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Jean Lorette's father was ruined by Séverin-Mars. He has come to kill the man. Not recognizing him, he saves Séverin-Mars from assassin Camille Bert. And is invited as a guest to live in Séverin-Mars' palatial home. There he falls in love with the older man's ward, Suzy Lilé. His thirst for vengeance ends. But Bert is still lurking, working with the housemaid to kill the old man and take his wealth.

Julien Duvivier's first movie already shows sign of themes he would elaborate in the 1930s with his tools of poetic realism. Unfortunately, he is not up to it yet. His technique seems to be modeled on Feuillade, but he lacks the older director's willingness to be crazy and get on with it. Séverin-Mars has visions of those he has wronged, but when he does, he looks like a chipmunk, saddened by his inability to remember where he put those acorns.

It is, perhaps, unfair to mark down an artist's works because he would figure out later how to capture what he is seeking for, but there you have it. His only way to indicate what goes on in his characters' minds is to show it on the screen, and it requires words and the brilliance of Jean Gabin's performances. Fortunately, they would come Duvivier's way. But not yet.

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.