The Ace of Spades

Even poor George Pearson couldn't be bothered to try to inject any life into this stilted Twickenham quota quickie, which isn't even bad enough to be enjoyable as camp.

Obviously based on a play - with the actors lined up in evening dress like mannequins - it manages to have a plot that involves murder, blackmail, political chicanery and death threats written on playing cards without once arousing even a flicker of interest.

Typically we're just told about the murder; whereupon the film then continues on it's garrulous way until it's reached it's required running time and ends.

George Pearson was one of the pioneers of the British film industry.However by the time he directed this quota quickie he was near the end of his career directing quickies for Julius hagen at Twickenham Studios.This film has all the hallmarks of quota quickies.Flat lighting ,actors grouped as if on stage with virtually no editing within scenes and actors who had probably been performing on the west end stage earlier in the day.the film is of course mainly set in a country house with the men wearing dinner jackets.There is a death early on in this case it is Felix Aylmer.there is not a great deal of tension in the film as we know how he died it is merely a case of who is blackmailing a potential MP.It does not have a great deal of merit.However watch out for a very young Geraldine Fitzgerald only a few years from her appearance in Dark Victory

But what's so wrong with the occasional filmed play? I thought Michael Hogan was excellent as the principled political candidate. He'd be perfect to play Lord Peter Wimsey.

There's a "silly-ass" character here - the kind of type Lord Peter modelled himself on as a smokescreen.

THE ACE OF SPADES is your usual routine murder mystery filmed at Twickenham Studios by George Pearson. Once again the setting is a country house and the characters are all dressed up in their best dinner jackets. The back story is a little convoluted and not one of the most interesting of its type, involving a politician, an affair, a landowner, and a planning application. However, once a murder takes place, it all becomes a little more conventional and watchable.

The most notable thing about this otherwise undistinguished production is the supporting cast. None of the leading players are particularly noticeable, but there are smaller parts for the likes of Felix Aylmer, Geraldine Fitzgerald, Sebastian Shaw, and Michael Shepley, all of whom would make their marks elsewhere. Otherwise THE ACE OF SPADES is only for fans of this era's somewhat stilted style of film-making.