Main Cast: Warren Beatty, Susannah York, Clive Revill, Eric Porter, Murray Melvin
Release Year: 1966
Country: UK
Run Time: 103 minutes
Plot
A cardsharp comes up with the ultimate system for beating the casinos at their own game in this high-style caper comedy. Barney Lincoln (Warren Beatty) is a footloose playboy with a taste for gambling and an ingenious scheme for winning at the leading casinos in Europe. Barney discovers that nearly all of the major gambling houses use playing cards manufactured by the same company; by breaking into their plant and subtly altering the printing plates, he's able to mark the cards with a code only he can read, and he is soon pulling in record winnings across the continent. However, Barney's secret is discovered by his girlfriend Angel McGinnis (Suzannah York), a successful fashion designer, which might not be a problem if her father, "Manny" McGinnis (Clive Revill) weren't a top inspector at Scotland Yard. Manny approaches Barney and makes him a deal -- he won't reveal his secret about the cards if Barney will help him catch Harry Dominion (Eric Porter), a high-level international drug trafficker. Unfortunately, Barney's sleuthing goes awry after a certain amount of initial success, and when Harry gets wind of what he's been doing, he retaliates by kidnapping Angel and demanding repayment of his loss of sales. Jane Birkin makes her screen debut in this film, appropriately enough as a character named "Exquisite Thing." ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
George Sewell - Billy; Stanley Meadows - Dominion Captain; John Junkin - Evelyn; Larry Taylor - Dominion Chauffeur; Yootha Joyce - Museum Receptionist; Jane Birkin - Exquisite Thing; George Murcell - Johnny; Anthony Newlands - Leeds; Michael Balfour; John Bennett; Peter Blythe; Sean Lynch
Credit
Maurice Carter - Art Director, Sally Tuffin - Costume Designer, Marion Foale - Costume Designer, Jack Smight - Director, John Jympson - Editor, Stanley Myers - Composer (Music Score), Stanley Myers - Musical Direction/Supervision, W.T. Partleton - Makeup, Bob Lawrence - Makeup, Christopher G. Challis - Cinematographer, Jerry Gershwin - Producer, Elliott Kastner - Producer, David Ffolkes - Set Designer, Robert Carrington - Screenwriter, Jane-Howard Carrington - Screenwriter
Kaleidoscope is a 1966 British crime film starring Warren Beatty and Susannah York. The plot involves a plan to break into a playing card manufacturer to mark the cards and then break the bank at every European casino.
Until recently, it has been very difficult to actually see this film. There seem to have been no VHS release in English-speaking territories, and certainly no DVD, other than a Spanish one. Until 2009 it has remained in the Warner vaults. However, following a deal Warner UK have struck with former special interest label Digital Classics to release four catalogue titles from those capacious vaults, Kaleidoscope is one of the batch selected. A DVD will be available from 20th April 2009 on the Digital Classics label[1]. A trailer for the film can be found on YouTube at Digital Classics' own YouTube page[2].
