Dr No (1962)

When their operative in Jamaica is murdered, along with his secretary, the British intelligence service MI7 dispatches elite agent James Bond, codename 007, to investigate.  Once he arrives in the Caribbean, Bond will have to discover the reason for the assassination while also contending with several inventive attempts to add him to the list of the deceased.  And as soon becomes clear, the closer Bond gets to the truth, the more the danger rises.

This is the very first James Bond film, launching both the film franchise and the big screen career of one Thomas "Sean" Connery.  Though it must be said that transitioning out of the role and into other projects was tougher than Connery might have liked!

It should also be noted that as the first in the movie series, Dr No is somewhat different in tone and technique than the Bond franchise as a whole; at least until the Daniel Craig films (or so I hear: I stopped watching after Casino Royale).  Bond here feels a bit less bullet-proof than in the majority of Connery and Moore movies, and the Q Branch 'gadgets' for which the series would become known are basically non-existent.

That said, this is pretty decent spy film, though by modern standards the action sequences are laughably limited and unconvincing.  As the Kill James Bond podcast notes, Bond basically only has two fighting moves in the whole film.  You will of course also need to deal with 1960s attitudes to gender.  Women exist in the film to look pretty and have sex with Bond, basically.

For me, the most interesting question about Dr No was "why was this the first book they filmed?".  It was the sixth Bond novel, and not even a particularly well-received one.  Once commonly stated reason is "because there were complications with the rights to Thunderball" ... but that was the ninth novel, which also seems an odd choice to start with!

I get why they didn't start with the first novel (Casino Royale) as there was a rights issue, but why were Live and Let Die, Moonraker, Diamonds are Forever and From Russia with Love all skipped at this time and adapted (with varying levels of fidelity) later?  I'd love to know!