player in movies like Tarzan's Greatest Adventure (John Guillerman
1959) and Cy Enfield’s brilliant Hell Drivers (1957). A working-class Scot
rather than the posh boy Fleming wanted, director Terence Young spruced Connery
up and knocked off a few of those rough edges.
James
Bond (Connery) is sent to Jamaica Cape Canaveral .
Although Dr No lays down the formula for the James Bond franchise
there are some noticeable differences. There is no pre-title sequence and no
song playing over the opening credits. Stuntman Bob Simmons performs the gun
barrel walk instead of Sean Connery. Guy Hamilton would click all the elements
into place with Goldfinger, but Dr No and From Russia with Love are grittier
than many of the films that would follow them.
Despite this there are still plenty of the Bondian touches
audiences would come to know and expect from a James Bond film. The villain is
a meglomaniac with a physical impairment and there is plenty of action though
these sequences are far more low-key than the extravagant set-pieces the
franchis has become known for. Best of all is the young, lean and fit Sean
Connery as Bond, in his element and ruthlessly delivering a pay-off line Dirty
Harry would be proud of to one of his victims, "That's a Smith and Wesson,
and you've had your six."
There is also a girl and she is remarkable, though calling her a
girl does her a disservice. When Ursula Andress emerges from the sea it is
fairly obvious she is all woman. Every time a new Bond film is released we hear
the same old spiel from actresses and the press about how this time the girls
are more than mere decoration, they are strong women. It's nonsense, Bond girls
were always strong. Honey Ryder (Andress) casually delivers an anecdote about killing a man with a poisonous spider because he interfered
with her. She might look great in a bikini but Honey is tough enough to deal with any man,
even James Bond.
From Russia with Love (1963, Terence Young)
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| Courtesy of MGM |
"Red wine with fish. That should have told me something."
After the box-office success of Dr No work quickly began on a sequel. Producers Albert R. Broccoli and Harry
Saltzman intended to put together a Bond film every year though they would find
this to be increasingly difficult as the size of the productions grew
increasingly bigger. From Russia with Love had twice the
budget afforded to Dr No and its
filming remains one of the most troubled shoots in the franchises history.
SPECTRE wants revenge for the death of their agent Dr No at
the hands of James Bond (Sean Connery).
They set a trap for Bond by tipping the British of about a decoding
device called the Lektor the Russians have designed, knowing full well they
will send Bond after it.
SPECTRE assign Soviet double-agent Rosa Klebb (Lotte Lenya) and
ruthless assassin Red Grant (Robert Shaw) to obtain the Lektor and kill
Bond. Klebb forces a beautiful young
Soviet agent Tatiana Romanov (Daniela Bianchi) to seduce Bond and lure him into
SPECTRE’s trap.
From Russia with Love had
some serious problems during production.
The screenplay was a work in progress.
Actor Pedro Armendariz became gravely ill during filming and was
diagnosed with cancer. The shooting
schedule was rearranged to accommodate Armendiaz allowing him to film all his
scenes together.
Director Terence Young had a lucky escape while filming a
boat chase when the helicopter he was travelling in spiraled out of control and sank into the sea. Showing the kind of fortitude 007 would have
been proud Young escaped from the stricken aircraft and returned to work immediately after being treated at the
scene.
From Russia with Love sees
two iconic figures in Bond history making their first appearances in the franchise. Desmond Llelwyn begins his long-running stint
as Q, MI6’s gadget master, forever upset with Bond for misusing his
inventions. Bond’s nemesis Blofeld is
also present, although his face is never shown.
Blofeld’s voice is provided by Eric Pohlmann while Anthony Dawson is the
unseen actor holding the trademark white cat.
From Russia with Love was
a huge success outgunning its predecessor at the box-office. Audiences at the time could identify with the
stand-off between East and West in From
Russia with Love after witnessing the Cuban missile crisis the year
before. They could also be comforted by
the idea of the British and Soviets working together to defeat a common
enemy.
Though Terence Young’s direction seems rather staid these
days, Peter Hunt’s editing livens things up especially during the vicious
showdown between Bond and Red Grant onboard the Orient Express, where the two
big men smash each other around in a confined space.
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