Comparing the two James Bond Casino Royale Movies

Essay by titanicUniversity, Bachelor's October 2008

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I.Introduction“Casino Royale is too much... for one James Bond!”. With this slogan Charles K. Feldman promoted his Casino Royale film version of 1967. Seven directors and nine screenwriters were necessary to finish his project. Feldman ended up with a parody of Ian Fleming’s first novel Casino Royale, which was first published in 1953. It introduced the British agent James Bond to the literary world. The story about James Bond basically takes place in the Casino Royale, where Bond must defeat the villain Le Chiffre in a game of baccarat. He gets help from the American CIA Agent Felix Leiter, Rene Mathis of the French branch and Vesper Lynd – the very first Bond girl.

The viewer of Feldman’s parody is confronted with a mix-up of the James Bond movies and the secret agent genre. The secret organisation SMERSH wants to overtake the world power. That induces the retired Sir James Bond (David Niven) to come back to his active secret agent life.

Bond realises his plan, to confuse the enemy by naming other agents James Bond. Some of his selected agents are Vesper Lynd (played by Ursula Andress), the richest spy of the world; Evelyn Tremble (Peter Sellers), an incompetent author on card games; the muscleman Cooper (Terence Cooper) and his own daughter Mata Bond (Joanna Pettet).

It is Mata Bond’s job to hype SMERSH in Berlin, meanwhile Vesper Lynd and Evelyn Tremble alias James Bond are sent to the Casino Royale. Tremble’s mission is to topple Le Chiffre in a game of baccarat.

This dominant scene can be found in both Fleming’s novel and Feldman’s parody. Following, I want to compare this scene from the Casino Royale version of 1967 [1.33.48 – 1.35.49min] with the similar one of the film version of 2006 [1.36.48 – 1.38.55min].

In contrast...