HOUSE OF CARDS

US, 1969, 105 minutes, Colour.
George Peppard, Inger Stevens, Orson Welles, Keith Michell, Maxine Audley.
Directed by John Guillermin.

House of Cards is one of a number of thrillers that George Peppard made at the end of the 1960s. He had emerged as a star in such films as Home from the Hill and Breakfast at Tiffany’s. Later he was to make a career on television with such series as Banacek. Here he is the typical American hero of an action film. He is well supported by character actors like Orson Welles and Keith Michell.

The film has an Italian setting. In the light of the 1960s, it is interesting to see an exploration of a neo-fascist movement and neo-fascist rearmament. The film benefits a great deal by its Italian location photography.

The film was directed by John Guillermin who had made a number of films in his native England, moved to America in the 1960s with bigger-budget films including The Blue Max. He was to make several blockbusters during the 1970s including The Towering Inferno and the remake of King Kong.

1. The title, the credits sequences and the significance of tarot cards during the film?

2. How did the film create and keep its thriller atmosphere, the dead body at the opening, murder attempts, chases?

3. First impressions of Reno Davis, as a boxer, as a man? His way of life? Paul’s shooting at the car? Davis being hired as a tutor?

4. First impressions of the family: Anne and her attitudes with Paul, Paul as a little gentleman, the dinner and the right-wing colonialist conversation, snobbery, Algeria? Surprised to find that the group was involved in a right-wing plot, to overthrow democracy? The background of such ideals? Origins, what gave the group the right to be a law unto themselves, murder and kidnapping, rearming, revolution?

5. How convincing was Paul’s growth in trust of Reno?

6. How sinister was the doctor? What role did he play? To discover who he really was? How did this alter the perspective on the film, on Anne?

7. Why was Reno dangerous? Why such elaborate plans to frame him? Was he too heroic – in a melodramatic way?

8. How did such sequences as the escape from the chateau as it burnt, the train trip to Rome, the visit to Villa Frascati add to the significance and excitement of the film?

9. Was the resolution effective, the meeting with the head of the organisation, the fight in the Colosseum, the threat to shoot by Paul, the death of the head in the Colosseum?

10. What kind of woman was Anne? How had she been used? How did this affect her, her love for Paul?

11. Would they have been able to make a life together after this?

12. The effect of the on-location scenery to the atmosphere?

13. What political and moral stances did the film take? Was its picture of neo-fascist rearmament farfetched?