The hanging of Judas is the prologue of the first of a long series of films noirs of one of the greatest French directors of all time (and my personal favorite) ; when he films "Golgotha " in the thirties , he will use almost the same shot of the hanging tree. The characters have all American names and only the hero called Didier ( which evokes the director's own name) has a French patronymic ; he enters alone a world which is hostile to avenge his father 's suicide ,caused by a wealthy man who lives with his ward ,Minnie .There are actually two plots for another man wants to do away with the rich man and latch onto his fortune ; this sub-plot ,which verges on western , complete with guns and cowboy hat ,provides the movie with its low point and may seem ridiculous to today's audience .
But the quest of Didier who wants to punish a man who betrayed his father is given an impressive treatment (the departed father's specter who appears several times,notably when Didier wants to shake hands with the man who caused the tragedy); there's even an unexpected twist when the young man is told that the man who caused the father's suicide is actually......
There's something morbid all along the film: the letter Didier reads on the train, the gratuitous ill -treatment of a dog -an animal that would play prominent parts in Duvivier's work :" au royaume des cieux" ,"voici le temps des assassins" "chair de poule" ) , the killing of the goat , and even , rare in the late twenties , a scene when the traitor is taking drugs with a syringe .
Duvivier had not forgotten the lessons he learned from André Antoine, when he was his assistant ;in the silent age ,this pioneer already took the cinema out of the studios and filmed on location:"le coupable" (1916-17) was certainly a strong influence on the student which would persist in later works such as "sous le ciel de Paris" (1952) .
Here Duvivier uses panoramics which he would perfect in later works such as "les cinq gentlemans maudits" (1931) and " Pepe Le Moko" (1937). Duvivier was one of the first French directors to be aware that the cinema was not filmed theater.
But the quest of Didier who wants to punish a man who betrayed his father is given an impressive treatment (the departed father's specter who appears several times,notably when Didier wants to shake hands with the man who caused the tragedy); there's even an unexpected twist when the young man is told that the man who caused the father's suicide is actually......
There's something morbid all along the film: the letter Didier reads on the train, the gratuitous ill -treatment of a dog -an animal that would play prominent parts in Duvivier's work :" au royaume des cieux" ,"voici le temps des assassins" "chair de poule" ) , the killing of the goat , and even , rare in the late twenties , a scene when the traitor is taking drugs with a syringe .
Duvivier had not forgotten the lessons he learned from André Antoine, when he was his assistant ;in the silent age ,this pioneer already took the cinema out of the studios and filmed on location:"le coupable" (1916-17) was certainly a strong influence on the student which would persist in later works such as "sous le ciel de Paris" (1952) .
Here Duvivier uses panoramics which he would perfect in later works such as "les cinq gentlemans maudits" (1931) and " Pepe Le Moko" (1937). Duvivier was one of the first French directors to be aware that the cinema was not filmed theater.