It’s difficult to look at Dr. No today, more than 50 years after it’s initial release, and not look at it as dated. It’s also difficult to imagine how this film launched one of the most successful film franchises in the history of cinema. In all honesty, it’s a surprisingly unremarkable movie.

Aside from having arguably the number 1 Bond Girl of all time, Dr. No has few of the other motifs that would make its successors so popular. There are no high-tech gadgets. There is no cool car. There is no Cold War tension. There is no international espionage. This is one of the Bond films that I had not seen, and that last point is the one that created the most disconnect for me. The catalyst of the film is the murder of agent 006 Strangways. Thus, Sean Connery introduces us to Bond by spending most of the film as more of a police detective rather than a secret agent. Most of the second act is spent with Bond investigating Strangways’ murder, and it isn’t until we’re more than half way through the movie that we start to get a little taste of what would later make Bond Bond with the discovery of a criminal mastermind, Dr. No working for an international syndicate called SPECTRE (SPecial Executive for Counter-intelligence, Terrorism, Revenge, and Extortion), attempting to use an atomic powered radio beam to disrupt rocket launches from Cape Canaveral. Clearly these are the types of motifs that would become very familiar to Bond fans over the ensuing decades, and the second half of the the film is where the entertainment value really starts to pick up.

Another Bond motif is introduced in the second half of this film and it might be the most famous entrance of the most popular of all of the Bond motif’s. That is the introduction of Honey Ryder, the first Bond Girl. Played by Ursula Andress, we meet Honey Ryder collecting sea shells in her white bikini. Spunky, free-spirited and entertaining, Honey’s introduction takes the film, and Bond, into a new direction. Bond’s womanizing had been lightly introduced with his first scene in the film, but it’s on full display once he meets Honey. Although with all Bond Girls, she’s not just another girl to shag. There is genuine affection there, and he risks his life at the end to save her, as he will continue to do throughout the series.

What this film ends up being is a straight up action film that has some mild humor, likable characters and some decent action sequences. What it does have on display is an interesting story with a well-crafted Hero’s Journey and a fairly strong 3-act structure. Bond’s Ordinary World is disturbed when he finds out that Strangways has been killed. His Call to Adventure comes from his Mentor M, who tells him to go to Jamaica to investigate. He Crosses the First Threshold when he arrives in Kingston, and immediately discovers who his Friends, Allies and Enemies are.  The Approach occurs when Bond discovers that the rocks Strangways had been collecting from Crab Key were radioactive, and he gets closer to discovering that there is a larger conspiracy at play here. The Ordeal is when he goes to Crab Key, meets Honey, but then is captured after his ally Quarrel is killed. The Reward is meeting Dr. No and learning what his plan is. The Road Back sees Honey get taken away, and Bond is beaten by Dr. No’s guards and sent to a holding cell. The Resurrection happens when Bond escapes the cell and disguises himself before going to the control room and overloads the nuclear reactor, causing the entire facility to self-destruct. The Return with the Elixir is Bond escaping with Honey in one of Dr. No’s boats (a motif we’ll see again later in the series).

Looking at the story structure from the view of the plot points shows the Catalyst that gets the story moving, as mentioned above, being Strangways’ murder. The Big Event that ends the first act and begins the second act is Bond arriving in Kingston, and discovering that whomever he’s supposed to be investigating already knew he was coming. The Pinch that divides Act 2 in half is when Bond discovers that something from Crab Key is causing radioactivity and also disturbing rocket launches from Cape Canaveral. The Crisis that moves the story into Act 3 is when Quarrel is killed and Bond and Honey are captured by Dr. No’s guards. The Showdown is obviously the climax of the story where Bond causes the nuclear melt down.

Keeping in mind that this is a 50-year old film, you need to take into account that the action sequences won’t be as strong as those of today’s films. The story, while well-structured, also lacks much of the sophistication of later entries into the series. In terms of ranking it, it probably comes up somewhere in the middle of  the pantheon of Bond films, and if it were to come out today, it’s hard to imagine this film spawning the iconic franchise that it did. Fortunately audiences and film executives were more patient back then.

This is one of the Bond films that I had never seen, and the next film in the series is From Russia With Love, which is another Bond film that I have yet to see. I can’t wait to see how the series started to develop.