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

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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

Videos1

Trailer 2:52

Official Trailer

Photos39

Top cast99

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Gregory Peck

Fedja

Ava Gardner

Pauline Ostrovsky

Melvyn Douglas

Armand De Glasse

Walter Huston

General Ostrovsky

Ethel Barrymore

Grandmother

Frank Morgan

Aristide Pitard

Agnes Moorehead

Emma Getzel

Friedrich von Ledebur

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)

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Storyline

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Did you know

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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 Then Lana Turner was slotted for the role, and then withdrawn from the production due to her extended European honeymoon with Henry J. Topping, Jr.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

6/10

Hollywood reworking of Dostoyevsky's "The Gambler"

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.