Casino Royale (1954)

It's almost April and we're all still stuck in isolation at home, so why not marathon the entire James Bond franchise?  That's right, I'll be spending the whole month of April re-watching the entire James Bond library, in preparation for Daniel Craig's final Bond film, No Time to Die (2020).  Which has unfortunately been pushed back to a November release.

I'm beginning this marathon a day early with a little known episode of the old American show Climax! Mystery Theater, titled Casino Royale (1954).  I will be reviewing all the Bond films, both official EON Productions films and non-official films, in order of release date.

SYNOPSIS:
"Jimmy" Bond (Barry Nelson), American spy, goes to a casino where he's tasked with winning a game of baccarat against the crime boss, Le Chiffre (Peter Lorre).  In doing so, he will prevent Le Chiffre from winning the money he needs to pay off his debts to some dangerous organizations.  But with his life on the line, Le Chiffre will do whatever it takes to get that money...

REVIEW:
Adapting Ian Fleming's first James Bond novel by the same name, it was the first version of James Bond on TV, almost a decade before the first official James Bond film was released.  But being released on an American show, they made some slight changes.  For one, they made him an American and gave him a more American name: Jimmy Bond.  Plus he had an old-timey gangster accent.  His partner went by the name Clarence Leiter (Michael Pate), which is also an Americanized name.  In the original novels, James Bond's CIA counterpart was named Felix Leiter.  But I guess Americans thought Felix was still too British for an American name.

Jimmy Bond and Valerie Mathis

The hour-long episode is all black-and-white and would've been lost to time, if not for the fame that the official James Bond franchise brought to the big screen years later.  This single episode is one of only two that ever made it to video from the old Climax! Mystery Theater show, which ran for 4 seasons (165 episodes).  The rest, if available at all, can either be found as simple audio recordings or grainy home video recordings uploaded to YouTube.

This episode opens with Jimmy Bond being shot at while he's trying to enter the casino.  After the shooter flees, Bond moseys into the casino, joking about how badly some people don't want him to play.  He meets up with Leiter, who recognizes him immediately from his winning streak at the card table.  "Card-sense Jimmy Bond," he calls him.  His reputation has proceeded him.  He asks Bond to teach him how to play baccarat while also briefing him on his mission in private.  Which was a brilliant way to teach the audience the basics of the card game they're about to witness.

The show is relatively loyal to the original novel's story: Bond cleans out Le Chiffre, then finds himself captured and tortured for the money he won.  But the character of Bond is different from the novel, and this will be a common theme for almost all the films.

Bond (left) cleaning out Le Chiffre (right)

Ian Fleming, the original author who created James Bond, was a Commander in the Royal Navy during WWII, working for Naval Intelligence.  After the war, he worked for a major newspaper and would take three months of holiday during the winter to stay in a house he built in Jamaica. He named his home Goldeneye, after Operation Goldeneye that he had been in command of during the war.  At that home is where he wrote all the James Bond novels, using his experiences working in Intelligence and working with commandos in the field, as well as a little imagination.

Ian Fleming at his Goldeneye villa

Ian Fleming's Bond was a blunt instrument.  An extremely dull, uninteresting man whom things happened to.  He was dark and mysterious, cold and ruthless.  He was not witty or charming, nor particularly handsome.  He was interesting to read about, but such a boring man isn't entertaining to watch, so when Bond was transcribed to the big screen, they made a charming, handsome, quick-witted womanizer out of him.  He became a fantasy role for men and a dreamy hunk for women.  He always saved the day and always got the girl.  Novel Bond couldn't maintain relationships because of the horrible type of work he had to do.  He had long hardened himself against love and lived in such a dark, depressing world, love would never seek him out.  Film Bond, on the other hand, was a playboy, bouncing from one girl to the next without a care in the world.  He enjoyed his job and lived for the game of wits, both with his enemies and his women.  Even in a pinch, he always had some witty retort to throw out.

Ian Fleming's sketch of James Bond

And thus, Film Bond went down a much different path than Novel Bond.  So where I may make the occasional references to the books, I don't plan to do a compare/contrast review with this marathon.  Film Bond forged his own path, and most of the films don't share much in common with the books they're based on, except maybe the name and some basic plot details.

RECOMMENDATION:
This show's first taste of James Bond in video form gave the world a sample of what was to come.  You got a witty Bond who was loyal to his job, regardless of whose lives were on the line.  You got a ruthless villain who would do whatever it took to win.  You had a damsel in distress who would do anything for Bond.  And Peter Lorre as Bond's first villain was fun to watch.  He did not have a distinguishing evil feature like many of Bond's villains (although they referred to him as the "toad-faced" man at one point), but he came across as slimy and evil all the same.  This is a great introduction to what James Bond might have been like if he were American.  If you can find this episode, I would highly recommend you watch it! (Hint: It's available for free on YouTube)

Random Trivia: Climax! Mystery Theater was aired live for audiences, so when you do watch this episode, keep in mind that the entire thing was a live stage production, not a film.  It makes the cinematography and acting that much more fascinating, knowing that this was all done in one take.