Queen of Spades, The

Synopsis: This atmospheric suspense thriller, one of the finest British films of the forties, is based on a short story by Pushkin. Anton Walbrook stars as Russian army captain Herman Suvorin, who secretly covets the wealth and position of his fellow officers and becomes obsessed with learning the secrets of the card game Faro. When he hears that the elderly Countess Ranevskaya (Edith Evans) has struck a bargain with the devil to gain the very knowledge he so desires, he worms his way into her household and does all he can to wrestle the knowledge from her - but the price turns out to be higher than he could ever have imagined.

Released on DVD in 2010 after being long unavailable. DVD extras include: new introduction by Martin Scorsese; an analysis of the film by Philip Horne; original trailer; two audio interviews with Thorold Dickinson from 1951 and 1968.
Language: English
Country: Great Britain
Year of production: 1948
Notes: Review feature in Viewfinder 79.
Subjects: Film studies; Literature
Keywords: cinema films; film adaptations; literature - Russian; Pushkin, Alexander S

Director

Thorold Dickinson

Writer

Alexander Pushkin

Contributor

Ivor Barnard

Cast

Name: STUDIOCANAL
Email: email: info@studiocanal.co.uk
Web: http://www.studiocanal.co.uk/ External site opens in new window
Phone: 020 7534 2700
Fax: 020 7534 2701
Address: 50 Marshall Street
London
W1F 9BQ
Notes: STUDIOCANAL is the pan European film, production and sales distribution arm of French media group, Canal+. The UK arm, formerly known as Optimum Releasing, offers an impressive range of quality titles across all genres, for sale via retail and mail order and outlets.

This record has been viewed 680 times.