one of my absolute favorites!

All that we are seeing on the screen is happening with real people, real action sequences in the background, forcing the eye to watch as if we were there.

A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.

There are moments in this movie where the great movie it could've been peek out... They're fleeting, here, but they're worth savoring, and they happen often enough to make it worth your while.

Before Gregory Peck played heroes in movies about American integrity, he took a few villainous, or at least troubled, roles. In The Great Sinner, Greg plays a compulsive gambler, and he gives a wonderful performance.At first, he's just a writer who wants to write about the incredible sickness of gambling, but before long, he finds out firsthand how the sickness can take over a man's life. What I love most about this movie is the realism of the script and performances. I've heard this movie compared to The Lost Weekend, a movie about alcoholism, but I found The Great Sinner to be much more realistic in its portrayal of addiction. Greg's performance is fantastic, and it's great to see the contrast of how he was before he started gambling. As the movie continues, he becomes desperate, cruel, and self-loathing. Many times Hollywood shows the glitz and glamour associated with gambling, but since this is a period piece, there's no neon lights or Las Vegas strip. It's in black-and-white, it's dirty without being filthy, it warns without becoming melodramatic, and it's heart-wrenching.Greg is flanked by an all-star supporting cast, including Melvyn Douglas, Ethel Barrymore, Frank Morgan, Agnes Moorehead, Walter Huston, and his favorite leading lady Ava Gardner. I don't usually like Ava Gardner, but this movie is an exception. I highly recommend it.

"The Great Sinner", an MGM feature of 1949 was an adaptation of "The Gambler" a novel by the great Russian writer Dostoievski. As conceived for the screen, it had all the elements for it to succeed. Yet watching it sixty years later, this effort directed by Robert Siodmak, a man who gave us many satisfying moments at the movies, gives the impression that perhaps he was the wrong man to have been at the helm.Fedja, a writer, meets the gorgeous Pauline Ostrovsky on a train bound for Paris. It becomes evident she has cast a spell on him. That attraction will appear to be fatal as this young man decides on a whim to abandon his plans and get off at Wiesbaden, Germany, Pauline's destination. Unknown to him, she is a gambler, and so is her father, a Russian nobleman, General Ostrovsky.Pauline is the object of the affection of Armand De Glasse, the owner of the casino in the city. What Fedja does not know is the way Pauline's connection to De Glasse is based on. She, and her father owe this man 200,000 francs, an enormous figure, in those days. Fedge, who is not into gambling decides to try his luck in the roulette table in order to win enough money to repay the Ostrovskys debt. That way, he figures he will be able to keep Pauline.As he starts to gamble, Fedja begins losing almost everything he brought, then, as if by magic, he goes to break the bank, making more than what is owed. But Fedja, unable to keep his head, and his purse, goes back for more, which proves to be his downfall. He ends up poor, destitute and sick, and what is more, he begins losing Pauline, as well.Gregory Peck, a good actor, is not at his best in the romantic lead of this film. Ava Gardner, a feast for the eyes, gives a flat performance. The two stars did not show a chemistry that one felt was believable. Most of the supporting cast, especially Frank Morgan and Walter Huston, practically overplay their parts. Even suave Melvin Douglas is not as effective as in other of his best creations. Ethel Barrymore and Agnes Moorehead, have some luck with their small time in front of the camera.Robert Siodmak will still be remembered for films like "Criss Cross", "Cry of the City" and "The Killers", among others, but alas, not for this one.

At first glance, the writers of this unusual Hollywood film took the characters, location, period and premise of Dostoyevsky's novel "The Gambler" and reworked them in outrageous fashion in order to bring even more sex, moralizing guilt, titillation, debauchery and fun into the mix. It works and is very entertaining on that level. Anyone curious about the real thing might want to check out the French film "Le Joueur" by Claude Autant-Lara (1958), starring Gérard Philipe, which actually names it source, and its innumerable remakes. On the plus side, it gives Ava Gardner one of her most articulate roles and composer Bronislau Kaper a chance to incorporate a record number of light classics into his score.

As Kirk Douglas's career was progressing nicely he had a choice of two different offers. He could play the title role in The Great Sinner, a big MGM film with a supporting cast of name players with Ava Gardner as a leading lady. Or he could do a small independent film for Stanley Kramer who was just starting out. Douglas chose the small film and wound up with an Oscar nomination for Champion. Which left Gregory Peck who was apparently a second choice to play the Russian writer who stops off at the gambling resort of Wiesbaden in the 1860s just before German unification. He's on his way to Paris, but one sight of Ava Gardner getting off at Wiesbaden, makes Peck decide to abruptly change his plans.As for Ava, certainly one can understand that she's beautiful enough to let one's hormones take over, but I got the feeling Ava just wasn't into the part really, as Greg was also not. It's also hard to believe that Walter Huston had won an Oscar for his previous film, The Treasure of the Sierra Madre. To overcome a trite story, Huston overacts outrageously, pulling everything out of a ham's bag of tricks.Even Melvyn Douglas as the scheming casino owner takes his nineteenth century villainy from the Snidely Whiplash tradition. Agnes Moorehead as the old crone of a pawnbroker also indulges in some scenery chewing, her best example of that since Dark Passage.Best in the film in my humble opinion is Frank Morgan as the former mathematics professor and now addicted gambler. He brings a real aura of tragedy to his small role.The Great Sinner is a sluggishly paced film with a lot of very talented people just going through the motions. For a gambling story, I'll take Casino.Don't believe me, Wanna bet?