Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #15004 in DVD
• Released on: 2008-10-20
• Rating: Parental Guidance
• Aspect ratio: 1.66:1
• Format: PAL
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 105 minutes

Synopsis
The first 007 film. Whilst investigating the strange goings-on in Jamaica, James Bond, a secret agent, uncovers a plot to conquer the world. Master criminal Dr. No becomes the chief suspect.

Customer Reviews

Great Film Restoration Restores Some Pride in Bond Series
I have had to make do with watching the "old-style" Bond movies (pre Casino Royale) on ITV and ITV2 for quite a few years now. And after all these years it slowly became apparent that this is what the Bond films seemed to have been relegated to - the "nothing else is on TV so I might as well" genre. Indeed, when Casino Royale came out it just seem to compound this feeling of the old films being nearly B-grade in terms of picture quality and farcical in action sequences.

However, this Blu Ray release of Dr. No seems to have breathed new life into the actual quality of the film. It was fantastic. It felt like Bond belonged on the big screen again. The range, saturation and vividity of the colours really stood out as did how clean and sharp the image was. Video bitrate was consistently between 30-35Mbps. Motion was also smooth which always helps iron out the creases in dated action sequences. A look at the 10 min special feature of how they created a 4K restoration of the film demonstrates well the care they put into improving the quality of this film.

One of the guys who worked on the restoration puts it well "the film now [nearly] looks like it was set in the sixties rather than made in it"

Having only rented it from Lovefilm for now, if the other Bond Blu rays appear this good, it might soon be time to finally permanently add Mr. Bond to the home film collection. Highly recommended!

Great film (4-stars for the movie, 3 for the Blu-ray)
Easy! Let's not get too carried away. If you already own the Ultimate Edition DVD of Dr No, IMHO you're not going to notice a huge difference in this Blu-ray disc (BD). Indeed, the often quoted, "The film now looks like it was set in the '60s rather than made in it...", is actually taken from a promo documentary for the remastered 007 Ultimate Edition DVD series (2006); the 007 BDs are sourced from the same restored master tapes.

Compared to the Ultimate Edition DVD, the Dr No BD has slightly richer colours; a bit more detail in faces, clothing material etc; & slightly more depth of field. Also, those with surround sound will be disappointed to detect that the majority of the soundtrack still emanates from the centre speaker. And it's a shame that the car chases & fight scenes are still speeded up.

However, if your existing version is the DVD prior to the Ultimate Edition - then you WILL notice a big difference.

If you do want to see/hear a marked improvement from DVD to Blu-ray, may I suggest that you checkout the Matrix, Blade Runner or even Casino Royale?

Oldest Bond movie sets high standards on Blu-Ray
I haven't seen a bad word anywhere on the Net or elsewhere regarding the quality of this release, praise has been universal and justly deserved. The image is spectacular; clean, detailed, with vibrant colours, it has even managed to keep a lot of the "warmth" that is sometimes lost during restorations of this type. I know the film quite well, and was shocked when I noticed for the first time ever the blood on Bond's knuckles after he fights with the driver sent to collect him from the airport. You find yourself noticing other little details as you watch, it all adds to a truely cinematic experience.

The sound is also very impressive, and quite a step up from the DVD Ultimate Edition. It has the weight of a modern soundtrack, and the explosion of Dr.No's base has real impact for the first time outside of the cinema, it seems that on Blu-Ray there is very definitely information channeled to the LF speaker. There is subtle use of the surrounds, with good effects steering, although admirably none of this is too over the top for those who may have preferred a presentation in the original mono.

I believe the extras are identical to the Ultimate Edition DVD, which is fine as they are very exhaustive. A lot of the docs have been bumped to HD as well which is nice. I only have one note of concern, and that is with the length of time it takes to load the disk (at least, with my Sony player), it always looks like it's going to fail and spit it out, you just have to have patience, it does get there in the end (although I've read elsewhere that some early players have genuine problems).