I realize owning it doesn't necessarily mean 'we now give a damn.' (Hence the successful lawsuit about CR67 and NSNA being omitted from the 'complete' Blu-Ray set. Though, given EON's attitudes towards the 'other Bonds'. With the ability to colorize footage growing easier and easier - a fan just colorized an entire William Hartnell 'Doctor Who' that NEVER existed in color - wouldn't it be a significant release to tout 'the ORIGINAL James Bond film, complete and restored to color at last'? To this day, EON have more or less ignored its existence, and the rare SpyGuise tape is still the only way to own the uncut movie. For example, after buying a story idea for as little as 2,500, he found an unemployed writer, actor, director and producer. This was the origin of what became known as the ‘package deal’.

As of 2006, EON finally owned the film, and one would've expected it might get the proper treatment as a Daniel Craig tie-in. He decided to screen the 1954 Casino Royale and invite Barry Nelson.

The uncut film was released by a fan club called SpyGuise as a VHS, before EON Productions swept in and forced cancellation of a DVD release (which also would've included a new Barry Nelson interview). Honestly, this little film's always been severely mishandled after years as a public domain release, MGM tacked it onto 'Casino Royale '67' as a special feature (ONLY the initial DVD release, the expanded edition is missing it), but used the public domain 'short ending' version. Why the hell has this never been colorized? I recently learned the forgotten 'first Bond film' - the 1954 CBS production of 'Casino Royale' - was actually in color the existing copies (evidently two, a better quality copy that ends short and a muddy-looking copy with the entire ending) just happen to be black and white.

Original casino royale 1954