Dr. No (1962)

There's not a huge amount left to say on Dr. No from my point of view, I've probably seen the film about twenty five times, and did my university dissertation on James Bond. (The Bondness Of Bond: An Exploration Into The Authenticity of James Bond if you wanted its full title, which of course you did). The first outing of James Bond (in the recognised film series anyway) remains excellent to this day; Joesph Wiseman's performance as the Fu Manchu inspired Dr. No is still one of the best villains of the Bond canon. It's not until the final quarter of the film that his face is revealed to the audience and it's arguably not until Skyfall (2012) until we have such a similar type of villain reveal. Connery's introduction, uttering those famous words, persists in being one of the coolest moments in cinema history, and there's fewer iconic moments in the franchise than Ursula Andress emerging from the ocean onto the Crab Key beach. Dr. No works just as well as a detective thriller in parts; the producers had no idea at the time how the film would fare, so there's no Q (one of only two films in which he doesn't appear) with presents of gadgets, or indeed cars with 'optional extras'. That was all to come, and it makes Dr. No even more impressive looking back now, that as well as being an excellent Bond film, it's also a terrific (and scary in parts, especially for younger viewers) low key thriller. Which is a ridiculous claim to make when discussing a Bond film you might think, but, well, it's accurate. 8.1/10