Casino Royale (1967)

A big budget spoof of James Bond, full of beautiful expensive sets, beautiful expensive (one assumes) women, and a truck load of stars including: Peter Sellers, William Holden, John Huston, Woody Allen, David Nivens, Ursula Andrews, Barbara Bouchet, Orson Welles, Deborah Kerr, and Joanna Pettet.   The only things missing are wit, humor and a plot. Its just a string of self-contained stories and scenes that don't add up to a coherent story. Further, Casino Royale runs out of gas after 100 minutes.  It seems *much* longer than the 130 minute run time. 

Despite Bad Reviews - it was a massive hit in 1967.  

You can understand why. In an age of B&W TV's and serious Bond films,  this spectacular, big screen comedy-satire, with all that $$ up on the screen, must have hit the spot. Today, it has an IMDB rating of 5.1, and sadly that's about right.  We've lived through the self-spoofing Roger Moore films,  along with Austin Powers, and a million others, so Casino Royale's satire is weak tea.  And while the producers used a dozen writers, none of them came up with anything very funny.   I did smile and occasionally chuckle. That's it.

Comments on the Actors

Given the lack of a story, my focus was on the actors.  Here are my ratings:

Peter Sellers - Horrible.  He's technically the lead, and he was VERY popular in 1967.  However, he's colorless and boring. Sellers was only good when he played characters, almost impersonations. Here he's plays it straight and Sellers is very tiresome. 

Woody Allen -  Below Average. This is the young Woody Allen (he was only 32) playing his whiny, cowardly, New York Schimel character full throttle.   I like woody in many of his films, before he got too old, but not here. He's over-the-top, and his lines aren't very good. 

Orson Welles - Despite his great bulk, he's still facially handsome, and exudes bigness and power, as opposed of the gross fatness he would display in the early 1970s. The difference between age 50 and age 55, I assume. While not funny, he comes off well.

William Holden/John Huston - Good. Bit parts that they do professionally.

David Niven - Good. Getting along in years, he's the old pro and does well what he's asked to do.

The women - Good. I've lumped them all together, because they all look beautiful and play their parts as well as they can. Andrews is a little wooden, but nobody thought she was a great actress. Joanna Pettet comes off the best, since she's in the funniest scenes (SMERSH training center -Berlin).

Summary:  Unless you LOVE spy spoofs or one of the actors, I'd skip it.  It has NOT aged well.  Rating **