The world has transformed since Dr No opened in October 1962. But some things stay the same
The critical reception for Dr No, the first James Bond film, was generally good, reports David Kynaston in On the Cusp, his masterly portrait of the late summer and autumn of 1962. The early October premiere at the London Pavilion was acclaimed in one review as “a crisp and well-tailored production”, whose characters were suitable for the “guided-missile age”. The plot, in which Bond foils an attempt to disrupt a US rocket launch from Cape Canaveral, captured the space exploration buzz of the early 1960s. The brash sex and copious violence (“amoral fantasy for a new age of eroding norms”, writes Kynaston) were confirmation that the decade was going to land in a very different place to the austere 1950s.
Almost 60 years on, the Covid-delayed No Time To Die also seeks to reflect the times and their preoccupations. A bioterror threat dreamed up in a lab certainly resonates in the wake of a worldwide pandemic. A contemporary concern with mental health looms large. And Daniel Craig’s Bond ditches amorality in favour of some camp comedy and a more tender, heart-on-sleeve version of masculinity. By dint of sheer longevity, the 007 brand has also become a venerable cultural ambassador for the big-screen blockbuster experience, making this latest outing a symbolic moment in cinema’s post-pandemic recovery.
