Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #6968 in DVD
• Released on: 2006-07-17
• Rating: Parental Guidance
• Aspect ratio: 1.66:1
• Formats: Anamorphic, Box set, PAL
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: Greek, Dutch, Norwegian, Finnish, English, Danish, Swedish, Hindi
• Number of discs: 2
• Running time: 105 minutes

DVD Description
His name is Bond, James Bond. And here, in his explosive film debut, Ian Fleming’s immortal action hero blazes through one of his most spectacular adventures. Sean Connery embodies the suave yet lethal cool of Agent 007 as he battles the mysterious Dr. No, a scientific genius bent on destroying the U.S. space program

Special Features
TOP LEVEL ACCESS 007: License to Restore - Featurette Detailing the BOND Ultimate Edition Film Restoration Process DECLASSIFIED: MI6 VAULT The Guns of James Bond • Premiere Bond 007 MISSION CONTROL Interactive Guide Into the World of Dr. No THE COMPLETE SPECIAL FEATURES LIBRARY: MISSION DOSSIER Audio Commentary Featuring Director Terence Young and Members of the Cast and Crew Inside Dr. No • Terence Young: Bond Vivant • Dr. No 1963 Featurette MINISTRY OF PROPAGANDA Original Trailers, TV Spots, Photo Gallery & Radio Communications

Synopsis
With DR. NO--the first of the James Bond films--director Terence Young and leading man Sean Connery set the precedent for what would become one of the most popular, influential, and long-lasting series ever made. Bond makes his first famous introduction, 'Bond, James Bond', in an upscale casino, to a brunette named Slyvia Trench (Eunice Gayson), who he promptly coaxes into a dinner date. Back at Secret Service Headquarters, M (Bernard Lee) assigns Bond to a mission in Jamaica. An agent who was investigating strange activity with nuclear weapons in Cape Canaveral has disappeared, and Bond is to take up where he left off. His contact--CIA operative Felix Leiter (Jack Lord)--reminds Bond that his title 007 means he has license to kill, not be killed. This advice comes in handy in Jamaica as assassins relentlessly emerge from the woodwork, desperately trying to bring Bond down. Bond makes his way to Crab Key Island to find evil scientist Dr. No (Joseph Wiseman), the primary suspect. There he is met with the obstacle of Honey Ryder (Ursula Andress), a deadly beauty who emerges from the sea in a tiny bikini with a knife holster slung about her hips, in one of the most seductive Bond-girl moments of all time. With a striking lack of gadgets, DR. NO is a heartier mystery than subsequent films in the series, providing for some excellent adventures in which Bond must rely on his own clever spy skills to get out of sticky situations.

Customer Reviews

Dr. No gets boiling mad
This 1962 movie based on Ian Fleming's book contains the first or our favorite charters, including Sean Connery as James Bond, Ursula Andress as Honey Ryder, and Lois Maxwell as Miss Moneypenny. A surprise and shocker is seeing Jack Lord playing the U.S. CIA agent Felix Leiter.

The earlier Bond movies required more acting than fancy gadgets. However you will still recognize his puns.

Dr. No is suspected of being up to no good. A previous agent on the trail of this mysterious Dr. No (Joseph Wiseman) seems to have disappeared. And there are no more transmissions from the local outpost in Jamaica. So it is up to James Bond (Sean Connery) to find out what happened and finish the project. Naturally he finds trouble from the beginning; however this is nothing compared to what he will find on Crab Key.

"Bond... James Bond"
Hard to believe now, but on its first release the film that started it all was sold as much on the scenery as anything else. In the days before foreign package holidays really took off, the glamorous locations gave the low-budget film an exotic look that helps hide some of its limitations.

Terence Young, Cubby Broccoli and co-writer Richard Maibaum had all previously worked together on the Alan Ladd starrer The Red Beret - indeed, many of the Bond regulars had worked on Broccoli's fairly undistinguished British pictures - and at times the initial uncertainty of tone is noticeable, with the film occasionally threatening to turn into a predictable British `quota quickie' at times. Young's direction of some of the early scenes is, it must be said, rather ham-handed - indeed, turn down the colour and you could be watching an early episode of The Saint. You can even see the arc lights reflected on the paintwork of the getaway car at (something that would become one of the series less recognised trademarks in the Connery years!).

Its attitude to the black characters is also rather less than enlightened - not just Bond treating Quarrel like a houseboy ("Fetch me my slippers, Quarrel.") but also the way John Kitzmiller is required to turn into Stepinfetchit in the `dragon' scene. Considering British films' strong record on tackling racial issues in the 50s and 60s up to the sixties, this may possibly be attributable to the fact that the Bond films, while British, were always produced by an American and a Canadian: certainly Hollywood was somewhat lagging behind British cinema on the race relations front at the time. But if you can ignore that, there's much to enjoy: Connery introducing himself with the immortal "Bond, James Bond" for the first time and Joseph Wiseman's superb villain's equally memorable entrance ("One million dollars, Mr Bond."); Ursula Andress emerging from the sea; the spooky Sisters Rose and Lily; and some good action scenes.

The film also has a darker tone than any its successors until Casino Royale. Bond is quite cold blooded in a way he never was again during Broccoli Sr and Saltzman's watch, be it sleeping with a girl while he waits for the police to arrest her or waiting for Dent to empty his gun before killing him ("That's a Smith and Wesson and you've had your six."). Similarly, Honey is not above the use of a Black Widow spider on those who have wronged her ("It took him a whole week to die," she tells Bond matter-of-factly).

Sadly, while pitched as the `Ultimate Edition,' the transfer is still problematic. The picture quality is certainly improved, but rather than the original British 1.66:1 ratio, it's presented in the cropped 1.85:1. There aren't many new features - featurettes on restoring the films, the premiere and a 1964 archive featurette `The Guns of James Bond.' Most of the features from the original release have been carried over (with the exception of a double-bill trailer which can be found on the From Russia With Love Ultimate Edition), though accessing the film is more laborious than it needs to be as you work your way through logos, promos, dull but unskippable `set' menus that take you to another menu that take you to a sub-menu that take you to another logo and not one but two copyright warnings before you can get anywhere near the film or a special feature (a feature on all the Ultimate Editions, as are the poorly designed, slow and far too small stills galleries). By the time you've gone through all that, you'll feel like Jack Lemmon in The Apartment. So, not quite the ultimate presentation...

Quick Reviews!
The first in the most successful movie franchise of all time, and the perfect introduction to Bond- one of the most loved characters in movie history. Sean Connery is perfect in the role he made his own, able to be tough and cold in the face of the enemy, charming with women, and capable of delivering witty one liners without them sounding cheesy. Dr. No was a worldwide hit upon release, and now almost half a century later thanks to this Ultimate Edition the film looks and sounds as if it was filmed yesterday- and a whole new legion of fans can become entwined in the world of 007.

Bond travels to America to find the bad guy who the Americans could not, follows the clues which lead him to a Caribbean island, and encounters two important characters-Honey Ryder, his love interest, and Quarrel, a guide. As with every Bond film following, the secret agent comes in contact with one or two 'Bond Girls', and a friend who helps him complete his mission. The famous shot of Ursula Andress coming out of the sea may well have been outrageously sexy in the 60's, but has become extremely dated, or rather the audience has since become de-sensitised to images of a sexual nature. However, it remains the benchmark for the Bond Girl entrance, and Ryder is still one of the most famous women to grace Bond's world. She was certainly a strong female character for the era, but there is a definite sexist attitude towards her throughout the film, mainly because Bond's real sole purpose is to catch or kill the bad guy, complete the mission, and stay alive.

Quarrel is played brilliantly by John Kitzmiller, and although there are slight racist undertones, unfortunate but unsurprising for the time, he is a strong character and Bond is genuinely hurt when he is killed. We see that Bond is a haunted character, and that people who come into his life will inevitably die or not stay around. This is what makes him cold, why is must be mysogynistic, and why he cannot afford to get close to anyone. We are introduced to Moneypenny, whose relationship with Bond has always been intriguing over the years, and his superior M, who constantly annoy each other but have a great mutual respect. Dr. No himself is a slightly weak character, partly because of his lack of screen time, and partly because he is not as charismatic or memorable as later bad guys. However, he is ruthless and has the traits of most villains-pride, and an eye on world domination. His death scene is also weak, but perhaps this is because we are used to more elaborate scenes in later films.

Overall the film is high quality entertainment, the script is sharp and tense, the tone is darker than other movies of the time, the music is memorable, and the stunts are good, leading the way for its sequels. The features on the dvd are excellent, with deleted scenes, a good commentary, and interesting documentaries.