House of Cards *** (1968, George Peppard, Inger Stevens, Orson Welles, and Keith Michell.– Classic Movie Review 13,362

John Guillermin’s 1968 thriller film House of Cards is based on the novel by Stanley Ellin, and stars George Peppard, Inger Stevens, Orson Welles, and Keith Michell.

Director John Guillermin’s 1968 American neo-noir crime thriller film House of Cards is based on the novel by Stanley Ellin, and stars George Peppard, Inger Stevens, Orson Welles, and Keith Michell.

Frightened American widowed mother Anne de Villemont (Inger Stevens) hires unlikely cool dude adventurer-tutor Reno Davis (George Peppard), who is writing a great novel on boxing in Paris, and has been shot at by her young son Paul (Barnaby Shaw). Then Peppard gets mixed up with a gang of French fascists led by Mr Big, Charles Leschenhaut (Orson Welles), and the boy is abducted.

House of Cards is an exotic, escapist Swinging Sixties paranoia suspense thriller, handsomely made on location in France and Italy, and filmed by experts in glorious Technicolor and widescreen (the cinematographer is Piero Portalupi), with a gripping start and a long Hitchcockian chase, plus a swinging score by Francis Lai.

It is a good hand but, as it’s dealt here, it doesn’t quite come up trumps.

The screen-writers Harriet Frank Jr and Irving Ravetch are credited under the single pseudonym of James P Bonner.

Release dates: 18 November 1968 (UK) and September 14, 1969 (US).

Peppard and Guillermin previously worked together on the 1966 film The Blue Max, then P J [New Face in Hell] (1968 ).

The cast

The cast are George Peppard as Reno Davis, Inger Stevens as Anne de Villemont, Orson Welles as Charles Leschenhaut, Keith Michell as Morillon, Maxine Audley as Mathilde Rosier, William Job as Bernard Bourdon, Peter Bayliss as Edmond Vosier, Patience Collier as Gabrielle de Villemont, Barnaby Shaw as Paul de Villemont, Ave Ninchi as Signora Braggi, Renzo Palmer as The Monk, Francesco Mulé as Trevi policeman, Rosemarie Dexter as Daniella Braggi, Raoul Delfosse as Louis Le Buc Perrette Pradier as Jeanne-Marie, Geneviève Cluny as Veronique, James Mishler as Jesse Hardee, Jean Louis as Driot, Jacques Roux as Maguy, and Jean Hébey as French conductor.

© Derek Winnert 2025 – Classic Movie Review 13,362

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