"House of Cards" (1968)

[Wellesnet]

Welles co-stars with George Peppard and Inger Stevens. Directed by John Guillerman, who passed away last week. Welles plays a fascist plotting to take over France, and Peppard is a down-and-out American boxer he tries to recruit. Some nice Paris locations. Guillerman and Peppard had had a hit two years earlier with the WWI epic "The Blue Max".

Part 1:
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x2bji1 ... _lifestyle

Part 2:
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x2bjk1 ... _lifestyle

[Sir Bygber Brown]

For those interested, this one has a nice score that has an eastern european sound, like a romantic piece from Mr. Arkadin maybe, if my memory is correct.

George Peppard is absolutely inneffectual as the American fish out of water in europe.

Inger Stevens apparently looks good though I don't know which one she is.

Orson first shows up at 24:09.

[AngeloColombus]

Australian label Via Vision Entertainment has announced its next batch of Blu-ray titles for December and one of them includes House Of Cards (1968) staring George Peppard, Inger Stevens and Orson Welles. Never seen the film but the story line sounds interesting.

https://viavision.com.au/shop/house-of-cards/

[Wellesnet]

In Spanish with English subs available:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I9M1UYBbTRY&t=16s

Review from imdb discusses Welles' neo-Nazi character, Leschenhaut:

House Of Cards 1968 (no, not that) is a fun little 1968 noir film with heavy Hitchcockian inspirations that follows Reno Davis, a slick man hired by socialite Anne de Villemont to caretake her son Paul. But as Reno does his job, he discovers a vast conspiracy going on under the surface, headed up by the man, the myth, the legend himself...Orson Welles!

Who is Leschenhaut? What has he done?

Charles Leschenhaut is the mastermind of the conspiracy the film revolves around. He is a brilliant man who has come to the conclusion that the world needs a change through violent revolution to create a "New World Order"...which, ah, unfortunately involves "repelling the black and yellow hordes", exterminating the mentally ill...as Reno jokes when he hears it: "Ah, Sieg Heil".

Throughout the years and film itself, Leschenhaut has oversaw many murders to silence those who accidentally discover the truth of his organization's plans. He's killed multiple named people in the past and the film opens with one of such slayings, a man drowned to death "like an animal". Leschenhaut's ultimate goal is to raise and indoctrinate Paul de Villemont, a young boy, to be a new fascist leader who will help usher in the "new world order." Leschenhaut keeps Paul and his mother, Anne, as prisoners while killing anyone who gets close to Anne and keeping her in a psychologically abusive role as a supposed happy socialite with "mental problems" but in truth just keeping her under his thumb so he can brainwash her son.

Mitigating features?
None, he's a vile racist and fascist and while he refers to his fellow conspirators as "friends", he only sees them as steps to completion of his scheme.

Heinousness?
He kills multiple people throughout the film itself, with a long history discussed of "silencing" others in the past, all while raising a child to be a fascist overlord with a plan to take over the world and dispose of "inferior races."

[Wellesnet]

English language version now available on Youtube:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ene-a68fcbw&t=61s

[Wellesnet]

‘House of Cards’ getting solid Blu-ray foundation:
https://wellesnet.com/house-of-cards-ge ... oundation/