The members of a secret society vote on condemning a man to death. Two members of the society, Farralone and Forrest, are in love with the only female member, Lilith. Lilith deals cards to the members, and Forrest gets the ace of hearts, which means he has the "honor" to kill the victim the next day. Lilith agrees to marry Forrest that night, and then tries to convince him not to go through with the murder. But Forrest feels duty bound to carry out the deed. Lilith tries to get Farralone to intercede, but he offers her a bargain instead. Circumstances prevent Forrest from committing the murder, which causes the other members to condemn him to death. Farralone gets the ace of hearts. But he has another plan in mind. He begins to laugh...
I've seen this twice, and upon further review, I can say it's an interesting story, but it's almost done in by some overacting by the three leads.
There are also plenty of holes in the film. I wanted to know how this society was formed, why it only has one female member, why Chaney has a George Washington haircut, why everyone except Bowers and Joy looks to be in their 50s or 60s, why they chose their victim (referring to him as "the man who lived too long" ), etc. If you can ignore all this, you'll probably like the film.
