Casino Royale (1954)
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| Original title | Casino Royale |
 | |
| Country of production | United States |
| original language | English |
| Publishing year | 1954 |
| length | 48 minutes |
| Age rating | FSK 12 |
| Rod | |
| Director | William H. Brown Jr. |
| script |
Charles Bennett , Anthony Ellis |
| production | Bretaigne Windust |
| music | Jerry Goldsmith |
| occupation | |
| |
Casino Royale is a television film made in 1954 , which on Ian Fleming 's first James Bond - novel Casino Royale is based. The show was the third episode of the first season of CBS - anthology series Climax! broadcast.
action
Card genius and spy Le Chiffre, who is connected to a Soviet spy ring, wants to win money for his organization in a French casino. The American secret agent James Bond is supposed to prevent that. After Bond met his former lover Valerie Mathis, among others, there was a meeting at the gaming table, where Bond competed against Le Chiffre in the card game Baccara and ultimately won 87 million francs. Fearing that he will be eliminated from his organization because of the loss, Le Chiffre kidnaps Valerie to force Bond to hand over the check for this amount issued by the casino . While searching for Valerie, Bond is captured and tortured by Le Chiffre in her hotel room because he does not want to reveal the location of the check. Finally he manages to overpower Le Chiffre and escape together with Valerie.
Americanized Bond
Ian Fleming's book Casino Royale was filmed for American television in 1954 with Barry Nelson as the American secret agent James Bond and Peter Lorre in the role of the antagonist Le Chiffre. James Bond serves in this Americanized version of the history of the "Combined Intelligence" organization, easily identifiable as the CIA . Correspondingly, as is common in the USA, Bond is usually addressed by his friends not as James, but as Jimmy. Other people and roles were also adapted to American tastes. James Bond's American ally Felix Leiter became Clarence Leiter from England. The female lead is now Valerie Mathis, instead of the male supporting role Rene Mathis, as in the book Vesper Lynd.
Origin and production
Producer and director Gregory Ratoff bought the rights to Ian Fleming's novel Casino Royale for $ 1,000 in May 1954. It was a six-month option, and Ratoff took it to CBS, which did an hour-long episode of the Climax! made of it. The novel had previously received little attention and was even renamed and Americanized for its paperback edition.
Twelve months later, Ratoff bought the now expired rights again - this time for an unlimited period. He paid $ 6,000, and even with that second, significantly more expensive purchase, the price of the rights is now considered too low. Fleming later regretted both sales.
He was offered in the late 1950s to write 32 more episodes over a period of two years for a television series based on the character James Bond. Fleming agreed and began writing abstracts of each story. However, when it became clear that nothing would come of it, Fleming summarized some of his drafts and adapted three of his historical ideas into short stories and in 1960 published the anthology 007 James Bond intervenes along with two other short stories.
The book episode Casino Royale aired on October 21, 1954 with Barry Nelson as the American secret agent Bond and Peter Lorre as Le Chiffre. This film was the first screen adaptation in James Bond history long before Eon Productions Ltd. received the film rights to Bond. When Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer finally acquired the rights to the 1967 Casino Royale adaptation , the studio also got the rights to the television film. Some sources suggested that this was done with the intention of ultimately adapting James Bond to a potential television series with Nelson in the lead role.
useful information
- Ian Fleming's novel was filmed again in 1967 and 2006 .
- The television movie had disappeared for years. It did not reappear until the late 1980s and was released on videotape and broadcast on TBS cable network. Today the film is also available on DVD and is also on the US DVD of the 1967 “Casino Royale” version.
- A number of different versions of this film exist. Some only contain parts of the finale, while others contain the entire finale. Other versions have no credits on their part . The version, which aired on CBS on October 21, 1954, contained the entire finale and, as is common on television, showed no credits.
- On February 2, 1998, a complete version of the film was also released on VHS cassette, which also contains further information about the James Bond series. However, this is only available in NTSC format via import channels from the USA or Canada.
- For 37 years, this would be the only television incarnation of James Bond. It was not until 1991 that the 65-part American television series James Bond Jr. took up the subject again. The main role is played by Bond's nephew. To date, these are the only two television versions that take up the character of the novel, Ian Fleming. Ultimately, all attempts failed because of EON's strict policy of owning the exclusive rights to the James Bond novels.
- As in the novel, Bond does not use Department Q gadgets. Only one of Le Chiffres' henchmen has a silenced pistol housed in a walking stick .
Web links
- Casino Royale in the Internet Movie Database (English)