Thorold Dickinson (director)
Studiocanal (studio)
PG (certificate)
95 min (length)
23 January 2023 (released)
21 January 2023
Based on the short story by Russian novelist Alexander Pushkin, this British b/w adaptation from 1949 has now been restored in a glorious 4K restoration. A ghostly chiller of the finest, its cast does the film full justice and stars Anton Walbrook in the role of a ruthless officer whose pursuit to find the secret of winning at cards comes at a heavy price…
Set in Russia in the early 19th century (the film itself was shot at Welwyn Studios in Hertfordshire), we follow Captain Herman Suvorin (Anton Walbrook) – an officer of the engineers in St. Petersburg – into a tavern in which fellow officers meet on a regular basis for drink, laughter and above all, a round of faro, a French card game. Although fascinated watching his military comrades winning and losing (usually the latter) he himself has so far resisted participating for fear of gambling his hard earned money away, in particular one card, the Queen of Spades, is supposedly cursed and brings ill luck. However, Suvorin is an ambitious man who knows only too well that money not only provides a comfortable lifestyle but the one thing he is particularly after: status!
Initially ignoring gossip about a certain Countess Ranevskaya who won large sums of money after selling her soul to, well, presumably the Devil, Suvorin’s curiosity gets the better of him and some days later he enters a bookstore in order to find out more about the mysterious Countess. While rummaging about, a dusty old book happens to fall to the floor, bearing the title ‘The Strange Secrets of the Count de Saint Germain’ and is full of apparently true stories of people who sold their souls in exchange for power and riches. Intrigued by the book’s title, Suvorin begins to flick through the pages and comes across one chapter that describes how in 1746, Countess R obtained the secret and by doing so won huge sums at the gambling table.
The film then goes back sixty years in time where a young Countess Ranevskaya (Pauline Tennant) is mingling with guests at a lavish ball and is flirting with an amorous young gentleman (Yusef Ramart) whom she invites into her bedchamber later that night… as it is a night during which her husband, a military officer of high rank, is away on duty. As the Countess is about to leave the ball, she is approached by an elegantly dressed servant who whispers into her ear that “soon, she will need the help of his master, the Count de Saint Germain”. Seeing as how the servant’s odd words make no sense to her and she had never even heard of the French Count (who had recently obtained a mysterious mansion on the outskirts of St. Petersburg) she ignores him and leaves the ball. Later that same night, her secret admirer is let in by her to the bedchamber via a secret passage but, low and behold, the amorous lover turns out to be nothing more than a gentleman robber and presses the shocked Countess into revealing the hiding place of her money. When she refuses on the grounds that all the money belongs to her husband, the robber changes his tune and becomes more aggressive. At the same time, the Countess’ husband returns from his post and frantically knocks at the bedroom door begging his wife to open it. The robber, who by now wears a black mask, blackmails the compromised woman into handing over the money or he will open the door and let her husband in… She has no other option than to bow to his demands.
Distraught at what has happened and – to make matters a lot worse – fully aware of the fact that the stolen money belonged in fact to her husband’s regiment, the Countess suddenly remembers the odd words that the strange servant had whispered into her ear. Seeing how she has nothing to lose she takes a coach to the outskirts of town where a menacing looking country mansion awaits… even the door knocker is shaped like a skull. We never get to see the Count de Saint Germain but we know that he may not be of this world when a door to a dark passage opens and the Countess lets out a horrified scream. The camera then shows two male hands placing another miniature wax figure on a table – it is a wax figurine of the Countess and a voiceover explains that all the wax figures are of people who have sold their souls….
After the flashback we’re back again in 1806 when Suvorin hears of a lavish ball thrown by Countess…Ranevskaya! Startled that she should still be alive after all those years he decides to attend and finds an ancient Countess (this time played by Edith Evans) whose young ward Lizavetta Ivanovna (Yvonne Mitchell) accompanies her. Suvorin’s devious mind straight away goes into overdrive and he hatches a plan of extracting the old Countess’ secret of winning at cards and yes, young Lizavetta shall play a vital part in this scheme (unbeknownst to her, of course). Innocently, Suvorin asks his best friend and comrade Andrei (Ronald Howard) for advice when it comes to writing love letters. Andrei, who is at first only too happy to help Suvorin, has no idea that the letters are meant for Lizavetta… who he himself is very much attracted to (this with thoroughly honourable intentions). And thus a macabre chain of events unfolds which will leave Suvorin haunted in more ways than just one…
With an eerie and compelling soundtrack by Georges Auric (who had worked with Jean Cocteau among others) and a superbly atmospheric cinematography by Otto Heller (‘The Ladykillers’ – 1955) the film’s visuals are full of foreboding and haunting creepiness. Walbrook is simply superb in the part of the feverishly obsessed Suvorin who is prepared for pretty much anything to achieve his goal, while eternally sour-faced Yvonne Mitchell is equally well cast as the young ward whose instinct tells her to stay clear of Suvorin but of course she does not. Edith Evans, dressed in enormous skirts which keep swaying and rustling along the polished floors, does a fine job as the tormented Countess. To round it all up, director Thorold Dickinson proved once again that he was worth his salt and of course, he already had worked with his male star Walbrook previously, namely in GASLIGHT(1940). By the way, ‘Queen of Spades’ marked the film debut both for Yvonne Mitchell and for Dame Edith Evans (in her 61st year!) – both actresses had previously worked exclusively on stage.
THE QUEEN OF SPADES is available on Blu-ray, DVD and Digital. Bonus Features include Intro by Martin Scorsese, Interviews with director T. Dickinson, Audio commentaries, Analysis by Philip Horne, Anna Bogutskaya plays ‘The Queen of Spades’, galleries and original trailer.