Tarot in Movies

[zoso]

Has anyone seen the movie The Red Violin? It's a very good movie starting with a tarot reading and all the transitions are the laying of another card, which brings the whole movie together. Has anyone seen any other movies where tarot is tied in?

[HudsonGray]

Tarot Totes put a collection together at: http://www.tarottotes.com/item.asp?iid=36

On the top left click the box that says 'movies' if you want to see the movie list, and on the top right it says 'television' which lists the tv shows that have had tarot used or seen in them.

I think there was another thread or two on this subject last year? A search on the board can find it I think, though it wouldn't have the newer movies listed.

[zoso]

Cool, thank you for the link

I'll have to check it out later tonight.

[Mabuse]

I have the Orson Welles film, "Touch of Evil" on VHS and paused during
the scene in which Welles asks of Marlene Dietrich to read his future
to which she replies "Your future is all used up." There is one point
in this scene in which Welles spreads out the Tarot deck and it is
revealed that the deck used by Dietrich in this film is the Swiss 1JJ
deck. This film was released in the USA in 1958, 10 years before
Stuart Kaplan's reported exposure to it. I'm quite curious as to the
use and popularity of this deck in the United States prior to Kaplan's
1968 discovery of the 1JJ deck and his founding of US Games.
I would also be curious as to what is the oldest existing film to
explicitly depict a Tarot deck. So far, "Touch of Evil" is the
earliest such film I have seen. "The Wolfman" does not count as it is
not clear whether the reader is actually using a Tarot or a
conventional deck of cards. I did see a "Wolfman" action figure
recently, it is actually the Bela Lugosi
Gypsy character
http://www.monstersinmotion.com/clas...lagypsy.html., which did include a miniature Tarot of Marseilles, but in
the film one cannot identify the actual cards.
Was the 1JJ a common Tarot even prior to founding of US Games or was Orson Welles uncannily
prescient? As a regular viewer of TV Land and Turner Classic Movies,
I am quite surprised at the lack of any representation of Tarot decks
in old TV shows and movies, even when such material explicitly dealt
with occult matters. The most common divination method appearing in
pre-1970's media is palmistry. I have also seen references to
numerology, astrology, cartomancy and the Ouija board on at least one
episode of "I Love Lucy" When cartomancy is represented on programs
of this vintage, conventional playing cards are more often employed.
There is one incident, however, in which Barney Fife, on "The Andy
Griffith Show" uses, if I recall correctly, "Unicorn Fortune Telling
Cards." Such a lack of depictions of the Tarot deck indicate that it
may not have been well known as it is today. I have a link to the
action figure from the "Wolfman", it is actually the Bela Lugosi
Gypsy character
http://www.monstersinmotion.com/classic/belagypsy.html.
I also have the Wolfman on DVD and nowhere in the actual film are
the cards displayed in sufficient detail to enable one to discern
whether they were Tarot or conventional playing cards. As I am still
under 40, I have no living memory of much of anything prior to
Watergate, so I'm quite dependent on pop culture and books for
information on things prior to the 1970's and what such media
indicate is a widespread lack of knowledge of Tarot in earlier times.
The film "Touch of Evil" appears to be an exceptional case, proving a
general rule. Perhaps I should also mention, the TV show Dark Shadows
is reported to have shown the 1JJ Tarot but it appears likely that
the show's creators bought it from US Games after 1968. I have also
heard of one mid 1960's horror movie, "Dr. Terror's House of
Horrors," if I recall the name correctly, which has shown a Tarot of
Marseilles deck. If I remember correctly, "Dr. Terror" may have been
a British Hammer film.

MABUSE

[rota]

"Dr. Terror's House of Horror" is from 1964-5, not a bad film. It tells the story of five guys in a carriage, who are joined by the mysterious Dr. Schreck. He produces a deck of tarot cards, and tells each of them that their futures may not be so bright as they had hoped. There are vampires, werewolves, and a disembodied creeping hand. Naturally, the dramatic appearance of the Death card occurs...

This is the mid-60's, though, well after the 1958 occurrence you're concerned with.

[Rhiannon]

The most recent movie I've seen tarot in is "The Haunted Mansion" by Disney. At the beginning (during the credits) there are a bunch of tarot cards flying around and they sort of morph from RWS drawings to other drawings. Pretty cool.

R

[The 78th Fool]

Probably the most famous use of tarot in a movie was the James Bond film "Live and Let Die" starring Roger Moore and Jane Seymour. The deck now known as the "Tarot of the Witches", published by US Games was expressly designed for this film, although Rider Waite and Albano Waite cards are also featured from time to time. The cards are not merely incidental but form an important and ongoing part of the plot.

Believe it or not, I discovered the Tarot when I saw this film as a thirteen year old. The Tarot of the Witches is still one of my favourites to this day!

Chris. xx

[Laura Borealis]

Originally posted by zoso
Has anyone seen the movie The Red Violin? It's a very good movie starting with a tarot reading and all the transitions are the laying of another card, which brings the whole movie together. Has anyone seen any other movies where tarot is tied in?

I haven't seen it, but now I would like to. Thanks!

In Cold Comfort Farm, one of the characters broods over her cards in a couple of scenes.

[blackroseivy]

In the thread "movies like Tarot" (whatever it's called!) thread, I brought up the movie "The Ninth Gate", the Johnny Depp & Frank Langella oddity that has cards as its basis, many of them with Tarot Major counterparts, if not all (I'd have to look at them again). One of the weirder ones, I think! In it, this one set of esoteric images supposedly lead one to ultimate power. Johnny Depp's character won because Frank Langella's character became obsessed with the ultimate power; J.D. was caught up into it as an outside observer. But I won't spoil the story!

[The 78th Fool]

In England, back in the late 70's /early 80's we had a great TV series called 'Tales of the Unexpected'. These were dramatisations of the best of Roald Dahl's short stories and latterly those by other authors.

The title sequence was great - It alternated between the silhouette of a naked dancing woman against a blood red background and a model ferris wheel with Swiss 1JJ cards instead of wooden horses. Very creepy!

I didn't realise what the cards were until a couple of years later when I saw the James Bond film 'Live and let Die'.

Not strictly the movies but a great title sequence all the same!

Chris. xx