By the end of production, there were six directors on the project and Peter Sellers had quit in the middle of his segment.ĭavid Niven plays the original James Bond, who had retired, but voices his dismay at the fellow who took over his name and 007 designation. Throw in plenty of madcap silliness and some psychedelics for good measure. Let's make a James Bond spoof with four different directors making four different stories and have them all patched together in the end. So 'Casino Royale' is a bit of a cinematic curiosity - much as if Austin Powers had been a contemporary film instead of a throwback and also had the rights to use the character of James Bond instead of a stand in.

No', the film that launched the official Eon series. 'Casino Royale' was released a short five years after 'Dr. Someone thought it would be a good idea to pour a ton of money and talent into making it.

I just kept wondering what kind of movie they thought they were making. Its like a softcore sex comedy, a spoof, and a farce all mixed together.Īdmittedly, even with major flaws 'Casino Royale' was quite fascinating at times. It's not very funny even at its zaniest (and one has to wonder if the climax served as an inspiration for the ending of Mel Brooks's 'Blazing Saddles.') And it definitely does not serve as a satisfying James Bond adventure. The Mata Hari intro dance was cool, and the set design of the school was wild.īut most of this movie was a mess. I even enjoyed Ursula Andress and Woody Allen in supporting roles.

It's surprising to see Sellers in a semi-serious leading man role and doing pretty well. I was pleasantly reminded about how much I love Welles's mellifluous enunciation. There's certainly a lot of talent here, as it would be hard to argue that David Niven, Peter Sellers, and Orson Welles couldn't act or that John Huston couldn't direct. This was clearly a very big budget movie for the era, shot and edited fairly well. On the plus side, I enjoyed the production design a lot. It's a movie that gets some points just for being so weird. The original 'Casino Royale' is by no means essential, but it wasn't a total waste of time. After all these years I've finally seen every James Bond film.

Movie poster casino Royale 1967