Dr. No, the first in a long line (22 official films so far) of James Bond screen adaptations is sill my very favorite. I used to watch the Bond movies all the time with my dad and still fondly recall the magic of this one from the first scene of the totally cool Jamaican assassins called the Three Blind Mice to the final make out shots on the boat Bond's purposefully set adrift. It's got Sean Connery (still the best Bond), Ursula Andress as Honey Ryder emerging from the ocean like a vision (still the best Bond girl), and it's got a great underwater evil lair belonging to a villain with metal hands! Set in beautiful Jamaica, it makes for nice afternoon viewing while dreaming of warmer climates.
James Bond, who still manages to capture imaginations and inspire film adaptations was created by Ian Fleming in 1953, though the character lived on in additional novels after Fleming's death in 1964 thanks to various authors. According to Wikipedia, Bond is believed to be:
A romanticized version of Ian Fleming, himself a jet-setting womanizer. Both Fleming and Bond attended the same schools, preferred the same foods (scrambled eggs, and coffee), maintained the same habits (drinking, smoking, wearing short-sleeve shirts), shared the same notions of the perfect woman in looks and style, and had similar naval career paths (both rising to the rank of naval Commander).
Fortunately even as the franchise producers continue to turn out Bond movies, no one seems interested (yet) in remaking the old films, so Dr. No should remain in its Technicolor, womanizing glory for awhile. It's available on Blu Ray, which is really making Jim and I consider buying a player as they are rapidly going down in price.
But what do you think?