Starring Dame Edith Evans (Tom Jones, The Whisperers) in a role that marked her return to cinema following 35 years devoted
to theatre work alongside Anton Walbrook (The Red Shoes, Gaslight) and Yvonne Mitchell (The Divided Heart),
The Queen of Spades
is based on a short ghost story by celebrated Russian author
Alexander Pushkin, and is considered legendary filmmaker
Thorold Dickinson's most accomplished piece of work. Dickinson was
only hired after the original director was fired just a few days before
production was due to start, making his achievement even more remarkable.
St. Petersburg, 1806. Army officer Herman Suvorin (Walbrook) has become
obsessed with playing cards, particularly the game of Faro, where the
Queen of Spades is considered an unlucky card.
On stumbling upon a mysterious book about the secrets of a notorious
Count, Herman becomes convinced that the elderly Countess Ranevskaya
(Evans) possesses the secret of winning every game. Desperate to learn the
secret for himself, Herman devises a plan to gain access to her house by
seducing her young Ward, Lizaveta (Mitchell). The plan goes awry when
Herman accidently startles the Countess, leading to her death.
At the Countess's funeral, Herman comes to pay his respects, but when he
leans over her open coffin, her eyes open and he lets out a howl of fear.
From this point, Herman finds himself drawn into a satanic world of
madness and mayhem as he is haunted by the Countess and the curse of the
Queen of Spades.
Newly restored, The Queen of Spades will be available to own on Blu-ray for the first time and on DVD
and Digital on January 23rd.
We've got two bluray copies to give away.
The winners are:
John Hodson, Bolton
Stephen Tickell, Redhill