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Comments
1. Direction - 8,
2. Screenplay - 7
3. Script - 7
4. Plot - 6
5. Action - 3
6. Main Villain - 8
7. Main Bond Girl - 8
8. Bond - 8
9. Sets - 9
10. Music - 6
11. Cinematography - 8
12. Fleming - 10
13. Supporting Cast - 4
14. Main Titles - 2
15. Plausibility - 4 (by Bond standards)
16. Pace - 2
17. Editing - 1
18. Tilt - 2
Overall - 103/150
Percentage - 68.7%
I was surprised at this score as Dr. No isn't really a favourable one for me. But, I suppose you can't really fault such a solid film, and it justs comes down to your personal opinion.
EDIT: I have re-reviewed Dr. No today to give a more accurate result, and there has been a slight change in the scores.
Thank you @Soundofthesinners and Crease!
@royale65: I think this is going to be a ton of fun! Thanks for putting it together; I'm very much in favor of ranking, as it is quite entertaining for me, so I'm looking forward to this thread greatly!
Without further delay, here's my rankings for Dr. No:
1. Direction: 9- Terrence Young worked his magic!
2. Script: 9- the dialogue is awesome, especially in such scenes like Bond's dinner with Dr. No, Bond's interrogation of Professor Dent, Bond's briefing with M, and the meeting at Pussfeller's bar
3. Screenplay: 9- goes hand in hand with the script, from what I can tell
4. Plot: 10- the story is plain and simple- Bond searches for a missing agent and stumbles upon a massive plot aimed at destroying the USA space program- easy to follow and quite entertaining!
5. Action: 3- Yikes....compared to what follows it in the years to come, DN is a snooze fest on action; the only really thrilling scenes we have are the car chase (ruined by back projection), the Dragon Tank shoot-out, and Bond's battle with Dr. No (entirely too brief)
6. Main Villain : 10- There's no arguing this one! Wiseman introduced the quintessential Bond villain for the series opener, and one by which all others are judged, frankly!
7. Main Bond Girl: 6- pretty to look at? Yes! Contribution to the movie? Hardly, except for the famed bikini rise from the ocean. That drags her down a few points for me.
8. James Bond: 10- Connery doesn't take any time getting comfortable in the role- he just jumps in and takes it! I love the brutality and rigid dedication Connery gives 007 in DN, especially scenes such as the killing of Dent and his search for Honey during the climax
9. Sets : 5- other than Dr. No's underwater facility, which is sensational, there's little to be desired.
10. Music: 1- my goodness, the soundtrack is awful. Whenever I watch DN, I have the urge to mute the television and keep it muted until the movie's conclusion, even at the expense of the terrific dialogue, if that tells you anything!
11. Cinematography: 4- Jamaica's fine and dandy in some shots, but most of it is fairly drab, unfortunately. Only in the Crab Key scenes is it truly worth much.
12. Fleming: I'm not very familiar with Ian Fleming's Bond novels, having only fully read Moonraker and portions of Goldfinger, so I'll leave this category blank, since I don't have the expert opinion, hahaha.
13. Supporting Cast: 4- not bad for the debut! We get some mighty fine characters to complement the main three, such as Professor Dent (one of my favorite henchmen), Quarrel (one of my favorite allies), Miss Taro, Jack Lord's incarnation of Felix Leiter (a real treat!), and, of course, M and Moneypenny in all their glory.
14. Main Titles: 2- Although I usually skip over these in every Bond movie, I have watched them at least enough to know that DN's are pitiful, and horribly yawn-inducing.
15. Plausibility: 4- I'm not an expert on rocketry or the capabilities of an underwater lair, but everything else seems to be perfectly plausible to me. It's certainly a far cry from the likes of DAF, MR, DAD, etc!
16. Pace: 2- dreadful in the first half, but a lot more thrilling in the second half
17. Editing: 2- @StirredNotShaken was right when he said that the back projection and jump cuts take this category down a few notches; however, I'll recognize its merits in such scenes like the fight between 007 and Dr. No- at least we can tell what's going on, unlike any action sequence in QoS, hahaha.
18. Tilt: 2- DN is not entirely too near and dear to my heart, though I did have a nice liking for it upon first viewing and some of the viewings shortly thereafter. I'll give it a somewhat medium tilt for at least that remembrance.
Overall Score: 92/140
Percentage: 0.657 = 66%
@MayDayDiVicenzo - the final six categories are out of 5, not 10. :-)
Ah, my mistake. I thought it was too high for Dr. No!
@Soundofthesinners @0013 - remember the final six categories are out of five, so you'll have to amend them. ;-)
1. Direction - 9
2. Screenplay - 9
3. Script - 8
4. Plot - 8
5. Action - 7
6. Main Villain - 9
7. Main Bond Girl - 8
8. Bond - 9
9. Sets - 8
10. Music - 3
11. Cinematography - 6
12. Fleming - 9
13. Supporting Cast - 4
14. Main Titles - 3
15. Plausibility - 4
16. Pace - 3
17. Editing - 4
18. Tilt - 3
Overall - 114/150
Percentage - 76.0%
75.4%
So, there it is. A few questions -
What do you think?
Is it higher/lower than your own ratings?
What is your favourite category/element/thing in Dr No?
What surprised you the most, while reading other peoples ratings?
I think this is a bit low for Dr. No. I'd gladly give it an 85 - 90% (and true to that, my score was 84 on the dot). I think it got the series off to a fantastic start and was a major stepping stone to the series' success. It's great nostalgia 51 years on.
I think what surprised me the most was the high scores several gave to the editing/cinematography; that's where the film fails for me.
I agree the rating is too low, but the community has spoken! (well six of us anyway... ;-)) Like you I'd have it at around 85-90%. Dr No is a great way to start the series, and full of iconic moments.
For me, what makes Dr No a success is Sean Connery and Terence Young.
Regarding your comments about the editing, Peter Hunt and Young revolutionised the way films were edited, hence my high marks.
Other than that, I can't find fault with the users ratings.
That they did, but this was a rather poor start in my opinion. FRWL takes leaps in the measure of light years forward with its' editing/cinematography work.
In the mean time, what did you think of Dr No's rating? ;-)
1. Direction - 9
2. Screenplay - 7
3. Script - 7
4. Plot - 6
5. Action - 6
6. Main Villain - 10
7. Main Bond Girl - 9
8. Bond - 9
9. Sets - 8
10. Music - 5
11. Cinematography - 7
12. Fleming - 9
13. Supporting Cast - 4
14. Main Titles - 3
15. Plausibility - 4
16. Pace - 5
17. Editing - 5
18. Tilt - 5 Because I'm absolutely fond of this film!
Overall: 118/150
Percentage: 79 %
Dr. No:
1. Direction - 10
2. Screenplay - 9
3. Script - 9
4. Plot - 9
5. Action - 7
6. Main Villain - 10
7. Main Bond Girl - 9
8. Bond - 10
9. Sets - 9
10. Music - 1
11. Cinematography - 8
12. Fleming - 9
13. Supporting Cast - 5
14. Main Titles - 3
15. Plausibility - 4
16. Pace - 5
17. Editing - 5
18. Tilt - 5
127/180
I love Dr. No, the series couldn't have started better!
Thanks @DarthDimi, and @MrBond, if you could change your final six scores, that'd be nifty, like Dimi has done; the final six categories are all out of 5, not 10.
Ah, well certainly. I will fix that!
I've noticed @0013 has done the same mistake.
Any suggestions, Darth? Coming from a purely scientific background such as your self, I mean... ;-)
Perhaps the opening post of this thread can keep track of the averages? ;-)
Also, will this ranking include NSNA and CR57?
Yes, I'm going to pinch that idea from the originals, and Dimi's idea of course.
@MayDayDiVicenzo - I don't think so. One, I have not seen either NSNA, CR 67 or CR 54 in donkeys years, and two I don't want to exclude anyone participating, like the "Fleming Rating", as I'm aware that some people have not read the books, and I don't this thread to be exclusive.
I'm going to hold off posting the results for Dr No until the new year, just in case other people are going to participate.
I didn't noticed that the last categories were rated out of 5. I did it out of 10 but I divided the total between 180 so there's no problem at all. It seems more elegant to me if the range were the same for all.
Yes, well i thought so too to be honest.