I am more ready to accept Skolimowski as a bonafide stylist in the school of mechanico-yet-rapturous absurdism, which tended to self-destruct at the turn of the decade, than as an artist. And I'll settle for King, Queen, Knave as a molehill of dreck….

For the first and perhaps purest example of a spoof that works, I would have to recommend Skolimowski's The Adventures of Gerard. It has the good sense to steer a delightful ninny of a hero across the massive canvas of Napoleon's campaign against Wellington in Spain. Invention is never allowed to flag, yet it remains chilly and stylistically distanced at the core….

Combining touches of black humor and a handsome production on the throwaway epic scale that makes Bondarchuk's Waterloo look drab and ponderous, The Aventures of Gerard is an affectionate valentine to gallant foolhardiness….

Nabokov's King, Queen, Knave is a jagged triangle: a haberdashery-tycoon...