Whose Film Is It, Anyway?

James Bond gets the shaft. His name isn't featured in the title of his first movie. Instead, the villain gets the marquee. It makes sense because Bond establishes his character in the first scene. He's a too-cool-for-school (school in this case being a ritzy casino) spy who casually disobeys his boss' orders, seduces women, and zips off across the Atlantic to solve a murder.

Dr. No, however, remains a mystery. Who is the man in the title? you might be thinking until the movie is almost over. Dr. No doesn't even appear until about twenty minutes before the credits. To make up for lost time, he spills all the details of his villainous plan then gets defeated in about ten minutes. It's a little anti-climactic.

Of course, the main reason the film is titled the way it is, is because it's named after the Ian Fleming novel of the same name. The producers wanted to adapt the first Bond novel, Casino Royale, but they didn't have the rights. (Source)

When someone said "No" to Casino Royale, they turned to Dr. No instead.