By Lee Pfeiffer
The Daily Mail reports that the big budget 1967 spoof version of the James Bond novel Casino Royale, which was only moderately successful at the boxoffice, has since grossed over $120 million to date. The revenues are obviously enhanced by decades of TV broadcast fees and home video income. Peter Sellers' estate is still getting royalties because the legendary actor had negotiated an astonishing deal that would pay him 3% of the gross in perpetuity. The much-troubled production became legendary when virtually every British studio was utilized by numerous directors to bring the spoof to life. An all star cast included Sellers, Ursula Andress, David Niven, Deborah Kerr and Woody Allen. The film received mixed reviews but earned the wrath of hardcore Bond and Ian Fleming purists who complained the movie the squandered the opportunity to bring an excellent novel to the screen (a situation that was finally remedied with the 2006 release of the "serious" version of Casino Royale.) This was the only Bond novel that wasn't controlled by legendary Eon Productions producers Cubby Broccoli and Harry Saltzman. Rather than bring the rights owners, producer Charles K. Feldman, in as a partner on a big screen version, they preferred to let Feldman develop his own project. The result was that the film was in theaters at the same time as Eon's official Bond movie You Only Live Twice.
For extensive coverage of the making of the 1967 Casino Royale, see Cinema Retro issue #6.