Alec Guinness creates a wonderful lead character in this excellent satirical British comedy, which was so highly regarded when it came out that it was nominated for an Oscar. The film is based on a novel by Arnold Bennett, with a screenplay by Eric Ambler. It is set in one of Bennett's 'five towns', the potteries in the north of England. Guinness starts out as the son of a poor washerwoman, a complete 'nobody', but struggles ingeniously to hoist himself by his bootstraps, and succeeds over and over again. Valerie Hobson plays the Countess of Chell (no relation to the oil company?) who is the local grandee in a huge mansion, to whom all and sundry bow and curtsy. Hobson was a perfect choice for the role, and plays it with appropriate tongue in cheek. She finds Guinness most amusing, and indeed he is. Guinness too retains a subdued, almost subliminal, elfin quality throughout. The film is made with huge dollops of good humour, and Joey the donkey is actually played by Joey the donkey, who gets lots of laughs. This film is a wonderful cheering example of British comic entertainment at its best. Glynis Johns is simply marvellous as a scheming woman on the make, and Petula Clark (who began acting at the age of 14 and by now was a seasoned pro, despite still being a bright young thing) is absolutely charming. Everyone is good, everything is good, the film is good, and Ronnie Neame's direction is superb. What more could one want? Oh, and by the way, the title refers to Guinness being called 'a card', which is a now abandoned term meaning an amusing fellow who is getting on in life in ways which might be slightly questionable but are good for a laugh. No card games are played and all resemblances to cards living or dead is purely coincidental.

This is a decent film--not a great one. But, because it has such lovely acting, I was able to overlook the fact that the writing could have been a bit better. After all, compared to other Alec Guinness films this one is pretty ordinary--but it's STILL an Alec Guinness film--which says a lot.Guinness plays a humble clerk who through a lot of drive, determination and conniving, he's able to quickly get ahead in life. He isn't necessarily a bad man--just an amazing opportunist--sort of like a British version of "How to Succeed in Business Without Even Trying" set around 1900...but with less comedy. In fact, the lack of comedy is the film's weakest point. While it has a few droll moments, the film lacked the dark humor of Guinness' best (such as "The Lavender Hill Mob", "The Man in the White Suit" and "Kind Hearts and Coronets"). Instead, it's kind of cute, a tad funny and just a bit clever.While I am not a huge fan of Glynnis Johns (mostly due to her voice--which limited her range), here she is at her best. I think this is because her character is VERY deep--she's certainly not who you initially think she is and she is probably the funniest thing in the film.Overall, enjoyable and a must-see for any fan of Alec Guinness. However, if you aren't a fan, try watching some of the films I mentioned above first--they are a bit better.

This is another superb British comedy of the early '50s. The story (based quite closely upon the Arnold Bennett novel) is fun, the script by Eric Ambler spot on, and the production well done. The black and white photography is truly beautiful, and captures the sense of time, place and atmosphere better than any amount of glossy colour could have. I gather that some of the exteriors were shot in Burslem ("Bursley" in the film) and Llandudno, but even if they were not, they feel as though they could have been. The only time the illusion of reality was lost was during some clunky back-projection when Denry was driving his new car.The performances were superb, as one expects of a British film of the period, from the principals, especially Alec Guinness and Glynis Johns -how beautiful she was, how grating her voice, and what a character she created - to extras with a few lines, e.g., Michael Hordern as a sympathetic bank manager.In all, this film is a total delight.

Apparently a comment on transcending class boundaries, the message seems to get lost amidst the gags, however the film can still be enjoyed as a light comedy. It has a number of amusing moments and ideas, and the introductory narration is wonderfully descriptive. The film suffers from predictability and a rather mundane screenplay and plot, but Alec Guinness's charm and charisma save the day. Glynis Johns is however annoying whenever on screen, but the other actresses manage to do okay. Ronald Neame has done comedy better before - he seems to insert too much action into his vision of the material here - but it ultimately is an entertaining overall film nevertheless.