Dr. No On Blu-ray

So the comparison game continues with the movies on Blu-ray. This last weekend we watched Dr. No, the first James Bond film from 1962, wondering again just how much cleanup they could possibly do on a movie over 40 years old. I openly asked which scene we should go ahead and make the comparison with between the DVD version I've had for several years and the blu-ray we'd gotten on Friday or Saturday. The Engineer immediately piped up and said "the one with the naked woman." I'm sure it came as no surprise to the Queen that I knew exactly which scene he was referring to.

You see, there's a scene in Dr. No where it's widely believed that Ursula Andress displayed full frontal nudity in a little shadow in this PG rated film from 1962, which at that time would have been under the production code expressly forbidding such a view (not that this prevented the full rear nudity in From Russia With Love). Naturally, the filmmakers have always said she isn't naked in that scene, but on the DVD, you can't really tell one way or the other. You can clearly make out her skin tone top to bottom as she comes out of the radiation wash before she is placed in a robe. Are they just teasing us? Were the shadows done that well? What's going on there?

So we checked out the blu-ray version and everything became crystal clear. The scene, naturally, looked exceptional on the blu-ray disc. They cleaned up that picture beyond reckoning's imagination. It was incredible ... and it answered the question 100% as to whether Ursula Andress was fully naked in that scene. When she comes out of the radiation shower, you can very, very clearly see the shadows and outlines of a flesh colored one piece bathing suit covering her R-rated areas. The Engineer was very disappointed.