This week’s mystery movie was the 1949 film The Queen of Spades, with Anton Walbrook, Edith Evans, Ronald Howard, Mary Jerrold, Yvonne Mitchell, Anthony Dawson, Pauline Tennant, Miles Malleson, Athene Seyler, Michael Medwin, Maroussia Dimitrevitch, Ivor Barnard and Violetta Elvin.
Story by Alexander Pushkin.
Screenplay by Rodney Ackland and Arthur Boys.
Settings and costumes by Oliver Messel.
Photography by Otto Heller. Edited by Hazel Wilkinson.
Music by Georges Auric.
Musical director Louis Levy.
Art direction by William Kellner.
Production manager Isobel Pargiter.
Camera operators Gus Drisse and Val Stewart.
Sound recording by Frank McNally.
Dubbing recording by L.H. Shilton.
Dubbing editor Audrey Bennett.
Assistant director John Gaudioz.
Continuity by Marjorie Owens.
Makeup by Robert Clarke.
Hairstyles by Frank Cross and Betty Cross.
Set dresser Philip Stockford.
Assistant to Oliver Messel, Ann Wemyss.
Period Adviser, Dr. Baird.
Wardrobe master W. Smith.
Fabric adviser Scot Slimon.
Furs by Dean Fields.
Clothes executed by Simmons.
Dances arranged by David Paltenghi.
Associate producer Jack Clayton.
Produced by Anatole de Grunwald.
Directed by Thorold Dickinson.
The Queen of Spades is available on DVD from Critics’ Choice Videos.
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I have been looking for The Queen of Spades for a while and finally located a nice, sharp print. And I wanted to do something spooky as Halloween draws near. If you haven’t seen The Queen of Spades, by all means make a point of finding it.
I’m guessing The New York Times didn’t review the movie, but wrote about it later on, when it was revived or was released in the home video market.
And the answer is….
Oh dear! I lost that bet! (Bosley Crowther, New York Times, July 1, 1949)
Folks who delight in ghost stories, old tales of the weird and grotesque — of sorcery and cabalistic matters and men driven mad by lust for power — should find a great deal to intrigue them in Anatole de Grunwald’s The Queen of Spades, a British film based upon a Pushkin story, which came to the Little Cine Met yesterday. For Mr. de Grunwald has loaded this classic Russian tale of a man’s greedy traffic with evil with a most beautifully accomplished cast, exquisite baroque production and staging of a tense and startling sort. If it’s romantic shivers you’re wanting, this is undoubtedly your film.
For Monday, we have a mystery woman.
Update: This is Pauline Tennant.
For Tuesday, we have a mysterious gent.
Update: This is Miles Malleson.
Brain Trust roll call: Howard Mandelbaum (mystery movie and Monday’s mystery woman).
For “Hm Wednesday,” we have a lot of mystery gents.
Update: This is Ronald Howard, left, and Anthony Dawson, right.
Brain Trust roll call: Anne Papineau (mystery movie and both mystery guests, Howard Mandelbaum (Tuesday’s mystery fellow), Megan and Thom (mystery movie and Tuesday’s mystery guest), B.J. Merholz (Tuesday’s mystery guest), Mike Hawks (mystery movie and both mystery guests) and Patrick (mystery movie and Tuesday’s mystery guest).
For “Aha Thursday,” we have a mystery woman. She does not approve of such goings-on.
Update: This is Dame Edith Evans.
Brain Trust roll call: Howard Mandelbaum (Wednesday’s mysterious soldiers), Jenny M. (mystery movie and all mystery guests), Anne Papineau (Wednesday’s mystery soldiers), Sheila (Tuesday’s mystery fellow and Wednesday’s mysterious soldier No. 1), Mike Hawks (Wednesday’s mystery soldiers), Robert Morrissey (mystery movie and Tuesday’s mystery guest) and Benito (mystery movie and Wednesday’s mystery soldier No. 2).
For Friday, we have a mystery woman.
Update: This is Yvonne Mitchell.
We also have this mysterious fellow.
Update: This is Anton Walbrook.
Brain Trust roll call: Megan and Thom (Wednesday’s mystery Soldier No. 1 and Thursday’s mystery woman), Howard Mandelbaum (Thursday’s mystery woman), Mike Hawks (Thursday’s mystery woman), Anne Papineau (Thursday’s mystery woman), Gary (mystery movie and Thursday’s mystery woman) and Mary Mallory (mystery movie and all mystery guests).
ladailymirror.com 
Pauline Tennant in THE QUEEN OF SPADES (1949). She was the daughter of Hermione Baddeley.
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Yer a Wizard Howard.
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Norma Shearer as Marie Antoinette?
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An excellent guess, but alas, I’m afraid not.
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At first glance, it looks like Deborah Kerr….
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An excellent guess, but alas….
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Norma Shearer in “Marie Antoinette” (1938)
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Two votes for Norma Shearer…. Alas..
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Totally just for grins I’m going to guess on a Monday/Tuesday.
Rasputin and the Empress 1932
Based on what looks like a Russian language newspaper behind Tuesday’s guy.
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You’re warm…..
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Ronald Howard, Anthony Dawson.
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I just now saw Tuesday’s photo – that’s the wonderful Miles Malleson, and yes, the Cyrillic means we’re in Russia, so IMDb tells me that this must be Queen of Spades (1949). Better late than never, lol!
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Pauline Tennant and Miles Malleson in “The Queen of Spades”
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Miles Malleson
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Sorry, our connection cut out just as I was submitting our answer. If it didn’t go through, it’s Miles Malleson in The queen of Spades.
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Miles Malleson
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Haven’t a clue, but I’ll make a WAG Catharine the Great is in there somewhere.
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Pauline Tennant and Miles Malleson in THE QUEEN OF SPADES 1949.
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Is that Herbert Mundin tuesday?
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An excellent guess, but alas….
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Tuesday: Miles Malleson in The Queen of Spades from 1949.
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Pauline Tennant
Miles Malleson
Ronald Howard, Anthony Dawson
Movie , The Queen of Spades
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On Wednesday, Ronald Howard and Anthony Dawson.
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Total shot in the dark: “That Hamilton Woman.”
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Miles Malleson and Ronald Howard?
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Ronald Howard and Anthony Dawson.
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Hmmm…I see what you mean by “warmer”. It looks like costumes from the Napoleonic Wars (French military) and folks in Russia. It seems unlikely that it’s War and Peace. Hoping that “Aha Thursday” will help.
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I spy Anthony Dawson (Dial M For Murder) in THE QUEEN OF SPADES 1949
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Thursday’s guest is Dame Edith Evans. Yesterday’s main guest is Ronald Howard (and a gentleman who looks like the male embodiment of Estelle Winwood).
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Edith Evans.
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Edith Evans
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Dame Edith Evans
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It’s Thursday. I guess I should submit a guess…Dame Edith Evans in the Queen of Spades?
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THR QUEEN OF SPADES. Pauline Tennant Monday, Miles Malleson Tuesday, Donald Woods, Ronald Howard, and Anthony Dawson Wednesday, Edith Evans today.
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Yvonne Mitchell and Anton “Why do you want to dance?” Walbrook
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Yvonne Mitchell and the great Anton Walbrook.
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Yvonne Mitchell; Anton Walbrook.
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Yvonne Mitchell and Anton Walbrook.
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It’s coming out restored on a dvd next year.https://www.filmstories.co.uk/features/old-movies-the-painstaking-restoration-of-1949s-the-queen-of-spades/?fbclid=IwAR0VzIoHtaqVuwwx6D_YsojyV09luP90BLulDA-49Vs0Iwt7QxcspMcPhHM
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