The first 007 film opened in cinemas 50 years ago today. On Global James Bond Day, Steve Pratt casts an eye over the poster boy of the secret service

THE “less is more” advance poster says it all in bold red and yellow. The graphics show a bullet and a lipstick, indicating violence and sex are on the menu. Then comes the title in bold print: DR. NO. At the bottom is the 007 logo, overlaid with black pistol over the numbers 007.

James Bond was on his way. And the producers were confident he’d be hanging around with his own particular brand of guns, girls and gadgets as another preview poster bore the words The First James Bond Film.

For once, an advertising slogan was telling the truth. James Bond is the longest-running franchise in film history, with the 23rd movie Skyfall released at the end of the month.

Ahead of that, today has been declared Global James Bond Day – 50 years to the day that Dr No had its world premiere in London, with events being staged around the world for Bond fans, from charity auctions to the launch of an 007 fragrance for men presumably designed to leave the ladies both shaken and stirred.

Bond’s attitude to both his work and his women has had to change with the times. Even his boss M is a woman (Judi Dench) who said what many thought when she accused him of being “a dinosaur”.

The films too have had to weather the departure of Sean Connery, still considered the best Bond by many, as well as the disappointments of George Lazenby and Timothy Dalton as holders of that licence to kill.

Daniel Craig’s incarnation is a grittier, more realistic agent, although the makers tipped a wink at the original film with Craig emerging from the sea in skimpy swimming trunks, echoing Ursula Andress’s unforgettable (especially if you were a 14-year-old schoolboy, as I was, at the time) first appearance in Dr No.

All this is charted in the most comprehensive 007 poster book yet, using the poster collection of Bond film franchise producers Eon Productions.

Whatever the country, whatever the film, these posters always hit the triple G-spot with representations of girls, guns and gadgets There was a need to introduce him on his debut in Dr No. “Now meet the most extraordinary gentleman spy in all fiction,” stated the poster, explaining his 007 rating – “the double O means he has a licence to kill when he chooses… where he chooses … whom he chooses” – for a US audience less familiar with Ian Fleming’s fictional hero.

The French poster called him “an artist of love... but a technician of murder”. The Australians warned the film was not suitable for children, while the Italians mysteriously depicted him wearing a homburg hat.

Dr No’s success meant the UK poster for From Russia With Love needed only announce James Bond Is Back. The US talked figures, pointing out that “69,000,007 James Bond fans live in a throbbing world of hot-blooded excitement”.

THE famous Bond opening titles with the credits projected over half-naked girls was reflected in the Goldfinger poster with its image of Sean Connery and Honor Blackman (playing Pussy Galore) projected on a girl painted gold.

As the series progressed, the publicists had to dig deep to find new ways of hyping their premium Bond, resulting in Here Comes The Biggest Bond Of All (Thunderball), James Bond’s All Time High (Octopussy) and No Limits!

No Fears! No Substitutes! (Goldeneye). The Japanese kept it simple – You Know The Name, You Know The Number.

Bond slipped out of his tuxedo and into wet suit and flippers for the Thunderball poster. He was wearing even less for You Only Live Twice, enjoying bathtime with bikini-clad Eurasian girls. Well, it was the Swinging Sixties.

A new face fronted On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, although one US poster didn’t show George Lazenby, slapping the words James Bond 007 Is Back over his face.

Connery was back in Diamonds Are Forever with scantily-clad girls and explosions. Cheekily, one of the girls is holding a handful of diamonds in the vicinity of his family jewels. Her hand was moved up and down on posters in different countries.

EYEBROWS were raised at the provocative image on For Your Eyes Only showing the figure of Bond framed by the legs of a girl holding a crossbow. Denim shorts were put on her for posters in the most conservative US states.

Roger Moore’s Live And Let Die first poster found him in the classic Bond pose. He swapped his dinner jacket for a space suit in Moonraker, but as Pierce Brosnan looks great in a tux he was back in black on his first 007 poster.

Bond rarely shares the spotlight. An exception was A View To A Kill, showing him and Grace Jones’s femme fatale May Day positioned back to back. Recent Oscar-winner Halle Berry was side by side with Brosnan on the Die Another Day poster.

After a gap of four years Daniel Craig signed up as 007 and the makers took the opportunity to reboot the franchise with Casino Royale. The poster emphasised Craig’s ruggedly handsome Bond. All the traditional elements were there – guns, girls, cars – but with a steely modern look.

By Craig’s second film, Quantum Of Solace, background action scenes and exotic locations were nowhere to be seen on the poster, just a dishevelled Bond and a girl in a desert location.

An early Skyfall poster mixes the old and the new with Craig walking along a tunnel which doubles as the traditional Bond gun barrel logo.

The poster boy of the British secret service is still going strong.

  • James Bond: 50 Years Of Movie Posters (DK, £35; iPad and iPhone app, £2.99 coming soon)
  • Skyfall opens on October 26.