Sort of an interesting angle for an American
film that just feels a bit too frivolous for its own good. It has three big
stars at the time - George Peppard who was coming off of a series of hits
as a leading man at the time starting with Breakfast at Tiffany's in 1961
and the Blue Max in 1966. Peppard certainly had the looks but there was something
always a bit too cool and distant to ever make him a long lasting film idol.
The dame in the film is the Swedish born Inger Stevens, who is generally
forgotten now a days but at the time of the film was on a hot streak with
a successful TV show, The Farmer's Daughter, and three westerns Hang Em High,
Firecreek and 5 Card Stud, all made in the same year as House of Cards. Sadly,
she was to die from a suspected suicide two years later. And lastly they
have Orson Welles, who as was his wont in those days basically did two cameos,
took his money and kept trying to make his own films.
The plot circles around Peppard a down on
his chances American ex-pat pugilist in Paris. Circumstances bring him into
a very wealthy French family as a tutor to a young boy in Americana. Turns
out to be a hell of a family to work for. Severance is usually a knife in
the back. They were former colonialists in Algeria who want to overthrow
the French government and reclaim Algeria. Peppard gets in their way. Much
of the film makes little sense and why does Peppard keep walking into situations
that should get him killed like he is walking into a cinema.There was in
fact an attempted coup in France against de Gaulle in 1961 by generals who
thought giving up Algeria was a shameful act.
