But as the international crime organization known as SMERSH threatens world domination, he agrees to come out of retirement. One wishes Charlie Feldman had sat down one bright morning, early in the history of this film, and announced that everyone simply had top get organized.The original James Bond (007) retired following his star-crossed love affair with Mata Hari and watched with disdain as his gimmick-laden imitators sullied his name. Sellers was the funniest comedian in the movies when he was making those lightly directed low-budget pictures like 'I'm All Right, Jack.' Now he is simply self-infatuated and wearisome. In comedy, however, understatement is almost always better than excess. There has been a blight of these unorganized comedies, usually featuring Sellers, Allen, and-or Jonathan Winters, in which the idea is to prove how zany and clever everyone is when he throws away the script and goes nuts in front of the camera. I suppose a film this chaotic was inevitable. The steady hand of Terence Young, who made the original Bond films credible despite their gimmicks, is notably lacking here. Woody Allen rarely fails to be funny, and the massive presence of Welles makes one wish Le Chiffre had been handled seriously.īut the good things are lost, too often, in the frantic scurrying back and forth before the cameras. The five directors were given instructions given only for their own segments, according to the publicity, and none knew what the other four were doing. He meets Le Chiffre ( Orson Welles) in a baccarat game.

Peter Sellers is the baccarat-playing Bond. Unfortunately, the threat is never explained. He is called out of retirement to meet a terrible threat by SMERSH. The senior Bond is Sir James Bond ( David Niven). What to do?įeldman apparently decided to throw all sanity overboard instead of one Bond, he determined to have five or six. But by the time Feldman got around to making the movie, Connery was firmly fixed in the public imagination as the redoubtable 007.

When Charles Feldman bought the screen rights for 'Casino Royale' from Ian Fleming back in 1953, nobody had heard of James Bond, or Sean Connery for that matter.

How could they lose? They had bundles of money, because this film was blessed with the magic name of James Bond. One imagines the directors (there were five, all working independently) waking in the morning and wondering what they'd shoot today.

Consistency and planning must have seemed the merest whimsy. This is possibly the most indulgent film ever made.

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