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The Real Casino Royale


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#1 Revelator

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Posted 07 April 2015 - 07:51 PM

I recently uploaded one of the best documentaries I've seen on Fleming and Bond--The Real Casino Royale, which aired on the BBC in 2006.

 

You can watch it here: https://youtu.be/cW9dB0PM6sk

 

I'd rather hear your reactions than state my own, so here's the official synopsis:

 

"As a new film version of the book Casino Royale opens in cinemas around the world, Andrew Graham Dixon explores the crucial moments in Ian Fleming's life which inspired him to create James Bond. The documentary combines previously unseen archive footage of Fleming with dramatised readings from the novel and follows Graham Dixon on a mission to uncover the real stories behind Casino Royale. He interviews friends and family of the author and those involved in the film, including the new 007 Daniel Craig."

 

Note: due to music restrictions, the video cannot be viewed in Canada and Germany (which is sort of fitting, given Fleming's dislike of Germans), unless you use proxies.



#2 Major Tallon

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Posted 08 April 2015 - 12:38 AM

This is going to be my evening for superlatives, Revelator, but this is indeed a very nice documentary.  Yes, it travels a good bit of the territory we've ventured along before, but it adds interesting insights.  It shows a Fleming who betrayed his early promise, but who found a role in the War that gave structure to his life, and Britain's subsequent struggle to find a role in the world that formed a backdrop to the writing and the novels that gave him a sense of purpose.  Nice to see the scenes of Deauville, which were new to me, and I was intrigued to see that the city features a Hotel Royal.  The documentary dealt with the strains that resulted from Fleming's marriage to Ann, a discussion that was necessarily truncated (or at least I imagine it was) by the time constraints inherent in the format.  The brief sequence with Noel Coward was suitably hilarious in a very Coward-like fashion.  There was lots of other lovely stuff, so I'll need to watch it again.

 

It's rare to find something with fresh Fleming material these days, and this was very welcome!



#3 Revelator

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Posted 08 April 2015 - 01:00 AM

This is going to be my evening for superlatives, Revelator, but this is indeed a very nice documentary. 

 

I'm glad you liked it, and I'm always glad to accept your superlatives! I'm still puzzled why this documentary was never included on any of the various DVD/Blu-Ray editions of Casino Royale. Perhaps some obscure rights issues were at fault.

Regarding Parker's Goldeneye, I heard from the Artistic Licence Renewed webmaster that Parker liked the review. I'm still puzzled that Parker (and Lycett) had to rely on Amory's book of Ann Fleming's letters rather than Ian's actual correspondence, which must exist since Amory quoted from it.



#4 Shakhtar

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Posted 08 April 2015 - 01:50 PM

Good stuff, but I liked documentaries on Bluray better.