House of Cards is a 1968 suspense thriller starring George Peppard, Inger Stevens, and Orson Welles. It is my personal favorite of Inger's movies for several reasons. First, Inger is given a mysterious and modern role fit for a leading lady. Second, she is dressed impeccably by Edith Head. Third, Inger gets to fall in love with George Peppard in the most beautiful locations in Paris and Rome. Finally, it's an intriguing plot with excellent acting from all players.
This post is an entry in Hometowns to Hollywood's Celluloid Road Trip Blogathon: International Edition. The film's key scenes take place by the Seine in Paris, at the Trevi Fountain in Rome, and at the Colosseum in Rome.
The Film
Reno Davis (George Peppard) is an American boxer whose career is in decline. After an unsuccessful fight in Paris, Reno is shot at by a young boy, Paul (Barnaby Shaw). Returning the boy to his mother Anne de Villemont (Inger Stevens), Reno is immediately struck by the strange behavior and ornate surroundings of Anne and her son.
On the day he plans to leave Paris, Anne offers him a live-in position tutoring her son. She explains that Paul’s father was killed in the war and that she’d like an American man to guide her son. Reno agrees due to the substantial pay and his curiosity about her situation.
He quickly learns that the elder members of the family live to revel in past military glories and heavily monitor the actions of Anne and her son. Reno continues to notice the strange, secretive behavior within the house and the contrasting contained warmth that seems to exist within Anne.
Dr. Morillion (Keith Mitchell) maintains a firm grip on Anne’s physical and mental health and is extra observant of Paul’s actions. At parties within the house, Reno meets Leschenhaut (Orson Welles), whom he later discovers is leading a global fascist movement to overthrow the government.
Reno begins to see that Anne, who has been presented to him as a mentally fragile alcoholic, is actually right to believe nefarious activity is afoot.
When Paul is kidnapped and a murder plot on themselves revealed, Reno and Anne must work together to travel from Paris to Rome to rescue Paul while exposing the fascist plot.
The Locations
The beginning of the film focuses on views of Paris, particularly set around the Seine. Multiple attacks take place on the bridge and in the Seine itself.
The castle from which Reno and Anne escape is located at Odescalchi at Bracciano, outside of Rome.
An enjoyable scene takes place in the Fountain of Trevi. Anne and Reno are stealing coins from the fountain in order to refuel their car. When a policeman approaches, they quickly embrace as lovers so that the cop does not notice their thievery.
The scene was shot in the evening and the water was freezing. A large crowd gathered to watch the filming of this scene and ended up ruining several takes. At one point, a three-year-old child jumped into the fountain and Inger had to pull the child out and return her to her mother.
Fittingly, House of Cards' final scene in which the hero Reno battles the villain Leschenhaut happens at the Roman Colosseum.
The Reception
The film was positively received. Don LaBadie with the LA Times wrote that the film, "may well be more in the vintage Hitchcock tradition than anything the master himself has done in years." LaBadie praised the film's "shrewd blend of Hitchcockian ingredients" and Inger's character:
Miss Stevens is a distressed, ambiguously worldly lady—a figure reminiscent of that played by another Swede Ingrid Bergman in Hitchcock's Notorious—who only seems to be a tramp.
Inger Stevens was thrilled to get the chance to play a true leading lady role. Always self-deprecating about her beauty, she said:
I'm playing a super-sophisticated lady who might mistake a milk pail for a champagne bucket. And, for the first time in my career, I'm getting a chance to wear really beautiful clothes. You cannot imagine what a great lift it gives an old Raggedy-Ann type like me to get into some sparkling fashions. You know, Universal sent Edith Head all the way over to plan my fashion parade. She didn't have to bring along all those Oscars—I know I'm in the best of hands!
Orson Welles loved his villainous role and appreciated the film's clear definition of good and evil characters. Orson said:
I was attracted to this role for several reasons. I've admired the work of Stanley Ellin, who wrote the novel. He's done some marvelous short stories, wild and brilliant. There was one I wanted to make a film of, a story about a company whose business it is to get rid of the old people in your home. Terrifying. Unfortunately, Hitchcock had already bought it.
Then I found that, for a change, House of Cards was a melodrama that had a villain and a hero. Much more than half of all the films made and all the plays produced are melodramas. Shakespeare's tragedies have great tragic elements and great tragic moments, but they're all pure melodramas. What's being forgotten at present is that melodramas are based on a conflict between good and evil. Nowadays, the villain is disappearing because the hero is a villain, too. You take on a part and you discover that all the pleasure in being a villain is being usurped by the leading man. The morality of the melodrama is becoming flabby under the guise of being tough. In too many films, there are no longer the bad guys and the good guys. There's just the guy who wins.
George Peppard was exhausted throughout the filming and called it, "The Running, Jumping, and Never Standing Still Film." He respected Inger, telling reporters:
I think Inger Stevens is the most courageous actress I have ever met in this business. She has had a series of physical ailments that would have downed most fullbacks, but she has never complained. As for myself, I've never worked so hard on a film in my life. I just got up from a 19-hour sleep.
Behind-the-Scenes Facts
Filming took place in August-November 1967. Inger joined the cast as Anne after German actress Eva Renzi left the production.
In one scene, George Peppard cut his thumb with a knife—requiring six stitches.
Inger gave Orson Welles a collection of Happiness books by Charles Schultz as a gift. Orson later remarked, "It may sound corny, but I've become an ardent Peanuts fan."
Inger spent Thanksgiving with Rock Hudson, Shelley Winters, Shelley's boyfriend John Stroud, and the George Segals at Chuck Painter's apartment in Rome.
Inger lived at the Piazza San Salvatore during filming and told reporters that she loved Rome so much she planned to buy an apartment building there. In typical Inger fashion, she also playfully poked fun at Italian living and the less-than-glamorous life of a movie star, saying:
Oh, the noise. I live in an old palazzo in a marvelous duplex. When you run the vacuum, you have to disconnect the refrigerator or you blow a fuse, that’s how old the place is. At 5:30 every morning, the bells in the church next door start clanging and the Italians start gunning their motors. I cook myself a steak and go to work.
I have to have my hair washed and set every evening. But with the electric current so weak in my apartment I’m afraid of fusing everything so I go to a beauty parlor. The beauty parlor is usually filled with principesses and their dogs. I’m usually dressed in jeans and sandals and the principesses and their dogs look at me suspiciously. The dogs, usually tiny, growl ferociously.
Hours later I exit from the salon with my hair in enormous curlers looking like a science fiction character. Because of the curlers, I can’t go out to a restaurant. So I trundle home, eat a cold dinner and drink a hot glass of milk. I watch the news on television to improve my Italian and at 9:15 I get into bed, happy as a clam to be living in glamorous Rome. Oh, I forgot. Before I clock out, I dial 114 and have a call with the wake-up service. You never know, one morning the church bells won’t ring, and the Romans will renounce their damn cars and I might even oversleep!
Due to some copyright issues with the music, as I understand the issue to be, House of Cards has not been issued on Region 1 DVD. However, it is available as an import, which plays perfectly on my Blu-ray player.
Sources:
LA Times 23 Nov 1967.
The Missoulian. September 21, 1967.
The Missoulian. November 3, 1967.
The Pensacola News-Journal. October 29, 1967.
Pittsburgh Press 16 Jan 1968
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