As a young lad back in D.C., my friends and I would often skip school, and head to the now defunct RKO Keith's movie theatre, (then located only a block from the White House), to see the annual quadruple-feature of James Bond films, "Dr. No", "From Russia with Love", "Goldfinger", "Thunderball", or "You Only Live Twice". Sean Connery was our hero, and after he filmed his final official Bond film, 1971's "Diamonds ae Forever", our love of the 007 franchise had waned. His replacements, George Lazenby and Roger Moore, were never the same, and neither were the films.

With the introduction of Timothy Dalton in "The Living Daylights", and later Pierce Brosnan in "Golden Eye", the Bond legacy continued with the usual pomp and pyrotechnics, and the era of the Ian Fleming penned novels and short stories had come to an end. Enter Daniel Craig, who returns as 007 in the very first novel written by Fleming, "Casino Royale". This is not a remake of the silly version with David Niven, Peter Sellers and the original "Mini-me", Woody Allen, but another attempt to breathe new life into one of the cinema's most enduring series.

Casino Royale is the 21st James Bond film produced by EON Productions, based on the 1953 novel Casino Royale by Fleming, and directed by Martin Campbell, the director of the 1995 Bond film, GoldenEye. Despite initial controversy over Craig's casting, his performance and the film have received rave reviews.

After obtaining his 00-number and his licence to kill, Bond sets out on his first mission, which takes him to Madagascar to spy on a potential terrorist. Soon after, Bond is pulled into a game of high-stakes poker in Montenegro with "Le Chiffre", who provides a global money-laundering service to many terrorist organizations. Bond also falls in love with Vesper Lynd, a situation that will have dangerous consequences.

This film also marks the third screen adaptation of Fleming's first Bond novel, which was previously produced as a 1954 television episode and of course, the 1967 film spoof. Although the film deviates from time to time from the book, their plots are similar. In the film, Le Chiffre is a personal financer for terrorists and "freedom fighters" and, as in the novel, has lost his client's money, although not purely because of a bad investment, but because of Bond's intervention in a terrorist plot to destroy a prototype of a valuable aircraft being unveiled in Miami Airport. This follows a tense confrontation with the villainous Alex Dimitrios at a Body Worlds exhibit in the Miami Science Center and a white-knuckle action sequence at the Miami Airport runway.

Unlike the previous Bond films, many of which ended with the line, "James Bond will return in...", this Bond leaves you with an "Empire Strikes Back" ending, paving the way for next Bond foray.

Time will tell how this Bond feature will stack up against the others. Connery's "Goldfinger", Moore's "For Your Eyes Only", Dalton's "Living Daylights" and Brosnan's "Goldeneye" are considered their best 007 outings. Many have opined that had Connery done "On Her Majesty's Secret Service" with Diana Rigg, instead of Lazenby, it well could have been the best of them all. (Sadly, Bond gets married, only to lose his wife at the end of the film, when she is killed by the evil Blofeld...) All in all, Casino Royale was pretty good, but not Connery by any means, who could be? Meantime, we Bond fans will give Craig a chance, and hope that he will heed M's advice... "Do come back alive 007..."

E. "Doc" Smith is a musician and recording engineer who has worked on the films "Psycho 3", "Who's That Girl?", and "Miami Vice", among others. He is also the inventor of the musical instrument, the Drummstick. He can be reached at drummstick@earthlink.net