Casino Royale (1967)

In an early spy spoof, aging Sir James Bond comes out of retirement to take on SMERSH.

Directors:

Val Guest, Ken Hughes (as Kenneth Hughes)

Writers:

Wolf Mankowitz (screenplay), John Law (screenplay)

Stars:

David Niven, Peter Sellers, Ursula Andress

Nominated for 1 Oscar. Another 3 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Peter Sellers	...	Evelyn Tremble (James Bond - 007)
Ursula Andress	...	Vesper Lynd (007)
David Niven	...	Sir James Bond
Orson Welles	...	Le Chiffre
Joanna Pettet	...	Mata Bond
Daliah Lavi	...	The Detainer (007)
Woody Allen	...	Jimmy Bond (Dr. Noah)
Deborah Kerr	...	Agent Mimi (Alias Lady Fiona)
William Holden	...	Ransome
Charles Boyer	...	Le Grand
John Huston	...	McTarry (M)
Kurt Kasznar	...	Smernov
George Raft	...	George Raft
Jean-Paul Belmondo	...	French Legionnaire (as Jean Paul Belmondo)
Terence Cooper	...	Cooper (James Bond - 007)

Storyline

After the death of M, Sir James Bond is called back out of retirement to stop SMERSH. In order to trick SMERSH and Le Chiffre, Bond thinks up the ultimate plan. That every agent will be named James Bond. One of the Bonds, whose real name is Evelyn Tremble is sent to take on Le Chiffre in a game of baccarat, but all the Bonds get more than they can handle.

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Plot Keywords:

spy spoof | parody | james bond spoof | 007 | spy | 

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Taglines:

Casino Royale is too much for one James Bond!

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Genres:

Comedy

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Details

Official Sites:

MGM [United States]

Country:

UK USA

Language:

English French Scottish Gaelic German Japanese

Release Date:

28 April 1967 (USA)

Also Known As:

Casino Royale

Filming Locations:

MGM British Studios, Borehamwood, Hertfordshire, England, UK

Box Office

Budget:

$12,000,000 (estimated)

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$2,324

Company Credits

Production Co:

Famous Artists Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

131 min

Sound Mix:

70 mm 6-Track (Westrex Recording System) (70 mm prints) Mono (35 mm prints)

Color:

Black and White (archive footage: Keystone Cops) Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Daliah Lavi died May 3, 2017. Geoffrey Bayldon died May 10, 2017.

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Goofs

When Le Chiffre is levitating the woman in the casino, at one point the steel girder holding her up is visible in the upper right corner of picture.

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Quotes

Sir James: I remember your chap Lenin very well. First class organizer. Second class mind.

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Crazy Credits

The opening credit animation by Richard Williams parodies illuminated manuscripts with cartoon-style calligraphy. It sets the tone for the film as a psychedelic "knight's tale" of Sir James Bond.

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Alternate Versions

Contemporary reviews of this film mention an opening sequence that spoofs the Bond films' "gunbarrel" opening, only instead of us hearing a gunshot, we hear a popping cork. Perhaps it was thought to be too similar to the opening of the regular Bond films, because TV and video prints instead use a short Peter Sellers sequence from the middle of the film as the "teaser."

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Connections

Referenced in Casino Royale: The Royal Premiere (1967)

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Soundtracks

Rule Brittania
(uncredited)
Music by Thomas Augustine Arne

User Reviews

"Too many cooks spoil the broth".

What a mess of the royal proportions - such a great cast (Peter Sellers, David Niven, Orson Welles, Woody Allen, Ursula Andress, Deborah Kerr, and Jean-Paul Belmondo), the James Bond's story, plenty of beautiful (and I mean it) girls, the music by Burt Bacharach, most famous sets - but the movie is almost totally unwatchable. It started funny enough - at Sir James Bond's (David Niven) home where he was approached by four international agents that forced him to come out of retirement and head up the operation against the evil organization SMERSH. His mission is to destroy Topple LeChiffre (Orson Welles} at the baccarat tables where he never loses and wins a lot of money to supply SMERSH. Then, the movie becomes silly, stupid, pointless, and (what is the worst) not funny. Only Woody Allen, (as Bond's incompetent nephew, Jimmy Bond) brilliant as usual has appeared in two scenes and made them silly and hilarious. I think that "Casino Royale" (the way it was made) illustrates the fact that bigger is not always better - overlong and overblown, written and directed by five or more writers and directors, it brings to mind an old saying, "Too many cooks spoil the broth".

OT: the abbreviation SMERSH really existed during the WWII. It means "Death to the Spies" in Russian.