The Card (1952)

Really Surprised!

A Masterpiece!

Your blood may run cold, but you now find yourself pinioned to the story.

Mostly, the movie is committed to the value of a good time.

The Card (1952)This is an Alec Guinness movie top to bottom, which is probably misleading to people who don't know his best films like "The Man in the White Suit" the year before or "Kind Hearts and Coronets" or "The Lavender Hill Mob." This one is not a comic classic like those, but it is in fact in the same lineage (never mind that American detective master Eric Ambler wrote the screenplay).For those familiar with British comic dramas like these, you'll know what to expect, and "The Card" is really filled with warmth, wry humor, absurdist twists, and lots of changes of course. If you don't know of this Guinness (et al) background you'll maybe recognize this as a precursor to the humor of Peter Sellers and (by extension in his films) Woody Allen (of all people). But another side to this makeshift analysis is the American screwball comedy of the 1930s and early 40s. In a way, that's where this has its roots. A unlikely love is bound to happen between the leading man and leading woman, but things continually get in the way. Until the end.It's not a screwball however. It never gets quite that zany, or in fact quite that "good," if you happen to like the great screwballs. It's not that "The Card" is restrained, exactly, but it has an almost serious tone at moments, and the whole backdrop (of a man moving up through the ranks of a working class culture) is something of a normal course for heroes in regular dramas.The name of the movie on its release is the best, because a card is someone who has some tricks up his sleeve, or who is wily at other people's expense (though light heartedly, for sure). The American release changed the name (for no good reason, I think) to "The Promotor," which implies either an impresario (perhaps a bit tongue in cheek) or someone who is playing the system for his own gain. And that's not really what Guinness's character is quite all about.One of the odd things about Guinness is his particular style, which you might say is all his own. And which makes the movie its own. He's comic with always this softening of the edges. He smiles and is likable but never quite with genuine warmth. You might even suspect of him of being too much an actor, so that every emotion is a trained one. That works better in some of his other movies, where the director plays against that type. Here he is made to be a bit more of a standard leading man, and it falters just a hair.You might also find the plot is not especially compelling. You won't really care what happens, partly because you already half know, and partly because the succession of events it sufficient enough, not for the end result but for the moments, each one. Still, there's nothing quite like this in American film, certainly not by 1952 (that I know of), so if you like this you might really be transported. Very well made, oddly sincere, and if not belly-laugh stuff, still warm and happy.

From director Ronald Neame (The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, The Poseidon Adventure), any old film with Sir Alec Guinness is definitely worth trying in my opinion. Basically this is the charming story of Edward Henry 'Denry' Machin (Guinness), who finds many ways to rise in the ranks of business and social standing, both honest and some dishonest, and you can't help but like him. It starts with a job in an accountants, and then an invitation to a ball for the Countess of Chell (Valerie Hobson), and he keeps getting more and more money with every new and better job who charms his way into. He also forms a bond with dance teacher Ruth Earp (Mary Poppins' Glynis Johns), they do break up and he finds a new love with Nellie Cotterill (Petula Clark), but in the end, he manages to get to the rank of town mayor. Also starring Edward Chapman as Mr. Duncalf, Veronica Turleigh as Mrs. Machin, George Devine as Mr. Calvert, Gibb McLaughlin as Emery, Frank Pettingell as Police Superintendent, Joan Hickson as Mrs. Codleyn and Michael Hordern as Bank Manager. Guinness doesn't have to try to be nice and charming, he is so natural and I just found myself smiling all the way, and the support of Johns and Hobson are good too. I can see what the critics mean when they say that it is trying to present itself like an Ealing Studios comedy, but it doesn't matter, it is a nice pleasant film. It was nominated the Oscar for Best Sound, Recording. Sir Alec Guinness was number 12 on The 50 Greatest British Actors, he was number 2 on Britain's Finest Actors, and he was number 11 on The World's Greatest Actor. Good!

The Card must have been an interesting if somewhat painful film for Alec Guinness to make. This might have been the most autobiographical piece of work Guinness ever did.In The Card Guinness plays the son of washerwoman who learned early on to keep an eye out for the main chance and always strive to improve yourself by whatever means. In real life Guinness's mother should only have been a washerwoman In fact she was a prostitute who never married his father, whomever that could have been. In real life Guinness overcame bigger obstacles than his character in The Card ever did.But I'm sure he drew from real life in playing Denny Machin. Guinness in 91 minutes goes from a humble clerk to a position of real power in his area of England. The story is how he did it, the legal and extralegal methods employed and the people he used. When you think about it, The Card is a kinder, gentler version of Room At The Top.Guinness courts two women on his way up, Valerie Hobson the widow of a local lord and dancing instructor Glynis Johns. Glynis is quite the climber herself as we learn when the story unfolds. In fact she nearly steals the film from Guinness, no easy task.The Card which was released in the USA under the title of The Promoter is a good followup to such other Guinness everyman roles like he had in The Lavendar Hill Mob. The screenplay is quite good, I was kept very entertained seeing how Guinness could always make lemonade out of lemons. Definitely required viewing for Alec Guinness's legion of fans.

One of the greatest British comedies of the 1950s and one of Alec Guinness' most satisfying roles early in his long career. As Denry Machin, son of a washerwoman and the "card" of the title, Guiness brings to life one of the almost forgotten stories about the "five towns" (Stoke-on-Trent) of Arnold Bennett. The old-fashioned and very English word "card" had to be translated into the American title "the promoter", but that is a far less accurate description of Denry Machin's combination of charm and opportunism.He is supported by four magical actresses, in sharply contrasted roles. Gold-digger Glynis Johns, her friend Petula Clark, aristocrat Valerie Hobson and mother Valerie Turleigh are all charmed in their different ways by Guiness' smiles as he "gives providence a helping hand". William Alwyn's music is perfect, with a jaunty theme-tune that has lingered in my memory for more years than I care to remember. Ronald Neame's direction, also at the start of an impressive directorial career, brings the best out of Guinness, although the setting is disappointingly 'comedy-Northern' rather than specifically Stoke-on-Trent.Overall a delightful film, and the perfect pick-me-up after watching a depressing Hollywood block-buster (Million Dollar Baby). And watch out for one of the movies' great sign-off lines, from Valerie Hobson.