DR NO

   Film (1962). Eon/United Artists. Dir Terence Young, starring Sean Connery, Ursula Andress, Joseph Wiseman, Jack Lord. Screenplay Richard Maibaum, Johanna Harwood, Berkely Mather, based on Dr No (1958) by Ian FLEMING. 105 mins. Colour.

   This UK film was the first in the hugely successful James Bond series, at first loosely based on Fleming's novels and later featuring original stories. The villain, whose cinematic forebears include Fu Manchu, Captain Nemo and METROPOLIS's Rotwang - like Rotwang, Dr No possesses mechanical hands - attempts to blackmail the USA, working from a remote Caribbean island, by deflecting its Cape Canaveral rockets off course. UK secret agent Bond brings his plans to an end by boiling him in a pool containing an atomic reactor. DN's mordant humour, its sexism, its visual flashiness and the foiled attempt by a supervillain to rule the world with a superscientific device set the pattern for the entire series, most of which are marginally sf in the pulp-adventure manner of Doc Savage (DOC SAVAGE MAGAZINE). The two most obviously sciencefictional sequels are YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE (1967) and MOONRAKER (1979).

   JB

   See also: CINEMA.