A Captain of the Russian army, with little money, becomes mad for the secret of three cards which could yield a fortune. That Captain, Suvorin(Anton Walbrook, who is mesmerizing)reads about Countess Ranevskaya(Edith Evans)who, facing public scrutiny after she commits adultery with a thief who desires money from a locked box, sells her soul instead of being found out of her sins. Given the powerful secret of three cards, she carves out quite a wealthy living at the gambling table. Suvorin wants the secret of the cards more than anything and will manipulate her servant, Lizaveta Ivanova(Yvonne Mitchell)so that he can get in to meet the Countess. Using a handbook regarding selling your soul for profit and success, he uses certain poetic words to work over a naive, impressionable Lizaveta, who is burdened by the demanding Countess. What happens to Countess when a crazed Suvorin puts a pistol to her one snowy night, makes up the haunting elements of this well-mounted, extravagantly produced, beautifully lighted tale.
You could call this a macabre costume drama..even at 95 minutes, this is epic in scope accurately depicting the 19 Century well with large, massive sets. It's quite stunning to behold, actually. The film might start out rather slow, but it gets better and better as time passes and the greedy dementia of Suvorin, a man who wants to know what wealth and privilege taste like, takes shape when it appears the secret he so longs for seems completely out of reach. The final 30 or so minutes is really marvelous as the supernatural elements come into play creating quite a spooky mood. And, the tragedy of Suvorin is a very powerful ingredient to the story.
You could call this a macabre costume drama..even at 95 minutes, this is epic in scope accurately depicting the 19 Century well with large, massive sets. It's quite stunning to behold, actually. The film might start out rather slow, but it gets better and better as time passes and the greedy dementia of Suvorin, a man who wants to know what wealth and privilege taste like, takes shape when it appears the secret he so longs for seems completely out of reach. The final 30 or so minutes is really marvelous as the supernatural elements come into play creating quite a spooky mood. And, the tragedy of Suvorin is a very powerful ingredient to the story.