Bond resists M's urging to return to active duty, but M's plan backfires when he is killed in an explosion of his own design at Bond's estate. (Bond's nephew Jimmy, as portrayed by Woody Allen, also joins in.) The plot, such as it is, goes something like this: Retired spy Sir James Bond (the always-dapper David Niven) is visited by M (John Huston), the head of the MI6, and his associates, who inform Bond that the evil SMERSH organization has been eliminating agents around the globe.

Feldman spared no expense on his star-studded psychedelic production, to the tune of a then-staggering $12 million, and made a number of hires, including five directors, ten screenwriters and seven James Bonds. With its leading man Daniel Craig just announced to star in the next Bond film for director Sam Mendes, today's Friday Feature looks at the musical legacy of two very different Casino Royales.Ĭharles K. Due to complicated rights entanglements, the 'official' Bond canon didn't get around to a remake of Casino Royale until nearly forty years later, in 2006. Undeterred, the tenacious Feldman went ahead and created one of the most infamous films in Hollywood history, 1967's lavish, big-budget spy spoof Casino Royale. No, and Broccoli turned down the offer to co-produce an adaptation of Fleming's original novel with Feldman. Broccoli had already begun with 1962's Dr. By then, the enormously-successful James Bond film series produced by Albert R. Following Ratoff's death in 1960, rights were later acquired by producer Charles K.

It was inevitable that the big screen would beckon, and the next year, Fleming sold film rights to Ratoff and Michael Garrison. Director/producer Gregory Ratoff's production starred Barry Nelson as James 'Jimmy' Bond and legendary screen villain Peter Lorre as Le Chiffre. The television industry quickly set its sights on Fleming's novel on October 21, 1954, CBS-TV aired a one-hour adaptation of Casino Royale as part of the Climax! anthology series. Fleming's novel set the tone for those that followed, introducing the 'Bond girl' (Vesper Lynd), the larger-than-life villain (Le Chiffre, agent of SMERSH) and the exotic locations (the French seaside resort of Royale les Eaux, plus Lisbon, Portugal). 'The dry riffle of the cards and the soft whirr of the roulette wheel, the sharp call of the croupiers and the feverish mutter of a crowded casino hide the thick voice at Bond's ear which says, 'I will count up to ten.'' So read the blurb on the jacket of the original printing of Ian Fleming's 1953 novel Casino Royale, which introduced Agent 007 to the world.

Casino royale villain inhaler