Even to waste these three actors is a crime, but when you consider that the film also has Orson Welles, Ursula Andrews, Deborah Kerr, William Holden, John Huston, George Raft, Jacqueline Bisset, Derek Nimmo, Ronnie Corbett, Bernard Cribbins, Peter O'Toole, Stirling Moss, David Prowse, Burt Kwouk, John Le Mesurier and a few others then you have to wonder how so many people were fooled into appearing in this. Allen is an unusual find here and in fairness he is actually funny because he brings his stand up routine to the role and seems to just be having a laugh as he goes. Sellers is a comic legend but this film has him doing a bad Bond spoof and he struggles even when allowed to ad lib. Niven is amusing at times but he does no more than play his usual personae. The cast list makes this film even more annoying some of the funniest men alive are in this film but yet they are given nothing to work with whatsoever.

The design, 'humour', directing and script is all very 1960's and I do not mean this as a compliment in this case. Some of these have funny moments but generally they are silly beyond being funny and are just daft for the sake of it. To waste any time here discussing the plot would be to give the film credit that it simply doesn't deserve the makers owned the rights to the actual novel and could have made a 'real' film but instead the outcome is a film that is more like a load of poorly conceived individual scenes. Things get more confusing as many other agents (also called James Bond) get involved! With only the number of uncredited writers outweighing the number of directors, this film screams 'mishmash' and indeed, it transpires, that that's exactly what it is a silly mess which amazingly manages to be less than the sum of its parts. With his pure lifestyle and impeccable reputation, SMERSH send an array of lovely ladies after him to sully his image or, if that fails, kill him. But not THAT James Bond, he is only a mere playboy with gadgets, the real Bond retired years ago but now finds himself approached to come out of retirement to counter the new threat. With the baccarat winnings of Le Chiffre giving them access to a new funding stream, SMERSH is on the rise and only one man can stop them James Bond.

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