Feb 2015:
With a fellow IMDber having praised the movie highly,I decided that after seeing Michèle Mercier in the satirical Comedy Roaring Years (1962-also reviewed) that I would watch this X-Mas Noir.In the last 10 mins of Years,my DVD player started to make weird sounds and blew up!
June 2015:
After eventually getting hold of a replacement TV,I decided to play this French Noir,only to find that my small TV screen cut all of the subtitles off!
Friday the 13th of May 2016:
Finally upgrading to a flat screen TV,and deciding to watch 100 French films over 100 days (and also having a re-filling done!),I felt that it was the perfect time to see if this would be the lucky day where I would finally watch the film!
View on the film:
Following the hustle and bustle of last minute X-Mas shopping,co- writer/(along with Frédéric Dard) director Marcel Bluwal & cinematographer André Bac bring the Christmas lights into the Film Noir shade,with frosting windows giving Herbin's return a chilly atmosphere.
Lighting up the Christmas lights with fire, Bluwal and Bac display a quality attention to detail,where major clues to Dravet's husband's death/her missing daughter are spread in stylish whip-pans which allows the viewer to pick up lingering clues from the corner of their eyes.
Coming back to town, Bluwal breaks Herbin from experiencing any Christmas cheer,by casting a cold industrial Film Noir shadow over him,where shadows of death drape any place he enters,and the only light Herbin sees being from a lift to the gallows.
Smartly spending the opening 30 mins setting the Christmas Noir nativity scene,the screenplay by Bluwal & Dard play a tremendous sleight of hand,as Herbin and Dravet brittle Noir exchanges cast a mood of impending doom across the X-Mas good wishes.
Unwrapping Herbin's past,the writers superbly open up the true faces of the characters,as jolly Herbin shows the blood on his hands,and the playful Dravet reveals the femme fatale stepping out of the shadows.
Desperately trying to get into the spirit of the season, Robert Hossein gives an excellent performance as Herbin,whose attempts to keep his full past hidden leads to Hossein keeping things close to his chest, until Herbin's desire for Dravet leads to Hossein uncovering the Film Noir loner standing in the blood-drenched snow.
Secretly holding Herbin's hands in the cinema,the elegant Lea Massari (whose Italian background is joked about in the movie) gives a marvellous performance as Dravet,thanks to Dravet establishing a Christmassy warmth with Herbin when they first meet,which Massari chips away at with wonderful iced femme fatale heels,as Herbin discovers that It's a Wonderful (Film Noir) Life.
With a fellow IMDber having praised the movie highly,I decided that after seeing Michèle Mercier in the satirical Comedy Roaring Years (1962-also reviewed) that I would watch this X-Mas Noir.In the last 10 mins of Years,my DVD player started to make weird sounds and blew up!
June 2015:
After eventually getting hold of a replacement TV,I decided to play this French Noir,only to find that my small TV screen cut all of the subtitles off!
Friday the 13th of May 2016:
Finally upgrading to a flat screen TV,and deciding to watch 100 French films over 100 days (and also having a re-filling done!),I felt that it was the perfect time to see if this would be the lucky day where I would finally watch the film!
View on the film:
Following the hustle and bustle of last minute X-Mas shopping,co- writer/(along with Frédéric Dard) director Marcel Bluwal & cinematographer André Bac bring the Christmas lights into the Film Noir shade,with frosting windows giving Herbin's return a chilly atmosphere.
Lighting up the Christmas lights with fire, Bluwal and Bac display a quality attention to detail,where major clues to Dravet's husband's death/her missing daughter are spread in stylish whip-pans which allows the viewer to pick up lingering clues from the corner of their eyes.
Coming back to town, Bluwal breaks Herbin from experiencing any Christmas cheer,by casting a cold industrial Film Noir shadow over him,where shadows of death drape any place he enters,and the only light Herbin sees being from a lift to the gallows.
Smartly spending the opening 30 mins setting the Christmas Noir nativity scene,the screenplay by Bluwal & Dard play a tremendous sleight of hand,as Herbin and Dravet brittle Noir exchanges cast a mood of impending doom across the X-Mas good wishes.
Unwrapping Herbin's past,the writers superbly open up the true faces of the characters,as jolly Herbin shows the blood on his hands,and the playful Dravet reveals the femme fatale stepping out of the shadows.
Desperately trying to get into the spirit of the season, Robert Hossein gives an excellent performance as Herbin,whose attempts to keep his full past hidden leads to Hossein keeping things close to his chest, until Herbin's desire for Dravet leads to Hossein uncovering the Film Noir loner standing in the blood-drenched snow.
Secretly holding Herbin's hands in the cinema,the elegant Lea Massari (whose Italian background is joked about in the movie) gives a marvellous performance as Dravet,thanks to Dravet establishing a Christmassy warmth with Herbin when they first meet,which Massari chips away at with wonderful iced femme fatale heels,as Herbin discovers that It's a Wonderful (Film Noir) Life.