#ratoff

Casino Royale (Part One)

The Golden Typewriter

In 1953, the manuscript for Ian Fleming's "spy novel to end all spy novels" was sent to press agent William Plomer. The book had been written over the months of January and February, on Fleming's annual holiday to his tropical Goldeneye estate in Jamaica. Enamored with espionage and secret doings, Fleming wrote two-thousand pages a day, every day, in order to "[Treat] my muse with small respect and largely as a means to move from one scaly profession to another." Fearing that his literary attempt would fail to impress, the superstitious Fleming bought himself a good luck charm: A golden typewriter.

In 2006, long after thirteen Fleming novels, twenty official film adaptations, and over a billion dollars in box-office grosses, the producers of the latest cinematic James Bond adventure were on an all-time high- the last three films had all out grossed each other as the most successful film in the franchise. But this time, producers Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson had a different plan- Adapt Casino Royale (which, to date, had one television and two film adaptations), cast a new Bond (played by Daniel Craig), and most surprisingly, reboot the entire cinematic franchise by portraying the story as Bond's new origin.

In a way, the 2006 film serves as a bookend to the literary and cinematic saga of Casino Royale. Almost every facet of the plot and back story involves some sort of gamble or deception. And like the casino depicted in the story, not every gamble would yield success.

The Big Blind

If Fleming's novel hadn't been a success, it's highly likely that you would have never heard of James Bond. It's hard to say whether its success stems from it appearing at the right time during the tense and thrilling Cold War atmosphere that it emulates, or because Fleming had that much talent, but the fast pace, combined with the exciting writing style and mood, creates an experience widely imitated but never quite mastered by anyone other than Fleming.

Royale features James Bond, who in the novel was already a professional spy, an element omitted by all of the adaptations, which each send their Bond (Nelson, Sellers, and Craig) on his first mission. It also features Vesper Lynd-- the first Bond girl-- and the "toad-like" villain Le Chiffre, who gambles his employer SMERSH's funds unsuccessfully on a line of brothels, and then attempts to win the money back in a high stakes game of baccarat. Bond, skilled in baccarat, is tasked to bankrupt Le Chiffre so he has no choice but be captured by the British, or killed by SMERSH. By the end of the novel, Bond won, but faced torture by the doomed Le Chiffre, and treachery in the betrayal of Vesper-- whom Bond falls in love with--  revealed as a double-agent for SMERSH.

While Fleming's Bond style would not be fully realized until From Russia, With Love (1957), Royale benefits from being lean, mean, hard boiled thriller. As one of the shortest novels, it wastes no time establishing Bond, the supporting cast, and the situation at hand. Fleming sets up the tension wonderfully, and manages to make something that wouldn't seem all that thrilling (a henchman's attempted murder of Bond via a walking stick-cum-rifle) into a hair-raising sequence. Bond's torture at the hands of Le Chiffre is particularly well done. The best part, of course, is Bond's characterization. Whether he's instructing a bartender how to make the perfect cocktail, studying Le Chiffre across the gaming table, or expressing his cynical and pessimistic views on relationships, Bond feels like a genuine character with real emotions and feelings, and the fact that Bond was an alter-ego to Fleming adds a realistic touch to the larger-than-life atmosphere.

Card Sense

In short, Fleming's gamble paid off to get it published as a book, and it would be another gamble that would attempt to bring the book to cinema screens. In 1954, actor/director Gregory Ratoff swore an oath to himself- If he could smuggle ten-thousand dollars worth of Egyptian bank notes out of the country (by sewing the notes inside his suit), he would purchase the screen rights to the first novel he read about. The first book Ratoff happened to read about when he arrived in Europe was Casino Royale.

The first result of Ratoff's purchase was an episode of Climax!- CBS's live mystery program. The novel's plot stayed essentially the same, except for taking place entirely at the casino in order to fit with the program's live broadcast and hour-long running time. Vesper and Le Chiffre also appear, played here by Linda Christian and Peter Lorre, respectively. The key difference is in the portrayal of Bond. Instead of the suave, world-weary British spy, the main character is "Card Sense" Jimmy Bond, an American. As a result, much of Royale's suspense and intrigue is lost. Barry Nelson seems nervous, and while that may be due to the program's rushed feeling (it was a live broadcast), it almost seems like he was intuitive of the future success of Bond which somehow channeled his uncomfortable demeanor.

The episode was not a huge hit, and Climax! would only broadcast for another year, but the cinematic Casino Royale was still an open case. Ratoff attempted to get another adaptation off the ground, but he died in 1960. Ratoff's widow sold the rights to Charles K. Feldman, a super-star movie producer who was not unlike James Bond himself. Feldman also saw the potential for an exciting spy thriller. But as the early 1960s yielded their own highly successful series of Bond films, Feldman saw the stakes raise. But were the odds in his favor?

Bonding will return with a look at the 1967 and 2006 film adaptations of Casino Royale, and more analysis.