Passion fatale

I think a lot of people are looking at this movie like the Twilight Zone episode called "The Fever." They want a short little story about gambling addiction, The End.

I prefer to look at this movie like a "Shakespeare in Love" for Dostoevsky. It has so many little hints about his faith, seizures, and influences on his books. A fan of all his works will catch the obvious inferences (like the ax and the pawn shop, and the scenes straight out of the Gambler). But there are a lot of subtle references to the Idiot and the Brothers Karamizov. The title "The Great Sinner" is a reference to Dostoevsky's planned final works (which included the Bros. K.) but he was unable to finish it. Anyone who is put off by the "heavy handed" religious message of the film obviously has no idea how religious Dostoevsky was. His books are full of redemption by Christ. I think this movie was great. Peck played the part very well. He wasn't supposed to be Alexi from the novel, he is the author. The gambling scenes are intense enough to turn your stomach.

Gregory Peck, Ava Gardner, Walter Huston, Melvyn Douglas, Ethel Barrymore, and Frank Morgan star in "The Great Sinner" about a writer who gets the gambling bug big-time. Set in the 1860s, the story concerns a writer (Peck) who falls for a woman (Gardner) whose life, and that of her father's (Huston), is dedicated to gambling. They're waiting for the matriarch of the family (Barrymore) to die so that they will no longer be beholden to the owner of a casino (Douglas). He has 200,000 (francs, I think) of the father's notes, and in return, he wants Gardner. One can hardly blame him - she's so gorgeous in this movie, and her costumes so stunning, she nearly burns up the celluloid. The writer tries his hand at gambling and soon becomes a complete addict.

The gambling scenes in this film are quite exciting, as anyone who has tasted the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat at a slot machine will attest. Unfortunately, other than that, it's a rather talk-heavy movie without much action and seems to go on too long. Nevertheless, there are some good performances. Was Walter Huston ever anything but great? Peck is handsome and convincing as the fallen man. Agnes Moorhead has a small part, but she's excellent, as the nasty owner of a pawnshop. Frank Morgan also makes an appearance as an unlucky gambler.

Worth seeing for Gardner's looks and gowns alone.

This little-known gem is well worth checking. The fantastic script by Christopher Asherwood (one of the enfants terribles of the english literature of the 20th century) has some of the finest and memorable lines of the classic cinema. Ava Gardner never been so gorgeous. One cannot help feeling disturbed as the events go on, and the film is somehow unusual for the time for its moral and the pessimism it portraits. Definetely, Robert Siodmark's best. The allegorical final scene surely added by the studio is a real pity. After all we've seen, one can hardly find any hope in that universe, with or without the interceeding of God.

At first glance, the writers of this unusual Hollywood film took the characters, location, period and premise of Dostoyevsky's novel "The Gambler" and reworked them in outrageous fashion in order to bring even more sex, moralizing guilt, titillation, debauchery and fun into the mix. It works and is very entertaining on that level. Anyone curious about the real thing might want to check out the French film "Le Joueur" by Claude Autant-Lara (1958), starring Gérard Philipe, which actually names it source, and its innumerable remakes. On the plus side, it gives Ava Gardner one of her most articulate roles and composer Bronislau Kaper a chance to incorporate a record number of light classics into his score.

As Kirk Douglas's career was progressing nicely he had a choice of two different offers. He could play the title role in The Great Sinner, a big MGM film with a supporting cast of name players with Ava Gardner as a leading lady. Or he could do a small independent film for Stanley Kramer who was just starting out. Douglas chose the small film and wound up with an Oscar nomination for Champion.

Which left Gregory Peck who was apparently a second choice to play the Russian writer who stops off at the gambling resort of Wiesbaden in the 1860s just before German unification. He's on his way to Paris, but one sight of Ava Gardner getting off at Wiesbaden, makes Peck decide to abruptly change his plans.

As for Ava, certainly one can understand that she's beautiful enough to let one's hormones take over, but I got the feeling Ava just wasn't into the part really, as Greg was also not. It's also hard to believe that Walter Huston had won an Oscar for his previous film, The Treasure of the Sierra Madre. To overcome a trite story, Huston overacts outrageously, pulling everything out of a ham's bag of tricks.

Even Melvyn Douglas as the scheming casino owner takes his nineteenth century villainy from the Snidely Whiplash tradition. Agnes Moorehead as the old crone of a pawnbroker also indulges in some scenery chewing, her best example of that since Dark Passage.

Best in the film in my humble opinion is Frank Morgan as the former mathematics professor and now addicted gambler. He brings a real aura of tragedy to his small role.

The Great Sinner is a sluggishly paced film with a lot of very talented people just going through the motions. For a gambling story, I'll take Casino.

Don't believe me, Wanna bet?