A smart looking piece of luggage – Bond is called into M’s office to get the details of his assignment to Istanbul to recover the Lektor.   We see Q Branch, the quartermaster (Boothroyd), for the first time played by Desmond Llewelyn. In Dr. No, we saw Boothroyd replace Bond’s Beretta with a Walther PPK.   This first scene with Q is one our my favorite scenes in any Bond movie because you just have to love Q!

Admittedly, I  have loved Q played by Llewelyn from this moment forward, and enjoy every moment he is in a scene. He is a special character and here we see him for the first time. Bravo, Desmond!

Gadgets – The Beginning of a Long Trend in Spy Movies –
A Smart Looking Piece of Luggage

It’s M’s office, which we are familiar with now, and it is comfortable.   But, this is where dangerous missions are assigned.  And here, Q is offering up for the first time in a Bond EON Production film, gadgets he can use.  Dr. No did not have many gadgets – a geiger counter was the big one.  Here we see an array of cool things, all in a single briefcase.

As we discover, this briefcase is “standard issue” because we will see another MI6 agent with one later.  So, gadgets will define many, many spy movies to come, not just Bond movies, mostly because of this scene!

And Q does give Bond a rather smart piece of luggage, which, of course, will come in very handy.  An ordinary-looking briefcase, with a retractable knife, a collapsible AR-7 rifle, gold sovereigns.  Also, it has tear gas canister that is set-off by the latches that open the briefcase.

Brilliant!  From here on out, Q is very much in tune with what field agents might need!  And somehow, most of Q’s gadgets that he provides to Bond get used.

This is a smart piece of luggage will come in very handy on the train when Bond and Red Grant get into one of the best train fight scenes ever filmed!