The Great Sinner
| The Great Sinner | |
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Theatrical poster
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| Directed by | Robert Siodmak |
| Produced by | Gottfried Reinhardt |
| Written by |
Fyodor Dostoyevsky (novel) Christopher Isherwood |
| Starring |
Gregory Peck Ava Gardner Melvyn Douglas |
| Music by | Bronisław Kaper |
| Cinematography | George J. Folsey |
| Edited by | Harold F. Kress |
| Distributed by | Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer |
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Release date
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Running time
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110 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $2,075,000 |
| Box office | $2,041,000 |
The Great Sinner is a 1949 American drama film directed by Robert Siodmak. Based on the 1866 short novel The Gambler written by Fyodor Dostoyevsky, the film stars Gregory Peck, Ava Gardner, Frank Morgan, Ethel Barrymore, Walter Huston, Agnes Moorehead and Melvyn Douglas.
During the 1860s in Wiesbaden, Pauline Ostrovsky, a reformed addict, receives a manuscript from the dying writer Fedya (diminutive of Fyodor), in which he looks back at their first meeting: While traveling from Paris to Moscow, Fedya meets Pauline and secretly feels attracted to her. Noticing she is disembarking at Wiesbaden, Fedya decides to leave the train as well and follows her to a casino. There, he finds out Pauline is, like her father General Ostrovsky, a gambling addict. Upon seeing how undisturbed the Ostrovskys are to find out the General's wealthy mother is dying, he becomes interested in the effects of gambling. He decides to stay in Wiesbaden to do a character study of gambling addicts.
One of them is Aristide Pitard, an old thief who steals Fedya's money. Taking pity on the man, Fedya offers Aristide money to leave the city. Instead, Aristide uses the money to gamble and he eventually shoots himself in desperation. Before dying, he gives Fedya a pawn ticket and asks him to redeem it and return the article to its owner. However, he dies before divulging the name of this person. When Fedya goes to the pawnshop he discovers that the pledged item is a religious medal, and later finds out that it belongs to Pauline. Meanwhile, he has fallen deeply in love with her, despite her father's discouragement of a romantic involvement with her.
After returning the medal, Fedya finds out Pauline is pledged to an arranged marriage with Armand de Glasse, the wealthy but ruthless manager of the casino. Aware that Pauline is not engaged to Armand out of love, but as a payment for her father's big debts to the casino, Fedya decides to start gambling himself to earn enough money to pay off the General's debts. He initially earns a lot of money at roulette and becomes a gambling addict himself. However, after a period of fame for his winning streak, his luck runs out and he loses all of his money at the casino.
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Wikipedia