Pique Dame

I've seen this now probably 10 times or more over the decades – it's an out and out genuine British film classic, and still only Thorold Dickinson and Anton Walbrook's second best to Gaslight made 10 years before. The stories themselves had similarities, Walbrook in both playing an avaricious amoral character using a weak-willed woman to meet his own despicable ends. The production values in both were high lending a richly dark and brooding b&w atmosphere on nitrate film stock to compliment the inventive camera-work.

Relatively poor Captain in the Royal Engineers jealous of the wealthy Cavalry officers around him dreams of making his fortune at faro, and eventually gets his way at the price of his precious soul. How he does it is a spooky tale involving an ancient irritating Countess played by the perfect Edith Evans and his attempt to get her to acquiesce to his demands. Who can forget the funeral scene when Walbrook is wondering how the dead can give up their secrets! Everyone acted their hearts out, Ronald Howard nicely restrained to Walbrook's occasional lapses into melodrama. Auric's music is spot on and as graceful as ever, we even get a preview of Orpheus in here to which he composed the music for the following year. The game of faro as depicted here always struck me as particularly boring, but I suppose it was as good a way as any for someone to lose money fast. The secret of winning money at cards is not to play for money at all and to keep your money. I simply can't understand why anyone would watch this for the full 90 minutes hating almost every minute and then waste more of their time telling us!

An utterly marvellous film, a UK post-War Wonder which will survive all comments positive and negative.

This is a wonderful, unusual suspense story - the black and white cinematography is masterful, adding to the creepy atmosphere. Anton Walbrook plays Capt. Suvarin with his characteristic silky menace. Everyone in this film is just perfect, even the charming prince who falls in love with the little paid companion - a thankless role frequently played with insipidity. And Edith Evans is utterly unique as the old Countess, haunted by her fear of death and unable to find peace. The card scene at the end of the film is unforgettable.

I don't know why this film is so unknown. It reminds me a little of "The Haunting" based on a Shirley Jackson novel, in that one is never really sure if supernatural activity is really going on, or if the main character has finally lost his mind and is imagining everything. I long for the day when this film reappears on video.

Why is it that this classic film is not available on any format anywhere? I have to make do with a now very old and worn videotape copy from when this great film was last shown on TV about 8 years ago. A gripping and atmospheric film with excellent performances from Anton Walbrook and Edith Evans, this film is up there with The Third Man as one of the best British films ever made. The real mystery is why has the industry neglected this gem? Score: 10/10

At long last, "The Queen of Spades" has appeared in a form worthy of its excellence. Anchor Bay's new DVD set includes a beautiful presentation of it, along with the 1945 anthology horror film "Dead of Night." I've read nothing but good things about "Dead of Night," but haven't gotten around to seeing it yet. To me, it's immaterial. I would pay three times as much for the "Queen of Spades" alone. Once seen, it's hard to forget.

Anton Walbrook may have played more multi-dimensional characters in other films, but never with the same frightening intensity as in this one. The cast is uniformly excellent, but it's his performance as Hermann that really makes the film memorable. Hermann is a strange sort of cinematic hero with no redeeming characteristics whatsoever. His personality is dominated by four of the seven deadly sins: pride, envy, wrath, and greed. As for lust, he lusts only for power, money and influence, his declarations of love being completely false. Gluttony is not an issue, as he lives in poverty in order to horde what money he has. As for sloth, he exerts extraordinary effort into fulfilling his schemes, which are entirely self-serving. Sounds like a thoroughly unpleasant fellow. But Walbrook makes this brooding, scheming, petty, and utterly reprehensible nonentity with a Napoleon complex into a fascinating character study -- a real tour-de-force. The Vienna-born Walbrook (originally named Adolph Anton Wilhelm Wohlbrueck) exaggerates his Teutonic accent to Peter Lorre-like intensity, to great effect. It's this film that made him one of my all time favorite actors.

The look of this film is also extraordinary. Even in this pristine presentation, the cinematography is very dark and deeply shadowed. The shadowy look of the film, along with some oddly angular or distorted shots, is suggestive of expressionist style. The story is told very directly and the plot moved along efficiently, with no superfluous action, which adds to the unreal atmosphere of the piece. Everything associated with the story seems to take place in quick succession. In a city as huge as St. Petersburg, Hermann wanders from the spooky booksellers' shop directly to the old countess's house purely by chance. Every element of the story is essential, and executed with maximum effect and style. The funeral scene in particular is unforgettable.

What a pleasure to find that this terrific, but relatively obscure, film has finally gotten a DVD release, and looks better than I've ever seen it looking. Almost everyone who's commented on it cites the fact that it is little known, and maybe this new DVD will change that a bit.

If you can get hold of a copy of this film - do so!

The plot centers around a card game in which certain cards are said to be lucky. However, a certain countess is said to have made a pact with the underworld in order to know the secrets of the cards. This dreadful woman keeps her servants and paid companions in constant fear and spends her every day complaining about every single thing. What she does not reveal however is her mortal fear of death.

There is a young soldier who would love to get the secrets of the cards from her and agrees to take the sins of her soul upon his in exchange for the knowledge - which does him no good.

Photography and suspense is superb from filmmakers who knew their craft. A must see.