127-411: Little Nellie may refer to: a fictional James Bond autogyro aircraft, seen in the film You Only Live Twice Little Nellie 007 , a book about that aircraft Wallis WA-116 Agile , the actual aircraft type used in the film See also [ edit ] Little Nell (disambiguation) Wet Nellie Nellie Wallace Topics referred to by
254-632: A masseuse in You Only Live Twice , and Scoular appears as Ruby Bartlett in On Her Majesty's Secret Service . Jack Gwillim , who has a minor role as a British Army officer, plays a Royal Navy officer in Thunderball . Caroline Munro , seen very briefly as one of Dr Noah's gun-toting guards, went on to play Naomi in The Spy Who Loved Me , and also appears with other models on the cover of
381-459: A one-hour Americanized television adaptation for Climax! on CBS . In March 1955, Fleming sold the film rights of his novel Casino Royale to the producer Gregory Ratoff for $ 6,000 ($ 68,243 in 2023 dollars) after Ratoff had bought a $ 600 six-month option from Fleming the previous year. Ratoff commissioned Lorenzo Semple Jr. to write a script, but both men thought Bond was "unbelievable" and "stupid". According to Semple, Ratoff considered
508-478: A US Army officer at the auction, had earlier played gangster Jack Strap in Goldfinger . Well-established stars such as Peter O'Toole and sporting legends such as Stirling Moss took uncredited parts solely in order to work with the other cast members. Moss played Evelyn's driver. O'Toole supposedly took payment in a case of champagne. Stunt director Richard Talmadge employed Geraldine Chaplin to appear in
635-454: A bad Bond film, but it doesn't compare to its predecessors – the formula had become a little stale." Jim Smith and Stephen Lavington, in their 2002 retrospective, Bond Films , judged Ken Adams's production design “astonishing.” They conclude: “ You Only Live Twice is a loving tribute to the idea that nothing succeeds like excess. […] It’s more Fleming pastiche than actual Fleming, with elements of previous Eon Bond films sprinkled through
762-497: A bit too extravagant." Ali Barclay of BBC Films lightly criticized Dahl's script, writing that Dahl had "clearly helped thrust Bond into a whole new world of villainy and technology, maybe his concepts were slightly ahead of themselves, or maybe he just tried too hard." Leo Goldsmith lauded the volcano base as "the most impressive of Ken Adam's sets for the franchise." Danny Peary wrote that You Only Live Twice "should have been about twenty minutes shorter" and described it as "not
889-407: A brief Keystone Cops insert. The film proved to be young Anjelica Huston 's first experience in the film industry as she was called upon by her father, John Huston, to cover the screenshots of Kerr's hands. It features the first theatrical appearance of David Prowse as Frankenstein's monster . John Le Mesurier features in early scenes as M's driver. In November 1952, several months before
1016-452: A cave booby-trapped with phosgene gas, which leads to the volcano with the secret rocket base. Bond slips inside while Kissy goes to alert Tanaka. Bond locates and frees the captured American and Soviet astronauts and, with their help, steals a space suit to infiltrate the SPECTRE spacecraft, "Bird One". However, Blofeld spots Bond, who is detained while Bird One is launched. Bond is taken into
1143-450: A chase scene through Hamburg 's red-light district that results in Bond escaping disguised as a female mud wrestler . New characters appear such as Lili Wing, a brothel madam and former lover of Bond whose ultimate fate is to be crushed in the back of a garbage truck, and Gita, wife of Le Chiffre. The beautiful Gita, whose face and throat are hideously disfigured as a result of Bond using her as
1270-467: A convent. Back in London, Bond is named head of MI6. Bond is told that agents around the world are being killed by SMERSH due to their inability to refuse sex, and also that the " sex maniac " who was given the name "James Bond" when he (Bond) retired has gone to work in television. To confuse SMERSH and expose their masterplan, Bond orders that all remaining MI6 agents be codenamed "James Bond 007", and creates
1397-415: A disenchanted star. Sean Connery had stated that he was tired of playing James Bond and all of the associated commitment (time spent filming and publicising each movie), together with finding it difficult to do other work, which would potentially lead to typecasting . Saltzman and Broccoli were able to persuade Connery by increasing his fee for the film, but geared up to look for a replacement. Jan Werich
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#17328698161391524-621: A few minutes in the final scene. Supporting cast Casino Royale also boasts the greatest number of actors in a Bond film either to have appeared or to go on to appear in the rest of the Eon series – besides Andress in Dr. No , Sheybal appears as Kronsteen in From Russia with Love , Kwouk features as Mr. Ling in Goldfinger and an unnamed SPECTRE operative in You Only Live Twice , Roland plays
1651-660: A few years earlier in Some Like It Hot (1959). At the Intercon science fiction convention held in Slough in 1978, David Prowse commented on his part, apparently his big-screen debut. He claimed that he was originally asked to play "Super Pooh", a giant Winnie-the-Pooh in a superhero costume who attacks Evelyn Tremble during the Torture of the Mind sequence. This idea, as with many others in
1778-465: A grade school educational short entitled Our Amazing Universe, and the volcanic climax is a series of clumsy process shots that no one took the trouble to fix. Even Connery seems uncomfortable and fatigued..." Clifford Terry of the Chicago Tribune remarked that "a large percentage of You Only Live Twice is disappointing, lacking the wit and zip, the pacing and punch, of its predecessors, especially
1905-529: A great secret underground launching pad – that this way out adventure picture should be the joy and delight of the youngsters and give pleasure to the reasonable adults who can find release in the majestically absurd." Charles Champlin of the Los Angeles Times wrote the film was "a fast, funny, no-holds-barred piece of outrageous nonsense." Variety stated more positively: "As entertainment [ You Only Live Twice ] compares favourably in quality and
2032-549: A meandering, mostly laugh-free script." Metacritic , which uses a weighted average , assigned the film a score of 48 out of 100, based on 11 critics, indicating "mixed or average" reviews. Columbia first issued Casino Royale on VHS in 1989, and on LaserDisc in 1994. In 1999, following the Columbia/MGM/ Kevin McClory lawsuit on ownership of the Bond film series, the rights were transferred to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (whose sister company United Artists co-owns
2159-457: A mechanical (yet inspired) screenplay. […] This is pop art, delivered with punch and panache.” IGN ranked You Only Live Twice as the fourth-best Bond film, and Entertainment Weekly as the second-best, considering that it "pushes the series to the outer edge of coolness". However, Norman Wilner of MSN chose it as the fifth-worst, criticising the plot, action scenes and lack of screentime for Blofeld. Literary critic Paul Simpson called
2286-461: A movie", and compared it to a travelogue , stating that he had to create a new plot though "I could retain only four or five of the original story's ideas." On creating the plot, Dahl said he "did not know what the hell Bond was going to do" despite having to deliver the first draft in six weeks, and decided to do a basic plot similar to Dr. No . He was inspired by the story of a missing nuclear-armed U.S. Air Force bomber over Spain and by
2413-459: A one-hour colour television programme titled Welcome to Japan, Mr. Bond , which first aired on 2 June 1967 in the United States on NBC . Bond regulars Lois Maxwell and Desmond Llewelyn appeared, playing respectively Miss Moneypenny and Q. Kate O'Mara appears as Miss Moneypenny's assistant. The programme shows clips from You Only Live Twice and the then four existing Bond films, and contained
2540-457: A rigorous programme to train male agents to ignore women's advances. Moneypenny recruits Cooper, a karate expert, and meets an exotic agent known as the Detainer. Bond hires Vesper Lynd, a retired agent turned millionaire, to recruit baccarat expert Evelyn Tremble, whom he intends to use to beat SMERSH agent Le Chiffre, who has embezzled SMERSH's money and is desperate to cover up his theft before he
2667-426: A satire. The budget escalated as various directors and writers became involved in the production, and actors expressed dissatisfaction with the project. Released on 13 April 1967, two months prior to Eon's fifth Bond film, You Only Live Twice , Casino Royale was a financial success, grossing over $ 41.7 million worldwide, and Burt Bacharach 's musical score was praised, earning him an Academy Award nomination for
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#17328698161392794-549: A series of commercials featuring British model Twiggy . In its opening weekend in the United States and Canada, it set a record three-day gross for Columbia of $ 2,148,711. As late as 2011, the film was still making money for the estate of Peter Sellers, who negotiated an extraordinary 3% of the gross profits (an estimated £120 million), with the proceeds currently going to Cassie Unger, daughter and sole heir of Sellers' beneficiary, fourth wife Lynne Frederick . When domestic box office receipts are adjusted for inflation, Casino Royale
2921-428: A shield during a gunfight in the same sequence which sees Wing meet her fate, goes on to become the prime protagonist in the torture scene that features in the book, a role originally Le Chiffre's. Virtually nothing from Hecht's scripts was ever filmed, although a draft dated to February 1964 has a line of dialogue containing the idea of MI6 having given multiple agents the name of James Bond after Bond has died to confuse
3048-457: A similar surname to its inventor. Wallis piloted his invention, which was equipped with various mock-up armaments by John Stears ' special effects team, during production. "Nellie"'s battle with helicopters proved to be difficult to film. The scenes were initially shot in Miyazaki , first with takes of the gyrocopter, with more than 85 take-offs, five hours of flight and Wallis nearly crashing into
3175-656: A storyline of Moneypenny trying to establish the identity of Bond's bride. You Only Live Twice premiered at the Odeon Leicester Square in London on 12 June 1967, with Queen Elizabeth II in attendance. The film opened the following day in the United Kingdom and United States, set an opening day record at the Odeon Leicester Square, and went to number one in the United States with a weekend gross of $ 600,000. It grossed $ 7 million from 161 theatres in
3302-735: A walking atomic bomb. Sir James, Moneypenny, Mata, and Cooper escape from their cell and fight their way back to the casino director's office, where Sir James establishes that Vesper is a double agent. The casino is overrun by secret agents and a battle ensues. American and French support arrives, adding to the chaos. Meanwhile, Jimmy counts down a series of hiccups, each bringing him closer to doom. The atomic pill explodes, destroying Casino Royale and killing everyone inside. Sir James and his agents appear in Heaven, while Jimmy descends to Hell. Major stars, such as Raft and Belmondo, were given top billing in marketing and screen trailers despite only appearing for
3429-427: A worthy central villain, You Only Live Twice overcomes a messy and implausible story to deliver another memorable early Bond flick." James Berardinelli of ReelViews said that the first half was good, but "It's only during the second half, as the plot escalates beyond the bounds of preposterousness, that the film starts to fragment", criticising Blofeld's appearance and stating "rockets that swallow up spacecraft are
3556-568: Is 20th-largest grossing of the entire Bond franchise. No advance press screenings were held, leading reviews to only appear after the premiere. Roger Ebert , in his review for the Chicago Sun-Times , wrote "[t]his is possibly the most indulgent film ever made". Time magazine described Casino Royale as "an incoherent and vulgar vaudeville ". Variety declared the film to be "a conglomeration of frenzied situations, 'in' gags and special effects, lacking discipline and cohesion. Some of
3683-459: Is a film of momentary vision, collaboration, adaption, pastiche, and accident. It is the anti-auteur work of all time, a film shaped by the very zeitgeist it took on." Romano Tozzi complimented the photography, sets and special effects, but viewed the film as "senseless parody—a disconnected hodgepodge of all the gimmicks and sex-ridden cliches imaginable." In his review of the film, Leonard Maltin remarked, "Money, money everywhere, but [the] film
3810-401: Is approached by female Japanese secret service agent Aki , who takes him to meet local MI6 operative Dikko Henderson. Henderson claims to have critical evidence about the spacecraft, but is killed by a hitman before he can elaborate. Bond kills the assailant, taking his clothing as a disguise, and is driven in the getaway car to Osato Chemicals. Once there, Bond subdues the driver and breaks into
3937-462: Is different from Wikidata All article disambiguation pages All disambiguation pages You Only Live Twice (film)#Filming You Only Live Twice is a 1967 spy film and the fifth in the James Bond series produced by Eon Productions , starring Sean Connery as the fictional MI6 agent James Bond . It is the first Bond film to be directed by Lewis Gilbert , who later directed
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4064-498: Is docked. They investigate the company's dock facilities and discover the ship was delivering elements for rocket fuel . They are discovered, but Bond eludes the henchmen until Aki gets away; however, Bond is captured. He wakes, tied up in Brandt's cabin on the Ning-Po . Brandt interrogates Bond, before seducing him. Brandt flies Bond to Tokyo the next day, but en route, she sets off a flare in
4191-477: Is executed. Following a clue from Agent Mimi, Bond instructs his estranged daughter, Mata Bond, to travel to West Berlin and infiltrate International Mothers' Help, an au pair service that is actually a SMERSH training centre. Mata uncovers a plan to sell compromising photographs of military leaders from the US, USSR, China, and Great Britain at an "art auction", another money-raising scheme from Le Chiffre. Mata destroys
4318-615: Is hijacked from orbit by an unidentified spaceship. The United States suspects it to be the work of the Soviet Union , but the British suspect Japanese involvement since the spacecraft landed in the Sea of Japan . To investigate, MI6 operative James Bond is sent to Tokyo, after faking his own death in Hong Kong and being buried at sea from HMS Tenby . While attending a sumo tournament, Bond
4445-419: Is himself killed in the process. Bond returns M's remains (a toupée) to his widow, Lady Fiona McTarry, at M's Scottish estate. However, the real Lady Fiona has been replaced by SMERSH's Agent Mimi, and the household replaced with beautiful women in an attempt to destroy the true Bond's "celibate image". The women fail to seduce Bond, and Mimi is so impressed that she helps Bond foil the plot against him and joins
4572-559: Is located atop a giant underground headquarters run by the evil Dr. Noah, who is revealed to be Sir James's nephew Jimmy Bond, a former MI6 agent who defected to SMERSH. Jimmy reveals his plan to use biological warfare to make all women beautiful and kill all men over 4 ft 6 in (1.37 m) tall, leaving him the "big man" who attracts all the women. Jimmy has also captured the Detainer, and he tries to persuade her to be his partner. She reluctantly agrees, but only to dupe him into swallowing one of his atomic time pills, turning him into
4699-435: Is not captured on camera; an outtake of Sellers entering a racing car was substituted. In this outtake, he calls for the car, à la The Pink Panther , to chase down Vesper and her kidnappers; the next thing that is shown is Evelyn being tortured. Outtakes of Sellers were also used for Evelyn's dream sequence (pretending to play the piano on Andress' torso), in the finale – blowing out the candles while in highland dress – and at
4826-429: Is replete with as many fights, gadgets, and beauties as its predecessors". Time magazine was sharply critical of the film, claiming the franchise had become "the victim of the same misfortune that once befell Frankenstein : there have been so many flamboyant imitations that the original looks like a copy." The review later derided that "the effects are ineffective. The outer-space sequences would be more appropriate in
4953-518: Is stopped by Tanaka and flees. Bond fights his way back to the control room, kills Blofeld's bodyguard Hans, and activates Bird One 's self-destruct before it reaches the American capsule. As the Americans stand down their forces, Blofeld activates the base's self-destruct system and escapes. Bond, Kissy, Tanaka, and the surviving ninjas leave before the eruption destroys the base, and are picked up by
5080-431: Is terribly uneven—sometimes funny, often not." Simon Winder called Casino Royale a "pitiful spoof", while Robert Druce described it as "an abstraction of real life". On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes , 26% of 42 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 4.6/10. The website's consensus reads: "A goofy, dated parody of spy movie cliches, Casino Royale squanders its all-star cast on
5207-414: Is too much... for one James Bond!" refers to Bond's plan to mislead SMERSH in which six other agents are pretending to be "James Bond", namely, baccarat master Evelyn Tremble ( Peter Sellers ); millionaire spy Vesper Lynd ( Ursula Andress ); Bond's secretary Miss Moneypenny ( Barbara Bouchet ); Bond's daughter with Mata Hari , Mata Bond ( Joanna Pettet ); and British agents Cooper ( Terence Cooper ) and
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5334-455: Is top-heavy with gadgets but weak on plotting and getting everything to work at the same time." Bosley Crowther , reviewing for The New York Times , felt "there's enough of the bright and bland bravado of the popular British super-sleuth mixed into this melee of rocket-launching to make it a bag of good Bond fun. And there's so much of that scientific clatter – so much warring of super-capsules out in space and fussing with electronic gadgets in
5461-474: Is used early in the film. At the time, Barry was the main composer for the Eon Bond series, and said song had won an Academy Award over Bacharach's own " Alfie ". The cover art was done by Robert McGinnis , based on the film poster. The original LP was later issued by Varèse Sarabande in the same track order as shown below. It has been re-released under licence by Kritzerland Records and again by Quartet Records,
5588-412: Is visited by M , the head of British MI6 , CIA representative Ransome, KGB representative Smernov, and Deuxième Bureau representative Le Grand. The four implore Bond to come out of retirement to deal with SMERSH , who have been eliminating agents, but Bond refuses, as well as chastising M for continuing to use his name for other field agents. M orders a mortar attack that destroys Bond's estate, but
5715-527: The Billboard charts in the US, and No. 11 in the UK. Both versions of the title song are available on CD. A different title song was originally recorded by Julie Rogers , but eventually discarded. Only two lines from that version were kept in the final lyrics, and the orchestral part was changed to fit Sinatra's vocal range. Rogers' version only appeared in a James Bond 30th Anniversary CD , with no singer credit. In
5842-583: The Japanese Maritime Forces and the British Secret Service. On Her Majesty's Secret Service was the intended next film after Thunderball (1965), but the producers decided to adapt You Only Live Twice instead because OHMSS would require searching for high and snowy locations. Lewis Gilbert originally declined the offer to direct, but accepted after producer Albert R. Broccoli called him saying: "You can't give up this job. It's
5969-728: The 1969 Pan Books edition of On Her Majesty's Secret Service . Milton Reid , who appears in a bit part as the temple guard, opening the door to Mata Bond's hall, plays one of Dr. No's guards and Stromberg's underling, Sandor, in The Spy Who Loved Me . John Hollis , who plays the temple priest in Mata Bond's hall, went on to play the implied Ernst Stavro Blofeld character in the pre-credits sequence of For Your Eyes Only . John Wells , Q's assistant, appears in For Your Eyes Only as Denis Thatcher . Hal Galili, who appears briefly as
6096-410: The 1977 film The Spy Who Loved Me and the 1979 film Moonraker , both starring Roger Moore . The screenplay of You Only Live Twice was written by Roald Dahl , and loosely based on Ian Fleming 's 1964 novel of the same name . It is the first James Bond film to discard most of Fleming's plot, using only a few characters and locations from the book as the background for an entirely new story. In
6223-476: The 1990s, an alternative example of a possible theme song (also called "You Only Live Twice" and sung by Lorraine Chandler ) was discovered in the vaults of RCA Records . It became a very popular track with followers of the Northern soul scene (Chandler was well known for her high-quality soul output on RCA) and can be found on several RCA soul compilations. To promote the film, United Artists Television produced
6350-406: The Detainer ( Daliah Lavi ). Charles K. Feldman , the producer, had acquired the film rights in 1960 and had attempted to get Casino Royale made as an Eon Productions Bond film ; however, Feldman and the producers of the Eon series, Albert R. Broccoli and Harry Saltzman , failed to come to terms. Believing that he could not compete with the Eon series, Feldman resolved to produce the film as
6477-567: The Japanese government did not allow in a national park; hence, the crew moved to Torremolinos , Spain, which was found to resemble the Japanese landscape. The shots of the volcano were filmed at Shinmoedake on Kyushu Island. The sets of SPECTRE's volcano base, including operative heliport and monorail, were constructed at a lot inside Pinewood Studios , at a cost of $ 1 million. The 45 m (148 ft) tall set could be seen from 5 kilometres (3 miles) away, and attracted many people from
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#17328698161396604-479: The Oriental sound" with Japanese music-inspired tracks. The theme song, " You Only Live Twice ", was composed by Barry and lyricist Leslie Bricusse , and sung by Nancy Sinatra after her father Frank Sinatra passed on the opportunity. Nancy Sinatra was reported to be very nervous while recording – first she wanted to leave the studio; then she claimed to sometimes "sound like Minnie Mouse ". Barry declared that
6731-487: The Soviet Union and the United States' recent first spacewalks from Voskhod 2 and Gemini 4 . Dahl was given a free rein on his script, except for the character of Bond and "the girl formula", involving three women for Bond to seduce – an ally and a henchwoman who both get killed, and the main Bond girl. While the third involved a character from the book, Kissy Suzuki, Dahl had to create Aki and Helga Brandt to fulfil
6858-629: The Tijuana Brass performed some of the songs with Mike Redway singing the title song as the end credits roll. The title theme was Alpert's second number one on the Easy Listening chart where it spent two weeks at the top in June 1967 and peaked at number 27 on the Billboard Hot 100 . Alpert would later contribute a trumpet solo to the title song of the 1983 James Bond film Never Say Never Again , which
6985-476: The UK. Hama, initially cast in the role of Tanaka's assistant, had difficulty with the language. Initially the producers were going to fire her, but after Tamba suggested she would commit suicide if they did so instead switched her role with Wakabayashi, who had been cast as Kissy, a part with less dialogue. Wakabayashi only requested that her character name, "Suki", be changed to "Aki". Filming of You Only Live Twice lasted from July 1966 to March 1967. The film
7112-433: The United States in its first three weeks, and was number one for seven weeks. The film grossed $ 43 million in the United States and over $ 68 million worldwide. Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times awarded the film two-and-a-half stars out of four, in which he criticised the focus on gadgets, declaring "the formula fails to work its magic. Like its predecessor Thunderball , another below-par entry, this one
7239-422: The United States. The mysterious spaceship lands in a base hidden inside the volcano, operated by Ernst Stavro Blofeld of SPECTRE, who has been hired by a great power to start a Soviet-American war. Blofeld summons Osato and Brandt to his quarters for not having killed Bond; Osato blames Brandt, and Blofeld drops her into a pool filled with piranhas . In Kyoto, Bond prepares to conduct a closer investigation of
7366-688: The actor to instead play a "little man", who plays Bond. Jean-Paul Belmondo and George Raft received major billing , even though both only appear briefly during the climactic brawl at the end, Raft flipping his trademark coin and promptly shooting himself dead with a backward-firing pistol, while Belmondo appears wearing a fake moustache as the French Foreign Legion officer who requires an English phrase book to translate " merde !" into "ooch!" during his fistfight. Raft's coin flip, which originally appeared in Scarface (1932), had been spoofed by Raft
7493-424: The behind-the-scenes drama of production concerned the filming of Sellers' segments. Screenwriter Wolf Mankowitz declared that Sellers felt intimidated by Welles to the extent that, except for a couple of shots, neither was in the studio simultaneously. Other versions of the legend depict the drama stemming from Sellers being slighted, in favour of Welles, by Princess Margaret (whom Sellers knew) during her visit to
7620-411: The bigger-is-better cinema", before adding, "It would have been a good idea to cut the picture drastically, perhaps down to the scenes featuring Peter Sellers and Woody Allen. In fact, I recommend you see it on television when it's in a two-hour (including commercials) slot. Then you won't expect it to make any sense." A few recent reviewers have been more impressed. Andrea LeVasseur of AllMovie called
7747-490: The budget was between $ 8.5–9.5 million, of which the cast cost $ 3 million. Sellers was to receive a percentage of the gross after the takings reached $ 17.5 million. Five different directors helmed different segments and stunt coordinator Richard Talmadge co-directed the final sequence. Feldman said that Huston contributed 38 minutes in the final cut, Hughes 25 minutes, McGrath 20 minutes, Parrish 20 minutes, and Guest 26 minutes. Huston's sequence involved Sir James Bond meeting
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#17328698161397874-425: The camera several times. A scene filming the helicopters from above created a major downdraft , and cameraman John Jordan's foot was severed by the craft's rotor. It was surgically reattached by surgeons visiting the country, and then amputated in London when the surgery was deemed to have been flawed. Jordan would continue work for the Bond series with a prosthetic foot. The concluding shots involved explosions, which
8001-401: The casino, and Evelyn is also kidnapped while pursuing her. Le Chiffre, desperate for the winning cheque, tortures Evelyn using hallucinogens. Vesper rescues Evelyn, only to subsequently kill him, while SMERSH agents kill Le Chiffre. In London, Mata is kidnapped by SMERSH in a giant flying saucer , and Sir James and Moneypenny travel to Casino Royale to rescue her. They discover that the casino
8128-399: The control room, where he meets Blofeld. Bird One closes in on an American space capsule, and U.S. forces prepare to launch a nuclear attack on the Soviet Union. Meanwhile, Tanaka's ninjas approach the base's entrance, but are detected and fired upon. Bond distracts Blofeld and lets in the ninjas. Blofeld kills Osato for his failure to eliminate Bond and prepares to execute Bond as well, but
8255-402: The decision to make Casino Royale a comedy, as he wanted to play Bond straight. This is illustrated in somewhat fictionalised form in the film The Life and Death of Peter Sellers (2004), based on the biography by Roger Lewis , who has claimed that Sellers kept re-writing and improvising scenes to make them play seriously. This story is in agreement with the observation that the only parts of
8382-402: The end of the film when all the various "James Bond doubles" are together. In the kidnap sequence, Evelyn's death is also very abruptly inserted; it consists of pre-existing footage of Evelyn being rescued by Vesper, followed by a later-filmed shot of her abruptly deciding to shoot him, followed by a freeze-frame over some of the previous footage of her surrounded by bodies (noticeably a zoom-in on
8509-738: The exterior of 10 Downing Street . Mereworth Castle in Kent was used as the home of Sir James Bond, which is blown up early in the film. Much of filming for M's Scottish castle was done on location in County Meath , Ireland, with Killeen Castle as the focus. However, the car chase sequences where Bond leaves the castle were shot in the Perthshire village of Killin , with further sequences in Berkshire (specifically Old Windsor and Bracknell ). Filming had wrapped by October 1966, at which stage Feldman said
8636-452: The female Japanese stars to the producers. The first draft was written by Sydney Boehm based closely on the original novel. The producers had Harold Jack Bloom come to Japan with them to write a screenplay. His work was ultimately rejected, but since several of his ideas were used in the final script, he was given the credit of "Additional Story Material". Among these elements were the opening with Bond's fake death and burial at sea, and
8763-401: The film "the original ultimate spy spoof", and opined that the "nearly impossible to follow" plot made it a "satire to the highest degree". Further describing it as a "hideous, zany disaster", LeVasseur concluded that it was "a psychedelic, absurd masterpiece". Cinema historian Robert von Dassanowsky has written about the artistic merits of the film and says "like Casablanca , Casino Royale
8890-435: The film a "reckless, disconnected nonsense that could be telescoped or stopped at any point". Writing in 1986, Danny Peary noted, "It's hard to believe that in 1967 we actually waited in anticipation for this so-called James Bond spoof. It was a disappointment then; it's a curio today, but just as hard to sit through." Peary described the film as being "disjointed and stylistically erratic" and "a testament to wastefulness in
9017-407: The film close to the book are the ones featuring Sellers and Welles. In the end, Sellers' involvement with the film was cut abruptly short. Additionally, Sellers went absent for days or weeks at a time, refused to appear in his scenes with Welles and exited before all of his scenes had been shot. As a result, Sellers was unavailable for the filming of an ending and other interlinking scenes, leaving
9144-403: The film for $ 1 million. Feldman originally intended to cast Terence Cooper as Bond and had him under personal contract for two years prior to production. Feldman had worked with Sellers on What's New Pussycat? (1965) and offered the actor a part as Bond. Sellers originally turned him down saying he felt the image of Bond was "too fixed". Feldman persuaded Sellers to change his mind by asking
9271-584: The film one of the most colourful of the series and credited the prefecture of Kagoshima for adding "a good flavour" of Japanese influence on the film, but he panned the depiction of Blofeld as a "let-down", "small, bald and a whooping scar". Simon Winder said that the film is "perfect" for parodies of the series. John Brosnan , in his book James Bond in the Cinema , compared the film to an episode of Thunderbirds due to its reliance on gadgetry, but he admitted it had pace and spectacle. Christopher Null considered
9398-495: The film rights from his widow. Albert R. Broccoli , who had held an interest in adapting James Bond for some years, offered to purchase the Casino Royale rights from Feldman, but he declined. Feldman and his friend, director Howard Hawks , had an interest in adapting Casino Royale and considered Leigh Brackett as a writer and Cary Grant as James Bond. They eventually decided not to proceed after they saw Dr. No (1962),
9525-465: The film to be one of James Bond's most memorable adventures but that the plot was "protracting and quite confusing". The film is recognised by the American Film Institute in these lists: Casino Royale (1967 film) Casino Royale is a 1967 spy parody film originally distributed by Columbia Pictures . It is loosely based on the 1953 novel of the same name by Ian Fleming ;
9652-434: The film's script, was rapidly dropped, and Prowse was re-cast as a Frankenstein -type monster for the closing scenes. The final sequence was principally directed by former actor/stuntman Richard Talmadge . Filming began on 11 January 1966. Principal photography took place at Pinewood Studios , Shepperton Studios and Twickenham Studios in London. Extensive sequences also featured London, notably Trafalgar Square and
9779-461: The film, Bond is dispatched to Japan after American and Soviet-crewed spacecraft vanish mysteriously in orbit, each nation blaming the other amidst the Cold War . Bond travels secretly to a remote Japanese island to find the perpetrators, and comes face-to-face with Ernst Stavro Blofeld , the head of SPECTRE . The film reveals the appearance of Blofeld, who was previously unseen. SPECTRE is working for
9906-493: The filmmakers to devise a way to make the existing footage work without him. The framing device of a beginning and ending with Niven was created to salvage the material. Guest, who had been given the task of creating a narrative thread which would link all segments of the film, chose to use the original Bond and Vesper Lynd as linking characters. Signs of missing footage from the Sellers segments are evident at various points. Evelyn
10033-728: The final cut, including Ian Hendry (as 006, the agent whose body is briefly seen being disposed of by Vesper), Mona Washbourne and Arthur Mullard . For the musical score , Feldman decided to bring in Burt Bacharach , who had composed Feldman's previous production, What's New Pussycat? . Bacharach worked for over two years writing for Casino Royale , in the meantime composing After the Fox and being forced to decline participation in Luv . Lyricist Hal David contributed with various songs, many of which appear in instrumental versions. Herb Alpert &
10160-399: The final song uses 25 different takes. There are two versions of the song "You Only Live Twice", sung by Nancy Sinatra, one directly from the movie soundtrack, and a second one for record release arranged by Billy Strange . The movie soundtrack song is widely recognised for its striking opening bars and oriental flavour, and was far more popular on radio. The record release reached No. 44 on
10287-414: The first Bond adaptation made by Broccoli and his partner Harry Saltzman through their company Eon Productions . By 1964, with Feldman having invested nearly $ 550,000 of his own money into pre-production, he decided to try a deal with Eon Productions and United Artists . The attempt at a co-production eventually fell through, for Feldman frequently argued with Broccoli and Saltzman, especially regarding
10414-451: The first novel to feature the character James Bond . The film stars David Niven as the "original" Bond, Sir James Bond 007 . Forced out of retirement to investigate the deaths and disappearances of international spies, he soon battles the mysterious Dr. Noah and the ruthless counter-intelligence agency SMERSH , inspired by actual organizations in the USSR . The film's tagline: "Casino Royale
10541-508: The first three. Roald Dahl's script is larded with sex-slanted jokes that are either pathetically feeble or sophomorically coarse, Bond's patented puns are punier and even Connery's enthusiasm for his shrewd, suave, and sensual character seems to have waned." On the review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes , the film holds an approval rating of 74% based on 53 reviews with an average rating of 6.71/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "With exotic locales, impressive special effects, and
10668-614: The franchise) as a condition of the settlement. MGM then released the first DVD edition of Casino Royale in 2002, followed by a 40th anniversary special edition in 2007. Years later, as a result of the Sony / Comcast acquisition of MGM, Columbia would once again become responsible for co-distribution, as well as the entire Eon Bond series, including the 2006 adaptation of Casino Royale . However, MGM Home Entertainment changed its distributor to 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment in May 2006. Fox
10795-633: The government of an unnamed Asian power, implied to be the People's Republic of China , to provoke war between the superpowers. During the filming in Japan, it was announced that Sean Connery would retire from the role of Bond; however, after one film's absence, he returned in 1971's Diamonds Are Forever and later 1983's non-Eon Bond film Never Say Never Again . You Only Live Twice received positive reviews and grossed over $ 111 million (equivalent to $ 1 billion in 2023) in worldwide box office. However, it
10922-464: The island by training with Tanaka's ninjas and donning a Japanese disguise, which will include a staged marriage to an Ama diver , performed by an agent known on the island. While still in Kyoto, Aki is killed when she is poisoned in her sleep by a SPECTRE agent targeting Bond. Bond is introduced to Tanaka's student, Kissy Suzuki , who will perform the role of his wife. Acting on a lead, the pair reconnoitre
11049-570: The largest audience in the world." Peter R. Hunt , who edited the first five Bond films, believed that Gilbert had been contracted by the producers for other work but they found they had to use him. Ted Moore , the director of photography on the first four films, was unavailable because he was filming A Man for All Seasons and was replaced by Freddie Young . Gilbert, Young, producers Broccoli and Harry Saltzman , and production designer Ken Adam then went to Japan, spending three weeks searching for locations. SPECTRE 's shore fortress headquarters
11176-422: The latter to mark the film's 50th anniversary. This latest issue has included almost all of Bacharach's underscore , representing 35 tracks in total. Soundtrack listing All lyrics are written by Hal David ; all music is composed by Burt Bacharach The album became famous among audio purists for the excellence of its recording. It then became a standard "audiophile test" record for decades to come, especially
11303-416: The ninja attack. As the screenwriter of the previous Bond films, Richard Maibaum , was unavailable, Roald Dahl (a close friend of Ian Fleming) was chosen to write the adaptation, despite having no prior experience writing a screenplay except for the uncompleted The Bells of Hell Go Ting-a-ling-a-ling . Dahl said that the original novel was "Fleming's worst book, with no plot in it which would even make
11430-418: The office safe of the company's president, Mr. Osato. After obtaining secret documents, Bond is pursued by security and rescued by Aki, who flees to a secluded subway station. Bond chases her, but falls down a trap door leading to the office of the head of the Japanese secret service, Tiger Tanaka . The documents are examined. They include a photograph of the cargo ship Ning-Po , with a microdot message saying
11557-476: The opposition." In addition to the credited writers, Woody Allen , Peter Sellers , Val Guest , Ben Hecht, Joseph Heller, Terry Southern and Wilder are all believed to have contributed to the screenplay to varying degrees. Feldman called it "a four ring circus". Sellers had hired Southern to write his dialogue (and not the rest of the script) to "upstage" Orson Welles and Allen. Feldman approached Sean Connery to play Bond, but rejected Connery's offer to do
11684-522: The other side. Hecht died from a heart attack in April 1964, two days after finishing his script and before he was able to present it to Feldman. Joseph Heller (and his friend George Mandel ) worked on the project for a few weeks in early 1965, submitting more than 100 pages after Feldman offered Heller $ 150,000. Heller later wrote about this episode in the essay How I found James Bond, lost my self-respect and almost made $ 150,000 in my spare time . The script
11811-470: The photos, leaving baccarat as Le Chiffre's only remaining option. Evelyn arrives at the Casino Royale accompanied by Vesper, who foils an attempt by seductive SMERSH agent Miss Goodthighs to disable him. Later that night at the casino, Evelyn realises that Le Chiffre is using infrared sunglasses to cheat. Vesper steals the sunglasses, allowing Evelyn to beat Le Chiffre. Vesper is apparently abducted outside
11938-423: The plane, seals Bond in his seat and bails out. Bond lands the plane and flees before it explodes. After finding out where the Ning-Po unloaded, Bond flies over the area in an armed autogyro created by Q . Near a volcano , Bond is attacked by and defeats four helicopters, confirming his suspicions of a nearby base. A Soviet spacecraft is captured in orbit by another unidentified craft, heightening tensions with
12065-450: The previous shot). As well as this, an entire sequence involving Evelyn going to the front for the underground James Bond training school (which turns out to be under Harrods , of which the training area was the lowest level) was never shot, thus creating an abrupt cut from Vesper announcing that Evelyn will be James Bond to Evelyn exiting the lift into the training school. Many sequences were dropped, so that several actors never appeared in
12192-418: The profit divisions and when the Casino Royale adaptation would start production. Feldman eventually decided to offer his project to Columbia Pictures through a script written by Ben Hecht , and the studio accepted. Given that Eon's series had led to spy films being in vogue at the time, Feldman opted to make his film a spoof of the Bond series instead of a straightforward adaptation. Hecht's contribution to
12319-485: The project needed Bond to be female and wished to cast Susan Hayward as 'Jane' Bond. In January 1956, The New York Times reported Ratoff had set up a production company with Michael Garrison to produce a film adaptation, but their pitch was rejected by 20th Century Fox and they were unable to find financial backers before his death in December 1960. Talent agent Charles K. Feldman had represented Ratoff and bought
12446-545: The project, if not the final result, was in fact substantial and he wrote several complete drafts. In May 1966, Time magazine reported that Hecht had "three bashes" at completing a script, while his papers contained material from four surviving screenplays by Hecht. His treatments were almost entirely "straight" adaptations, far closer to the original source novel than the spoof which the final production became. A draft from 1957 discovered in Hecht's papers—but which does not identify
12573-463: The publication of his first James Bond novel Casino Royale , Ian Fleming purchased the small theatrical agency Glidrose Productions Limited to produce a screen adaptation of the novel. After the publication, Curtis Brown , Associated British Pictures and the Music Corporation of America all expressed interest in purchasing the film rights. Curtis Brown later licensed the rights to produce
12700-514: The pull of the James Bond name was sufficient to make it the 13th-highest-grossing film in North America in 1967 with a gross of $ 22.7 million ($ 207 million in 2023 dollars ) and a worldwide total of $ 41.7 million ($ 381 million in 2023 dollars ). Welles attributed the success to a marketing strategy that featured a naked tattooed woman on the film's posters and print ads. The campaign also included
12827-669: The region. Locations outside Japan included using the Royal Navy frigate HMS Tenby , then in Gibraltar , for the sea burial, Hong Kong for the scene where Bond fakes his death, and Norway for the Soviet radar station. Sean Connery's then-wife Diane Cilento performed the swimming scenes for at least five Japanese actresses, including Mie Hama. Martial arts expert Donn F. Draeger provided martial arts training, and also doubled for Connery. Lewis Gilbert's regular editor, Thelma Connell ,
12954-538: The release until April 1967. Casino Royale had its world premiere in London's Odeon Leicester Square on 13 April 1967, breaking many opening records in the theatre's history. Its American premiere was held in New York City on 28 April, at the Capitol and Cinema I theatres. It opened two months prior to the fifth Bond film by Eon Productions, You Only Live Twice . Despite the lukewarm nature of contemporary reviews,
13081-502: The representatives of agencies. It was shot in Ireland and Kent in April 1966. Huston worked on his section of the script with Wolf Mankowitz. Huston had written most of Beat the Devil (1953) on location, but says "that was discipline compared to this. It was day to day then it's moment to moment here." Huston wanted Robert Morley as M, but when he was unavailable, the director decided to play
13208-420: The rest. Gilbert was mostly collaborative with Dahl's work, as the writer declared: "He not only helped in script conferences, but had some good ideas and then left you alone, and when you produced the finished thing, he shot it. Other directors have such an ego that they want to rewrite it and put their own dialogue in, and it's usually disastrous. What I admired so much about Lewis Gilbert was that he just took
13335-420: The role himself. Huston says the film "was broached to me as a lark, which it was." McGrath shot for six weeks. Parrish filmed the segment with Andress and Sellers at Shepperton. Hughes was not known for comedies generally but had just directed Drop Dead Darling (1966). Guest wrote and directed the last section and was given the responsibility of splicing the various "chapters" together. Feldman says Parrish
13462-423: The same term [REDACTED] This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the title Little Nellie . If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Little_Nellie&oldid=1251775784 " Category : Disambiguation pages Hidden categories: Short description
13589-554: The score into songs: "Home James, Don't Spare the Horses" was re-arranged as "Bond Street", appearing on Bacharach's album Reach Out (1967), and "Flying Saucer – First Stop Berlin", was reworked with vocals as "Let the Love Come Through" by orchestra leader and arranger Roland Shaw . A clarinet melody would later be featured in a Cracker Jack peanut popcorn commercial. As an in-joke, a brief snippet of John Barry 's song " Born Free "
13716-407: The screenplay and shot it. That's the way to direct: You either trust your writer or you don't." Charles Gray, who played Dikko Henderson, actually inverts the famous "shaken not stirred" line, saying, "That's, um, stirred not shaken. That was right, wasn't it?" to which Bond politely replies, "Perfect." When the time came to begin You Only Live Twice , the producers were faced with the problem of
13843-523: The screenwriter—is a direct adaptation of the novel, albeit with the Bond character absent, instead being replaced by a poker-playing American gangster. Later drafts see vice made central to the plot, with the Le Chiffre character becoming head of a network of brothels (as he is in the novel) whose patrons are then blackmailed by Le Chiffre to fund Spectre (an invention of the screenwriter). The racy plot elements opened up by this change of background include
13970-408: The set. Welles also insisted on performing magic tricks as Le Chiffre, and the director obliged. Guest wrote that Welles did not think much of Sellers, and had refused to work with "that amateur". McGrath, a personal friend of Sellers, was punched by the actor when he complained about Sellers' on-set behaviour. Some Sellers biographies suggest that he took the role of Bond to heart, and was annoyed at
14097-493: The situations are very funny, but many are too strained." Bosley Crowther of The New York Times considered Casino Royale had "more of the talent agent than the secret agent". He praised the film's "fast start" and the scenes up to the baccarat game between Bond and Le Chiffre. Afterward, Crowther felt, the script became tiresome, repetitive and filled with clichés due to "wild and haphazard injections of 'in' jokes and outlandish gags", leading to an excessive length that made
14224-402: The song " The Look of Love ", performed on the film's soundtrack by Dusty Springfield . Critical reaction, however, was generally negative, with many reviewers regarding it as a baffling, disorganised affair. Since 1999, rights have been held by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer , distributors of the Bond films by Eon Productions. Sir James Bond 007, a legendary British spy who has been retired for 20 years,
14351-589: The stunt of diving into a pool to depict Helga's demise, without the use of a double. Dor was dubbed by a different actress for the German release. Actress Tsai Chin played Ling, the Bond Girl who helped fake Bond's death. She would appear as Madame Wu in the 2006 James Bond thriller Casino Royale . UA CEO Bud Ornstein met with Toshiro Mifune in the Canary Islands to try to convince him to play Tiger Tanaka, but he
14478-402: The tourist who took the photo was killed as a security precaution. Bond goes back to Osato Chemicals to meet Osato, masquerading as a potential buyer. Osato humours Bond, but after their meeting orders his secretary, Helga Brandt, to kill him; both are SPECTRE agents. Outside the building, assassins open fire on Bond before Aki rescues him again. Bond and Aki drive to Kobe , where the Ning-Po
14605-477: The vocal performance by Springfield on "The Look of Love". The soundtrack has since been released by other companies in different configurations (including complete score releases). The highly regarded master tapes were damaged, however, during a 1990s remastering, so none of the subsequent re-releases is considered to be as fine as the original LP release. Columbia at first announced release in time for Christmas 1966; however, problems during production postponed
14732-525: Was already committed to appear in Grand Prix . Gilbert had chosen Tetsurō Tamba after working with him in The 7th Dawn . A number of martial arts experts were hired as the ninjas. The two Japanese female parts proved difficult to cast, due to most of the actresses tested having little English. Akiko Wakabayashi and Mie Hama , both Toho Studios stars, were eventually chosen and started taking English classes in
14859-484: Was changed to an extinct volcano after the team learned that the Japanese do not build castles by the sea. The group was due to return to the UK on a BOAC Boeing 707 flight ( BOAC Flight 911 ) on 5 March 1966, but cancelled after being told they had a chance to watch a ninja demonstration. That flight crashed 25 minutes after takeoff, killing all on board. In Tokyo, the crew also found Hunt, who decided to go on holiday after having his request to direct declined. Hunt
14986-468: Was invited to direct the second unit for You Only Live Twice and accepted the job. Unlike most James Bond films, which usually feature various locations around the world, almost the entire film is set in one country, and several minutes are devoted to an elaborate Japanese wedding. This is in keeping with Fleming's original novel, which also devoted a number of pages to the discussion of Japanese culture. Toho Studios provided soundstages, personnel, and
15113-513: Was not menacing enough, and recast Blofeld with Donald Pleasence in the role. Pleasence's ideas for Blofeld's appearance included a hump , a limp, a beard, and a lame hand, before he settled on the scar. He found it uncomfortable, though, because of the glue that attached it to his eye. Many European models were tested for Helga Brandt, including German actress Eva Renzi who passed on the film, with German actress Karin Dor being cast. Dor performed
15240-452: Was originally cast by producer Harry Saltzman to play Blofeld. Upon his arrival at the Pinewood set, both producer Albert R. Broccoli and director Lewis Gilbert felt that he was a poor choice, resembling a "poor, benevolent Father Christmas ". Nonetheless, in an attempt to make the casting work, Gilbert continued filming. After several days, both Gilbert and Broccoli determined that Werich
15367-415: Was originally hired to edit the film. However, after her initial, almost three-hour cut received a terrible response from test audiences, Peter R. Hunt was asked to re-edit the film. Hunt's cut proved a much greater success, and he was awarded the director's chair on the next film as a result. The soundtrack was the fourth of the series to be composed by John Barry . He tried to incorporate the "elegance of
15494-763: Was performed by Alpert's wife, Lani Hall . The film features the song " The Look of Love " performed by Dusty Springfield . It is played in the scene of Vesper recruiting Evelyn, seen through a man-size aquarium in a seductive walk. It was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Song . The song was revisited in the first Austin Powers film, which, to a degree, was inspired by Casino Royale . For European release, Mireille Mathieu sang versions of "The Look of Love" in both French ("Les Yeux D'Amour"), and German ("Ein Blick von Dir"). Bacharach would later rework two tracks of
15621-677: Was shot primarily in Japan, and most of the locations are identifiable. In summary: Most of the interiors were shot at Pinewood. The opening sequence in Hong Kong used some location footage of a street in Kowloon . Hong Kong's Victoria Harbour is also shown, but the at-sea burial of Bond and the retrieval of the corpse was filmed off Gibraltar and the Bahamas. The scenes with the light aircraft ferrying Bond to his supposed death were shot over very English-looking countryside in Buckinghamshire, whereas this
15748-452: Was supposed to be Japan. Large crowds were present in Japan to see the shooting. A Japanese fan began following Sean Connery with a camera, and police had to deal with fan incursions several times during shooting. The heavily armed WA-116 autogyro "Little Nellie" was included after Ken Adam heard a radio interview with its inventor, RAF Wing Commander Ken Wallis . Little Nellie was named after music hall star Nellie Wallace , who has
15875-410: Was the first Bond film to see a decline in box-office revenue, primarily owing to the oversaturation of the spy film genre from Bond imitators, including a competing Bond film, Casino Royale , from Columbia Pictures (1967). The Bond series continued with On Her Majesty's Secret Service in 1969, the first film without Sean Connery in the lead role. American NASA spacecraft Jupiter 16
16002-454: Was then completely re-written by Billy Wilder , and by the time the film reached production, only the idea that the name James Bond should be given to a number of other agents remained. This key plot device in the finished film, in the case of Hecht's version, occurs after the demise of the original James Bond (an event which happened prior to the beginning of his story) which, as Hecht's M puts it, "not only perpetuates his memory, but confuses
16129-400: Was to provide "suspense" while McGrath did "Sellers like comedy". He was offered the unique title of coordinating director but declined, claiming the chaotic plot would not reflect well on him if he were so credited. His extra credit was labelled 'additional sequences' instead. Guest, Hughes, Huston, McGrath, Parrish, and Talmadge received the directorial credits for Casino Royale . Part of
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