As we were noting last week, poker works in a variety of cinematic contexts, effectively helping move along plots, flesh out characters, and point up themes in a wide range of genres.
We considered one early instance of a non-poker film employing poker to good effect in Harold Lloyd's entertaining 1922 silent comedy, Dr. Jack. Another great example of poker being used in a subtle way to communicate a film’s larger themes can be found in the 1937 feature Dead End, an atmospheric crime drama with elements of film noir directed by William Wyler.