Sun 1 Sep 2024
A 1001 Midnights Review: IAN FLEMING – Doctor No.
Posted by Steve under 1001 Midnights , Reviews[8] Comments
by Marcia Muller
IAN FLEMING – Doctor No. James Bond #6. Macmillan, hardcover, 1958. Probably millions of reprint editions, mostly in paperback. Film: United Artists, 1962, with Sean Connery & Ursula Andress.
Agent 007, on the road to recovery following a long convalescence after a particularly rough case (From Russia with Love, 1957), is sent to Kingston, Jamaica, to look into the disappearance of fell ow agents Strangways and Trueblood. Both have vanished without a trace while working on a case involving a nearly extinct bird, the roseate spoonbill, which lives in a sanctuary on a private island, Crab Key.
The key is owned by a half-Chinese, half-German called Dr. No, who claims to have bought the island for a guano factory. Members of the Audubon Society have become concerned about the birds’ welfare, but investigators they have sent to the key have died in mysterious circumstances. Bond goes to Jamaica and arranges to be put ashore on the key, but not before he has a chilling encounter with a poisonous tropical centipede.
Once ashore, he meets with a naked girl, killer dogs, hostile “Chinese Negroes,” and Dr. No himself- – a man whose ever-present “thin smile” disguises his truly sinister designs.
The novel proceeds to a slam-bang ending that includes a vicious torture scene, a harrowing encounter with a giant squid, and a clever coup de grace aptly labeled in the chapter heading, “A Shower of Death.”
This entry in the series is a fine example of the standard plot structure Fleming employed, and ends on a more positive note than many of 007’s adventures.
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Reprinted with permission from 1001 Midnights, edited by Bill Pronzini & Marcia Muller and published by The Battered Silicon Dispatch Box, 2007. Copyright © 1986, 2007 by the Pronzini-Muller Family Trust.
September 2nd, 2024 at 12:23 am
Not my favorite Bond, but there is a reason fans voted for it to be the first Bond film, it is a splendid update of Sax Rohmer and Fu Manchu mixed with an up-to-date science fictional touch, a fire spouting dragon, and one of Bond’s most engaging women, a sort of female Tarzan who proves almost as dangerous as Bond in a clutch.
It bears some resemblance to Jules Verne’s FOR THE FLAG and Sax Rohmer’s ISLAND OF FU MANCHU, features some of Fleming’s finest writing (the opening chapter is almost a textbook example of how to draw a reader in), offers enough classical illusions for the best read of readers, and features a masterful course on updating the pulp villains of old.
There is not a serious bone in its head, nor is there meant to be, but it is what Fleming intended the series to be, the ultimate beach read for escapists readers well written enough in the manner of Chandler or Simenon to be read not as literature but by the literate.
It was originally conceived as the first five episodes and pilot of a half hour ABC series called COMMANDER JAMAICA about British operative James Gunn operating from his yacht receiving orders by radio from London via a beautiful secretary and a grumpy old admiral. When that fell through and Fleming decided FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE would not be the last Bond novel due to better sales in the States he turned it into DOCTOR NO which became the bestselling Bond novel to date cementing the character’s renewal in print.
GOLDFINGER would follow defining the rest of the series with bigger threats and even more bizarre villains.
September 2nd, 2024 at 1:16 am
Allusions, not illusions. I hate auto correct.
September 2nd, 2024 at 1:58 am
If the Holy Bible, Holy Q’uran, or Tao Te Ching were to appear on MysteryFile for review, I would hardly know what to say anymore than I know what to say in this case. Dr. Julius No is such a foundational cornerstone of the modern genre.
I grew up with a bent, spindled, faded, ‘hand-me-down’ copy on my “still-in-short-pants” kiddie bookshelf. But it opened up a vast universe.
I rate the film flawed, but still admirable for capturing the atmosphere of the book. There’s a similar kind of luridness in that grainy, jittery, b&w photography. It’s edgy. One of my favorite book-to-movie adaptations.
Can never forget how Bond is standing before the window of No’s dining room, which is built into the seabed, wondering how the hell much a live aquarium possibly cost to construct. No strolls in behind him: “One million dollars” he answers.
Julian No! Glass eye, and two metal tongs for hands. What a creation.
September 2nd, 2024 at 3:53 am
I believe this was the last book I read under the covers with a flashlight.
September 2nd, 2024 at 8:53 am
A magnificent parody of the author’s own character, never to be outdone — even by the Harvard Lampoon’s ALLIGATOR.
September 2nd, 2024 at 9:23 am
As someone (Kingsley Amis?) once observed, the only thriller where the hero disposes of the villain by smothering him under a load of birdsh*t. I don’t have a copy of the book anymore, but I remember the scene alluded to by Lazy:
“Doctor No brought the steel claw delicately in front of each eye and tapped the centre of each eyeball.
“Each eyeball in turn emitted a dull ting. ‘These,’ said Doctor No, ‘see everything.’ “
September 2nd, 2024 at 9:49 am
Does anyone else besides me remember D.C. paparazzi trying to embarrass JFK for keeping copies of Fleming in the White House lav?
JFK just shrugged. “Ehh, now that fellow Bond is a real man”. Something to that effect.
Must have been prior to Bay-of-Pigs?
September 3rd, 2024 at 9:59 am
The first Bond book I ever read, shared with me by my Dad in the Signet edition shown (just looking at any of those multi-colored uniform editions gives me a frisson), and unsurprisingly still my favorite of the novels, although years ago Goldfinger supplanted Thunderball as my favorite of the films. And for all of the razzle-dazzle increasingly added to the sequel films, Dr. No holds up extraordinarily well, in my opinion, and is among the most faithful adaptations.