Casino Royale
Casino Royale is a novel by Ian Fleming, first published in 1953. It is the first in the series of James Bond books, and the only novel by Fleming not to have an official Bond film of the same name. In 1997, MGM acquired the rights to Casino Royale, and speculation has been rife that they will make an "official" version. It has been rumored that James Bond 21, the next Bond adventure after Die Another Day will be Casino Royale. In 2004, Quentin Tarantino went to EON Productions in an attempt to gain the rights of Casino Royale so that he could make a script he wrote of Casino Royale into a film starring Pierce Brosnan as James Bond.
The Novel
The plot involved the villain, Le Chiffre, running a baccarat game at a French casino in order to raise much needed funds, with Bond travelling there in order to bankrupt the house, and hence the villain. Bond must also settle with the agent Vesper Lynd, who holds a terrible secret.
The Television Episode
Casino Royale was made into an episode of the CBS television programme Climax! in 1954, starring Barry Nelson as American secret agent Jimmy Bond and Peter Lorre as Le Chiffre. This was the first screen adaptation of a James Bond novel, and was made before Eon acquired the Bond film rights.
The Film Spoof
A film version of Casino Royale was made in 1967, in which the part of Sir James Bond was played by David Niven, while six other "Bonds", including Terence Cooper (Bond's successor as 007), Woody Allen (Bond's nephew Jimmy Bond), Joanna Pettet (Bond's and Mata Hari's illegitimate daughter Mata Bond), and Peter Sellers (a card-sharp hired to impersonate Bond at the casino), along with Orson Welles as Le Chiffre, filled out the plot. The movie is very different from the book and the other Bond films in that it is largely a spoof on the genre, the makers having decided that they couldn't compete with the established series on its own ground. The Sellers/Welles segment of the film is the only part of the movie that is in any way based upon the novel.
Other versions
A third, fan-made rendition of Casino Royale appeared on fan films sites somewhere around 2003.
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