Commentary &Frame Grabs &Richard Williams &Title sequences 24 Mar 2013 03:38 am
Dick Williams – Casino Royale Titles – recap
- Casino Royale (the 1967 original) was the fourth credit sequence animated by Richard Williams‘ Soho Square studio. Prior to this he’d directed What’s New Pussycat (1965), A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (1966), and The Spy Who Came In From the Cold (1966).
Continuing the presentation I’ve done of other title sequences by Williams, here’s Casino Royale. The other Williams credit sequences of the period are generally rambunctious items with almost too much happening on screen. It often gets hard to read the credits – in a theater, never mind trying to do it on TV. (God bless imdb.)
Theses are all frame grabs off a TV airing. My apologies for the horrendous quality. It aired on one of those cable channels that adds plenty of promos at the bottom of the screen (which I cleaned out of these images) overlapping many of the cards. They might have taken a bit more care to try to eliminate some distortion on the screen. The image skews, and the type gets distorted. I did my best with what I had. If I ever get my hands on a good dvd of the show, I’ll correct these images.
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____Joseph McGrath, Robert Parrish, and Richard Talmadge also directed but I
____eliminated their screen cards as repetitious.
Dick Williams’ version of the opening titles
And for the sake of amusement here are
The credits from the 2006 version of the film
Designed by Daniel Kleinman
on 24 Mar 2013 at 7:38 am 1.Stephen Macquignon said …
The titles are beautiful to watch
on 24 Mar 2013 at 7:57 am 2.Elliot Cowan said …
When it refers to “montage effects” by Williams, what’s it referring to?
I like the 2006 film very much but that title sequence is a hideous, kitsch monster of a thing, completely at odds with the visceral nature of the film.
on 24 Mar 2013 at 9:40 am 3.Michael said …
During the film there were montage sequences that were handled by the Wiliams studio.
on 24 Mar 2013 at 8:23 pm 4.Harry said …
The only thing wrong with CASINO ROYALE is the movie itself. Williams’ credits, Burt Bacharach’s score, and the TJB theme song and transcendent Dusty Springfield “Look of Love” are all woirth savoring.
on 24 Mar 2013 at 10:51 pm 5.the Gee said …
The movie ruined me for life.
It is generally regarded as one of the worst films ever. The five directors basically made five different movies. How the heck they were stitched together into a narrative is beyond me.
Take that opening scene right before the credits. Why? The Sellers character wasn’t selected until later in the movie. It is just one boomerang after another.
That said, the titles are strangely appropriate. Combined with the music, that works great.
Still, I do like the movie a lot. I saw it as a kid and the titles pulled me in, everything else sealed the deal. That was a huge cast. And, the entire movie is a great inkwell of mirth.
I’m wondering if the Williams Studio garnered a reputation for those early films and became a go-to studio for titles. Is that something he really liked doing or was it just good money and exposure *?
(* two things which should always go together like peanut butter and chocolate, by the way.).