Review – Casino Royale (1967)

The biggest joke in this whole movie is the one played on James Bond creator Ian Fleming; apparently he always wanted David Niven to play his super-spy, and the only time Niven ever actually assumed the role was in this bizarre parody of the Bond series. Most of the humor from this 1967 gem is either dated or stupid or both. Indeed, it plays out like a two-hour-plus Mad Magazine version of the “real” Bond series. So it goes almost without saying that this has little to do with the Fleming novel by the same name. With a cast this good (including Peter Sellers, Orson Welles, Woody Allen and a host of other luminaries) a much better movie might have been made. See if desperate