DR NO: Your 3 favourite scenes

1. Bond, James Bond.
Has there been a cooler scene in the series?

2. Dent's assassination
Great writing and acting. One of the reasons why Connery's performance in DN is my favourite of the series.

3. Bond visits Dent.
I'll go for something a little different and mention the scene where Bond investigates why Strangeways had a receipt from Dent. I've always liked this scene as we get a good sense of Bond puzzling together the mystery that is Dr. No. I like Connery's efficiency and charm, and Dent's almost successful attempt of covering up his involvement. Feels like a scene from a film noir and captures the ambience of Fleming's novels.

I'm going to be predicable and agree with 1 & 2......they do deserve that continuing recognition however.

As for 3 I rather like the sequence when Quarrel and Honey assure Bond 'there is a Dragon' on the island.

It's a given about the intro of Bond and Dent's death so I'll plump for these:

1) The spider scene. Maybe not the most obvious of all the films but the sight of that thing crawling up Connery, knowing Connery for one did not care for spiders much, the music building up tension, then -THWACK! THWACK! THWACK THWACK! in time with music and ending with Bond lurching into the toilet to be sick.

2) First appearance of SIS (the communications room) -one of the few times you see it at work as it were. In the years before iphones, ipads etc that you see in QOS' SIS scenes for example, the antenna on the roof, the clatter of typerwriters, teleprinters and jingle of phones.

3) The dragon. Bond's irritation at the fact it's just a bloody land rover with clobber on and then his reaction to poor Quarrel's death.

Personally, the film's grown on me in recent years. I like the detective work bits once Bond reaches Jamaica, the ally he has in the colonial cop (though he's barely in the film. Reminds me of films of the 50s and early 60s where the local cop or whatever helped the main character out).

Yeah I love the communications room in DN. Awesome set design and colour, and really sets up the film as a spy movie, as opposed to an action/adventure film.

1. Bond's cold blooded killing of Dent, setting him apart from what people in 1962 expected out of heroic protagonists.

2. Dr. No's introduction. Or is that three introductions? I'll pick the first with Dent reporting. After all the local Jamaica spots, this new strange set adds that element of benign bizarre.

3. The dinner scene. Great dialogue, back and forth. Connery and Wiseman have a great dynamic, which is too bad as this is all we'll ever see.


I wish the filmmakers had the budget to realize the whole air duct sequence from the novel, it would easily be among my favorite scenes if done properly. Instead we get hot water and noise.

Makeshift Python wrote:

I wish the filmmakers had the budget to realize the whole air duct sequence from the novel, it would easily be among my favorite scenes if done properly. Instead we get hot water and noise.

That noise sure is threatening.

I, too, love the scene where Dent reports and is given the spider. Fantastically sets up Dr. No as a distinguished authority and presence with, as you say, a touch of benign bizarre. Striking set design!

1. Bond kills Dent
Just a well done sequence. Bond remains cool throughout the scene and Connery's acting is top-notch here especially his expression looking at the body before the scene changes.

2. Bond's chat with Honey where she tells him she killed a guy with a spider

and.

3. Bond learns via phone that the "chauffeur" is not from Government House

Again, to me Connery's acting dominates this film for me and in these scenes in particular his acting is great. Connery's face when he learns about the chauffeur is particularly amusing because his face suddenly expresses a slight, sadistic "I'm going to have fun beating the pulp out of this twerp" grin while hanging up the phone.

Hilly KCMG wrote:

First appearance of SIS (the communications room) -one of the few times you see it at work as it were. In the years before iphones, ipads etc that you see in QOS' SIS scenes for example, the antenna on the roof, the clatter of typerwriters, teleprinters and jingle of phones.

I really like that little bit too.

My other two votes go for the obvious: Bond's intro and Dent getting dented with bullets.

1. "That's a Smith and Wesson, and you've had your six"

2. "Bond. James Bond."

3. "Underneath the Mango Tree"

Dinner with Bond and Dr No.

Loved the verbal sparring and No getting increasingly irritated, whilst remaining unnervingly calm..Dick Maibaum was amazing for his witty scripts.

Miss Taro's arrest- Loved Bond using her for his own gratification, waiting for a "taxi" to pick her up. Cold as ice.

The meeting of Felix and Bond- i like the build up to this. I like how we are meant to think Felix is a villain, but that isn't the case. Jack Lord looks suave in his suite and sunnies. The coolest portrayal of Leiter.

Bond Fan 90 wrote:

Dinner with Bond and Dr No.

Loved the verbal sparring and No getting increasingly irritated, whilst remaining unnervingly calm..Dick Maibaum was amazing for his witty scripts.

Miss Taro's arrest- Loved Bond using her for his own gratification, waiting for a "taxi"  to pick her up. Cold as ice.

The writing really is sharp, both in plot development and in the writing of Bond's character.

Mr. Kiss Kiss Bang Bang wrote:

1. Bond, James Bond.
Has there been a cooler scene in the series?

2. Dent's assassination
Great writing and acting. One of the reasons why Connery's performance in DN is my favourite of the series.

3. Bond visits Dent.
I'll go for something a little different and mention the scene where Bond investigates why Strangeways had a receipt from Dent.  I've always liked this scene as we get a good sense of Bond puzzling together the mystery that is Dr. No. I like Connery's efficiency and charm, and Dent's almost successful attempt of covering up his involvement. Feels like a scene from a film noir and captures the ambience of Fleming's novels.

I agree, theses are three excellent scenes. You can’t really argue with the first two.

As I was thinking about these scenes and what makes them so memorable, I realized that, while not the most important part of the scene, the parts that really stood out to me were the final seconds. In the casino scene, I love how he casually hands the doorman a note. After he kills Dent, he removes the silencer and then blows on it and thumbs it, all with a strangely thoughtful look on his face. In Dent’s office, he is about to leave when he asks for the receipt back. I always wondered if he thought Dent purposely kept a piece of evidence and became suspicious. And so I also like Hilly’s inclusion of the spider scene, because of how Bond fades into the bathroom at the end. Those details are the perfect icing on an otherwise awesome cake!

Very true. I quite like how Sylvia walks into frame at the end of the casino scene and continues admiring Bond. And like how that continued throughout the series (most notably, Stacey after dinner in AVTAK and Christmas after Bond leaves for the bunker in TWINE.

Also, in Dr. No when the chirpy receptionist leans onto the counter and watches Bond longingly. Probably another example of the little moments at the end of scenes.

1. Casino scene.... Bond at his coolest,this is surely the scene most associated with our hero.

2. introduction to Moneypenny, M & Q.... Bernard lee at his most assertive " take off your jacket, i thought so ..that damn baretta again" "From now on you carry the walther" and " your booked on the next flight to Jamaica" ,Bond is treated like a naughty schoolboy, a trend that continues throughout the series

3. introduction to Quarell, pussfellow and Felix ... Bug eyed quarell is down at the beach as he dismisses Bonds line of questioning " i like people who's friends of people"...enter Jack lord the coolest felix in the series.

So three scenes here all from the opening thirty minutes which demonsrates how a Bond film is not all about the action but often more about setting the scene and creating a mood

Bond should always place atmosphere above action - the sex, danger, sense of bizarre and travelogue component should all come together because it's what makes Bond a genre of its own.

The briefing scene, with the dialogue about the beretta, is taken straight from the book. I know you've mentioned that you don't intend to read the source material, but I think you'd take to them if you're responding to moments like this in the movies.

Dent gets his instructions from Dr. No. Seems like No has picked up a few tricks from his boss Blofeld.

The escape through the river. Beautifully shot and effectively tense.

Dinner with the doctor. What style!

Casino intro.

"Leave the Beretta."

"Lord no, I want to meet them socially."