A very organized book about a very unorganized film.

#FilmReadingChallenge  #4

The Making of Casino Royale (1967)

(Telos Movie Classics #2)

By Michael Richardson  c.2015

Telos Publishing    Paperback, 240 pages

I should have gotten the message when I saw the subtitle – Telos Movie Classics #2.  Out of all the movies I have seen, the 1967 satire would not of entered my mind as a classic.   But then again, the Telos Movie Classic #1 happens to be Ang Lee’s take on The Hulk, so maybe by classic they mean classic mistake.

Michael Richardson is listed as a film researcher.  And I will say he does a decent job of collecting the information.  He has also done very well in citing where said information comes from.   However, that seems to be a problem as well.  The way the text reads is somehow item per item, with no real flow and a new header almost per paragraph.  It makes for very dry reading on one hand, while also makes it very easy to put this book down and take it up at the next item.  While it is divided into Chapters, you may question why.  As for the 240 pages, there seems to be padding at the end with very brief “bios” of the main people, as well as some talk and ever specualtion on deleted scenes.

Richardson doesn’t interview anyone for the book, but relies on past interviews and book passages.  Lastly, aside from the cover, there are NO photographs contained in this book.  This really could have helped when Richardson was describing sets, or naming some of the bit players such as the girls surrounding Orson Wells in the Casino sequence.

I suppose, in the end, this book is really for the James Bond film fan.For those who don’t want to slog (and yes, sometimes it feels like a slog), may I recommend, for most likely less than the price of the this book, you purchase the collector’s edition of the movie?  The film contains not only an audio commentary from Jay Rubin, author of “The James Bond Films”, but also a featurette on – you guessed it – The Making of Casino Royale.

Until next time –