Casino Royale (21 Oct. 1954)

American spy James Bond must outsmart card wiz and crime boss LeChiffre while monitoring his actions.

Director:

William H. Brown Jr.

Writers:

Ian Fleming (novel), Antony Ellis (written for television by),

Stars:

Barry Nelson, Peter Lorre, Linda Christian

Cast

Episode cast overview:
Barry Nelson	...	James Bond
Peter Lorre	...	Le Chiffre
Linda Christian	...	Valerie Mathis
Michael Pate	...	Clarence Leiter
Eugene Borden	...	Chef de Parte
Jean Del Val	...	Croupier (as Jean DeVal)
Gene Roth	...	Le Chiffre's Henchman
Kurt Katch	...	Le Chiffre's Henchman
William Lundigan	...	Himself - Host

Storyline

American Combined Intelligence Agency spy James Bond aka Jimmy Bond arrives at the Casino Royale in Monte Carlo, Monaco but is shot at whilst entering. He meets up with British Secret Service secret agent Clarence Leiter (this character was called Felix Leiter in the original Ian Fleming novel). He briefs Bond about his mission then Bond runs into old flame Valerie Mathis (she is an amalgam of the Vesper Lynd and Rene Mathis characters from the novel). She introduces him to Le Chiffre who is the Chief Soviet Agent in the area and is nearly always accompanied by three henchman called Basil, Zoltan and Zuroff. Le Chiffre has been gambling with the Soviet funds of his employers and he's down several million francs. Bond's mission is to beat him at a high-stakes card game of Baccarat so Le Chiffre will be ruined.

---

Plot Keywords:

spy | american | soviet | gambling | franc | 

---

Genres:

Drama

---

Certificate:

Not Rated

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

21 October 1954 (USA)

Filming Locations:

CBS Television City - 7800 Beverly Blvd., Fairfax, Los Angeles, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$25,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

CBS Television Network

Technical Specs

Runtime:

48 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

First on-screen appearance of James Bond. The popular James Bond is also known as "Jimmy" Bond or 'Card Sense' Jimmy Bond or 'Card Sharp' Jimmy Bond, as well as James Bond. [In point of fact, Bond is a "Card Shark", not a "Card Sharp"; a Sharp cheats to make money, while a Shark deliberately plays against weaker players in order to make money]. According to the telefilm, he got the nickname "Card Sense Jimmy Bond" whilst playing the Maharajah in Deauville.

---

Goofs

A prop gun went off accidentally right at the beginning of the show. Four shots are heard but only three gunshot markings are seen on the casino building.

---

Quotes

James Bond: That was quite an act.
Valerie Mathis: Not all of it.
James Bond: Which part of it was true?
Valerie Mathis: That Le Chiffre will kill you.
James Bond: Valerie.
Valerie Mathis: He will kill you.
James Bond: Well you've done your job well Valerie. I hope he pays you well.
Valerie Mathis: Jimmy I still love you. Le Chiffre will kill you.
James Bond: Well you can tell your employer he's wasting his time
[Elevator door opens. Cynically]
[...]

---

Crazy Credits

Character Name Leiter is misspelt as Letter in the Closing Credits.

---

Connections

Referenced in The Real Casino Royale (2006)

---

Soundtracks

"Prelude for Piano, Op. 28, No. 24 in D Minor (The Storm)"
by Frédéric Chopin

User Reviews

Jim Bond, old-time American-style

Let's enter a dim, bygone alternate universe where James Bond was an American agent, strolling through a low-budget TV production adaptation of the Ian Fleming novel. In footage nearly lost, reflected in the muddy black-and-white presentation, we witness an historic first - the first TV or film incarnation of James Bond. Completing the reversal on Fleming's original concept, Bond's buddy Leiter is a British agent (always an American CIA agent in the future films). Yep, we've definitely entered a Twilight Zone-type warped version of the Bond mythology. It's typical, however, of the limitations of the live television format from the fifties: two or three different small sets (rooms) are used for the entire show; the action is slow, driven mainly by dialog, and it has the feel of a stage play, in three acts. What brief fight scenes there are, towards the end, are somewhat crude and awkward, not surprising since it is a live broadcast. The script follows Fleming's premise: Bond's mission is basically to outplay the main villain at cards (baccarat, in this case) and take his money; this remained the major plot point of the new film version in 2006.

Filmmakers always seem to despair when given the task of making a card game exciting on film, but the potential is there - "The Cincinnati Kid"(65) is a good example and the 2006 version of "Casino Royale" also did a good job. Here, though a static game of cards seemed suitable for a TV episode, the solution was to make the scenes as short as possible. Bond (Nelson) gains the upper hand over Le Chiffre (Lorre) after only a couple of hands in the 2nd act and it's all over. The more intense scenes, in this version's favor, come about in the 3rd and final act, when Le Chiffre employs a tool of torture (below the bottom of the picture, off-screen) on a couple of Bond's toes; I guess he breaks them

• actor Nelson gasps in pain convincingly. This retained the essential

streak of sadism in Fleming's Bond stories (and the subsequent films), a surprising inclusion considering the bland TV standards of the fifties. Nelson was bland, as well, but adequate. Lorre was Lorre, one of those character actors known for stealing scenes, with an unforgettable voice. He was well cast as the first Bond villain, albeit a TV show version. This was, to its credit, a serious, no-nonsense approach, if quite a bit on the stiff side.

Bond:6 Villain:7 Femme Fatale:6 Henchmen:5 Leiter:6 Fights:4 Gadgets:n/a Pace:5 overall:6-. This was the Bond title that the producers of the regular series of Bond films begun in 1962 were unable to use until the end of the century. The next film version of "Casino Royale" was in 1967, a completely different approach as a satirical silly romp. But James Bond would return on the big screen in "Dr.No"(1962).