The Card (1952)

The Card is a British film comedy-drama first released in 1952, directed by Ronald Neame.  The film is based on a novel by Arnold Bennett and stars Alec Guinness, Glynis Johns, Valerie Hobson, Petula Clark and Edward Chapman.  It has also been released under the title: The Promoter.  Our overall rating for this film is: very good.


Bursley is one of the Five Towns in Staffordshire, the heartland of Britain’s ceramics industry.  Despite his humble origins as the son of a poor washerwoman, Edward Henry Machin would rise to become Bursely’s most famous figure in the 1890s, a man who can quite rightly be called a Card.  Whilst not entirely dishonest, Denry (as his mother calls him) does believe in seizing every opportunity Fate puts in his way, and giving Providence a helping hand whenever he can.  This is how he manages to get himself invited to a grand ball hosted by the influential Countess of Chell, how he makes his first success as a rent collector, how he earns a small fortune selling pleasure trips at the seaside, and how he realises his biggest enterprise of all, a universal thrift company.   A wealthy and happy man, Denry has only one ambition left – to become mayor of Bursley...

Arnold Bennett’s charming satirical novel of 1911, which recounts the adventures of an incorrigible social climber and opportunist, is vividly brought to life in this film, one of Ronald Neame’s early credits as a director.  Neame had previously made a name for himself as a cinematographer and screenwriter on David Lean’s first few films, most notably Blithe Spirit (1945), and would go on to have a successful career as a director and film producer.

One of England’s premier actors at the time, Alec Guinness, is perfectly cast as the ruthless (note the pun) yet loveable Denry Machin.  He revels in the part, which appears to have been created especially for him.  With his customary charm and flair for genial comedy, Guinness makes the ambitious Machin less of a scoundrel and more a sympathetic rogue whose great cause in life is, as the film succinctly puts it, to cheer us all up.

Whilst the film belongs to Guinness, the supporting cast put in some notable contributions.  Valerie Hobson is marvelous as the unflappable Countess of Chell, Glynis Johns is both hilarious and grating as the manipulative Ruth Earp (a somewhat less palatable version of Guinness’s sympathetic social climber) and Petula Clark is delightful as Nellie.  The film’s excellent cinematography and design capture magnificently the period setting of Bennett’s Five Towns in the late 1800s.  All in all, The Card is an enjoyable social satire on the dubious art of self-promotion.

© James Travers 2008

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