In 1954 came Bond’s screen debut in the CBS television film of Casino Royale, with Bond played as an American agent. However, old copies of the paperbacks are good value and the covers are better that the rather sterile covers of some more recent editions.įleming saw the big screen possibilities for 007 from the beginning and an option on the film and television rights were sold separately. But no one could have predicted just how successful 007 would become.įirst editions of all the books are highly sought after by collectors and as a result prices are high. Both critically and commercially James Bond was a success from the start. The first edition of 4,728 copies was quickly followed by a second and then third printing. It comes across as rather naïve and seems completely out of place in the novel. It has a freshness and readability that make it hard to put down, vivid descriptions of the card game and should grace the bookshelf of any serious fan of James Bond. However, Fleming seems to get out of his depth as a writer when Bond is talking to the head of French intelligence about the philosophy of good and evil. Overall, Casino Royale remains one of the best of the series. The book is peppered with information about Bond’s habits and vices, such as his preference for his drink to be “shaken, not stirred” (not the simple Vodka Martini of the films, but a concoction of his own design) and custom made cigarettes with three gold bands on the filter.

In the last few pages the two strands of the plot dramatically collide.Ĭasino Royale introduces many of the elements we have come to expect from James Bond brand names, high living, cars, sex, food, drink, violence and exotic locations. But rather than a happy ending this love story ends with a bitter twist. The second half is a love story, as Bond recovers from a vicious beating. We first meet James Bond in the casino at Royale-les-Eaux, at the end of a night of gambling and the first half of the book deals with his mission to beat Le Chiffre at the card tables.

Although the plot is on the whole straightforward, it has enough of a spark of originality and daring to pull the reader into the story and finishes with a bitter twist in its tail. It is extremely short, especially by the standards of the twenty-first century, and structurally is almost two separate but intertwined stories. It is one of the more polished of the books with the casino scenes vividly painted by Fleming. The operation is designed to discredit Le Chiffre, in the belief that the Russians will executed him as a traitor, and wiping out their carefully built up French network. The plot was inspired by an experience he had in Estoril during the Second World War that he later heavily embellished.

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