DR. NO

 1962
110m (film)
3m15s (supp)
 










 Aspect Ratio (Theatrical):

Spherical Panavision - 1.75:1

  Aspect Ratio (Disc Transfer):

1.61:1



    



  





The Voyager Company / The Criterion Collection
#CC1292L
$39.95

Film Credits

Screenplay by: Richard Maibaum, Johanna Harwood, Berkely Mather

Directed by: Terence Young

Starring: Sean Connery, Ursula Andress, Joseph Wiseman, Jack Lord, Bernard Lee, Lois Maxwell

 

Review

As you've probably heard, Voyager's wonderful CAV "Criterion Collection" editions of the first three James Bond films -- Dr. No, From Russia With Love and Goldfinger -- have been completely pulled from the market due to a censorship conflict regarding the discs' secondary audio commentary (see related articles on this month's front cover and in Cool Stuff). Those CAV editions may be gone, but at least their memories survive, albeit in obviously truncated form, with Voyager's recent CLV repressings of same.

Although Voyager has used the same laserdisc master for both editions of Dr. No, there is a slight, though distinct, difference in the image quality when comparing the two. On the CAV disc (reviewed issue #21, May '91), the color and contrast were at a perfect balance; however, for the CLV disc, it appears that the color saturation and brightness were increased by a small amount. While the majority of the film is unaffected by this increase, the first reel, which is a bit weak to begin with, suffers most, now having a somewhat softer image, grain and color noise not entirely noticeable on the CAV pressing. Once the second reel starts (at chapter #7, 18m47s), the image immediately looks much better, being brighter and clearer for the most part, although there are still a few weaker portions. Although there are these differences between the two discs, they are minor, and readers should by no means consider them a deterrent in obtaining the disc.

Additionally, as you might imagine, the CLV edition retains the letterboxing employed on the CAV disc: filmed in the standard British non-widescreen 1.75:1 aspect ratio, the opening credits have been "windowboxed" at an approx. 1.51:1 aspect ratio (no, it's not 1.75:1, but it is correct for some reason, don't ask me why...), with the remainder of the film letterboxed at approx. 1.61:1. Following the film is the same 3m15s theatrical trailer that appeared on the CAV disc; it's letterboxed at approx. 1.62:1 and is in a very worn state with scratchy audio & picture and faded & muddy colors. The CX-encoded digital Westrex monaural soundtrack is in good condition and identical to the previous release. Besides the trailer, all other audio & visual supplementary features present on the CAV disc (separate music & effects track, commentary, still-frame section, Bond Bread commercials) have been excluded from this CLV edition. Dr. No was pressed at Pioneer and contains 34 listed chapter markers (32 for the film, one for the trailer, and one for color bars).

As was noted in our Cool Stuff column, each CLV Bond repressing includes a mail-in coupon allowing one to obtain an audio cassette containing the censored CAV audio commentary for any of Voyager's Bond films. The cost is $10.00 per cassette (to cover duplication, shipping and handling charges), and I cannot recommend these commentaries highly enough -- they contain a wealth of information from the various Bond filmmakers and are a worthy and valuable addition to any collection.

That's it for now, but don't forget to check out our reviews of Voyager's CLV repressings of From Russia With Love and Goldfinger.

 

Supplementary Recap

  • Theatrical trailer

 

 
Review by Jeff Krispow
Originally Published in "Pond Scum" #29

Original Review: 07/92
Last Updated: 04/20/97