Fiction short films

HOW YOU WERE ROBBED… TO THE CARDS

Jacques CONSTANT
1955
Version : French
Duration : 18'
Format : 35 mm. - Mpeg4
Black & white
Scriptwriter : Jacques CONSTANT
Producer : ARMOR Films - Fred ORAIN
Country France
With Jean VALTON, Henri BERNADAC, PIERDEL,
Music LOUIGUY
Picture Jacques MERCANTON
Stage set Inside a pub
Archive footage - Close-ups of one-handed card handling,
- Illusionist handling cards (slow motion),
- Café-ping-pong-billard,
- Card players,
- Dice players at the counter,
- Café at closing time

Original title : Comment vous êtes volés… aux cartes

To show the difference between the work of a card manipulator and a card cheat, Jean Valton presents some of the best tricks in his illusionist act. As soon as the curtain falls, he stops playing cards. It’s an example that should be emulated not only when encountering players of his stature, but also with apparently less gifted people, whose lack of scruples sometimes makes up for less obvious skill. This is how we come to witness the exploits of Mr Leonard, a ‘good man’ who, every Sunday, meets his friends around a table in a classic café du Commerce. Thanks to a few simple but effective tricks, he never pays for the round. False threshing, skip-cutting, bridging, spinning and many other tricks hold no secrets for him and … for us, as they are revealed in great detail.