Card, The - DVD Review

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Review

THE CARD, as inferred from the title, is a 1952 English film about a chancer. Alec Guiness plays Henry Machin, a working class boys who dreams of becoming rich, a dream that sees him treading over the aristocracy and doing good for his local community. An idealistic film, directed by Ronald Neame who is famous for his early collaboration with David Lean and Noel Coward, as both co-Writer, Cinematographer and Producer on their earliest films together, this is a skillful, entertaining and yet slightly dubious film.

It starts out with a brief history of Henry, until we hit his formative years. After finding the wallet of a local solicitor, he returns it in the hope of finding work. After being made solicitors clerk, he becomes responsible for sending out the invitations for the Countess of Chell’s ball. After falling for the Countess after she visits the office, he sees to it that he sends himself an invitation, as well as using others to bribe people into giving him dance lessons and a suit for free. Seizing every opportunity that comes his way, for the betterment of himself, he summons up the courage, and on the back of a bet, asks the Countess for a dance. This gets him recognised and allows him to spread his wings. He starts his own rent collection business and starts to take every chance he can to make more money. He agrees to pay some of his debtors rental areas, as long as they pay the money back with interest. After success, he then gets engaged to his female contrast, Ruth, a failed dance instructor who will do anything to live the life she wants to feel accustomed to. They go on holiday to Llandudno, where Henry performs two acts that will set up his future. Firstly, he starts up a quick business by buying a boat on which he takes holiday makers to a newly crashed wreck out at sea. And secondly, he realises Ruth is a gold-digger and challenges her, which forces her to pack up and leave. On arriving back home, to Bursley, he starts up an even more ambitious business The Universal Thrift Club, which will incorporate local businesses and provide cheap goods to its members…as well as getting him a hefty cut from the goods sold. Upon the success of this venture, he then gets involved in local politics and becomes a councilor. Although the Mayor wants to close down the local football club, Henry gatecrashes the all important meeting and announces that he has signed up the local boy done good who left for the football league. On his return, they start to win matches and Henry’s position as town favourite, in the eyes of the people, provides him with the grounding on which he can run for Mayor himself, the result of which concludes this film.

Running concurrently with all this is Henry’s search for love, which moves from the Countess, to money grabber Ruth, until it rests on timid Nelly, who one could say is a normal person of sorts, even though her rich parents have just gone bankrupt.

Idealistic in the sense that its portrayal of someone from a poorer background can become a member of the ruling classes, whilst maintaining a sense of morality and justice, they film does also clearly delineate the one major trait that is a must, the will to make money. It is only once Henry has his pockets lined that he begins to make any sort of impression on the community and turn a depressed Town into a thriving, optimistic field of opportunity. As troubling as this is to a politically pessimistic philistine like this reviewer, as idealism has the ability to cloud daily realities, the good naturedness of this message does allow one to dream about what the world might be like if the world over was ruled by such people. But also, and maybe unintentionally, it does point out the sorry state of affairs that only a unique person such as Henry will ever make it into the ruling classes and have a voice, as his rise is supported by the local Countess.

As a film though, it is very funny in places and the acting is great throughout. Alec Guiness, as usual, creates another class character and is ably supported by the perfectly grating Glynis Johns, who plays Ruth. Her voice is so irritating that it gets under the skin just enough to not sour the rest of the film. She also serves as a counterpoint to Guiness’ character, as she has no morals or principles and just moves around from one rich man to the next, whilst he is highly principled and falls for the woman he loves. The Countess of Chell is also well played by Valerie Hobson, who manages just enough down-to-earthness to make her character likeable and not aloof, despite her position in the community. The list of minor supporting actors is also commendable, as are most British films of this era, with great humour and grounded performances…not too dissimilar to the kinds of characters and the way actors are used in many of Frank Capra’s classics of a similar era. Great fun and they keep the film moving along at a swift pace.
Technically, the film is very good, with the main point being the cinematography by Oswald Morris, most famous for Kubrick’s LOLITA and in this reviewers eyes for one of Sidney Lumet’s masterpieces with Sean Connery, THE HILL. This DVD reproduction nicely captures the black and white images and provides a crisp picture. One quick mention about the framing as well, every frame of this film tells its own story and the lighting beautifully emphasises all the little crux points when a plot or character arc begins to evolve.

EXTRAS

EDWIN – A play by John Mortimer, 1st transmitted on 3rd May 1984

This is a great extra for Alec Guiness fans. It is an 80 minute play with Guiness playing Sir Fennimore Truscott, a retired high court judge, trying to get to the bottom of his wife’s infidelity with their neighbour and friend Thomas Majoriebanks and who is the father of Edwin…who at the start of the play appears to be Guiness’s.

It takes place over the course of one day in Truscott’s matrimonial home and involves three characters, the two mentioned above and Lady Margaret Truscott. Edwin is coming home for dinner and the two men argue it out over whether Majoriebanks ‘rogered’ Truscott’s wife and when it becomes clear he did, who is the father. All dialogue based, we are treated to a metaphor of the dying British Empire and the future. Truscott, a man who has lost his worth and is questioning his past, uncovers that everything he thought is based on shaky groundings, and that his son Edwin, has seen the future and is asking him and his mum to move to the coast of the USA.

As mentioned above, for Guiness fans, this will be the treat that may tip them over and make them buy this DVD. He is both funny and annoying in equal measure and the script is very solid, making 80 minutes of dialogue into an absorbing drama with a twist at the end. “Is Edwin the future?” Majoriebanks asks Guiness, to which he responds “Thankgod, not ours”… a child born out of the Summer of Love and the key changing point in these two old codgers lives. A period that also saw the continued collapse of the old British Empire as they knew it.

IMAGE GALLERY (1 Min)

A collection of about 20 stills that look like a split between publicity shots and shots taken directly from the film.

This DVD is good. The film is high in entertainment and a good demonstration of how advanced the British film industry was during the 1950’s. THE CARD is further evidence of the high quality of scriptwriters, directors and technical crew that used to make films in Britain and although most of them have budgetary limitations, the qualities are very evident and make for solid films. It is funny, interesting, thought provoking and may even have some lessons for modern entrepreneurs; such is the quality of the script. The acting is great and despite being very idealistic, the above mentioned plus points pull this through as a film worth seeing, more worthy than many of its Hollywood counterparts made during its classical period. The one notable extra on this DVD is a very good addition. Not only is it another 80 minutes of Guiness but it is a complete story in its own right. If you like older British films you will enjoy this, and for that reason alone would look very respectable on your DVD shelf, especially at the kind of price these older releases tend to fly around at.

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