Allen plays “the tallest dwarf in the world” and was baffled by the film, writing to a friend in the parlance of the time, “Saw rushes and am dubious to put it mildly, but probably film will coin a mint. Sellers, of course, instantly conjures up images of Inspector Clouseau. Then there are Peter Sellers and Woody Allen. This includes a number of actors it isn’t too hard to picture in a traditional Bond film, notably Welles, Huston, William Holden, Peter O’Toole, David Niven, and Ursula Andress who had played Honey Ryder in Dr. The 1967 version of Casino Royale features one of the most star-packed casts in film history. Where to begin? The repeated invocations of the phrase “too much for one James Bond.” (The trailer ultimately lists a total of seven 007s.) The demands to “Join the Casino Royale Fun Movement.” The cruel fat joke at the expense of a famously obese cast member: “Orson Welles is the heaviest heavy of SMERSH.” And the fact Peter Sellers’ scenes were a direct inspiration for later sequences in Austin Powers-most notably the rotating bed. (WARNING: If this is your first exposure to this version of Casino, prepare for your head to explode.)

Incidentally, let’s take a look a trailer below. And through all this Fleming’s book became increasingly forgotten, to the point when the trailer was released the film was said to be “suggested” by the novel, as opposed to based on it. The film listed five directors, notably the great John Huston ( The Maltese Falcon), with a sixth uncredited.

Indeed, Casino Royale featured an absurd number of chefs in the kitchen. Yet so many writers toiled on the film that none of these five icons would be among the three screenwriters actually credited for it. Strangelove screenwriter Terry Southern, and Woody Allen. He would be one of the brilliant writers to work on this project, a murderers’ row that also included Catch-22 author Joseph Heller, Sunset Boulevard co-writer/director Billy Wilder, Dr. Legendary screenwriter Ben Hecht, dubbed the “Shakespeare of Hollywood,” wrote up a faithful version of Fleming’s novel.

Granted, the initial approach sounded downright sane. A film adaptation was inevitable to cash in on Bond’s popularity, yet it would have to be outside the established canon. Broccoli, however, did not have the rights to that first Bond novel. (It’s actually based on Fleming’s sixth 007 novel.) Starring Sean Connery and co-produced by Albert Broccoli, it established a pattern to be followed for many films to come.

Cast of original casino royale