In retrospect we can speculate that Duvivier, a giant, reacted in a similar manner to Gulliver when the pygmies - in this case the spoiled brats responsible for the New Wavelet - attempted to subdue him. He had begun the sixties, which would turn out to be his last decade, by taking one of Truffaut's non-acting favorites and actually getting a performance out of him in 'Boulevard' and this time around he again used a couple of 'modern' actors in Scoob and Leaud. With Charles Spaak, a well-tried collaborator, he fashioned a hybrid of Mystery and Supernatural from a 'classic' John Dickson Carr novel and one which no admirer of Duvivier should miss. Clearly the 'problems' surrounding Black Jack had been left behind and here we get tantalizing glimpses of the old Master albeit paying for it via the abrupt ending. It's not first-rate Duvivier but even his second-rate leaves the New Wavistas dead in the water.
Review of The Burning Court
