After recovering from his run-in with Rosa Klebb, Bond is sent on a rest cure to Jamaica. The MI6 station chief, Commander Strangways (whom he worked with in Live and Let Die), has disappeared with his secretary, and his house has burned down with all his records. Bond is sent to investigate the disappearance, learning that Strangways was looking into the deaths of two representatives of The National Audubon Society on the island of Crab Key. The island is home to a colony of roseate spoonbills, which are protected by the Society, and a guano mine owned and operated by the reclusive Dr Julius No. Bond travels to Crab Key with his old friend Quarrel, and later meets a shell diver named Honeychile Rider. They soon fall afoul of Dr No's strict security forces (including the fabled "dragon" of Crab Key).
In the film, Bond is still investigating the disappearance. This time, Felix Leiter of the CIA is also present; he and Strangways had been investigating the toppling of American missile tests and traced the mysterious signals to the Caribbean. This is revealed to be Dr No's secret operation in the novel, but never really comes to play. The film removes all references to the National Audubon Society to accommodate this. Like in most subsequent adaptations, Dr No is working for SPECTRE rather than the Russians.
The novel seems a lot more "cinematic" than the previous novels in the series, more akin to a classic pulp adventure, featuring an exotic locale and a "Fu Manchu"-style villain with an elaborate underground base. I guess that's a reason to make this the first film in the series. Of course, that still means they have to make other changes:
- In the film, Quarrel is initially distrustful of Bond, but makes friends when he realises that he and Felix are working the same case. This would have been necessary, as it was the first film. Quarrel had appeared previously in Live and Let Die, so already knew Bond. As such, when Live and Let Die was adapted to film, Bond is aided on San Monique by Quarrel Jr.
- Dr No's front operation is a bauxite mine rather than guano in the film. I suppose this is because the guanay cormorants which produce the guano aren't native to the Caribbean, preferring a Pacific coastal environment.
- One tense scene in the novel features an attempt on Bond's life by putting a centipede in his hotel room. In the film, this is replaced by a tarantula. Most likely because Sean Connery is afraid of spiders.
- Honey Ryder's introduction. We all know the iconic scene in the film where Ursula Andress gets out of the sea in her white bikini. In the novel, she was wearing a knife belt, and nothing else. Fair enough, they wouldn't want to show that level of nudity on a widely-released film. She's also described as having a broken nose in the novel. I guess Hollywood wasn't ready to put that onto film either.
- On the subject of Honey, she receives far less characterisation in the film. The novel establishes her as somewhat naive and childlike, which actually makes Bond reluctant to seduce her. The film tones this down, and doesn't let her demonstrate her knowledge of the fauna in the same way (I cited Honey as one of the negative aspects of the film for this).
- One example of a scene which didn't make it into the film was Dr No's planned fate for Honey. In the novel, she's pegged out to be eaten by crabs. However, she knew they weren't dangerous and let them pass over her before escaping. They did try and film this, but couldn't get the crabs to behave and scrapped it. Instead, they just leave her in a flooding room to be rescued by Bond.
To be fair, a lot of the changes had to be made in the film due to budgetary constraints. After all, it was the first film in the series, based on a book series which had a relatively niche audience. I mean, I saw the films before I read the books, and have the feeling that also applied to a lot of people in the sixties.
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