Exoticalot People are voting emotionally.

Glimmerubro It is not deep, but it is fun to watch. It does have a bit more of an edge to it than other similar films.

AnhartLinkin This story has more twists and turns than a second-rate soap opera.

Ortiz Excellent and certainly provocative... If nothing else, the film is a real conversation starter.

begob A middle ranking soldier in the Russian imperial army is stung in to taking on his superiors at a card game, convincing himself that the secret of success lies in the spooky past of an aristocratic dame. Can he win? And at what cost? Melodrama with a noir feel, which just about qualifies as horror. The photography is outstanding, with light/shadow/angles creating soulful atmosphere, and the director does some great combinations of music and close-ups on old actresses.At first the story is a bit slow and muddled, but it does wind up to an intense climax. The characters don't really matter or say anything true, and the most touching scene is with an extra mourning over a coffin. The actors are good although sometimes stagey - that's the dialogue for you. Also lots of nice touches with minor characters, and I got the feel there was a lot of satire sacrificed for the sake of an underwhelming romance.Music is orchestral, mostly effective, sometimes overblown - but the gypsy singers create an exotic mood + the coffin scene has a mournful hymn.Overall: lots of quality, but script/direction should have been sharper.

Scarecrow-88 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.

Spondonman I've seen this now probably 10 times or more over the decades – it's an out and out genuine British film classic, and still only Thorold Dickinson and Anton Walbrook's second best to Gaslight made 10 years before. The stories themselves had similarities, Walbrook in both playing an avaricious amoral character using a weak-willed woman to meet his own despicable ends. The production values in both were high lending a richly dark and brooding b&w atmosphere on nitrate film stock to compliment the inventive camera-work.Relatively poor Captain in the Royal Engineers jealous of the wealthy Cavalry officers around him dreams of making his fortune at faro, and eventually gets his way at the price of his precious soul. How he does it is a spooky tale involving an ancient irritating Countess played by the perfect Edith Evans and his attempt to get her to acquiesce to his demands. Who can forget the funeral scene when Walbrook is wondering how the dead can give up their secrets! Everyone acted their hearts out, Ronald Howard nicely restrained to Walbrook's occasional lapses into melodrama. Auric's music is spot on and as graceful as ever, we even get a preview of Orpheus in here to which he composed the music for the following year. The game of faro as depicted here always struck me as particularly boring, but I suppose it was as good a way as any for someone to lose money fast. The secret of winning money at cards is not to play for money at all and to keep your money. I simply can't understand why anyone would watch this for the full 90 minutes hating almost every minute and then waste more of their time telling us!An utterly marvellous film, a UK post-War Wonder which will survive all comments positive and negative.

1bilbo If you can get hold of a copy of this film - do so!The plot centers around a card game in which certain cards are said to be lucky. However, a certain countess is said to have made a pact with the underworld in order to know the secrets of the cards. This dreadful woman keeps her servants and paid companions in constant fear and spends her every day complaining about every single thing. What she does not reveal however is her mortal fear of death.There is a young soldier who would love to get the secrets of the cards from her and agrees to take the sins of her soul upon his in exchange for the knowledge - which does him no good.Photography and suspense is superb from filmmakers who knew their craft. A must see.