15/02/2013

The Doctor Is In (Dr No, 1962)




Later still, Bond and Honey wake up. They get dressed and are taken to dine with the Doctor (no, not that one).  Bond tries to reassure Honey, but she’s clearly scared. They enter a lift and Honey clings to Bond, who puts his arm around her protectively. What awaits them when the door opens?

The lift comes to a halt. Honey and Bond step out into a room that is equal parts impressive and bizarre:



Bond wanders over to look at the aquarium, and realises that they are looking out at the sea. At which point, a chilling voice interrupts with:

“One million dollars, Mr Bond.”


After all this build-up, here he is: the first Bond villain, Doctor Julius No. Played by Joseph Wiseman, he is one of the most famous and memorable of Bond’s foes, and with good reason – he’s sinister and creepy, but also perfectly happy to have dinner with Bond and engage in pleasant conversation. He’s mad, but takes that in his stride, and has no problems ordering the death of anyone in his way. So basically, he set the template for all of the Bond villains (and, in a broader sense, all villains in the genre) to follow.

No clarifies that he figured Bond was wondering how much the aquarium cost. Then, a waiter approaches and delivers Bond a “medium dry martini, lemon peel, shaken not stirred”, which No then confirms as vodka. He then announces dinner. As they walk over to the table, Bond spots something:


That painting is Goya’s The Duke of Wellington which, in real life, had just been stolen. Anyways, dinner time!

No fills us in on his backstory. He is “the unwanted child of a German missionary, and a Chinese girl of good family”. Growing up, he joined the Tongs, but then absconded with ten million dollars, which is how he was able to set up such a fancy lair. He also explains why he has metal hands: it was his working with radioactivity that led to their loss. Bond tries to get under his skin, and imply that MI6 are closing in on him, but No isn’t falling for it. He calmly states that Bond has not been in contact with his superiors since he requested a Geiger counter. Bond, trying a different tack, suggests that Crab Key is a very easy target, and once any of the groups chasing No find him, he’ll be a sitting duck. No has an answer to that as well: as soon as his work is finished, he’ll destroy the base and move elsewhere.


At this point, Bond asks if Honey can leave. Honey wants to stay with him, but Bond knows that there’s going to be violence one way or another, and so insists she leave the table. No agrees with him; unfortunately, he also implies that the guards could have a little “fun” with her. Bond, rushing to Honey’s defence, grabs a bottle of wine to use as a weapon. The guards prevent him and he sits down, defeated.

Bond decides to continue with the conversation, and brings up the toppling of the American rockets. Remember that? That’s actually the plot of the film, although Bond has been more focussed on investigating Strangways’ death, since whoever caused it was probably involved in the toppling anyway. No helpfully explains that the toppling is essentially a demonstration of power. Bond suspects he means that he’s working for the East, but No corrects him:

“East, West, just points of the compass, each as stupid as the other.”

He then, without any prompting from Bond, tells him all about the secret organisation he works for. That’s awfully generous of him. He informs Bond of the existence of SPECTRE: SPecial Executive for Counter-intelligence, Terrorism, Revenge, Extortion. So yeah, there’s a nebulous evil organisation that the world doesn’t know about, and No has just told a government agent about it. He may be a genius, but he does occasionally slip.

Bond asks why he turned criminal in the first place; surely such a brilliant scientist could have found legitimate work? But No reveals that he did indeed offer his services to both the West and the East; however, they refused him, so what he’s doing here in Crab Key qualifies as a form of revenge. Bond tells him he’s quite mad. No has had enough of Bond’s cheek, and decides to show him what happens to someone who gets in No’s way:


Yeah, he crushes a metal figurine in his hand. Bond should probably take the hint and back off, but of course he doesn’t. He asks why he wasn’t simply killed when they caught him in the swamp, and No tells him that Bond has cost him a lot of effort, time and money since arriving in Jamaica. It’s not often someone is capable of outwitting No, and so he wanted to meet this man and see what he was like. He was even considering offering him a place in SPECTRE. Bond replies that he’s certainly interested in the Revenge part, and would start by avenging Strangways and Quarrel.

At this point, No has completely run out of patience. An underling enters and summons No to the control room, as the Americans are preparing their next launch. Bond tries one last time to intimidate him, telling him that he won’t get away with it. No simply replies:

“I never fail, Mr Bond.”

Well, he had been doing oh so very well up till now. Unfortunately, once someone makes a statement like that, they are guaranteed to be eating their own words later. Oh well. But that sentence basically sums up No’s character; he is completely and utterly convinced that he is superior to everyone else, and cannot possibly lose. As egos go, he’s got a colossal one. No leaves for the control room, asking his guards to “soften him up”. They do so with relish and violence, beating up Bond in his chair.

Bond awakens in a prison cell, looking slightly worse for wear. He wastes no time in trying to find a way out. He spots a ventilation shaft. Aha! Climbing up on the bed, he grabs the protective grille and-


Zap! He’s sent flying by a jolt of electricity. Yeah, Doctor No’s not that stupid – he had the grille electrified to deter Bond from precisely that course of action. Bond won’t give up, though. He takes off one of his slippers and uses it to knock out the grille. Having successfully bypassed it, he crawls into the rather spacious shaft and makes his way along it.

Coming to a split in the path, he hears a weird, electronic noise coming from one of the directions, so he follows it. Unfortunately, the shaft then turns ninety degrees and goes straight down. Bond carefully lowers himself down, but he slips and crashes to the bottom. He continues along. The metal shaft is heating up, so Bond takes off his shirt, rips it in half, and uses it to protect his hands. He moves a bit further, but then hears a rumbling behind him. What could that be? He looks round and-


Oh crap. He should have question why the shaft was so wide. The answer? It’s not for air; it’s for boiling water! Bond braces himself as the water rushes over him. That’s got to hurt. A few seconds later, it’s over, allowing Bond to continue.

The shaft is still scalding from the water, but just around the corner is another grille – the exit! Bond, seeing the grille, won’t be fooled again. He uses his other slipper to kick the grille out. Freedom!


He’s a looking a little beaten up, but Bond is still going. A quick note here: in the book, Bond’s escape through the shaft was part of No’s plan – it was supposed to be a series of trials to see how long Bond could endure, and as a result, he faced not just the heat and the water, but other deadlier things as well. In the film, on the other hand, it isn’t made clear whether No is testing Bond here or not. Since No isn’t paying attention (he’s preparing to topple the next rocket) and no one raises the alarm, my guess is that  Bond’s escape was unintentional on No’s part. But anyways, a guard enters the room. Bond sneaks up behind him and knocks him out, acquiring the guy’s radiation suit and donning it. Bond now infiltrates the master control room. This is where Doctor No does all his dirty work.




Various scientists are running tests. Machines are whirring and beeping. A TV is showing the countdown to the next rocket launch. And Doctor No is sitting in the middle, issuing orders and overseeing everything. Bond grabs a nearby sheaf of papers and wanders over to the centre of the room, trying hard to look like he’s supposed to be there. No orders a quick warm-up of the atomic reactor, just to make sure there are no problems. A man on the gantry above a pool of water turns a valve handle, and the pool begins to brighten. It’s becoming radioactive. If you want a quick explanation of how the reactor works exactly (and why it is in a pool of water) check here.

No asks for a rundown of all the readings. All of the scientists sound off, confirming that all the readings are normal, but there’s one missing: the guy Bond knocked out. No turns around, sees Bond, and assumes that it’s the scientist. He orders Bond to climb up on the gantry and check the reactor. Bond does so and positions himself beside the valve that activates the reactor.

The countdown begins for the rocket launch. The toppling signal will be sent via satellite dish, and No orders it to be prepared. We see said dish rise out of a structure beside the bauxite mine.


The rocket makes its final preparations for launch. It’s time. No orders the reactor be brought up to full power. It’s now or never, so Bond takes a course of action that is slightly insane, very dangerous, and possibly suicidal. He grabs the valve and begins turning. But he doesn’t stop at full power, oh no; he keeps going, and going, sending the reactor into a critical state. The reactor pool turns bright white, and is now boiling with radiation. The other guy on the gantry sees what’s going on, and tries to stop him, but Bond throws him off the gantry.

No realises what is going on, but it’s too late – the reactor is overheating and going critical. Time to run!


Everyone flees the control room as alarms begin ringing. Everyone, that is, apart from Doctor No. Bond has just messed up his brilliant operation, and he’s not happy about it. He runs over to the gantry and attacks Bond. The two engage in a fistfight, and fall on top of the small platform designed to raise and lower the fuel elements in the reactor. The weight of the two men causes it to slowly sink towards the now-lethal water. No appears to have the upper hand, since his are metal, but eventually they realise that they’re about to sink into the pool. Both of them scrabble to climb up the gantry. Bond succeeds, but we now see the problem with metal hands – they have no grip, particularly on a metal gantry slick with steam. No tries desperately, but he just can’t get purchase, and sinks into the boiling, seething, radioactive water.






No’s death is a nasty one, and must have been exceedingly painful. But at least it’s an improvement on the book, where he was suffocated under a pile of bird shit.

Bond now runs out of the control room. Behind him, the TVs show that the rocket has launched successfully. The control room is in complete disarray, and No is dead. But there’s still one thing left to do: save the girl. He runs out to find Honey. She’s uh, well, she’s:


Oh dear. Considering that the guards were going to have a little “fun” with her, this doesn’t look good. Bond bursts in, knocks out the single mook, and runs down to free Honey. It would appear that she was tied up to be left to the mercy of the incoming tide. How terribly scary.

The two of them run outside. The whole base is in full-blown panic now, with people even throwing themselves in the water to escape. Bond hijacks a boat, tossing the occupants overboard, and he and Honey make their getaway. Needless to say, moments after they escape the villain’s lair, it explodes.


The boat drifts away from Crab Key, and conveniently runs out of fuel. Honey is concerned, but Bond can think of a way to pass the time. They are interrupted, however, by the arrival of none other than Felix Leiter, who, true to his word, has brought the Marines to help out. Well, better late than never, although Bond would have preferred a bit more time alone with Honey. Bond throws Leiter a rope so they can tow him. They do so, and the two boats head off for the mainland.


Honey, however, indicates that she wants a bit of, uh, quality time with Bond. He gets the hint and the two of them move to the floor of the boat. Leiter looks round in time to see Bond loosen the rope, allowing his boat to drift away and giving him and Honey all the private time they need. Oh, James!


And that wraps it up for Bond’s first mission. Of course, being the first film in the series, it is a bit different from the ones that followed. The formula hadn’t yet been established, and many of the things associated with Bond films hadn’t been introduced yet. There is no pre-credits sequence, no title theme, no gadgets, no Q (at least, not as we know him), no over-the-top stunts. The film is very grounded and realistic, and Bond is very much a human, relying on his wits and detective skills. The only problem is that it tends to be overshadowed by some of the bigger, flashier films in the series, and as a result, Dr No can be sometimes overlooked or forgotten. Nevertheless, it is a solid film with a well-structured plot, and features some of the most memorable moments and elements of not just the series, but cinematic history. Both the Bond girl and the villain are iconic; this is the first time audiences heard the Bond theme; and of course, this is the first time Bond delivers his famous introduction. All of these and more are still famous several decades on.

 All stories start somewhere, and this is Bond’s humble beginning. This is Bond’s introduction to the world.

And it only gets better from here.


JAMES BOND WILL RETURN IN



For cast and crew details, check here

Screencaps courtesy of screenmusings.org

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