The 1949 film "The Great Sinner" is set at an 1860's German gambling casino. It is based on Fyodor Dostoyevsky's 1866 novel The Gambler Fedya, a young Russian man, meets Pauline Ostrovsky, a beautiful young woman, on a train. He follows her to the famous Wiesbaden Resort and Casino, located in the German state of Hesse. He then becomes obsessed with gambling and wins and loses a fortune. There are many scenes set at the casino of roulette and Baccarat tables where coins and currency notes are used to place bets. To simplify things, the money name that the customers use is never identified but simply quoted as a number, for example, "100,000." German states minted various types of money at the time the film is set including thalers, vereinsthalers, groschen, kreuzers, and many other denominations. In 1871 the German states were unified into one nation under Kaiser Wilhelm I. Germany also created a unified currency consisting of marks and pfennigs. The states could produce silver and gold coins but of standard sizes of silver 2 marks, 3 marks, 5 marks, and gold 10 and 20 marks. The coins had a common reverse. There are some scenes using real German coins of the period along with studio prop coins. Real coins shown are German Prussia Vereinsthalers and German post-unification 5 Mark coins.

A doctor is called to a seedy hotel room to examine a very sick patient. The patient is Fedya, a young Russian man, who tells his story.

Fedya is an author whos works have earned him enough money to travel. He is on a train headed to Paris when Pauline, a beautiful young woman, gets on the train. He watches her playing solitare and when the train makes a stop, he sees the destination sign.

Pauline gets off the train and Fedya also gets off and follows her to the town. He checks into the hotel and then visits the casino, a very upscale place with a dress code.

He spots Pauline at a roulette table.

Fedya then watches the center of attention, the roulette wheel.

Fedya puts two coins on the table.

Both coins appear to be silver coins similar in size to United States silver dollars. A closer look at one of the coins appears.

The coin is a German State of Prussia silver Vereinsthaler of King Friedrich Wilhelm IV. The obverse reads: "FRIEDR. WILHELM IV KOENIG V. PREUSSEN." The same text appears on the obverse of the Vereinsthaler.

A Germany Prussia Vereinsthaler:

Silver, 34 mm, 18.52 gm
Obverse: FRIEDR. WILHELM IV KOENIG V. PREUSSEN
Reverse: EIN VEREINSTHALER XXX EIN PFUND FEIN 1860

Friedrich Wilhelm IV was King of Prussia from 1840 to 1861. The coins are then flipped over revealing their reverses.

The reverses shown are from post-unification silver 5 Mark coins. The German states coins had a common reverse which was inscribed: DEUTSCHES REICH, the year, and FÜNF MARK

The bet wins and an elderly gambler, Aristide, claims the coins are his and receives the winnings. Fedya later offers Aristide money to leave the city but later spots him gambling again.

Aristide loses all of his money playing roulette, then pulls out a pistol and shoots himself. Before dying, he gives Fedya a pawn shop ticket. Fedya heads to the pawn store and redeems the item from Emma, the pawnbroker.

The item is a small religious medal which happily belongs to Pauline. Fedya heads back to the hotel and locates Pauline whose father, a Russian general, is staying with her. Fedya learns that Armand de Glasse, a casino manager, holds the General's markers or loan receipts for "200,000", again no money name, and that Armand expects payment either in money or marriage to Pauline.

Both Pauline and the General are compulsive gamblers and, watching them, Fedya decides to play. Fedya heads to the casino the next morning before it opens and anxiously waits to gamble.

The casino room opens and there are coins on the table.

The coins shown here are German post-unification 5 Mark coins which are close in size to United States silver dollars. The coin obverse shown is a post-unification Prussia state coin minted from 1874 to 1876. The coin reverses are the common post-unification reverses.

An example of a German Prussia post-unification 5 Mark coin:

Silver, 38 mm, 27.38 gm
Obverse: WILHELM DEUTSCHER KAISER KÖNIG V. PREUSSEN
Reverse: DEUTSCHES REICH 1876 / FÜNF MARK

The next scene shows the money on the table.

The coins here appear to be film prop coins and simple imitation currency notes.

Fedya starts winning and becomes more excited. A closer look at some of the prop coins and currency notes:

More prop coins and simple prop currency notes are shown here. Fedya continues to make roulette bets on various numbers and numerical combinations, red or black numbers, number spans, and others. He has a lucky streak and keeps winning and accumulating a pile of cash.

The casino closes and Fedya heads to Armand's office to redeem the General's markers (loan receipts). Armand lies and tells Fedya that the markers are in the casino's safe which will not be open until the morning. Fedya then asks Armand to hold his money.

Armand refuses to hold the money and Fedya leaves to visit Pauline and inform her that she will not have to marry Armand.

Fedya asks Pauline to marry him but she puts him off. Fedya is now obsessed with winning more money and heads back to the casino despite Pauline's wish that he stay with her.

Fedya manages to lose most of his previous winnings and heads for a private Baccarat card game for "high rollers" (wealthy customers) being run by the casino in a room.

The general is in attendance wearing his medals:

The medals appear to be studio prop medals. The General's mother Madame Ostrovsky then arrives; she is a very wealthy woman who disapproves of her son's gambling. He shows her some card tricks which begin to interest her and soon she is at the casino table.

Madame Ostrovsky plays Baccarat against an Indian Maharaja and loses a fortune. She is then quiet and her son discovers that she is dead. Fedya is broke and sitting at a park bench when the deceased Aristide appears.

Aristide hands Fedya a pistol and suggests a solution but Fedya wakes up. Fedya then wanders around, spots a church, and then enters it.

Fedya first notices the collection box but then a statue of Christ and has a religious conversion. No longer interested in gambling, he heads to Pauline.

Gregory Peck as Fedya
Ava Gardner as Pauline Ostrovsky
Melvyn Douglas as Armand de Glasse (casino manager)
Walter Huston as General Ostrovsky
Ethel Barrymore as Madame Ostrovsky
Frank Morgan as Aristide Pitard
Agnes Moorehead as Emma Getzel (pawnbroker)
Director: Robert Siodmak
Writers: Ladislas Fodor, Christopher Isherwood, Ladislas Fodor, Rene Fueloep-Miller,
Fyodor Dostoevsky (novel The Gambler)