The Gambler and the Lady

1952 "Their wheel of fortune was spun by the cold steel of an automatic!"
5.9| 1h12m| NR| en| More Info
Released: 26 December 1952 Released
Producted By: Hammer Film Productions
Country: United Kingdom
Budget: 0
Revenue: 0
Official Website:
Synopsis

A greedy but successful professional gambler wants to join the British Establishment when he falls in love with a blue-blooded lady. But first he must mend his ways and then dump his nightclub singer girl friend. She's not so easy to get rid of, neither is his past.

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Reviews

Doomtomylo a film so unique, intoxicating and bizarre that it not only demands another viewing, but is also forgivable as a satirical comedy where the jokes eventually take the back seat.
AnhartLinkin This story has more twists and turns than a second-rate soap opera.
Jenni Devyn Worth seeing just to witness how winsome it is.
Dana An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.
Spikeopath The Gambler and the Lady is directed by Patrick Jenkins and Sam Newfield, the latter of which also writing the screenplay. It stars Dane Clark, Kathleen Byron, Naomi Chance, Meredith Edwards, Anthony Forwood and Eric Pohlmann. Music is by Ivor Stanley and cinematography by Walter J. Harvey.Clark plays Jim Forster, an ex-con and reformed alcoholic who is trying to climb the social ladder by way of his thriving gambling business. But all that is threatened when new gangsters on the scene want in on the action. Not only that but he also has a jealous ex-girlfriend to contend with just as he meets and falls for the blue blooded Lady Susan Willens (Chance).On the page it sounds terrific, a real chance for some noir nirvana, while the opening to the film is a cracker, with a moody night time cobbled street scene punctured by a hit and run collision. Yet the piece never rises above the routine crime thriller that it is, while visually it's flat and uninteresting.Out of Hammer Film Productions, there's an attempt at class distinction to drive the narrative forward, but it never really develops into something resembling dramatic worth. A shame because Jim Forster is an interesting enough character, he has done time for manslaughter, has anger issues but now he hates the rough stuff, even admonishing his staff for handing out bumps to bad debtors. And the women love him as well. Yet it's all so lethargically played that come the finale, the culmination of the dangled carrot at the beginning, you will struggle to care anyway. 5/10
mark.waltz I diagnose this low-budget British crime drama as film noir. Symptoms: A social climbing gangster; Rackateers determined to muck their way into a share of his profits; a vindictive ex-lover out for blood; An ingénue from snobbish high society with a few hidden cards up her own sleeve. Prognosis: Can't be cured of diagnosis, but can be prolonged by re-discovery of a film noir sleeper.American diamond in the rough Dane Clark falls under the spell of British high society, dumping his co-dependent lover (Kathleen Byron) for the seemingly gentler Naomi Chance. Her snobby brother gets him involved in a phony stock scheme while a racketeer tries to muscle in. Chance gets an earful from the nasty Byron but turns the tables on her in a wonderfully vicious scene. Exciting from the start, this little known film noir grabs you and does not let go, moving practically at the speed of light.You think that Lizabeth Scott, Gloria Grahame, Martha Vickers and Jan Sterling had the ball on low society tramps? Wait until you meet Ms. Byron who is not somebody who takes no lightly. And Chance isn't some namby pamby ingénue, either. She can give as good as she gets. Clark is given an extremely well developed character to play, and you find yourself liking him even if you really should avoid him like the plague.
JohnHowardReid The good folk at IMDb don't seem to be aware that "Patrick Jenkins" is a pseudonym for Pat Jackson who also helped out around this period on "Scotland Yard Inspector", "Bad Blonde" and "The Saint's Return". Anyway, one can understand the wish for anonymity, as "The Gambler and the Lady" is not terribly interesting. True, the script has all the makings for classic film noir, but it doesn't come off, mainly because it wastes too much time on the dull Dane Clark character and his equally dull buddy, and fails to develop Kathleen Byron's role. Some attempts at humor are also misplaced. True, the climactic action has a bit of impact -- unbelievable though it is -- but by that time our interest has dissipated past the point of no return.
David (Handlinghandel) There's plenty of crime in this Lippert picture. It opens with a well shot killing that is not clear till well into the movie. Dane Clark is the star. He was a staple of film noir. Here, we also see him in a top hat!Yes, the subject is more class than crime. Clark is the gambler of the tile. (The female title character doesn't appear till almost half an hour into the movie.) He's an American but he wants to fit in in England. He's taking lessons in deportment from a caricature of a British lady.He has a Scottish pal (Meredith Edwards) who is put forward as his butler. He longs to become accepted by nobility.The supporting cast is good. The woman he falls for is not particularly charismatic but she's attractive. The more conventionally low-life types are plausible.The dialog contains a lot of blatant exposition: "It's hard to believe that X years ago I was in Y with Z and while A B were ..."It's well shot and holds the attention. But it's nothing to write (back) home about.