The Great Sinner

1949
Approved
1h 50m

IMDb RATING

6.6/10

1.7K

YOUR RATING

Gregory Peck, Ava Gardner, Melvyn Douglas, Walter Huston, and Robert Siodmak in The Great Sinner (1949)

A young writer goes to Wiesbaden to write about gambling and gamblers, only to ultimately become a compulsive gambler himself. Losing all his wealth, as well as his moral fibre, he commits the ultimate degradation of robbing a church poor box in order to feed his compulsion.

Play trailer2:52

1 Video

39 Photos

Drama

In the 1860s, in the casino resort town of Wiesbaden, Germany, a reformed gambling addict, Pauline Ostrovsky, tenderly nurses the talented Russian writer Fedja, who is a physical wreck.In the 1860s, in the casino resort town of Wiesbaden, Germany, a reformed gambling addict, Pauline Ostrovsky, tenderly nurses the talented Russian writer Fedja, who is a physical wreck.In the 1860s, in the casino resort town of Wiesbaden, Germany, a reformed gambling addict, Pauline Ostrovsky, tenderly nurses the talented Russian writer Fedja, who is a physical wreck.

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

6.6/10

1.7K

YOUR RATING

See production info at IMDbPro

Secretary
(as Frederick Ledebur)

Ludwig Donath

Doctor

Curt Bois

Jeweler

Ludwig Stössel

Hotel Manager
(as Ludwig Stossel)

Ernö Verebes

Valet
(as Erno Verebes)

Fred Aldrich

Gambling Casino Patron
(uncredited)

James Anderson

Nervous Young Gambler
(uncredited)

John Arnold

Croupier
(uncredited)

Hanna Axmann-Rezzori

Staring Casino Patron
(uncredited)

William Bailey

Gambling Casino Accountant
(uncredited)

Martha Bamattre

Female Fountain Attendant
(uncredited)

Storyline

Edit

Did you know

Edit

Trivia
Deborah Kerr was initially scheduled to co-star with Gregory Peck. Then Lana Turner was slotted for the role, and then withdrawn from the production due to her extended European honeymoon with Henry J. Topping, Jr. Finally, Ava Gardner was cast in what turned out to be the first of three films to co-star the pair, along with The Snows of Kilimanjaro (1952) and On the Beach (1959).

Goofs
On numerous occasions during the long Roulette game when the "No more bets" call is made, the wheel is shown to be turning pretty slowly; yet immediately afterwards as the ball is getting ready to drop into the slot, the wheel is suddenly turning much more rapidly.

Quotes
Pauline Ostrovsky: Oh, you can count on my vanity. No matter what you say I'll regard it as a compliment.
Fedja: All right, if you insist. To one of the most corrupt women I've ever met.
Pauline Ostrovsky: Corrupt?
Fedja: Corrupt, confused, frustrated, and empty.
Pauline Ostrovsky: But in a charming sort of way, you'll admit.
Fedja: Well charm, my dear is your gambling capital. You toss it on the table like money, like everything else, even a dying grandmother.
Pauline Ostrovsky: When a man takes the trouble to be so rude to a woman, he is usually falling in love with her.
Fedja: You're not a woman. You are a symptom.
Pauline Ostrovsky: Of what?
Fedja: Of one of the worlds deadliest diseases, sophistication. More champagne?
Pauline Ostrovsky: What else am I?
Fedja: You are irritatingly beautiful.
Pauline Ostrovsky: Well, at last!
Fedja: And everything, I reject.

Connections
Edited into Hollywood: The Dream Factory (1972)

User reviews37

Review

Featured review

5/10

a great cast in a film about the gambling bug

Gregory Peck, Ava Gardner, Walter Huston, Melvyn Douglas, Ethel Barrymore, and Frank Morgan star in "The Great Sinner" about a writer who gets the gambling bug big-time. Set in the 1860s, the story concerns a writer (Peck) who falls for a woman (Gardner) whose life, and that of her father's (Huston), is dedicated to gambling. They're waiting for the matriarch of the family (Barrymore) to die so that they will no longer be beholden to the owner of a casino (Douglas). He has 200,000 (francs, I think) of the father's notes, and in return, he wants Gardner. One can hardly blame him - she's so gorgeous in this movie, and her costumes so stunning, she nearly burns up the celluloid. The writer tries his hand at gambling and soon becomes a complete addict.

The gambling scenes in this film are quite exciting, as anyone who has tasted the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat at a slot machine will attest. Unfortunately, other than that, it's a rather talk-heavy movie without much action and seems to go on too long. Nevertheless, there are some good performances. Was Walter Huston ever anything but great? Peck is handsome and convincing as the fallen man. Agnes Moorhead has a small part, but she's excellent, as the nasty owner of a pawnshop. Frank Morgan also makes an appearance as an unlucky gambler.

Worth seeing for Gardner's looks and gowns alone.