A few years ago , I reviewed the first full length 007 film "Dr.No". When people think of the first James Bond, they think of Sean Connery, however, Sean Connery was not the first Bond.
In 1954.on an Anthology show called "Climax!", the program began to show a three act live TV adaption on Ian Fleming's book "Casino Royale". The Television filmed starred Barry Nelson, Peter Lorre and Linda Christan. So here it is 007 fans, my review on thee first Bond film...
James Bond (Barry Nelson), heads to "Casino Royale" to play a game of Baccarat against the villainous Le Chiffre(Peter Lorre). Bond's mission is to to defeat Le Chiffre at Baccarat and force his Soviet spymasters to "retire" him. Bond also meets his old loved interest Valerie Mathis(Linda Christan), who is now Le Chiffre's lover and Le Chiffre tends to put her life in danger if Bond wins.
Yes, Barry Nelson, the guy who played Mr.Ullman in Stanley Kubrick's "The Shining" is the first Bond. So how is he, he's not so good. Instead of being British, he's American and he's sometimes called Jimmy instead of James. Instead of being elegant or a man of action like the Bond we know and love, he's just really a bland version of the great Bond, who stumbles on his lines and looks more like a guy who's trying to be badass. There were some good scenes of him such as the big card game and his knowledge of a hidden microphone in his room but sadly they still don't make the cut. There's not even a decent action scene of him being badass, all the action scenes are just really clumsy and look totally fake, especially the part when the gun accidentally goes off right behind Bonds back at the beginning of the film. Perhaps a lot of the clumsy action scenes has to do with the film being filmed live on TV, when TV was just a new invention.
Strangely enough, the hero and actor who I found more interesting is Michael Pate as Bond's British contact Clarence Leiter. He actually looks and acts like Bond better then Barry Nelson. His character is as smart as Bond, he gets better action scenes then Bond, he's more intimidating then Barry Nelson, his actings better then the actor playing Bond and has the elegance as Bond. Why isn't he Bond, he clearly has the Bond character written all over him. As a matter of fact the character that Clarence is based on, is based on the character Felix Leiter who's an American CIA agent, see the miscast NOW! I know this is the start of the 007 franchise and that they're trying to figure out the character but compare Barry Nelsons performance to this guys performance and tell me who has more class, elegance and seems dangerous. Michael Pate totally got screwed over.
Now lets take a look at the very first Bond girl played by Linda Christan. Well for a start, cross off the word sexy and replace it with the word beautiful. However, there's more then looks to a Bond girl, how's her character. First off I love that she's Bonds ex lover instead of some girl he just meets and falls in love with. It makes their relationship a lot more interesting and the fact that she's with the villain makes the interest in their relationship is much higher. Her acting is good and she fits the role to her character.
Now for the villain. Well first off, he's played by Peter Lorre who's an oddball actor and does great or at least good in anything he's in and seeing him play a Bond villain, is just as sweet as Christopher Walken playing one. Peter Lorre naturally looks and acts like a Bond villain and just watching his performance is just as great as most of the other Bond villains. He's also a villain who you're not sure if Bond's going to defeat, in the 3rd act it looks like he's winning as he tortures Bond, holds his girl hostage and searches his hotel room for the check. His henchman are also interesting too. One carries a gun disguised as a Cane, one is larger then life and the other one just seems menacing when you just look at him. Peter Lorre is clearly a great underrated Bond villain.
So what are my final thoughts on thee first Bond film. Well there's no doubt that there's a huge miscast in casting Bonds and the action in this film is full of many flaws but the story's good, the Bond Girl is good and Peter Lorre plays a great Bond Villain. If you're a huge Bond fan like me, you'll probably be in disappointment by the actor who's portraying Bond in this film but will have appreciation for being the first Bond film.
RATING 3/5
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