Casino Royale (1967)

Factual error: When M and his entourage arrive at Bond's estate, their cars are surrounded by sheep. They then drive on down an unsurfaced road to Bond's house, past a pride of lions he keeps on the grounds. A series of sweeping overhead shots shows us that it is all one huge field, with no fences or the like. Those sheep aren't going to last very long.

Continuity mistake: When Andress is taken hostage outside the casino, watch the background to see the bouncer walk inside the Royale. Yet, when Sellers runs outside, the bouncer is outside again. (01:41:00)

Visible crew/equipment: When Mimi is escaping from the castle and swinging on the drain pipes, the wire holding the whole lot up is visible. (00:29:10)

jle

Trivia: Casino Royale was the only film where James Bond dies until the release of No Time to Die over 50 years later.

Trivia: Despite the long scene where they play each other at baccarat at the casino, Peter Sellers and Orson Welles were never on set at the same time. There are a number of theories ranging from stage fright to their alleged intense hatred of each other. (01:35:00)

jle

Trivia: During the "torture of the mind" sequence, one of the bagpipers stops Peter Sellers and asks him if he is Richard Burton, to which Sellers responds, "No, I'm Peter O'Toole." The piper then says, "Then you're the finest man who ever breathed." The piper in question is Peter O'Toole in a cameo, and the exchange is a two-fold reference to the 1965 film "What's New Pussycat?", which starred both O'Toole and Sellers: first, Richard Burton had a cameo in that film and had a similarly surreal exchange with Peter O'Toole; and second, there is a dialogue between O'Toole and Sellers in that film where Sellers says O'Toole is the "finest man who ever breathed."

Bacillus Box: ...Handle these capsules with care. Dr. Noah's bacillus is highly contagious. This germ, when distributed in the atmosphere will make all women beautiful and destroy all men over 4'6." Please handle these capsules with care.

Vesper Lynd: Never trust a rich spy.

M: Debussy. He plays Debussy every afternoon from sunset until its too dark to read the music. Stands on his head a lot. Eats royal jelly. Lets his intestines down and washes them by hand. Something he learned during his sojourn in Tibet.

Question: At the beginning, M and agents representing the USA, Soviet Union and France try to convince James Bond to come out of retirement. Bond steadfastly refuses; whereupon, M lights his cigar as a signal for British troops in the distance to destroy Bond's estate with mortar fire (M is accidentally killed in the mortar attack). But what was the purpose of destroying Bond's estate? Wouldn't that action only drive Bond further away from rejoining the spy corps? Why would the British government go to such lengths to punish Bond? And then why did Bond return to the secret service, anyway, after such treachery?

Charles Austin Miller