A Filmsonor Production. French release: 15 January 1947. U.S. release through Film Rights International. New York opening at the Rialto: 26 November 1947. 91 minutes. Available on an L.C.J. Editions DVD. As the copyright expired in 1997, there is also a poor Public Domain DVD kicking around with hard-to-read English sub-titles.
SYNOPSIS: When you think about it and ask yourself some key questions, the plot doesn't make a great deal of sense, particularly as (in order to throw viewers off the scent) Duvivier has Vivian Romance play a key scene with the wrong reaction.
COMMENT: Duvivier's first film on returning to France after his wartime stint in the USA (during which he made one of my all-time favorite movies, Tales of Manhattan), in this superb thriller in which the atmosphere builds slowly but engrossingly into one of the most brilliantly staged climaxes the cinema has ever seen. In the lead role, Michel Simon plays with such presence and authority that we overlook the character's many unsympathetic qualities. He is well-matched by Viviane Romance who contrives to keep us hoping that she will land on the right side in the final reel. And among the support characters, even the smallest roles are cleverly individualized. Unlike many of the previous Simenon movies, this one has been produced on a really top-flight budget. Piménoff's sets and Hayer's noirish photography are outstanding.
SYNOPSIS: When you think about it and ask yourself some key questions, the plot doesn't make a great deal of sense, particularly as (in order to throw viewers off the scent) Duvivier has Vivian Romance play a key scene with the wrong reaction.
COMMENT: Duvivier's first film on returning to France after his wartime stint in the USA (during which he made one of my all-time favorite movies, Tales of Manhattan), in this superb thriller in which the atmosphere builds slowly but engrossingly into one of the most brilliantly staged climaxes the cinema has ever seen. In the lead role, Michel Simon plays with such presence and authority that we overlook the character's many unsympathetic qualities. He is well-matched by Viviane Romance who contrives to keep us hoping that she will land on the right side in the final reel. And among the support characters, even the smallest roles are cleverly individualized. Unlike many of the previous Simenon movies, this one has been produced on a really top-flight budget. Piménoff's sets and Hayer's noirish photography are outstanding.