If you haven't seen the new James Bond film Casino Royale, go now. Seriously, don't even finish reading this story. Shut off your computer, grab your coat, and rush out to your local cineplex. It's that good.
But it's not the first version of Casino Royale. And I'm not talking about the lame comedy version in the 60s starring Peter Sellers, which pretty much everyone agrees is an atrocity and not an official 007 film. I'm talking about the 1954 TV version, starring My Favorite Husband lead Barry Nelson as James Bond. Or, more precisely, "Jimmy" Bond, in an attempt to Americanize the character from the Ian Fleming novel. It was an episode of the CBS anthology series Climax and aired live on October 21, 1954. Peter Lorre played Le Chiffre. The show was pretty much forgotten and not seen that much until the 80s, and in the late 90s a nice collector's edition video was released, with the entire show intact.
Oh, and the urban legend that a dead Lorre got up at the end of the show and walked offstage on live television isn't true. That didn't happen. Though it did happen on another episode of Climax.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
12-07-2006 @ 5:27PM
Jon said...
I must say this new Bond movie is the best in years. The new Bond, Daniel Craig, is truely a great 007.
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12-07-2006 @ 5:30PM
Lacey said...
I don't care much about the TV version, but I have to say I 100% agree with you Bob about the movie.
The movie was fantastic, and for all you ladies out there who aren't into the Bond movies, I wasn't either, and I LOVED this one.
Even if you don't particularly like the movie, you just can't go wrong with 2 hours of Daniel Craig...especially when he spends most of the movie shirtless or in a suit (Which ironically are both almost equally as hot)
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