Doctor No!

I write these Bond reviews with the expectation that everyone has seen all the movies, if not read the all the books. So, tread as carefully as it seems prudent. 

Dr. No is the Bond novel I'm most familiar with, having read it several times. I really like this adventure and enjoyed it a great deal this time, especially in the context of the other stories. Quarrel who alas meets his maker is a great helper for Bond, but his demise has much more weight knowing that he helped Bond in the earlier case against Mr. Big in the earlier novel Live and Let Die. 

One character who gets famously realized on the big screen is Ursula Andress in the star-making role of "Honey Ryder". In the novel her full name is "Honeychild Ryder", and the young lady is rather younger than the statuesque and robustly adult Andress. Honeychild is nearly a feral being, raised by a deceased native who took her on when her parents were killed. Honeychild is a creature of natural beauty who lives in nature, among animals in a den-like home. She is first seen by Bond from behind and is completely naked, and fully comfortable in that capacity. Fleming even refers to this ferocious young woman as a female Tarzan at one point. She even has a distinctive broken nose which reminded me of Tarzan's tell-tale scar, evidence of a deadly struggle in the character's past.

But what really suggestive to me that Fleming was doing an homage of the classic ERB hero is how Honeychild escapes the death-dealing clutches of Dr. No at the end of the novel. Spoilers for those who haven't read the book, since nothing like this happens in the movie. Honeychild escapes her doom by simply knowing nature and trusting in the creatures who are part of it. She is strapped down by the insidious Dr. No so that crabs can lustily nibble at her helpless body, but Honeychild is more familiar with the crabs, and so simply remains motionless as they crawl over her and away. She is never really all that much in danger because of her special understanding of the world hidden from the overly civilized Dr. No. It's interesting to note that Bond himself survived an earlier threat by centipede, though for him it was a supreme test of will and not merely being one with nature.

It's easy enough to see Dr. No as a variation on Sax Rohmer's Fu Manchu, that's obvious. But Honeychild as a version of Tarzan is a slightly bit more obscured. Though clearly the designers of the cover to the first edition picked up on it rightly enough. So, what you have in this wonderful little pulp feast is James Bond battling Fu Manchu alongside the progeny of Tarzan. It's a right good yarn that.

My all-time favorite James Bond movie hands down is Dr. No. It's a great story well told with a rugged and virile Connery forging a role which had rarely been seen on the big screen. Bond in this movie is not a nice fellow, though often a charming one. He kills in cold blood, the killing of the henchman Professor Dent makes Bond different than other protagonists in movies, he's a killer through and through and his lack of any hesitation or remorse for his victim is stunning. Love the music in this one, the small bits of character, especially in regard to Quarrel, the cantankerous islander who helps Bond despite his superstitions. Felix Leiter never looked better as when he was portrayed by Jack Lord. 

This one has it all, a super-spy luster as Bond races across the world to a remote and exotic location to save world peace when the vile Dr. No is "toppling" U.S. rockets. (It's the same plot used in the Jonny Quest debut episode too, so maybe that's why I love it so.) Dr. No as portrayed by Joeseph Wiseman is a great super-villain, a weirdo with credible but bizarre artificial hands. The Bond of his movie is vulnerable, and Honey Wilder as portrayed by Ursula Andress. She's beautiful for certain and set the standard for future Bond girls.

This one holds up. The subsequent Bond movies only ever struggle to achieve the delightful balance of danger and high romance and frolic this one establishes so effectively. This is my favorite Bond movie starring any of the fine actors who have portrayed the character. It's a product of a time and moment when such conceits were not ironic in the least, just exceedingly cool. They got it right the first time and they never bettered it. 

James Bond Returns in Goldfinger. 

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