Casino Royale
- Episode aired Oct 21, 1954
- Unrated
- 52m
IMDb RATING
5.6/10
1.6K
YOUR RATING
American spy James Bond must outsmart card wiz and crime boss Le Chiffre while monitoring his actions.American spy James Bond must outsmart card wiz and crime boss Le Chiffre while monitoring his actions.American spy James Bond must outsmart card wiz and crime boss Le Chiffre while monitoring his actions.
Jean Del Val
- Croupier
- (as Jean DeVal)
Herman Belmonte
- Doorman
- (uncredited)
Joe Gilbert
- Casino Patron
- (uncredited)
Frank McLure
- Casino Patron
- (uncredited)
Hans Moebus
- Casino Patron
- (uncredited)
Paul Power
- Casino Patron
- (uncredited)
Paul Ravel
- Casino Patron
- (uncredited)
Cosmo Sardo
- Attendant
- (uncredited)
- Director
- Writers
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaThis "Casino Royale" television movie was lost for twenty-seven years until it resurfaced in 1981 when movie collector and airlines executive Jim Shoenberger discovered a 16mm kinescope print of it amongst some old cans of film. The copies were labelled "Casino Royale" and he thought they were the Casino Royale (1967) James Bond parody. When he realized they were black-and-white prints, he played the reels out of curiosity as the 1967 spoof was a color movie. The 1954 television movie was thence rediscovered and it was screened in a theater, shown on TBS, and released on videocassette. It is now available on DVD.
- GoofsCamera shadow is visible several times in the final scene.
- Quotes
Clarence Leiter: Aren't you the fellow who was shot?
James Bond: No, I'm the fellow who was missed.
- Alternate versionsOriginally broadcast as an episode of "Climax!" (1954). Most prints retain the original Climax opening credits. The DVD release (as a bonus on the DVD for Casino Royale (1967) has added the MGM lion logo to reflect the fact the production is now owned by MGM.
- ConnectionsEdited into The James Bond Collector's Classic (1990)
- SoundtracksPrelude for Piano, Op. 28, No. 24 in D Minor (The Storm)
by Frédéric Chopin
Featured review
I enjoy this movie, but that is partly because I just have a weakness for early television mysteries.
Early TV movie adaptation of 'Casino Royale' has the low key feeling of the original novel. The low budget both helps the movie and hinders it: it gives it the grittier look that some of the Bond novels have, and also makes it look slightly like a film noir, but also limits it in term of sets and props and lighting (which is often times visible over the actors' heads.) The short run time is also a mixed bag: the film doesn't overstay its welcome, and follows the book fairly closely, (the original novel was so short that it seems almost like a pamphlet, rather than a full length novel) but it doesn't give much opportunity to flesh out the characters at all.
Peter Lorre is good as LeChiffre, and Michael Pate as Leiter (or "Letter" as he's listed in the end credits) is very likable, and perhaps would have made a better choice to play Bond here, but Barry Nelson was mediocre. If he would have been more familiar with the character and not been doing a Humphrey Bogart impersonation, he might have been good. He does fairly well when he's intensely grilling Valerie Mathis about the microphone LeChiffre planted in Bond's room, and he's adequate in the casino sequences, but falls flat during the climactic scenes.
This TV-movie is also marred by the fact that the love interest between Bond and the lead girl is almost completely overlooked here, as is Bond's contemplation of resignation and his subsequent double-cross by the girl; basically the entire fourth(!) act of the novel was omitted here. Maybe if it would have had a longer running time, and if the censors would have allowed it, they could have fleshed out some of these omitted story elements?
One of the villain's henchmen has a cane which doubles as a gun, which is a good touch; this particular scene follows the book closely, and is one of the better scenes in this film.
Peter Lorre is good as LeChiffre, and Michael Pate as Leiter (or "Letter" as he's listed in the end credits) is very likable, and perhaps would have made a better choice to play Bond here, but Barry Nelson was mediocre. If he would have been more familiar with the character and not been doing a Humphrey Bogart impersonation, he might have been good. He does fairly well when he's intensely grilling Valerie Mathis about the microphone LeChiffre planted in Bond's room, and he's adequate in the casino sequences, but falls flat during the climactic scenes.
This TV-movie is also marred by the fact that the love interest between Bond and the lead girl is almost completely overlooked here, as is Bond's contemplation of resignation and his subsequent double-cross by the girl; basically the entire fourth(!) act of the novel was omitted here. Maybe if it would have had a longer running time, and if the censors would have allowed it, they could have fleshed out some of these omitted story elements?
One of the villain's henchmen has a cane which doubles as a gun, which is a good touch; this particular scene follows the book closely, and is one of the better scenes in this film.
- Zbigniew_Krycsiwiki
- Feb 21, 2014
- Permalink
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