Casino Royale

Casino Royale (novel)

Casino Royale by Ian Fleming was the first James Bond novel। It would eventually pave the way for 11 other novels by Fleming himself in addition to 2 short story collections, followed by many 'continuation' Bond novels by other authors.Since first publication on April 13, 1953, by Jonathan Cape, Casino Royale has thrice been adapted for the screen: (i) the Climax! CBS television episode with Barry Nelson as "Jimmy Bond", 1954, (ii) an eponymous spoof with David Niven as "Sir James Bond", and (iii) the twenty-first official film in the EON Productions film series with Daniel Craig as James Bond, released November 17, 2006.

The novel

Casino Royale was first released on April 13, 1953, in a United Kingdom hardcover edition by publishers Jonathan Cape[1]. The first paperback edition of Casino Royale in the United States was re-titled by publisher American Popular Library in 1955 (this followed a hardcover edition with the original title). Fleming's suggestions for a new title, The Double-O Agent and The Deadly Gamble, were disregarded in favour of You Asked For It. The novel was subtitled "Casino Royale" and made reference to secret agent 007 as "Jimmy Bond" on the back cover. In 1960 the original title Casino Royale replaced You Asked For It for all further paperback editions in the United States.

In 1954, Anthony Boucher reviewed the book for The New York Times, commenting that the book, although about a British Secret Service operative, belongs "pretty much to the private-eye school" of fiction. He praised the first part, saying thatFleming, in a style suggesting a more literate version of Cheyney's "Dark" series, manages to make baccarat clear even to one who's never played it and produced as exciting a gambling sequence as I've ever read. But then he decides to pad out the book to novel length and leads the weary reader through a set of tough clichés to an ending which surprises nobody save Operative 007. You should certainly begin this book; but you might as well stop when the baccarat game is over.[2]

When the book came to the UK in paperback form in 1955, readers were given their first glimpse of an image of secret agent James Bond on the book jacket. The image of Bond was based on a photograph of American actor Richard Conte, who would become known for roles in films such as Ocean's Eleven (1960) and The Godfather (1972).

Plot summary

Monsieur Le Chiffre ("the cypher"), an agent of the Soviet assassination bureau SMERSH, is running a baccarat game in the casino at Royale les eaux, France, in order to recover SMERSH money he lost in a failed chain of brothels.Expert baccarat player James Bond (British secret agent 007) is assigned the defeat of Le Chiffre, in the hope that his gambling debts will provoke SMERSH to killing him. After hours of intense play, Bond beats Le Chiffre, but only with extra money provided by covert CIA observer Felix Leiter.Bond is provided an assistant, the beautiful, emotionally unstable Vesper Lynd, who becomes his lover. Yet she is a Soviet double agent ordered to ensure Bond does not escape Le Chiffre. With her unwilling connivance, Le Chiffre captures and tortures Bond, but during that, SMERSH assassinates Le Chiffre. Unintentionally, the SMERSH assassin (whose organization became the hero's bitter nemesis in later adventures) spares the captive Bond, saying: "I have no orders about you" — yet cuts the Cyrillic letter "Ш" (шпион,shpion, spy) in back of Bond's left hand, "for future reference".

Bond spends three weeks in hospital recovering from Le Chiffre's torture, expressing intent to resign from the secret service, and spends his convalescence with Vesper Lynd. He is suspicious of her because of the combination of apparent dishonesty and her terror of a man with an eyepatch. Believing that man to be SMERSH agent Gettler sent to kill them, her and Bond, for her disobedience; Vesper commits suicide, leaving Bond an explaining note. Her betrayal inspires his remaining in service; he tersely reports to HQ: "The bitch is dead now".In the novel, SMERSH (a real Soviet organization) acts in its initial internal security purpose, targeting suspected disloyal Soviet agents; later gradually expanding to direct confrontation with Western intelligence agencies.

Story inspirations

Ian Fleming stated that Casino Royale was inspired by certain incidents that took place during his career at the Naval Intelligence Division of the Admiralty. The first, and the basis for the novel, was a trip to Lisbon that Fleming and the Director of Naval Intelligence, Admiral Godfrey, took during World War II en route to the United States. While there, they went to the Estoril Casino in Estoril, which (due to the neutral status of Portugal) had a number of spies of warring regimes present. Fleming claimed that while there he was cleaned out by a "chief German agent" at a table playing Chemin de Fer. Admiral Godfrey tells a different story: Fleming only played Portuguese businessmen and that afterwards Fleming had fantasized about there being German agents and the excitement of cleaning them. His references to 'Red Indians' (Four times, twice on last page) comes from Fleming's own 30 Assault Unit, which he nicknamed his own 'Red Indians'.

The failed assassination attempt on Bond while at Royale-les-Eaux is also claimed by Fleming to be inspired by a real event. The inspiration comes from a failed assassination on Franz von Papen who was a Vice-Chancellor and Ambassador under Adolf Hitler. Both Papen and Bond survive their assassination attempts, carried out by Bulgarians, due to a tree that protects them both from a bomb blast.

Fleming was a confirmed bachelor. There is speculation that he wrote the "ultimate spy novel" about giving up things in life, such as giving up bachelorhood for his girlfriend.[3]

Differences from Original Novel

The film is generally faithful to Fleming's novel, although updated. Aside from the change in time period and technology, these were some other changes in the film:

Bond is already 007 at the beginning of the novel, whereas the opening segment of the movie shows Bond attaining his double-0 status with his first two kills.

In the novel, Bond describes his first two kills to Mathis: a Japanese cipher and a Norwegian double agent. In the movie, they are a British double agent and his contact.

In the novel there is no chase scene in Madagascar; nor is there a chase scene at Miami International Airport. However the end of the chase scene from the Casino parallels an incident in the novel.

In the movie, Mr. White and his mysterious organization fulfill the SMERSH role in the novel.Solange Dimitrios is not in the novel, although she did appear in 007 in New York.

Le Chiffre's backstory in the movie is quite different from that of the novel.

In the novel, Le Chiffre was close to bankruptcy because he invested in brothels right before prostitution became illegal. In the movie, Le Chiffre lost his clients' funds in a stock short selling scheme thwarted (albeit unwittingly) by Bond.

The location of the casino was changed from Royale, France, to Montenegro.

In the novel, Bond meets Vesper in a bar with Mathis. In the movie, they first meet aboard a train en route to Montenegro.

In the novel, Vesper is affiliated with MI6, as opposed to HM Treasury in the movie.

In the novel, Bond had already met and is good friends with Mathis, going as far to request his assistance on the mission. In the movie, Bond meets him for the first time.

In the novel, baccarat is the game played by Bond, Le Chiffre and the others. In the movie, it is no-limit Texas hold'em poker.

In the novel, the assassination attempt on Bond during the game was done with a gun hidden inside a cane. In the movie, Le Chiffre's girlfriend Valenka poisons Bond's drink.

In the novel, Bond crashes his car after hitting a sheet of nails placed in the middle of the road.


In the movie, the crash occurs when he swerves off the road to avoid running over Vesper, who has been bound and left on the road.

In the novel, Le Chiffre's assassin is an unnamed agent of SMERSH who speaks to Bond for a few minutes and carves the Cyrillic symbol for "spy" on his hand. In the movie, Le Chiffre is killed by his associate Mr. White, but not before he cuts out the tracking device in Bond's arm.

In the novel, Vesper commits suicide by overdosing on pills after leaving Bond a confession. In the movie, Vesper locks herself in an elevator that plunges into the water beneath the Venetian building, then deliberately inhales water before Bond can rescue her (this parallels the beginning of On Her Majesty's Secret Service; afterward, Bond discovers that Vesper has left him Mr. White's phone number on her mobile phone.

At no point in the novel do the villains obtain the money. In the movie, Mr. White gets away with it until he is hunted down and apprehended by Bond in the final scene.

In the novel, Bond generally wore a black neck tie with his ensemble; whereas, in the movie Bond is clearly seen wearing a bow-tie.

Although Mathis is suspected to be a traitor in the film, there is no indication that he cooperated with Le Chiffre (or SMERSH, for that matter) in the novel. Mathis returns to help Bond in the From Russia With Love novel.

M is male in the novel but female in the film.

There is no suicide bombing attempt on Bond by the two Bulgarians in the movie as there is in the novel. However, a skirmish between Bond and two Ugandans in the movie seems to parallel that incident.