 October 4th (2)
The Queen of Spades (1949)
The first time i saw this i was rather underwhelmed so what of a second viewing?
Well it's a splendid looking British supernatural thriller and is beautifully directed by Thorold Dickinson. Leading man Anton Walbrook is terrific as a down on his luck army captain who sells his soul to the devil in order to always win at cards and there are one or two scenes that are fraught with tension but there are far too many scenes of toffs dancing at grand balls which are basically filler. Having said that there are also some wonderful wintry scenes in the St Petersburg night air which had me grasping for a quilt for extra warmth.
For all the brooding unease of the last half hour the rest is just far too dull. It was after all adapted from a short story by Alexander Pushkin and would have suited a horror anthology akin to Bava's Black Sabbath (As with Tolstoy's The Wurdulak) rather than a 100 minute film.
The likes of Martin Scorsese (He does an introduction to the film for StudioCanal) and Wes Anderson bloody love this but i just can't get immersed in it at all.
I'll finish with this quote from Scorsese...because, what do i know?
"This stunning film is one of the few true classics of supernatural cinema."
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