Casino Royale (TV – 1954) is the first on-screen portrayal of the James Bond character, before the first official movie, Dr. No, was released in 1962. Set as an episodic entry in the CBS TV show Climax!, it stars Barry Nelson as an American (!) secret agent ‘Jimmy’ Bond who is tasked with bankrupting a Soviet villain, Le Chiffre, at a baccarat game (plot sound familiar?) It’s short in length (~50 minutes) and relatively forgettable, aside from a few choice quotes and its notoriety of being “the first.”
Aside from that, its production value is relatively low, with several stuttered lines and blatant sound/mic issues. It was 1954 after all, but it did star successful actors Peter Lorre and Linda Christian.
Although most of the lines and quotes from the movie can be found in its transcript, while transcribing, I noticed that one exchange between the main villain Le Chiffre (played by Lorre) and his henchmen Zuroff (played by an uncredited actor) is totally indecipherable.
At around 18 minutes and 40 seconds into the movie, the scene cuts to a conversation between Le Chiffre, Zuroff and Valerie Mathis (portrayed by Linda Christian), and we can see Zuroff and Le Chiffre’s mouths moving and Valerie’s move at least to say on word, but no audible voices are heard.
Here is a clip of the exchange:
And the portion of the transcript, just before and after the lost lines are seen:
James Bond: Look, uh, what you said about the police. I’d like them to keep close watch on me until after tomorrow night’s game.
Chef de partie: I will give instructions immediately, Mister Bond.
James Bond: Thanks, goodnight.
Chef de partie: Goodnight, Mister Bond.
— INAUDIBLE EXCHANGE BETWEEN LE CHIFFRE, VALERIE MATHIS AND ZUROFF —
Le Chiffre: So many, so many ways. Always been able to protect myself. Now they choose Mister Bond to take me on and, and your Mister Bond is very lucky and…and Mister Bond has card sense and I don’t like it. Tell me, uh, does he still love you, Valerie?
Valerie Mathis: Of course he doesn’t. Not now.
The movie was jointly released as bonus material for a special edition DVD of another unofficial James Bond movie, the 1967 spoof Casino Royale, but subtitles aren’t available for the bonus material.
Does anyone know what the missing lines are for this scene?
A gazing Le Chiffre (Mads Mikkelsen) yearns for their love.
“Why can’t I have that?”
“Your gun is digging in to my hip.”
He cries…in blood.
Worst. Valentine’s Day. Ever.
So in Spectre, we get a glimpse of a great image of the organization’s top leadership structure on Q’s laptop while he is in the ski gondola in Austria. The problem is, the overall picture of the organization is disjointed, and doesn’t have a singular display of all of Spectre’s members in one frame.
Below are two screenshots from the movie:
To get the clearest picture of the org, we obviously want Oberhauser’s mug at the top alongside all of the baddies below. I’ve completed the task with Photoshop, for your enjoyment below:
Overview of the poker table in Casino Royale (2006)
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So just how did Bond beat Le Chiffre in the famous final poker game in Casino Royale? Bond had the best poker hand – especially when it mattered most, of course. Let’s break it down:
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Le Chiffre (Mads Mikkelsen) tortures James Bond (Daniel Craig) by making him watch Die Another Day (2002)
When Bond logs into MI6’s secure site using M’s profile in Casino Royale (2006), he looks into Alex Dimitrios (who he is tracking in the Bahamas) as we well as his known associates. The computer scene is pretty quick, but it’s neat to see Dimitrios’ bad (and mostly dead) friends.
Alex Dimitrios – Government Contractor
Mads Mikkelsen as Le Chiffre in Casino Royale (2006)
Losing an argument? Emphasis is key!
Linda Christian as Valerie Mathis and Peter Lorre as Le Chiffre in Casino Royale (TV – 1954)
This is probably the best shot in the made-for-TV unofficial Bond movie – simple but awesome. Although lacking in visual quality and production, the film is a great time capsule and novel first on-screen presence of the world’s favorite secret agent.
James Bond (David Nelson) plays baccarat against Le Chiffre (Peter Lorre) in the unofficial Casino Royale (TV – 1954)
