Nelson starred in the 1954 adaptation of “Casino Royale.”
Sir Rhosis
Yep. Saw that.
I got the video on VHS over a decade ago. It’s an interesting historical artifact. I gave a copy to my James Bond-o-phile friend, who’s even more Bond obsessed than I am. He made the interesting suggestion that this TV movie is where the character trait of Bond making witty asides started. In the book “Casino Royale” Bond is absolutely without warmth or humor. But in the TV movie he cracks wise (“Are you the guy who was shot?” “No, I’m the guy who was missed.”), and shortly afterwards he started to open up even in the books and displayed some humor.
It’s possible, but it could just be that Fleming was taking his initial sketcvh of a character and fleshing him out. (And when the first Eon Productions film, “Dr. No.”, came out, Bond started out pretty humorless. But he was making jokes by “From Russia with Love”)
The beginning of your thread title just gave me a mini-conner… er, coronary.
And I am going to mark this thread for every time I ask the damn question in a trivia game. I don’t know how many times I have had to tell people to Google it or IMDb it.
^^^Just buy a copy of the video in the $2.99 discount bin. That was how I got my first VHS copy. I now have it on the DVD with the “Casino Royale” spoof. Actually, the Nelson production was the only reason I bought the spoof. But, now I understand that the version on the DVD is incomplete, and, like most copies, is missing the final scene. I think there was one special edition VHS release that was complete–been meaning to get it off Amazon.
Sir Rhosis
Well I’ll be! I see at IMDb that he plays the manager hiring Jack Torrance (Jack Nicholson) in Stanley Kubrick’s movie “The Shining”!
Where did you find that video, CalMeacham?
On sale in an ordinary video store, circa 15+ years ao.
I may be istaken, but I thought I heard that the new release of the recent Casino Royale had this in the 2-disc set.
The 2006 Daniel Craig film does not feature the 1954 TV special on its special features. The only official DVD release appears on the 1967 'unauthorized" spoof, which is now controlled and distributed by MGM. However, it is the shortened version without the ending.
(Legend has it that the episode features a scene in which the actor playing the villian, after being killed, is seen walking away. This did happen on an episode of Climax!, but not this one. During a adaptation of “The Long Goodbye,” a dead victim walked away during one scene.)
OK, Sir Rhosis and mobo85, these hints have whetted my curiosity. What is this ending to the original 1954 telefilm of “Casino Royale” that was removed from the DVD release?
Arnold,
Here: Casino Royale (Climax!) - Wikipedia)
It is supposedly on the version which has a cover which is sorta painted in brown tones (iirc) with a very Connery-like painting of Barry Nelson, gun in hand, etc. I just haven’t goten around to buying it.
Sir Rhosis
Okay, think I fixed the link
Never mind, fixed it.