"Tarot helps you meet whatever comes in the best possible way."
Tanya (Marlene Dietrich), a cigar-smoking brothel-keeper, refuses to read the cards for Detective Hank Quinlan (Orson Welles) in the film noir masterpiece, Touch of Evil (1958; re-edited/restored 1998). The music is “Tanya’s Theme” by Henry Mancini. It looks to me like a Swiss 1JJ deck.
Check out other tarot media appearances here.
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Mary K. Greer has made tarot her life work. Check here for reports of goings-on in the world of tarot and cartomancy, articles on the history and practice of tarot, and materials on other cartomancy decks. Sorry, I no longer write reviews. Contact me HERE.
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4 comments
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March 28, 2009 at 5:22 pm
Jim
AWESOME! I’ve been making this claim for a while that the Swiss 1JJ appears in this film a decade prior to its discovery by Stuart Kaplan. Since I have the film on VHS instead of DVD, I couldn’t post screen shots to back up my claim. This is the oldest film I’ve seen which shows Tarot cards. I realize Nightmare Alley is a little bit older but I have yet to see it. I have seen screenshots of the DVD menu so I understand the deck in Nightmare Alley is the Rider Waite Smith or something similar.
I should mention that the 1941 film The Wolfman does not appear to depict Tarot cards. I have the DVD of that film and I have paused to check for myself if Tarot cards appear but it’s more likely a conventional playing card deck which is used by Bela Lugosi’s fortune teller character. Although there has been a Bela Lugosi action figure released by Sideshow Toys showing Bela using a miniature Tarot de Marseilles, it is not clear exactly what deck Lugosi’s character is using in this film.
You have one of the best Tarot blogs I’ve seen in terms of information content. Thanks for showing us this video.
March 28, 2009 at 5:48 pm
mkg
Jim – Thanks for the information. I checked out The Wolfman on youtube. The fortune-telling scene is on the segment 2/7 about halfway through. The cards themselves can’t be seen. Maria Ouspenskaya was truly amazing as the gypsy woman!
Mary
March 29, 2009 at 11:22 pm
Helen
They look like the Swiss 1JJ to me Mary!
April 4, 2009 at 7:30 am
rebeca zayas
I love your blog . I’ve been trying to buy Touch of Evil from amazon but it says that in the restored version the music by Mancini has not been included. Can you tell me which version you used in your blog?
Thanks
Rebeca