Friday, April 09, 2021

FFB: LOSER TAKES ALL, Graham Greene


(From the archives)

Ed Gorman: Loser Takes All, Graham Greene

I mean no disrespect when I say that I imagine Graham Greene conceived of Loser Takes All (one of his self-described "entertainments") as a film before he decided to write it as a short novella. It's big and colorful and hangs on two cunning twists that neatly divide the piece into curtain act one and curtain act two.

The story concerns the honeymoon of Mr. Bertram and his bethrothed, Cary. They are planning to go on a modest short vacation when fate, in the the person of Dreuther, an incalculably rich man for whom Bertram is a lowly assistant accountant, intervenes. Bertram solves an accounting problem that nobody else in the incalculably vast corporation can figure out so Dreuther rewards him with the promise of a honeymoon on his yacht and nights of glamor in the casinos of Monte Carlo... Cary is thrilled.

Well, they go to Monte Carlo but soon learn that Dreuther has forgotten his promise. They are left to make do with their pitiful finances. They can't even pay their bills. Then Bertram, a math whiz, goes to a casino and tries out his own system for winning. And even more than that he begins to see how he can bring down Dreuther...

The rich men of the Fifties are perfect matches for the Wall Streeters of today. Their greed and lust is literally without bounds. Greene creates four distinctive scenes of black comedy when dealing with them. But even more, at the point when Cary sees her new husband change because of his winnings, Greene begins to examine the morality of greed. He also, in the midst of the action, gives us a painful subplot about adultery.

I was re-reading William Goldman's Adventure's In The Screen Trade the other day and found this salute that I'd forgotten: "I think Graham Greene was the greatest novelist in English this century."

If you read Loser Takes All, you'll begin to see what Goldman was talking about.

 

7 comments:

Margot Kinberg said...

Oh, a Graham Greene! Nice choice, Patti. Reminds me that I need to read some more of his work.

Jeff Meyerson said...

I've read a number of Greene's works, but not that many of the novels and certainly not this one. I've read his short stories and plays and travel books and autobiography and some of his essays. Novels? Definitely A Fun for Sale (This Gun for Hire) and The Comedians and The Quiet American and The Third Man and Orient Express.

Jeff Meyerson said...

A GUN for Sale

pattinase (abbott) said...

I have read a lot of his novels but I never heard of this one until Ed reviewed it.

George said...

I'm not sure Graham Greene was the greatest writer of the 20th Century, but he sure was up there! I miss Ed Gorman.

pattinase (abbott) said...

Every Friday, I miss all of our guys who have gone to the great beyond.

TracyK said...

I had not heard of this book by Greene, and did not know there was a movie either. I will looking for a copy.