 SPOILER: Casino Royale was Ian Fleming (I) (qv)s first James Bond  novel. It was the only one not sold to Eon Productions. As a result,  CBS TV first adapted it for an episode of _"Climax!" (1954)_ (qv) in  1954, starring Barry Nelson (I) (qv) as CIA agent Jimmy Bond. When  plans began to adapt the novel as a motion picture, the original  thought was to do a straight film of the novel. But with the success  of Sean Connery (qv)s Bond, it was decided the only way a rival  Bond film could survive would be as a parody. The  Peter Sellers (qv) sequence is the only part of Ian Flemings  novel to make it into the film. The confrontation with Le Chiffre in  the casino, the plan to discredit Le Chiffre with SMERSH and the  villains execution by enemy agents are all in the novel. So is the  notion of Bond writing a book on baccarat, and the element of Vesper  being an enemy spy. Reportedly, Eon Productions has been trying to  buy back the rights to Casino Royale for years, in hopes of someday  making a serious Bond film out of the novel. Despite being regarded  as a "flop" financially in the press, the film actually did quite  well in financial terms. Despite its very high production budget and  additional costs in marketing and advertising, it still managed to  make a net profit of well over $5 million for the studio. The film  was generally reported as a failure financially in the press because  it was outperformed at the box office by the official Bond film  _You Only Live Twice (1967)_ (qv), which was released in the same  year, and because of the films high costs. Although it didnt match  You Only Live Twice at the box office it still managed to do quite  well. Casino Royale was the 3rd highest grossing film for the year  behind only _Jungle Book, The (1967/I)_ (qv) and You Only Live  Twice.