You might already know that 2006’s Casino Royale, starring Daniel Craig, was the second attempt to make a feature film out of Ian Fleming’s first James Bond novel — the first being the widely panned 1966 spoof starring David Niven, Orson Welles, Woody Allen, Peter Sellers and Ursula Andress. What you probably didn’t know is that at one point during its development, the 1966 film was a serious treatment penned by “the Shakespeare of Hollywood,” Ben Hecht. And by one account, Hecht’s script could’ve been one of the best Bond movies ever made. Read more after the jump.
A Casino Royale adaptation had been in the works as early as 1954, but it was in the early ’60s that the project finally fell into Hecht’s hands. Hecht was an acclaimed writer who’d worked (credited or uncredited) on movies like His Girl Friday, Gone with the Wind, the 1932 Scarface, and various Alfred Hitchcock films including Spellbound and Notorious. Writing for The Telegraph, Jeremy Duns dug up the drafts and notes that Hecht had written for Casino Royale between 1963 and 1964.
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Although Hecht’s treatment contained “darkly comedic” scenes, for the most part, it was a serious, grown-up adaptation of Fleming’s novel — closer to Martin Campbell’s 2006 film than the 1966 parody it eventually became. The bare bones of the story will be familiar to anyone who saw Campbell’s version — Bond, his lady love Vesper Lynd, Le Chiffre (Colonel Chiffre in Hecht’s script), the torture sequence, the tragic betrayal and eventual suicide. Hecht’s version also includes some new characters not from the book, most notably in the form of Chiffre’s wife Gita and Bond’s ex-fling Lili Wing. The particulars of Chiffre’s background are also different — in Hecht’s script, Chiffre runs brothels used to extort secrets from important leaders.
It seems that Hecht never quite completed his final draft, but Duns was able to approximate what Hecht’s finished product would have looked like by putting Hecht’s last two incomplete drafts together. Duns calls the combined material, from April 1964, “phenomenal”:
Hecht’s treatment of the romance element is powerful and convincing, even with the throwaway ending, but there is also a distinctly adult feel to the story. It has all the excitement and glamour you would expect from a Bond film but is more suspenseful, and the violence is brutal rather than cartoonish.
He goes on to speculate:
Casino Royale might even have been regarded as not just a classic Bond film, but as a classic thriller. We’ll never know, but Hecht’s surviving material offers a glimpse into a cinematic genius at work, and an alternate James Bond adventure as rich and thrilling as anything yet brought to the screen.
So how did Hecht’s masterful script turn into the embarrassment that was the 1966 Casino Royale? Hecht died of a heart attack April 18, 1964, before he was able to finish the project. Producer Charles Feldman made a few more attempts to make the film happen. By 1966, the script had been completely rewritten by Billy Wilder, with additional contributions by Joseph Heller, Terry Southern, Wolf Mankowitz and John Law. The completed film bore almost no resemblance to Hecht’s screenplay.
It’s definitely worth heading over to The Telegraph to read the rest of Duns’ story, especially if you’re a Bond buff. While I’m pretty happy with the 2006 Casino Royale that we eventually got, I can only imagine what a version penned by the guy who wrote Notorious would’ve been like.
[This piece has been amended to show the correct year for Martin Campbell’s film as 2006. The piece previously stated that the film came out in 2004.]
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This is a link to the original Casino Royale novel, in which Le Chiffre tortures Bond by thrashing his testicles with a carpet beater.
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Ian Fleming introdujo dos naipes en el libro que representaban a las aflicciones amorosas de Bond. New Statesman. En Lindner, Christoph, ed.
The James Bond Phenomenon: A Critical Reader. Manchester: Manchester University Press. Consultado el 3 de julio de Consultado el 5 de octubre de Casino Royale DOC.
Eye On Entertainment. Consultado el 30 de noviembre de The Sun. Archivado desde el original el 21 de noviembre de Emanuel Levy. The Observer.
Sunday Herald. Archivado desde el original el 29 de octubre de Consultado el 27 de octubre de Daily Telegraph. La Butaca.
Notas de cine. El Universal. British Academy of Film and Television Arts. Archivado desde el original el 12 de febrero de Consultado el 11 de febrero de Archivado desde el original el 9 de enero de Consultado el 12 de enero de Archivado desde el original el 30 de septiembre de Alternative Film Guide.
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London Life; London Dec 17, : The Encyclopedia of British Film. London: Methuen Publishing. Retrieved 1 January The Telegraph. Archived from the original on 14 March Retrieved 20 April Scribe's-Eye View of Pic Birth'.
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Archived from the original on 22 October New York Times. Archived from the original on 19 August Retrieved 7 July Archived from the original on 12 January Para confundir al enemigo, Sir James recluta agentes y a todos ellos les llama James Bond , incluyendo a las chicas.
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'Casino Royale' only made me laugh twice during its TWO-AND-A-HALF-HOUR RUNTIME. 'The Silencers' was an hour shorter, and infinitely funnier. In total, this is one of the worst films I've ever seen. Mike Redway sang the vocal version of 'Casino Royale' ( movie), part of which can be heard at the end title sequence of the movie. I combined his vocal. Casino Royale: Miss Goodthighs: Evelyn (Peter Sellers) meets Miss Goodthighs (Jacqueline Bisset) and as they start to become intimate, they both slip a drug. Burt Bacharach appropriately comes up with a rambunctious soundtrack for the James Bond spoof, Casino Royale. Things get underway with Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass' performance of the fast-paced main title, which features the usual Bacharach mix of pop phrasing and complex arrangements; this theme is subsequently augmented with a lush string arrangement and marching band rhythms on. You might already know that ’s Casino Royale, starring Daniel Craig, was the second attempt to make a feature film out of Ian Fleming’s first James Bond novel — the first being the widely. Given Eon's series led to spy films being in vogue at the time, Feldman opted to make his film a spoof of the Bond series instead of a straightforward adaptation. Archivado desde el original el 9 de enero de The Soda Reiniger Frosch Telegraph. As well as this, an entire Casino Royale 1966 involving Tremble going to the front Glasgow Casino the underground James Bond training school which turns out to be under Harrodsof which the training area was the lowest level was never shot, thus creating an abrupt cut from Vesper announcing that Tremble will be James Bond to Tremble exiting the lift into the training school. For the music, Feldman decided to bring in Burt Bacharachwho had done the score for his previous production What's New Pussycat? But not THAT James Bond, he is only a mere playboy with gadgets, the real Bond retired years ago but now finds himself approached to come out of retirement to counter the new threat. Categories : films English-language films s Australia Lotto Results films s satirical Play Ojo Casino s spy comedy films British films British parody films British satirical films Cold War spy films Columbia Pictures films Films based on thriller novels Films directed by Val Guest Films directed by Ken Hughes Films directed by John Huston Films directed by Robert Parrish Films scored by Burt Bacharach Films set in London Films set Germany Casino Online Scotland Films set in Berlin Films shot at Backgammon Live Spielen Studios Films shot in Berkshire Films shot in County Meath Films shot in Scotland Films with live action Casino Royale 1966