The Card

Introduction

In this rags to riches story, Alec Guinness plays `Denry` Machin, an ambitious chap who relies on his wits and lack of scruples to further his social standing and make money. Abusing his position as a clerk in a firm of solicitors who are handling the invitations for a ball organised by the Countess of Chell (Valerie Hobson), he not only invites himself, but trades favours for invitations. He then becomes a rent collector and wealthy member of the community.

Although he has his sights set firmly on the Countess, he allows himself to become entangled in the affairs of one of his tenants, Ruth Earp (Glynis Johns), a penniless piano teacher and gold digger and the sweet Nellie Cotterill (Petula Clark).

Video

The fullscreen transfer has its fair share of grain and dirt showing that little, if no, effort has gone into remastering.

Audio

The mono soundtrack is fairly clear and perfectly suited for this kind of dialogue-dominated film.

Features

The 1984 feature-length TV play `Edwin`, written by John Mortimer and starring Alec Guinness is the main attraction. Wordy and well acted, this is a decent play but not one that was crying out for a DVD release, nor one that will be watched more than once.

There is also the theatrical trailer and an image gallery.

Conclusion

One of Britain`s finest ever actors, Sir Alec Guinness, arguably most famous for his portrayal of Obi-Wan Kenobi in `Star Wars`, made great films at the Ealing studios. `The Card` was made by the Rank Organisation when Guinness was at the peak of his powers and, prior to 1977, at his most famous.

Although Guinness and the supporting cast are very good, I was left with the feeling that `The Card` wants to be an Ealing comedy, but isn`t. The story is a good one and, with Guinness in the lead, this could have been a memorable film had it been made in the Ealing studios. It`s charming enough and easy to watch, but will not live in the memory like `The Lavender Hill Mob`, `The Ladykillers` or `The Man in the White Suit`.