James Bond in film Broccoli at Warwick Films expressed interest in adapting the Bond novels, but his colleague Irving Allen was unenthusiastic. In June 1961 Fleming sold a six-month option on the film rights to his published and future James Bond novels and short stories to Harry Saltzman, with the exception of "Casino Royale", which he had previously sold. Towards the end of Saltzman's option period, screenwriter Wolf Mankowitz introduced him to Broccoli, and Saltzman and Broccoli formed Eon Productions with the intention of making the first Bond film. A number of Hollywood studios did not want to fund the films, finding them "too
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