For those that only know the more recent Bond films, going back 60 years to visit the beginnings of James Bond in cinema is like visiting Olduvai Gorge in Kenya searching for early man. We find something instantly recognisable, but not the species we know today. "Dr. No" with Sean Connery and those clunky sets with big knobs and dials that look like bushfire warning signs are a long way from the CGI spectaculars of "Skyfall" or "No Time to Die" with Daniel Craig.
But how right was Sean Connery for this first film made fairly faithfully from Ian Fleming's novel? Would the species have survived if he hadn't kicked it off?
"Dr. No" has two of the most iconic scenes in Bond films. One happens early as Bond introduces himself in Le Cercle Cassino, "Bond, James Bond". The moment the camera lifts to reveal Sean Connery in his tux, you know James Bond has arrived.
The other scene is half-way through when Honey Ryder (Ursula Andress) enters the movie, rising from the sea.
Although Bond's introduction was the creation of the filmmakers, Honey Ryder's arrival was very much Fleming. Even allowing her a bikini (she's naked in the novel) and her dubbed voice, it's still the most memorable entry by a woman in any Bond movie. Here's part of Fleming's description of Honey, "Her hair was ash blonde. The skin was a very light uniform café au lait with the sheen of dull satin. The gentle curve of the backbone was deeply indented, suggesting more powerful muscles than is usual in a woman". It's as though Honey stepped straight from the page to the screen.
What did Fleming think of her performance? He was so taken with Ursula that he included her in his 1963 novel "On Her Majesty's Secret Service" when Blofeld's assistant points out the actress, Ursula Andress, to Bond.
The character of James Bond is a combination of sexiness, charm, wit, style, mystery and a sense of danger. Each of the Bonds: Lazenby, Moore, Dalton, Brosnan and Craig had some of those qualities, but Connery had them all.
As for a sense of danger, Michael Caine in one of his books related how Connery and he were in a club when a bunch of yobs behind them heckled some girls on stage. When asked to tone it down they gave the boys a gobfull, so Connery got up and flattened all four before Michael had hardly risen from his chair. Connery's sense of danger was built in.
Bond taking down Dr. No's undersea facility doesn't compare to the epics to come, but the enjoyment of "Dr. No" is in watching Connery own the role from the get-go, the Jamaican location and Ursula Andress showing how to just about steal a movie.
In regards to the actors that have played Bond since, it may not necessarily be a case of survival of the fittest.
But how right was Sean Connery for this first film made fairly faithfully from Ian Fleming's novel? Would the species have survived if he hadn't kicked it off?
"Dr. No" has two of the most iconic scenes in Bond films. One happens early as Bond introduces himself in Le Cercle Cassino, "Bond, James Bond". The moment the camera lifts to reveal Sean Connery in his tux, you know James Bond has arrived.
The other scene is half-way through when Honey Ryder (Ursula Andress) enters the movie, rising from the sea.
Although Bond's introduction was the creation of the filmmakers, Honey Ryder's arrival was very much Fleming. Even allowing her a bikini (she's naked in the novel) and her dubbed voice, it's still the most memorable entry by a woman in any Bond movie. Here's part of Fleming's description of Honey, "Her hair was ash blonde. The skin was a very light uniform café au lait with the sheen of dull satin. The gentle curve of the backbone was deeply indented, suggesting more powerful muscles than is usual in a woman". It's as though Honey stepped straight from the page to the screen.
What did Fleming think of her performance? He was so taken with Ursula that he included her in his 1963 novel "On Her Majesty's Secret Service" when Blofeld's assistant points out the actress, Ursula Andress, to Bond.
The character of James Bond is a combination of sexiness, charm, wit, style, mystery and a sense of danger. Each of the Bonds: Lazenby, Moore, Dalton, Brosnan and Craig had some of those qualities, but Connery had them all.
As for a sense of danger, Michael Caine in one of his books related how Connery and he were in a club when a bunch of yobs behind them heckled some girls on stage. When asked to tone it down they gave the boys a gobfull, so Connery got up and flattened all four before Michael had hardly risen from his chair. Connery's sense of danger was built in.
Bond taking down Dr. No's undersea facility doesn't compare to the epics to come, but the enjoyment of "Dr. No" is in watching Connery own the role from the get-go, the Jamaican location and Ursula Andress showing how to just about steal a movie.
In regards to the actors that have played Bond since, it may not necessarily be a case of survival of the fittest.