Between 1923 and 1952 Maurice Gleize managed to direct twenty two films in France without distinguishing himself. This one, with a screenplay by top French scriptwriter Charles Spaak, had arguably the best cast he ever got to work with (on other occasions he directed Fenandel, Charles Vanel and Marie Bell) from co-stars Jean Gabin and Michele Morgan - hot on the heels of Quai des brumes that same year - to Saturnin Fabre, Gaston Modot and Julien Carrette but for all Gleize extracted from them it might as well have been John Lund and Maria Montez supported by Leo Gorcey and the Bowery Boys. The plot kicks off with a Fantastic Surprise: Jean Gabin has killed a man and is obliged to flee the country (Okay, I lied about the surprise, but this movie needs all the help it can get), this time around he winds up in Australia about four blocks North of Rue Vavin on ligne 4 of the Metro where, in the fullness of time (the best part of an hour) he meets Michele Morgan who is also an assassin - a plot twist too far and too late - and they spend a half hour or so dodging the law. The sad thing is that every actor I've named is more than worth watching in anything as they are here but how much more worth watching they would have been in SOMETHING worth watching.
Review of Coral Reefs
