Dr. No (Blu-ray)

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Sean Connery is Bond, James Bond. Many fans of Ian Fleming´s long running super spy franchise consider Connery to be the only true Bond and look less favorable at others who portrayed Bond which includes Roger Moore, Timothy Dalton and Pierce Brosnan. I am of the belief that Connery is indeed the iconic embodiment of Bond, but I have been very impressed with the first outing by Daniel Craig. My preference towards actors portraying Bond has less to do with the actual actor, but more with the serious tone taken by the actors and filmmakers in the films and both Connery and Craig have been directed to bring a far more realistic atmosphere to the legendary spy and the far removed from the caricature performances by Brosnan, Dalton and especially Moore.

Regardless of whether or not Craig can unseat Connery as Bond, "Dr. No" will always be the greatest Bond film ever made. I know this is a bold statement, but this introductory film introduced the world to the British Secret Service agent who preferred his vodka martini shaken and not stirred, dressed impeccably and never met a beautiful woman he could not seduce. The movie introduces nearly all of the characteristics that have become legendary with Bond and finds Connery spitting out a large number of the familiar one-liners that have long been mocked by films such as the Austin Powers series. This first film portrays Bond as a highly experienced and capable agent who may have a knife in his briefcase, but instead resorts to brawn and brains to get out of dangerous situations. "Dr. No" does not suffer from the over the top stunts and action sequences that have saddened the great series.

In "Dr. No," James Bond (Connery) is assigned by M (Bernard Lee) to a mission in Jamaica to investigate the murder of a British agent and interruptions to NASA rocket launches from Cape Canaveral in Florida. Miss Moneypenny (Lois Maxwell) is introduced to audiences as well. Once in Jamaica Bond meets up with CIA agent Felix Leiter (Jack Lord) and his local guide and assistant Quarrel (John Kitzmiller). Bond´s first meeting with these men begins with a fight as they believe that Bond is perhaps working with those the CIA and MI6 are investigating. Once Bond is able to convince Leiter that he is still on their side they begin to detail the investigation, but Bond realizes they are being photographed and followed around every corner. Bond and Leiter are concerned that those paid to follow and photograph them and refuse to talk about those that have hired them regardless of the dangerous situations they are placed into.

Eventually, Bond investigates the murder of British agent John Strangways and is sent into the direction of an island called Crab Key. Bond is told by Professor Dent (Anthony Dawson) that Bond´s investigation into some rock samples were nothing out of the ordinary, but the spy is suspicious and believes otherwise and looks at Crab Key as a possible source of the rocket disruptions and the murder of Strangways. As Bond looks more into Crab Key he discovers that the locals, including Quarrel, are afraid of travelling to Crab Key because they believe the island is inhabited by a dangerous dragon that breathes fire. Bond´s investigation into Crab Key uncovers that Dr. No (Joseph Wiseman) lives on Crab Key and Dent works for him. When Bond travels to Crab Key to learn about Dr. No´s work on the island and uncover the truth about the dragon he also meets a gorgeous young conch shell scavenger named Honey Ryder (Ursula Andress). And at this point I will discontinue discussing the plot.

"Dr. No" is about style over action and Connery is an actor that seems to just bleed style. "Dr. No" is far closer to Alfred Hitchcock than it is Michael Bay. The numerous action scenes are stylistically shot and framed in a way that is smooth and not loud and glossy. In this film James Bond is suave, but so is the direction by Terence Young. The writing and story of "Dr. No" cannot match the truly great Hollywood films as some of the exposition and dialogue leave a little to be desired. Bond begins with his horrid one-liners in this film, but Connery´s style allows them to work and not come off as if they were spoken by Roger Moore. In "Dr. No" Bond is a stylish and dangerous man who looks brilliant in front of the camera and goes straight for the juggler without trying to be larger-than-life along the way. I won´t call "Dr. No" one of the greatest movies ever made, but it is definitely one of the coolest films ever.

This is a brilliant and classic film that serves as the prototypical and finest of the James Bond films. The first time Connery declares himself as "Bond, James Bond" and orders a vodka martini are cinematic gems that are known to everyone. He defined the character of James Bond and his performance as the veteran spy who uses fists and not gadgets is the best performance in the familiar tuxedo. Other memorable moments include Ursula Andress walk onto the beach in her white bathing suit. The car chases and the less-than-climactic scene between Bond and Dr. No are examples of how "Dr. No" strived for realism and didn´t rely on over-the-top sequences to entertain its audiences. The gritty nature of Bond is lessened with each successive Bond film until the point where Roger Moore completely destroyed the true nature of the character. Daniel Craig has provided a worthy reboot to the series and his performance is a nod to the character defined by Sean Connery.

Video:

MGM had previously remastered "Dr. No" for the Ultimate DVD release a year or two ago. The new digital master has been released in high definition for this Blu-ray release and "Dr. No" has never looked so good. The 1.66:1 filmed motion picture is framed with thin curtains on the left and right to preserve the original aspect ratio and the AVC compressed film is shown cleanly with a throughput of 29 MBPS. While "Dr. No" is not as stunning as the John Wayne film "The Searchers," it is still an incredibly strong looking catalog title that is even more impressive when you consider the film is now forty six years old. Individual rock pebbles looked stunning and many other textures including the ´futuristic´ clothing shown in Dr. No´s command center appear as they never have been able to on home video. Coloring is slightly muted given the vintage of the film, but I was very impressed with both detail and coloring. Black levels are very solid detail is retained throughout the entire film regardless of lighting. The print used was very clean and the film grain that is present allow for a genuine film-like look.

Audio:

The Blu-ray release is packed with both the new remastered English DTS HD 5.1 Master Lossless Audio mix and the Original Audio Mono track. Spanish Mono and French 5.1 Dolby Surround provide the foreign language support and English and Spanish subtitles are provided. I found the new 5.1 mix to sound somewhat muted, but cleaner than the original mono soundtrack, however, that mix had a little more life to it. The film´s sound design doesn´t provide a strong sense of surround and it is apparent throughout the 5.1 mix that the mono mix and the multi-channel surround mix are not too far separated from one another. The series´ iconic score sounds wonderful and the classic songs such as "Three Blind Mice" come across naturally. Dialogue is clean, although I found the spoken word to come across stronger in the mono mix and I can remember a few moments where an odd echo accompanied the actors because of the attempt to make a surround mix from the mono sound. The sound is still surprisingly clean and I was not overly disappointed by the front-heavy mix.