Kinda OT: "Dr. No"'s U.S. success helped Beatles invasion?

I bought the 4-box-set collection of James Bond films this last month
and watched the first, "Dr. No," this last week. The restoration is
remarkable.

It was released in the U.K. October 7, 1962, and then the following
year in the U.S. on May 8.

As far as I can tell, the film was a huge success on both side of the
Atlantic.

So -- it got me to wondering:

Could "Dr. No" have "softened" the U.S. to British popular art,
acclimating its audience to British accents, British customs and the
like, and thus help to pave the way for a smoother U.S. acceptance of
subsequent British "contamination," such as Beatles music?*

Rich...

No, actually. It was JFK. The airport.

saki...

I don't think that "Dr. No" was embraced primarily as a British film but
rather as a good spy/thriller story. In fact, early press reports in the
New York Times emphasized its multicultural production, inlcuding a
director born in Shanghai, co-producers from New Jersey and New York, an
art director from Germany, and actors from Scotland, Switzerland, the USA
and Jamaica.

Anyone know whether "Dr. No" was the first British film to cross the
sea so successfully?

saki...

British cinema was well represented in the USA before "Dr. No". The
Ealing comedies were popular---not huge moneymakers of course, but they
weren't intended to challenge American film comedies, they had their own
British charm.

Blockbusters like David Lean's "Bridge on the River Kwai" and classics
like "Brief Encounter", Carol Reed's "Fallen Idol", Olivier's offerings
like "Hamlet" were certainly part of regular cinema fare and all predate
"Dr. No".

In the late 1950s and early 1960s the British "free cinema" directors
like Linsday Anderson, Tony Richardson and Karel Riesz were in demand. In
fact the future Bond-film producer Harry Saltzman was a founder of
Woodfall Films which released classics of this genre like "Saturday Night
and Sunday Morning" in 1960, introducing a host of new young British
actors to audiences in the USA.

But films are films. Music was a little different.

Lookingglass...

Certainly not the first British film that was "accepted" in the US. A simple
'web-search' search would give you a list of British films that have had some
success in the US...one of my favorites being THE RED SHOES released in
1948, and has been a cult favorite in the US ever since.

donz5...

All true, but did they have as great a cultural impact in the U.S. as
"Dr. No" had? Were they _as successful_ in its time as "Dr. No" was in
its?

Thus my qualifier "so successfully" as "Dr. No."

Of course, I'm not claiming that "Dr. No" was, without a doubt, the
catalyst for a growing U.S. acceptance of all things British. But

inwood_1999...

I would hope not as Peter Lawford was obviously the catalyst. Peter
had been softening the U.S, up for decades. Or was the U.S. softening
up Peter Lawford.

And don't forget Peter was married to a Kennedy at the time.

Bernie Woodham...

How about Alfred Hitchcock? Now surely he was an influential englishman in

terra...

I thought about mentioning him but except for the earliest of his films
he had a highly personal style that really wasn't "British". Not like a
Bond or a Hard Day's Night.

showbiz.

rather wondering whether it may have played an important but unnoticed
spark.

I read last night that JFK said in a March 1961 Life Magazine interview
that "From Russia With Love" was one of his "ten favorite books" within
the last year. That remark resulted in a huge wave of new sales for the
novel, which prompted the Bond producers to capitalize on that wave and
finance the franchise's second film to it.

All part of the milieu, unique in its time, all that may have
contributed to what happened in early '64.

dancin' dave (...all I got to do is act naturally...)

*The only pre-Beatles "foreign" popular music hit in the U.S. that I
can think of at the top of my head is Rolf Harris's "Tie Me Kangaroo
Down, Sport," from mid-1963. But it seems to have been more of a
novelty, with the heavy Australian accent talking throughout the song.
And before that was Germany's Bert Kaempfert's "Wonderland by Night," a
#1 song in the U.S. in early 1961. But hardly a rocker.

Any other pre-Beatles "foreign" songs that made it big in the U.S.?

BlackMonk...

I see Telstar was already mentioned, also:

Stranger On The Shore-Acker Bilk 1962
He's Got The Whole World In His Hands-Laurie London 1958
You Don't Have To Be A Baby To Cry-The Caravelles 1963
Sukiyaki-Kyo Sakimoto 1963

Cliff Richard also had a couple of minor hits.

Joe B...

The film "Tom Jones" was pre-Beatlemania. I seem to remember it being
a big hit in the U.S. in late 1963. As far as British music goes I
can remember singing the Lonnie Donegan hit, "Does Your Chewing Gum
Lose It's Flavour (On The Bedpost Overnight)" when I was a kid.

donz5...

re "Tom Jones" -- good catch; I forgot about that one. I found release
dates for the film as either October 7 or October 10, 1963 (can't
locate a definitive source yet, nor can I tell whether these are UK or
US releases). It won four Oscars, including Best Picture.

"Dr. No" is earlier, though (U.S. release: May 8, '63); maybe the
popular U.S. success of the Bond film helped smooth over any U.S.
resistance to "Tom Jones."

donz5...

Also, while again probably nitpicking, "Tom Jones" was a period piece,
set in the 18th Century. "Dr. No" was decidely "modern," giving
Americans a taste of British culture was it was in 1962.

saki...

As the Beatles had noted, most British pop acts went nowhere in America.
A few British singers or groups had occasional chart success here---
Lonnie Donegan has been mentioned; Little Laurie London with a number one
hit in 1958 called "He's Got the Whole World In His Hands". The
Springfields scored with "Silver Threads and Golden Needles" in 1961
(Dusty Springfield was the lead singer); the Tornadoes' "Telstar" that
same year.

But this wasn't what you would call a trend. And big British singers like
Cliff Richard and Helen Shapiro made no inroads in the US, though they
were well represented in Canadian charts pre-Beatles.

I don't think I could argue that "Dr. No" was any kind of a turning point
for American acceptance of British entertainment. It's far more curious
how soundly the US music industry rebuffed British singers before the
Beatles. Was that more a management decision? Or were American ears just
not ready? And if the latter...what finally made the Fabs the
breakthrough band?

Bernie Woodham...

Americans were more than ready. It really seems that Capitol was simply
behind the curve with a sort of xenophobia. Other labels took the songs
that Capitol refused and it was demand and the inevitability of The Beatles
success that finally made Capitol cave in.

Joe B...

There was no "demand" prior to the Capitol release and promotion of "I
Want To Hold Your Hand". That and the appearance on Sullivan are what
created the demand for the earlier product.

donz5...

Naw -- Dr No was earlier.

Dr. No:
UK release: October 7, 1962
US release: May 8, 1963

Sixties Gen...

I think "From Russia With Love" pre-dates "Dr. No", so Bond may have

poisoned rose...

Wrong again. And good grief...knowing that "Dr. No" was the first
Bond movie is SUCH elementary-level trivia.

donz5...

UK release: October 13, 1963
US release: May 27, 1964

marc_catone...

OK.

"From Russia With Love" was published before "Dr. No", and as a teen I
read the Fleming books in chronological order, so
I thought "From Russia With Love" was the first Bond movie.

Also, I never saw the two aforementioned movies until after I saw
"Goldfinger" in 1965. Based on the popularity of "Goldfinger", "From
Russia With Love" and "Dr. No" were re-released together for theater
distribution. I saw them in my hometown on a twin bill in my local
theater. "From Russia With Love" was the first movie shown of the two,
also leading me to conclude it had been released first.

helped "soften" the Americans to a British accent. btw, "Goldfinger"
was the first non-Rock movie that I remember mentioning The Beatles.
Bond says the line, "That's like listening to The Beatles with
headphones." Right before he gets knocked out, and the girl gets
painted gold.

What got me acclimated to British customs, speech, pop culture was the
CBS show, "Fair Exchange". However, I think most of the shows were
done before The Beatles really took off in 1963.

Sean Carroll...

Beethoven's 'Ode to Joy' was written in Germany, if I'm not mistaken.

Lookingglass...

You are... it was written in D minor.

;^)

dancin' dave (...tuned to A...naturally...)