Dr. No:The Americans are fools. I offered my services, they refused. So did the East. Now they can both pay for their mistake. James Bond:World domination. The same old dream. Our asylums are full of people who think they're Napoleon. Or God.
Dr. No is the first James Bond film, starring Sean Connery. After a British agent and his secretary are murdered in Jamaica and their files stolen, James Bond is sent to investigate. As the first film of the series, it lacked many of the traits that would become iconic of the franchise but nonetheless set the groundwork.Not to be confused with Ron Paul.*
Adaptation Distillation: Ian Fleming loved the movie so much that he made Bond Half-Scottish in honor of Sean Connery. He also gave Ursula Andress a cameo in his novel On Her Majesty's Secret Service.
Air Vent Passageway: Double-subverted. When Bond tries to escape his cell through the vent, he gets shocked when he touches the grill. However, he tries again by using his shoe to push it out and succeeds in escaping. As a nice touch, he experimentally taps the grill at the other end with his feet to make sure it isn't electrified.
Also justified in the novel. It's designed to be a part of a Deadly Game.
And the reason it's so wide? It's not an air vent; it's a water vent, as Bond learns to his dismay.
Animal Assassin: the poisonous spider (in the film) or centipede (in the book) which gets dropped into Bond's room, as well as the one Honey put in her landlord's bed after he raped her.
Subverted in the book - she was tied up with the threat of being eaten by a swarm of crabs. She knew the crabs were harmless, and let them swarm over her; her distressed attitude was over what would happen to Bond.
Evil Genius: Professor Dent (one of Dr. No's henchmen). Also Doctor No himself.
Expy: Doctor No is a somewhat scaled back Fu Manchu. Oddly, resembling the Devil Doctor from his earliest appearances when he was just a high ranking member of the Si-Fan rather than its leader.
Idiot Ball: Bond himself does it twice: multiple times in his hotel room and by murdering Professor Dent rather than capturing him for interrogation.
Just Between You and Me: A not too blatant example, since the US had worked out before the events of the film that their rockets were being toppled; they just didn't know who the culprit was, and Bond works out by himself that Dr. No is responsible. However, Dr. No also freely gives away the existence of SPECTRE, who Bond and, presumably, MI 6 had been totally ignorant of until that point. In fairness, he only told him because he was trying to recruit him, and Russia and China definitely know because they keep doing business with them (No is on a mission for SPECTRE, but it is strongly implied that they were hired by Red China; No even has an army of Chinese henchmen), so its not so bad if half the world knows anyway.
The Load: Honey is as useful as a rubber spanner. About all she does is help find the "dragon" that takes them to Dr. No's base. We know she's there for the Fanservice, to play the Distressed Damsel and get rescued. And for the bedroom cut-away as the credits roll.
Mauve Shirt: Quarrel. Killed by a flamethrower tank painted to look like a dragon.
Red Right Hand: Dr. No's mechanical metal hands. Although they're moderately maneuverable and super strong in the film, they're little more than crude pincers in the novel.
Their explanation differs between book and film. In the book, his hands were cut off by the Tong; in the film, they were damaged in his radiation experiments.
Reed Snorkel: Used by Bond, Quarrel and Honey Rider to avoid Dr. No's guards.
Same Language Dub: Ursula Andress has a very thick accent, so she was dubbed not once but actually twice in the movie. Nikki van der Zyl dubbed all of her dialogue, while the calypso was sung by Diana Coupland.
Sleeping Dummy: Bond uses several pillows under the covers of his bed.
Spiteful Spit: Miss Taro to Bond after he has her arrested.
What the Hell, Hero? A bit of irony: Bond does this with Honey when she describes how she murdered a man who raped her by putting a black widow spider in his bed, causing him to die over the course of a week. "I wouldn't make a habit of it" he says, shocked. But later, after Bond somewhat unnecessarily stabs one of Dr. No's men to death, Honey acts shocked and asks why he had to kill the man.
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