James Bond fans you've seen me review alot of the official James Bond films which for those that don't know is any Bond film made by EON Productions. Well now i'm diving into the world of the unofficial James Bond films and well where else better to start with this mini-quest of mine then a Bond film that i've not even seen the 1967 comedy spoof James Bond film Casino Royale enjoy Bond fans.
The plot of the film is Le Chiffre wants money to repay an organisation that he stole money from while there's another villain working behind the scenes and it's up to several James Bonds to put a stop to it all. Yeah the plot is just as dumb as I made it out to be nobody could make the plot of this movie sound good and it's just as well because the story isn't well told and is wafer thin at best I honestly feel that doing a straight adaptation of the book would have worked better in my opinion and yes I know that they did that in 2006 but still.
Starring in the film is David Niven as Sir James Bond , Peter Sellers as Evelyn Tremble / James Bond , Honey Ryder and Nikki Van Der Zyl as Vesper Lynd / James Bond , Joanna Pettet as Mata Bond / James Bond , Daliah Lavi as The Detainer / James Bond , Woody Allen as Jimmy Bond , Barbara Bouchet as Miss Moneypenny / James Bond 007 , Terence Cooper as Coop / James Bond , Deborah Kerr as Agent Mimi / Lady Fiona McTarry , John Huston as M / McTarry , Geoffrey Bayldon as Q and Orson Welles as Le Chiffre.
Yes you are reading that right there are several actors women included technically playing the role of James Bond. As for what I thought about the performances in the film they honestly weren't that bad in fact they were the most enjoyable thing about the whole film and it's because of those performances that alot of the "jokes" come of as sightly funny which isn't really a good thing for a comedy.
I have to admit it's weird as all hell seeing Ursula Andress playing Vesper mostly because she is so perfect as Honey Ryder from Dr. No that to see her playing another James Bond character just doesn't feel right. Adding to that weirdness is the fact that they got the same dubbing actress to dub her for this film as well but at the same time for the Vesper that this film gives us Ursula does a solid job it's just a shame that alot of people myself included would just see her as Honey Ryder.
One simply cannot talk about this film and not talk about it's very troubled production simply because the making of the film and feud that started while making it is more interesting then the film itself. To put it simply star Peter Sellers either walked of set or was fired from the film due to his behaviour on set like the fact he would go missing for days at a time and the fact that he and Orson Wells didn't get along just because a royal friend of Sellers went to say hello to Orson before him.
Due to the fact that he was either fired or walked of before he could finish filming his scenes there are alot of scenes missing. The first of which being that we never get to see his character getting captured and the scene before that was a rehearsal but wasn't filmed for real it was also due to him either being fired or walking of that the makers of the film decided to kill of his character simply because they had no other choice but to do just that.
When I talk about a film I never let what ever production issues that it might have had form my opinion of the movie simply because alot of films have issues while being filmed. However those issues never result in an actor either walking of set or being fired with scenes featuring their character still to be filmed so now I have no choice but to comment on it because it does effect the film and it's story since it's clear that his character is meant to be the lead character and so without him you have no one else on this mission and there are no other characters set up to potentially take over as the lead character either.
The titles for this film weren't done by Maurice Binder but were instead done by Richard Williams who was an animator who's most famous work was the unfinished film The Thief and the Cobbler. That being said the titles for this film just aren't that interesting all they are are the actors names on a black background and that's it there's nothing about these titles that scream James Bond which is a shame because these titles could have been good if there was effort but into them.
Now then since this is technically an action comedy let us first talk about the comedy in that the film has to offer. Yeah it's barely funny and there are no real jokes in this film at all all there is is a bunch of random stuff happening because the producer thought that if enough money was spent on the film it would be good when what he should have been focusing on is making his comedy actually funny. However tho when there is a good joke it is pretty funny but like I said before what makes them funny isn't the joke itself it's the performance from the actors that makes it funny.
Now there actually isn't a title song for this film instead there's a piece of what I think is jazz music called "Casino Royale Theme" by Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass. Just like seeing Ursula playing Vesper it's also weird seeing a Bond film without a traditional James Bond theme song (yes I know who's doing the new theme and trust me I have some thoughts on that) yes I know On Her Majesty's Secret Service didn't have a traditional title theme either but the theme for that film has become iconic so I can kind of forgive it.
We've talked about the comedy aspect of the film so now it only makes sense that we talk about the action in the film. While there isn't that much action in the film what little action that there is is honestly really fun and it's so over the top that it could only work in this film and if you want prime example of that all you need to do is look at the finale which is so over the top and yet it's something that would only work in this film.
Overall as a film this is at best OK but as a James Bond film let alone a spoof of the spy genre it's pretty bad. I really have no other words for this film but as I was about to watch it the news broke that Billie Eilish is going to be doing the theme for No Time To Die and to that I say I don't know who she is , i've never listened to her songs and i'm not going to listen to her song I only hope that she turns in a good James Bond theme and nothing more as for for this film it gets a 5 out of 10 from me.
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