Casino Royale was Ian Fleming's very first novel and in it he introduced James Bond, who since publication in 1953, has turned into a worldwide phenomenon principally thanks to the success of the film series. It's unusual then to suspect that this book, the first of the James Bond books, was only evolved correctly for the big screen in 2006 in the critically and commercially successful movie staring Daniel Craig.
Ian Fleming had originally sold the rights to the tale, which was made into a 1954 TV adaptation staring Barry Nelson. The film rights went first to Gregory Ratoff and later , on his passing, to Charles K Feldman who brought the tale to the big screen in 1967 as a comedy that featured everyone from David Niven to Peter Sellers and Woody Allen (and actually featured Ursela Andress, the first Bond girl).
Hence, when Fleming sold the rest of the film rights to Harry Saltzman and Cubby Broccoli it was without Casino Royale. Eon Productions ultimately got the rights to the film after a court battle with Sony in 1999 and decided to utilise the story following Die Another Day in 2002. Nonetheless more than 50 years had elapsed since the novel was first broadcast and the producers felt it needed some updating.
In the book the story is simple. Bond has been sent to a spa town in North France where he is to beat Le Chiffre, who is under the pay of the KGB and has lost the funds of his Russian paymasters. If Le Chiffre wins at the baccarat tables he will repay the funds; if he loses then the Brit hope the Russians will murder him instead and so send 007 to assist them in achieving this goal.
While the film does remain dependable to this element of the plot it is considerably expanded. In the film version James Bond becomes instrumental in Le Chiffre losing the money. And instead of being paid by the KGB, Le Chiffre is working for a shadowy criminal organisation which is laundering cash for African guerrillas and Le Chiffre is involved in his own scheme to make some extra money on the deal by "borrowing" the cash and investing it in a short term sure bet that, if it were not for the intervention of 007, would be a dead cert.
Ian Fleming had originally sold the rights to the tale, which was made into a 1954 TV adaptation staring Barry Nelson. The film rights went first to Gregory Ratoff and later , on his passing, to Charles K Feldman who brought the tale to the big screen in 1967 as a comedy that featured everyone from David Niven to Peter Sellers and Woody Allen (and actually featured Ursela Andress, the first Bond girl).
Hence, when Fleming sold the rest of the film rights to Harry Saltzman and Cubby Broccoli it was without Casino Royale. Eon Productions ultimately got the rights to the film after a court battle with Sony in 1999 and decided to utilise the story following Die Another Day in 2002. Nonetheless more than 50 years had elapsed since the novel was first broadcast and the producers felt it needed some updating.
In the book the story is simple. Bond has been sent to a spa town in North France where he is to beat Le Chiffre, who is under the pay of the KGB and has lost the funds of his Russian paymasters. If Le Chiffre wins at the baccarat tables he will repay the funds; if he loses then the Brit hope the Russians will murder him instead and so send 007 to assist them in achieving this goal.
While the film does remain dependable to this element of the plot it is considerably expanded. In the film version James Bond becomes instrumental in Le Chiffre losing the money. And instead of being paid by the KGB, Le Chiffre is working for a shadowy criminal organisation which is laundering cash for African guerrillas and Le Chiffre is involved in his own scheme to make some extra money on the deal by "borrowing" the cash and investing it in a short term sure bet that, if it were not for the intervention of 007, would be a dead cert.
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