House of Cards

I went to see this at age 15 because I enjoyed the Stanley Ellin book it's based on. The movie is imitation Hitchcock of a very high order. (The climax in the Colosseum is pure Hitchcock.) Peppard is supposed to be a washed up boxer, and he has just the beat-up, world-weary sexiness the part needs. Inger Stevens is very glamorous as the lady of the house with her problems and secrets. The Paris setting is very well used, and that's important because the movie has a unique premise. The villains are pied noir terrorists left over from the Algerian revolution, displaced from their colonial home, reactionary, and deeply opposed to the French government of that appeaser DeGaulle. It gives a certain reality to the mysterious goings on. I thought the film did full justice to the novel, except that they unavoidably dispensed with the novel's use of Tarot cards to organize the chapters thematically. The music is great too. There's a title song in French that I'd love to have a recording of. It's sad to see Stevens looking so lovely and giving such a good performance so close to her tragic real-life suicide. She was special, and there's great chemistry between her and Peppard.

I understand those who don't like George Peppard in this film. His performance as something of a superman among a regular bunch of crooks is almost unbearable and adds to the film's character of general superficial abominability. Orson Welles' performance is interesting, and Inger Stevens is all right, but the script is very stereotype. Nevertheless it deals with some serious problems, the constant universal problem of a superior race wanting to take charge of the world and turn it into a superstate, the idea of a world government has always been a present issue in history, and was never more actual than today. Still, the issue gets lost in atrocities and too many murders, constantly excelling each other in inhuman cruelty, and there is the objection: An important issue gets drowned in effects, an all too common problem in modern films. What makes film worth watching in spite of all this is the wonderful photography and cinematography - the filming of Paris makes this film enjoyable in spite of the inhuman domination.

In the sixties, spy stories were galore on screens, more or less 007 like oriented, with cool heroes, or more disenchanted ones. There are also some Hitchcock movies elements in this movie. It begins very slowly then becomes more interesting, but not the John Guillermin's best. With the same Georpe Peppard, I preferd PJ, also from Universal Studios, or still with Peppard, of course the awesome BLUE MAX, for me the Guillermin's ever best, with TARZAN'S GREATEST ADVENTURE. The director was not that inspired on this movie, that's my opinion. It's only entertainment and on this point, he succeeded. Mostly set in France, it evokes the war in Algeria, OAS clandestine organization - more or less involved with fascists oriented groups...And Orson Welles is impressive, smashing walnuts with his fingers - fists.....

This film begins in Paris with the body of a man floating in the river Seine with the rather obvious conclusion being that he was murdered. The scene then shifts to an American adventurer named "Reno Davis" (George Peppard) riding in his car with his good friend "Louis Le Buc" (Raoul Delfosse) when suddenly gunshots ring out and both of them are almost killed. Quickly abandoning the vehicle, Reno locates where the gunshots were coming from and catches up to the fleeing person only to realize that the shooter is only a young boy. He then discovers that the boy lives in a huge mansion nearby and after taking him there meets a beautiful woman named "Anne de Villemont" (Inger Stevens) who just happens to be the boy's mother. One thing leads to another and soon Anne offers Reno a job as the boy's tutor. Naturally, being quite short of money, Reno immediately accepts. But what he doesn't know is that Anne's family is not only extremely wealthy but that his presence in the house presents a danger to several of the family members who are harboring a deadly secret that they cannot allow to become public. Now, rather than reveal any more, I will just say that this film had all of the necessary ingredients for a good film with a fine leading man in George Peppard and an exquisite actress like Inger Stevens to keep things interesting. Unfortunately, the overall plot turned out to be too unrealistic and far-fetched to be taken seriously. That being said, while definitely not a bad movie by any means, there were some scenes that were simply too over-the-top for me and I have rated it accordingly. Average.

Inspired by the events linked to the Algeria war.The fascist organization recalls Ordre Nouveau (which was not fiction) and the O.A.S. whose purpose was to give Algeria back to the FRench ,particularly to the Pieds-Noirs who had to leave the country after the Evian agreement (June 1962).

John Guillermin 's thriller remains very vague politically.Some characters appear or disappear without any real purpose .Some appear completely nude (Perrette Pradier) probably to please the viewer.The screenplay looks like a parboiled cross between "the jackal" (Zinnemann,1972)and "the man who knew too much" (essentially the color version 1956).

That said ,if you are not too demanding ,it's passable entertainment.George Peppard is a convincing hero with a Bondesque sense of humor (sixties Bond of course)and Inger Stevens who prematurely died two years after is attractive.Orson Wells has a very very small part and as the film is unworthy of his talent,he seems eager to collect his money and run away from this muddled story.

There's a song in French during the cast and credits which is heard again at the end.This bland song has nothing to do with the story ,not Francis Lai's best.

Guillermin's most salutary quality is his sense of space he would display again in "towering inferno" and in "death on the Nile".Here he uses the banks of the Seine to good effect .Ditto for the banks of the lake and the fountain in Rome ,or the arena.