User Reviews

Planning to view a series of films made during the Occupation of France,I started to search around on IMDb movies made by the infamous studio Continental Films,which was a studio set up by the Nazis with the goal of becoming a major part of the French film industry. Stumbling upon a great review from a fellow IMDber,I got prepared to enter the Continental valley of hell.

View on the film:

Making the first of 5 titles that he would do for the studio,director Maurice Tourneur & cinematographer Armand Thirard give the title a rough,grubby appearance,which along with giving the film an excellent folk atmosphere also shows the darkness that France was gripped in,as the Bienvenu family spend the movie dressed in clothes prepared for a funeral,which matches the colour of their hand-me-down "black" furniture,which Noël Bienvenu gets rid of all to easily,as he attempts to seek approval from the "invader."

Along with the earthy setting,Tourneur peels away the sweet smile of Marthe, to expose to the viewer, (but not to any of the characters) in tightly held close-ups Marthe's deceitful micro-expressions.

Working "behind enemy lines" the excellent screenplay by Carlo Rim gives the silky smooth Melodrama a harsh allegorical bite,as the Bienvenu family decision to drop their guard leads to Marthe entering their home & poisoning the loyal family bond with doubt, deceit and lies,which are only able to be destroyed by a worker (unintentionally?)turning Mathe's "Occupation" of the Bienvenu household into rubble.

Whilst the movie is rather heavy on its allegorical attack,Rim makes sure to keep the rich melodrama bubbling away by offering a risqué mix of prostitution hints & a secret love child,with a tremendous down to earth warmth in Noël Bienvenu relationship with his parents.

Keeping Marthe's vicious smirk burning at the edges,the elegant Ginette Leclerc gives an extraordinary performance as Marthe,with Leclerc subtly showing in her body/facial language that Marthe's expressions of love towards Noël are a hollow shell.Suspecting that Mathe is up to no good, Gabrielle Fontan gives an excellent performance as Noël battle axe mum La mère,who despite being rather blunt,is given a real sense of sadness by Fontan over losing Noël to Marthe.

Finding himself stuck between a rock and a hard place, Gabriel Gabrio makes his final role (he would sadly die in 1946) an unforgettable performance,thanks to Gabrio slowly changing Noël's pure sense of joy around Marthe into a deadly shadow which leads to Noël gradually giving up everything that he held dear,as Noël enters the valley of hell.

This was released by Continental, in other words the German-controlled French Film Industry during the Occupation which makes it possible to read all kinds of things into what is essentially a simple story of May and December romance. Ginette Leclerc was, of course, in another Continental release, one with a higher profile, Clouzot's Le Corbeau, and in more or less the same role, the good-time girl cum femme fatale. This time she's in a harsher environment than the cosy provincial town of Le Corbeau; here life is rugged and men earn every sou of their wages quarrying in oppressive heat. Having snagged her father-figure husband Leclerc - who may have been a hooker in a previous life - assumes the proverbial role of the new broom and begins to sweep clean, starting with the furniture of her new in-laws and including the elderly couple (one of whom is the great Gabrielle Fontan) themselves who play into her hands by pleading to be sent to an Old Folks Home. Leclerc is far from idle in the bed department, natch, quickly taking up with a local stud and Tourneur leaves us to speculate on what might happen eventually between her and her step-son who, towards the end of the film is released from the slammer and is welcomed back into the fold by his father; he is much nearer to Leclerc in age and it may only be a matter of time before nature takes its course. This is a terrific movie and I'm more than grateful to my French friend for supplying it.