Ghosts, Guns, Guilt & Gambling in “The Queen of Spades”

Alexander Pushkin's novelette, "The Queen of Spades," reads like a modern story – which is one of the many surprises in this nearly 200-year-old work.

His storytelling is sharp and to the point and packs a wallop at the end.

It goes like this:

A group of young Russian army officers are playing cards when one of them tells how his grandmother – a countess – was a heavy gambler and when she was young lost a small fortune at the tables. She struck a sort of bargain with a creepy old dude – a noble himself – and he taught her the secret to winning at faro.

A quick aside here: I have only the vaguest idea of how the card game faro is played. The only other place I have heard it mentioned is in books and movies about the Old West. Readers do not have to master the fine points to enjoy “The Queen of Spades.”

Back to the story: One of the young officers at the card game hears the tale and plots to get the secret for himself. He convinces a young woman who lives in the old countess’ mansion that he is in love with her. One night she arranges to let him into the house to visit her. But the officer goes straight to the old lady’s bedroom and begs her to tell him the secret. She refuses, he demands, and finally he threatens her with a gun. The old lady dies of fright.

The officer feels kind of guilty. He attends her funeral and while looking into the casket, the old lady smiles at him. That night the countess appears to him and tells him the secret. The greedy young officer heads for the nearest casino. There he plays to win using the secret and there he gets his comeuppance thanks to the old countess.

The story has the kind of pace and surprise ending of an O. Henry short story, or one by de Maupassant. Somerset Maugham wrote a few like this, too.

The end leaves more questions than answers. Did the old countess cause the calamity at the end? Or was it the young officer’s own obsessive greed? Did the spirit actually visit the officer? Or was it a dream?

I will let someone else answer those questions. For me, “The Queen of Spades” was a ripping good story.

Alexander Pushkin (1799-1837) was a Russian poet, playwright, novelist and short story writer. He is considered the founder of modern Russian literature. “The Queen of Spades” was first published in Moscow in 1834. My copy of the story (from Kindle for 99 cents) does not list a translator, but I believe it was done by Margaret Sutherland Edwards. She was the wife of a British journalist who wrote about Russia. Her translation of the Pushkin story was published in 1901 and it is a must read.

(For more posts on books, see Todd Mason’s blog.)

(And take a look at my book, Lyme Depot, too. Thanks.)

Clooney and J.Lo in Out Of Sight from the novel by Elmore Leonard

Saturday was gloomy and rainy so the perfect movie to watch was “Out Of Sight.”

We had seen it before, 22 years ago when it was out on the big screen, and we enjoyed seeing it again.

Enjoyed is the right word for this romantic comedy crime film starring George Clooney as a smooth, charming bank robber who never uses a gun, and Jennifer Lopez as a U.S. Marshal who does.

Clooney’s Jack Foley escapes from prison and is met by his crime buddy, Buddy, played by Ving Rhames. But the escape plan goes sideways when Lopez’s Marshal Karen Sisco gets in the way.

The two stars meet cute by being stuffed into the trunk of a car and chatting while Buddy drives. They separate and Karen joins the team hunting for Jack. His trail leads from Florida to Detroit where he plans to rip off a fortune in diamonds from a rich crook he met in prison.

Other hoods and supporting characters come into the story and are memorably played by a large cast, including a lot of well-known actors like Don Cheadle, Catherine Keener, Dennis Farina, Albert Brooks, Luis Guzman, Viola Davis, Michael Keaton, Samuel L. Jackson, and a hilarious Steve Zahn.

The whole thing is a hard to relate in any sensible way because the source material was Elmore Leonard’s novel of the same name, and few can tell a wacky, twist-filled tale like Leonard.

Steven Soderbergh directed the picture and went on to make many more big movies with big movie stars, some serious like “Traffic,” others fun like the Ocean films.

Seeing “Out Of Sight” made me want to re-watch other films based on Leonard stories like “Jackie Brown” and “Get Shorty.” But mostly, it reminded me that I have not read any Elmore in a long time.

Kiss Her Goodbye by Wade Miller

Back in the day, you could walk into a store and buy a 45. I am talking here about 45 rpm records, not .45 caliber automatics.

Those seven-inch, black vinyl recordings had a song on each side. The A side was the one the artists expected to be popular. But occasionally, the B side became the hit.

 

For me, something similar happened with Stark House publishers’ two books in one volume of Wade Miller crime novels.

 

The first story, Kitten With A Whip, may be the more famous of the two. But the second book, Kiss Her Goodbye is a terrific read.

 

Kiss Her Goodbye captured me in the first pages with its sense of impending tragedy. The suspense grew and had me on the edge of my seat.

 

The novel, published in 1956, is about Ed Darnell, a man in his late 20s, who rolls into a small, Southern California desert town with his sister, Emily, who is 18 and a knockout. The beautiful girl catches the attention of every male. But something is wrong. Ed and Emily are running from something.

 

Wade Miller (the pen name of writing team Bob Wade and Bill Miller) take their time rolling out their story. But readers will sense something is very wrong. They will worry about Emily’s safety. And they will be caught up in Ed’s struggle to protect her from the local wolves.

 

The worst of the wolves is Cory, the smiling, overly friendly, local business man, who employs Ed as a truck driver. Once Cory, a married-man and a pillar of the community, gets a look at Emily he goes on the hunt for her.

 

A young woman as good looking as Emily should have had plenty of practice deflecting the advances of guys like Cory. But Emily has a problem. While physically she is a grown woman, mentally she is an overly trusting child.

 

Ed knows he should commit her to a home, but cannot bring himself to do it. He could not afford a nice place, and state run institutions in that era could be hell holes. So, for years Ed has taken care of Emily.

 

Further complicating his problem is Emily’s propensity for violence when frightened. Men on the make who scare her can wind up in a world of hurt.

 

Bob Wade (1920-2012) and Bill Miller (1920-1961) wrote more than 30 novels together. I’ve read a few of them. Of those, Kiss Her Goodbye is the best, so far.

 

(For more posts on books, head over to Todd Mason’s blog.)
 

(Also, check out my crime novel, Lyme Depot. Thanks.)

Problems for Cary Grant in “Crisis”

Until recently, I had never seen the 1950 film “Crisis.”

 

Cary Grant cast in a serious picture is not always a good thing – unless it is an Alfred Hitchcock production. But “Crisis” is a pretty good movie – not a great movie – but an interesting one.  

 

In it, Grant and his wife, played by Paula Raymond, are on vacation in Latin America when they are kidnapped by soldiers and taken to the capitol of an unnamed country. The dictator there, played by Jose Ferrer, has a brain tumor and cannot leave. Neighboring nations will not accept him and there is political unrest and riots in the streets at home. The only solution is to convince Grant to do the operation in the presidential palace.

But, the horrible dictator is not worth saving, and the rebels would appreciate it if the doctor’s hand should slip ever so slightly during the delicate operation. 

In summary, it all sounds too far-fetched, but director Richard Brooks, who also wrote the screenplay based on a story by George Tabori, turns it into an intriguing political and moral struggle for Grant.

Tabloid City by Pete Hamill

A newspaper editor, a young reporter, an old columnist, a bitter fired employee, a successful commercial artist, a famous painter, a patron of the arts, an NYPD detective, a disabled Iraq War veteran, and a radical bomber lose in New York City, plus a double homicide are some of the many elements of Pete Hamill’s last novel, Tabloid City.

Hamill, a long-time New York newspaper columnist, novelist, memoirist, screenwriter, raconteur and man about town, knew his city. Pete Hamill died August 5, 2020, at age 85.

This 2011 book gives readers his insider’s view of  the 21st century struggle of newspapers to survive in the digital world. All of his experiences and interests, including his love or art, are here in this sprawling book that is also a taught thriller.

Tabloid City is a fast read and well worth the time. Anyone unfamiliar with Hamill should also pick up a copy of A Drinking Life, a memoir of his early years, his Irish-American family living in Brooklyn, and the path that brought him into the newspaper business.

 

(For more posts on books, head over to Todd Mason’s blog.)