In 1954, producer and director Gregory Ratoff of CBS paid Ian Fleming $1,000 to adapt Casino Royale into a one-hour television adventure as part of their Climax! series. Additionally, in the late 1950s CBS invited Fleming to write 32 episodes over a two-year period for a television show based on the James Bond character. Fleming agreed and began to write outlines for this series. When nothing ever came of this, however, Fleming grouped and adapted three of the outlines into short stories and released the 1960 anthology For Your Eyes Only along with an additional two new short stories.

The episode, Casino Royale, aired on October 21, 1954 and starred Barry Nelson as secret agent “Card Sense” James ‘Jimmy’ Bond and Peter Lorre as Le Chiffre. For this Americanised version of the story, Bond is described as an agent for “Combined Intelligence” (apparently confusing what the “C” in CIA stood for), while the character Felix Leiter from the original novel became “Clarence Leiter,” an agent for Station S, and a combination of Leiter and Rene Mathis. The name “Mathis” was given to the leading lady, who is named Valerie Mathis (instead of Vesper Lynd).

This was the first screen adaptation of a James Bond novel, and was made before EON acquired the Bond film rights (actually, before there even was an EON Productions). When MGM eventually obtained the rights to the 1967 film version of Casino Royale, it also received the rights to this television episode.

The hour long showing itself is split into three acts:
* Act I: Opening — Opening of Baccarat scene
* Act II: Opening of Baccarat Scene — Hotel Room finale Opening
* Act III: Hotel Room finale Opening — Ending

The Casino Royale TV film was lost for decades after its first broadcast on October 21, 1954. It was not until early 1980s that the show was finally found and put on VHS release (there was also a one-time appearance on TBS). However, such release (that was later included as a bonus feature to the DVD of the 1967 Casino Royale film) and the airing on TBS did not include the full finale of the adaptation, which were at that point lost. It was found later on and included on a Spy Guise & Cara Entertainment VHS release. That release is the only one to date which includes the full finale that was last seen on the original broadcast, although the very last few seconds of the ending credits are still missing. As of today, no DVD release of the complete version has been publicly announced.

All incomplete versions have the show ending with Bond confronting Le Chiffre and telling Valerie to go call the police. The complete ending has Le Chiffre grabbing Valerie and holding her captive with a razor, while slowly moving out of the room. Bond takes the chance to shoot him. It then ends with Bond and Valerie in embrace, a few words from host William Lundigan, and the credits.

See also:

• Casino Royale: TV - Cast