Free Movie on Fancast: James Bond in Casino Royale

The story of Casino Royale is a weird one.

It’s the name of Ian Fleming’s first James Bond novel, of course, published in 1953 and centering on 007’s brilliance at baccarat being necessary to bring down a Soviet agent known as Le Chiffre, whom you may remember as Mads Mikkelsen’s bleeding-eye ball bludgeoner from the Daniel Craig update. In 1954, there was an episode of CBS’s Climax! that adapted the story, with Barry Nelson playing agent “Jimmy Bond.” No one ever talks about that one.

Then, there was 1967’s Casino Royale, which became a satirical spoof on the Bond franchise when producer Charles K. Feldman couldn’t get approval to turn it into a legit Bond film once he snagged the rights to the novel. David Niven steps into the role as Sir James Bond, forced out of retirement to become the new M in order to take on the evil Soviet organization SMERSH. In doing so, he decides that every MI6 agent is going to be codenamed James Bond, to fool the enemy. This is why Evelyn Tremble (Peter Sellers) gets to wear the tux and the name, once the real Bond hires Vesper Lynd (Ursula Andress, spoofing her own role in Dr. No), to hire him for his baccarat skills. It seems they’re desperately needed to take on SMERSH agent Le Chiffre, played by none other than Orson Welles.

Directed in part by John Huston, who also stars as M, there are appearances by Peter O’Toole, Woody Allen, Deborah Kerr, William Holden, George Raft, Jacqueline Bisset as Miss Goodthighs and Barbara Bouchet as Miss Moneypenny. It’s most infamous, however, for a chaotic production that included a feud between Sellers and Welles that resulted in Sellers quitting the project before he was finished. See if you notice how they covered that up.

Watch 1967’s Casino Royale for free in its entirety right here, right now on Fancast.