The Queen of Spades

"Passionate... Exciting... Intriguing... He bartered his soul for the SECRET of the cards!"

1949 1h 35m EN

👍

6.5

SOLID

★6.5TMDB · 62

DramaFantasyHorror

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

A czarist captain stops at nothing to learn the secrets of a countess rumored to have sold her soul to the devil in order to always win at cards.

“Passionate... Exciting... Intriguing... He bartered his soul for the SECRET of the cards!”

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Cast

Anton Walbrook
Capt. Herman Suvorin
Edith Evans
The Old Countess Ranevskaya
Yvonne Mitchell
Lizavetta Ivanova
Ronald Howard
Andrei
Mary Jerrold
Old Varvarushka
Anthony Dawson
Fyodor
Miles Malleson
Tchybukin
Michael Medwin
Hovaisky

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Thorold Dickinson
Writers: Rodney Ackland, Arthur Boys, Alexander Pushkin
Languages: English
Countries: United Kingdom

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

ERA

Did you know

77 years old — a genuine piece of film history.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

ERA

Did you know

Directed by Thorold Dickinson, shot by Otto Heller. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Georges Auric. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Hazel Wilkinson shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

CAST

Did you know

Anton Walbrook and Edith Evans and Yvonne Mitchell carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

FACT

Did you know

Marketing tagline: "Passionate... Exciting... Intriguing... He bartered his soul for the SECRET of the cards!".

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

WILD

Did you know

IMDB entry: tt0041776 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

WILD

Did you know

Only 62 TMDB ratings — you're getting ahead of the curve on this one.

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Thorold Dickinson directs. Otto Heller behind the camera. Georges Auric scores. Hazel Wilkinson cuts. Runs lean at under 100 minutes. Produced in United Kingdom. Dialogue in English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

177 years old — a genuine piece of film history.
2Directed by Thorold Dickinson, shot by Otto Heller. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
3Original score by Georges Auric. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
4Editor Hazel Wilkinson shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
5Anton Walbrook and Edith Evans and Yvonne Mitchell carry the top of the cast.
6Marketing tagline: "Passionate... Exciting... Intriguing... He bartered his soul for the SECRET of the cards!".
7IMDB entry: tt0041776 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
8Only 62 TMDB ratings — you're getting ahead of the curve on this one.

The technical file

Cinematography: Otto Heller
Original score: Georges Auric
Editing: Hazel Wilkinson
Makeup / hair: Bob Clark
Runtime: 95 min · 1h 35m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Original language: EN
Certification (US): NR
IMDB: The Queen of Spades (1949)

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Thorold Dickinson

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Community reviews

What people are saying

John Chard2013-11-02
★ 10/10
The Strange Secrets of the Count de Saint Germain. The Queen of Spades is directed by Thorold Dickinson and adapted to screenplay by Rodney Ackland and Arthur Boys from the story written by Alexander Pushkin. It stars Anton Walbrook, Edith Evans, Yvonne Mitchell and Ronald Howard. Music is scored by Georges Auric and cinematography by Otto Heller. A Tale of Old St. Petersbvrg. "In 1806 the craze for gambling had spread throughout Russia. Faro-a simple card game similar to our snap-was all the fashion, and fortunes were won and lost on the turn of a card. As a result there arose many superstitions concerning the cards-one of these was the evil influence of THE QVEEN OF SPADES." The dead shall give up their secrets. Haunting, poetic, lyrical, romantic and visually arresting, Thorold Dickinson's take on the Pushkin story is a magnificent picture of many wonders. It's a film that (thankfully) is hard to pigeon hole, it's very unique, a uniqueness that marks it out as an oddity of sorts, ensuring it has stayed as a cult classic rather than a mainstream one. However, now widely available on DVD (the Optimum Region 2 issue is a spankingly fine transfer), and with Martin Scorsese lending his weight to the film's greatness, it's hoped that more people will get to see and embrace this masterpiece. Dickinson (Gaslight) was only brought in at the last minute, literally days before the picture went into production. Armed with only a tiny budget and confined to the stages of Welwyn Studios, the director gave a lesson in classic film making. The story is a more than solid source to work from, Walbrook's Tsarist Captain Suvorin aspires to gain wealth by learning Countess Ranevskaya's (Evans) secret to wining at the card game Faro. Working from a book he located about people making deals with the Devil, Suvorin worms his way into the affections of the Countess' ward, Lizaveta Ivanova (Mitchell), so as to get close to the aged and fragile Countess and put the squeeze on the old dear. He is obsessed and oblivious to the feelings of others and ignorant to the age old adage about being careful about what you wish for... Filmed in subtle black and white by Otto Heller (They Made Me A Fugitive), film is big on shadows, odd camera angles, clinical sound work and haunting imagery. Atmosphere is everything in a film like this, and this has it in abundance, even during the more exuberant passages, such as the gaiety of a dance, there's a disquiet hanging in the air, William Kellner's brilliantly baroque sets observers of impending doom. A number of images burn into the soul, a spider climbing its web, a doused candle and the eerie sight of distorted figurines in glass jars, these are just some of the shots worthy of inspection. Mirrors, too, play a prominent part in proceedings, hauntingly so, while many of the characters have an other worldly sheen to them. 3, 7 & Ace. Mostly the film is highly thought of by those that have seen it, what negative reviews I have come across appear to be written by horror fans unhappy with not getting the horror film suggested by tag words such as ghost and the Devil. For the first hour it's pretty much about characterisations, psychological make ups and back story, it's not until the hour mark when things start moving towards the spooky. But this film is not horror, as mentioned earlier, it's hard to pigeon hole it for it covers a number of bases. It's more in line with Rebecca and either of the Gaslight movies, an opulent period piece with supernatural overtones, while the visual style of it is very much like The Spiral Staircase. If you like those movies? Then it's pretty nailed on that this is the movie for you. Cast are terrific, Walbrook (Gaslight/The Red Shoes) is intense and maniacal, Evans (The Importance of Being Earnest ) is oddly scary but pitiful, Mitchell is beautiful but perfectly staid and Howard (son of Leslie) is straight backed and gentleman like. From the opening credits that are off kilter written on scratchy looking paper, accompanied by Auric's blunderbuss music score, to the "devilment" of the denouement, this is a classic Ealing film for true classic film fans. 10/10
CinemaSerf2023-01-01
★ 7/10
This certainly has the feel of a short story to it. It takes it's time getting there, but the denouement is surprisingly effective. It all centres on the increasingly obsessive captain of engineers "Herman" (Anton Walbrook) who spends most of his cold and snowy St. Petersburg evenings with his aristocratic friends as they play faro. He never joins in, but that is because he has learned that the grandmother of one of his friends supposedly sold her soul to the devil in return for a secret that made her invincible at the card table. Determined to discover this secret, he befriends her confident "Lizaveta" (a competent Yvonne Mitchell) in the hope that he can gain an interview with the Countess (Dame Edith Evans) - a cantankerous woman who has lived to a ripe old age. A chance encounter ends in tragedy - but for whom? Walbrook is on good form, and is supported by a cast of familiar faces amongst his ennobled friends - Ronald Howard and Anthony Dawson probably being the most recognisable. Thorold Dickinson does, perhaps, string this out for fifteen minutes or so more that it can comfortably sustain, but this story of greed, love and fear is well told with Dame Edith and her squeaking frock and huge wigs delivering a wonderful sense of a woman who is thriving yet struggling with despair. The last twenty minutes are well edited with some clever use of visual and audio effects and the ending - well that's not quite what I was expecting. Well worth a watch, this.