Film Reviews: Dr. No (1962) Part 2

Bond continues to investigate Strangways' murder and heads down to the docks to try and extract more information on him. But before that he checks into his hotel and receives his first 'shaken... I mean mixed not stirred' Vodka Martini at this point.

He also proceeds to put some sort of powder on his suitcase and a hair on the door of his wardrobe, which I presume is so he knows if someone has been in his room. I do find these methods rather creative in terms of the limited budget set for this film as they are fairly simple and interesting to watch. It also says a lot about Bonds character by being cautious about his surroundings.





After being informed by Strangways' friends in the beginning that he took up fishing as a hobby, Bond heads to the docks to meet with Quarrel played by John Kitzmiller. At first Quarrel seems  reluctant to give Bond much information, making him seem like a bad guy.

Quarrel then retreats to a bar with Bond following and Bond agrees to talk with Quarrel in private, so they head into one of the storerooms.

Even though a guy named Puss-feller grabs Bond from behind he manages to break free and have them both at gun point.








This is before yet another key character in the Bond franchise pops up, Felix Leiter played by Jack Lord, not as much of an influential character as some Bond allies but in my opinion one of the better ones that Bond encounters over the films. But in this film he seems wasted as he doesn't make as much of an impact as one would expect.

Either way it is revealed that they all have the same intentions and want to find who killed Strangways, they all decide to head to Puss-fellers night club to share information.

So now at Puss-feller's night club and this guy is clearly on acid or something. In the actual scene he is manically dancing! I just wanted to point him out as the most enthusiastic person in this scene! XD

The woman at the airport returns to take more pictures of Bond as they discuss the mysterious Dr. No. James orders Quarrel to bring her to the table.

Having her in an arm lock she smashes a rock of some sort and slashes it across Quarrel's face.

I'd like to point out at this part Quarrel simply does not care about his half bleeding face and replies simply by wiping the blood away and with "Shall I break her arm?"

But we do find out that not all is right on an Island called Crab Key which is where Dr. No is located, although little information is given about him still.





Later the next day Bond pays Professor Dent a visit (one of Strangways' bridge crew) who seems a little suspicious when Bond asks him some questions about Crab key.

Then our suspicions are answered in the next scene as we see Professor Dent hurrying to Crab key and entering Dr. No's hideout.

Although his character may seem a bit useless it is nice to label someone as an enemy of Bond as we are still without the appearance of Dr. No.

Here we hear a voice over of Dr. No addressing Professor Dent and ordering him to kill Bond with a Tarantula... which I'm sure can't kill humans? It may cause Bond some serious discomfort but to actually kill him? I suppose a big hairy spider touches on the fears of the audience, but it seems pretty desperate.

What a lovely scene this is, when Bond lives the nightmare that many of us dread, witnessing a big hairy spider crawl up the covers.

  Accompanied by discomforting music

He waits for it to climb onto his pillow before he flips it onto the floor, grabs his shoe and beats it to death. I have to say surely Dr. No should know that an MI6 agent wouldn't be killed by something as simple as this. He'll have to get creative, like investing in a tank or two.

The next morning Bond heads back to the Embassy in search of all the available information on Dr. No, but the files went missing.

Then we are introduced to Miss Taro played by Zena Marshall, and is suspected by Bond to be a double agent.

Perhaps its because of her masterful spy work as she looks through the keyhole before bond opens the door on her. But in a plea to get more information Bond invites her to dinner, heading to her place.









Which inveritably leads to the first ever Bond car chase and, well it's nothing special, nor is it that exciting.

Lets just say that advancements in CGI and special effects have been kind to scenes like this, allowing them to be more thrilling and exciting. Instead of having actors sit in front of a screen holding a steering wheel.

Eventually Bond loses them by forcing them to drive off a cliff where the car suddenly blows up, allowing Bond to arrive at Miss Taro's place.

Despite not even saying more than 5 words to her he immediately goes in for a kiss. The least he could do is buy her a drink first or let her get dressed. But as we see later in this scene that won't be necessary as she then becomes the second woman to sleep with Bond.

Then becomes the first woman to be arrested by Bond, setting up the next scene that features Bonds first kill with his new Walther PPK (New Gun).

You could say this is one of the most memorable scenes from the film, as we witness Bond cleverly set up a trap for Professor Dent before mercilessly finishing him off.

It's slightly different to what you expect in this scene, extracting the information he needs before killing Dent, but it's really the brutality of this scene. Bond senselessly kills him which is what we come to expect from him in all the films.





That's it for part two people! Hope you enjoyed it, part 3 will be up soon! :D