“Nine of Hearts” - The Unmade Bond Movie of 1958.
Issue #17 - May 2025
During a recent trip doing research for my upcoming book on Casino Royale ‘67 I was lucky enough to spend a couple of days going through the archived files of producer Charles Feldman.
I was delighted to find what appears to be a previously overlooked memo that details a story conference from October 1956 discussing ideas for a movie based on Casino Royale. In attendance at the meeting were Gregory Ratoff (the producer who Ian Fleming originally assigned the movie rights to), Lorenzo Semple Jr. (the screenwriter working with Ratoff), a Mr. Engle (unknown), and Ruth Fasken (screenwriter, who also took the notes of the meeting).
It makes for fascinating reading, but does jump around as people throw ideas about. Picking out some of the interesting highlights I was able to pull together an overview of how the first Bond movie might have looked if they had gone ahead with the plans for a 1957 or 1958 release (as was discussed in the narrative at one point.)
The movie wouldn’t have been called Casino Royale - the proposed title was NINE OF HEARTS.
The action would take place during “the third year of the war.”
The main location would be neutral Lisbon in Portugal
The villain of the piece was a former German U-Boat commander turned spy named Von Fritsch (possibly played by George Sanders) who reported back to Gestapo HQ in Paris.
The “Bond girl” would be named Margot - agent 0303 (possibly played by Gina Lollobrigida) - who was a double agent as her mother was being threatened by the Gestapo.
Bond’s mission is to break Von Fritsch in a poker game to get a list of enemy agents.
Allied intelligence needs the best poker player they can find but the British don’t have one, so Churchill asks Roosevelt for help - the FBI tracks down our hero in Las Vegas.
His name? - Bond, Patrick Bond. - And the man to play our hero? - Frank Sinatra.
The story doesn’t end there as there are further memos and notes as the ideas continue to be developed - but I’m going to leave those for the book.
But the notes on this early discussion throws up an intriguing what-if scenario of a very different start to Bond’s cinematic outings.
Alan
Ian Fleming Foundation
[Disclaimer: The James Bond Lexicon monthly newsletter is a personal project by Alan & Gillan Porter, and represents our personal views. It does not reflect the views or opinions of The Ian Fleming Foundation of which Alan serves as a board member.]
The Ian Fleming Foundation is dedicated to the study and preservation of Ian Fleming’s creative works, including the James Bond novels, films, and associated merchandise and media. We embrace original research into the Bond phenomenon and its impact on popular culture. In addition to providing scholarships and endowments, we procure, restore, preserve, and archive materials related to Ian Fleming’s life and works, from personal papers and correspondence to props and vehicles from the James Bond films.
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Bond Briefing
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Casino Royale Book Project
As mentioned above I’ve was lucky enough to spend some time recently going through the files of Casino Royale producer Charles Feldman and came away with around 30 pages of notes to start working through.
One particularly cool moment from the trip was reading the contract from 1954 when Ian Fleming first sold the movie rights to Casino Royale. I got a buzz seeing his signature on the documents.
I am currently working on building a production timeline for the 1967 Casino Royale trying to make some sense of what was filmed when and where. It’s a fascinating, and at times frustrating puzzle.
Bond Chronology
An extract from our current in-progress background project. - A detailed chronology of the James Bond phenomenon from creation until today, one month at a time.
March 1954
While in New York, Fleming notices an advertisement in that month’s Vogue magazine with the words “A Diamond Is Forever.”
15
The Flemings arrive home from New York to find advanced copies of Live and Let Die waiting for them.
23
Casino Royale first published in the US by Macmillan. - Macmillan publishes 4,000 copies of CASINO ROYALE in the US to a lukewarm reception.
Bond Blatherings
I recently had the pleasure of recording the next episode of the James Bond vs Spy Movie series, in which we were joined by guest Scott Hudson from the SpyHard podcast to discuss the relative merits of Roger Moore’s debut in Live and Let Die, and Burt Lancaster’s aging agent in Scorpio. - It’s not yet online, but I’ll make sure to post the link in next month’s newsletter.
Bond for Sale
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Of course, there is always our own James Bond Lexicon which you can order from Bookshop.org just by clicking HERE.
Want to know what else we are working on?
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See you next time
Alan J. Porter & Gillian J. Porter
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