The Great Sinner

1949
Approved
1h 50m

IMDb RATING

6.6/10

1.7K

YOUR RATING

Gregory Peck, Ava Gardner, Melvyn Douglas, Walter Huston, and Robert Siodmak in The Great Sinner (1949)

A young writer goes to Wiesbaden to write about gambling and gamblers, only to ultimately become a compulsive gambler himself. Losing all his wealth, as well as his moral fibre, he commits the ultimate degradation of robbing a church poor box in order to feed his compulsion.

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39 Photos

Drama

In the 1860s, in the casino resort town of Wiesbaden, Germany, a reformed gambling addict, Pauline Ostrovsky, tenderly nurses the talented Russian writer Fedja, who is a physical wreck.In the 1860s, in the casino resort town of Wiesbaden, Germany, a reformed gambling addict, Pauline Ostrovsky, tenderly nurses the talented Russian writer Fedja, who is a physical wreck.In the 1860s, in the casino resort town of Wiesbaden, Germany, a reformed gambling addict, Pauline Ostrovsky, tenderly nurses the talented Russian writer Fedja, who is a physical wreck.

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

6.6/10

1.7K

YOUR RATING

See production info at IMDbPro

Secretary
(as Frederick Ledebur)

Ludwig Donath

Doctor

Curt Bois

Jeweler

Ludwig Stössel

Hotel Manager
(as Ludwig Stossel)

Ernö Verebes

Valet
(as Erno Verebes)

Fred Aldrich

Gambling Casino Patron
(uncredited)

James Anderson

Nervous Young Gambler
(uncredited)

John Arnold

Croupier
(uncredited)

Hanna Axmann-Rezzori

Staring Casino Patron
(uncredited)

William Bailey

Gambling Casino Accountant
(uncredited)

Martha Bamattre

Female Fountain Attendant
(uncredited)

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Undercurrent

Storyline

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Did you know

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Trivia
Deborah Kerr was initially scheduled to co-star with Gregory Peck. Then Lana Turner was slotted for the role, and then withdrawn from the production due to her extended European honeymoon with Henry J. Topping, Jr. Finally, Ava Gardner was cast in what turned out to be the first of three films to co-star the pair, along with The Snows of Kilimanjaro (1952) and On the Beach (1959).

Goofs
On numerous occasions during the long Roulette game when the "No more bets" call is made, the wheel is shown to be turning pretty slowly; yet immediately afterwards as the ball is getting ready to drop into the slot, the wheel is suddenly turning much more rapidly.

Quotes
Pauline Ostrovsky: Oh, you can count on my vanity. No matter what you say I'll regard it as a compliment.
Fedja: All right, if you insist. To one of the most corrupt women I've ever met.
Pauline Ostrovsky: Corrupt?
Fedja: Corrupt, confused, frustrated, and empty.
Pauline Ostrovsky: But in a charming sort of way, you'll admit.
Fedja: Well charm, my dear is your gambling capital. You toss it on the table like money, like everything else, even a dying grandmother.
Pauline Ostrovsky: When a man takes the trouble to be so rude to a woman, he is usually falling in love with her.
Fedja: You're not a woman. You are a symptom.
Pauline Ostrovsky: Of what?
Fedja: Of one of the worlds deadliest diseases, sophistication. More champagne?
Pauline Ostrovsky: What else am I?
Fedja: You are irritatingly beautiful.
Pauline Ostrovsky: Well, at last!
Fedja: And everything, I reject.

Connections
Edited into Hollywood: The Dream Factory (1972)

User reviews37

Review

Featured review

8/10

Numbers theory

Even when he adapts Dostoievski,Robert Siodmak's fondness for film noir can be felt.In the first scene,when Fedor meets Pauline ,how not to think of that scene in "the killers" when Swede sees Kitty for the first time?In both films ,Ava Gardner is the femme fatale.Ditto for the last scene in the pawn shop where you can see the reflections of the crosses on the ceiling.

Fedor's motive is first love ,but little by little,he realizes he is actually in love with gambling,with the numbers.His desire for an "8 " is almost sexual;in the hotel,every number (the key number, etc) calls him to the casino.The depiction of the place where people are feverishly waiting for the stopping of the roulette is absolutely extraordinary.Gregory Peck gives a riveting performance as the gambler down on his luck,and Ava Gardner's beauty shines all along the film.The supporting cast is up to scratch: Melvyn Douglas is like a puppeteer (the scene when he pretends he can't find Ostrovsky's notes belongs to him); Frank Morgan as a fallen mathematic teacher and Agnes Moorehead as the owner of a seedy pawn shop make all their scenes count.Ethel Barrymore is so talented an actress she does not need any words (except "banco" ) to express her gambling fever.

Like this ?try these.....

"Le Joueur" Claude Autant-Lara 1958 another Dostoievski adaptation,inferior to Siodmak's version.

"lo scopone scientifico" Luigi Comencini 1972

"La dame de Pique" Leonard Keigel 1965