Mike Vincitore looks back on

Attempts by author Ian Fleming and others to bring the James Bond novels to the screen had foundered in the late Fifties (although one collaboration came back to haunt all involved). A producer named Harry Saltzman had acquired options to the film rights of all the existing Bond novels save Casino Royale and Thunderball. Shortly thereafter, another producer named Albert R. "Cubby" Broccoli expressed a desire to make films out of these books he had so enjoyed. Broccoli had the contacts but not the rights. Saltzman had a hold on the rights but was unable to line up backers. Having just emerged from an unsatisfactory partnership with Irvin Allen (during which Allen had quashed an earlier Broccoli attempt to start a Bond series), Broccoli was leery of another partnership, but his desire to make the films won out, and thus was born EON (Everything Or Nothing) Films and Danjaq, S.A. (an amalgam of the first names of the men's wives, Dana and Jacqueline). Through his acquaintance with United Artists president Arthur Krim, a meeting was arranged and took place on June 20, 1961. The enthusiasm of David Picker (a Bond fan himself) won Krim over and within minutes, Cubby and Harry had shaken hands with Krim on a six-picture deal.

So, on a total budget of $900,000, Albert R. Broccoli and Harry Saltzman produced the classic that, although primitive by today s standards, defined a genre. Terence Young directed James Bond s first screen adventure, showing a raw talent named Sean Connery the ropes of playing the world s most dangerous bon vivant. Bond, investigating the disappearance of a British agent in Jamaica, follows a trail that leads to Crab Key, the good doctor s private island, where he is hatching a plot for SPECTRE to play havoc with the American space program. The film featured Ursula Andress, Jack Lord, and Joseph Wiseman as the villain, with picturesque Jamaica locations and a tough, gritty realism that all but disappeared when Young left the series.

Richard Maibaum had drafted a screenplay for Thunderball, but the story was tied up in litigation between Ian Fleming and Kevin McClory and could not be used, so the producers opted to film Dr. No instead. Wolf Mankowitz (who would turn up as a collaborator on the Casino Royale farce some years later, and win an Oscar for Born Free) and Maibaum had turned in a script in which the villain s name was Buckfield, and Dr. No was the name of the spider monkey who sat on his shoulder. Broccoli was infuriated by the fact that they had used very little of the source novel, and Mankowitz left the project. Having already drafted a screenplay for Thunderball, it seemed to Maibaum a natural thing to introduce SPECTRE (the SPecial Executive for Counterintelligence, Terrorism, Revenge and Extortion) as the force behind Dr. No. As would be the case with many later films, extensive polishing went on during production, much of it-at least according to Terence Young-by Terence Young, who said he and Johanna Harwood virtually rewrote the script on the fly during filming.

The gambling club scene where Connery is introduced, uttering for the first time the immortal Bond...James Bond is a classic moment in modern cinema. Inspired by Paul Muni's entrance in the film Juarez, this one somehow manages to be much more memorable. Other contenders for the role supposedly had included Richard Johnson, Roger Moore, long-time Bond action/stunt coordinator Bob Simmons, and Patrick McGoohan (McGoohan initially claimed to have rejected the role on moral grounds, but recently divulged in an interview that he did not want to work with a certain unnamed member of the crew). Connery landed the role after an interview with Broccoli & Saltzman, during which he refused point-blank to screen test (a daring move at that point in his career), and generally impressed the producers with the sheer animal magnetism with which he would stamp his portrayal of 007.

More than anyone except Ian Fleming, Terence Young defined the onscreen essence of the James Bond character. Connery brought a catlike grace and great screen presence to the role, but was more comfortable drinking a beer in jeans and a sweatshirt. Young brought Connery to his own tailor and outfitted him for the part. The suave tastes for Dom Perignon 53 and Savile Row suits were an extension of Young s own dashing personality. The tongue-in-cheek humor that would become such a staple of the series evolved between Young, Connery, screenwriter Richard Maibaum, and producers Broccoli and Saltzman, who felt that a bit of self-parody would make the series more watchable and less vulnerable to satire. But it was Young s script assistant Johanna Harwood who suggested the best visual joke of this film during a polishing session when she suggested displaying Goya s portrait of Wellington as part of the illicit booty amassed by Dr. No and SPECTRE. In real life, it had recently been stolen. Young and the producers liked the idea so much Harwood received co-authorship credit on the screenplay.

While lightening up the movie to make Bond more watchable, Young strived at all times to remain as faithful as possible to Fleming s creation. What should have been a defining moment for the Bond character occurs when Bond ambushes Dr. No s underling Professor Dent (Anthony Dawson). Dent has just tried to kill Bond for the third time, emptying his pistol into a dummy Bond rigs up with pillows in a bed. After asking a few questions and informing Dent that he s out of ammunition ( That s a Smith and Wesson, and you ve had your six ) Bond kills him in cold blood, even firing an extra bullet into the back of the body as he lies on the floor. Under tremendous pressure to cut the scene, which is tame by today s standards but was horrifying then, Young fought tooth and nail to keep it. He tried to remind the censors and UA executives of an essential element of Bond s makeup, with or without a sense of humor: the man is an executioner-we should never lose that! The scene stayed in, but unfortunately, the concept was lost in subsequent films, and not until Licence To Kill, twenty-seven years later, would audiences see Bond approach this level of ruthlessness.

Sean Connery s first performance as James Bond is a little raw around the edges, but he turns in a very plausible job. He projects the tough killer side of the character very well, and does a good job of showing Bond s softer side when he is called upon to protect Honey Rider on Crab Key. As to Connery s casting, Ian Fleming was initially appalled that they had cast that lorry driver . After seeing Connery at work he took a great liking to him, saying, he was not my idea of Bond. But he would be if I wrote the books over again. It is worth noting that in the three books he wrote after the release of Dr. No, he imbued Bond with a similarly dry sense of humor-and emphasized his Scottish ancestry.

Ursula Andress is adequate to the role of Honey, but not a very polished actress - her entire part was dubbed. Her striking beauty when she rises from the sea creates one of the classic moments of the series, and we must be grateful to her for that. Jack Lord is fairly well cast-although a bit wooden-as Felix Leiter, Bond s CIA contact and friend who is seldom, if ever, properly represented on film. Joseph Wiseman is an excellent Dr. No, but not quite as bizarre as Fleming s description which would have been too bizarre for a 1962 audience.

John Kitzmiller starts out well as Quarrel, but for some reason when the action shifts to Crab Key the character deteriorates into a rum-swilling feets-don t-fail-me-now caricature. At one point Bond orders Quarrel to fetch my shoes . (CRINGE!) You would never have seen this exchange between Fleming s Bond and Quarrel, whose relationship Fleming described as that of a Scots laird with his head stalker; authority was unspoken and there was no room for servility (Live And Let Die, Ch. 17). Eunice Gayson is enjoyable in her all-too-brief appearances as Sylvia Trench here and in From Russia, With Love. Her character was intended to provide a running joke, as Bond was always to be called away just as they were about to get down to pitching some serious woo.

Noteworthy, too, are the introductions of Bernard Lee as M and Lois Maxwell as Miss Moneypenny. These characters contributed immeasurably to the atmosphere of all the films they appeared in. Fleming himself approached Miss Maxwell and told her, When I first wrote the character of Miss Moneypenny, I pictured a tall, elegant woman with the most kissable lips in the world. You, my dear, are exactly the person I envisaged.

Production designer Ken Adam originated the Bond look on a shoestring (remember, the film s total budget was only $900,000 - and was exceeded by $100,000). Adam has won several Oscars, most recently for The Madness of King George, but undeniably his most stunning work has been on the Bond films, for which he has never won.

Another major contributor to the Bond look was title designer Maurice Binder. Binder had minutes to spare before a meeting with the producers, and slapped down some price stickers on a storyboard to simulate gunshots. The result was a remarkable main title sequence, introduced by his inspired wheel and fire gunbarrel sequence. Initially filmed with Bob Simmons doubling Connery, and through the barrel of a .38 special (Binder had to punch a pinhole in a piece of cardboard to bring the barrel into focus), this classic motif remains the definitive symbol for cinematic high adventure after thirty-five years (technically, of course, this makes Bob Simmons THE first cinema 007; this version was also used to open Goldfinger and From Russia, With Love). Binder would return on Thunderball, producing some of the most remarkable title sequences ever in popular cinema for all the subsequent James Bond films until his death in 1991. Daniel Kleinman's GoldenEye title sequence bodes well for his ability to follow in Binder's footsteps.

The musical score by Monty Norman lends a suitably tropical atmosphere, but the signature James Bond Theme , with its famous plucked-guitar sound, is widely believed to actually have been composed by John Barry. Contractual obligations supposedly force the producers to credit Norman for the James Bond Theme in every Bond film to date (I am under no such constraint, and personally believe it was Barry). Barry has five Oscars-from Born Free, The Lion In Winter (which was the screen debut of Sir Anthony Hopkins and a chap named Timothy Dalton), Out Of Africa, and Dances With Wolves; but if the rumors are true, it must really be galling to have someone else s name on your most instantly recognizable piece of work. Of the 16 remaining films in the Eon series to date, Live and Let Die, The Spy Who Loved Me, For Your Eyes Only, Licence To Kill and GoldenEye were not scored by Barry, and all of them have suffered for it to some degree. (David Arnold is scoring Tomorrow Never Dies).

Another immense factor in the success of the Bond films has been the editing, invariably resulting in giving a breakneck tempo to the films. Young felt that if the viewer were swept along at a fast pace he/she would be too busy being entertained to look for defects in the storyline. It worked. The innovative editing style of Dr. No changed film editing styles forever. Peter Hunt edited the first five films, also graduating to second unit director and finally to director of On Her Majesty s Secret Service before leaving the series. At first he was horrified at some of the cuts Young asked him to make, but Hunt gradually became bolder and as From Russia With Love progressed it was Young's turn to be startled - and horrified - by Hunt's ingenuity, to which Hunt simply responded "look who's talking!" TV films, where economical use of time was essential, and eventually most of the film industry (especially the action/adventure genre) adopted similar quick cut styles of editing to heighten the pace of the film. The combination of elements was unbeatable, and guaranteed Bond would be back in...