CASINO ROYALE (1954)

CLIMAX!
Casino Royale 1954
Episode aired Oct 21, 1954
52m
S1 E3

"Casino Royale" is a live 1954 television adaptation of the 1953 novel of the same name by Ian Fleming. An episode of the American dramatic anthology series Climax!, the show was the first screen adaptation of a James Bond novel, and stars Barry Nelson, Peter Lorre, and Linda Christian. Though this marks the first onscreen appearance of the secret agent, Nelson's Bond is played as an American spy working for the "Combined Intelligence Agency".

Most of the largely forgotten show was uncovered by film historian Jim Schoenberger in 1981, with the ending (including credits) found later. Both copies are black and white kinescopes, but the original live broadcast was in color.

Director: William H. Brown Jr.
Writers: Ian Fleming (novel), Antony Ellis (written for television by), Charles Bennett (written for television by)
Stars: William Lundigan, Barry Nelson, Peter Lorre

These films were originally produced long before the advent of High Definition TV, therefore they are best viewed on a small screen. HD TVs tend to stretch and skew the picture. Set your HD TV on 4:3 aspect ratio. (That was the old TV format). Please do not expect DVD or Commercial level DVDs from these films. Email us for any additional info.

THIS EPISODE OF CLIMAX! WAS PRODUCED IN KINESCOPE

Kinescope /ˈkɪnɨskoʊp/, shortened to kine /ˈkɪniː/, also known as telerecording in Britain, is a recording of a television program made by filming the picture from a video monitor.
Typically, the term can refer to the process itself, the equipment used for the procedure (a 16 mm or 35 mm movie camera mounted in front of a video monitor, and synchronized to the monitor's scanning rate), or a film made using the process. Kinescopes were the only practical way to preserve live television broadcasts prior to the introduction of videotape in 1956. A small number of theatrically released feature films have also been produced as kinescopes.