Jack Lord, Ursula Andress and Sean Connery relaxing on the Dr. No set
Jack Lord, Ursula Andress and Sean Connery relaxing on the Dr. No set

Adapted from a 2016 post.

The first day of filming on Dr. No had a bad omen.

Principal photography began Jan. 16, 1962 at the Kingston, Jamaica, airport. Jack Lord, playing CIA agent Felix Leiter, had been scheduled to arrive Jan. 14 and report for work at 8:30 a.m., Jan. 16.

Because of travel complications, Lord couldn't get to Kingston until 12:20 p.m. on Jan. 16 and didn't arrive on the set until 2:45 p.m. Sean Connery, playing Bond, and John Kitzmiller, playing Quarrel, had arrived at 8:30 a.m.

"Because of the sun angle, we lost his first shots," production manager L.C. Rudkin wrote on a unit progress report on Jan. 16, referring to Lord. The Dr. No crew would have to return to the airport the following day, putting the production of the first James Bond film one-half day behind schedule on its very first day.

That report is one of the various documents in the 2011 book A Bond for Bond, describing the travails of Dr. No's production. The book, by Charles Drazin, focuses on the contributions of Film Finances Inc., the company that provided the "completion bond," ensuring the movie would be finished.

Nor was that the only delay the Dr. No unit would see.

Day 4: "Bad light and generator breakdown," according to a summary of location shooting after principal photography concluded. "Nearly day lost yet we shot -" Day 6: "Rough seas made abandonment necessary. Had to move over to location 15 miles." Day 17: "Rough seas and two locations with retakes." Day 20: "Rained nearly all day - shot in rain." Day 24: "Whole beach had to be rebuilt because of hurricane in night, yet we shot." Day 25: The "dragon" broke down and a safety winch also broke down, causing another half-day delay.

By the end of location shooting, according to this summary, 10 to 12 days of work had been lost and two sequences ("Interior Hotel Foyer" and the interior of Playdell-Smith's office) would have to be filmed when the production moved to Pinewood Studios in England.

The report also contained this passage: "It is questionable if any other major film, with a similar budget, had ever accomplished the feat of shooting on 22 major different sets in 23 days. This practically Television or 'B' picture scheduling, but on this film it was necessary, and had to be done."

Trouble was also brewing at Pinewood. Production designer Ken Adam had written a letter to Film Finances that the budget for sets was adequate. It wasn't.

In a Feb. 1, 1962, letter to co-producer Harry Saltzman, and cc'd to his partner Albert R. Broccoli, Adam said set construction, props and set dressing would be more than budgeted. "This is merely a note to make quite certain you have realised this," Adam wrote Saltzman.

On Feb. 18, Saltzman wrote Film Finances executive Robert Garrett to reassure him about cost overruns -- which were exceeding the financing for contingencies that Garrett's company had provided.

"I must say that (director) Terence Young has behaved tremendously well, despite all our misgivings and I honestly must say that none of the hold-ups have been due to his proclivity from procrastination," Saltzman wrote. At the same time, the producer wrote that Young still has a "grande seigneur" lifestyle. "He has spent money personally like water."

Saltzman added, "In spite of all the ulcer-making frustrating situations and the invasion of a good part of our contingency fund, the stuff we have shot here is tremendously impressive and I think well worth our troubles."

Garrett wasn't reassured. In a March 16, 1962 letter to Saltzman, the executive outlined budget overruns for publicity, music, studio rentals, insurance and other expenses and said it appeared the pace of production had slowed during filming at Pinewood.

"I must ask you and Cubby to take all possible measures of economy and above all, to see that the schedule position does not deteriorate further," Garrett wrote. "From the progress to date in the studio we had the impression Terence Young has lost his earlier sense of urgency."

According to author Draznin, Dr. No had exceeded its budget by 57,027 pounds (almost $160,000) for the week ending March 23, 1962. Principal photography finally ended April 3. By that time, Film Finances took an action it normally considered a last resort.

Thanks to Gary J. Firuta for loaning the blog his copy of A Bond for Bond.

NEXT: Film Finances takes control of Dr. No.