Walbrook (and Edith Evans as the old countess). Despite - or because of - the rush, it is Dickinson's most inspired film. Scorsese again: "By any standards, The Queen of Spades is a masterpiece, one of the very best films of the '40s." Dickinson's films (which include 1952's grim Ealing thriller Secret People, and 1955's stunning account of the beginnings of the Jewish state, Hill 24 Doesn't Answer) are overdue for DVD release. Sometimes cool, sometimes feverish, they're mostly fast-moving, serious and yet witty, transcending their usually slender budgets with imaginative flair and artistic economy. Dickinson's refusal of easy sentiment went with extraordinary emotional intensity, a tempered idealism and sympathy for the victimised, an unblinking eye for the effects of human weakness or heartlessness, and a terrific instinct for framing, camera movement, and the rhythmic power of film. The Arsenal Stadium Mystery is the most purely entertaining of the films of this "uniquely intelligent and passionate artist", as Scorsese calls him.