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Yep,
we're doing Casino Royale --
vintage 1954, which was the very first 007
feature ever put to film, starring Barry
Nelson and his Marine buzz-cut as the very
American card-shark cum super-spy, Jimmy
Bond.
...
Wait, you say, Jimmy Bond?!?
E'yup.
Honest. And we'll be getting to the how
and the why in a bit, but, for now, Live! From
Television City, in Hollywood, it's time
for Climax! Mystery Theater! with
our host for the evening, Mr. William
Lundigan, who goes on a quick spiel about
the horrors of gambling and an evil card
game called Baccarat. Men have
wagered a lot of money on this game, our
host direly intones, but tonight, he
promises a man will wager his life over
it!
Next,
we move to the entrance of a gambling
establishment somewhere on the French
Riviera, where one particular new arrival
is targeted by a man holding a pistol.
Several shots ring out, but, luckily, they
all miss our hero, Jimmy Bond (Nelson), famed American playboy,
gambler and super-secret spy for ... somebody. (And
that sound you hear are all our friends
over in England letting out one big
collective groan.) Fairly
unaffected over this attempt on his life,
Bond accepts a profuse apology from the
hotel manager for this dreadful incident
and for letting the unknown gunman get
away. He also offers a detail of casino
security to escort his guest, but Bond
refuses and ambles on into the casino alone
-- but not as alone as he thinks because
we can't help but notice the knock-out in
the snappy evening dress who's obviously tailing him.
Sidling
up to one of the tables, Bond joins in on
a game of Baccarat and immediately wins
the pot. The man seated next to him
offers his congratulations, introduces
himself as Clarence Leiter
(Michael Pate), and asks the lucky winner
if he was the man who got shot at earlier.
Replying that, no, he was the guy who got
missed, both men share a hearty laugh
before Leiter offers to buy Bond a drink
as a bribe in exchange for any advice he
can get on this infernal card game. They
find a table, a deck of cards, and, after
Bond orders a Scotch and water (?!?),
these two relative strangers start talking
awful cryptically, and then do some funny
signals with their cigarettes and
matchbooks.
Confused?
Don't be. You see, this is all a code. For
Bond is here on a mission and Leiter, who
is with the English Secret Service, is his
contact with all the details of this
particular assignment. Thus, keeping up
the ruse of a card lesson, Leiter reveals
Bond's new target is a man named Le
Chiffre, who just happens to be the top
Soviet spy stationed in this neck of the
woods. After describing this little toad
of a man, Leiter then point him out at one
of the tables but warns his fellow spy to
not be fooled by the schlubish appearance.
Le Chiffre is a dangerous fanatic, he
offers, capable of just about anything --
a favorite being using the razor blade he
keeps hidden in his cigarette case for any
"slicing purposes."
Asked
if his task is to kill Le Chiffre, Leiter
says no, Bond won't have to -- if
he plays his cards right. Seems their
target has a gambling problem to the tune
of 80-million francs of
the Communist Party's money lost at Baccarat.
The KGB have gotten wind of this, Leiter
continues, and are closing in. However, Le
Chiffre has managed to get his hands on a
sizeable amount of money -- not enough,
but he has every intention of using it to
get the full amount he needs, here, at the
casino, to save his ass -- and he's enough
of a
card-sharp to do it. And so, Bond's
mission is to join the Baccarat game and
take Le Chiffre to the cleaners. And once
they've busted him, then, his own people
will "take care of him."
Provided
with a bankroll of 26-million francs,
matching Le Chiffre's current tally,
leaving little room for error, but, Bond
assures he's won a lot more with much
less. Before turning him loose, Leiter
offers one last warning: Le
Chiffre comes complete with his own
personal goon squad and a femme fatale,
who are all staying in the hotel room
directly above the one reserved for Bond.
Figuring his room must be under some kind
of surveillance, then, before the men can
discuss it further they're interrupted by
the dame tailing him, who just so
happens to be Le Chiffre's squeeze, and
who also happens to be well acquainted
with Mr. Bond already!
After
introducing Mr. Leiter to Ms. Valerie
Mathis (Linda
Christian), Bond reveals she was
his good luck charm in Monte Carlo, where
they had a fling and won a ton of money.
Saying she's headed to the hotel, Bond
offers to escort her. Once they reach the
elevators, when Valerie asks if they can
go to his room Bond warily agrees. Upon
reaching the fifth floor Bond checks the
indicator lights above the other elevator,
which stops on to the sixth floor, meaning
it's probably Le Chiffre and his entourage
returning to their room to listen in. But
once they're safely in his suite, Bond
turns on some music to foil any bugs
before he and Valerie swap about a gallon
of spit. (Wow.
That must have been some run of luck in
Monte Carlo!)
When they finally come up for air, Valerie
emphatically warns Jimmy (urk!)
not to play with Le Chiffre tonight,
warning he's desperate enough to stop at
nothing to win. And by nothing, she
means killing -- specifically, killing
him. Asked why she would care about that,
Valerie claims to still have feelings for
him.
But,
he doesn't buy it since she's running with
Le Chiffre now. In fact, he accuses her of
helping them bug his room. She denies
this, but he's heard enough and decides to
let Le Chiffre hear what he wants to hear,
ordering Valerie
to ask the questions she's been tasked.
With that, he turns the music down and
loudly turns up the smarm. Again, she
warns him to stay away from Le Chiffre but
he still ignores this advice, saying he'll
take his chances. With that done, he
escorts her back to the elevators, and,
once out of earshot of the bugged room,
Valerie keeps on pleading and confesses
she still loves him. No. Really. But, he still can't
trust her, triggering a fit, and so,
leaves the woman in the care of the
elevator operator before her jilted snit
reaches full eruption.
Well,
that could have gone better, he typed
ominously...
Upon
returning to Le Chiffre's room, Valerie is
congratulated on a job well done by her
boss. Le Chiffre (Peter Lorre)
confesses he only bugged the room to
make sure she still didn't have any
lingering feelings for Bond and wasn't
trying to double-cross him (-- meaning she
didn't know about this after all). Our villain can't
afford to have his plan ruined, after all.
And she might have gotten away with it if
he hadn't noticed how smudged her lipstick
is. (Oops.)
Anyhoo, Le Chiffre leaves it alone for now
and continues to listen in on Bond, who is
calling the hotel manager and takes him up
on that offer of protection for the
duration of his stay.
Back
in the casino, as Leiter gets Bond's stake
money from the cashier he's approached by
one of Le Chiffre's goons, who's hiding a
gun under his coat and demands the money.
Luckily, the hotel manager and several
pit-bosses wander by and Leiter quickly
hands the money over to them with strict
instructions to hold it until Mr. Bond
arrives. The villain thwarted, Leiter
leaves with the others to let him stew.
Meanwhile, Bond returns with his security
detail right behind him. And after a quick
chat with Leiter, allows Valerie to
introduce him to Le Chiffre. With the high
stakes Baccarat game about to start, the
men wish each other luck as they take
their seats. But before the first hand is
dealt, Bond is told he has an urgent phone
call. He takes it, and the man on the
other end warns that if he wins the game
Valerie will lose. With the lethal
implication made clear, Bond manages to
get word to Leiter to keep an eye on the
girl before returning to the table, just
as the dealer tosses out the first hand of
cards...
Act
II
For
those of you unfamiliar with the game of Baccarat
it's a lot like Blackjack, only you play
to nine and are allowed only one draw from
the deck after your initial two cards. Initially,
things go well as the first pot goes to
Bond but Le Chiffre proves his match by
taking the next two. And as each
successive pot gets fatter,
Bond's horrid streak continues and soon
finds himself down to his last 8 million
francs. Undaunted, Mr. Confidence bets it
all on the next hand, but, once again, Le
Chiffre comes out on top. And so, Bond has
busted out. (Our hero?)
Still, despite all the kudos from his goon
squad, Le Chiffre must keep playing
because he's still well short of the
80-million he needs.
Before
he surrenders his seat, Bond receives a
large envelope. In it he finds 35-million
francs and a note saying he must beat Le
Chiffre. Bankrolled again, Bond gets back
in the game and matches Le Chiffre's ante
until the pot hits 27-million. This time,
though, Bond wins the hand. Desperate now,
Le Chiffre bets all he has left on the
next hand. He draws a six and holds. Then,
Bond flips his cards -- a four, then a
three. Bond wins and Le Chiffre is flat
busted!
The
big game over, as the crowd disperses, one
of Le Chiffre's goons approaches Bond and
sticks a cane in his back. After assuring
Bond this isn't a cane but a boom-stick, he
orders his victim to gather up his
winnings and follow him out of the casino.
But our hero manages to knock him off
balance and wrests the cane away. Alas,
and once more, the bad guy gets away.
Next, when Bond checks in with Leiter to
make sure Valerie is okay, he's told
Valerie gave him the slip after she went
to the cashier to get Bond's second
bankroll. This development confuses our
hero. He had assumed the money had come
from Leiter. He was wrong. But why would
Valerie give him the money? They can
figure that out later, he decides. For
now, she's in danger and they must find
her! Leaving Leiter to search the casino,
Bond heads to the hotel. On the way out,
Bond is given a cashier's check for
the 87-million francs he won.
Finding
Le Chiffre's room empty, Bond returns to
his own. Knowing Le Chiffre won't give up
that easy, Leiter calls and warns our hero
to hide the check immediately. Though
still more worried about Valerie, Bond
takes a screwdriver and quickly secrets
the check behind the number plate of his
hotel room door. Then, the phone rings
again. This time, the caller demands the
cashier's check or Valerie will die! Just
then, however, Valerie enters the room,
and so, Bond tells the caller to get bent
and hangs up. Unfortunately, Le Chiffre
and his goon squad are right behind her!
Seems our villain has discovered Valerie's
role as a double-agent, working for the
French, against him. And that's why she
gave Bond the money. Speaking of the
money, Le Chiffre tells Bond to turn it
over or they'll both die...
Act
III
Le
Chiffre's goons have been giving Bond a
good pounding for awhile now, but he still
refuses to reveal where he hid the
check. When the phone rings, Le Chiffre
tells him to answer -- but no funny
business or Valerie, whose bound and
gagged over in the corner, gets it. It's
Leiter, but Bond can't tell him anything,
except that he found Valerie and she's
"safe."
Thus,
the brutal interrogation continues to no
avail. Needing to amp things up even
further, when Le Chiffre says Bond is
ready for the tub his two goons haul
our hero into the bathroom. Meantime, Le
Chiffre removes Valerie's gag but warns
"One scream and he dies!" before
escorting her into the bathroom, too. Bond
is bound in the tub, with his bare feet
exposed over the edge of the basin. Here,
Le Chiffre promises if he doesn't say where the money is, Bond will be
"tortured to the edge of
madness." Calling him the sadist he
is, Le Chiffre considers this a
compliment. He then produces a menacing
looking pair of pliers and goes to work on
Bond's toes.
And
I have to say those pliers look a
lot like wire cutters, so is he breaking
toes? Or chopping them off?! GAH! Kind
of gruesome for 1954 isn't it?
As
our hero writhes in agony, Valerie can't
bare to watch. And though he refuses to
talk, she finally breaks, saying she saw
him holding a screwdriver when they first
came in. Quickly deducing its purpose, Le
Chiffre leaves the two captive love birds
alone to go and search for where Bond
secreted the check. But in his haste, Le
Chiffre makes a fatal mistake by leaving
his cigarette case behind. Working
together, Bond and Valerie manage to get
it open and use his hidden razor blade to
get free.
Meanwhile,
Le Chiffre and his goons have found the
check. From the bathroom, Bond desperately
calls for some water. And as a smirking Le
Chiffre sends the goons in to kill them,
while he gloats over the check, Bond gets
the jump on the bad guys, gets one of
their guns, and shoots them all dead. He
then manages to get a bullet into Le
Chiffre. And as Valerie helps the hobbled
Bond out of the bathroom and into the
suite, our villain
slumps into a chair, clutching his bullet
wound. He begs Bond to just kill him but
he won't. He tells Valerie to get the
check back and then calls the police.
The
End
Okay,
time for another brief, auto-biographical
interlude. What? Again?! Now stop
rolling your eyes and bear with me. It's
relevant to this film -- and pretty dang
funny, too.
Before
getting my current job at the newspaper, I
used to work as a production assistant for
the local ABC affiliate. Like a lot of
folks, we PA's were overworked and
underpaid. Aside from that, you honestly
wouldn't believe the silent chaos that
rages in a television studio during a live
news broadcast. It's a mad dash of moving
cameras and wild body language to keep the
talking heads in line and on track, with
plenty of wires and cables to trip over
and "accidentally" unplug lying
around ... When
you're on the floor (the
studio),
you're in constant contact over a headset (--
yet another set of wires to trip over --)
with the director, who's dealing with his
own chaos back in the control booth. From
which, he would bark orders and you did
your best to comply.
Now,
on this one particular night things were
going reasonably well. The broadcast was
almost done. I was on Camera Two (and
Three and Four -- did I mention we PA's
were always understaffed, too?)
and had set the final shot of the two news
anchors. While I waited for us to come
back from commercial, I took it upon
myself to fix my antiquated headset, which
had been falling apart for the past three
days, that finally gave up the ghost and
disintegrated into four less than
manageable pieces. When we came back, live,
and the anchors tossed it to the final
fluff piece of the night, I started
tinkering with the headset, trying to jam
the component parts back together. After
the video package ended, the director
switched to Camera One, a three-shot, and
the anchors asked the weatherman what to
expect one last time. Then, they switched
back to Camera Two, to say goodnight,
while I continued to fight with the
headset. Then I shifted weight, ever so
slightly, from one foot to the other, not
realizing that part of my foot was on the
main cable that was attached to the camera
on top of the rolling tripod.
That's
all it took. That little shift caused the
camera to pivot and raise up -- ever so
slightly. On the monitor, the anchors were
talking and slowly sunk out of the frame.
I became aware of some loud squabbling
coming out of the discombobulated headset
in my hands. I slowly raised the earphone
to my ear and caught the last part of a
string of blistering profanities from the
director that ended with "CAMERA TWO!
WHERE THE F**K ARE YOU GOING!" With
that, I glanced
up into the viewfinder and saw the top of
the anchor's heads, almost completely out
of frame. I took the handles on the camera,
and, ever so gently, readjusted them back
into frame. It wasn't the first time I'd
made the Director's Error Log -- and it
wasn't the last either. All the disasters
I caused, or just witnessed, during my two
year hitch as a camera jockey are too
numerous to tell here. This one was just
the easiest to translate.
So
what does this anecdote have to do with Casino
Royale? Well, you have to remember
this project was shot back in the 1950's on live
TV, meaning no real margin for error, and what
eventually showed up on screen is what
you got. The program itself is pretty
ambitious, and actually kind of cool, how
they staged it and set it up, but the
production is filled with more than a few
technical gaffes and glitches:
There
are several instances of boom mike
shadows, and several more instances of the
volume on those mikes not getting turned
on in time. The
lighting man missed a few cues, too. Also,
there are a couple of instances of very
loud mystery noises -- and you can just
picture some stage hand dropping something
big behind the plywood walls or canvas
flats, or maybe a
bulb blowing (-- that happens a
lot), or one of the arc lights
itself breaking loose and falling from the ceiling. (That
happened to me during a sports segment
once. Missed the anchor by a foot. A
foot.)
To the actors credit, they kept right on
going.
Someone
in the studio audience has a nice
smoker's hack, too, and you can hear a constant murmuring from the
audience that can't be unheard once you
notice it, which proves to be very
distracting.
The
biggest gaffe comes towards the end,
though. I'm guessing another camera didn't
get in position in time, or the director
flubbed, because right after Le Chiffre is
shot outside the bathroom, Lorre breaks
character and nonchalantly walks over to
his next mark, sitting in a chair, and
waits for Bond and Valerie to emerge from
the bathroom. The camera finally switches
and we see them come out. For a long time
a wild urban legend was circulating about
this broadcast that had Lorre getting up
off the floor and moving to his dressing room after
"dying" while the cameras still
rolled. I think the origin of this tale can be
traced back to this errant gaffe, and the
evidence shows it wasn't his fault.
Having
worked in live TV producing a measly half
hour news program, I can only boggle at
what it took to get this ambitious
production done so I can easily forgive
these glitches and marvel that nothing
else went wrong. Especially when you
consider the less than state of the art
equipment they were using at the time. (Although
I think my ancient headset at NTV was a
relic of those bygone days.)
So, my hat is off to the whole production
crew.
As
for how this adaptation came to be in the
first place, it begins with Climax!
Mystery Theater itself, an anthology
series which ran on CBS from 1954 to 1958,
sponsored for most of its run by Plymouth
Motors.
Again, most of the shows were filmed live,
including other literary adaptations like Sorry,
Wrong Number, Fear Strikes Out,
Gore Vidal's take on Dr. Jekyll and Mr.
Hyde, and Raymond Chandler's The
Long Goodbye. The program ran for one
hour and was usually broken up into three
acts.
The
Casino Royale adaptation came early
in the show's run, the third episode,
according to most sources, premiering on
October 21st, 1954. CBS paid author Ian
Fleming $1000 for the rights to adapt his
first James Bond novel of the same name.
To condense the novel to the show's
limited format, scriptwriters Anthony
Ellis and Charles Bennet were forced to
strip it down to the bare bones and one
setting. They also made Bond an American
agent working for some combined
intelligence agency with the other NATO
countries. And though you may find
yourself annoyed by the countless scenes
of Leiter doing nothing but running around
the casino doing just that, nothing, you
have to remember this obvious filler was necessary
to get Bond, Valerie and the others into
position on the hotel set. Aside
from this fluff, the story zips right
along. And
once you adjust to the notion of an
American Bond, the square-jawed Nelson
isn't all that terrible. Honest. Meantime,
Ms. Christian is really quite beautiful
and feisty as Valerie. But it's Lorre who
anchors the whole thing and runs away with
it. I absolutely adore this man and he's
fantastic here as the giggling and
sadistic Le Chiffre, especially when he
gets to say lines like "We will
torture you to the edge of
madness!"
The
brass at CBS were pleased with end
results, too. So pleased they paid Fleming
to develop several scripts for a proposed
James Bond TV series. History shows that
never came to be, but Fleming took those
unused scripts and published them as part
of his own anthology novel, For Your
Eyes Only. Eventually, after the Broccolis
own Bond franchise exploded, CBS's parent
company, Columbia, optioned the rights for
Casino Royale over to MGM, who made
their own feature, a comedy, in 1967. But
despite the efforts of four directors,
a half-dozen Bonds, around twenty novelty
cameos, including the Frankenstein
Monster, and all that '60s kitsch and
psychedelia, the royal mess that is the
'67 version of Casino Royale
doesn't hold half the charm of the '54
version.
Thought
to be lost forever, a kinescope containing
the majority of the broadcast was found in
1981 by film historian Jim Schoenberger,
except for the ending. Luckily, the
missing pieces were eventually found and
the whole thing was pieced back together.
And luckier still, the 1954 version of
Casino Royale is available for all to see
as a bonus feature on MGM's DVD for the
1967 version. It's not as terrible as
you'd think or have heard, and it also
serves as a nice time capsule that
captures the essence of early American
broadcast TV and is well worth a
look.
And
that also concludes our five part goofball
spy retrospective. Hope you enjoyed
reading 'em as much as I enjoyed writing
about 'em. Until next time, then: que up
the Bond music and play us out...
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