In 1806 St Petersburg, Captain Suvorin of the Engineers (Walbrook) becomes resentful of his rich friend, Prince Andrei (Howard), and the circle of Guards officers who gamble their money at faro, a form of snap in which fortunes can be won or lost on the turn of a card.
Convinced by an old book that the Countess Ranevskaya (Evans) learnt the secret of how to win at the game by selling her soul, he seeks to approach her by protesting his love of the her ward, Lizaveta (Mitchell). But his attempt to extract the secret through threats leads to the countess’s death. Believing that she has visited him from beyond the grave to divulge the secret in return for the captain taking on her burden, Suvorin gambles everything.
Thorold Dickinson had a mixed career in British cinema, first as an editor and then as jobbing director (Calling the Tune, High Command and The Arsenal Stadium Mystery in the late 1930s). He missed opportunities to go to Hollywood because of the war and MGM bought the rights to his 1940 masterpiece Gaslight (also starring Anton Walbrook) in order to supress it ahead of their 1944 remake with Ingrid Bergman and Charles Boyer.
The Queen of Spades was also unfortunate in that it followed the success of Italian neorealism and film noir, leading to criticism of its high emotion and fantastic style. The Grand Prix at Cannes in 1949 went to The Third Man, though it’s worth noting the similarities in visual design, cynicism and the sense of doom.
Exhausted by the British studio system, Dickinson gave up directing at 52 and became Head of Film Production for the United Nations in New York. Later he returned to Britain and set up the first university department for film studies at the Slade School of Fine Art.
According to John Boorman, “He had Michael Powell’s daring, David Lean’s taut editing, and Carol Reed’s emotional tension”, while Martin Scorsese hailed The Queen of Spades as “one of the few real classics of supernatural cinema” and Dickinson as “a uniquely intelligent and passionate artist”.
“To watch this forgotten masterpiece is to find a screwed up piece of paper, flatten it out and discover a beautiful love letter. The Queen of Spades is a neglected gem of British cinema.” Olly Paterson, Leftfield Cinema.
