The Almost Cartomancy Reading in the Silent Film "Les "Vampires"

Since I've been immersed in the silent film classic Les Vampires and am quite infatuated with Irma Vep, the leading villain, it only stands to reason that I'd want her on a deck of cards. There was seemingly no such deck created so one must settle for a scene in the last chapter of the 6+ hour saga where a house maid, recently widowed by the devious actions of The Vampires (a crime syndicate not actual bloodsuckers), gives starts to give herself a card reading to determine her fate.

The maid Augustine has two false start attempts but the actual reading never comes off. Being that she is superstitious and subsequently gets and invitation from The Vampires, albeit not under that guise, via a hand-delivered note for a special discreet reading (not suspicious at all!) that will reveal all the mysteries and her future. What it does is almost get her killed but we shall offer no spoilers here.

Comments

A Card Within a Card: 3 Jokers and Theirs

As ruminated upon in a previous post here are three more Jokers who are depicted wielding other cards within their own. The first one is openly presenting the Ace of Spades while concealing three others with a mere Diamond peeking out over one corner of the trumvirate. On the second Joker, from a Scandinavian deck, The King of Diamonds is figured prominently as the Joker leans upon it. His poppet Joker is also holding an Ace of Hearts. What it all means would depend on the manufacturer and artist, I suppose. The last specimen from Longfield Games features an Ace of Spades as the Joker stands upon a depiction of the world as a globe which seems almost 3/4 there but not quite whole. All interpretations of this and the preceding ones would be mere speculation and without knowing the artist and his source inspiration it would mainly be a stab into the void. Which is basically what this entire blog consists of.

Tart Rhymes

I came across this excellent booklet from The U. S. Playing Card Co. on Instagram and then tracked down its source to eBay where I took advantage of the generous photos on the listing and saved them in e-book form because it's the right thing to do for posterity's sake. The booklets contains a very short sequence of rhymes that make for one bizarre folktale that wouldn't cut it in today's cancel culture. Also displayed in the small booklet are some card packs produced by the company which is very helpful towards dating the cards for novices who don't have access to the company's historical records.

cardomancy

Search This Blog