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Cinematic Tag


Crab Key aerial shot
"An expendable little island, Mr. Bond. When my mission here, in Crab Key is accomplished, I destroy it and move on."
Dr. Julius No[src]

Crab Key is a fictional island off the coast of Jamaica that served as the stronghold of Dr. Julius No. The location first appeared in Ian Fleming's 1958 novel Dr. No and was subsequently adapted for EON Productions' 1962 James Bond film of the same name.

History[]

The island was abandoned for a long time, but was formerly the centre of guano mining operations. Dr. No acquired it around the time of WW2. It is implied to be a good distance from mainland Jamaica meaning that it is not clearly visible from there and few visit.

Dr

Honey Ryder emerging from the sea

Crab Key is rich in wildlife, partly from being undisturbed for such a long while. It is rich in certain types of seashells which Honey Ryder collects. It supports a wide variety of birds, notably the roseate spoonbill. Crab Key is named after the thousands of large land crabs – what they call in Jamaica "black crabs" – which infest the island.

Quarrel's death

Quarrel is burnt to death by the Dragon

Dr. No's arrival on the island disturbs the ecological balance. He has a number of new buildings erected including submarine spaces. He scares many of the birds away, using the Dragon and also starts exporting guano again (officially) and using it for nefarious operations.

Behind the Scenes[]

Ian Fleming based Crab Key on a marshlands swamp on the island of Great Inagua in the Bahamas which he had seen in March 1956.[1]

"Key", or "Cay", is a common Caribbean word for a small island.

Honey Ryder crab death theme (Dr

The original crab torture scene in Dr. No.

In the 1958 James Bond novel Dr. No by Ian Fleming there is a scene where Dr. No plans to torture Honey to death by tying her naked to the ground in the path of the crabs' migration; mistakenly believing that the animals are carnivorous from the death of an earlier victim. A similar scene was attempted for the 1962 film with Honey being tortured by being tied to the ground along with crabs, but since the crabs were sent chilled from the Caribbean, they did not move much during filming, so the scene was altered to have Honey slowly drowning.[2]

Gallery[]

References[]

  1. Multiple authors. (1996). James Bond 007: The Ultimate Dossier (CD-ROM). Eidos Interactive. ISBN 0-7928-3274-4.
  2. (1999). Inside Dr. No Documentary [DVD]. Dr. No (Ultimate Edition, 2006): MGM Home Entertainment.
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