Review of The Burning Court

In one of the films he made in the later stages of his long career, Julien Duvivier does a fine job of balancing the supernatural with the pragmatic; ultimately, however, the scale does tip on the side you expect it to. It's a pretty good combination of a spooker (complete with huge castle, hidden panels, disappearing bodies, etc.) and a whodunit (the rich patriarch of the family is the target, of course), but its impact is diluted by its overlength (at 109 minutes): it takes too long to get off the ground, while at the same time the ending is too abrupt. Duvivier has done better films for sure, but this one is worth a watch as well. **1/2 out of 4.