Casino Royale (1967 film) Casino Royale (1967 film) Casino Royale is a 1967 spy comedy film originally produced by Columbia Pictures featuring an ensemble cast. It is loosely based on Ian Fleming's first James Bond novel. The film stars David Niven as the "original" Bond, Sir James Bond 007. Forced out of retirement to investigate the deaths and disappearances of international spies, he soon battles the mysterious Dr. Noah and SMERSH. The film's tagline: "Casino Royale is too much... for one James Bond!" refers to Bond's ruse to mislead SMERSH in which six other agents are pretending to be "James Bond", namely, baccarat master
David Niven a French comedy with Bourvil and Jean Paul Belmondo was the most popular film at the French box office in 1969 but was not widely seen in English speaking countries. He did a war drama "Before Winter Comes" (1969) then returned to comedy in "The Statue" (1971). Niven was in demand throughout the last decade of his life: "King, Queen, Knave" (1972); "Vampira" (1974); "Paper Tiger" (1975); "No Deposit, No Return" (1976), a Disney comedy; "Murder by Death" (1976), one of several stars in a popular comedy; "Candleshoe" (1977), again for Disney; "Death on the Nile" (1978), one of many