Dr. No reference guide

Bond's mission takes him to the steamy island of Jamaica, where mysterious energy waves are interfering with U.S. missile launches. As he unravels the astonishing truth, 007 must fight deadly assassins, sexy femme fatales and even a poisonous tarantula. With the help of crack CIA agent Felix Leiter and the beautiful Honey Ryder, he searches for the headquarters of Dr. No, a fanatical scientist who is implementing an evil plan of world domination. Only James Bond, with his combination of wit, charm and skill, can confront the madman and save the human race from a horrible fate. (Written by Robert Lynch)

Quick facts

Produced by Albert R. Broccoli & Harry Saltzman

Directed by Terence Young

Screenplay by Richard Maibaum, Johanna Harwood and Berkley Mather

World Premiere 5th October 1962 (London, England)

US Release Date 8th May 1963

Worldwide Box Office $59,500,000 US

Budget $1,100,000 US

Running Time 105 Minutes

^ top

^ top

Locations

London; Jamaica; Crab Key.

Bond, James Bond

Bond gives his famous introduction when Sylvia Trench asks his name at the London club. However when Honey Ryder asks Bond his name he merely replies "James".

Behind the scenes

This was chosen to be the inaugural film in the James Bond franchise as the plot of the source novel was the most straightforward. It had only one major location (Jamaica) and only one big special effects set piece.

SPECTRE stood for SPecial Executive for Counter-intelligence, Terrorism, Revenge, Extortion. This is the only James Bond movie ever to feature SPECTRE without the villain Ernst Stavro Blofeld.

Of the £1,000,000 budget, production designer Ken Adam was given £14,000. Adam argued for an extra £6,000 to create his now-exemplary sets.

Although there are persistent rumors that Ursula Andress was nude in the shower scene to clean her of radiation, closer inspection reveals that she is wearing a flesh-colored bikini.

To get a feel for the clothes, director Terence Young asked Sean Connery to sleep in his finely tailor fitted suit which was purchased at Turnbull and Aser Tailors and made to play James Bond.

A Goya painting of the Duke of Wellington, stolen in 1961, is found on an easel next to the stairs in Dr. No's dining area, which is why Bond stops to notice it as he passes it while going up the stairs. It was recovered in 1965.

The white bikini worn by Ursula Andress in the movie was sold by her at Christie's Auctions in London on 14 February 2001 for 35,000 UK pounds. It was purchased by Robert Earl of Planet Hollywood and with commission and tax fees, the total was actually around 41,000 UK pounds. Before the auction, the bikini had been estimated to fetch 40,000 UK pounds.

The budget was only $1,000,000, but when costs overran by $100,000 United Artists wanted to pull the plug, fearing it would never recoup its outlay. §

Selected behind the scenes information courtesy IMDb.