James Bond Casino Royale Stream
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21st October 2020

On the anniversary of its broadcast, watch Casino Royale with its original ending

For many viewers who have seen the 1954 live television production of Casino Royale on a home media format, the credits rolled with James Bond slumped in his chair after 50 minutes. This is not how the original production ended back on October 21st, 1954.

Two minutes of the original production was curtailed from the version that had a wide release through MGM and bonus features over the years.

The complete version restores the final confrontation between Bond and Le Chiffre in which Bond comes out victorious, and there is a traditional Bond ending 'with a kiss' and then the announcer appears for a message before the credits (as originally broadcast).

Presented below is the version released by MGM, followed by the additional two minutes missing from home releases.

CASINO ROYALE 1967 /2012 Blu-ray CASINO ROYALE Is Too Much. For One James Bond! With gadgets, gaming and girls galore, this camp classic is not only the coolest of the spy films, but it's also a brilliant parody of itself! James Bond?, A Three Ring Circus, More Directors. More Stars!, The Big Climax and It's a Wrap! Theatrical Trailer 1967 2:22 This Original Theatrical Trailer announces that it is “Too big for just one Bond!” At least so they claimed. Finally, this 1967 `Casino Royale' definitely inspires a 'cult' appreciation.

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'Casino Royale'

Climax! episode

Episode no.

Season 1
Episode 3

Directed by

William H. Brown, Jr.

Written by

Antony Ellis
Charles Bennett

Story by

Ian Fleming (novel)

Presented by

William Lundigan

Produced by

Bretaigne Windust

Featured music

Leith Stevens
Jerry Goldsmith

Original air date

October 21, 1954^[1]

Running time

50 minutes

Guest appearance(s)

Barry Nelson as James Bond
Peter Lorre as Le Chiffre
Linda Christian as Valerie Mathis
Michael Pate as Clarence Leiter

Episode chronology

← Previous
'The Thirteenth Chair'

Next →
'Sorry, Wrong Number'

List of Climax! episodes

'Casino Royale' is a live 1954 television adaptation of the 1953 novel of the same name by Ian Fleming. An episode of the American dramatic anthology series Climax!, the show was the first screen adaptation of a James Bond novel, and stars Barry Nelson, Peter Lorre, and Linda Christian. Though this marks the first onscreen appearance of the secret agent, Nelson's Bond is played as an American spy working for the 'Combined Intelligence Agency', and is referred to as 'Jimmy' by several characters.

Most of the largely forgotten show was located in the 1980s by film historian Jim Schoenberger, with the ending (including credits) found afterward. Both copies are black and white kinescopes, but the original live broadcast was in color. The rights to the program were acquired by MGM at the same time as the rights for the 1967 film version of Casino Royale, clearing the legal pathway and enabling it to make the 2006 film of the same name.

Plot[edit]

Act I 'Combined Intelligence' agent James Bond comes under fire from an assassin: he manages to dodge the bullets and enters Casino Royale. There he meets his British contact, Clarence Leiter, who remembers 'Card Sense Jimmy Bond' from when he played the Maharajah at Deauville. While Bond explains the rules of baccarat, Leiter explains Bond's mission: to defeat Le Chiffre at baccarat and force his Soviet spymasters to 'retire' him. Bond then encounters a former lover, Valerie Mathis, who is Le Chiffre's current girlfriend; he also meets Le Chiffre himself.

Act II Bond beats Le Chiffre at baccarat, but, when he returns to his hotel room, is confronted by Le Chiffre and his bodyguards, along with Mathis, who Le Chiffre has discovered is an agent of the Deuxième Bureau, France's external military intelligence agency at the time.

Act III Le Chiffre tortures Bond in order to find out where Bond has hidden the check for his winnings, but Bond does not reveal where it is. After a fight between Bond and Le Chiffre's guards, Bond shoots and wounds Le Chiffre, saving Valerie in the process. Exhausted, Bond sits in a chair opposite Le Chiffre to talk. Mathis gets in between them, and Le Chiffre grabs her from behind, threatening her with a concealed razor blade. As Le Chiffre moves towards the door with Mathis as a shield, she struggles, breaking free slightly, and Bond is able to shoot Le Chiffre.

Cast[edit]

Barry Nelson as James Bond
Peter Lorre as Le Chiffre
Linda Christian as Valerie Mathis (a composite character of Vesper Lynd and René Mathis)
William Lundigan as Host/Himself
Michael Pate as Clarence Leiter
Eugene Borden as Chef De Partie
Jean Del Val as Croupier
Gene Roth as Basil
Kurt Katch as Zoltan
Juergen Tarrach as Schultz
Herman Belmonte as Doorman

Production[edit]

In 1954 CBS paid Ian Fleming $1,000^[2] ($9,520 in 2019 dollars)^[3] to adapt his first novel, Casino Royale, into a one-hour television adventure^[4] as part of their dramatic anthology series Climax!, which ran between October 1954 and June 1958.^[5] It was adapted for the screen by Antony Ellis and Charles Bennett; Bennett was best known for his collaborations with Alfred Hitchcock, including The 39 Steps and Sabotage.^[6] Due to the restriction of a one-hour play, the adapted version lost many of the details found in the book, although it retained its violence, particularly in Act III.^[6]

The hour-long Casino Royale episode aired on October 21, 1954 as a live production and starred Barry Nelson as secret agent James Bond, with Peter Lorre in the role of Le Chiffre,^[7] and was hosted by William Lundigan.^[8] The Bond character from Casino Royale was re-cast as an American agent, described as working for 'Combined Intelligence', supported by the British agent, Clarence Leiter; 'thus was the Anglo-American relationship depicted in the book reversed for American consumption'.^[9]

Clarence Leiter was an agent for Station S, while being a combination of Felix Leiter and René Mathis. The name 'Mathis', and his association with the Deuxième Bureau, was given to the leading lady, who is named Valérie Mathis, instead of Vesper Lynd.^[10] Reports that toward the end of the broadcast 'the coast-to-coast audience saw Peter Lorre, the actor playing Le Chiffre, get up off the floor after his 'death' and begin to walk to his dressing room',^[11] do not appear to be accurate.^[12]

Legacy[edit]

Four years after the production of Casino Royale, CBS invited Fleming to write 32 episodes over a two-year period for a television show based on the James Bond character.^[4] Fleming ag

James Bond Casino Royale Watch Online