Dr. No film review

Dr.No (1962)

"If you carry a double-0 number, it means you're licensed to kill, not get killed...  You'll carry the Walther".

M instructs Bond in Dr.No.

As the film opens you are greeted with the fantastic opening titles of colourful dancers and geometric patterns together with some funky music by composer Monty Norman  (who also composed the classic 'Underneath the Mango Tree'), which sets off the style of the film as a film for the electronic age but also slightly tongue-in-cheek and the first outing for James Bond 007.

Set in Jamaica, before the advent of mass-tourism and crowded beaches, the film captures the spirit of Jamaica in the 1960s, made all the more realistic by being filmed on location.  It also features giant sets by Ken Adam created and filmed at Pinewood Studios in London.  These include the room at Dr. No's lair with the grid skylight.

It is also Sean Connery's first attempt at playing Bond and he pulls it off with all the urbane confidence that is needed for this role.  He is SO believable as Bond and so natural that it is difficult to imagine he was relatively unknown at this point.  The Bond girl is, of course, Ursula Andress, who is as hot as the sun-drenched beach she walks onto as she appears from the water in one of the most famous scenes in cinematic history.

The villain is Dr.No (played by Joseph Whiteman), an evil-looking man who never blinks and has metal hands and wears a Chairman Mao style jacket.  He works for SPECTRE, an evil organisation whose aim is to upset and destroy American Missile launches from Dr. No's base known as Crab Key.

The film still feels modern, even to this day and Terence Young's direction, coupled with the stunning scenery of Jamaica make it one of the best Bond films.