Arianna Moses Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.

Sienna-Rose Mclaughlin The movie really just wants to entertain people.

Marva-nova Amazing worth wacthing. So good. Biased but well made with many good points.

Gary The movie's not perfect, but it sticks the landing of its message. It was engaging - thrilling at times - and I personally thought it was a great time.

TheLittleSongbird Any other version of Alexander Pushkin's short story classic The Queen of Spades, that isn't one of the brilliant Tchaikovsky opera, has to be really outstanding to beat this film, which is often considered the definitive version. And it's easy to see why. The costumes and sets are very handsome and the cinematography is sumptuous while also brilliantly having an ominous effect. The score from Georges Auric, who also wrote the score for 1946's La Belle et La Bete (another classic), is haunting without ever being obvious or intrusive(in fact a lot of it is a large part of what makes the atmosphere so effective). While Thorold Dickinson directs with a more than sure hand, there are some imaginative touches and he allows the atmosphere to really speak, a good thing considering that it is a ghost story, and the dialogue is intelligently written and easy to understand while respectful to Pushkin. The story is hugely compelling, yes it is a slow-burner(which is not a hindrance at all, the film was unlikely to be as effective otherwise), but the spooky atmosphere and the high levels of suspense make the film's best scenes chill the blood even now. In particular the card scene, a scene that you'd be hard pressed to find a better one on film. The acting is spot on, especially from Anton Walbrook, who gives perhaps a career best performance, and a heavily made up(and effectively) Edith Evans- looking deliberately older than her years- who is terrifying and tormented. Yvonne Mitchell is an affecting Liza and I haven't seen Ronald Howard more endearingly sensitive than here. All in all, beautiful and chilling both as an adaptation of a classic and as a film in general, one of the best and maybe most under-appreciated in the genre. 10/10 Bethany Cox

morrison-dylan-fan Along with Hammer studios,I've been trying to find and view more British Horror films.Thankfully,I recently discovered on the IMDb Film Noir board a huge amount of praise,for a dark,atmospheric UK movie,which seems to have almost been completely forgotten in British Horror history.The plot:Keeping up a tradition of standing in the corner and never partaking in a game of cards,Tsarist Captain Suvorin begins to contemplate on how he can grip all of the "falling" cash being spent by the gang of card players.Shortly after getting hold of some small change,Suvorin discovers a previously hidden book which details a number of deals that people have done with an alleged "devil",who along with helping the willing soul to achieve their desire's,also makes model figurines for the participant's souls to be stored in after their deaths. Finding out of a party being held by reclusive Countess Ranevskya,Suvorin quickly learns that Ranevskya is infamous for having turned her luck around and winning a huge amount of cash from a card game decades ago,before retiring to become extremely reclusive.Feeling that Ranevskya's life weirdly mirrors a chapter in the book,about a woman selling her soul to the devil so that she can win a card game,and secretly put all of the money that she had stolen from her husband "back in its place".Suvorin starts to try getting the attention of Ranevskya's family,in the hope of getting close to the Countess and finding out how she scored such a devilish winning handView on the film:For their absolutely stunning adaptation of Alexander Pushkin's short story,screenwriters Rodney Ackland and Arthur Boys have Ranevskya's past dark dealings be something that slowly manifestation's into Suvorin,as he goes from just wanting to put his friends noses out of place,to being desperate to holding the key of the "dark arts".Placing the movie in a dark,almost Dickens Gothic setting, (with Countess Ranevskya sometimes looking like the sister of Miss Havisham!)director Thorold Dickinson brilliantly uses disjointed sound effects to show Suvorin's obsession breaking his reality apart,whilst also using complex,but perfectly executed camera moves to greatly increase the mysteriousness of the surrounding,and also turning the card games into truly tense,nail-biting scenes.Along with the strong directing,and Otto Heller's chillingly moody,low-lit cinematography,Anton Walbrook gives an excellent performance as Suvorin,who Walbrook shows to be a man that is never truly easy in his own skin,and always has an ulterior motive hidden under his sleeve.

lucky_dice_mgt Well this movie did not do it for me. I watched it 3 times and I found much of the dialog to be hard to decipher and there were long passages of very boring scenes { like the dancing scenes while the card playing was going on } . Nothing scary happens and I was hoping the movie had more of a diabolical evil feel to it { since it involves cards, evil, the devil, selling ones soul, etc..} . I personally am a huge fan of slow burn, P.G. horror films, but this film is not nearly as good as other slow burn horror films like Curse of the Demon or Picture of Dorian Gray. In fact, after I purchased the 2 DVD disc set and watched it 3 times, I gave it to a friend of mine for his collection because I didn't even like the other movie included in the DVD set {Dead of Night} . Since I seem to disagree with many other reviewers on this forum, I think it may be necessary for me to make a small list of my top 3 favorite horror films and my top 3 horror films I think are most overrated :Top 3 :1. Curse of Frankenstein 2. Night of Living Dead 3. ShockwavesTop 3 overrated :1. Halloween 2. Dawn of the Dead 3. Last House on Left

Terrell-4 It's comforting to think that Alexander Pushkin, had he been born a hundred years later than he was, could undoubtedly have found employment writing screenplays for Val Lewton. As it is, we'll just have to put up with all those plays, novels, poems, operas and short stories he wrote. The Queen of Spades, based on a story by Pushkin, is a marvelously atmospheric and menacing tale of obsession and greed. It takes places in 1806 St. Petersburg. Captain Herman Suvorin (Anton Walbrook) is a poor German engineer serving in the Czarist army. Gambling has become the rage and faro is the card game of choice for all the rich, aristocratic and arrogant young officers who laugh at Suvorin. He hasn't the means to gamble and he hasn't the means to purchase advancement. Then he hears the story of Countess Ranevskaya (Edith Evans), who, a generation earlier, is supposed to have sold her soul for "the secret of the cards"...the three cards to choose which will win a fortune at faro. Amazingly, the Countess is still living, almost a recluse, with a beautiful ward. Suvorin determines to find a way to woo the young woman as a method to gain entry into the Countess' palace and to the Countess herself. He is determined to learn from her the three cards. He does, or thinks he does, and we witness madness and death. Says one character, "I believe all human beings are fundamentally good. I'm convinced of it. Yes, and I believe that evil is a force, a mighty force, that is abroad in the world to take possession of men's souls, if they will allow it to." Oh, Suvorin. Now if Val Lewton had produced this we might have a cult classic on our hands. As it is, we have a movie which has been nearly forgotten. Too bad. The film might have been made with little money but it doesn't look it. Snow and slush cover the frigid St. Petersburg streets. Candles flicker and gutter. Deep shadows hide cubbyholes and doorways. There are ragged peasants and beggars, an ornate opera house and a dazzling ballroom filled with dancing aristocrats. There is the Countess' palace with it's decorated rooms, angled staircases, bare kitchens and cold servants quarters. There is the Countess' bedroom with it's secret passage and the stone steps leading to a hidden entrance. The black-and-white cinematography is excellent; everything shadowed might hold madness or a threat. Making everything work are the two mesmerizing performances by Walbrook and Evans. With these two actors it's a pleasure just to observe Suvorin's growing obsession and to hear the tap of the Countess' cane and the slow, steady swish of her silk gown. Anton Walbrook was one of the great actors of his time. Sometimes he would almost teeter on the brink of mannerism, but he'd invariably deliver performances of startling quality. With his intensity, his Austrian accent and his ability to draw out a vowel for effect, it was difficult not to keep your eyes on him. At 53 he is playing 20 years younger and does so with ease. Edith Evans was 57 when she made this, her first film after years of stardom in the theater. She plays a selfish, irritable 90-year-old woman, querulous and suspicious. When Suvorin and the Countess finally meet in the Countess' bedroom, an acting student could learn much just by watching the two. Walbrook has all the lines; Evans watches and reacts. It's a toss-up as to which betters the other. I think both Pushkin and Lewton would have enjoyed this movie.