The movie just never makes any sense.  People ask me if I remember any scenes I filmed that didn't end up in the movie, and I can say - the whole thing was so confusing I don't remember the ones that did end up in the movie!

Produced by Charles K. Feldman, Casino Royale was simply a disaster from the beginning, whether it was all an attempt at cashing in on a name brand franchise, or the manic mind of a once successful producer whose name had been attached to films like A Street Car Named Desire, The Seven Year Itch, and Walk on the Wild Side, will forever remain a mystery. The truth is Casino Royale had the suitable makings of a very respectable Bond knockoff that might have been something worth talking about had it played it's cards straight, but Feldman's bizarre ideas, a team of directors, and a jumbled mess of a story only makes Casino Royale appear to be the after effects of a bad drug induced stooper.

Of course what usually reels people in at first glance is the seemingly stacked cast, but one must stop and realize that most of the big names in this film were in the declining years of their desirability or simply waning in their number of successes.  Peter Seller's career was thought to have begun its descent after his starring role in another Feldman mess called What's New Pussycat a year earlier.  Ursula Andress's career was almost solely held together by the success of Dr. No, and Orson Welles soon would be reduced to TV appearances and voice acting.  Most of the other recognizable names today weren't very recognizable at the time.  The only seemingly stable big name at the time was David Niven, who is one of the few high profile actors in the film who seemed to be highly regarded by most of the cast.

 3/10